Re: [IxDA Discuss] Better (was Strategic Interaction Design)
Hi Christina, Sounds like a great book, do you know the author? "Whose Body is it Anyway" returns a couple of results on Amazon. I'm guessing it is the one by Cecil Fabre? Just want to make sure I have the right one. Thanks, Patrick On Tue, Jan 6, 2009 at 9:55 AM, Christina Wodtke wrote: > I'm changing threads in hopes for making some people's lives better. > > Regarding Complications, I first made the connection between this excellent > collection of essays on practicing medicine and design when John Zapolski > placed "Whose Body is it Anyway" on the desks of his fellow design managers > are yahoo and suggested we read it replacing the word body with design. > Reading it, it was clear that the question of "design ownership" could be > seen through the question of treatment choices for a patient. In both cases > the doctor and the designer is the expert, but in both cases the business > owner/product manager and the patient will live wiht the consequences of > those choices. obviously it's a big difference in scale of repercussions. > Many of the essays deal with questions of practice, and design is all about > practice. > > I'd say that Better is even more about design, since it's 100% about how > can > we become better at our practices. For example, his article on the > Checklist > (also in Better) > http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/12/10/071210fa_fact_gawande > > They are also compelling books in their own right, well written and > entertaining as well as educational. > > > > On Tue, Jan 6, 2009 at 3:42 AM, Mike Padgett >wrote: > > > Christina, > > > > At the risk of pushing the off-topic thing too far, I read Atul Gawande's > > "Complications" a couple of years ago and it was indeed excellent but I > > confess to being surprised that it might have been highly relevant to > design > > (or rather that I missed that ;-)). > > > > Would you mind elaborating just a little on that? I remember reading it > for > > general interest (at the same time as Mary Roach's marvellous "Stiff": I > > think I must have been having a mortality check) and I'm wondering now if > I > > need to take a second look! > > > > Thx, > > > > Mike > > > > --- > > Mike Padgett > > www.mikepadgett.com > > --- > > > > > > >Yes. Outliers is good also. If you love these, try "Better" and > > >Complications" by Gladwell's pal Atul Gawnde. HIGHLY relevant to design, > > >despite being about medicine. > > > > > >On Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 4:05 PM, Angel Marquez gmail.com > > >wrote: > > > > > >> Is 'The Tipping Point' as good as 'Blink'? > > >> > > >> On Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 1:45 PM, Robert Hoekman Jr > > > wrote: > > >> > > >> > > > > >> > > Wilken's Law: > > >> > > The effectiveness of research is inversely proportional to the > > >> > > thickness of its binding. > > >> > > > > >> > > > >> > I couldn't agree more. In fact, Gladwell's book Blink even backs up > > this > > >> > idea. > > >> > > > >> > Back to the topic now ... > > >> > > > >> > -r- > > >> > > > >> > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > > >> > To post to this list ... discuss at 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 ... discuss at 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 ... discuss at ixda.org > > >Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > > >List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > > >List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help > > > > > > Reply to this thread at ixda.org > http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36909 > > > 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 ..
