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Context
I conducted this interview in the Fall of 2019 while taking Dr. Duffy’s Textual Rhetorics class. I had first been inspired to speak with Dr. Sano-Franchini after reading her technical communications article titled, “What Can Asian Eyelids Teach Us about User Experience Design?” in Dr. Lane’s Special Topics in Technical Communication class. The article focuses on the differences in racial and cultural experiences of UI/UX design, and how technical communicators can be sensitive of social issues while developing websites and other interfaces.
At first, I struggled to think of specific questions that I could ask Dr. Sano-Franchini in the interview. Though I generally knew what I wanted to learn from her, I wasn’t sure what the best questions to ask were. I ended up creating a Google Doc for my classmates and myself; since we were all assigned an interview project, we all collaborated on thinking of good questions to ask and how to ask them.
I felt that the interview went well; Dr. Sano-Franchini was very kind and answered all of my questions thoroughly. She provided great context for all of her answers, and even offered to review the final paper for me before I submitted it.
Lessons Learned & Future Plans
Dr. Sano-Franchini’s “Asian Eyelids” article used a wide variety of complex case studies and methodologies to examine the intricacies of social and cultural interactions with UI/UX design. Because of this, I was intimidated before interviewing Dr. Sano-Franchini; I certainly thought that I could never write something so incredibly detailed and well-thought-out. However, Dr. Sano-Franchini was both humble and gracious, and she explained that the article took many revisions and months of research to complete. I learned from her that I am also capable of writing this type of article as long as I am willing to dedicate the time and effort.
Dr. Sano-Franchini offered many helpful tips and tricks for academic writers, from standard time-saving and note-taking tips to more complex writing guidelines. I still return to this paper often whenever I need reminders or motivation for writing my research articles. I am certain that I will reread this paper frequently in my editing career, as well.