Call for Support: What's your Attitude to Reality?

Designers, engineers, artists and scientists working together sometimes encounter problems that are based on the differences in their worldviews. Using the "Attitude Towards Reality Scale" by Unger et al, a group of researchers are investigating these differences and their impact in the hope that the results might lead to a better mutual understanding and cooperation.

An online survey has been set up to collect data as widely as possible. 'We are now testing the reliability of this tool and would like to invite everybody, including previous participants, to fill in the survey,' says organiser Christoph Bartneck of Eindhoven University of Technology in The Netherlands. 'I am interested in the relationship between design and science and the survey is one part of my efforts. The HCI community works with different paradigms which cause many misunderstandings and frustrations. My goal is to come to unified model of the two main camps: the creators (e.g. designers, engineers) and the analyzers (e.g. social scientists).'

People who are interested in the result can leave their email address and will be notified as soon as they are available.

You can contribute to this study by filling in an anonymous online questionnaire at the website linked below (http://www.survey.id.tue.nl/aar) Send any questions or comments to christoph@bartneck.de.

Associated Link: The survey

Study: Mobile Web sites need Improvement
Source: CNET, 13 October 2008
 
A new study suggests that the usability of many mobile Web sites still needs improvement.

Better Usability makes Online Backup more Appealing
Source: UN, 11 October 2008
 
Repeat after me: "Backup via the Internet is for everybody."

IBM Task Modeler version 6 now Available
Source: Unknown, 10 October 2008
 
The latest release of IBM Task Modeler is now available for download. This includes many new features to support efficient and collaborative task analysis and synthesis.

Caroline's Corner: Design to Read - Designing for People who do not Read easily
Source: Caroline Jarrett, 9 October 2008
 
Reading is a skill many of us take for granted. Chances are that if you’re reading this, you’re one of the lucky ones who read easily.

Bill Buxton to change Microsoft from within
Source: The Register, 8 October 2008
 
"Last year Steve Ballmer said to 85,000 employees 'If you don’t change and you don’t go in this direction, we’re dead, and I don’t want to die.' I wanted to go hug him when he said that."

New Report: Innovative Marketing in the Digital World
Source: E-consultancy, 7 October 2008
 
A new report from E-consultancy provides a distillation of ideas and suggestions provided by digital marketing experts.

Linking Industry with Academia
Source: unknown, 6 October 2008
 
Customer experience research consultancy, fhios, based in London, has just launched an innovative internship programme, aimed primarily at postgraduate students.

Online Travel Booking: What influences Consumers?
Source: Webcredible, 4 October 2008
 
What influences consumers when booking a holiday? How can travel companies offer the best user experience?

Getting the Word out
Source: UN, 3 October 2008
 
I SAID, I'M ON THE TRAIN... Voice recognition technology can now translate all those pesky garbled voicemails into manageable text messages.

Mobile hardware outpaces Software and User Capabilities
Source: ComputerWorld, 2 October 2008
 
The main issue dissuading users from employing all the capabilities of their mobile devices is the complexity involved in operating them.