Title:
Chapter 9: Memory Inc.
Reference:
Slater, Lauren. Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century. W.W. Norton & Company: 2008.
Summary:
The chapter begins by Dr. Scoville examining his patient, Henry, in order to hopefully cure Henry's epilepsy. Dr. Scoville decides to remove Henry's hippocampus which actually removes most of Henry's memory to where he cannot learn new things. This discovered that memory was (at least in part) flesh.
Brenda Milner decided to observe Henry in order to see just what memory he had and what he didn't have. She found that he still had all of his procedural, or unconscious memory.
Eric Kandel, dealing with sea slugs, found that stimulating these slugs caused reflex which could be modified by three forms of learning: habituation, sensitization, and classical conditioning. He observed what happened to the slugs neurons as it learned. He was a reductionist so looking simply at two neurons, he found that a sensory and motor neuron pass stronger impulses to each other as a behavior becomes engraved. This shows that the more we do something the more it gets truly ingrained into our minds. This went off on CREB which is the stuff the brain makes to increase these bonds, or increase our memory. She finishes the chapter talking about Memory Pharmaceuticals which is developing a pill that increases memory.
Discussion:
This chapter was fairly interesting but got a little too technical for me. It lost me when it got to all the jargon. Nonetheless it was interesting seeing concrete evidence of our neurons working together to form a bond. It was also interesting that given the facilities Henry could perform a task but didn't actually know that he was suppose to do that task; his higher learning was shot but his procedural memory was still there.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Book Reading #31 - Coming of Age in Samoa
Title:
Chapter 10: The Experience and Individuality of the Average Girl
Reference:
Mead, Margaret. Coming of Age in Samoa. Harper Perennial, 1928 (1971)
Summary:
The chapter begins speaking of how young children do not quite know how to formulate sentences in the language but definitely do not know the courtesy language. They had all been introduced to birth, death, and sex as the Samoans live revealed lives that have little privacy. These have not seemed to affect the child in a negative way, however.
Concerning salacious talk, there is nonetheless no shame in the village. This sort of talk is amongst young people and looked down upon in adults simply because it is unpleasant, not because it is expelled.
Mead looks at three families that are strictly biological in their living situations. The girls in these families have a much more personal relationship with their parents but also contest their parents more.
She speaks of how homosexuality is simply play and something that young people do.
She concludes that adolescence is not marked with the drama or periods of crisis or stress that the West is.
Discussion:
This chapter seemed to touch on all the chapters prior not really introducing much new information. Mead's thoughts seem all jumbled together as she rarely sticks at all to the chapter title. It was like she just let her pen go and disregarded the reason she was writing any particular chapter.
Chapter 10: The Experience and Individuality of the Average Girl
Reference:
Mead, Margaret. Coming of Age in Samoa. Harper Perennial, 1928 (1971)
Summary:
The chapter begins speaking of how young children do not quite know how to formulate sentences in the language but definitely do not know the courtesy language. They had all been introduced to birth, death, and sex as the Samoans live revealed lives that have little privacy. These have not seemed to affect the child in a negative way, however.
Concerning salacious talk, there is nonetheless no shame in the village. This sort of talk is amongst young people and looked down upon in adults simply because it is unpleasant, not because it is expelled.
Mead looks at three families that are strictly biological in their living situations. The girls in these families have a much more personal relationship with their parents but also contest their parents more.
She speaks of how homosexuality is simply play and something that young people do.
She concludes that adolescence is not marked with the drama or periods of crisis or stress that the West is.
Discussion:
This chapter seemed to touch on all the chapters prior not really introducing much new information. Mead's thoughts seem all jumbled together as she rarely sticks at all to the chapter title. It was like she just let her pen go and disregarded the reason she was writing any particular chapter.
Book Reading #30 - Emotional Design
Title:
Three Levels of Design: Visceral, Behavioral, and Reflective
Reference:
Norman, Donald. Emotional Design. Basic Books. New York. 2004
Summary:
The Three Levels of Design obviously focused on the visceral, behavioral, and reflective design. Focusing first on the visceral, or more than likely the first thing that grabs someone's attention, good visceral design relates "pretty-ness" to an item playing on our outward emotion. These things are wired into the way we work, the way we see features and observe them. Here shape and form matter.
Second we have behavioral design. This is the realm where use is the driving factor. A product must be usable. The question is asked, "does it fulfill needs"? Enhancement and innovation are driving forces in this aspect of design. Testing and user observation (recognizing and listening to user complaints and suggestions) are incredibly important in order for a product to excel in this type of design principle. This is an aspect that is much forgotten or disregarded by the designer.
The last aspect of design talked about it reflective design. This is where sense and emotion really come into play. Reflective design cuts deep into personal remembrances and even self-image, the way one perceives himself. It is a message one wants to convey. Norman points to reflective design as that which "often determines a person's overall impression of a product".
He gives an example of the football coaches headset as an example of a design that needed to use all three principles in a rigid manor.
He also points out how often ease of use and good emotional response is good for design, but sometimes designers want to produce the opposite emotion in people in order to entice them. He gives Diesel as an example of this.
He shows the difference by committee design and a one-person design. While iterative approaches are good for behavioral appeal and have the potential to last for a while, a single individual in design has the opportunity to really produce a product that astounds. He can produce a great product.
Discussion:
This chapter was just an extension on his last about the three properties of design. It was good to see a few more examples of how the balance is needed in much design but is sometimes neglected or a different route taken. It is difficult to capture design in general in just a few terms as there is so much appeal by different standards, but I think this chapter did an adequate job of stretching over all the realms in order to give a fairly good idea of different approaches to take at design.
Three Levels of Design: Visceral, Behavioral, and Reflective
Reference:
Norman, Donald. Emotional Design. Basic Books. New York. 2004
Summary:
The Three Levels of Design obviously focused on the visceral, behavioral, and reflective design. Focusing first on the visceral, or more than likely the first thing that grabs someone's attention, good visceral design relates "pretty-ness" to an item playing on our outward emotion. These things are wired into the way we work, the way we see features and observe them. Here shape and form matter.
Second we have behavioral design. This is the realm where use is the driving factor. A product must be usable. The question is asked, "does it fulfill needs"? Enhancement and innovation are driving forces in this aspect of design. Testing and user observation (recognizing and listening to user complaints and suggestions) are incredibly important in order for a product to excel in this type of design principle. This is an aspect that is much forgotten or disregarded by the designer.
The last aspect of design talked about it reflective design. This is where sense and emotion really come into play. Reflective design cuts deep into personal remembrances and even self-image, the way one perceives himself. It is a message one wants to convey. Norman points to reflective design as that which "often determines a person's overall impression of a product".
He gives an example of the football coaches headset as an example of a design that needed to use all three principles in a rigid manor.
He also points out how often ease of use and good emotional response is good for design, but sometimes designers want to produce the opposite emotion in people in order to entice them. He gives Diesel as an example of this.
He shows the difference by committee design and a one-person design. While iterative approaches are good for behavioral appeal and have the potential to last for a while, a single individual in design has the opportunity to really produce a product that astounds. He can produce a great product.
Discussion:
This chapter was just an extension on his last about the three properties of design. It was good to see a few more examples of how the balance is needed in much design but is sometimes neglected or a different route taken. It is difficult to capture design in general in just a few terms as there is so much appeal by different standards, but I think this chapter did an adequate job of stretching over all the realms in order to give a fairly good idea of different approaches to take at design.
Paper Reading #13: Grassroots heritage in the crisis context: a social media probes approach to studying heritage in a participatory age
Title:
Grassroots heritage in the crisis context: a social media probes approach to studying heritage in a participatory age
Comments:
Angel Narvaez
Alyssa Nabors
Reference:
Liu, Sophia. Grassroots heritage in the crisis context: a social media probes approach to studying heritage in a participatory age. UIST '09. http://portal.acm.org/ft_gateway.cfm?id=1753899&type=pdf&CFID=11175862&CFTOKEN=42077103
Summary:
The author sees the current trend in social media to be neglected by HCI in terms of retaining cultural heritage. Liu states that it is important to pass on the this generation and future generations the crises of our time. As media is no longer simply in the form of newspaper articles, online archives are needed in order to preserve this data. Liu seeks to be able to curate this data in meaningful ways using "social media probes" which are directed questions toward certain historical events that a participant can collect online and preserve.
Discussion:
I left the summary fairly vague as was the article itself. It was difficult to understand just what her probes were. From what it sounded like, she would focus on one event and tell the participant to grab a certain number of meaningful articles and sources and then maybe some program or network would gather the data for retrieval at a later date.
It seems to me that if people were interested in doing this they would take it upon themselves to do it and not need a mediator. If this is a program, they so often go out of date and are unmaintainable as new technologies replace them. Digital media is vary volatile and difficult to keep due to computer failures and carelessness. This is a problem that I don't see an easy solution to. I'm not quite sure if that is what Liu was trying to get at with her paper, but that is the main solution I found from her paper.
Grassroots heritage in the crisis context: a social media probes approach to studying heritage in a participatory age
Comments:
Angel Narvaez
Alyssa Nabors
Reference:
Liu, Sophia. Grassroots heritage in the crisis context: a social media probes approach to studying heritage in a participatory age. UIST '09. http://portal.acm.org/ft_gateway.cfm?id=1753899&type=pdf&CFID=11175862&CFTOKEN=42077103
Summary:
Discussion:
I left the summary fairly vague as was the article itself. It was difficult to understand just what her probes were. From what it sounded like, she would focus on one event and tell the participant to grab a certain number of meaningful articles and sources and then maybe some program or network would gather the data for retrieval at a later date.
It seems to me that if people were interested in doing this they would take it upon themselves to do it and not need a mediator. If this is a program, they so often go out of date and are unmaintainable as new technologies replace them. Digital media is vary volatile and difficult to keep due to computer failures and carelessness. This is a problem that I don't see an easy solution to. I'm not quite sure if that is what Liu was trying to get at with her paper, but that is the main solution I found from her paper.
Book Reading #29 - Opening Skinner's Box
Title:
Chapter 8: Lost in the Mall
Reference:
Slater, Lauren. Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century. W.W. Norton & Company: 2008.
Summary:
Slater tells the story and work of Elizabeth Loftus, someone who says she is dedicated to helping those who could be wrongfully on trial or convicted because of long lost memory that seems to have just appeared on the surface of the mind years later after the actual even supposedly occurred. She tells of George Franklin who was accused by his daughter (according to Loftus) at the suggestion of her new age psychologist of sexually abusing her. She comes to the hypothesis that false memory can be implanted into peoples minds.
Loftus thought about how to design an experiment which would test this hypothesis. She came up with "lost in the mall". Over the Thanksgiving break, her students were to plant ideas in their relatives heads. It culminated by planting the idea that they had been lost in the mall at a young age. A while later they were asked to recall this experience and with vivid detail, a statistically significant percentage (25%) recalled and expanded this story that was planted in their heads.
Slater's work was in the time of the early 1990s when people were all about memory repression. Her work was widely criticized as not proving anything significant. People were sticking to their Freudian attitudes.
She gives another account of Paul Ingram whose daughters while at a religious retreat accused him of sexually abusing them years in the past. After days of interrogation Ingram finally broke down and confessed that he had done many things to the two. It was found that Ingram would alter his mind to believe almost anything, but that did not save him from jail time.
Loftus's questions beg at the whether we have authenticity or we simply make up quite everything we remember. She fought with Freud's view of repression throughout her career.
Discussion:
This chapter made me think a lot of the things that have gone in and out of my memory. I have always said I have a bad memory, but recently in my latter college years have been able to recall many events from my past. I was able to question whether or not they actually happened. For all general purposes as long as it just concerns myself, I think the things I remember are reason enough to actually believe they did happen to me, for what else do we have but our own memory? If we cannot rely on that, what is there to say? Whether something happened or not, we still have the memory of it, and therefore could still be traumatized for it. That is not to say that other people should pay the penalty for that, but healing is still needed for experiences in the mind.
