Sentence or Title Case for Labels?

Odd ISO rules, but whatever you do, be consistant ...

"For those few of us who are deeply interested in forms, there’s nothing so fascinating as a subtle detail. Like, for example, the question that appeared in my email in-box earlier this month.

Martin McGuire wrote to me to ask 'How labels/captions for forms should be formatted'. As he points out, the ISO-9241 part 17 standard seems to recommend that the first letter of the word only is capitalised: It says that you should use: "Initial upper-case (capital) letter for field labels: To facilitate readability, the text field labels begin with an upper-case letter.

So, for example, the client’s labels are like this (taking a random selection): First Name, Last Name, Date of Birth, Email Address.

Whereas ISO 9241-17 would recommend labels like this: First name, Last name, Date of birth, Email address."   continued ...   (Via Usability News)

Quotes on the importance of Design !

A great list of quotes for User Interface Design ...

"In doing research for a DevTelevision.com segment on user interface design I found a collection of uotes on the importance of UI Design, the best are included here.

“[Users] said they were more likely to believe Web sites that looked professionally designed.”
—Stanford Web Credibility Study, 2002

“Design is so critical it should be on the agenda of every meeting in every single department.”
—Tom Peters, 2003

“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”
—Steve Jobs, 2003

“Beauty and brains, pleasure and usability — they should go hand in hand.”
—Donald Norman, 2003"   continued ...   (Via JoeOn.net)

INTERACT 2005

"The INTERACT '05 conference will highlight to both the academic and industrial world the importance of the Human-Computer Interaction area and its most recent breakthroughs on current applications."

The Politics of Pop-Ups, Pop-Up Blockers and the Pop-Up Error Message

Pop-up blockers prevent many error messages from popping-up ...

"Pop ups are dead- so what? First of all, let me just get this out in the open: there is nothing wrong with pop-ups per say.

Alas, with so many pop-up blockers (thank you to all the pop-up blocker tools) there is a need for a new kind of error message to help users orient to that which is supposed to be happening which isn't happening.

The American Automobile Association website has a great example of a user-friendly pop-up blocker error message. Bottom line- anyone using pop-ups on their site needs one. Leaving the recovery from a pop-up blocker's work to chance is not enough."   continued ...   (Via Demystifying Usability)

There is a larger image on the site.

Can user interface design be agile?

An interesting solution to a vexing User Interface Design problem ...

"The core principles of agile development focus on rapid feedback, frequent releases, and a close relationship with the customer. But many developers of enterprise systems spend most of their time working on back-end infrastructure and architecture that their customers will never see. Certainly non-visual functionality can work well in an agile approach where the customer specifies the "what" but not the "how", but how does this play out for user interfaces?

One of the challenges in UI development is translating a user goal into an intuitive interface that's fun to use. I say that because sometimes software that's easy to use initially, isn't particularly fun to use after you become familiar with it. All of those helpful, cheery animated paper clips and wizards that helped you get started suddenly become like fingernails on a chalkboard. SCREEEEEEECH!

So for a typical agile process, you'd work closely with the customer to develop user stories (requirements), then go off and produce something quickly, and touch base with the customer to see what they think.

Here's the problem - this assumes that they are capable of telling you how to adjust the user interface to better meet their goals. Chances are, they are just representative of the end users, and may not even understand what the best interface is for another class of user. Someone is going to have to make UI design decisions, and our customers might not be the best people to do it. Uh oh"   continued ...   (Via Agile Project Planning)

BuddyBuzz

A good UI for small amounts of text ...

"Over the course of the last year the lab has begun to develop an alternate means of reading text on mobile devices based on a system initially developed by the U.S. military. Known as Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (R.S.V.P.), the application cycles single words or small blocks of text on the screen of mobile phones allowing hands-free reading without the need for the user to scroll the text. As readers become more comfortable using the system, they can easily adjust the speed at which the text is presented. Over time, studies have shown that the system allows readers to not only increase the speed at which they read, but also improve reading comprehension and retention. The team has patented the technology, developed content partnerships with Reuters and CNET and is working on securing funding to further develop the application for potential commercial use."   continued ...   (Via Captology Notebook)

Outlook's clever modeless delivery of useful info

Sometimes we overlook good User Interface Design elements in our midst ...

