Re: [IxDA Discuss] [anthrodesign] Norman replies to Nussbaum
Jared and others, In case it wasn't clear, I believe argumentation about whether needs or technology came first isn't a fruitful way forward. More importantly, we should examine what we mean by 'disruption'. In my comments, I said: Ultimately, the measuring stick that we ought to use is the amount of impact each (tech vs. design) brings to the innovation process. ... It is much easier to think of major disruptions coming from the technology side. ... To wit, that's why it we call it a disruption! It disrupts current ways of doing things. There is an element of surprise in the disruption, suggesting that the need might not have been there yet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=48144 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] JOB: Information architect; Chicago, IL, USA; Univ. of Chicago; contract (ASAP)
Hello all, and happy new year - The University of Chicago is seeking an experienced information architect to work on a contract basis for a website redesign project in January. The IA will work with a project team to conduct site audits, usability testing, card sorting, surveys, focus groups, interviews and similar information architecture methodology, to define business and user requirements and create recommended information architecture and supporting wireframes or prototypes. Qualifications include: ? A minimum of three years of professional experience in information architecture and/or interaction design for websites and web applications ; ? A minimum of two years of client management experience; ? Experience defining and documenting use cases and functional requirements; ? Experience wireframing or prototyping in Axure, Visio, Illustrator or similar. * A portfolio of sample use cases, site architecture, wireframes and similar documentation. The position can be full or part-time and requires some on-site work at our Hyde Park campus. Please note this is not a graphic design position; all applicants must be able to show samples of use cases, site architecture, and wireframes/prototypes. If you are interested in learning more, please contact Sara Worrell-Berg at swberg at uchicago.edu with a cover letter, resume and portfolio URL. The project will start in early January, so the search will move quickly. Thanks, and feel free to contact me with any questions! Sincerely, Sara -- Sara Worrell-Berg Director, NSIT Web Services The University of Chicago 773-834-8154 773-251-4032 (cell) swb...@uchicago.edu http://nsit.uchicago.edu/groups/webservices/ The University of Chicago is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer (AA/EOE). Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] [anthrodesign] Norman replies to Nussbaum
Analysis of history (such as Norman's essay) tells what approach has been used most frequently, but it fails to answer the implied question of 'what is the best approach?' Everett Rogers (diffusion of innovation) provides significantly more insight into what makes products successful. In an earlier writing Don got it right... it is form, function and fit. Technology... a business initiative... user needs, they all led to potentially successful products. MBA's and Engineers have been running businesses for the last 100 years. It is no real surprise that their domains have lead these product efforts. As for disruption... I might suggest looking at Christensen's definition. It has more to do with taking advantage of established companies tendencies towards arrogance and complacency (my interpretation). Rooted in efforts to maximize profit in the short term... that arrogance typically leads to overestimating the profit a company can extract from the next transaction. Smart companies share the profit in each transaction with the purchaser in an attempt to build a long term relationship. The least costly customer to attain is the one you already have... and sustainable longer term revenue is the key to building a company. Focusing on the next reporting period typically leads to something along the lines of a mugging... which of course is not sustainable. Most disruptive efforts (as displayed by Christensen et al) undercut established company's pricing by stripping away features that are not desired by the consumer. Mark On Jan 1, 2010, at 9:54 PM, Ed H.Chi wrote: Jared and others, In case it wasn't clear, I believe argumentation about whether needs or technology came first isn't a fruitful way forward. More importantly, we should examine what we mean by 'disruption'. In my comments, I said: Ultimately, the measuring stick that we ought to use is the amount of impact each (tech vs. design) brings to the innovation process. ... It is much easier to think of major disruptions coming from the technology side. ... To wit, that's why it we call it a disruption! It disrupts current ways of doing things. There is an element of surprise in the disruption, suggesting that the need might not have been there yet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=48144 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] [anthrodesign] Norman replies to Nussbaum
