EPortfolio Chunk 10

Norman Chapter 6 from The Design of Future Things

"Without feedback it wasn't possible to create the appropriate conceptual model.  Any one of a dozen things could have failed: without evidence, there was no way to know" (p. 138).

Feedback, whether it be from our cars, homes, teachers, or partners, are necessary influences over our decision making.  Norman argues "feedback is probably even more essential when we interact with our machines than with other people" (p. 139).  I'm not certain one can weigh out the relative importance of feedback of people and machines, but I do appreciate Norman's point.  I think that a necessary part of the design process of machines must incorporate mechanisms for feedback.  Add to this Norman's idea of creating a dialogue with our machines, and we must factor in a model for reciprocal feedback where machines can read human responses and make appropriate decisions accordingly.

I want to connect this idea of machine feedback to a movie theatre experience I had last week.  A friend and I went to see Battle Los Angeles, a terribly written alien invasion film you should avoid at all costs.  Cineplex has introduced their new motions seats, D-Box. http://www.cineplex.com/Theatres/D-Box.aspx, and these were available for an additional $8.00 if one were so inclined.  The seats promised thrills of rumbling the viewer when helicopters soared or guns blazed.  We were a few rows away from these seats and felt the vibrations from afar.

I blog this because it is current example of a monologue with a machine.  The D-Box seat is programmed to follow the script of the film, rumbling when gunfire lights up the screen.  It isn't all that different from the rumble feature in the current generation video game controllers.  What if the machine sensed when you shifted?  For example, if it were a horror film with the proverbial cat jumping out of the cupboard, could the seat sense when you started to feel more tense, then shock you with a movement to enhance the experience?  I guess I'm curious how we can overcome the one way communication of our machines through feedback.  There is a ton of talk about personalizing learning in education.  What about personalizing our entertainment experiences through a dialogue with our machines?

ePortfolio Chunk 9

Norman p. 117 "Some automation exchanges the need for skilled laborers with the need for caretakers."

Naomi Johnson, Chief Superintendent of the CBE, made a statement last week regarding ramifications of the upcoming budget.  We are to prepare for significant cuts in the millions.  She indicates that as we are essentially a people business, somewhere around 75% of our budget is related to staffing, through salaries and benefits.

Here's a question:  To what extent could we automate our practice that might better meet the needs of our students?  In a time of fiscal restraint, what cost savings might be attached to this automation?

Salman Khan addresses the idea of self-paced learning through the use of video in the following TedTalk.  Could we see a shift in demand for this type of automation in place of teachers?  Or would this  necessarily mean less teachers?

EPortfolio Chunk 8

Norman: The Design of Future Things Chapter 4

"People have become slaves to their technology, servants of their tools" (p. 94).

Five years ago our school was involved in a one-to-one laptop project study with the University of Calgary.  Our principal applied for a significant grant to invest in this technology, spending the majority of it on the hardware itself and setting aside a smaller amount for maintenance costs.  Now these laptops are showing their age.  The batteries are dying, hard drives crashing, and the grant money has long been spent.
The money needed to maintain technology sums up Norman's quote beautifully.  Once the investment has been made, in order to keep it up and running, we become subservient to the technology and either continue inject it with cash or abandon it altogether.  Consider the opportunity cost of allocating a shrinking educational budget toward maintaining technology.  It is in these circumstances that it seems as though we have become slaves to technology.

"Imagine a billboard or store checking with the navigation system to see just what the car's destination is, perhaps to suggest a restaurant, hotel, or shopping centre" (p. 98).

This quote troubles me because I can see this becoming a reality.  The sheer number of advertisements we encounter on a daily basis is staggering, from radio to internet to billboards.  I can extend Norman's idea to the work the Sprywerx group has done on QR codes.  What if your car was out scanning for codes on billboards that would be displayed on your navigation screen?  Would you have a choice of whether to disable this feature?  Or would it be like the iphone app model where you can have free versions of games with ads and pay for versions without the ad content?

EPortfolio Chunk 7

"Providing effective, perceivable affordances is important in the design of today's things, whether they be coffee cups, toasters, or websites, but these attributes are even more important for the design of future things." - Norman, The Design of Future Things, p. 68

Norman's reference to affordances reminds me of a point Michele made in class over the intuitiveness of video game controllers.  She mentioned that the traditional D-pad controller is something we had to learn how to use and that the Nintendo Wii controller captures a more natural and intuitive feel as an input device.  This 2010 E3 video demoing the upcoming The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword reveals, "With Wii Motion Plus, the Wii remote becomes my sword.  And I've got my nunchuk and that's going to be my shield."

