Review: Rounding up the Commentators

When it was suggested that reviewing current usability blogs would be a good idea I a little sceptical I must say. As something of a blog-debutante I've always pondered who writes these things that nobody seems to read. Jumping in at the deep end I was surprised to find ex-US-president Jimmy Carter had a blog in which he has been blogging his recent visit to West Africa on behalf of the Carter Center. So, bloggers aren't just maniacs in dark rooms then. Indeed, the online community report's interview (Feb 2004) with the venture capitalist Jon Staenberg argues that 'social software' is becoming an expanding area of interest for investors given the uptake on new forms of technology.

So, if venture capital is out there looking for new forms of social interaction, what might these forms be? Music is a pet love of mine so I was delighted to find a link on NoSenseOfPlace (21 January, 2004) about the Sonic City Project where music is created by walking through and interacting with the urban environment, in particular exploring the role of the public in public spaces. Or, if we're looking for more practical (or should that say 'commercial') possibilities, NoSenseOfPlace also highlight the work of the Fluidtime Research Project at the Interactive Design Institute Ivrea where they are considering how to support 'flexible planning by providing people with personalised, accurate time-based information'. Let's just hope that they're not intending to use the Sony Ericsson T100, which Suman Kumar blogs (1 February, 2004) as being inaccessible with small text and keyboard making it difficult for a range of people to interact with. Which leads to a question of how best to assess the usability of products and web sites.

Following a question raised by Jeff Rankin in ACM CHI-WEB (February 2004) about whether there are guidelines available for developing on-line user satisfaction questionnaires I was particularly drawn by Nigel Bevan's response (http://listserv.acm.org/archives/wa.cgi?A2=ind0402b&L=chi-web&P=66). Unlike others who had stuck to the usual HCI lines of 'well, it depends' and 'you'll need to do some research to find the best approach', Nigel had gone for a more pragmatic response. In his reply, he says 'I agree that user satisfaction is often not correlated with user performance, but it may be a strong indicator of user preferences' and goes on: 'Users may prefer using an attractive web site even if it takes them longer'. This relationship between attractiveness and time to use is a classic example of the current shift towards user 'experience' that we have been seeing over the last 10 years or so.

Mac OS X is a classic example of this shift from functional design (though clearly restricted by the technology at the time) to more 'whizzy' interaction which may be fun or engaging for the user, but might not actually save time. Tog argues that the Dock in Mac OS X is a classic example of such an interface feature. In his aptly named article Top Nine Reasons the Apple Dock Still Sucks he lays out the use of the Dock as a sales tool (whizzy demos) rather than a productivity tool. Interestingly, he now sees the use as a sales tool positively, but would just like some way to turn it off! Similarly, Mark Hurst's "This is Broken" provides endless amusement with images of things we wish would work properly (or which we could just could turn off). This month was no exception with the illustration of a link on a web site saying "lick OK to cancel order".

Of course, the world of blogging does have its dark side as well. Take Matt Jones and his quest to contact Brian Eno through six degrees of separation. He hit success with only two degrees of separation. Maybe Brian will send me an email next...'til next time.

Nick Bryan-Kinns
Queen Mary's London

All change at the top for System Concepts
Source: System Concepts Ltd, 3 July 2009
 
Leslie Fountain has been promoted to joint Managing Director of leading usability consultancy System Concepts.

Life in UCD immortalised in fiction: you couldn't make it up
Source: UN, 2 July 2009
 
Sarah Herman's fictitious book on life in a user-centred design company has hit the shelves and The Guardian's book pages...

Interfaces Magazine - Issue 79: The Education Issue
Source: Interaction Group, 1 July 2009
 
The latest issue of Interfaces is now available as a free download from the Interaction Website.

Two new Behavioural research Tools from Noldus
Source: UN, 30 June 2009
 
Tool updates make on-site behavioural data collection easier.

Cell Phones that Listen and Learn
Source: MIT Technology Review, 29 June 2009
 
New software tracks a user's behavior by monitoring everyday sounds.

Top Six Don’ts for Usability Testing
Source: FutureNow Inc., 27 June 2009
 
Six tips for creating quality usability tests to ensure useful feedback from testers.

Usability: ‘Lovely software. But I can’t work it’
Source: FT.com, 26 June 2009
 
In a recent survey by Global Graphics, 77 per cent of office workers estimate they lose up to one hour a week because business software is difficult to use.

And what do you do?
Source: Dexo Design, 25 June 2009
 
How do you describe your job role? Here are the results of a recent 'Preferred UX/UI Title' Poll.

Most Doctors cite Usability as critical to Electronic Health Record Adoption
Source: TMCNet, 24 June 2009
 
It's all about 'meaningful use'.

Glossy monitors look good but can hurt
Source: QUT, 23 June 2009
 
A new advisory cites research which suggests high gloss monitors make users sit awkwardly.