"Microsoft Outlook, a dyed-in-the-wool client app, makes very effective use of a certain UI technique that comes up more often on web sites: whenever Outlook has additional information to communicate to the user, it does so in a modeless way by making room for the information in the window the user is working in.

For example, if you're scheduling an appointment over a time interval that contains other appointments, Outlook lets you know in a status area near the top of the main appointment window.

The "Conflicts with another appointment" message works so well because the information, which is clearly salient to the current situation, is delivered in a modeless way. A less thoughtfully designed client app would pop up a modal dialog to communicate the same information, getting in the way of the user and forcing them to dismiss the dialog before they could fix the problem."   continued ...   (Via flow|state)

What is captology?

A good set of definitions ...

"The term "captology" is based on the acronym: Computers As Persuasive Technology. Captology is the study of computers as persuasive technology.

So what's persuasive technology?

Persuasive technology describes any interactive computing system designed to change people's attitudes or behaviors. From the speed limit signs that display your speed as you drive past to computer games that help asthmatic children better treat their illness, any time any piece of technology from a mobile phone to a supercomputer influences the decision-making processes of a human it can be considered persuasive technology."   continued ...   (Captology Notebook)

Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do



Check-out more books at Usernomics.

The United Keys key-displays keyboard

It's always interesting to see new input device ideas ...

"Speaking of in-key keyboard displays, a company by the name of United Keys is also working on development of an interactive key display system, and expects to have a product on the market later this year. They expect theirs to have a completely customizeable interface for the icons that show up on-key, animated displays, and an open API. But how Elkin Acevedo’s patents will affect the Optimus and their own patents for the device is yet to be seen, same as exactly what products United Keys has got cookin’ over there."   continued ...   (Via Engadget)

Hierarchy Versus Facets Versus Tags

A great article talking about the pros and cons of Heirarchies, Facets, and Tags ...

"A truly first-rate hierarchy would not only have all of the characteristics of FN's hierarchy, but it would also manage to encode the hierarchy in such a way as to eliminate all ambiguity as to where an item might be found. FN comes pretty close. But you can always imagine that it might be hard to decide where that sock garter really goes? Bottoms? Legs? Ankles? Feet? It's also easy to imagine how that favorite pair of stretchy pants might do equally well @Home or @Gym.

As a result, Hierarchies are horrible at #3: Targeted search and retrieval of individual items. In a hierarchy where items can only live in 1 place, the messier the hierarchy is, the harder it is to figure out where to put an item and the harder it is to figure out where you put it, when it's time to find it.

But as you'll, see this is a problem even in faceted classification systems"   continued ...   (Via OSAF)

More from "The Don" Norman -- Activity-Based Design

A good evaluation of Don Norman's recent article ...

"The hottest thread on the SIGIA-L mailing list concerns Don Norman's recent essay, "Human-Centered Design Considered Harmful." In it, he advocates shifting away from human-centered design (what most of us call "user-centered design") towards activity-centered design.

His central point is not to focus on "the user," but on "the activity." User-centered design emphasizes understanding the user, their context, their circumstances, and what they're trying to get done. This is usually achieved through some form of field research, such as contextual inquiry. However, such field research only gives us a snapshot of a person at a particular point in time. If we were to come back a week later, the circumstances could be wildly different. Also, it only gives us a snapshot of *that* person... And users are nebulous, various, with a host of different strategies and approaches. Designing to serve "the user" often leads to lowest-common denominator design.

I'm disappointed that Don mentions "activity theory" in only a throwaway sentence, with no citations -- "The hierarchical structure comes from my own brand of "activity theory," heavily motivated by early Russian and Scandinavian research." Interested parties have no clue as to where to turn. I can't claim a full understanding, but Activity Theory has emerged as perhaps the second most important theoretical platform in human-computer interaction research, after cognitive psychology. A couple years ago I read the work of Yrjö Engeström, who has done a lot to make activity theory actionable. Unfortunately, the best paper of his that I read is locked up behind a publisher's wall..."   continued ...   (Via peterme)

The Making of A Video Game Console Interface - Xbox 360

What it takes in the real-world to roll-out a complete User Interface -

"Taking two years to design an interface may sound like a long time, but not when it’s for a media product. For the iPods and Tivos of the world, the difference between success and failure often lies in how quickly a person can learn the interface and begin using the device. As a result, such projects have lengthy timelines and budgets that would astonish the average Web designer.