[IxDA Discuss] proposal writing resources
I'm looking for recommendations on proposal-writing resources (As in a business proposal to a prospective client, not research or grants): books, articles, blogs, you name it. If anyone has any personal advice or recommendations that would be great too. Feel free to send to me and I will summarize and post, or reply directly to the list. Thanks! Patrick Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Points and Rewards in a Social Networking Site
Timothy, Have you read Clay Shirky's "Here Comes Everybody"? He has loads of both theoretically interesting and practically useful insights about social tools, but the last chapter in particular talks about the success of social tools as a function of three criteria: the Promise, the Tool and the Bargain. The Promise is "the why", it creates the basic desire to participate. Sometimes the implicit promise (the pleasure of like-minded peoples' company) actually matters more than any explicit one (discussing interaction design) in motivating people to participate. The Tool is "the how", it defines the types of interactions that the group will rely on. To this extent, a good social tool is like a good woodworking tool, in that it "must be designed to fit the job being done, and it must help people do something they actually want to do." That latter part is critical - the ranks of ditch diggers won't swell overnight simply by designing a better shovel. Also, tools vary in the types of groups they are expected to support. Small groups are effective at creating and sustaining agreement and shared awareness, whereas larger, distributed groups can often generate better answers by pooling their knowledge or intuition without having to come to agreement (wisdom of crowds). By understanding the two basic constraints of group action – number of people and duration of interaction – any given tool can be analyzed for goodness of fit. Finally, the Bargain defines the "rules of the road" and sets participants' expectations about what is expected of them and what they can expect from others. The Bargain is the most complex aspect of a functioning group, in part because it is the least explicit aspect and in part because it is the one that the users have the biggest hand in creating, which means it can’t be completely determined in advance. So, the answers to your questions are in large part dependent upon these criteria. Is it a small, densely linked group or a larger, distributed community? How strong will the social bonds be among participants and will they persist over time, or will people come together intermittently for brief periods? Are you trying to facilitate sharing (imposes lowest cost to participate), collaboration (harder because it involves participants changing behavior to synchronize with one another) or collective action (requires a group of people to commit themselves to undertaking a particular effort together, and to do so in a way that makes the decision of the group binding on the individual members)? If you have time, I would definitely recommend picking up a copy of "Here Comes Everybody" - the last chapter focusses on these ideas and also talks about tactical approaches to designing successful social tools (Make joining easy, create personal value for individual users - a la del.icio.us, etc.), some of which would seem to be no- brainers, but then you look at a lot of what's out there and... Anyway, good luck, keep us appraised of your progress. Patrick On May 9, 2008, at 2:47 PM, Timothy Makoid wrote: "Hey everyone, I am a student majoring in Information Systems with a concentration in HCI/ID/UX/HF. I'm working on my final project and we are designing a small scale social networking site. Were trying to come up with a sort of gaming system that encourages the users to interact with each other and the site. There are a couple ways to earn points: by taking quizzes based on stories, by sending different forms of greetings to each other, and by setting up goals for each other and achieving them.(Thats what we have currently). Were having a couple issues though. First of all, we are trying to figure out what the logic should be for distributing the points. It is my thought that since quizzes have the benefit of being a fun task that engages the user, they should be worth the least amount of points. (Maybe each correct answer is worth 1) While sending messages, and making dedications to other users should be worth more. The second issue is what the points should be worth. We can not make them worth anything of physical value, as the site is supposed to be realistic and we could not feasibly afford sending out rewards. My thought is that points could be redeemable for site customization. Ex: a. New background images to choose from. b. New css color schemes. c. New videos or stories could be given. We have also toyed with the idea of making the points worth virtual stuff for some sort of virtual world. (Perhaps a virtual garden and with the points you can buy virtual seeds and watch flowers and plants grow over an alloted amount of time, or a virtual house and with the points you can buy virtual furniture to populate it). Finally Im thinking about allowing users to give away a certain amount of points at the end of each month (each user gets an allotted am
[IxDA Discuss] web-Second Life registration process
