#UXRConf Preview: Meet Nanako Era
A Q&A on building inclusive products for Airbnb and a sneak peek at her talk in June
Strive: #UXRConf 2019 is only a few months away and we’re super stoked! We have an exciting lineup of speakers who are gearing up to share their experiences and insights from the UX research space. As we get closer to the big date, we’ll be introducing our amazing speakers so you can learn more about them. ✨
This time, the spotlight is on Nanako Era! Nanako is an Experience Researcher on the anti-discrimination and in-home accessibility teams at Airbnb, where she works on finding ways to create equal access on the platform for all users and limit biases that affect decision making processes.
Drawing on insights from her work at Airbnb, Nanako’s talk at Strive will teach us how to include and amplify research results from underrepresented users who don’t feel a sense of belonging. Her talk will also take a closer look at the difference between how underrepresented users experience products vs. the general population.
I had the opportunity to ask Nanako a few questions about what drew her to Airbnb, the challenges of working on a product that has users from over 191 countries, and how we can advocate for inclusivity as UX Researchers. Check out what she had to say below 👇
Tell us about yourself and how you ended up with your dream job!
My undergraduate degree is in Informatics, which is a multi-disciplinary program that required us to learn everything from SQL/databases and front-end development to user experience design and research. Because of the breadth of topics we covered in undergrad, when I graduated, I felt like a jack-of-all-trades but not really an expert in anything. Out of everything I learned, I was most interested in UX design, so I worked at a small web app company as a designer for the first year and a half of my UX career.
While working at this web app company, I found myself constantly trying to understand who we were even building these apps for. None of us (besides the founders of the company) were in contact with our users. Building and designing off assumptions felt wrong — this is what initially sparked my interest in research.
After I convinced some folks at the company to fly us to our users so we could observe and talk to them about their experience using our apps, I realized how much I loved talking to users and hearing their feedback — more so than doing design & front-end work. I started looking into what the role of a researcher in industry looked like, and what it took to become one.
As I read through many research role responsibilities and requirements, it became apparent that a masters/PhD degree would be ideal to become a researcher, so I went on to pursue a human-computer interaction masters degree and focused on user research throughout my time at school. As I was job searching towards the end of my program, my program director had coincidentally been in touch with the head of research at Airbnb, and told me his contact information, unbeknownst to her that Airbnb was my dream job. And the rest is history!
What about Airbnb made you decide working there was your dream job?
When I was initially looking into what it takes to become a researcher, I had stumbled upon an Airbnb design blog post about their research team, which talked about how they conduct international research as a global company. This really resonated with me because as an immigrant I grew up around two cultures, which opened my eyes to how countries and cultures can have different perspectives. But I had never really thought about how products/websites could be perceived from different cultural perspectives, so this really sparked my interest in working at Airbnb.
But now I think that has shifted a bit — Airbnb is my dream job in a different sense. While conducting international research is exciting, I’ve come to realize that what energizes me more is working on problems that I feel are worthwhile and meaningful, where the problem space actually aligns with my interests. I feel really lucky to have found teams at Airbnb where I feel this way. And for me, I haven’t found a company where I believe in the mission as much as Airbnb, which is to create a world where anybody can belong anywhere. I think the fact that the two teams I’m on (anti-discrimination and in-home accessibility) are working directly towards creating that world makes this role my dream job.
This really resonated with me because as an immigrant I grew up around two cultures, which opened my eyes to how countries and cultures can have different perspectives.
What are some challenges of doing research for and designing a platform that has users from over 191 countries?
Airbnb is a platform where interactions between people are happening on a daily basis. When dealing with human interactions, people bring their experiences, perceptions, and at times, preconceived notions to the table, and this is where bias and prejudice can occur.
From a discrimination stand point, there are so many types of discrimination that can happen based on the region or country that you’re in. Some countries even have specific laws that make it hard for us as a company to truly create a world where anybody can belong anywhere. For example, in some countries, LGBTQIA communities are not even recognized, let alone allowed to stay in shared housing.
As a company, Airbnb of course has to abide by these laws and realize that there are different cultural beliefs that we must respect, but it can be hard when it conflicts with our mission. Some discrimination is also systemic and embedded into the country’s history — it can be challenging for our company to reverse hundreds of years of history, but it is a challenge we are determined to take on within our product and community.
It can be challenging for our company to reverse hundreds of years of history, but it is a challenge we are determined to take on within our product and community
Can you tell us why “equal access through technology” is important to you and how we can advocate for this?
As more people continue to immerse themselves in technology, tech companies have a responsibility to think about the consequences of what they’re building. Technology is a big part of people’s lives now — we have the power to help create equal access on these platforms and to avoid discrimination and inequity. For a moment, stop thinking about what will drive your main metrics and conversion for business profits and start thinking about whether your product is going to put certain groups of people at a disadvantage, especially those who have been systematically disadvantaged.
For example, Airbnb asked our users to upload photos before booking a home to build trust between hosts and guests, but we hadn’t questioned how bias could play into hosts’ decision-making process, thus putting certain guests at a disadvantage. Question your product’s status quo and ask yourself if certain groups of people might be experiencing it differently from how you assume most users may be experiencing it.
You will be part of our Research Foundations track aimed towards students and newer researchers. What advice do you have for this group of budding researchers?
A habit that I’d love for newer researchers to form is to always talk to a diverse set of participants to understand different perspectives. You have control over who you choose to talk to — include demographic questions (race, gender, sexual orientation, age, etc.) in your screener so you can make sure there’s a diverse set as you narrow down your participants. Because researchers are responsible for amplifying user stories, the more diverse set of participants we talk to, the more diverse set of stories we can tell, and the more inclusive we can make our products.
A more general piece of research advice is to invest in your relationships with your cross-functional stakeholders — you will need their support to put your findings into action! Take time to get to know them, both as a coworker and a person, and have regular one-on-ones. Show them the value of research by taking them along your process — invite them to observe, discuss themes, and synthesize with them so they can experience first-hand how awesome research is. This was a valuable lesson I learned from my mentor when I first started as a researcher!
Join Nanako to learn how to conduct research to build more inclusive products at Strive: The 2019 UX Research Conference
📅 June 6–7
📍 Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St, Toronto, ON, M5J 2H5