Chapter 8: Lost in the Mall
Reference:
Slater, Lauren. Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century. W.W. Norton & Company: 2008.
Summary:
Slater tells the story and work of Elizabeth Loftus, someone who says she is dedicated to helping those who could be wrongfully on trial or convicted because of long lost memory that seems to have just appeared on the surface of the mind years later after the actual even supposedly occurred. She tells of George Franklin who was accused by his daughter (according to Loftus) at the suggestion of her new age psychologist of sexually abusing her. She comes to the hypothesis that false memory can be implanted into peoples minds.
Loftus thought about how to design an experiment which would test this hypothesis. She came up with "lost in the mall". Over the Thanksgiving break, her students were to plant ideas in their relatives heads. It culminated by planting the idea that they had been lost in the mall at a young age. A while later they were asked to recall this experience and with vivid detail, a statistically significant percentage (25%) recalled and expanded this story that was planted in their heads.
Slater's work was in the time of the early 1990s when people were all about memory repression. Her work was widely criticized as not proving anything significant. People were sticking to their Freudian attitudes.
She gives another account of Paul Ingram whose daughters while at a religious retreat accused him of sexually abusing them years in the past. After days of interrogation Ingram finally broke down and confessed that he had done many things to the two. It was found that Ingram would alter his mind to believe almost anything, but that did not save him from jail time.
Loftus's questions beg at the whether we have authenticity or we simply make up quite everything we remember. She fought with Freud's view of repression throughout her career.
Discussion:
This chapter made me think a lot of the things that have gone in and out of my memory. I have always said I have a bad memory, but recently in my latter college years have been able to recall many events from my past. I was able to question whether or not they actually happened. For all general purposes as long as it just concerns myself, I think the things I remember are reason enough to actually believe they did happen to me, for what else do we have but our own memory? If we cannot rely on that, what is there to say? Whether something happened or not, we still have the memory of it, and therefore could still be traumatized for it. That is not to say that other people should pay the penalty for that, but healing is still needed for experiences in the mind.
Book Reading #28 - Coming of Age in Samoa
Title:
Chapter 9: The Attitude of the Personality
Reference:
Mead, Margaret. Coming of Age in Samoa. Harper Perennial, 1928 (1971)
Summary:
Mead opens the chapter speaking of 'musu', a mood among Samoa that is used to describe any ill-tempered mood. This goes without question as the motives of someones move save the attitude of close relatives toward that person. The taboo is that if one holds bad feelings toward another, then bad luck may come on the one held in contempt.
Chapter 9: The Attitude of the Personality
Reference:
Mead, Margaret. Coming of Age in Samoa. Harper Perennial, 1928 (1971)
Summary:
Mead opens the chapter speaking of 'musu', a mood among Samoa that is used to describe any ill-tempered mood. This goes without question as the motives of someones move save the attitude of close relatives toward that person. The taboo is that if one holds bad feelings toward another, then bad luck may come on the one held in contempt.
No one has much privacy as they live in homes of many family members and maybe many families.
The Samoan language has no regular comparative, so when asked a questions such as "who is the best..." the response is often, "they are all good". The exception to this is when talking about negative characteristics Mead points may be due to Christian missionaries and their ideas of sin. The most disliked trait of all is the desire to be the highest.
Discussion:
This most interesting part of this chapter was that the desire to be the highest was the most disliked trait. That seems to be the attitude of an American, that he wants to be the best, the highest, the most important and powerful. If this indeed is the case, there is a stark contrast between the attitude that the west has and that of Samoa.It is interesting hearing about different languages and their parts of speech. It would be difficult for us to use speech without comparatives, but for them it is simply natural. That probably contributes to the fact that people are not striving to be the best - they don't have even have words to describe it.
Book Reading #27 - Emotional Design
Title:
Chapter 2: The Multiple Faces of Emotion and Design
Reference:
Norman, Donald. Emotional Design. Basic Books. New York. 2004
Summary:
The opening of this chapter reviews the three emotion devices in terms of products:
Discussion:
Normans claims go right along with common sense and human nature, that we in the west are individualistic and like things our way and with that like a lot of personality in the things we use. We like to be a man of the land, designing and structuring our own things even if we are not always capable. We must put our mark on our things.
Chapter 2: The Multiple Faces of Emotion and Design
Reference:
Norman, Donald. Emotional Design. Basic Books. New York. 2004
Summary:
The opening of this chapter reviews the three emotion devices in terms of products:
- Visceral - pre-conscious, pre-thought; appearance
- Behavioral - experience with the product; pleasure and effectiveness of use
- Reflective - feelings, emotions, cognition; self-image and memories
Norman discusses the differences in objects and personal opinion stating it is impossible to please everybody. This being the case, companies either focus on a specific part of the market (market segmentation) or through a good use of media and advertisement are able to gather an emotional appeal in order to attract all people (like coca-cola). He discusses consoles and how they are being used by a wider audience than marketed to, and also have the potential to be attractive to others as well. In order for this to happen, the book states that the marketing strategies will have to change and that multiple designs will have to be used in order to open the market more.
Some things rely on emotion rather than reason. Trinkets, artifacts, and mementos are not beautiful in and of themselves, however, they elicit an emotion in the owner that surpasses the worth of the physical. It is the story and its association that matters, not necessarily the object itself. Photographs are a prime example of this.
He talks about self-image and how making a positive image in various ways makes us feel good about ourselves. We like to build things and do things on our own to give it that personal tough.
Discussion:
Normans claims go right along with common sense and human nature, that we in the west are individualistic and like things our way and with that like a lot of personality in the things we use. We like to be a man of the land, designing and structuring our own things even if we are not always capable. We must put our mark on our things.
Ethnography Results, Week 4
By Evin Schuchardt, Jeremy Nelissen, Ryan Kerbow and Wesley Konderla
Setting:
This outing was personal as there was only one member at the show this week. This was a Sunday night and there was an actual poetry slam going on. A poetry slam is a poetry competition in which there are judges who judge contestants poems and presentations. This is opposed to the regular open mic nights that are usually at Revolution.
The night was windy. We arrived around 9:15PM. The competition was held outside to accommodate all the guests. There were about fifty people present. This night was a black tie event (which we did not know about). We guess this was just because of the judges present. about a third of the people there were dressed up. Most of these dressed up were poets in the competition.
People:
This seemed to be a very important night for all the poets, so most of the regular poets were seen there. The MC was someone who had never been MC while we were present. The poets who usually seem most influential in the happenings of open mic were involved in the slam along with some others. There were about eight poets involved in the slam.
Slam:
There were about eight poets in the slam. Each recited two poems: one poem per round. They were judged on a ten point scale. The four poets with the most points advanced to the third and final round. Each round corresponded to the number of minutes the poems were to be. Out of the final four, the one with the most cumulative points won first place. The prizes were $20, $10, $5, $5 from first to fourth respectively.
Poetry:
The poetry of the first two rounds almost exclusively dealt with relationships - usually that between a girlfriend/boyfriend or a father. As it advanced to the last round the poems became more diverse speaking of situations and politics.
Responses:
This was more difficult than in past times to tell how the crowd reacted to the poems. None of the poems seemed new, but repeats of what the poets had done in the past. This along with the fact that the audience had to clap for the receiving of points made it hard to gauge how well the audience liked each poem.
Setting:
This outing was personal as there was only one member at the show this week. This was a Sunday night and there was an actual poetry slam going on. A poetry slam is a poetry competition in which there are judges who judge contestants poems and presentations. This is opposed to the regular open mic nights that are usually at Revolution.
The night was windy. We arrived around 9:15PM. The competition was held outside to accommodate all the guests. There were about fifty people present. This night was a black tie event (which we did not know about). We guess this was just because of the judges present. about a third of the people there were dressed up. Most of these dressed up were poets in the competition.
People:
This seemed to be a very important night for all the poets, so most of the regular poets were seen there. The MC was someone who had never been MC while we were present. The poets who usually seem most influential in the happenings of open mic were involved in the slam along with some others. There were about eight poets involved in the slam.
Slam:
There were about eight poets in the slam. Each recited two poems: one poem per round. They were judged on a ten point scale. The four poets with the most points advanced to the third and final round. Each round corresponded to the number of minutes the poems were to be. Out of the final four, the one with the most cumulative points won first place. The prizes were $20, $10, $5, $5 from first to fourth respectively.
Poetry:
The poetry of the first two rounds almost exclusively dealt with relationships - usually that between a girlfriend/boyfriend or a father. As it advanced to the last round the poems became more diverse speaking of situations and politics.
Responses:
This was more difficult than in past times to tell how the crowd reacted to the poems. None of the poems seemed new, but repeats of what the poets had done in the past. This along with the fact that the audience had to clap for the receiving of points made it hard to gauge how well the audience liked each poem.
Paper Reading #12: Disappearing Mobile Devices
Title:
Disappearing Mobile Devices
Comments:
Pape Youm
Luke Roberts
Reference:
Ni, Tao and Baudisch, Patrick. Disappearing Mobile Devices. UIST '09. http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/1630000/1622197/p101-ni.pdf?key1=1622197&key2=0513948921&coll=DL&dl=ACM&ip=165.91.15.87&CFID=11175862&CFTOKEN=42077103
Summary:
Disappearing Mobile Devices focuses on technology becoming so small that it all but disappears from the visible. This could come in the form of sensors on the skin or in clothing to control both input and output. This technology is only theoretical at this point, so the paper explores how this technology could be used. It also explores different forms of gesture representation by which the user could communicate with the technology.
There is already technology that allows for wearing part of the technology such as Linux watches and different handsets. Also there are many gesture programs that are already in use in notebooks and PDAs.
The paper discusses input and output. Relying on keyboard and mouse for input, a notebook is limited to the size of the keyboard, and output limited to the viewing aspect of the user. In order to go micro, the input and output must change. This could come in the form of audio input and output as well as feeling (sensational) input and output.
For these sensors, a new input language would be needed. The article discusses a variation of Morse code using multiple finger taps, marking (use of directional multi-touch), and unistroke which is using one stroke to a letter.
The authors designed prototypes by using different types of optical and laser mice in order to simulate one of these sensors of the future. There was a user study in which they used a G5 mouse with the idea of marking to see if they could indeed simulate this technology. The study found a 4.8% error rate in the 8 directions given. The results found that using marking would be a sound input for these mobile devices.
Another study was conducted for unistroke. Participants wore a glove and used their whole hand in order to make the strokes as otherwise there was an extremely high error rate. They compared EdgeWrite and Graffiti expecting the former to have a lower error rate. The studies showed that this was, in fact, the case.
The paper showed that both these ways of input have potential for upcoming technology. Future research is said to be on single pixel display.
Discussion:
The idea of the computer becoming invisible is an interesting concept as we may not have to worry anymore about misplacing our beloved items. It also allows for more secretive procedures taking place. The most interesting thing I found in the article was its brief discussion on sound input and output. In my opinion that would be the quickest form of input as you would just have to speak.
For future research I think they could also do a user study using voice input in a type of Wizard of Oz study.
Disappearing Mobile Devices
Comments:
Pape Youm
Luke Roberts
Reference:
Ni, Tao and Baudisch, Patrick. Disappearing Mobile Devices. UIST '09. http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/1630000/1622197/p101-ni.pdf?key1=1622197&key2=0513948921&coll=DL&dl=ACM&ip=165.91.15.87&CFID=11175862&CFTOKEN=42077103
Summary:
There is already technology that allows for wearing part of the technology such as Linux watches and different handsets. Also there are many gesture programs that are already in use in notebooks and PDAs.
The paper discusses input and output. Relying on keyboard and mouse for input, a notebook is limited to the size of the keyboard, and output limited to the viewing aspect of the user. In order to go micro, the input and output must change. This could come in the form of audio input and output as well as feeling (sensational) input and output.