I'm working on a project for a client that has a presence in Second Life, but wants their customers to register through their own site first. This is partly so they can customize the user's SL experience, and partly because some of the target audiences may not be familiar with SL. Putting aside the rather large question of whether SL is in fact the appropriate platform for what they're trying to accomplish (which has been raised repeatedly), I'm wondering if anyone can share examples of similar web/SL hybrid experiences. The one I have found thus far that mirrors the approach my client wishes to take is the CSI:NY Virtual Experience: http://alpha.cbs.com/primetime/csi_ny/second_life/ http://csi-ny.reg.electricsheepcompany.com/join-secondlife/csi-ny/avatar The CSI web site has a registration wizard that allows you select a custom avatar, name, etc. Then, when you download and run the SL app, it drops you into a special CSI:NY orientation island that explains the rules of the CSI game. Is anyone aware of any similar registration processes - where the registration takes place partly or entirely outside of SL? Thanks, Patrick Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Interaction Design and Theatre
Not sure if this is the kind of thing you are thinking of, but Troika Ranch is a dance/theater company that focuses on interactive performances. I believe they have even developed their own software for such purposes: http://www.troikaranch.org/ There's also a Yahoo! Group run by students in the Performance and Interactive Media Arts program at Brooklyn College: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pimatalk/ On Feb 19, 2008, at 11:24 AM, Maria De Monte wrote: > Hello, > > just wondering... does anyone of you has information about > interaction design studies applied to theatre? > I've tried to put up a show using human-machine interaction > principles a couple years ago, and the results were astonishing. > I'd like to keep on working in this sense of direction. Anything in > Dublin, Ireland? > > Thanks, > > Maria :-) > > > > > ___ > L'email della prossima generazione? Puoi averla con la nuova Yahoo! > Mail: http://it.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html > > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > 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 ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Digital Instrument Interfaces
Also, not sure if the JazzMutant Lemur has any connection to the League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots (LEMUR), but another great resource if you are interested in novel musical instruments: http://www.lemurbots.org/videoandaudio.html The artist Bjorn Schulke has also created instruments that are triggered by proximity and are weirdly beautiful, almost alien-looking: http://www.bitforms.com/index.php? option=com_content&task=view&id=29&Itemid=58#id=99&num=1 :PG On Feb 19, 2008, at 2:24 AM, Loren Baxter wrote: > Did anyone else see Daft Punk rocking out at the Grammys? They > played the > coolest instruments I've ever seen - four multitouch screens with > various > graphical elements controlling an array of synth and software > backend. ( > http://tinyurl.com/2krxy9 - the solo three quarters of the way > through the > video ) Further research uncovered this: the Lemur by JazzMutant ( > http://www.jazzmutant.com/lemur_overview.php ). If you're at all into > music, sound manipulation, and visualization, take a look. Has > anyone here > had experience with these or other audio control devices? Any > thoughts on > the design? These are thought provoking from an IXD perspective - > a very > different sensory space than your standard UI. > > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > 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 ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Digital Instrument Interfaces
Sony BlockJam: http://www.sonycsl.co.jp/IL/projects/blockjam/ contents.html Yamaha Tenori-On: http://www.global.yamaha.com/design/tenori-on/ What I like about each of these interfaces is that I feel like I could figure out pretty quickly how to use them to make some pretty cool sounds, which might even have the qualities of "music," despite the fact that I can't carry a tune in a bucket. The UI abstracts the underlying principles of music composition to a degree where I can make sense of them based on physical mappings in space and variations in feedback. They are like "conceptual models" that reflect my (limited) understanding of music, as opposed to a traditional instrument (physical/analog or software)'s "implementation model" UI, which reflects notes, chords, pitch (?) and lots of other things I don't really understand. If you are a virtuoso, or even moderately skilled musician, you'd likely find these interfaces limiting after experimenting with them for a while. On the other hand, by forcing a trained musician to think differently, they might also be valuable sources of insight and inspiration. Patrick On Feb 19, 2008, at 2:24 AM, Loren Baxter wrote: > Did anyone else see Daft Punk rocking out at the Grammys? They > played the > coolest instruments I've ever seen - four multitouch screens with > various > graphical elements controlling an array of synth and software > backend. ( > http://tinyurl.com/2krxy9 - the solo three quarters of the way > through the > video ) Further research uncovered this: the Lemur by JazzMutant ( > http://www.jazzmutant.com/lemur_overview.php ). If you're at all into > music, sound manipulation, and visualization, take a look. Has > anyone here > had experience with these or other audio control devices? Any > thoughts on > the design? These are thought provoking from an IXD perspective - > a very > different sensory space than your standard UI. > > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > 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 ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] Recruiting research participants
