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Alexander Johannesen | 1 Aug 2005 05:39
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Re: [Sigia-l] Human-Centered Design 99% bad

On 7/30/05, Boniface Lau <boniface_lau <at> compuserve.com> wrote:
> > > When a design is based on the understanding of activities, the
> > > specifics of individual users are no longer that important.

Then me:
> > No, I don't agree with that one bit. Most people were happy with the
> > viola until someone figured out that placing it on your shoulder as
> > to compared to between your legs would improve things.

Boniface:
> The shoulder-realization applies to users in general, not the
> specifics of individual users.

Huh? What now? The "shoulder-realization" was not an activity when the
violin was made; it *became* an activity as the violin became popular;
design driving activity, not the other way around. It wasn't the study
of what people *were doing* that lead to its design; it was trying to
figure out a way to play music faster and lighter.

> [...]
> > The difference was that specific knowledge of certain users created
> > the violin.
> 
> Your example is about users using their knowledge to improve what they
> use. But what does that has to do with ACD's down playing of the
> importance of adapting to individual user differences?

You tell me. In fact, you tell me why ACD is important. You tell me
what I'm currently doing wrong which could be so much better with ACD.
As all design is based on the activity of the brain, clue me in.
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Anne Miller | 1 Aug 2005 07:34
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RE: [Sigia-l] Human-Centered Design 99% bad

Oh dear... the Don is dead... long live the Don (Norman, not Bradman!)

Activity = the interaction between the needs and capabilities of people +
the possibilities and constraints on action inherent in the environment. 

Jens Rasmussen, Kim Vicente and many others argue that we are much better
off designing to make the possibilities and constraints in the environment
visible so that people can create their own activity to suit their own
particular situations and contexts. This is fact the ecological approach
that Don Norman actually started with in "The design of everyday things". 

Alexander Johansen's viola example is illustrative. It’s the interaction
between the violist's body (dimensions of arms/legs/shoulders etc) and the
viola (its shape and weight) that makes it easier to play lightly and fast
on the shoulder. It’s the same interaction between cellist's, the bassist's
body and the cello / double bass that makes those instruments easier to play
between the legs. The activity across the entire string section is exactly
the same. It's arguably exactly the same for banjos, guitars, zithers, and
those instruments played on the knees plus any other instrument that can be
plucked or bowed. Trumpets, trombones, flutes, clarinets, saxophones,
flugelhorns are constrained not to be plucked or bowed - these instruments
afford a different sort of activity - sound familiar!

The chicken and egg question is what came first the people, the activity or
the artefact. This of course is a pointless question, they all came
together!

Cheers
A
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Listera | 1 Aug 2005 08:53
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Re: [Sigia-l] Human-Centered Design 99% bad

Anne Miller:

> we are much better off designing to make the possibilities and constraints in
> the environment visible so that people can create their own activity to suit
> their own particular situations and contexts.

"can create"

Should they? Do they? Would they?

Ziya
Nullius in Verba 

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Natasja Paulssen | 1 Aug 2005 10:21
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[Sigia-l] Disposable navigation systems

Currently I am working on an article on 'disposable navigation systems'
which I define as navigation systems that are based on existing metadata and
that can be disposed of without information getting lost in cyber space.
This means that these navigation systems are alway superfluous.
Some information needs are totally unpredictable and need a tailormade
navigation structure, e.g. in research institutes or product development.
The most elementary example is the result of a search engine, but from the
view of a navigation structure this list is rather rudimentary and in for
much improvement.

Could I use this combined intellect to find some more existing examples of
disposable navigation systems?

Thanks!

Natasja Paulssen

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Listera | 1 Aug 2005 11:03
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[Sigia-l] Rating software

...Carnegie Mellon University, Intel and SpikeSource, a company that
supports and tests corporate open-source projects, have devised a rating
system intended to reduce confusion and guesswork in evaluating such
software. The initiative, Business Readiness Ratings, is to be announced
today at the O'Reilly Open Source Convention in Portland, Ore.

The rating system, the sponsors say, will employ an open-source model with
scores determined by those who use certain programs and contribute their
judgments. The idea can be seen as a software version of the Zagat survey of
restaurants - rankings determined by customers.

The rating system has 12 categories, including functionality, usability,
quality, security, documentation and technical support. Each category is to
be rated 1 to 5. There will also be filtering tools so a potential corporate
user can specify its most important considerations.

Rating System Will Evaluate Free Software - New York Times
<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/01/technology/01open.html>

Business Readiness Rating - Home
<http://www.openbrr.org/>

Will this work?
Is this how apps should be rated?