For these sensors, a new input language would be needed. The article discusses a variation of Morse code using multiple finger taps, marking (use of directional multi-touch), and unistroke which is using one stroke to a letter. The authors designed prototypes by using different types of optical and laser mice in order to simulate one of these sensors of the future. There was a user study in which they used a G5 mouse with the idea of marking to see if they could indeed simulate this technology. The study found a 4.8% error rate in the 8 directions given. The results found that using marking would be a sound input for these mobile devices.
Another study was conducted for unistroke. Participants wore a glove and used their whole hand in order to make the strokes as otherwise there was an extremely high error rate. They compared EdgeWrite and Graffiti expecting the former to have a lower error rate. The studies showed that this was, in fact, the case.
The paper showed that both these ways of input have potential for upcoming technology. Future research is said to be on single pixel display.
Discussion:
The idea of the computer becoming invisible is an interesting concept as we may not have to worry anymore about misplacing our beloved items. It also allows for more secretive procedures taking place. The most interesting thing I found in the article was its brief discussion on sound input and output. In my opinion that would be the quickest form of input as you would just have to speak.
For future research I think they could also do a user study using voice input in a type of Wizard of Oz study.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Book Reading #26 - Opening Skinner's Box
Title:
Chapter 7: Rat Park
Reference:
Slater, Lauren. Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century. W.W. Norton & Company: 2008.
Summary:
Slater told the experiments and findings of Bruce Alexander who thought that there were no chemical causes to addiction, but rather cultural factors that played into everything. He devised an experiment with rats in which a control group remained in their tight cages and another group lived in a rat-park he built. It was a utopia. He offered the rats both regular water as well as sweet water laced with morphine. He steadily increased the dosage of the morphine. He found that the Utopian rats did not become addicted to the morphine, but rather preferred the regular water whereas the opposite was true for the other group. He neutralized the morphine part of the solution and found that the Utopian rats then wanted the sweet water.
His next experiment started with the same two groups, but this time only offered the morphine-water. He gave them that to drink for an extended period of time and then offered them regular water as well as the sweet morphine. His findings were the same as the last.
His papers were not published in popular journals, and he was never highly regarded. Slater says that political factors could be involved in these things.
Slater once again tries the experiment. She begins taking her husbands morphine pills at night for 14 days to see if she develops an addiction, but it turns out she does not.
Discussion:
The focus of this chapter seemed to be on cultural construction. I really liked her analysis on everything: that the environmental factors highly affect our personal lives and therefore our desire to use and be "addicted to" drugs. She said that people merely escape their current surroundings through drugs and the only sufficient thing to call an addiction would be the fact that this fantasy world is better than the one they are living in. This causes the desire to continue. This could be seen in the cycle of taking drugs as it sometimes costs a lot of money. The user becomes poor, finds himself in bad circumstances, and only increases the "need" for it based on his surroundings.
Chapter 7: Rat Park
Reference:
Slater, Lauren. Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century. W.W. Norton & Company: 2008.
Summary:
Slater told the experiments and findings of Bruce Alexander who thought that there were no chemical causes to addiction, but rather cultural factors that played into everything. He devised an experiment with rats in which a control group remained in their tight cages and another group lived in a rat-park he built. It was a utopia. He offered the rats both regular water as well as sweet water laced with morphine. He steadily increased the dosage of the morphine. He found that the Utopian rats did not become addicted to the morphine, but rather preferred the regular water whereas the opposite was true for the other group. He neutralized the morphine part of the solution and found that the Utopian rats then wanted the sweet water.
His next experiment started with the same two groups, but this time only offered the morphine-water. He gave them that to drink for an extended period of time and then offered them regular water as well as the sweet morphine. His findings were the same as the last.
His papers were not published in popular journals, and he was never highly regarded. Slater says that political factors could be involved in these things.
Slater once again tries the experiment. She begins taking her husbands morphine pills at night for 14 days to see if she develops an addiction, but it turns out she does not.
Discussion:
The focus of this chapter seemed to be on cultural construction. I really liked her analysis on everything: that the environmental factors highly affect our personal lives and therefore our desire to use and be "addicted to" drugs. She said that people merely escape their current surroundings through drugs and the only sufficient thing to call an addiction would be the fact that this fantasy world is better than the one they are living in. This causes the desire to continue. This could be seen in the cycle of taking drugs as it sometimes costs a lot of money. The user becomes poor, finds himself in bad circumstances, and only increases the "need" for it based on his surroundings.
Book Reading #25 - Coming of Age in Samoa
Title:
Chapter 8: The Role of the Dance
Reference:
Mead, Margaret. Coming of Age in Samoa. Harper Perennial, 1928 (1971)
Summary:
Dancing is something that almost all ages of both sexes do. It is the one area of life where everyone is allowed to express their own individuality. Everyone who dances receives feedback usually that of praise. This, Mead points out, is where much education and social contact occurs because it is one place where a child is not constantly shushed and scolded. Dancing also allows people to get over shyness. Because everyone dances, they are forced into the limelight.
There are at least three different dance styles: the taupo, the dance of the boys, and the jesters. Mead says that if you get to know a person you can sometimes figure out their form of dance by their personality.
Discussion:
I found it interesting that Mead saw the role of dance so vital for the community. I would agree with her that expressing individualism is very important for the young. The community is another important aspect. She noted in an earlier chapter that boys are able to have social interaction through fishing parties whereas girls really don't get that luxury.
Chapter 8: The Role of the Dance
Reference:
Mead, Margaret. Coming of Age in Samoa. Harper Perennial, 1928 (1971)
Summary:
Dancing is something that almost all ages of both sexes do. It is the one area of life where everyone is allowed to express their own individuality. Everyone who dances receives feedback usually that of praise. This, Mead points out, is where much education and social contact occurs because it is one place where a child is not constantly shushed and scolded. Dancing also allows people to get over shyness. Because everyone dances, they are forced into the limelight.
There are at least three different dance styles: the taupo, the dance of the boys, and the jesters. Mead says that if you get to know a person you can sometimes figure out their form of dance by their personality.
Discussion:
I found it interesting that Mead saw the role of dance so vital for the community. I would agree with her that expressing individualism is very important for the young. The community is another important aspect. She noted in an earlier chapter that boys are able to have social interaction through fishing parties whereas girls really don't get that luxury.
Book Reading #24 - Emotional Design
Title:
Chapter 1: Attractive Things Work Better
Reference:
Norman, Donald. Emotional Design. Basic Books. New York. 2004
Summary:
This chapter told the emotional factor that plays into both mood, affect, and design. He poses the question whether attractive things work better. He cites a Japanese and Israeli study where ATM machines were compared with the same functionality but different aesthetics. Norman also points to claims that someone's emotional state can dramatically affect their ability to do certain tasks. A relaxed mood allows for more creativity and problem solving whereas a stressful mood allows for greater focus and and "get it done" attitude.
Norman points out evolution says that the greater the emotion of the animal the more advanced it is. For us, then, finding solutions to problems that require problem solving skills need to have emotions considered.
There are three levels of processing according to the book: visceral - automatic, behavioral - everyday function, and reflective - or contemplative.
The chapter ends with showing the levels of emotion: emotion => mood => traits => personality.
Discussion:
The beginning to this book looks much more promising than his last book. It is interesting to me to think about emotions and how they do in fact affect our lives. Emotion seems to be a factor in design that we often overlook because the usability and functionality often seem more important. I think it is all about a balance of all of that, however, aesthetics should always be preferred.
Chapter 1: Attractive Things Work Better
Reference:
Norman, Donald. Emotional Design. Basic Books. New York. 2004
Summary:
This chapter told the emotional factor that plays into both mood, affect, and design. He poses the question whether attractive things work better. He cites a Japanese and Israeli study where ATM machines were compared with the same functionality but different aesthetics. Norman also points to claims that someone's emotional state can dramatically affect their ability to do certain tasks. A relaxed mood allows for more creativity and problem solving whereas a stressful mood allows for greater focus and and "get it done" attitude.
Norman points out evolution says that the greater the emotion of the animal the more advanced it is. For us, then, finding solutions to problems that require problem solving skills need to have emotions considered.
There are three levels of processing according to the book: visceral - automatic, behavioral - everyday function, and reflective - or contemplative.
The chapter ends with showing the levels of emotion: emotion => mood => traits => personality.
Discussion:
The beginning to this book looks much more promising than his last book. It is interesting to me to think about emotions and how they do in fact affect our lives. Emotion seems to be a factor in design that we often overlook because the usability and functionality often seem more important. I think it is all about a balance of all of that, however, aesthetics should always be preferred.
Design of Everyday Things
Title:
Design of Everyday Things: Full Blog
Reference:
Norman, Donald. The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Basic, 2002.
Summary:
Donald Norman's book focuses on the idea that a user needs to be able to use an design easily and efficiently. Norman gives many examples of bad design based upon what characteristic he is speaking of in order to show ways not to design something. The book progressively revolves around four ideas:
The book points out different ways that people perceive things. A user will perceive a design in a much different way than a designer or experienced user. We perceive things based upon past experiences and conditioning. We also often perceive things in a completely different way than reality, for instance perspective drawing. Novice drawers when looking at a cube in real life sometimes tend to draw a square rather than noticing the deviation from these parallels in the real cube.
Discussion:
This book made me think a bit harder of why things are made the way they are made. Norman gives excellent - though maybe too extended - examples that stress the need for better design.
I feel that the book was a bit long-winded. There at least three chapters that were pretty much the same (sometimes even using the same examples) and all chapters overlapped on the same basic principles. I do appreciate the fact that the book did focus on just one idea, however it seems like it did an over-thorough job of beating that horse.
Design of Everyday Things: Full Blog
Reference:
Norman, Donald. The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Basic, 2002.
Summary:
Donald Norman's book focuses on the idea that a user needs to be able to use an design easily and efficiently. Norman gives many examples of bad design based upon what characteristic he is speaking of in order to show ways not to design something. The book progressively revolves around four ideas:
- There needs to be a good conceptual model - The conceptual model must be easily distinguished to the user. Based upon the way the object looks, what it is suppose to be, and the natural and cultural constraints on this object and similar objects, one should be able to perceive how to use the device according to this conceptual model.
- There needs to be good visibility - In order for people to implicitly know how to use something, the ways in which the user interacts with the device - buttons, switches, knobs, handles, output - must be readily visible as to not confuse or hinder the user.
- There needs to be good mapping - Good mapping is required in order that there is little to no ambiguity of how to use certain aspects of a device. If there are few buttons but many functions denoted by different button combinations, it is often very confusing for the user. Norman suggests that a one-to-one mapping should be present in order to alleviate these ailments. He gives an example that the phone of the 1990s had terrible mapping because it was very ambiguous as to how in the world to achieve anything. It was a grave deviation from the simpler days of rotary phones.
- There needs to be good feedback - Feedback is important because it tells the user what is being done by the user. Without good, timely feedback a user could be pressing a button over and over triggering many iterations of the action because he was unaware that the device was in the process of responding to him.
The book points out different ways that people perceive things. A user will perceive a design in a much different way than a designer or experienced user. We perceive things based upon past experiences and conditioning. We also often perceive things in a completely different way than reality, for instance perspective drawing. Novice drawers when looking at a cube in real life sometimes tend to draw a square rather than noticing the deviation from these parallels in the real cube.Norman speaks of knowledge and how we retain information. He goes through short term and long term memory. The memory process necessitates outside factors to be involved in our learning and remembering. This partly gives more reason to the need for visibility as well as meaningful signs that assist our remembrance of things.
Errors are a part of human nature due to many different factors. Norman notes his perceived differences between slips and mistakes. Because of human knowledge, constraints and aids are needed in order to reduce errors. Errors also proceed from poor cooperation to the four major themes of the book listed above.