Russ Glaser knows the pressure well. As group user interface design manager at Microsoft, he recently oversaw a two-year project that created the navigation scheme for the soon-to-be-released Xbox 360. His job wasn’t easy. While the previous Xbox was simply for gaming, the new version comes loaded with photo and entertainment capabilities.

“We added things to draw a wider audience, what we call the ‘digital entertainment lifestyle enthusiast,’” he says, the phrase not exactly rolling off his tongue. “That person could be a gamer, but is more likely a gamer’s mom.”    continued ...   (Via Design Interact)

The Web: How Metaphorical Can It Get?

Putting usability in perspective ...

"Quick! Give me a good reason as to why one should click on "Start" to close the Windows operating system on your PC. Sounds befuddling for a logical thinker -- or, for that matter, for any Charlie on the street with the ability to put two and two together. Here's one for the Mac user (just in case you are smiling away!) …why on earth would you drag a file icon and drop it into the trashcan to eject your floppy? What's one got to do with the other? Welcome to the chaotic world of user interface design where icons come in the form of objects from your toddler's toy box to the memorabilia and souvenirs of your lost love. Take this chaos to the celebrated Web world, and you have a whole new, bigger and mightier animal to contend with.

When people interact with Web site interfaces, they bring to the encounter a lifetime of experience. Expectations learned in other areas of life can affect how site users think a menu system, a navigation format or a query system on the screen should work. For instance, when we press an elevator button, we expect to see a light or other indication that our request has been accepted and an elevator car is on its way. If no lights show up or bells sound, we think the button or the elevator is not functioning. The same expectations carry over when we request a piece of, say, "inventory availability information" on a Web-based supply-chain management tool. Communication experts would refer to this effect as the "constructivist theory," psychology experts would rather call it as the cognition process of the human mind. In the language of the programming hack, it would be called "widgets and metaphors."   continued ...   (Via siliconindia)

Seven Myths of Usability ROI

No belief in HCI ROI ...

"Daniel Rosenberg began his talk by confessing that he doesn’t believe in usability Return on Investment (ROI). Having spent 30 years in the field of User Experience (UE), and never having been asked to justify usability by its ROI, Rosenberg raises a question: Why are we still discussing this topic?

Rosenberg expressed his opinion that the current ROI models are inadequate and “it is only fair that no CEO would believe them.” Conventional usability ROI theory becomes hard to prove when the data is unreliable, so it’s not clear whether good usability increases sales, market share, customer satisfaction, and profitability. And it is not obvious that poor usability leads to higher training costs, higher support costs, and longer schedules.

Rosenberg concluded that the limited case studies perpetuate a set of myths about usability ROI and went on to present them in a very lively and controversial manner.

Myth #1: Generalization is Valid
Myth #2: Calculation of ROI from the Producer Perspective
Myth #3: You Can Ignore the Other Factors
Myth #4: Analog Comparisons are Not Required
Myth #5: All Usability Dollars are Spent Effectively
Myth #6: Executives will Believe Voodoo Economics
Myth #7: UE Resources will Reduce the Software Schedule"   continued ...   (Via China HCI)

Spotting the Trends

A discussion of the hot topics in HCI this year ...

"In this report, I present a few personal notes from the CHI 2005 conference, which took place in Portland, Oregon from April 02 - 07, 2005. As this was my sixth CHI conference, I apologize for not being as enthusiastic as many of my colleagues whom I talked with about it. There is definitely a difference between whether you listen to an interesting presentation for the first or for a third or fourth time. My comments maybe somewhat biased due to my previous CHI and HCI experiences.