My client is a news and entertainment site that is considering expanding their focus from a single genre to covering a variety of related/overlapping genres (sci-fi, horror, mystery, etc.). Accordingly, in addition to their own user base, they want to conduct research with fans of related genres. I'm looking for a firm that can help me screen and recruit participants and handle scheduling logistics. Would be great if they are in the New York area, but not required. Any recommendations? Thanks, Patrick *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Verifying a user is human
ReCAPTCHA is an interesting innovation on traditional CAPTCHA technology: http://recaptcha.net/ "reCAPTCHA improves the process of digitizing books by sending words that cannot be read by computers to the Web in the form of CAPTCHAs for humans to decipher. More specifically, each word that cannot be read correctly by OCR is placed on an image and used as a CAPTCHA. This is possible because most OCR programs alert you when a word cannot be read correctly." On Nov 29, 2007, at 10:18 AM, Chris Maissan wrote: > I am in the process of designing a support forum for a software > product. The > goal is to make it as easy as possible to ask a question. Ideally > I'd like > to do away with the need to login all together, but it also needs > to be Spam > resistant. > > > > I've looked a little into the CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public > Turing > Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart) method, better known as the > "distorted text method", but questions have been raised about both its > accessibility and effectiveness. > > > > There is the option of sending an activation email. However, this adds > several steps for the user and is not without its own issues (Spam > filters > etc.) > > > > Does anyone have any thoughts on the best method to confirm a user > is human? > Maybe a third option I haven't thought of? > > > > Cheers, > > Chris > > > > Some links on CAPTCHA > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captcha > > http://www.w3.org/TR/turingtest/ > > > > > > > > > > > *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* > February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA > Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ > > > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] EVENT REMINDER: NYC IxDA - The 7-Minute IxD Soapbox (a.k.a. Pecha Kucha) - Tue, 11/13
We were working on an IxDA version of the "Rumsfeld Fighting Technique": http://www.poe-news.com/features.php?feat=31845 On Nov 14, 2007, at 11:33 AM, Robert Barlow-Busch wrote: >> 4. It appears to me that pointy shoes, both men women, are really >> fashionable as according to this event. > > It seems that a few specific hand gestures are fashionable, as well... > ;-) > > How was the event, BTW? Did people enjoy it? I'm especially curious > because > the Waterloo F2F held a similar event last spring and I suspect we > could > learn from each other's experience. For instance, we had a few > suggestions > that 10 minutes would be better, but I'm not sure about that: we > chose 7 > minutes because it's enough time to cover almost any idea, but > crazy-short > enough that speakers wouldn't be tempted to cover too much ground. > > Would love to hear from folks who attended the NYC event. > > -- > Robert Barlow-Busch > Director of User Experience > Terapath Inc. > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* > February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA > Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ > > > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Users ability with slider controls
Really? What about using sliders to set threshold values for filtering data on the fly? For example, I quite like how Kayak.com does this with different criteria for airline flights, e.g. - departure time, layover time, price, etc. on the bottom-left: http://www.kayak.com/s/flights.jsp? searchid=iRza_w8B4cB5pz_sZJvo&completed=true On Nov 5, 2007, at 7:28 AM, Jon Baker wrote: > Hi, > > I think sliders are good for selecting approximate values, where > there is clear (immediate) feedback as the slider is used. They work > well for volume controls or zoom controls which is where they are > commonly used. From my experience they are not partcularly useful for > precision selecting of a value. With a volume control there is audio > feedback and the user is rarely in the position of thinking I want > exactly 33dB, rather thay want appoximately the correct volume that > is not defening, but can still be heard. With the zoom, the user > generally wants to zoom to the point that what they are zooming is > large enough for their needs. They are rarely thinking I need to zoom > this to 300%. > > If precise entry of a number is needed then use something else. For > rating systems I think the selectable stars work well. As to thumb up > thumb down controls. > > > . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . > Posted from the new ixda.org > http://gamma.ixda.org/discuss?post=22044 > > > > *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* > February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA > Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ > > > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe http://gamma.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines http://gamma.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .. http://gamma.ixda.org/help *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://gamma.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://gamma.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://gamma.ixda.org/help