There is a gap between design and aesthetics. Designers are always in a hurry to get new things out in the hopes that they magically become better, but that wavers from the tested process of evolution of design. Generally, there is a balance and trade-offs between usability and aesthetics.
Everything builds upon the notion that design needs to have the user in mind. The design should be easy for the user to use and understand.
Everything builds upon the notion that design needs to have the user in mind. The design should be easy for the user to use and understand.
Discussion:
This book made me think a bit harder of why things are made the way they are made. Norman gives excellent - though maybe too extended - examples that stress the need for better design.
I feel that the book was a bit long-winded. There at least three chapters that were pretty much the same (sometimes even using the same examples) and all chapters overlapped on the same basic principles. I do appreciate the fact that the book did focus on just one idea, however it seems like it did an over-thorough job of beating that horse.
Paper Reading #11: Activity analysis enabling real-time video communication on mobile phones for deaf users
Title:
Activity analysis enabling real-time video communication on mobile phones for deaf users
Comments:
Shena Hoffmann
Derek Landini
Reference:
Neva Cherniavsky, N., Chon, J., Wobbrock, J., Ladner, R., Riskin, E. Activity analysis enabling real-time video communication on mobile phones for deaf users. UIST '09. http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/1630000/1622192/p79-cherniavsky.pdf?key1=1622192&key2=7683797921&coll=DL&dl=ACM&ip=165.91.15.192&CFID=9231901&CFTOKEN=19689043
Summary:
Cherniovsky et. al developed MobileASL for the purpose of improving real-time video communication of the US phone network focused on ASL signers. Deaf people obviously cannot hear over the phone, so the developers sought out to make it easier for them to communicate.
The constraints of this type of technology include low bandwidth, low processing speed, and limited battery life. In order to overcome these obstacles the developers implemented two algorithms for this purpose: region-of-interest (ROI) and variable frame rate (VFR). ROI is meant to recognize the skin of the participant and make those aspects of the video appear more clear while making everything else (background, clothing, etc.) less clear. This allows for clearer images on the things that matter in signing with the same bandwidth costs. VFR raises and lowers the frame rate according to whether or not the algorithm recognizes the user signing or not. This would involve much movement by the users skin.
There findings were based off of a user study in which 15 participants were a part of a total of 8 phone conversations.
The quantitative results show that the implementation of ROI and VFR can save considerable resources "without sacrificing intelligibility". The user study found that ROI increases intelligibility and decreases guessing at higher ROI levels. Users said that VFR was more difficult to use and interpret, however these findings were not statistically significant when paired with the intelligible conversation.
Future work includes recognizing finger spelling. With this the program would ideally be able to speed up frame rate because of this.
Discussion:
The idea behind this application sounds like a fairly good idea. Many may think that deaf people should not have a mobile phone, but as the article points out it is a great way to communicate via text-messaging. That is very limited though. There were two questions that were brought to my mind:
Activity analysis enabling real-time video communication on mobile phones for deaf users
Comments:
Shena Hoffmann
Derek Landini
Reference:
Neva Cherniavsky, N., Chon, J., Wobbrock, J., Ladner, R., Riskin, E. Activity analysis enabling real-time video communication on mobile phones for deaf users. UIST '09. http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/1630000/1622192/p79-cherniavsky.pdf?key1=1622192&key2=7683797921&coll=DL&dl=ACM&ip=165.91.15.192&CFID=9231901&CFTOKEN=19689043
Summary:
The constraints of this type of technology include low bandwidth, low processing speed, and limited battery life. In order to overcome these obstacles the developers implemented two algorithms for this purpose: region-of-interest (ROI) and variable frame rate (VFR). ROI is meant to recognize the skin of the participant and make those aspects of the video appear more clear while making everything else (background, clothing, etc.) less clear. This allows for clearer images on the things that matter in signing with the same bandwidth costs. VFR raises and lowers the frame rate according to whether or not the algorithm recognizes the user signing or not. This would involve much movement by the users skin.
There findings were based off of a user study in which 15 participants were a part of a total of 8 phone conversations.
The quantitative results show that the implementation of ROI and VFR can save considerable resources "without sacrificing intelligibility". The user study found that ROI increases intelligibility and decreases guessing at higher ROI levels. Users said that VFR was more difficult to use and interpret, however these findings were not statistically significant when paired with the intelligible conversation.
Future work includes recognizing finger spelling. With this the program would ideally be able to speed up frame rate because of this.
Discussion:
The idea behind this application sounds like a fairly good idea. Many may think that deaf people should not have a mobile phone, but as the article points out it is a great way to communicate via text-messaging. That is very limited though. There were two questions that were brought to my mind:
- Does the device need to be set down on a table in order to be used (I would assume so)?
- What if the user has dark skin?
Book Reading #23 - Opening Skinner's Box
Title:
Chapter 6: Monkey Love
Reference:
Slater, Lauren. Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century. W.W. Norton & Company: 2008.
Summary:
This chapter, Slater discussed Harry Harlow's experiments with monkeys and love. He was interested with they psychology of attachment.
Harlow grew up with a mother who was not warm. He fought depression off and on throughout his life and did not fit in at school.
His early experiments of taking infants away from their mothers found that the infants became attached to the terry cloth towels that covered the cage floors. This provoked him to see what factors played in monkey attachment to their mothers. He designed an experiment in which he made a terry cloth mother without milk and a metal mother with milk. He found that the faceless terry cloth mother was much more a mother to the infant than the other. His early findings concluded for him that love was manifested toward a mother through physical touch rather than the drive reduction.
As the infant monkeys became older, it was apparent that they were not all well. They were not social but rather huddled to themselves, fought the other monkeys, and also bit and chewed on themselves. Harlow had to recant his earlier findings. He devised other experiments in which the fake mother rocked the infant along with the infant getting 30 minutes of play time with another monkey. This, he concluded, was conducive to a "normal monkey" as these monkeys were considered to be normal. Thus touch, motion, and play are integral in child rearing.
Through Harlow's findings, orphanages, hospitals, social services, and other child raising agencies have benefited greatly from adopting practices shown to be necessary for child developement by Harlow.
Slater continues into a talk on animal rights and whether or not Harlow was ethical towards the animals. The ultimate question of hers is, "would you choose human life over animal life?"
Discussion:
Talking about love, this chapter is very interesting. I appreciate hearing the different factors that could affect our ability to give and receive love. It does sound like Harlow definitely had a lack of love in his life through some points of his life, but it was interesting how he was so impacted by his loss of love.
I really do not appreciate Slater's end comments on these chapters. This chapter as she went on her rant of animal activism made me see her mostly nice summary and insight into a great psychologists work be concluded with her emotions on the issue. This may be to get readers to really question their own feelings, but to me if I am trying to get a taste for the beauty of the psychology represented by these experiments, I feel tainted by her own personal reflections.
Chapter 6: Monkey Love
Reference:
Slater, Lauren. Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century. W.W. Norton & Company: 2008.
Summary:
This chapter, Slater discussed Harry Harlow's experiments with monkeys and love. He was interested with they psychology of attachment.
Harlow grew up with a mother who was not warm. He fought depression off and on throughout his life and did not fit in at school.
His early experiments of taking infants away from their mothers found that the infants became attached to the terry cloth towels that covered the cage floors. This provoked him to see what factors played in monkey attachment to their mothers. He designed an experiment in which he made a terry cloth mother without milk and a metal mother with milk. He found that the faceless terry cloth mother was much more a mother to the infant than the other. His early findings concluded for him that love was manifested toward a mother through physical touch rather than the drive reduction.
As the infant monkeys became older, it was apparent that they were not all well. They were not social but rather huddled to themselves, fought the other monkeys, and also bit and chewed on themselves. Harlow had to recant his earlier findings. He devised other experiments in which the fake mother rocked the infant along with the infant getting 30 minutes of play time with another monkey. This, he concluded, was conducive to a "normal monkey" as these monkeys were considered to be normal. Thus touch, motion, and play are integral in child rearing.
Through Harlow's findings, orphanages, hospitals, social services, and other child raising agencies have benefited greatly from adopting practices shown to be necessary for child developement by Harlow.
Slater continues into a talk on animal rights and whether or not Harlow was ethical towards the animals. The ultimate question of hers is, "would you choose human life over animal life?"
Discussion:
Talking about love, this chapter is very interesting. I appreciate hearing the different factors that could affect our ability to give and receive love. It does sound like Harlow definitely had a lack of love in his life through some points of his life, but it was interesting how he was so impacted by his loss of love.
I really do not appreciate Slater's end comments on these chapters. This chapter as she went on her rant of animal activism made me see her mostly nice summary and insight into a great psychologists work be concluded with her emotions on the issue. This may be to get readers to really question their own feelings, but to me if I am trying to get a taste for the beauty of the psychology represented by these experiments, I feel tainted by her own personal reflections.
Book Reading #22 - Coming of Age in Samoa
Title:
Chapter 7: Formal Sex Relations
Reference:
Mead, Margaret. Coming of Age in Samoa. Harper Perennial, 1928 (1971)
Summary:
This chapter explained the ways that the guy and girl interact concerning sex and marriage. Up until the girl is at puberty, the relationships between boys and girls is antagonistic where they poke fun at each other.
For boys, courting is a matter that is necessitated by a soa, a friend who will give prays to the boy in pursuit of a girl in order to butter her up towards him. This is a tricky person to find because the soa must be extremely loyal as to not interfere with affairs. The best choice for a soa is in fact a female as she has the potential to be with the girl of interest all day whereas a boy has limited time with girls.
Mead points to three different types of relations: clandetsine "under the palm trees" encounters, elopement, and ceremonious courtship. There is also moetotolo which is almost equivalent to rape - it is more sneaking into her bed while she is asleep.
Sexual relations are much less formal than our society as we look down upon promiscuity much more than Samoa. Divorce is a simple matter.
Discussion:
This chapter was fairly informative toward the promiscuous relations of the young. It did not go that deep into marriage though. The chapter did touch on how many of these promiscuous encounters could lead to marriage, not all that unlike our culture.
Chapter 7: Formal Sex Relations
Reference:
Mead, Margaret. Coming of Age in Samoa. Harper Perennial, 1928 (1971)
Summary:
This chapter explained the ways that the guy and girl interact concerning sex and marriage. Up until the girl is at puberty, the relationships between boys and girls is antagonistic where they poke fun at each other.
For boys, courting is a matter that is necessitated by a soa, a friend who will give prays to the boy in pursuit of a girl in order to butter her up towards him. This is a tricky person to find because the soa must be extremely loyal as to not interfere with affairs. The best choice for a soa is in fact a female as she has the potential to be with the girl of interest all day whereas a boy has limited time with girls.
Mead points to three different types of relations: clandetsine "under the palm trees" encounters, elopement, and ceremonious courtship. There is also moetotolo which is almost equivalent to rape - it is more sneaking into her bed while she is asleep.
Sexual relations are much less formal than our society as we look down upon promiscuity much more than Samoa. Divorce is a simple matter.
Discussion:
This chapter was fairly informative toward the promiscuous relations of the young. It did not go that deep into marriage though. The chapter did touch on how many of these promiscuous encounters could lead to marriage, not all that unlike our culture.
Book Reading #21 - Design of Everyday Things
Title:
Chapter 7: User-Centered Design
Reference:
Norman, Donald. The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Basic, 2002.
Summary:
In this final chapter of Design, Norman stresses that the user needs to be able to figure out what to do and interpret what is going on. He tells of how users need to use the knowledge in their heads as well as factors on the device and in the environment in order to understand how to use something. These should be easy and self-explanatory. He also notes how the three design models interact, however are not the same: design model, user model, and system image.
Discussion:
I found it interesting that Norman said, "manuals should be written first, then the design [should] follow the manual." I think this is an excellent idea, but recognize along with him that constraints make it to where actually following through on this process is not feasible. Money, time, and ability with probably other factors weigh into this.
