Doing well. Thank you so much for participating in this interview. We're not evaluating you in any way. We are learning from you about how you look for information online, what works and what doesn't work for you. With this, we can hope we can make our product better for people like you. There are no right or wrong answers to any of the questions I'm asking in this study. We're simply interested in understanding how you research and navigate environmental and sustainable practices online. In doing this, I hope to gain insight into what resources you are looking into and what sources you view as valuable and trustworthy. We will conduct the study mostly as a discussion where I will ask you to show me how to do things and ask you questions to better understand what you do. There will also be some active engagement. So feel free to interact with me and speak louder any thoughts you may have. Here's how the session is going to be scheduled. We'll ask you a few general questions about how you search the web for environmental topics including environmental justice and sustainability actions on a day to day basis. Then we'll go through the activities you do to learn about environmental and sustainable practices for us. While you are working on the environmental and sustainable action item tasks, we'd like you to think aloud, which means to give a running commentary of what's going on in your mind. You can talk about things you like or don't like, feel free to say anything that comes to your mind. Don't worry about offending us, since we didn't design the products that you will be interacting with. We will record audio of you so that I can go back and review things later and make sure we get everything right. We won't use your name in connection with the recordings. And any videotapes will only be used internally and never shared anywhere with anyone. How does all that sound to you?
That's fine. I would prefer not to be video recorded.
Okay, we will only be audio recording. Do you have any questions at this point?
No.
At this point, I'm going to ask you to turn off your cell phone.
Done.
We will now begin. So to start off, I'm going to ask you some background questions. First question is how old are you?
29.
What are you doing occupationally at the moment?
I'm an administrator.
What are some of your interests and hobbies?
I enjoy the outdoors listening to music and spending time with family and friends.
How often do you search the internet for information?
Oh probably almost daily.
Where do you find yourself browsing the internet most often at home in public spaces, etc.?
Mostly at home sometimes at work.
What is your go to search engine?
Google.
What device do you use most often to search for information.
I use my laptop and my desktop
what makes you feel successful when searching for information?
When I find what I'm looking for.
Do you often run into issues and are not successful at finding the information you need?
Once in a while?
How do you gauge trust of things online?
I typically look at the source to make that assessment
Do you tend to share information that you find online with others
not usually
Delving into today's topic, do you have much of an interest in environmental sustainable practice topics?
Somewhat.
Do you have certain beliefs or causes that you support on the issue?
Nothing other than just doing my part in small ways. Like recycling, things like that.
Do you have any concerns or motivations about sustainability and environmental issues?
I think just motivation to again contribute to improving our environment
what sources of information do you use to inform yourself
in terms of sustainability,
yes.
I usually just rely on information shared through my workplace or other notifications other than that I don't really search for information
are you indirectly involved with any organizations on this topic?
No.
With the methods you described, is there something in particular that inspires you?
Not really.
In your view, what is the most useful source of information on environmental and sustainable sustainability issues?
I don't really know of a useful source I rely on you know announcements, or people other people sharing.
Great. that now concludes the background questions. We're now going to delve into the user activities and observations of tasks which will make up the bulk of this interview. We ask you to demonstrate some activities on environmental sustainability. So now let's do them. When you're doing these tasks, use whatever website or tools that you'd normally use and please think aloud.
So we will now begin with activity one and you have free range of the computer and I will now state the first activity.
The first activity is to spend some time researching and looking into an environmental topic or issue.
At this point you will have a little time to begin your search and I will make my observations.
So just anything environmental?
Yes
Our objective here is to gain insight into what environmental issues you are interested in. You ideally want to come to looking at some websites and at which point I will ask you some questions and have some guided instructions.
There are definitely a lot more issues than I know about or environmental problems. Not gonna look at any of these ads because I don't trust them such as say ads.
So as you continue looking into this task, I'm going to start asking you a few guided questions to gain some insight into what you are thinking about. What are your initial thoughts on this search? I know you mentioned something about ads and in terms of trustworthiness? What are some other initial thoughts you have?
I can't believe how many issues there are since I don't follow this topic this closely I'm quite surprised at just the vast number of environmental issues that we face today that are listed
In this time have you found anything specific to your liking?
I mean as far as information it looks like there's a lot of good information here.
Have you located any practical tips on ways to live more sustainably?
I have not that may have to do with how I searched because I was looking for environmental topics and not so much ideas on how I could implement sustainability
what have you liked about the webpages that you've landed on? From the information and also just aesthetically on the other sites?
I think some look like they're just a whole bunch of information overload and they're not as inviting to read others are organized in a way that just makes it easier to digest this information. Those I've seen both kinds of websites in this search
on the ones that are most inviting what stands out.