On Jan 3, 2010, at 9:26 AM, mark schraad wrote: Analysis of history (such as Norman's essay) tells what approach has been used most frequently, but it fails to answer the implied question of 'what is the best approach?' Everett Rogers (diffusion of innovation) provides significantly more insight into what makes products successful. In an earlier writing Don got it right... it is form, function and fit. Technology... a business initiative... user needs, they all led to potentially successful products. MBA's and Engineers have been running businesses for the last 100 years. It is no real surprise that their domains have lead these product efforts. The interesting thing about analysis is what is left out as much as what is included. There have been many instances of technologies that haven't revolutionized the world or even been interesting to the customers it was intended for. Some technologies (like the Apple Newton) were important from an evolutionary standpoint while being a practical marketplace failure. Great experiences come after we've mastered the technology. You can't even begin to talk about experience until you've done that. If you look at the DVR as a game changing radical experience, you couldn't talk about it without talking about the VCR first. But the VCR was an experience disaster, albeit popular in the marketplace, because the market was satisfied by the technology alone. The demand of great experiences only comes from the frustration left behind by a better understanding of the experience because of the rough edges of the technology. As for disruption... I might suggest looking at Christensen's definition. It has more to do with taking advantage of established companies tendencies towards arrogance and complacency (my interpretation). Rooted in efforts to maximize profit in the short term... that arrogance typically leads to overestimating the profit a company can extract from the next transaction. It's interesting you bring that up. I was just listening to Prof. Christensen talking about just that: Reinventing Your Business Model | HBR IdeaCast http://blogs.bnet.com/intercom/?p=1937 For big, established firms, introducing a new business model is no easy task, especially when there’s some start-up poised to steal business the minute the competitive landscape changes. But according to disruptive innovation expert Clay Christensen, if companies truly understand how their new business model relates to the old one, a profitable transition is possible. Christensen points to IBM, which switched profitably from the mainframe market to the PC market, for proof that it can be done right. See this article too: http://bit.ly/5B6dyn Basically, his thesis is that it isn't arrogance that prevents moving to the newer disruptive business model. It's an investment in marginal profits. In the podcast, he blames business school professors, including himself, for focusing MBAs on ignoring sunk costs and focusing on marginal profits. He says that when you compare pure financial ROIs, the existing business model will always look better than new disruptive business models, since the new model has higher up front costs. That's why, he claims, it's really hard to switch. If you find this subject interesting, I highly recommend you read the article and listen to the podcast. Jared Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] [anthrodesign] Norman replies to Nussbaum
On Jan 1, 2010, at 9:54 PM, Ed H.Chi wrote: In my comments, I said: Ultimately, the measuring stick that we ought to use is the amount of impact each (tech vs. design) brings to the innovation process. ... It is much easier to think of major disruptions coming from the technology side. ... To wit, that's why it we call it a disruption! It disrupts current ways of doing things. There is an element of surprise in the disruption, suggesting that the need might not have been there yet. You did say that and I apologize for removing that part of the quote. However, I don't completely buy it. There's both active and latent needs. Active needs are what we know right now, what we can elaborate. (Right now, I need a chocolate chip cookie.) Latent needs are needs that I have, but I can't elaborate because I don't have a context to put my words into. Fax machines changed the world of communication, giving us the ability to transmit documents over huge geographical distances almost instantaneously. But the need to do that wasn't new. It went back thousands of years, which is why emperors and wealthy business men used messengers. However, if you went back to one of the emperors of the Ming Dynasty and asked them what they needed, they would never say they needed a fax machine. And to Don's point, the ethnographers of the time wouldn't have come up with that design solution either. The question about disruptions is: could the disruption happen earlier than it does? Or do latent needs require time to hatch? Jared Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Good news for Visio users
