Something else you can do with a spreadsheet
I recently visited Professor Ben Shneiderman at the University of Maryland, arguably the world’s leading expert on user interface design, and talked to him about human computer interaction, sustainability, social network analysis and spreadsheets.
Ben's most recent book, Designing the User Interface, with co-author Catherine Plaisant, is in its fifth edition and has lots of compelling new material especially in visualisation and social network technology.
Don’t blame social media for bad behaviour
One of the questions I often get asked by journalists, who know I’m interested in the psychology of technology, is how social media like Facebook and Twitter change the way we communicate. Being journalists, they usually want me to say that we can no longer interact properly with each other thanks to technology.
I know some brain researchers have made some scary claims about social media but all the evidence I have seen suggests that it is just another way of keeping in touch.
The workaround: technology strikes back
People have been finding workarounds for poorly designed systems for many years. Although both the technology and the workarounds have become more sophisticated, the problem, and its solution, remains the same.
Many years ago, before web-based interfaces, we were asked to investigate why an online ordering system wasn’t delivering the promised productivity benefits. Our research, which involved videoing staff dealing with telephone orders and then interviewing them about the process, soon revealed the problem.
Thinking outside the box and other bad advice
Earlier this month I opened CREATE 2009, a forum for academics and practitioners to share creative and innovative ideas for human computer interaction (HCI).
The conference's theme was ‘Creative inventions and innovations for everyday HCI’ so to start things off I outlined my four step approach to help designers find more creative solutions to their problems.
Socio-technical systems: a little theory goes a long way
From worrying if Twitter really is a useful business tool, to getting a pain in your neck from using your laptop in bed, we are all affected by socio-technical systems.
I recently contributed to the Handbook of Research on Socio-Technical Design and Social Networking Systems, a book focusing on how we combine our knowledge of technology and society to improve both technical performance and personal wellbeing.
There are no easy answers to how you design socio-technical systems, and this book presents an invaluable and unique overview of a vast and confusing field. But one reason why I think it is particularly difficult nowadays is that social relationships are so much more complex than they appear on the surface. Arguably all behaviour is social, as we observe ourselves and form opinions about how others see us.
What does the Telegraph do better than the Guardian or the Times?
Many of the big newspapers have launched sites specifically for mobile users, Graham Charlton has recently reviewed several of them here. But are duplicate sites really the way to go? How do you work out what to include? Above all, what happens if after all your efforts a mobile user decides to access your standard site and gets a poor user experience there?
System Concepts has just tested the mobile and standard sites of three quality newspapers:The Times, The Telegraph and The Guardian when accessed using a mobile phone. Our results clearly highlighted some of the issues brand owners face in deciding their mobile strategy.
All I want for Christmas ... is a new mobile phone
One of the first lessons in usability is that people vary and that designing for ‘average’ doesn’t work. Nowhere is this more true than in the highly competitive world of mobile phone design.
Actually I don’t want a new mobile because I have an iPhone and I love it. Of course, it’s not perfect but once again Apple has demonstrated that it understands the importance of the ‘user experience’. Even its cardboard box is beautiful.
Usability or user experience - what's the difference ?
The study of the relationship between people and technology has been called a variety of names over the years - from computer ergonomics, human computer interaction and usability to, more recently, human-centred design and user experience.
Steve Jobs, Blue Peter and usability
Two news stories caught my attention recently – the UK launch of the iPhone and the scandal at the BBC over naming Blue Peter’s kitten.
You might not think they are related, or related to usability - but I beg to differ.
Who needs or wants usability?
I have just given my annual lectures to some postgraduate students about what it’s like doing usability in the real world (i.e. the world where you can’t spend three months redesigning the perfect interface to a toaster).
And one of the issues I cover is why it seems to be so difficult to design usable products. It must be difficult - there are lots of clever designers and few really usable products.
Holiday shopping forecast 2009: a lot like 2008, with more coupons
The NLA explains why it is going after the news aggregators
Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