On the other hand, I attend the CHI conferences to find out how the HCI field changes over time and whether we experience “progress” or not. Each CHI conference that I visited marked a specific point in time and helped me to spot trends and to integrate them into my personal picture – or puzzle – of our still emerging field. Apart from the pure HCI trends, there are also organizational and business trends that cannot be overlooked. Currently there are heated debates on:

• Cost-justifying usability using measures, such as ROI (return on investment) or TCO (total cost of ownership)
• Reducing costs for usability activities by outsourcing and offshoring
• The growing pace of company reorganizations and how they affect the HCI profession
• As the CHI 2005 conference reflected these topics, I will focus on them in my report.
• The self-image of the HCI community as a profession (science, engineering discipline, craft, art …)"

   continued ...   (Via China HCI)

Don Norman's essay, Human-Centered Design Considered Harmful

An insightful article first published in the July-August, 2005 issue of ACM's Interactions ...

"Human-Centered Design has become such a dominant theme in design that it is now accepted by interface and application designers automatically, without thought, let alone criticism. That’s a dangerous state — when things are treated as accepted wisdom. The purpose of this essay is to provoke thought, discussion, and reconsideration of some of the fundamental principles of Human-Centered Design. These principles, I suggest, can be helpful, misleading, or wrong. At times, they might even be harmful. Activity-Centered Design is superior.

One basic philosophy of HCD is to listen to users, to take their complaints and critiques seriously. Yes, listening to customers is always wise, but acceding to their requests can lead to overly complex designs. Several major software companies, proud of their human-centered philosophy, suffer from this problem. Their software gets more complex and less understandable with each revision. Activity-Centered philosophy tends to guard against this error because the focus is upon the Activity, not the Human. As a result, there is a cohesive, well-articulated design model. If a user suggestion fails to fit within this design model, it should be discarded. Alas, all too many companies, proud of listening to their users, would put it in."   continued ...   (Via paper & pencil)

Customer Experience in Four Steps, and a Whitepaper

A better User Experience with simplicity. There is also a good white paper for downloading ...

"Remember Einstein's famous precept? "Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler."

That's been on my mind lately as I've described customer experience to potential consulting clients and others.

Stated as simply as possible, but not simpler, there are four steps in transforming the customer experience within a business:

1. Listen to the business.
2. Listen to the customers.
3. Synthesize the two inputs.
4. Suggest improvements.

Remove any of these steps, and the method no longer works. Add anything, and it either fits inside one of the four steps or it might be irrelevant. In other words, I think this four-step model achieves Einstein's goal."   continued ...   (Via Good Experience)

First Principles of Interaction Design

This is a 2003 paper but well worth another look ...

"The following principles are fundamental to the design and implementation of effective interfaces, whether for traditional GUI environments or the web. Of late, many web applications have reflected a lack of understanding of many of these principles of interaction design, to their great detriment. Because an application or service appears on the web, the principles do not change. If anything, applying these principles become even more important.

Effective interfaces are visually apparent and forgiving, instilling in their users a sense of control. Users quickly see the breadth of their options, grasp how to achieve their goals, and do their work.

Effective interfaces do not concern the user with the inner workings of the system. Work is carefully and continuously saved, with full option for the user to undo any activity at any time.

Effective applications and services perform a maximum of work, while requiring a minimum of information from users."   continued ...   (Via AskTog)

Kafka anti-bureaucracy Website yields Streamline Government

Perhaps we in the US could have a site like this. Nice UI though ...

"In a stunning display of user-centredness, the Belgian Government has saved $281M and sorted out some absurd regulations.

For two years, Belgians have had a place to complain about the worst officialdom of their Government's practices, set up by the offendor itself. Belgian officials have now announced that the initiative has saved $281M as well.

'The site www.kafka.be was set up by the government in 2003, encouraging individuals and businesses to come up with examples of needless rules and regulations.'"   continued ...   (Via Usability News)

How Groups of People use iTunes to listen to Music and manage their Work Identities

New technology, new products, new usability, new UI ...

"Listening In: Practices Surrounding iTunes Music Sharing" by Amy Voida, Rebecca E. Grinter, Nicolas Ducheneaut, W. Keith Edwards and Mark W. Newman was a high spot at CHI2005, offering a very different perspective on music 'sharing' from the slightly hysterical discussions of piracy and how to control copying that are dominating the field.

