A collection of thoughts post...?

Some more thoughts on design and the understanding of the context interaction design as just wanted to clarify some thoughts and tie design understanding into the interaction design process, and in addition to tie the reading that is on going .

The article analysed questions what puts the design in interaction design and have just wanted to reflect and pick through some of the points made.

"Interaction design is a blended endeavor of process, methodology, and attitude. Discussions of process and methodology are pervasive in the interaction design milieu and often revolve around a perceived tension between process and methodology and the role of design within this discipline. To be clear, process is the overarching design framework."

What puts the design in interaction design? To answer this question, we need to think about the purpose of design. Design is a loaded term that has a pliable meaning. In a moment of clarity, Christopher Alexander defined the purpose of design: “The ultimate object of design is form.”

- Based on this statement the role of design is understood by describing its form and then to identify the need for design. "Form does not always result from a new design process."

"To address new problems through innovation or the modification of existing patterns, you must design. A pattern is a solution for a particular context.Designed behavior is not invisible. Sometimes it is obfuscated; at other times, it is apparent or even obvious.

Most importantly, designed behavior dictates the flow between action and reaction, which is the basis of an interaction. A user takes an action through an affordance, which in turn causes a reaction in the presentation layer.

- The article ties up with 5 dimensions to interaction design

• 1-D—words—which are interactions
• 2-D—visual representations—which include typography, diagrams, icons, and other graphics with which users interact
• 3-D—physical objects or space—with which or within which users interact
• 4-D—time—within which users interact—for example, content that changes over time such as sound, video, or animation
• 5-D—behavior—including action, or operation, and presentation, or reaction

- I think these can be thought on further as not sure if agree with all and some of the remaining points raised in the remaining of the article, intend to compare and contrast between several more views in order to gain clearer perspective.

Things to think on further ?

- The major point from this is that interaction is central to the action made either directly or indirectly - again questions in the line of how/does the affordance link to the previous action made in an old system?

for references above article from uxmatters http://www.uxmatters.com/MT/archives/000209.php

- This discussion centres around heavily the ideas discussed by Paul Dourish in "Where the action is" particular intriguing how to embodied interaction is formed as such with social and tangible computing - is the way in which embodied interaction design move towards designs of systems cover all that is required from understanding the actions and affordances of the actions involved?

- A second and as interesting article which ties in coupling, which again is discussed by Dourish
and talks of coupling idea between actions and tools in which the meaning is created, again to take apart in next post and again will benefit from reading several more perspectives.
coupling between user action and functional information

- Finally so can design just be simply a two piece puzzle ???

“Understanding the context of a design problem and creating a solution that fits are two pieces of the same puzzle: design.”

Tagging with electronic labbooks

Just to tie up and create some thoughts with the existing work with tagging an the electronic lab book the notes taken from the paper Skidmore (1998) and the collaborative investigation work on lab books.

The ViNE project provides scientists with a web-based equivalent of a traditional paper notebook extended with support for notebook sharing, security, and computational tool access and management, the paper identifies several enhancements for future development

- a framework for integrating editors appropriate to a variety of data content, allowing
users to directly manipulate images, data, and text without leaving ViNE.

- For the scientist with very large amounts of data, we will provide more sophisticated ways to organize it,

A general issue which needs to be considered is how such a design could allow for full integration within OMERO as well the above points and the additional points to be added that will arise from the future work

Paper reference
Skidmore, J. L., Sottile, M. J., Cuny, J. E., and Malony, A. D. 1998. A prototype notebook-based environment for computational tools. In Proceedings of the 1998 ACM/IEEE Conference on Supercomputing (Cdrom) (San Jose, CA, November 07 - 13, 1998). Conference on High Performance Networking and Computing. IEEE Computer Society, Washington, DC, 1-15.

Some visual thoughts…

A diagram to get some clarity on the direction and thoughts some what shortened down to be managed on one page but has provided some clarity and would recommend it to anyone. A mental note for my own study is that I wrote it out on paper several times first before transferring to digital format which can be said are an affordance of paper which I required for the initial process.

The first notes on the diagram is that it is very much open to change and further expansion and more detailed questioning of the areas as I continue to read round and develop some ideas. I am sure these concepts will develop over time in the diagram and I expect they are open to further interpretations.

Some extra notes on the diagram there is a two specific areas of social and tangible computing which form embodied interaction, this concept is taken from the book ‘Where the action is’ by Paul Dourish. I have particularly like the aspects of social and tangible computing and how this forms embodied interaction, it is defined as “Embodied interaction is the creation, manipulation and sharing of meaning through engaged interaction with artefacts”

With the major aspect that there is a relationship between action and meaning, I have taken the parts of the book which examine the action which is conducted through social perspectives and talks of and going I am going on to read on further to pick out the meaning. Other reading influences have come from ‘the cult of information’ where the following I think is an important question “Information is what information processing technology processes; but if we have no clear idea what information is and what it is not, what questions it can and cannot answer, what relationship is to other intellectual faculties- if we are not certain as to whether there are any other intellectual faculties besides the processing of the information – then we can have no clear idea what authority this technology should hold over our lives” All of this above is may not hold relevant to the problem in mind but again looking to see what bearing this may hold?

From the diagram also there maybe has some intertwine with content visualisation (this aspest is more central to the OMERO project) and the way in which this can be managed, this is just being picked up upon at this stage in order to understand if there is any relevance and links that can be made, the fundamental link in my initial thoughts is with regards to usability and presentation of the content of information.

With this collection of information I am generally curious on the application if the theories and philosophies which are discussed in ‘Where the action is’ curious to question how they may have application in the context project on very abstract level at the moment, but also at the same time the following text made more aware to ensure to incorporate the design aspect

“Being able to move around in the world and interact with pieces of the world enables learning in ways that reading books and listening to words do not.”

