Usabilty of the post-it

A great piece on why computers have such a long way to catch up on the usability of the
post-it, can the argument of Activity Centred Design be a way in that the usability of technology can edge closer to such integration in understanding.

MIT researchers argue that computers need to become as easy to use as those yellow sticky notes.

Office workers are like electricity: When they want to get something done, they follow the path of least resistance.

Which is why, say researchers at MIT, the Post-it note continues to flourish on every surface of the contemporary office, despite all those expensive computers ready and willing to help.

David Karger helps lead a group at MIT exploring the way people work with computers. A recent paper from his team chronicled the attraction of “information scraps” like Post-Its, which, says Karger, are actually near-perfect data base tools. They’re accessible and easy to use, and they take advantage of the brain’s facility to remember an object’s location in the three-dimensional world."

A further great point from David Karger recent paper
"We started out asking what people do with Post-it notes, and it spiraled into something much bigger -- a study of how people intentionally misuse all of those systems that are supposed to help you," says Bernstein, who has worked closely with graduate student Max Van Kleek on the information scrap project.

In a similar manner I can think about how my own work own work evolved from the focus of paper use in the lab to the larger issues of how to design for such scientific software systems in the context of understanding the information workflow.

Follow up research to be presented at CHI 09 - to read

Multiple thoughts

Last week Genevieve Bell, a highly respected anthropologist and Director of User Experience within Intel’s Digital Home Group, gave the 2008 commencement speech at the UC Berkeley School of Information.

She filled it with “anthropological advice” about how to approach the world like a fieldwork project.

"I hope you can achieve a balance of online and offline encounters with the people, spaces and practices around you. I hope you can be fully engaged with local issues and the ways in which global ones are manifested around you. And I hope you experience moments of profound dislocation and discomfort – when things aren’t familiar – because I firmly believe it is in those moments that we learn the most about ourselves and what we truly value."

http://www.experientia.com/blog/genevieve-bells-anthropological-advice-at-berkeley-commencement/

Some food for thought:

• Working Knowledge: Inside the Kindle E-Book Reader

LIBRARY TO GO: Amazon's Kindle E-Reader
AMAZON.COM

More and more people are gazing at electronic-book readers—lightweight slates about the size of a thin paper­back that can store up to 200 downloaded books. Although prior generations fizzled, Sony’s Reader, introduced in 2006, and Amazon’s Kindle, which debuted last year, are both selling well. The key difference is the screen.

Interactive: View the insides of the Kindle E-Reader

Researchers had wrestled with e-book readers for decades, but most sported power-thirsty, backlit LCD screens that glared in low light or were drowned out by bright sunlight. The breakthrough this time is a screen made with “electronic paper” from E Ink Corporation in Cambridge, Mass. Sony, Amazon and other makers worldwide are using the material.

E-paper displays are reflective: ambient light bounces off them, so they look and read like ordinary paper. The screens are very energy efficient, too. “The only power used is when you turn a page,” says Isaac Yang, manager of software product development at Sony in San Jose, Calif. No current is needed to sustain the characters on a page once it has been called up. Yang says about 7,500 pages can be turned on a single battery charge. Downloading books consumes additional power.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=library-to-go&sc=rss

• Product ecology as a design framework

Extract taken from Pasta&Vinger blog

Recently, in my daily data farming, I ran across several sources mentioning the notion of “product ecology”. It generally refers to how (interaction) design broaden its focus from systems targeted on one person to more socially or culturally situated products. Among the sources about this, Jodi Forlizzi’s work struck me as very relevant.

In this article in the International Journal of Design, she focuses on the interesting notion of “product ecology” and how it can be employed as a theoretical design framework:

“In the Product Ecology, the product is the central unit of analysis. (…) The functional, aesthetic, symbolic, emotional and social dimensions of a product, combined with other units of analysis, or factors, in the ecology, help to describe how people make social relationships with products. These include the product; the surrounding products and other systems of products; the people who use it, and their attitudes, disposition, roles, and relationships; the physical structure, norms and routines of the place the product is used; and the social and cultural contexts of the people who use the product and possibly even the people who make the product. “

(image taken from Forlizzi’s paper)

But how does that help designers? Forlizzi highlights few key ideas about the assumptions of the Product Ecology framework[I recommend reading the whole paper here]:

“First, each product has its own ecology, resulting in subjective and individual experience in using the same product.
(…)
Second, the factors in the Product Ecology are dynamic, and interconnected in several ways.
(…)
Third, changes in product use cause changes in other factors of the Product Ecology.(…) When a product no longer plays a key role, it is marked by events such as people changing roles, or going in and out of the ecology;
(…)
Fourth, the Product Ecology can be delimited by a group of people in close proximity, or a group that is spread out over a great distance.
(…)
Factors in the Product Ecology can be examined in isolation or in combination at the level of a single product, to understand what particular product features will inspire social use, or at the system level, to understand how a particular product will have an impact on a system of products retained for similar functional, aesthetic, symbolic, social and emotional factors. Similarly, behavior of individuals or groups using products can be studied.“

So, to some extent, the “product ecology” can be employed to study variety of products/services. An interesting example of such use can be found in this article (from CSCW 2006) about how robotic products become social products. The paper basically shows how different people within a houselhold formed different social relationships with Roomba vacuum (and not with the more classic vacuum). The classic vacuum, in this ethnographic study, affected significant change in the families, while the stick vacuum did not: people cleaned more often, more members of the family participated and there were more prone to make social attribution to the roomba. The author then draws some design implications concerning the importance of social attribution: “when simple social attributes are part of the design of robotic products and systems, people may adopt them more readily and find them less stigmatizing“.

http://liftlab.com/think/nova/2008/05/26/product-ecology-as-a-design-framework/

Why blog this?
Particularly interested in the concepts discussed in the Product Ecology design framework. May have help in understanding the direction and assistance needed to aid in the application for the information ecology as set out by Nardi.

Interesting and useful piece on the uptake now of the Amazon Kindle and how there is still
uncertainty over e-books and readers and if they will ever become truly ubiquitous.


Finally

• Why blogging is good for you

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-healthy-type&sc=rss

The simplicty of paper...

For the understanding of the electronic development of a notebook I have spent some time understanding and effectively breaking the notebook concept down into what is actually is which is organised paper. (Its has also been noted that some scientists actually keep their notebook this way, simply a collection of paper notes)

The background reading began with the work by Sellen & Harper(2003) and work and understanding of affordances and what paper can physically afford I think is what makes it so usable, the idea of affordances can be traced back to the work by J Gibson and the book "The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception"

I think that being able to understand this concept and look for the technology affordance can be an important aspect to be able to consider, and so I am looking to explore this further.

behind its upon like this it really does make the electronic age somewhat less In looking to understand this further I picked up "Scrolling Forward" by David Levy which looks at understanding the history of paper and writing, with this reflection you can begin to understand that the pen and paper have been able to evolve since is creation as it has centuries development, the book highlights also that inventions explode onto the scene and this is not so and is so with paper, as has evolved from walls and animal skins.

A further point taken up by the book was the point upon its analysis of a receipt and its understanding has been considered in terms of its history, yet its own cultural time and place in terms of the present is a key aspect in understanding its relation to its immediate surroundings

"What kind of thing is it? What work is it doing, and why is it doing it? "

These simple questions I would like to be able to ask of the notebook, with the purpose of breaking down the problem and being able to develop an understanding in a basic form.

My own key thoughts with this is the social and psychology of writing on paper as some what of a head start on the electronic medium, to be able to understand the problems and context of the environment looks to be a key factor, which has been picked up from the reading.

In continuation of the paper theme my supervisor recommended the Getting Things Done ‘GTD’ concept. - http://www.43folders.com/

Taken from web site -

In what can be only considered some what of a major turn around in the technology based users have effectively had enough

· Getting Started with “GTD” - An introduction to the system based on the popular book

· Introducing The Hipster PDA - The web’s most famous “outboard brain” is cheap and flexible

· Building a Smarter To-Do List - Learn the techniques to generate actions that actually get done

and stumbled upon this too

http://pocketmod.com/

Initial thoughts on this is kinda mixed, seems even the geeks have had enough of complex and bad designs of PDAs etc, and so now looking back at paper and want to be able to geek this up a bit, but have some interesting ideas, and have few ideas to be able to chase up.

A final point with PDA'S as conversion with lecturer in the department happen to raised that he tried a PDA for the purpose of benefiting his secretary, and this lasted for only two months. My judgement on this was it only partially met the secretary’s needs in knowing when where he was etc but in no way meet the needs of the lecturer and so was not used it in the long term. There was a mention also of how now he uses his paper based dairy and when in meetings he has the notes made before the users any of the electronic versions.

Some on going questions and related reading is actually to gain some insight and understanding into the importance of communication and social interaction in interaction design, as already strongly believe is a key factor and both for my own PhD too, as one of the more general aspects picked up in OMERO meeting will gather some further reflections for next posting.