He sums up the ideas he has been informing the reader of the entire book.
Chapter 7: User-Centered Design
Reference:
Norman, Donald. The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Basic, 2002.
Summary:
In this final chapter of Design, Norman stresses that the user needs to be able to figure out what to do and interpret what is going on. He tells of how users need to use the knowledge in their heads as well as factors on the device and in the environment in order to understand how to use something. These should be easy and self-explanatory. He also notes how the three design models interact, however are not the same: design model, user model, and system image.
Norman says that visible signs should act as reminders. Design could change the nature of the task with the example of switching from tying laces to Velcro. Automation can increase people's dependence on it.
Discussion:
I found it interesting that Norman said, "manuals should be written first, then the design [should] follow the manual." I think this is an excellent idea, but recognize along with him that constraints make it to where actually following through on this process is not feasible. Money, time, and ability with probably other factors weigh into this.
He sums up the ideas he has been informing the reader of the entire book.
Paper Reading #10: A screen-space formulation for 2D and 3D direct manipulation
Title:
A screen-space formulation for 2D and 3D direct manipulation
Conference:
Cindy Skach
Felipe Othick
Reference:
Reisman, J., Davidson, P., Han, J. A screen-space formulation for 2D and 3D direct manipulation. UIST '09. http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/1630000/1622190/p69-reisman.pdf?key1=1622190&key2=4113797921&coll=DL&dl=ACM&ip=165.91.15.192&CFID=9231901&CFTOKEN=19689043
Summary:
This paper explores the area of the shift from 2D to 3D Rotate-Scale-Translate (RST). RST is the idea that one can do these three aspects. Current models involve using fingers on devices such as the iPad in order to manipulate the display. In 2D manipulation, there are informal standards that are applied when using RST, but since 3D manipulation is rare, there are no standards for its use. The researchers set out to explore possibilities of understanding 3D RST.
Some current implementations of visualizing 3D surfaces involve rotating a 3D space about a fixed axis. This requires about the same techniques involved in 2D manipulation, however limits the scope to which one can manipulate an environment as it only uses 4 Degrees of Freedom (DOF) when there is a possible 6.. Another such constraint is the use of a physics engine where physics regulates the actions you can do within a 3D space. Both of these attempts are limited.
In an attempt to overcome these current interaction constraints, the paper shows many calculations which are meant to implore a system in which 6 DOF will be possible. The rest of the paper describes the system they built.
The researchers tested their design against the current 4 DOF systems by putting constraints on their own system in order to simulate the 4 DOF. According to them, there were no differences between these systems. Upon testing their system in 6 DOF, using finger interaction they noticed that the motions were not immediately clear to them as how to interact with their system. They developed tools in the form as hand positions to interact. They first used a two-handed three-finger implementation. This they labeled as the "swivel interaction". The swivel interaction allows the user to pin the object to an axis with one hand (two fingers) and with the other finger rotate around that axis. They also show a two-handed four-finger interaction. This because of the arm and wrist movement needed was awkward but enabled a greater deal of variability in the actions one could perform.
They enhanced the system based upon their initial tests which included biasing calculations based upon finger placement in order to disambiguate close finger proximity. They also added a swirl function in which the three-finger implementation could be used to calculate the initial motion with the free finger and if it then moved along a different axis to rotate accordingly. They also worked with putting in penalties, or manufactured constraints in order to perform specific actions in certain situations. This allowed user interaction to map in a simpler way, but did limit actions.
Future goals are to explore ways to make the interactions more predictable with as little intervention (penalties) as possible.
Discussion:
Aside from going into math that I was not about to follow, this paper provided a basis in which I feel I have a good understanding of not only their goals but also their outcome which is better than the other paper from this conference I read. I like the idea of interacting with 3D places. It reminds me of seeing holograms on movies and how they interact with them. It would be awesome if that's what technology was moving towards. Based upon this presentation I appreciate their correction in order to make things simpler rather than simply leaving it the way it is because of some "superior mathematics". I would like to see if 3D space interactions such as this is ported to things like the iPod Touch. I have seen some 3D engines running on it, but it was more a console way of interacting with the space.
A screen-space formulation for 2D and 3D direct manipulation
Conference:
Cindy Skach
Felipe Othick
Reference:
Reisman, J., Davidson, P., Han, J. A screen-space formulation for 2D and 3D direct manipulation. UIST '09. http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/1630000/1622190/p69-reisman.pdf?key1=1622190&key2=4113797921&coll=DL&dl=ACM&ip=165.91.15.192&CFID=9231901&CFTOKEN=19689043
Summary:
This paper explores the area of the shift from 2D to 3D Rotate-Scale-Translate (RST). RST is the idea that one can do these three aspects. Current models involve using fingers on devices such as the iPad in order to manipulate the display. In 2D manipulation, there are informal standards that are applied when using RST, but since 3D manipulation is rare, there are no standards for its use. The researchers set out to explore possibilities of understanding 3D RST.Some current implementations of visualizing 3D surfaces involve rotating a 3D space about a fixed axis. This requires about the same techniques involved in 2D manipulation, however limits the scope to which one can manipulate an environment as it only uses 4 Degrees of Freedom (DOF) when there is a possible 6.. Another such constraint is the use of a physics engine where physics regulates the actions you can do within a 3D space. Both of these attempts are limited.
In an attempt to overcome these current interaction constraints, the paper shows many calculations which are meant to implore a system in which 6 DOF will be possible. The rest of the paper describes the system they built.
The researchers tested their design against the current 4 DOF systems by putting constraints on their own system in order to simulate the 4 DOF. According to them, there were no differences between these systems. Upon testing their system in 6 DOF, using finger interaction they noticed that the motions were not immediately clear to them as how to interact with their system. They developed tools in the form as hand positions to interact. They first used a two-handed three-finger implementation. This they labeled as the "swivel interaction". The swivel interaction allows the user to pin the object to an axis with one hand (two fingers) and with the other finger rotate around that axis. They also show a two-handed four-finger interaction. This because of the arm and wrist movement needed was awkward but enabled a greater deal of variability in the actions one could perform. 
They enhanced the system based upon their initial tests which included biasing calculations based upon finger placement in order to disambiguate close finger proximity. They also added a swirl function in which the three-finger implementation could be used to calculate the initial motion with the free finger and if it then moved along a different axis to rotate accordingly. They also worked with putting in penalties, or manufactured constraints in order to perform specific actions in certain situations. This allowed user interaction to map in a simpler way, but did limit actions.
Future goals are to explore ways to make the interactions more predictable with as little intervention (penalties) as possible.
Discussion:
Aside from going into math that I was not about to follow, this paper provided a basis in which I feel I have a good understanding of not only their goals but also their outcome which is better than the other paper from this conference I read. I like the idea of interacting with 3D places. It reminds me of seeing holograms on movies and how they interact with them. It would be awesome if that's what technology was moving towards. Based upon this presentation I appreciate their correction in order to make things simpler rather than simply leaving it the way it is because of some "superior mathematics". I would like to see if 3D space interactions such as this is ported to things like the iPod Touch. I have seen some 3D engines running on it, but it was more a console way of interacting with the space.
Ethnography Results, Week 3
By Evin Schuchardt, Jeremy Nelissen, Ryan Kerbow and Wesley Konderla
Goal:
Our goal was to go out on a Sunday night to Revolution in order to observe a new environment: Poetry Slam. We see that different nights have the potential to attract different types of people, and in order to get the full scope of the culture at Revolution, it is important to see all these interactions.
Setting:
We arrived around 9:30PM to find a packed parking lot. We approached the venue not knowing what to expect. As we walked closer we heard the microphone and concluded that the slam was going down outside, which in fact it was. The wind was stiff, but that did not stop patrons from coming to watch the Sunday night poetry.
Layout:
There were about 50 to 60 people huddled outside in the chairs as well as standing (as all the chairs were taken) listening to people recite poetry. Inside were about 8 people who were not a part of the listening of poetry.
People:
The outside crowd was very affirming of the poets that went on it seemed regardless of how good the recitation was. Many people knew each other as many were greeting friends as they entered the venue. It seemed like most people came in groups of 2 to 4.
The type of dress that people had there were a bit more diverse than we were expecting. I would say it was split about half and half between 'trendy' dress and regular 'Northgate apparel' (clothes that one would where while going to Northgate).
We also saw both the musicians that were there last time (not playing, of course) as well as the bartender.
Poetry:
There was an MC who occasionally recited some poetry as well as a DJ who would coordinate intro music as well as interlude music. Most poems were recited via open mic, locals who came and either recited memorized poems or read poems. Some were personally written and others were written by others. Featured were two brothers from Austin who seemed to carry a little bit of weight in the poetry world as one was on the nationally fourth-placed team based in Austin. They seemed to go on in the middle of the night and would also perform at the end of the night.
I picked up on a few themes I saw in many of the poems recited by all performers. All poems seemed to be artfully spoken by the performer in an attempt to stir the audiences emotions in some way, usually to relate to them in some deep way or move them to think a certain way. I would say that at least half of the poems recited by locals were about death and suicide. Many seem to come out of emotional distress. I posit that this is an attempt to express deep struggles within self, a way of reaching out to other people in a meaningful way without having to get personally involved in the reaching out. By this I mean that no resolution is saught nor wanted, the performer simply wants their problems to be known by others but not worked out by others. This could be in an attempt to simply relate with others and give witness that there are people struggling with the same things you are.
Side Note (Bathrooms):
I went into the bathroom to notice first of all that it was difficult to identify which bathroom was which due to the labeling of the bathroom. This seemed to be due to uniqueness and wanting to be fassionable to regulars. This was a bit deterring to outsiders (myself). When I was in the bathroom washing my hands I found that the hot and cold knobs were reversed from normal convention! The one on the left was the cold water and the one on the right was hot water.
Goal:
Our goal was to go out on a Sunday night to Revolution in order to observe a new environment: Poetry Slam. We see that different nights have the potential to attract different types of people, and in order to get the full scope of the culture at Revolution, it is important to see all these interactions.
Setting:
We arrived around 9:30PM to find a packed parking lot. We approached the venue not knowing what to expect. As we walked closer we heard the microphone and concluded that the slam was going down outside, which in fact it was. The wind was stiff, but that did not stop patrons from coming to watch the Sunday night poetry.
Layout:
There were about 50 to 60 people huddled outside in the chairs as well as standing (as all the chairs were taken) listening to people recite poetry. Inside were about 8 people who were not a part of the listening of poetry.
People:
The outside crowd was very affirming of the poets that went on it seemed regardless of how good the recitation was. Many people knew each other as many were greeting friends as they entered the venue. It seemed like most people came in groups of 2 to 4.
The type of dress that people had there were a bit more diverse than we were expecting. I would say it was split about half and half between 'trendy' dress and regular 'Northgate apparel' (clothes that one would where while going to Northgate).
We also saw both the musicians that were there last time (not playing, of course) as well as the bartender.
Poetry:
There was an MC who occasionally recited some poetry as well as a DJ who would coordinate intro music as well as interlude music. Most poems were recited via open mic, locals who came and either recited memorized poems or read poems. Some were personally written and others were written by others. Featured were two brothers from Austin who seemed to carry a little bit of weight in the poetry world as one was on the nationally fourth-placed team based in Austin. They seemed to go on in the middle of the night and would also perform at the end of the night.
I picked up on a few themes I saw in many of the poems recited by all performers. All poems seemed to be artfully spoken by the performer in an attempt to stir the audiences emotions in some way, usually to relate to them in some deep way or move them to think a certain way. I would say that at least half of the poems recited by locals were about death and suicide. Many seem to come out of emotional distress. I posit that this is an attempt to express deep struggles within self, a way of reaching out to other people in a meaningful way without having to get personally involved in the reaching out. By this I mean that no resolution is saught nor wanted, the performer simply wants their problems to be known by others but not worked out by others. This could be in an attempt to simply relate with others and give witness that there are people struggling with the same things you are.