Their paper dealt with the social practices surrounding the iTunes music sharing of 13 people in one organisational setting, based on accounts from the participants. As well as examining adoption, critical mass, and privacy; they tackle the more particular issues of impression management and access control; the musical impressions of others that are created as a result of music sharing; the ways in which participants attempted to make sense of the dynamic system; and implications of the overlaid technical, musical, and corporate topologies. From this analysis, they pull out design implications that go well beyond those analysis of use that centre round the individual user.

'The ability to see and subsequently judge others’ playlists arose when Apple released a version of iTunes that supported the sharing of music collections on the same subnetwork via the Rendezvous (also known as OpenTalk or ZeroConf2) discovery protocol. Suddenly, individuals could listen to and examine not just their own music collection but those of anyone on the same subnetwork,' they point out."   continued ...   (Via Usability News)

Problems in Navigating Online Help: Clues from User Search Patterns

Good information for developing online help from instructional technology ...

"Much has been written on writing online help systems. Farkas (1999) provides a detailed explanation of the strengths and weaknesses of seven different genres of instructions?wizards, flowcharts, playscript procedures, the interface annotation model (balloon-type help), paragraph format, the rich step format, and the streamlined step format. Shroyer (2000) promotes using reader-role theory to assess the style preferred by the audience in a help system, and uses it to explain the demise of Microsoft's PaperClip feature. Pratt (1998) uses instructional design theory to inform her recommendations for writing help, including starting with a foundation of procedural information, adding background theoretical information to deepen user understanding, and including practice.

Problem 1: Framing the Search Question
Problem 2: How Does this Search Target Relate to the Structure of the Help System?
Problem 3: How Do I Move Up in the Structure?
Problem 4: How Do I Move Laterally to Another Topic at the Same Level?
Problem 5: How Do I Move to Declarative or Procedural Topics?"   continued ...   (Via Writers UA)

World's First Ambient Experience Suite Opens

Now here is an improved user experience that is ready when you need it most ...

"The Ambient Experience suite uses Philips' lighting and consumer electronics to create a welcoming and patient-friendly environment for children undergoing medical scans. Featuring a Philips Brilliance CT (computed tomography) scanner in a room with curved walls, it lets young patients choose a theme - or 'ambient environment' - for the room by waving a radio frequency card over a reader to project cartoons and animation themes onto the walls and ceiling using Philips technology. They can also use the Kitten Scanner.

Designed specifically for children scheduled for a CT scan, the Kitten Scanner will let them 'scan' a stuffed elephant or their own toys at the touch of a button. Animation appears on a screen that shows children what doctors are looking for inside the toy and tells them a story about each one. The aim is to show them how the machine works and help ease any anxiety they may be feeling."   continued ...   (Via PhysOrg)

Should Design inform Social Policy?

A philosophical notion of the effects of design on social policy ...

"Does design have a role in implementing social policy and addressing political challenges? In an informal debate on "Design and Social Policy", the July meeting of AIGA Experience Design in London weighed up just how far designers should be engaged in the political practices of shaping society. Talking from the front bench were panellists: Ben Rogers, Associate Director/Head of the Democracy team at the ippr; Richard Eisermann, Director of Design and Innovation at the Design Council and James Woudhuysen, Professor of Forecasting and Innovation at De Montfort University.

The meeting was adversarial in flavour, which rather reduced its value as a discussion. Here is an account of what might be of interest, given this reservation."   continued ...   (Via Usability News)

Managing The Human Factors That Affect Technology ROI

Good tips for how to design with user acceptance in mind ...

"Most IT professionals realize the basic tenet of new technology: if the users won't use the application, the return on investment will likely be negative. But that doesn't mean human factors have to derail a project. Identifying barriers to adoption and planning strategies to address them as part of your deployment can make adoption as painless as possible -– and give you key milestones to ensure your project delivers value.

Nucleus Research has identified four basic categories of human barriers to technology adoption. By placing potential roadblocks into these categories, organizations can recognize them based on their root cause and use specific techniques to limit their negative impact on a project's value. The four types of adoption barriers are individual, structural, hierarchical, and cultural."   continued ...   (Via InformationWeek)

Google Maps Ads Hybrid View

A very nice UI with value-added information ...