I agree this is refreshing to see! I would still like to see measurements in Pixels. On Thu, Dec 31, 2009 at 1:26 PM, Jonathan Abbett jonat...@abbett.orgwrote: It's nice to see some formal recognition of our community by the Microsoft Visio Team. http://blogs.msdn.com/visio/archive/2009/12/22/wireframe-shapes-in-visio-2010.aspx Wireframe Shapes in Visio 2010 Visio has long been regarded by interaction designers and information architects as an essential tool in their work. Many software wireframes (aka software mockups) are built using Visio, and they can range from mobile software, interactive web sites, to enterprise application software. In the past, Visio included a set of Windows XP stencils for such work. For Visio 2010, we decided to refresh those stencils by providing a brand new set of Wireframe shapes that are generic and not specific to the operating system. The intent is to offer the UX community with medium-fidelity UI shapes and icons that can be used to create wireframes for general software design for a wide variety of platforms (e.g. mobile, internet, windows). Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Good news for Visio users
On Jan 3, 2010, at 4:09 PM, stacy felish wrote: I would still like to see measurements in Pixels. And not just in Visio! We're repainting the home office and it would be nice to know how many pixels of paint we'll need. :) Jared Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Good news for Visio users
That reminds me! I always wanted to be able to take a picture of my living room, play with the colors on the wall via photoshop, and then bring my new favorite hex/rgb code to home depot for a perfect match... Even better... just hook my laptop to the Home Style Virtualizer® uplink (through the Wall Fi®), and tweak wall colors on the fly. -Mike C. On Jan 3, 2010, at 2:17 PM, Jared Spool wrote: On Jan 3, 2010, at 4:09 PM, stacy felish wrote: I would still like to see measurements in Pixels. And not just in Visio! We're repainting the home office and it would be nice to know how many pixels of paint we'll need. :) Jared Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] day to day - get web color from graffile to clipboard
Mike, I haven't yet figured that out. Perhaps the feature is available in OmniGraffle Pro, but I haven't found it in the cheaper version. But here's a workaround: Get the Paciello Group's free Colour Contrast Analyser for Mac, from http://fwd4.me/A7S. Then use it to sample each of the colors you need for your design. You can read the hexadecimal values of the sampled colors in the Colour Contrast Analyser interface. It sounds klugier than it really is. Still, I'm puzzled as to why I can't quickly find a way to read the hex values from OmniGraffle itself. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=48172 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] [anthrodesign] Norman replies to Nussbaum
Our favorite design Jester is at work again. (It's usability! No, it's aesthetics! No, it's technology! ;) - I probably skipped a few) It is of course a very interesting discussion that leads us to think about what technology really is, and what user needs really are. Norman shuffles these around a bit as the need for fast, easy and cheap communication 1000 years ago does not include the need for email, and cavemen tamed fire just for the fun of it. I do believe that cooking was not directly a priority, but that safety and warmth could (nobody knows) have led to the taming of fire (the technology of controlling fire). There are of course many technological innovations that were driven by needs; we only have to look at the army and its history to find an abundance of examples there. But these are very strong, obvious and immediate needs (ie: 'don't die'). Not the kind of needs you need a design researcher to uncover, and not the kind of needs Norman is probably aiming at. But what are the kinds of needs he is aiming at? Hidden needs that large groups people have in common, which a design researcher might uncover, and which would lead to a break through technology? That these hidden needs did not lead to technologies such as the airplane is in my opinion not really a fair assesment of the design practice. ;) I think that there are still plenty of ways in which design research drives technology, but often geared towards very specific user groups (also by virtue of the nature of design research). And if technology is: the practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area then design can do nothing but drive technology. But again, this is probably not the kind of technology that Norman is talking about. All in all I believe that Norman creates rigid divisions where reality is much more vague, very cyclical and very co-dependant. And surprisingly at a time in which technology, design, and needs are seemingly rapidly shifting in value - where the line between design and functionality is becoming much less defined. (see The Transmedia Design Challenge: Technology that is Pleasurable and Satisfying http://interactions.acm.org/content/?p=1318) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=48144 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] Fwd: [anthrodesign] Norman replies to Nussbaum