Side Note (Bathrooms):
I went into the bathroom to notice first of all that it was difficult to identify which bathroom was which due to the labeling of the bathroom. This seemed to be due to uniqueness and wanting to be fassionable to regulars. This was a bit deterring to outsiders (myself). When I was in the bathroom washing my hands I found that the hot and cold knobs were reversed from normal convention! The one on the left was the cold water and the one on the right was hot water.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Book Reading #20 - Opening Skinner's Box
Title:
Chapter 5: Quieting the Mind
Reference:
Slater, Lauren. Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century. W.W. Norton & Company: 2008.
Summary:
Slater speaks of Leon Festinger's cognitive dissonance. This is the thought that humans change their beliefs to match current circumstances. An example given is Sananda as a savior and so many people following to find out its prophesies were not met. The followers rationalized that the world had been saved rather than just them. Festinger infiltrated these ranks and observed them.
Festinger's other study dealt with paying people to lie. He paid $20 to some and $1 for others. He found that those who were paid $1 were more apt to say that it wasn't a lie. He concludes this is so that they can justify themselves for something they did without much compensation. This is also seen in American POWs in China who were offered a little rice to write anti-American papers. Many were found to have converted to communism.
Slater seeks out a mother who's daughter almost drowned in a pool at three. The daughter now supposedly takes the pains of those who come to her and ask for healing. Of the Catholic faith, the mother says she is a saint. The trinkets around her also secrete oil. Slater finds herself dissonant with all of these miracles presumably taking place.
Discussion:
This chapter resonated with me as I am a fairly spiritual person. I appreciated Slater's reverence toward the miracles taking place, yet she still held to her unsure disbelief.
I am not a huge fan of her taking on these investigations on her own. It seems like she is trying to build on work of great psychologists, which is not bad, but her reputation does not have the credentials for me to give her thought of authority to seek these findings. Yet I recognize that it is simply her opinions.
Chapter 5: Quieting the Mind
Reference:
Slater, Lauren. Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century. W.W. Norton & Company: 2008.
Summary:
Slater speaks of Leon Festinger's cognitive dissonance. This is the thought that humans change their beliefs to match current circumstances. An example given is Sananda as a savior and so many people following to find out its prophesies were not met. The followers rationalized that the world had been saved rather than just them. Festinger infiltrated these ranks and observed them.
Festinger's other study dealt with paying people to lie. He paid $20 to some and $1 for others. He found that those who were paid $1 were more apt to say that it wasn't a lie. He concludes this is so that they can justify themselves for something they did without much compensation. This is also seen in American POWs in China who were offered a little rice to write anti-American papers. Many were found to have converted to communism.
Slater seeks out a mother who's daughter almost drowned in a pool at three. The daughter now supposedly takes the pains of those who come to her and ask for healing. Of the Catholic faith, the mother says she is a saint. The trinkets around her also secrete oil. Slater finds herself dissonant with all of these miracles presumably taking place.
Discussion:
This chapter resonated with me as I am a fairly spiritual person. I appreciated Slater's reverence toward the miracles taking place, yet she still held to her unsure disbelief.
I am not a huge fan of her taking on these investigations on her own. It seems like she is trying to build on work of great psychologists, which is not bad, but her reputation does not have the credentials for me to give her thought of authority to seek these findings. Yet I recognize that it is simply her opinions.
Book Reading #19 - Coming of Age in Samoa
Title:
Chapter 6: The Girl in Her Community
Reference:
Mead, Margaret. Coming of Age in Samoa. Harper Perennial, 1928 (1971)
Summary:
Both boys and girls are for the most part ignored until they are about sixteen or seventeen. Boys gain recognition by becoming part of the Aumaga or becoming a matai, girls by becoming part of the Aualuma or becoming a taupo. Wives of the matais also hold a special place in the community.
The Aumaga mirrors the higher rank group of matai while the Aualuma has less structure and pretty much bay to the needs of the village.
Women to not hold many taboos as they do in other places in Polynesia. Their presence is not a hindrance as long as they do not draw attention to themselves.
Discussion:
The most interesting part of this whole book has been that the taupo, one of the leading ladies in the village concerned with inter-village affairs is recognized as the village servant. I think that is absolutely beautiful that the most prized person in the village is called the servant. The rest of the chapter was fairly interesting as I now think I am getting a feel of how the structure of the village works.
Chapter 6: The Girl in Her Community
Reference:
Mead, Margaret. Coming of Age in Samoa. Harper Perennial, 1928 (1971)
Summary:
Both boys and girls are for the most part ignored until they are about sixteen or seventeen. Boys gain recognition by becoming part of the Aumaga or becoming a matai, girls by becoming part of the Aualuma or becoming a taupo. Wives of the matais also hold a special place in the community.
The Aumaga mirrors the higher rank group of matai while the Aualuma has less structure and pretty much bay to the needs of the village.
Women to not hold many taboos as they do in other places in Polynesia. Their presence is not a hindrance as long as they do not draw attention to themselves.
Discussion:
The most interesting part of this whole book has been that the taupo, one of the leading ladies in the village concerned with inter-village affairs is recognized as the village servant. I think that is absolutely beautiful that the most prized person in the village is called the servant. The rest of the chapter was fairly interesting as I now think I am getting a feel of how the structure of the village works.
Book Reading #18 - Design of Everyday Things
Title:
Chapter 6: The Design Challenge
Reference:
Norman, Donald. The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Basic, 2002.
Summary:
In the chapter The Design Challenge, Norman states the challenges facing designers and users. He shows that good design comes from an evolution of the design process - being able to reproduce and manipulate key things in order to simply tweak a design. When we look at things like car manufacturers, we see that this is not the case because everyone just wants to be new and exciting making usefulness and usability fall below aesthetics. They typewriter is a great example of evolution.
Designers tend to put aesthetics first, they are often not the typical users, and neither may be their clients. This makes it difficult for the designer to anticipate problems by the user.
The author again went into design flaws such as faucets. He also noted that everyone is unique, and it is never "one size fits all".
He names two deadly temptations for the designer: creeping featureless which is the tendency to add too many features, and the worshiping of false images which is complexity.
Lastly he focuses on computers. He notes they are not of good design but could be. He comments on how Xerox Star produced a good visible and usable product followed by Macintosh. They had their flaws but gave hope to good user interface in the future.
Discussion:
I thought it was interesting how this chapter Norman actually related these things to computer science and computer scientists. It was cool to see the way that he paralleled these things as we have been forced to do it in our mind for so much of the book.
There were several crossovers of this book and HCI remixed; the mention of Xerox Star and the invisible computer to note a couple.
I thought it was interesting how this chapter Norman actually related these things to computer science and computer scientists. It was cool to see the way that he paralleled these things as we have been forced to do it in our mind for so much of the book.
There were several crossovers of this book and HCI remixed; the mention of Xerox Star and the invisible computer to note a couple.
Paper Reading #9: EverybodyLovesSketch: 3D sketching for a broader audience
Title:
EverybodyLovesSketch: 3D sketching for a broader audience
Comments:
Keith Farinella
Adam Fridli
Reference:
Bae, S., Balakrishnan, R., Singh K. EverybodyLovesSketch: 3D sketching for a broader audience. UIST '09. http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/1630000/1622189/p59-bae.pdf?key1=1622189&key2=0861637921&coll=DL&dl=ACM&CFID=8482942&CFTOKEN=22626933
Summary:
This article discussed the performance of the 3D design software EverybodyLoveSketch which was based off of the ILoveSketch. ILoveSketch is a program designed for professionals, but the researches wanted to develope a program that was more suitable for all audiences. The basic concepts were taken from ILoveSketch and implemented in different ways in EverybodyLoveSketch. To test their design, the researchers studied the interactions of 49 high school students who used the software for 11 days.
The article first looks at perspective drawing and studies the way professionals come about doing actual sketches. They shadowed and interviewed a few in order to get an understanding of how it works. They noticed that an important aspect of every designer were the idea of linear perspective, convergence, and measurement which all use lines that are not actually part of the drawing in order to make things as they actually are and not how we have mental models for them.
After this study, they saw their design goals for EverybodyLovesSketch as follows:
The interaction with the sketch surface was fairly complex but able to do significant things fairly easily. Ticks allow the creation of a plane based off of a curve. the axis widget, a small lasso, allows for the rotation of a figure. Surfaces can be defined using loops to define the edges of a surface. In addition to this, the surfaces can be configured to have a grid overlay which aids in the recognition of the dimensions of the surface.
The user evaluation showed that 96% of the students were able to successfully create meaningful 3D objects. The first few days were spent in instruction and after that the students were given projects to deign. The students were split into three categories based upon their ability to sketch on paper. At the end the students filled out a questionnaire which asked questions about the program. The feedback was greatly positive. Many students felt their 3D spacial understanding has improved because of the use of the program. Based upon these results the authors looked at possible future corrections for this system.
Discussion:
This article was very detailed and good for the total feel of how the user interacted with the system. It was difficult to get a feel for how it was in a short period of time however. Skimming the article did not give a great synopses of what they were trying to accomplish. It seems like their goal was to make this application easy for novice designers, and while these students do seem to be novice designers, they all had experience in many design programs which may have skewed the results on their ability to create objects. Nonetheless I like the idea of bringing programs down to easy usability while keeping the functionality.
EverybodyLovesSketch: 3D sketching for a broader audience
Comments:
Keith Farinella
Adam Fridli
Reference:
Bae, S., Balakrishnan, R., Singh K. EverybodyLovesSketch: 3D sketching for a broader audience. UIST '09. http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/1630000/1622189/p59-bae.pdf?key1=1622189&key2=0861637921&coll=DL&dl=ACM&CFID=8482942&CFTOKEN=22626933
Summary:
The article first looks at perspective drawing and studies the way professionals come about doing actual sketches. They shadowed and interviewed a few in order to get an understanding of how it works. They noticed that an important aspect of every designer were the idea of linear perspective, convergence, and measurement which all use lines that are not actually part of the drawing in order to make things as they actually are and not how we have mental models for them.
After this study, they saw their design goals for EverybodyLovesSketch as follows:
- Easy 2D stroke drawing
- Easy 2D/3D navigation
- Easy scaffolding or sketch surface definition
- Dynamic visualization of a perspective scaffold
- Easy Syntax
The interaction with the sketch surface was fairly complex but able to do significant things fairly easily. Ticks allow the creation of a plane based off of a curve. the axis widget, a small lasso, allows for the rotation of a figure. Surfaces can be defined using loops to define the edges of a surface. In addition to this, the surfaces can be configured to have a grid overlay which aids in the recognition of the dimensions of the surface.The user evaluation showed that 96% of the students were able to successfully create meaningful 3D objects. The first few days were spent in instruction and after that the students were given projects to deign. The students were split into three categories based upon their ability to sketch on paper. At the end the students filled out a questionnaire which asked questions about the program. The feedback was greatly positive. Many students felt their 3D spacial understanding has improved because of the use of the program. Based upon these results the authors looked at possible future corrections for this system.
Discussion:
This article was very detailed and good for the total feel of how the user interacted with the system. It was difficult to get a feel for how it was in a short period of time however. Skimming the article did not give a great synopses of what they were trying to accomplish. It seems like their goal was to make this application easy for novice designers, and while these students do seem to be novice designers, they all had experience in many design programs which may have skewed the results on their ability to create objects. Nonetheless I like the idea of bringing programs down to easy usability while keeping the functionality.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Book Reading #17 - HCI Remixed
Book Reading #17: HCI Remixed
Reference:
Erickson, Thomas and McDonald, David W. HCI Remixed: Reflections on Works that have Influenced the HCI Community. MIT. 2008
Title:
Chapter 6: A Creative Programming Environment
Summary:
Henry Lieberman from MIT comments on Smith's Pygmalion: A Creative Programming Environment. Lieberman randomly found Smith's paper through suggestion. It was rarely known, but contributed to much of Lieberman's work. The paper was a program that used icons, one of the first implementations of icons, to model programs and actually program.