"If you haven’t heard yet, Google Maps has added a hybrid view to their mapping service, allowing you to overlay the street names on top of the satellite images.

This is truly useful because you can see individual buildings (even houses) as well as the name of the street they are on. "   continued ...   (Via Bokardo)

The usability specialist's favourite: Heuristic evaluation

A basic introduction to heuristics and desired outcomes ...

"To measure the usability of an interface design, you'll need to use one of the many evaluation techniques available. Here we look at one favoured by usability professionals

Heuristic evaluation is a widely used and popular usability evaluation technique. It's the process of judging the extent to which various elements of an interface comply with recognised usability principles (or 'heuristics'). It's a systematic process of inspection intended to identify specific usability problems which you can then address throughout the iterative design of the product. You can carry out heuristic evaluation on design specifications or even paper mock-ups with good effect — for this reason it is often employed very early on in the design cycle before a complete product exists.

Heuristic evaluation requires the input of at least one usability expert, whose background will enable them to make more informed judgements about the usability of the interface and identify the problems more comprehensively. More experts will identify more problems, although after five independent reviews the incremental value of each successive review declines rapidly."   continued ...   (Via Builder UK)

Yahoo Buys 'Widget' App Maker

New UI opportunities to play with ...

"Hoping to pave a new path to its popular Web site, Yahoo has acquired Konfabulator, a tiny software maker that provides a computer platform for monitoring the weather, stock prices and a wealth of other customized information without opening a Web browser.

Konfabulator's widgets can be programmed to perform a wide variety of tasks. The most popular applications are local weather and stock quotes, Rose said, but third-party developers have developed thousands of other uses.

For instance, there are widgets that monitor the local traffic or show the remaining power left on a laptop computer's battery . Other more whimsical widgets serve up comic strips and horoscopes. The Yahoo deal "gives us whole new buckets of content to grab stuff from." Rose said."   continued ...   (Via E-Commerce News)

Amazon No Longer the Role Model for E-Commerce Design

The bigger they are the harder they fall ...

"Many design elements work for Amazon.com mainly because of its status as the world's largest and most established e-commerce site. Normal sites should not copy Amazon's design.

It's usually good to copy the big guys. When people grow accustomed to a certain design, following it in your own interface supports transfer of learning and thus increases usability. If you're designing an application, follow the lead of Microsoft Office -- for example, use a floppy-disk icon to denote "save" (even though nobody saves to floppies any more). If you're implementing a search feature, copy Google.

For e-commerce usability, Amazon.com used to be the model. In 2001, we evaluated the usability of twenty e-commerce sites and Amazon was the clear winner, scoring 65% higher than the average of the other nineteen sites. Having the Web's best usability served Amazon well: sales increased by 126% from 2001 to 2004.

Amazon has recently changed so much that the average e-commerce site will reduce its usability by emulating its design too closely. Paradoxically, Amazon's design may work well for Amazon itself. The company is simply so different from other e-commerce sites that what's good for Amazon is not good for normal sites."   continued ...   (Via Alertbox)

Belated Review: Emotional Design, by Don Norman

Well worth a second look ...

"This review is not belated relative to my reading of the book -- I only finished it this past weekend. But it is belated relative to the book's initial release -- which is getting on a couple of years now.

To its credit, Emotional Design is the best recent book on design I've read for the last couple of years. It's success is due, in large part, to its simplicity. Don puts forth a theory on how design "works" -- how people develop relationships with things in their life.

This book is definitely worth reading. Its thesis is straightforward, and Don provides many examples. His discussion of the visceral and behavioral levels is rock solid. He starts to get... fuzzy when discussing the "reflective" level, if only because the subject is so necessarily fuzzy. It covers everything from identity (how does this object reflect on me) to culture (how is this reflection guided by my cultural circumstances) to memory (how do I think back on using that product, what stories do I tell about it?)."   continued ...   (Via peterme)

Emotional Design: Why We Love (Or Hate) Everyday Things



Check-out more books at Usernomics.

Pay that bill On Time or your car won't start

Now there you have a User Experience that would be hard to not understand ...

