Just dropped! The first of 9 podcast episodes all about scaling research & my book, 'Research That Scales' (@rosenfeldmedia.com, 2024). In this episode, Matt Gallivan shares his best & worst examples of scaling research. Listen here: katetowsey.substack.com/p/episode-1-... / @theunderstanders.com

Any user researchers who follow me here: what's your remote research stack these days? Curious about every and any tool you love to plan, recruit, conduct, analyze and write/report!

"The common thread in all these viral conspiracy theories on TikTok is that they are fueled by distrust of institutions — from schools to the National Weather Service to the medical establishment. And that... carries over to the media: Only 16 percent of Gen Zers have strong confidence in the news."

People are growing more comfortable and intimate with AI chatbots-- sharing secrets, growing feelings of connection, and even being romantically intimate-- and there's research suggesting the social mechanics are in place for this to get stronger and more common over time. Today's post:

I’ve been on a real Paul Simon kick lately, for reasons I can’t really explain. I have tender affection for him as a representative and personification of my parents’ generation. Just listened to Malcolm Gladwell’s lovely audiobook Miracle and Wonder and really enjoyed this piece on his new tour:

🐂🐂🐂

Have information you think the public should know about the Census Bureau, Postal Service or other parts of the federal government? I'm a @npr.org correspondent who can be reached on Signal at hansi.01 (Please use a nonwork device)

I conducted my second piece of original primary research for my newsletter The Understanders, exploring the concerns underlying AI skepticism open.substack.com/pub/mattgall...

Some really good stuff in this research on workers' views of AI from Pew last month: www.pewresearch.org/social-trend...

Wrote about a new paper on the effects of perceived “creepiness” of digital assistants 🧟

Inspired by a common observation from @carnage4life.bsky.social @thebenedictevans.bsky.social and @caseynewton.bsky.social, and because I don't know how to simply sit back and enjoy a career break, I ran a study of how people think about AI model selection. www.theunderstanders.com/p/the-unders...

Wrote about how some new YouGov data on attitudes about AI showcase some classic signs of optimism bias:

Just stumbled upon this early discussion paper that's a nice Friday evening mindf**k: arxiv.org/pdf/2501.16513

Wrote about a new paper on how product designers respond to AI-powered personas, and a bit about the idea of doing research with synthetic users generally:

I took a look at some research about AI voice assistants and let myself think about where we're headed for a little too long today.

Arguably the most important dimension of the AI story overall, and certainly one of the most fascinating.

First they mock you for buying your own coffee gear and storing it in your in-laws’ basement but then… well, actually, they’ll still mock you and drink their own terrible coffee, but you won’t mind as much because you’ll have a proper cup for yourself

I don’t think we ever got a Bonfire of the Vanities for the 2010s era of Big Tech, and that is a shame. We got some good first hand nonfiction and some mediocre pointed satire but nothing as sweeping and damning as the era deserved. Tom Wolfe, man. The dude was good at his job.

I have yet to successfully make a single functional thing with Replit's AI coding agent, yet I still find it so fun to play with. Like cosplaying an engineer. Also, once tools like this get better, it's going to be an amazing and profound shift. Bespoke apps and software for everyone. Wild.

Our relationship to this technology— how and when we fight it, when we cede ground to it, if some of us will ever trust it— is going to be the most interesting technology story of the next decade

This is wild. User researchers (myself definitely included) scoffed at the idea of doing research with “synthetic users” a year or so ago. Might be time to start thinking differently about the idea.

working on a UXR job description, dreaming about hiring someone amazing to come start up our user research practice at Medium.....let's find each other, who are you, let's chat #research #uxr 👀 👀 👀

Two San Francisco hidden gems that one should *absolutely never* spill the beans about on social media: the Cole Valley sandwich from Cheese Plus and the beach at Kirby Cove

I smashed the Follow All button on this bad boy and if you follow me because of user research, I encourage you to do the same!

Surely, more social media is the answer! So here I am.