Wizard of Oz Technology!

02 Nov 2022

As someone who has responded to various surveys and participated in studies, I’ve have yet to have participated in a test involving Wizard of Oz (WoZ) prototyping; at least, if I have, then the researchers have done an amazing job at keeping me largely unaware.

What is WoZ Prototyping? Just like when the so-great and powerful wizard of Oz was using scare tactics to scare Dorothy and her friends – when in actuality a mere man was controlling the “powerful wizard” and putting on an act – WoZ prototyping involves surveys and user testing with fake features, that makes the users think that responses are automated and computer-driven, when actually someone behind-the-scenes is sending responses.

Here’s the scene again from the WoZ 😂 Toto exposed this mans:

I didn’t really understand the point until after Arvind featured the example video of a user testing out an “interactive TV” that allowed for various hand gestures and motions, along with voice activation, to navigate through basic functionalities (like adjusting volume and entering apps like YouTube). WoZ prototyping is extremely cost-conscious! It allows researchers, developers, and designers to learn from how users would approach the hypothetical model without the costs (time, energy, money) taken to actually make the model, and have to adjust it after taking into consideration the general surprises that come about when users participate in tests. I could see that WoZ prototyping would be especially useful for most models involving AI (like Arvind’s example), considering the high complexities and costs!

Finally, one step further – have you ever experienced technology that exists depending on WoZ methodology? aka you think it’s computer-driven, but someone’s actually duping you behind the scenes? I fell for all the tricks, until I finally caught on!

This website goes way back to 2010, when I was in the fifth grade, and I was in hagwon (which is a culturally Korean-styled afterschool program). My friend entered a website where she would submit a petition and ask a personal question to a computer genie figure named Peter, and Peter would magically respond with the correct answer – not knowing my life story, who I am, or who I interact with. My friend would slickly suggest questions to ask, mostly the ones that he would know the answers to, like “Who’s my teacher?”, “What’s my dog’s name?”, and “Who’s my crush?”

To my surprise (and fear), this computer genie knew everything! How was Peter getting everything right? I couldn’t figure it out until I looked at what my friend was typing in the petition input, which would always be, “Peter please answer the following question.” Within that input, she would actually be typing in the right answer, but on the screen, it would appear as if “Peter please answer the following question” was being typed. After learning the secrets, I started to dupe my other friends who didn’t know the truth behind Peter’s omniscience.

If you want to try it out on your friends, go to Peter Answers! If you want to read the secrets behind this fake genie, here you go! Have fun, fellow WoZ testers!