%% DATAVIEW_PUBLISHER: start
```dataviewjs
const table = dv.markdownTable(
["Metadata Field", "Value"],
Object.entries(dv.current())
.filter(([key]) => {
const allowedKeys = ["tags", "post_status", "date_modified"];
return allowedKeys.includes(key);
})
.map(([key, value]) => {
try {
// --- Key Renaming ---
if (key === "post_status") {
key = "post status";
} else if (key === "date_modified") {
key = "last modified";
}
// --- Value Reformatting ---
if (key === "last modified") {
try {
const parsedDate = moment(new Date(value));
if (parsedDate.isValid()) {
value = parsedDate.format("YYYY-MM-DD");
} else {
console.log("Invalid date format:", value);
}
} catch (error) {
console.error("Error parsing date:", error);
}
} else if (Array.isArray(value)) {
value = value.map((item) => "#" + item);
}
return [
key, // Removed icon prepending
key === "tags" || key === "post status" ? value.join(" ") : value,
];
} catch (error) {
console.error("Error processing metadata:", error);
return [key, "Error"];
}
}),
);
dv.paragraph(table);
```
%%
%% | Metadata Field | Value |
| -------------- | ------------------------------------------ | |
| -------------- | ------------------------------------------ | --- |
| tags | [#meta](app://obsidian.md/index.html#meta) | |
| post status | [#stub](app://obsidian.md/index.html#stub) | |
| last modified | 2025-01-08 | %%
%% DATAVIEW_PUBLISHER: end %%
>[!summary|no-t] Summary
>>[!summary|expertise txt-ss] Expertise
>>I'm AJ (he/him) — a UX Research Leader with over a decade of experience in directing mixed-methods research initiatives that blend qualitative depth and quantitative rigor to disambiguate problem spaces.
>
>>[!summary|approach txt-ss ] Leadership Philosophy
>>I build high-impact research teams through mentorship, establishing operational best practices, and maturing methodologies.
>
>>[!summary|focus txt-ss ] Academic Research
>>I'm currently an information science PhD candidate researching the digital preservation of participatory hypermedia.
| about-1_1 | |
|:----------------------- |:----------------------------------------:|
| ![[about-1_1-tree.jpg]] | **figure about.1:** your humble narrator |
# statement of practice — r&d&d
My work is grounded in the intersection of people, processes, and products. As a user research leader, I don't just conduct studies; I build research functions that cultivate informed intuition and an ontology-first culture. I help organizations move from isolated data points to a durable, interconnected understanding of their customers, ensuring that every strategic decision is grounded in evidence.
This practice revolves around a twist on a memorable phrase: **R&D&D**—Research, Development, and Documentation.
## Research
This is the foundation: a mastery of methodologies to uncover the "why" behind user behavior. My approach is rooted in a mixed-methods cycle that builds confident, evidence-backed recommendations. I start with qualitative inquiry—in-depth interviews and contextual observation—to deeply understand the nuanced, often unstated, needs that frame a problem space. I then validate and model these patterns at scale through quantitative analysis, designing and fielding surveys and using techniques like [[mixed-methods modeling|Behavioral Pattern Mapping]] to segment users by their actions, not just their demographics.
To ensure quality and scale this practice, I champion collaborative frameworks like **Trio Research**. This model for moderated sessions involves three distinct roles: an **Interviewer** focused on data extraction and rapport, a **Notetaker** focused on precise data capture, and a **Moderator** who manages the observation room. This structure is a leadership tool that scales the impact of research by:
- **Improving data quality:** By separating facilitation from note-taking, we ensure no detail is lost.
- **Building empathy at scale:** The Moderator turns passive observation into an active discovery process for designers, PMs, and engineers.
- **Mentoring the team:** By rotating roles, I coach colleagues on the full spectrum of research skills, building acumen across the entire product organization.
## Development
This is where insights become tangible. I use code—primarily R, Python, and SQL—to gather, clean, analyze, and [[gamifying pharma|visualize data]]. This technical fluency allows me to move beyond canned tools and build what's necessary for the task, whether it's scraping data from multiple APIs for a [[price presentation levers|competitive analysis]], creating quantitative lookalike models to enrich personas with survey data, or developing interactive data visualizations that allow stakeholders to explore the findings for themselves. This pillar is about building the tools and systems that make rigorous, large-scale research possible.
## Documentation
This is how research creates lasting value. An insight that isn't socialized or discoverable is an opportunity lost. I build systems for creating research artifacts optimized for impact and longevity. This means moving beyond one-off reports to build reusable knowledge bases founded on the principle of **"Nuggetization"**—transforming discrete observations into tagged, evidence-supported, and searchable insights. This "docs-or-it-didn't-happen" mindset ensures that we create a powerful, compounding understanding of our users over time.
This multi-faceted approach, combined with my doctoral research as an information science PhD candidate in [[21_site/flashpoint archive|digital preservation]] and participatory hypermedia, fuels my passion for building systems—whether they are for research, knowledge, or software—that are robust, scalable, and built to last.
# a.m.a.
- I've been building and maintaining computer systems and programs for fun (and profit) for over 20 years.
- My Ph.D. research focuses on the digital preservation of multi-platform, participatory hypermedia.
- I like writing fiction, and reading non-fiction.
- My all-time favorite video game is _Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back_.[^1]
- I'm mad into digital preservation, copyleft, and 'free and open-source software' (FOSS[^2]).
- I use Arch, [btw](linux_user_at_best_buy.png).[^3][^4]
![[contact#^83635d]]
# footnotes
[^1]: “Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (1997).” Accessed December 10, 2024. https://www.mobygames.com/game/4952/crash-bandicoot-2-cortex-strikes-back/.
[^2]: “What Is FOSS? What Is Open Source? Are They the Same Thing?,” September 25, 2020. https://itsfoss.com/what-is-foss/.
[^3]: “BTW I Use Arch,” November 8, 2021. https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/btw-i-use-arch.
[^4]: “Linux User at Best Buy.” Accessed December 10, 2024. https://www.xkcd.com/272/