(taken from How Bodies Matter: Five Themes for Interaction Design Hartmann & Takayama 2006)

Which I think is the merging of the design aspect of the interaction design which I am interested and wanting to take on board too, effectively drawing on a multiple of areas to understand a problem.

Finally stumbled across this too which I found very interesting and thought was very relevant.

Blogging as a Research Tool for Ethnographic Fieldwork. Paper submitted to the annual conference of the Association of Internet Researchers, Internet Research 7.0: Internet Convergences, Brisbane, Qld, Australia, September 27 - 30, 2006:

Could this help provide more insight into an ethnographers work and so provider link to inform the design process ?

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.

The reality of interaction design..

A news article from the BBC's web site part of a series inviting some of the world's leading technologists to speculate about the future, Greg Papadopoulos, chief technology officer of Sun Microsystems, calls for technology and design to be married to people's needs.

just a few key extracts that show I think can show how interaction design along with the aspect of user centered design techniques can move technology forward the way which is so clearly discussed by Greg Papadopoulos

As a technologist, when I look at the artefact's that we're thrusting onto the world they contain a lot of historical baggage and biases because we simply carry on the assumptions from the past. Things really could be a lot simpler.

All too often, it's like we're asked to care for these things that we really shouldn't care about - and that ranges from mobile phones to personal computers - rather than asking the technology designers to build tools with us in mind.

Think about the voicemail system on your cell phone. It's really bad.

You get the messages linearly, you are told that you have five new voicemails and you don't know what's from whom or the content of each message.

To organise your messages, you have to dial through with ridiculous key sequences. Making it worse, you can't choose a better system as you have to take voicemail from your mobile service provider.

But that's just one example of how the legacy of design holds us back. PCs are full of old designs.

He goes on to conclude..

Take a comparison between a Swiss army knife and a suite of kitchen tools as an example of something that's well designed.

If I really had to open a bottle of wine with a multitool, I would. But mostly, I'll have a corkscrew, a good chef's knife, scissors, and a nail file. Each one is a separate object, with incredibly simple interfaces. Each was designed for a specific purpose.

Rather than making our technologies increasingly complex to use, the same kind of design should be done on the technology we use.

There could be all kinds of computing behind something I use on a daily basis, but at basic level, that's not what I'm interested in. Instead I want an appliance that has a very well-defined and simple function.

Today we're asked to care about things that we really do not want to care about. I don't want the technology artefact or its management to be one of my objectives.

I would say that there has been laziness or a lack of courage by some technology developers, because we could go and redesign our entire system of computing.

But to do that upsets a whole bunch of assumptions and even more technological ecosystems, like the software makers who sell us software to run on PCs.

It is this that a reflection on what has been done with the design of technology, and so with this can question how technology can become closer and be able to integrate more fully with the actual requirements of the users.

the full article link - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6225398.stm

The understanding of Design...

In order to have a strong foundation (I hope) thoughts and questions have been reading to understand what design is and what it means to be involved in interaction design, this will be an on going process but have a collected an initial few interpretations of what design is and read through several points which I can relate to and at this point in time agree with.

Some of the thoughts I have I have come across which I particularly liked.

“design… deserves attention not only as a professional practice but as a subject of social, cultural, and philosophic investigation.”
Richard Buchanan and Victor Margolin.

“Designers solve problems for clients. Artists solve problems for humanity. The latter is the greatest problem.”
John Maeda.

“Design addresses itself to the need.” - And is this why bad design just lets the needs of users Charles Eames. down ?


This has also lead to questioning of understanding design, and have come across several interpretations as expected. Though have been most intrigued by a designer called Charles Eames and his thoughts, the following is extracts from an interview with the designer.

Q -What is your definition of design ?
A - A arranging elements in such a way as to best accomplish a particular purpose

Q -Is design an expression of art form?
A -The design is an expression of the purpose. It may (if it is good enough) later be judged as art

Q - What are the boundaries of of design ?
A - What are the boundaries of the problems ?

Q - Does the creation of a design admit constraints ?
A - Design depends largely on constraints.

Q - What constraints ?
A - The sum of all constraints. Here is one of the of the few effective keys to the design
problem - the ability of the designer to recognise as many of the constraints as possible -
his willingness and enthusiasm for working within these constraints - the constraints of
price, of size of strength, balance, of surface, of time etc.;each problem has its own
peculiar list.

Q - does design obey laws ?
A - Aren't constraints enough ?


I am pretty sure that there should be no hard and fast definition as design in itself is a complex and unique problem in each context to which it is applied and always open to interpretation

but can also understand how design should be about form and function running in parallel
and not form following function, which is why I like the following.

"Form follows function – that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union.”
Frank Lloyd Wright.


Understanding from chapter 10 of Designing interactions Bill Moggridge

The begining

From starting my PhD on 23 April 2007 a brief overview of my of my status so far ....

Initial investigation into a physical and electronic lab book and an initial investigation into the research - currently ongoing.


An investigation into my own personal note taking methods, conducted as have been making a large amount of notes on research ideas, so study was to make notes in a notebook for a week and then an electronic notebook the following week - helped provide useful personal insight
into the ways which electronic and physical note taking are very different. Write up of findings for a short report in progress.


Heuristic evaluation of existing lab book software, the original idea has changed slightly as had problems in order to understand the perspective of how to evaluate effectively, in order to aid and help over come this a persona and scenario have been constructed to help to give a more objective evaluation.

- other thoughts at the moment just looking how can help document ideas further, initial idea using memory mapping and looking at finding some appropriate software.