Thoughts on current interfaces illustrate how many computer scientists are biased toward efficiency with technological resources rather than human att

"Current interfaces illustrate how many computer scientists are biased toward efficiency with technological resources rather than human attention; or to put it bluntly, toward convenience for computers before convenience for people." -- Malcolm McCullough, in Digital Ground, 2004

Why blog this?
The thoughts are with how the quote links with idea about design as a composition that is discussed in the book 'thoughtful interaction design'. In the book it discusses how as a designer measurement can be made by creativity and innovation - I think innovation is particularly relevant in the above quote, in the way there can be a focus to develop technological resources without sufficient human attention.

Question to think about is this what may be present in the ideas about developing new technology with the elab book? - so focus on creating the technology and not upon the environment and ecology that the device works within?

So the thinking for the research is leading to thoughts of how the use of the information ecology may allow for a clearer composition of ideas for the design and development of the elab book. With the aim to allow for a clear concept through the use of the information ecology, for the design and development of scientific software/elab book work.


The background point to thinking about composition as an idea.
"Composition is a delicate task involving balance and contrast. The purpose is to compose whole entity out of existing and not yet existing reality. There is a need for balance between old and new, technical and non-technical, and function and form."
Thoughtful Interaction Design: A Design Perspective on Information Technology by J Lowgren Pg 32

Is it time to embrace the e-book....?

A really interesting article from the bbc web site on the use of the ebook, some really interesting comments too from users of ebooks in terms of preferences and scenarios of use for ebooks.

- Extract from article
Could printed pages one day be a thing of the past?
When electronic books first came onto the market, some thought it spelt the end for the printed page.

But following a flurry of headlines, and prophesies of doom from the publishing industry, the revolution in downloadable literature failed to materialise.

However, despite scepticism from some technology experts that the tactile satisfaction of the paper book has not been successfully replicated, it now seems that the e-book is starting to take off.

Full link to article - Is it time to embrace the e-book?

Useful interview also with Prof Kathryn Hughes and author Naomi Alderman on whether ebooks will threaten the printed word - Link


Why blog this?
Interesting to draw comparisons upon the design and general problems being experienced with the development of the ebook, what can be learned from the work with ebooks and be used to help identify and understand the continuing work with elab books?
Are there also significant similartities and differences between ebooks and elab books with the problems that they face which may help inform the continuing work? - this is especially thinking about the context of the information ecology.

Writing thought

The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every word that serves no function, every long word that could be a short word, every adverb that carries the same meaning that's already in the verb, every passive construction that leaves the reader unsure of who is doing what--these are the thousand and one adulterants that weaken the strength of a sentence

. -- William Zinsser, On Writing Well, pp. 7-8. Writing-Well-Classic-Guide-Nonfiction

Further to this

"The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak" -- Hans Hofmann Is this captured in his own work? Hofmann Gallery

How to sell a kindle.....???

The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments and over 130,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle – Amazon’s new wireless reading device. Learn more

Something to think about amazon sell the kindle as a new wireless reading device...

A new wireless reading device... Last time I checked a book was a wireless reading device?
I would raise this as at the point in the research in being related for the following reason
- The kindle is a new piece of technology - should not be viewed to have to compete with books but instead provide a different experience. (has though it been designed with this in mind...?)

Your not going to have the affordances of a book but instead have new the new benefits that technology offers - this is the reason for adoption. Is this not then what it could be sold on?

In a similar way would face similar challenges in a lab book - and similar with the editor.

This may be open to continued questions and although may be a bit condescending towards amazon I think at this point can be questioned.

The selling point....

A great article taken from Scientific American on Science 2.0 -- Is Open Access Science the Future?

The following quotes have been taken from the article as the quote taken from another source has been

Web 2.0 technologies open up a much richer dialogue, says Bill Hooker, a postdoctoral cancer researcher at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Portland, Ore., and author of a three-part survey on open-science efforts that appeared at 3 Quarks Daily (www.3quarksdaily.com), where a group of bloggers write about science and culture.

“To me, opening up my lab notebook means giving people a window into what I’m doing every day,” Hooker says. “That’s an immense leap forward in clarity. In a paper, I can see what you’ve done. But I don’t know how many things you tried that didn’t work. It’s those little details that become clear with an open [online]notebook but are obscured by every other communication mechanism we have. It makes science more efficient.”

The above scenario I think sets out more clearly the selling point as such for the research - I also see it linking with the point of how technology and paper are complementary for the reason that if the paper is obscuring a communication/workflow path because of the affordances it has as mentioned in the scenrio. I would see then exploration of if/how the elab book can enhance the workflow and most importantly be part of the workflow.
This is what must be achived must ensure not a focus on what a lab books functionailty is, but instead on actually what it is.

Finally the last quote below I think captures a selling point, as well as highlighting the risks and dangers that scientists are so wary about. Taking the position as an advocate for the research, it is important to have a wider perspective in order to fully appreciate the workflow.

"That jump in efficiency, in turn, could greatly benefit society, in everything from faster drug development to greater national competitiveness.Of course, many scientists remain wary of such openness—especially in the hypercompetitive biomedical fields, where patents, promotion and tenure can hinge on being the first to publish a new discovery. For these practitioners, Science 2.0 seems dangerous: putting your serious work out on blogs and social networks feels like an open invitation to have your lab notebooks vandalized—or, worse, your best ideas stolen and published by a rival.To advocates, however, an atmosphere of openness makes science more productive. “When you do your work online, out in the open,” Hooker says, “you quickly find that you’re not competing with other scientists anymore but cooperating with them.”

The argument of now with a move towards science 2.0 that your not competing but instead co-operating may require a full social culture change. Question if such instances have occurred before in work environments. Is this something that has to be forced upon people to be really effective ?

“Designing is not a profession but an attitude”

A post taken from 37signals By Matt

“Designing is not a profession but an attitude” is an excerpt from László Moholy-Nagy’s 1947 book “Vision in Motion.”

The designer must see the periphery as well as the core, the immediate and the ultimate, at least in the biological sense. He must anchor his special job in the complex whole. The designer must be trained not only in the use of materials and various skills, but also in appreciation of organic functions and planning. He must know that design is indivisible, that the internal and external characteristics of a dish, a chair, a table, a machine, painting, sculpture are not to be separated…

There is design in organization of emotional experiences, in family life, in labor relations, in city planning, in working together as civilized human beings. Ultimately all problems of design merge into one great problem: ‘design for life’.

We often put “designers” and “creatives” in special silos. But when you look at it from this “design for life” perspective, everyone is designing: writers, programmers, managers, CEOs, HR departments, parents, etc. Design and creativity don’t belong exclusively to people who use Photoshop.

Related: László Moholy-Nagy’s visual representation of Finnegan’s Wake

Why blog this?

I think the quote correctly captures a perspective on how to view the many forms and

challenges that design can take, the concept of how design is an indivisible experience I think may have a link with understanding the design of the lab information ecology.

A further poignant quote that is useful for thinking about fieldwork:

" The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands, but in seeing with new eyes" - Macel Proust

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