-- Forwarded message -- From: Sam Ladner samlad...@gmail.com Date: Sun, Jan 3, 2010 at 11:36 PM Subject: Re: [anthrodesign] Norman replies to Nussbaum To: anthrodes...@yahoogroups.com Hi Arvind, *scratches head* so, according to norman, we needed healthcare after doctors were invented? or transportation after wheels were invented? or democracy after governments were invented? I have to agree as well. I confess I don't have very strong opinions on this post because I think it partly was in the spirit of provocation, and not passionate belief. If that were its intent, it certainly worked! When I think about the thesis that true disruptive innovation comes from radical designs in engineering, all I can think about is Whyte's ridiculous thesis that the invention of the stirrup changed the political economic history of Europe. This is technological determinism, plain and simple. What Norman misses (and I'm pretty sure he really knows to be true) is that disruptive innovation is not about the artifact itself but the temporal, social, economic, and political context of the innovation. This is what Latour meant when he said that artifacts are IRREDUCIBLE to any other artifact. This is what Heidegger meant when he said that we are products of our attachments and involvements. Can you design a particular social, economic, and political context for a new innovation to be taken up within? Absolutely! That is what good ethnography does is understand the social, economic and political space. Good ethnographers understand how that space functions, and how artifacts fit within that space. Simple design research on the other hand, looks at the artifact and its social context. Its conclusions are typically focused primarily on the artifact's design, not that of the social context. So it's valuable, yes, but effective? All encompassing? Disruptive? Sometimes, maybe with a little luck. I personally am way more interested in designing the social context, through the use of building social capital, for example, or by empowering people with little voice in social / design charettes. -- ~ Sam Ladner, PhD Sociologist Toronto __._,_.___ Reply to sendersamlad...@gmail.com?subject=re:+%5Banthrodesign%5D+Norman+replies+to+Nussbaum| Reply to groupanthrodes...@yahoogroups.com?subject=re:+%5Banthrodesign%5D+Norman+replies+to+Nussbaum Messages in this topichttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/anthrodesign/message/8251;_ylc=X3oDMTM0cmM2b3Y1BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzc2NjUyMzAEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDgzNDQ5BG1zZ0lkAzgyNjMEc2VjA2Z0cgRzbGsDdnRwYwRzdGltZQMxMjYyNTMzMDMwBHRwY0lkAzgyNTE-( 4) Recent Activity: - New Membershttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/anthrodesign/members;_ylc=X3oDMTJmc2tqYXRmBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzc2NjUyMzAEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDgzNDQ5BHNlYwN2dGwEc2xrA3ZtYnJzBHN0aW1lAzEyNjI1MzMwMzA-?o=6 4 Visit Your Grouphttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/anthrodesign;_ylc=X3oDMTJlOHMzMnZyBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzc2NjUyMzAEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDgzNDQ5BHNlYwN2dGwEc2xrA3ZnaHAEc3RpbWUDMTI2MjUzMzAzMA-- Start a New Topichttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/anthrodesign/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJldmhiZTFnBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzc2NjUyMzAEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDgzNDQ5BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA250cGMEc3RpbWUDMTI2MjUzMzAzMA-- MARKETPLACE Going Green: Your Yahoo! Groups resource for green livinghttp://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=14kqhtolc/M=493064.13814333.13821539.13298430/D=groups/S=1705083449:MKP1/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1262540230/L=/B=KSOahkPDhE8-/J=1262533030871150/K=BIVFUipSe0G5TrYLa4lmHA/A=5922843/R=0/SIG=11ckn2mo6/*http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/green/ [image: Yahoo! Groups]http://groups.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTJkNTNsMmlvBF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzc2NjUyMzAEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDgzNDQ5BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA2dmcARzdGltZQMxMjYyNTMzMDMw Switch to: Text-Onlyanthrodesign-traditio...@yahoogroups.com?subject=change+delivery+format:+Traditional, Daily Digestanthrodesign-dig...@yahoogroups.com?subject=email+delivery:+Digest• Unsubscribe anthrodesign-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com?subject=unsubscribe • Terms of Use http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ . __,_._,___ -- @jarodtang http://designforuse.blogspot.com/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