"Bad credit! No credit! We’re practically giving these things away… but make sure you pay that bill, or the little black box connected to your brand new used car’s electrical harness will prevent the thing from starting. Yup. So while used car dealerships may have been rolling with Payment Protection Systems’ On Time device for a while now, we can understand why since at least one dealer’s delinquent payment rate went from down from 35% of customers to an astounding 5%. Hey, used car dealers usually have names like Crazy Larry, not ones like Stupid Larry."   continued ...   (Via Engadget)

No Learning Curve as the Most Important Feature of a Web App

You can say that the perfect UI is one that requires no learning curve ...

"Jason Fried says that the most innovative software in the next 10 years will come from companies like his, those who build web-based applications for very small businesses.

Jason says: “What they (independent freelancers) crave are low/no-learning curve, simple focused tools that let them get their work done quickly and then get out of their way.”

Note the low/no-learning curve part, I think that’s key. This is exactly the feature that people need when they can’t find an immediate answer to the question: “how is this application better than the one I’m currently using?”."   continued ...   (Via Bokardo)

HOW TO make a "Windows Vista" (Longhorn) Auxiliary Display (now)

A new UI with real promise. And you can build one now ...

"Earlier this year Microsoft and ASUS showed a new technology that might be baked in to future laptops, an auxiliary display, a small LCD on the outside of a laptop that can display email, battery, CPU, Wi-Fi signal and all sorts of things. It's much like the Flipstart (that hasn't shipped). I like the idea, but don't wait to wait until Windows Vista/Longhorn so here's how to make your own that's almost as good...It's also a great and cheap way to add a LCD to a PC case, this HOW TO uses the now free Konfabulator! Here's how!...

From the Microsoft press release- Auxiliary displays. An ASUS-designed auxiliary display concept for mobile and desktop PCs and peripheral devices, such as cell phones, remote controls, keyboards and watches, offers immediate access to calendars, recent e-mail, digital media and other data. It would also offer updates on the status of the PC while the machine is turned off or the lid of a mobile PC is closed

There have been rumors that MS might use the SPOT watch technology for this too, that could be interesting as well."   continued ...   (Via MAKE)

The Voyage of Discovery Continues: A Satellite View of the Journey of Lewis and Clark

A very nice use of satellite maps for an interactive learning experience ...

"To commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery expedition from 1803-1806 and the 125th anniversary of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the USGS National Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) has assembled a collection of satellite images that provides a contemporary view the route that Lewis and Clark took from St. Louis, Missouri, to the Pacific Coast."   continued ...   (Via USGS)

Computer science is really a social science

An excellent perspective. The relationship of HCI and Computer Science ...

"OK, maybe this is obvious to everybody outside the field of computer science; but within the field, we are in the process of a major paradigm shift -- when I get excited, I describe it as a Kuhnian "scientific revolution in progress", which might be stretching things, but just a little. Computer scientists have historically identified either as mathematicians (ah, the purity) or physicists (pretty good purity and much better government funding); but if you look at the kinds of problems we are trying to solve now (bunches of different aspects of the security problem, privacy, usability of pervasive computers, changing business models, e-voting) it seems pretty clear that the key issues relate to people and the way they communicate and organize themselves, rather than discovering the underlying physical laws of the universe -- in short, the domain of social sciences.

The intersection of this new perspective with traditional computer science is probably farthest advanced in the area of HCI, and permeates the areas of intellectual property protection (e.g., Copyleft and Creative Commons) and the whole blogging/social networking software area. However, these are all areas that are well outside the mainstream of computer science. Some aspects of these ideas come up in the work of people in related fields (a short list appears as an appendix); in particular, the field of software engineering is based on computer science as well as other disciplines, and so inherently involves consideration of the social and organizational aspects of software. However, if you start to look around at some of interesting kinds of approaches people are investigating and/or putting into practice in many different areas, it becomes clear that many of them are exploring this area (consciously or not). In this brief essay, I'll concentrate primarily on the sub-disciplines of network/software security, and software architecture/development."   continued ...   (Via Microsoft Research)

2006 International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces

IUI 2006 is the annual meeting of the intelligent interfaces community and serves as the principal international forum for reporting outstanding research and development on intelligent user interfaces. Sydney, Australia, 29 January 2006 to 1 February 2006"   continued ...   (Via IUI)