What stands out is they include pictures that's a font size that's easy to read and and they are sort of bite size, digestible pieces of information. So just easily digestible.
Great. At this point we will now move on to activity 2. Activity 2 ask the following. Perform some research on deforestation and ecosystems being destroyed.
And ecosystems
being destroyed. As you begin looking, I'll guide you to start looking at various sites throughout the search and then we will move on to some guided questions and instructions.
Ok
Ahh there's a ton of information. *sneeze* Bless you
So, if you've been drawn to a specific site, why have you been drawn to it?
Well, I've had a chance to go to a couple of sites. And I don't know that I'm I'm drawn to either one but the couple I've seen so far I like how they're organized again, easy to read. Easy to understand. And they provide good information.
Great. Have you found anything anything aesthetically pleasing about the sites that you've been on so far?
So far, they've all been pleasing, have good pictures. Good data.
How did you gauge with trustworthiness of the sites that you are on?
Um, I haven't I look for familiar sort of organizations who I just trust. So for example, one of them's National Geographic. So
Would you recommend the sites that you've been looking at to other people?
Certainly this one I would
and which one is that?
National Geographic.
I feel it's, you know, known sort of trustworthy organization. The other one I'm not familiar with the organization, but just by by the name. It sounds like they would be trustworthy. It's worldwildlife.org.
Realistically outside of this interview, how much time would you spend on this topic looking into things?
Not too much.
Great, all right. At this point, we will now move on to activity three. The last and final activity as part of the major observation period of this interview. So, activity three is as follows. Research large food brands and corporations that you eat and see how environmentally friendly or sustainable their practices are.
Well, the nutpods I have partnered with someone a company and they're using plant pack sustainable packaging. And of course the source of the nutpods is plant based. And I love chocolate. And Lindt chocolate says 100% of cocoa beans are sourced, traceable and externally verified by an independent third party.
Great. So you went ahead and answered my first question in that process in what are some of the products that you chose to look up? Are these big brands and small brands and how often do you think about the impact of the environment and sustainability when making purchases at the grocery store?
These are large companies. I'm assuming certainly. blended the chocolate company is but I don't always think through sustainability prior to making purchases at the grocery store.
Did anything else stand out to you in the research that you performed on this topic?
What stood out to me is how easily and quickly you can find out whether a company has sustainable practices or not.
Would you or do you consider frequently looking up researching and shopping in this manner?
Yes.
Is there any other details from the research that we've done through our activities today that has influenced the way that you view this topic?
I think it makes me think that I want to spend a little bit more make a little bit more effort in looking at the products that I purchased to see if they have sustainable practices or not.
Great. So now at this point, we are going to move on to the post questions as this concludes the activities section of today's interview and survey. So the first set of questions are going to be on problems and to get your feedback on the experience today. So first off Did you experience any issues when completing these tasks?
No.
Did you find it hard? Did you find it hard to find a a trustworthy source of information?
No.
And did you find the information interesting and appealing?
Yes.
What about it made it interesting and appealing?
It was interesting information. And I think also just helpful and eye opening.
What information if any, did you gain from completing these activities?
I learned more widely the environmental issues that face this world today
did you come to any conclusion such as there being practical ways to practice sustainability on a day to day basis?
Yes, I will be looking at how to make more sustainable purchases moving forward.
What other activities or information may help you to learn more or get more inspiration?
Perhaps a newsletter or some sort of feed that might give ideas and news on the subject might be interesting to read ocasionally, I wouldn't have time to read it frequently.
We're gonna move on to additional methods now. Can you recall a time where you could not find related information on a topic you are trying to learn more about?
Not often, but when that happens I find it's because I need to just change the words or phrases I'm using in the search engine
In the times that you found it more difficult. How is it made? How has it made you feel?
Frustrating.
What are potential improvements that you could have seen on the interface and have improved that?
Some suggested changes to the search words or phrase.
besides searching for things on the internet, what are other ways that you may look into environmental protection topics and practices?
Look at packaging and usually people pay attention to in general what you know what others are doing, what opportunities there are to be more sustainable.
So we're gonna head towards the final questions of the interview today. Do you have any methods for learning about this topic or any other topic that you find yourself doing all the time?
Nothing other than searching like I did today.
What do you think would be the most effective way that would encourage working professionals like you to practice more sustainable actions on a day to day basis?
Just learning practical ways to be more sustainable?
Do you have anything to add to this topic? Any internal thoughts that I may have missed out on when you're asking you these questions?
No, these were interesting topics and good food for thought.
Okay, lastly, do you have any questions for me?
I do not.
Great. Thank you so much for your participation in this interview. Your feedback and interactions with the tasks were very helpful. I appreciate your time.