Lieberman points out that we should not let the big questions scare us, think about the huge picture and implement something small to model that picture in a small way, don't be afraid to look hard for things, and let your work speak for you.
Discussion:
This paper was hard to follow in the beginning, and since the program crashed we are not able to get a great sense of how the program acted. Apparently it was really influential to Lieberman. The thing I got the most out of this was when he said, "show people what things would be like if your vision were realized."
Reference:
Erickson, Thomas and McDonald, David W. HCI Remixed: Reflections on Works that have Influenced the HCI Community. MIT. 2008
Title:
Chapter 6: A Creative Programming Environment
Summary:
Henry Lieberman from MIT comments on Smith's Pygmalion: A Creative Programming Environment. Lieberman randomly found Smith's paper through suggestion. It was rarely known, but contributed to much of Lieberman's work. The paper was a program that used icons, one of the first implementations of icons, to model programs and actually program.
Lieberman points out that we should not let the big questions scare us, think about the huge picture and implement something small to model that picture in a small way, don't be afraid to look hard for things, and let your work speak for you.
Discussion:
This paper was hard to follow in the beginning, and since the program crashed we are not able to get a great sense of how the program acted. Apparently it was really influential to Lieberman. The thing I got the most out of this was when he said, "show people what things would be like if your vision were realized."
Title:
Chapter 7: Fundamentals in HCI: Learning the Value of Consistency and User Models
Summary:
Sara Bly comments on the Xerox Red Book. She said that it provides an important grounding for user interface design. When it came out it showed important concepts such as making it what the user actually intended to do, consistency, and the notion of a desktop. It came out in wake of Xerox Star.
Discussion:
This fairly bland article was interesting only in the conclusion. I got out of it that we need to model our designs from what the user relates the action to.
Title:
Chapter 9: The Disappearing Computer
Summary:
Norbert Streitz comments on M. Weiser's "The Computer for the 21st Centruy". Streigtz highlights the paper's claim that the computer should disappear and be intertwined in everyday life. The paper continues with the invention of LiveBoard which was similar to a large box using a pen. This spurred on the idea for Streitz to develop more invisible interaction methods such as in walls and chairs.
Discussion:
I think that Weiser's goal has been close to accomplished with iPod touches and the like. They really have integrated with our society so much so to where they are almost inseparable to us. It makes me think that with this also comes dependence seen in films such as Dr. Strangelove.
Title:
Chapter 10: It Really Is All About Location!
Summary:
Anind Dey tells of Want, Hopper, Falcao and Gibbons design of "The Active Badge Location System". This system was designed to be able to locate people with this active badge within a particular building. They used it in the environment they were working in with about thirty people. It used infra-red technology. The receptionist used it to transfer calls to the location most probably that the recipient would be. Others used it to locate other staff there. All this was 15 years before our common GPS and Google Maps.
Discussion:
It was interesting to see a design as such back in the day. It does sound nice to be able to track your coworkers, but it almost sounds like a big brother was watching everyone's move. I would like to see an inexpensive model of those sorts now but with people and their cellphones. In a similar friending pattern found on things such as Facebook, one could see the location of friends if they wanted you to.
Title:
Chapter 46: The Essential Role of Mental Models in HCI: Card, Moran, and Newell
Summary:
Kate Ehrlich from IBM Research takes interest in Card, Moran, and Newell's book "The Psychology of Human-Computer Interaction". Ehrlich tells of how the book's focus was on mental models that people develop for a computer system. She discusses GOMS as a mental model. Goals are the set of things the user wants to do or accomplish. Operators are the means by which the user has to accomplish those goals. Methods are the subgoals needed in order to accomplish the goal. Selectional rules are the different approaches that could achieve the subgoals. Ehrlich reflects on the question of what disciplines are truly involved in HCI.
Discussion:
Although I feel that Ehrlich did not get into any specifics represented in the book, she did believe that the book was very influential for HCI. It seemed like she thought it contributed mostly in the fact that it forced people to think just a little bit differently in their approach to HCI.
Title:
Chapter 47: A Most Fitting Law
Summary:
Gary Olsen tells of P. M. Fitts' quantitative law that applies to CHI. The law, informally stated, says that movement time is a function of the length of the movement and the size of the target. Olsen points out that this has several uses in CHI.
- The edge of the screen is a great location to put things needed to be clicked
- Pop up menus already have the cursor where it needs to be
- Linear menus and pie menus are ways of listing icons
- As you go down a list, it may be a good idea to have the list items get larger
- It shows interest in hierarchical menus
- Expanding items as you move toward them aid in clicking on them.
Discussion:
I really appreciated this article because it brought to mind things that I have never thought about. It makes complete sense that these six items would be useful in allowing the user to click with more speed and precision. It would not only speed up the performance of tasks, but also would probably allow for a more user friendly environment as the user would not make as many mistakes and have the opportunity to get upset over those mistakes.
Paper Reading #8: Shadows no. 4: belly dance and interactive electroacoustic musical performance
Title:
Shadows no. 4: belly dance and interactive electroacoustic musical performance
Comments:
Bain Mullins
Felipe Othick
Reference:
Hsu, Aurie and Kemper, Steven. Shadows no. 4: belly dance and interactive electroacoustic musical performance. CHI EA 2010. http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/1760000/1753929/p3117-hsu.pdf?key1=1753929&key2=7507917921&coll=DL&dl=ACM&CFID=8252508&CFTOKEN=84510896
Summary:
Hsu and Kemper explain the Shadows no. 4 system. This is a mix of belly dancing and interactive electroacoustic musical performance. They did this by using a wireless sensor network on dancers in order to track movements and gestures of the dancers. These sensors are small and light as they are able to be sewn into the garments of the dancers as to not limit the dancers movements. These wireless sensors translate the dancers gestures into variations in the music through beats and rhythms.
The sensors themselves are LilyPad sensors. These pick up on variations of flex, FSR, vibration, and acceleration. The wireless capability started out as Bluetooth but the range and connectivity is limited. They switched to 1mW Xbee modules to correct this shortcoming.
The future design goals are to refine the sensor network in possibly biosensors and/or motion capture.
Discussion:
This article didn't describe much of how the variations of music actually came about, but it seems that it is suppose to give more of a complete feel to the whole experience of watching the dancers. I took a wireless networks class that focussed on wireless sensor networks so it was interesting to me to read a paper focusing on this topic. It is a powerful technology, but it doesn't seem like it was used to its full potential in this paper. With more and different sensors, it could pick up on the body temperature of the dancers, and it seems like the motion capture could already be possible (just not explored by them). This paper reminds me of the Dance.Draw system.
Shadows no. 4: belly dance and interactive electroacoustic musical performance
Comments:
Bain Mullins
Felipe Othick
Reference:
Hsu, Aurie and Kemper, Steven. Shadows no. 4: belly dance and interactive electroacoustic musical performance. CHI EA 2010. http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/1760000/1753929/p3117-hsu.pdf?key1=1753929&key2=7507917921&coll=DL&dl=ACM&CFID=8252508&CFTOKEN=84510896
Summary:
Hsu and Kemper explain the Shadows no. 4 system. This is a mix of belly dancing and interactive electroacoustic musical performance. They did this by using a wireless sensor network on dancers in order to track movements and gestures of the dancers. These sensors are small and light as they are able to be sewn into the garments of the dancers as to not limit the dancers movements. These wireless sensors translate the dancers gestures into variations in the music through beats and rhythms. The sensors themselves are LilyPad sensors. These pick up on variations of flex, FSR, vibration, and acceleration. The wireless capability started out as Bluetooth but the range and connectivity is limited. They switched to 1mW Xbee modules to correct this shortcoming.
The future design goals are to refine the sensor network in possibly biosensors and/or motion capture.
Discussion:
This article didn't describe much of how the variations of music actually came about, but it seems that it is suppose to give more of a complete feel to the whole experience of watching the dancers. I took a wireless networks class that focussed on wireless sensor networks so it was interesting to me to read a paper focusing on this topic. It is a powerful technology, but it doesn't seem like it was used to its full potential in this paper. With more and different sensors, it could pick up on the body temperature of the dancers, and it seems like the motion capture could already be possible (just not explored by them). This paper reminds me of the Dance.Draw system.
Ethnography Results, Week 2
Ethnography Week 2 Results
By Evin Schuchardt, Jeremy Nelissen, Ryan Kerbow and Wesley Konderla
Goal:
Our goal going into this night was to mingle a bit more with those at the bar. Specifically we wanted to speak with the bartender and see what he is about. We found ourselves able to go on Valentine's day, which interested us in if there would be many singles there, few singles there, and if there were any couples there.
Setting:
Two of us ventured to the venue on another Monday night, Valentine's day, around 9:30PM. They had been open for about an hour and a half (since 8PM). There is live, usually local musicians every night and this night was no different.
We were able to get a better glimpse of the inside as we sat in there. The 4 small round tables in the place were all made of a tile mosaic. There was a bench seat on one side that was not extremely comfortable. On two of the tables there was a plastic chair that was not really comfortable either. On the other two tables sat 80's chairs that looked really retro and comfortable.
People:
When we arrived, there was the bartender, a woman at the bar, and an artist who we came to call the Mandolin Man who was setting up speakers and his guitars and mics. At one time, the most guests there at one time was 12 (including us two). On average (including us) there were about 8 people. Only about 3 people left that we noticed in our stay. There was first a man playing guitar and singing. The Mandolin Man, although not a part of his band, went up there and jammed with him for the first couple of songs. To me, this showed the comradery between the locals musician there. After he played a few songs, the Mandolin Man and another went up to play. That is the time we left. As we were about to leave, a man came in who looked pretty shady asked us if we could help him get a bag of chips. I have no idea what that meant, but we declined.
There seemed to be one couple there that night, but the rest came as same sex pairs. Near the end we found it interesting that four guys similar to ourselves (engineer-looking people) came to hang out, only one of them getting a drink.
One of us purchased a drink and we were able to have some conversation with the bartender. He was obviously unhappy to be there, but as more people came in his mood seemed to perk up. It seemed he knew personally about half of the people that came in. He also seemed to be friends with the musicians.
Activities:
It seemed that those sitting at the bar for the most part were conversing with one another and the bartender while those sitting in the chairs at the small tables were more listening to the musicians.
By Evin Schuchardt, Jeremy Nelissen, Ryan Kerbow and Wesley Konderla
Goal:
Our goal going into this night was to mingle a bit more with those at the bar. Specifically we wanted to speak with the bartender and see what he is about. We found ourselves able to go on Valentine's day, which interested us in if there would be many singles there, few singles there, and if there were any couples there.
Setting:
Two of us ventured to the venue on another Monday night, Valentine's day, around 9:30PM. They had been open for about an hour and a half (since 8PM). There is live, usually local musicians every night and this night was no different.
We were able to get a better glimpse of the inside as we sat in there. The 4 small round tables in the place were all made of a tile mosaic. There was a bench seat on one side that was not extremely comfortable. On two of the tables there was a plastic chair that was not really comfortable either. On the other two tables sat 80's chairs that looked really retro and comfortable.
People:
When we arrived, there was the bartender, a woman at the bar, and an artist who we came to call the Mandolin Man who was setting up speakers and his guitars and mics. At one time, the most guests there at one time was 12 (including us two). On average (including us) there were about 8 people. Only about 3 people left that we noticed in our stay. There was first a man playing guitar and singing. The Mandolin Man, although not a part of his band, went up there and jammed with him for the first couple of songs. To me, this showed the comradery between the locals musician there. After he played a few songs, the Mandolin Man and another went up to play. That is the time we left. As we were about to leave, a man came in who looked pretty shady asked us if we could help him get a bag of chips. I have no idea what that meant, but we declined.
