Usability: August 2007 Archive Page

Sean McBride:

The problem I discovered was that one of the thin walls between the holes had broken and bent down, forming a ramp. When I plugged the DVI adapter into my computer, two of the pins went into the same hole, and the projector could no longer understand the output from my computer.

However, it doesn't end there. When I plugged the DVI adapter into the broken socket, the ramp formed by the broken wall bent the corresponding pin upwards, forming a wedge with the adjacent pin. Then, when any other Mac user plugged the same adapter into their own computer, the pin wedge would press down on that same socket wall, breaking it and bending it down in the same fashion. (alwaysBETA)

Elia Powers:

Housing officers divided students into living groups, based upon major, age and other factors. So students who saw their list of 25, 50 or 75 (depending on the group) potential roommates already knew that those included would likely live on the same floor or at least in the same residence hall. It was their job — given names, e-mail addresses and personal Web pages — to pair off in a matter of three weeks. When two students agreed on a match, they notified the housing office, which Cumia said most likely accommodated the request. (Inside Higher Ed)

I wouldn't actually call it a site redesign, since I just selected a canned template supplied by MT.

There are many things I love about the interface, and there are many things that annoy me to no end.  I'd like to give people the option of filling out a CAPTCHA and publishing a comment right away, or leaving the captcha blank and letting the usual anti-spam rules kick in.  It's not clear that I can do that without running into some problems with a very poorly worded message that first asks a loyal reader to log in, and then says "You do not have permission to comment on this blog," when it really should say "The blog owner will hold your comment for approval."

I hope those bugs will eventually work out.

SOMETIMES there is a huge disconnect between the people who make a product and the people who use it. The creator of a Web site may assume too much knowledge on the part of users, leading to confusion. Software designers may not anticipate user behavior that can unintentionally destroy an entire database. Manufacturers can make equipment that inadvertently increases the likelihood of repetitive stress injuries. | Enter the usability professional, whose work has recently developed into a solid career track, driven mostly by advancements in technology. --Barbara Whitaker --Technology's Untanglers: They Make It Really Work (New York Times)

The techno bloggers sort of scoffed at this article when it first came out, since usability is a basic concept to people who work on the internet. Still, it's a good thing that a reporter took the time to educate the general public.

James Hays and Alexei Efros from Carnegie Mellon University have developed an algorithm to help people who want to remove bits of photographs.

The parts being removed could be unsightly lorries in the snaps of the rural idyll where they took a holiday or even an old boyfriend or girlfriend they want to rub out from a photograph.

To find suitable matching elements, the research duo's algorithm looks through a database of 2.3 million images culled from Flickr.

"We search for other scenes that share as closely as possible the same semantic scene data," said Mr Hays, who has been showing off the project at the computer graphics conference Siggraph, in San Diego. --Mark Ward --Photo tool could fix bad images (BBC)

I wonder whether such a database could also be used to detect doctored images? Thanks for the suggestion, Rosemary.

To demonstrate world-class expertise, avoid quickly written, shallow postings. Instead, invest your time in thorough, value-added content that attracts paying customers. --Jakob Nielsen --Write Articles, Not Blog Postings (Alertbox)

It's been a while since I checked out Nielsen's site. His overall point against blogs -- which we can sum up in the old saying "nobody buys the cow if you give the milk away for free" -- assumes that you're in the business of selling cows.

Nielsen himself churns out an article about every two weeks, which he gives away for free. Usually the articles are self-contained, but sometimes they are a teaser for a full report, which he sells. Those reports are themselves teasers for his speeches and conference workshops, which are themselves advertisements for specialized consulting services.

I don't disagree with anything he says... but I'm not going to stop blogging, because I'm not in the business of selling cows. I already have a job -- teaching new media journalism and other courses at SHU. Were I in a publish-or-perish environment, I would have to make a lot of adjustments, not only to how, when, and why I blog, but how I spend my summers (in the library or at home with the kids?).

I have advised people who were thinking of jumping on the band wagon that if they or someone else in their organization doesn't already love writing, or if they can't hire someone with writing skills, it's probably not worth it to add a blog. Yes, we need the one-in-a-thousand experts to lead the way (putting professional talents and R & D funds to work solving highly technical problems), but everyone is an expert in something -- not always something that makes money. That's OK.

The internet became the cultural force that it is now because geeks decided to give digital stuff away for free. They made tools with the idea making content creation easy, and they revolutionized society in the process. Without free digital culture leading the way, digital commerce would be nowhere.

So keep coming back here for milk. I'll keep telling you where I've found good milk elsewhere. And if you're looking to buy a cow, I'll point you to ones that I think look good. I hope you'll return the favor for me.

Interactive media are highly complex and at high risk for loss as technologies rapidly become obsolete. The Preserving Virtual Worlds project will explore methods for preserving digital games and interactive fiction. Major activities will include developing basic standards for metadata and content representation and conducting a series of archiving case studies for early video games, electronic literature and Second Life, an interactive multiplayer game. Second Life content participants include Life to the Second Power, Democracy Island and the International Spaceflight Museum. Partners: University of Maryland, Stanford University, Rochester Institute of Technology and Linden Lab. --Digital Preservation Program Makes Awards to Preserve American Creative Works (Library of Congress)

I've been hoping for this announcement for some time.

A while ago Matt Kirschenbaum approached me to ask whether I'd be interested in applying my research in "Colossal Cave Adventure" towards a big digital preservation project. This is it.

The interactive fiction virtual machine is an excellent model for digital preservation. As each new computer system has come out, all one has to do is code up a new interpreter to run the virtual machine. So it's possible to play "Adventure" on numerous platforms, from PDAs to cell phones. However, the recent editions of "Adventure" weren't created with an eye towards historical accuracy, but rather to expose the games to a wider audience. There's nothing wrong with popularizing an important text, but scholars do need access to accurate versions, so that they can accurately trace developments in the genre.

I'm not exactly sure what I'll be asked to do for the project, but at the least I can write up a textual analysis of the various editions of "Adventure" (including an important version that has been considered lost for decades... but I need to wait a little longer before I say any more about that).

One of the components of the proposal was a virtual arcade within Second Life, where visitors could play emulations of classic games.