I want to take Michele idea, connect it to Norman's suggestion of how "we need perceivable affordances to show us how we might interact," (p.68) and extend it to Microsoft Xbox 360's Kinect peripheral.  Admittedly, I have not tried the Kinect device as of yet.  I find it a bit gimmicky and have difficulty getting on board with the idea of using my body as a controller.  The idea is brilliant, yet I wonder about the amount of feedback I would receive through a gaming experience.  This is essentially what Norman is arguing with regards to automobiles.  He says, "in the automobile, it is possible to isolate the passenger compartment from most of the vibration and sounds.  Although this might be a good idea for passengers, it is a bad idea for the driver" (p. 61)

We rely on obtaining feedback from our devices to help us better navigate our environment.  If I can hear my car's engine noise, I can better intuit my speed and general health of my vehicle.  Similarly, a physical video game controller offers vibration, sound, and a tactile experience.  Kinect does not offer these opportunities for feedback, yet it may offer something else Norman is presenting in this chapter.  Norman posits, "a better way to design the future things of everyday life is to use richer, more informative, less intrusive signals: natural signals" (p. 59)  My questions is whether the use of our bodies as a controller for the Kinect peripheral achieve a more natural method of input or not.

ePortfolio Chunk 6

Nikos Theodosakis: "And then we go beyond the technology issue of making movies and explore how we can use this powerful tool to engage students, to enhance curriculum, and to transform education." http://www.thedirectorintheclassroom.com/profile4.php

The idea of enhancing curriculum through a movie making medium in the classroom is an interesting proposition.  This intrigues me because I think I have viewed curriculum as static, somewhat of a fixture in the classroom.  To enhance curriculum would mean this medium would somehow transcend the page and give it life.

A colleague of mine once said, "I prefer the approach of uncovering curriculum as opposed to covering curriculum."  I believe Theodosakis navigates this terrain to inspire engagement.  Curriculum should be considered as a verb rather than a noun.  It serves to inspire constructing meaningful learning experiences.

Garageband '11: http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/
"With 22 new genre-based lessons (40 in all), you can pick up the basics of piano, guitar, or even both. Video demonstrations, synchronized notation, and instrument animations make lessons fun and easy to follow."


This is an absolutely brilliant addition to Garageband.  It is completely in line with what Neilsen has to say on animation (as quoted in ePortfolio Chunk 3) involving two or more states.  In terms of the addition of video demonstrations, it will be interesting to see how Apple approaches this.  How much information will be addressed in each segment and how long will each segment be?  Nielsen (2005) argues for video to "keep it short, less than one minute."  It is also important to limit the amount of information provided in each segment. Czerwinski & Horvitz (2002) recommend we "let a previous task item fade from memory before introducing a new one."  I will be interested to see Apple's tutorials in light of this research.

ePortfolio Chunk 5

"Try not to overcomplicate icon designs. Be wary of placing too many items into an icon design, or overly illustrating an icon."
http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/7-principles-of-effective-icon-design/


Icon design is a tricky proposition.  It must be recognizable, simple, consistent within the context of what is around it, and sensitive to cultural considerations.  Recently I led my grade 3 / 4 class through an inquiry into petroglyphs.  We examined various glyphs from the Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park in Milk River, AB and began to imagine the stories they told.

To further illustrate the power of storytelling through this medium, I had my students design their own petroglyphs using Google Sketchup.  They chose a family member and designed a series of icons that would represent that person's likes and dislikes.  This was not an easy undertaking for some of these students.  The idea that a story could be revealed through a series of abstract images was difficult for them to grasp.  Yet, this is indeed what we are asking consumers to do when we design an icon for a specific product.  Designers have very little real estate to work with and must convey a message within a considerable set of constraints.


"Since nothing is perfect, and, indeed, since even our ideas of perfection are not static, everything is subject to change over time"


The Evolution of Useful Things (Petroski, 1992)


Petroski's statement interests me in how it pertains to icon design.  Not only will the form of consumer products evolve over time, but so will a iconic lexicon shift as well.  We have an inventory of icon staples, such as those that denote trash bins on our desktops or male and female washrooms.  Yet as demands shift in our pursuits of perfection, this will necessitate changes to iconic representation.

ePortfolio Chunk 4

Amazon.ca recommends I check out the Columbo Mystery Movie Collection '91-'93.  I am pleased with this recommendation as I adore our dear lieutenant and look forward to adding it to my collection.  A week later, Amazon emails me another recommendation for the book, Nursing Care Plans: Nursing Care and Diagnosis.  This I find less appealing and I wonder why the company would suggest I purchase this text.

In The Design of Future Things, Norman suggests "the new kinds of intelligent machines...are autonomous or semiautonomous: they create their own assessments, make their own decisions.  They no longer need people to authorize their actions."  (p. 36).  I do not view the Amazon recommendation system as intelligent; it is simply based on a personal and collective browsing history and is essentially a monologue imposed through this website.  Amazon allows its users to manually modify recommendations, but it is unable to intuit these modifications on its own.  I do, however, see this type of recommendation system evolving toward a symbiotic relationship between humans and machines.  Norman uses the examples of elevator sensors and automobile stability controls to illustrate a movement toward this type of relationship.

Norman also reminds us of the constraints of deepening the relationship between humans and machines.  He argues that "the lack of common ground is a major cause of our inability to communicate with machines" (p. 50).  How can I communicate with Amazon?  Presently I have a keyboard and mouse as my input devices.  I can manually intervene and determine why Amazon recommends I purchase a nursing text (turns out a friend did some searching and changed the course of my search history).  How could the system determine this search pattern was anomalous without a common ground?  Norman says that humans "can learn from their past experiences and modify their behavior accordingly," however, "machines can barely learn" (p. 53).  Bridging the gap and creating common ground is therefore a considerable design challenge between connecting humans with machines.