There seemed to be one couple there that night, but the rest came as same sex pairs. Near the end we found it interesting that four guys similar to ourselves (engineer-looking people) came to hang out, only one of them getting a drink.
One of us purchased a drink and we were able to have some conversation with the bartender. He was obviously unhappy to be there, but as more people came in his mood seemed to perk up. It seemed he knew personally about half of the people that came in. He also seemed to be friends with the musicians.
Activities:
It seemed that those sitting at the bar for the most part were conversing with one another and the bartender while those sitting in the chairs at the small tables were more listening to the musicians.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Book Reading #16: Opening Skinner's Box
Title:
Chapter 4: In the Unlikely Event of a Water Landing
Reference:
Slater, Lauren. Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century. W.W. Norton & Company: 2008.
Summary:
Slater reflects on the thought of whether or not people actually respond to danger. She points to five keys in acting in response to danger.
Discussion:
Though I have heard these results before, it is always beneficial to be able to reflect on your own actions or lack thereof. We can always fantasize about these situations with ourselves situated in them, but the true test only comes when we actually face these situations as seen in so many of the experiments.
Chapter 4: In the Unlikely Event of a Water Landing
Reference:
Slater, Lauren. Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century. W.W. Norton & Company: 2008.
Summary:
Slater reflects on the thought of whether or not people actually respond to danger. She points to five keys in acting in response to danger.
- You must notice an event is occurring - there has to be an awareness of surroundings.
- You must notice that the situation requires assistance - if there is a threat or attack, it seems natural that there needs to be come response, but we must recognize it as so and not be apathetic or scared into inaction. She notes a murder in which 38 people were witness yet none of them responded in the thirty minutes of the attack until after it was over did they call the police.
- You must assume personal responsibility - Darley and Latane find that the more people are in a witnessing group the less likely each one is to act because the responsibility is distributed among all witnesses. They experiment with a group psychology experiment in which one of the 'participants' has a seizure. More respond when they think it to be one on one than with a larger group. The other experiment is with participants filling out a survey and harmless gas begins to come through the vents. Upon seeing others not respond, the participants again don't respond.
- You must decide what action to take - the possibilities are either do something or do not do something. If you do something, the dilemma is resolved, but if you don't you are stuck deciding whether you should do something or not.
- You must take action - she claims good citizenship entails action. People educated in this material are more likely to respond.
Discussion:
Though I have heard these results before, it is always beneficial to be able to reflect on your own actions or lack thereof. We can always fantasize about these situations with ourselves situated in them, but the true test only comes when we actually face these situations as seen in so many of the experiments.
Book Reading #15: Coming of Age in Samoa
Title:
Chapter 5: The Girl and Her Age Group
Reference:
Mead, Margaret. Coming of Age in Samoa. Harper Perennial, 1928 (1971).
Summary:
This chapter shows the importance of age and relationship within an adolescent's life. Both girls and boys form 'gangs' which provide for their social interaction. The prime age for them to do this is between the ages of eight and twelve. The boys are able to continue in their later years with these groups, but girls are pushed on to other tasks, leaving this possibly the only time in their lives where they can be social with people outside of their household. Relationships are usually based upon nearness of the girls (neighboring houses) as well as age.
Discussion:
This chapter was fairly interesting because of the way it shaped the dynamic of the way a girl grows up. I was thinking through social factors that are critical to the development of a stable person and peer relationships definitely show up. It is unfortunate that not all girls in Samoa are able to have that.
Chapter 5: The Girl and Her Age Group
Reference:
Mead, Margaret. Coming of Age in Samoa. Harper Perennial, 1928 (1971).
Summary:
This chapter shows the importance of age and relationship within an adolescent's life. Both girls and boys form 'gangs' which provide for their social interaction. The prime age for them to do this is between the ages of eight and twelve. The boys are able to continue in their later years with these groups, but girls are pushed on to other tasks, leaving this possibly the only time in their lives where they can be social with people outside of their household. Relationships are usually based upon nearness of the girls (neighboring houses) as well as age.
Discussion:
This chapter was fairly interesting because of the way it shaped the dynamic of the way a girl grows up. I was thinking through social factors that are critical to the development of a stable person and peer relationships definitely show up. It is unfortunate that not all girls in Samoa are able to have that.
Book Reading #14: Design of Everyday Things
Title:
Chapter 5: To Err is Human
Reference:
Norman, Donald. The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Basic, 2002.
Summary:
The author explained how people make errors very often. They can be classified into slips and mistakes.
Discussion:
I think classifying slips into subcategories is completely pointless and I did not get anything out of that. Talking about how the memory is made up was ridiculous as well. What was interesting was the idea to allow us not to make mistakes by designing things in such a way (through forcing functions) that we cannot make mistakes, or if we do we will only make one before we must go back and try again.
Chapter 5: To Err is Human
Reference:
Norman, Donald. The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Basic, 2002.
Summary:
The author explained how people make errors very often. They can be classified into slips and mistakes.
- Slips - a misplaced action
- Types of Slips
- Capture Error - A frequently done activity "captures" or lays over the activity at hand
- Description Error - Know you are suppose to do something to a particular object but instead do that something on an object similar to the particular.
- Data-Driven Error - Mistaking a number with another well-known number
- Associative Activation - Doing an intended action in the medium of a different way that supposed to.
- Loss-of-Activation Error - Go to do something but then forget what you were suppose to do.
- Mode Error - Too many modes in a system makes you accidentally choose the wrong one.
- It is difficult to detect slips because it usually seems as though we did the correct action.
- Mistakes - a wrong goal set
- Described theories of how memory is made up
- Reviewed short term and long term memory
Discussion:
I think classifying slips into subcategories is completely pointless and I did not get anything out of that. Talking about how the memory is made up was ridiculous as well. What was interesting was the idea to allow us not to make mistakes by designing things in such a way (through forcing functions) that we cannot make mistakes, or if we do we will only make one before we must go back and try again.
Paper Reading #7: Ben Neill and Bill Jones: Posthorn
Title:
Ben Neill and Bill Jones: Posthorn
Comments:
Felipe Othick
Paola Garza
Reference:
Neill, Ben and Jones, Bill. Ben Neill and Bill Jones: Posthorn. Chi EA 2010. http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/1760000/1753927/p3107-neill.pdf?key1=1753927&key2=1040217921&coll=DL&dl=ACM&CFID=9150391&CFTOKEN=53800146
Summary:
This paper describes the authors' posthorn production. This is a two part system. The first of which is the mutantrumpet which is three trumpet horns along with a trombone slide all rigged into one instrument. This instrument has both a microphone on the end as well as a device that maps the acoustics to MIDI format. The digital part of this system has three programs:
1. It has a program that grabs samples from the MIDI and compares that sample to the history of the musical peace which allows the piece to evolve in real time.
2. A program grabs the sample sequences and processes the audio output
3. A program translates the MIDI into digital video control (creating visual effects) in real time.
The second part of this system is the visual creation and display. Based upon the various factors that come along with music, the visual effects are dynamically changed in real time.
Discussion:
The paper was very difficult to see exactly why this was created and what purpose they were actually using it for. I feel like I basically understood what was going on, but much of the article is ambiguous. When it talked about the visual aspect of the system it did not expound upon any sort of way how this was done. I also have no idea why they did not simply take a regular instrument.
Concerning future work, I would say focus on the visualization based upon the input.
Ben Neill and Bill Jones: Posthorn
Comments:
Felipe Othick
Paola Garza
Reference:
Neill, Ben and Jones, Bill. Ben Neill and Bill Jones: Posthorn. Chi EA 2010. http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/1760000/1753927/p3107-neill.pdf?key1=1753927&key2=1040217921&coll=DL&dl=ACM&CFID=9150391&CFTOKEN=53800146
Summary:
This paper describes the authors' posthorn production. This is a two part system. The first of which is the mutantrumpet which is three trumpet horns along with a trombone slide all rigged into one instrument. This instrument has both a microphone on the end as well as a device that maps the acoustics to MIDI format. The digital part of this system has three programs:
1. It has a program that grabs samples from the MIDI and compares that sample to the history of the musical peace which allows the piece to evolve in real time.
2. A program grabs the sample sequences and processes the audio output
3. A program translates the MIDI into digital video control (creating visual effects) in real time.
The second part of this system is the visual creation and display. Based upon the various factors that come along with music, the visual effects are dynamically changed in real time.
Discussion:
The paper was very difficult to see exactly why this was created and what purpose they were actually using it for. I feel like I basically understood what was going on, but much of the article is ambiguous. When it talked about the visual aspect of the system it did not expound upon any sort of way how this was done. I also have no idea why they did not simply take a regular instrument.
Concerning future work, I would say focus on the visualization based upon the input.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Special Assignment: Dr. Celine Latulipe!
Title:
Special Assignment: Dr. Celine Latulipe!
Comments:
Zack Henkel
Shena Hoffmann
Reference:
Celine Latulipe and Sybil Huskey. Dance.Draw: Exquisite Interaction. In HCI 2008 Proceedings, pages 47-51, The British Computer Society, 2008. http://www.celinelatulipe.com/Home/Publications_files/Dance_Draw_Paper.pdf
Summary:
The authors work to show their findings with the Dance.Draw system. It is an inexpensive performance base system in which dancers use air mice in their hands to control graphics projected on a screen while they dance. The system was developed in C/C++ to be operated on OSX. The cost of the system is right at $1000 including six air mice and two USB stations.
The paper tracks three performances that took place at three different venues. The reception was positive from the attendees but mixed from the performers. The performers were distracted by the visualizations themselves (as they did not necessarily get a chance to watch them prior to the performance) and having the mice in their hands limited their mobility.
Their future work could involve different or just more input devices as well as more attendee feedback. The feedback could be a part of the visualization.
Discussion:
I have a friend who is a dancer but is not techy by any means. I think she too would like the idea of adding more of an element to her dance, but would be hesitant about the technology. She also doesn't like restrictions, so probably wouldn't like holding mice.
I found the performances intriguing even though I was not present at them! It was refreshing seeing computer science come together with such an art as dancing. It was funny how the authors seemed to criticize the computer scientist designing the visualization.
Future work or application I could see for this would just be along the lines of the author says in more or different sensors. It makes me start to think what else could we use things such as air mice for?
Special Assignment: Dr. Celine Latulipe!
Comments:
Zack Henkel
Shena Hoffmann
Reference:
Celine Latulipe and Sybil Huskey. Dance.Draw: Exquisite Interaction. In HCI 2008 Proceedings, pages 47-51, The British Computer Society, 2008. http://www.celinelatulipe.com/Home/Publications_files/Dance_Draw_Paper.pdf
Summary:
The authors work to show their findings with the Dance.Draw system. It is an inexpensive performance base system in which dancers use air mice in their hands to control graphics projected on a screen while they dance. The system was developed in C/C++ to be operated on OSX. The cost of the system is right at $1000 including six air mice and two USB stations. The paper tracks three performances that took place at three different venues. The reception was positive from the attendees but mixed from the performers. The performers were distracted by the visualizations themselves (as they did not necessarily get a chance to watch them prior to the performance) and having the mice in their hands limited their mobility.
Their future work could involve different or just more input devices as well as more attendee feedback. The feedback could be a part of the visualization.
Discussion:
I have a friend who is a dancer but is not techy by any means. I think she too would like the idea of adding more of an element to her dance, but would be hesitant about the technology. She also doesn't like restrictions, so probably wouldn't like holding mice.I found the performances intriguing even though I was not present at them! It was refreshing seeing computer science come together with such an art as dancing. It was funny how the authors seemed to criticize the computer scientist designing the visualization.
Future work or application I could see for this would just be along the lines of the author says in more or different sensors. It makes me start to think what else could we use things such as air mice for?
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