Interface Design

Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman.

My picks based on the books-

Good Design:
The flash drive - that little chapstick sized, all powerful god of 'you just saved my butt" superman, saving the day kind of power. I have had many instances where I have come alive and died a little inside because of this mini mighty mouse of a drive. It is a very goo design because when you go to insert it into a computer (and whether t he computer reads it or not is another discussion,) there is only one way that it will fit into the USB port.

There is a place holder on one half of the port on the computer that will accept the flash drive and vice versa for the flash drive.

So really there is only one way that the flash drive can be inserted, no mistakes and no problems, unless it doesn't read or you don't eject it properly.

Bad design:
The speed dialing function on my Motorola Razor cell phone. Every time that add a contact to your phonebook, the phone will assign them a speed dial number. That's fine and generally it works...for the first 8 contacts. The #1 slot is reserved for voicemail, but all you have to do is press and hold down one of the numbers (in this case 2 through 9)until the phone begins to call automatically. The problems begin when you have contacts that are assigned double digit numbers. I've pressed 1-0, 1-6 holding down the second number...nothing. I've typed in contact number 2-3 then hit the call button and I get an error recording, not enough digits for that phone numbers. I know that, but then how am I supposed to speed dial that person without having to go the phonebook? I've call myself reading the manual, because I'm one of the few who don't mind doing that, but it a lost cause. I don't get that, bad design, booo!

Interface Design Critique - EDU 2.0 website

So this website definitely had a lot going on, that was the first thing that struck me, it was very busy and very blue.

Information Design:
I understood that the potential users were for teachers, but I couldn't tell if students could use the site as well. The page says an 'easy way to teach and learn online,'so i assumed the learning part was directed towards students, not that teachers aren't students as well. I felt that the information on the page seemed to be grouped "chunked" together well with large headings and graphics that made it clear what the section was about. Everything on the page was consistent with teachers teaching and learning.

Interactivity:
What I did find off putting and distracting was that fact there wasn't anything clickable on the page. It took me a few seconds to realize that you can't access anything until you sign in, even then you have to create an account. So I'm think there has got to be some top secret info behind the scenes, but really it's a community for teachers with information that is specific for them.

On screen Design:
The initial page was too blue and green and needed some more contrasting colors, but once you log in the other pages are not as overwhelming. The colors are more pleasing to the eyeballs and the user can navigate around just as easily.

Web 2.0 Technology - Freemind

I had put this slideshow up on the Social text site, but I don't know if anyone knew that it was there. I would call myself a Web 2.0 technology fledgling because you have to really take the time to learn and embrace it, and that depends on the individual user. So this was my fledgling attempt to understand Freemind mind mapping software.

Freemind

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Would I use Freemind for my mind mapping needs?
Probably not for the daily things that I might need to brainstorm about. It does take a minute to understand all of the functions and getting them to work in the way that you need them too. For instance I had an issue with moving the location of the mindmap.
I would use it for large scale brainstorming, like if I was going to storyboard a video project, plan certain activities, or to breakdown info.
Overall, it s a helpful tool. I liked that you can color code certain nodes and all of the other decorative changes that you can make to personalize your mindmap.

Final project Slides

Here's the slides to my show.

ITEC 830 Final Spectrum Bios

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So I sped through my presentation and I know that I left out some important points. I was nervous, I needed water and I was trying to be in two places at once. Anyway, a major point that I don't think I brought up about the need for the bios is the fact that the number of women with careers in the fields of science, math and engineering are far fewer in numbers than men. However, those numbers are increasing, which is great, but it doesn't represent everyone. There are even fewer women of color with careers and teaching positions in the field of science. So the the SEPAL department created the Spectrum program as a means to brings science into the many schools (and lives) of many young girls, who may not have felt like they can achieve or aspire towards this type of career. The video bios help to provide a visual supplement, in the form of the stories of these women who have 'made it possible' to overcome and achieve the impossible. Using Youtube the clubs can have access to these bios with the hopes of encouraging, inspiring, and activating the interests of young girls, all with the click of a mouse.


I enjoyed this class and I learned a lot about Web 2.0 technology, more than if I was on my own. There are a lot of really great and inspiring projects and I expect that we will be hearing about or using some these projects in the future. Congratulations to the fortunate people who are graduating and the best of luck to everyone in the class.
DEiDRE

Project Management 4/9/09

Well, this was kind of ironic, for me, that we had a guest speaker giving a talk on project management. Considering, that I am currently working on some video projects with a client and could use a bit more 3P management structure. I can understand how trying to a (medium-large scale) project on your own a) needs structure and b) without it can get out of control, especially those that have a time frame.

Collaboration is critical!!! Hear Hear!!

Everything is a project - which requires management. This statement rings loud and clear for lots of reasons. I mean how often do we (as in people) sit around wishing, hoping and waiting for life to happen for them, to them. Frustrated that things don't go their way or the way that they want it to go. Always looking inward instead of at the bigger picture. Seeing the forests through the trees.
Life is an ongoing project that requires the 3P's and the 5 steps to make it work.

I love it when work and life lessons collaborate harmoniously together. It's huckleberry lemonade.

***I especially liked the point that you should Do Celebrated Work.

I have found that (in the Itec program especially) if I try to approach projects and assignments from an aspect that I am not totally familiar with (teacher, Inst. designer) that I struggle with them more. Like i'm trying to be something that I am not. L-Directed Thinking. However, I can find the lessons a bit easier if I work with subjects that I do know and use that to dissect the ITEC way of thinking, teaching and learning. R-Directed Thinking. I guess, every now and then you have to switch to the other hemisphere in order to get the project done.

Web 2.0 Conference 4/02/09

The conference was interesting and a bit overwhelming, I went by my lonesome. There were so many stations that I didn't know where to start, so I did a lap.

I did find a few things that were pretty interesting, for instance a software called SpatialKey. It's a "SpatialKey is a next generation Information Visualization, Mapping, Analysis and Reporting System. It is designed to help organizations quickly assess location based information critical to their organizational goals, decision making processes and reporting requirements." That is from the web site.
"http://www.spatialkey.com/features/"
At the conference the demo showed how crime statistics data could be researched across the country. It looked similar to the wikimapia website that Zack had talked about during his presentation.

ooVoo 2.0: I really liked the idea of a video chat client that you can talk with up to 6 people at a time. I've worked with video conferencing at work and it's just a one-to-one call, but this software would allow for multiple conference calls at a a time. I got to talk with a few people at the demo (they were on the east coast) and ask them a few questions. The video and sound quality were really good and the pricing seemed really affordable. What was also really nice about the video chat software is you can record the video calls, add effects and it's compatible with Mac and PC.
"http://www.oovoo.com/"

Another interesting group that I came across at the conference was another software that organizes all of the different social sites that people subscribe to, it's called Nomee. However, this particular site allows you to "follow people, not sites."
"http://www.nomee.com/about_nomee.html"

Lastly, I was kind of surprised at how the beer began and martini's began to flow towards the end of the conference. Heineken still doesn't taste good to me, so I settled for a free Sobe. I'm sure the end of conference was very interesting and quite sauced, so I cut out early.

Google --- Podcasting

Okay, so podcasting is kind of difficult.
Creating it was okay, but I had a hard time trying to figure out how to get my exported mp3 into a format that I could post onto blogger. Thank god for google search on "podcasting," also it helped to see what my classmates were using. SO I am now new member of PodOmatic. Aye Caramba!