In April 2007 I posted five questions about the nature of experience. I asked TE's readers to offer their answers as Comments. The questions were:

1. When does an experience begin and end?
2. What are the dimensions of an experience?
3. What role do setting, memories of prior experiences, and the larger environment play in creating the character of an experience?
4. What metrics can be devised and applied, or have been already, to take the measure of an experience?
5. Can an experience be shared? If so, in what way, and among whom and how many individuals? Is the experience they share the same?

I was trying to bound the meaning of the term “experience,” a central concept in the new book I'm writing about designing for experience. The sample of readers who replied wasn't large enough to manage the challenge. However, the readers' Comments are, I believe, indicative of the thinking of many in the contemporary design community. (Do you agree or disagree? And why?)

In a future entry -- perhaps as soon as tomorrow, certainly by week's end -- I'll describe my own understanding of experience, informed by relevant philosophy, science, art, and ... experience.

I thank each of the Commenters who took the time to ponder my queries and come up with answers, wrestling with the greasiest of pigs.

1. When does an experience begin and end?

Adam Lawrence, Work • Play • Experience

Shooting from the hip here, I would say that the kind of experience we are talking about starts when I first come into contact with something that I consciously or -- more importantly -- subconsciously link with your offering; or to which I later return, to link with it.

Madhu

Linked to two posts on his blog (Diagram 1 and Diagram 2).

Kent Larsson

It seems to me that we need to distinguish between planned and unplanned experiences, the difference being the up-front planning phase. A planned experience has three or four phases:

1. The planning phase where information is gathered, expectations are formed, and the timing and logistics of the experience are set.

2. The actual experience during which we react to met or unmet expecations, and timing and logistics are working or not working as planned.Feelings of highs and lows depending on the outcomes of the experience.

3. Immediate post-experience evaluation: kind of a mental summary of the good and bad. Mental decisions are made for the future.

4. Long-term post-experience: memories fades. Good memories last longer than bad. Past experience kicks in when faced with a repeat of the same experience affecting expectations.

Experiences have a beginning, but no clear end.

2. What are the dimensions of an experience?

Kent Larsson

The dimensions of an experience:

1. Expectations
2. Feelings: satisfaction to euphoria, or disappointment to despair
3. Importance of experience to ego, self-perception, or social status

3. What role do setting, memories of prior experiences, and the larger environment play in creating the character of an experience?

Kent Larsson

Prior experience affects expectations. It raises or moderates them. Factors in the setting or the larger environment may enhance or modify the experience so that expectations are met or unmet.

4. What metrics can be devised and applied, or have been already, to take the measure of an experience?

Kent Larsson

• Measure the degree to which expectations were met or not. Break the experience down into “events”or “aspects” and measure the same thing.
• Measure the desire to have the expereince again.
• Measure the importance of the experience to ego, etc.
• Measure the willingness to recommend the experience to others.

Paula Thornton (co-author, Total Experience)

It's typically said, “You can't fix what you can't measure.” But you can't measure what you don't look at (or listen to). And most businesses only “pretend” to look and listen.

Doubt it? Go to 10 companies' websites. Indeed, I'll even give you the head start of asking for only 10 companies that claim to have say Web metrics in place. Of the 10. no more than two of them have actually looked at what the basic output of the tools are and have finetuned those basics to truly answer relevant questions to their business.

Most companies spend so much on these tools, for licenses and their installation, that they don't consider that they have to be used to add value. In several top companies I've visited, they have the tools, but only with techncal support. There are no resources allocated for someone to tune the tool analytically.

Oddly, for as much as we'd like to think otherwise, we're stuck in a machine in the manufacturing world. Only now, the manufacturing floor is IT. The human potential inherent in these tools (control over variability) is still largely untapped.

CNBC runs a series called, The Business of Innovation. A recent episode suggested that the most relevant measures simply do not exist. Too many businesses are afraid to ask customers what they don't like about their products or their services. And if they do ask, they don't try to understand what the answers mean. If a company's not collecting basic data and not doing research to discover what its measures mean (looking at what people “do,” compared to what they “say”), then it's flying blind.

Makes about as much sense as the voodoo science proposed in the book, The Blind Watchmaker: if there's no design, there are no viable results (ok, maybe if you keep throwing a LOT of money at it -- but eventually, the wheels fall off).

5. Can an experience be shared? If so, in what way, and among whom and how many individuals? Is the experience they share the same?

Robert

I think that an experience can definitely be shared, from one to many. I don't think that the number really matters.

When I think of a shared experience, I think of such things as attending a concert. This is an experience that is shared by many. The experience is shared among friends that are with you, but is also shared by the people around you. Other shared experiences are amusement park rides, museums, transportation (buses, trains), sporting events (watching and participating), and even going through a tragedy (Holocaust survivors, 9/11, etc.). The list goes on and on.

I think that a shared experience can be both the same and different. There are many factors involved that affect the outcome of an individual's or a group's common experience. So, yes, experiences can be shared by one or many, though the outcomes could vary.

Aaron Cooper

Please see my related post at my sim.ultaneo.us blog. I recently started this blog and I'm always looking to contribute to the “experience” design conversation. I'm an interaction designer by trade, with “experience” in product development, architecture, interactive design, and graphic design.

Now, in direct response to your question...

:: Can an experience be shared?

No. I perceive “experience” as a very personal process wherein a person within a group (through an online interface) or individually, concurrently filters, processes, and synthesizes sensory input. This personal “experience” is influenced by:

* The person's mental model related to the activity – past ”experiences“ within a similar environment engaging in a similar activity
* The person's relationship, familiarity and cognizance with and of the ”interface“ and other people in the space where the activity takes place
* The person's belief structure
* The person's desires and expectations
* The intention and thought process behind the interface

... And the list of variables goes on

I think of ”experience“ on both the micro and macro levels. A macro experience is composed of micro experiences. How well, and to what extent, interfaces convey and translate the sensory input determines the meaningfulness, memo ability, and impact of the ”experience.“ Experiences can abruptly change or evolve any of the personal experience influencers mentioned above, thus changing subsequent experiences. Thus, although I argue that experiences cannot be shared (not as a whole, inextricably linked set of variables), they can be ”chained“ together or connect at certain points with the experiences of other people.

:: If so, in what way, and among whom and how many individuals? Is the experience they share the same?

I don't make a distinction between, for instance, ”online“ and ”the real world.“ In terms of experience, every space, situation, environment, interface, etc., represents ”the real world.“ Thus, as we look at the chain of personal experiences, we understand that we never ”share“ the same experience. We may share the impact of experiences on the variables I've mentioned, we can expose points, but we never share the whole personal experience.

Kent Larsson

Yes, an experience can be shared with one other person or a stadium full of people. Even if two people have the same expectations of an experience, they may perceive or interpret the actual experience differently. Their immediate and long-term perceptions of the experience may differ, too.

(Image: Stammer Productions)