"Interfaces" Winter 2003 edition goes Online

Every three months, a new issue of Interfaces appears on the British HCI Group website. (The printed version is distributed to members three months earlier, so if you want it any earlier you'll have to join up!). There are now 19 back issues available online - all the way back to the fabled summer of 97.

The latest issue to be available contains the usual collection of editorials, committee reports (including the chart of the most popular IwC papers), book reviews and the following articles.

Andy Smith reports on a usability collaboration between the UK and India - what do desktop metaphors mean to those who have never seen a desk?!

Markopoulos, Bekker and Read review the International Workshop on Interaction Design and Children – 2002, while Penny Noy interviews editor-in-chief of a new journal (Information Visualization): Chaomei Chen of Drexel University, USA.(This was first published in the newsletter of the Information Visualization Society.)

New member of the BHCIG Executive, Elaine Campbell of Upstart training recounts tales from the implementation of online training for engineers.9

Sarah Kettley covers the International Symposium of Wearable Computers 2002, while a variety of individuals, some real, recount lurid narratives from HCI2002. Among them, future editor of Interfaces, Laura Cowen from IBM describes the experience of giving her first conference paper - an inspiration to neophytes, and capable of stirring fond memories for HCI veterans like Alistair Kilgour who gives a detailed account of HCI2002 Educators' Workshop.

Cassandra weaves her mystic spell once more with a piece that commences with the following typical quotation: "All knowledge, the totality of of all questions and answers, is contained in the dog." Cassandra Hall.

Anne Smith describes her PhD, and Xristine Faulkner, Arlene Kline and Mark Treglown supply a full collection of book reviews. Media personality (following her well-received radio4 appearance) Catriona Campbell rounds off the issue by being gracious enough to answer our Profile questions.

Tom McEwan
Editor (until issue 54 - which should be landing on members' doorsteps any day now)

Associated Link: Interfaces, the magazine of the British HCI Group, Issue 53

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.