Ziya
Nullius in Verba 

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Alexander Johannesen | 1 Aug 2005 11:04
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Re: [Sigia-l] Disposable navigation systems

Hi,

Natasja Paulssen <natasja.paulssen <at> ordina.nl> wrote:
> Could I use this combined intellect to find some more existing 
> examples of disposable navigation systems?

You can always try. :) Personally, I'm not quite sure what you mean.
Are you referring to navigational means that are so detached from the
information it provides as "detached"?

If so, look to faceted navigation, or a million other
too-general-for-this-shirt type navigations. I deal with Topic Maps,
and the general Topic Maps datamodel lends itself to a somewhat
"detached" navigation, I guess, but please elaborate a bit.

regards,

Alexander
--

-- 
"Ultimately, all things are known because you want to believe you know."
                                                         - Frank Herbert
__ http://shelter.nu/ __________________________________________________

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Natasja Paulssen | 1 Aug 2005 11:19
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RE: [Sigia-l] Disposable navigation systems

>>Alexander wrote:
>>You can always try. :) Personally, I'm not quite sure what you mean.
>>Are you referring to navigational means that are so detached from the
>>information it provides as "detached"?

Yes, from an informational viewpoint metadata and navigation structure
should
be independent of each other. I believe that talking about disposable
navigation systems will help people understand the importance of this
independency better.

>>If so, look to faceted navigation, or a million other
>>too-general-for-this-shirt type navigations. I deal with Topic Maps,
>>and the general Topic Maps datamodel lends itself to a somewhat
>>"detached" navigation, I guess, but please elaborate a bit.

Faceted navigation may certainly leed to a disposable navigation system.
Yet designing with the temporary feel of disposable in mind might leed
to new ideas, I hope. The ultimate example being: feed the outline of
your document into a search engine that generates an information hierarchy
on the spot. Interesting e.g. for checking business cases to see what other
projects claim the same benefits...
Does this help?

Natasja

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Stewart Dean | 1 Aug 2005 11:32
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Re: [Sigia-l] Human-Centered Design 99% bad


>From: Alexander Johannesen <alexander.johannesen <at> gmail.com>
>Reply-To: Alexander Johannesen <alexander.johannesen <at> gmail.com>
>To: Boniface Lau <boniface_lau <at> compuserve.com>
>CC: SIGIA-L <sigia-l <at> asis.org>
>Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] Human-Centered Design 99% bad
>Date: Mon, 1 Aug 2005 13:39:05 +1000
>
>On 7/30/05, Boniface Lau <boniface_lau <at> compuserve.com> wrote:
> > > > When a design is based on the understanding of activities, the
> > > > specifics of individual users are no longer that important.
>
>Then me:
> > > No, I don't agree with that one bit. Most people were happy with the
> > > viola until someone figured out that placing it on your shoulder as
> > > to compared to between your legs would improve things.
>
>Boniface:
> > The shoulder-realization applies to users in general, not the
> > specifics of individual users.
>

> > Your example is about users using their knowledge to improve what they
> > use. But what does that has to do with ACD's down playing of the
> > importance of adapting to individual user differences?
>
>You tell me. In fact, you tell me why ACD is important. You tell me
>what I'm currently doing wrong which could be so much better with ACD.
>As all design is based on the activity of the brain, clue me in.
(Continue reading)

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Listera | 1 Aug 2005 11:41
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[Sigia-l] IA gone clubbing

<http://www.generatorx.no/20050729/clubware-visuals-duo/>
<http://www.club-ware.net/>
:-)

Ziya
Nullius in Verba 

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Jursa, Jan (init | 1 Aug 2005 14:08
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[Sigia-l] Disposable navigation systems

>...I define as navigation systems that are based on existing metadata and
>that can be disposed of without information getting lost in cyber space.

hm, do you mean something like "Customers who bought this book also bought"-kind of navigation.

cheers,
jan

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: sigia-l-bounces <at> asis.org [mailto:sigia-l-bounces <at> asis.org] Im Auftrag von Natasja Paulssen
Gesendet: Montag, 1. August 2005 10:22
An: sigia-l <at> asis.org
Betreff: [Sigia-l] Disposable navigation systems

Currently I am working on an article on 'disposable navigation systems'
which I define as navigation systems that are based on existing metadata and
that can be disposed of without information getting lost in cyber space.
This means that these navigation systems are alway superfluous.
Some information needs are totally unpredictable and need a tailormade
navigation structure, e.g. in research institutes or product development.
The most elementary example is the result of a search engine, but from the
view of a navigation structure this list is rather rudimentary and in for
much improvement.

Could I use this combined intellect to find some more existing examples of
disposable navigation systems?

Thanks!

Natasja Paulssen
(Continue reading)

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