Read more on www.harmaninnovation.com
Discover how gaze tracking technology has enabled the sensing of conscious and unconscious eye motions, which are in turn part of an Implicit Interaction method.
Designing Systems that Support Social BehaviorThomas Erickson
By looking at how people interact in face to face situations we can gain insights on how to better design online systems to support social behavior. In particular, this presentation argues that simple visualizations of the presence and activities of participants in online situations can be a valuable design approach.
Read more on www.harmaninnovation.com
Discover how gaze tracking technology has enabled the sensing of conscious and unconscious eye motions, which are in turn part of an Implicit Interaction method.
Designing Systems that Support Social BehaviorThomas Erickson
By looking at how people interact in face to face situations we can gain insights on how to better design online systems to support social behavior. In particular, this presentation argues that simple visualizations of the presence and activities of participants in online situations can be a valuable design approach.
-Carpeta O Medio Mariño: cadernos informativos e fichas de traballo: o medio, as plantas, as aves, os peixes, os crustáceos, os moluscos, varios, o home (1994-95)
Final presentation to #xAPIBootCamp July 15, 2015 where the team shares how we used xAPI and Internet of Things (and the Internet of Internets) to support new hire orientation.
Fringe User Experience: Designing for the Future Kristin Low
Before Wearables and the Internet of Things (IoT), designing for Mobile was "the next big thing." While Mobile devices have proliferated faster than anyone anticipated, our practice as User Experience designers is still lagging: put simply, we're still figuring this out. But when the medium of our profession is advancing faster than the principles that underpin it, how do we evolve as practitioners? Is the future of UX tied to keeping up with the latest technology only, or is there something deeper to the practice of UX which needs to be identified and developed to help us make sense of the rapidly unfolding future?
In this keynote address, Hong Kong based User Experience practitioner, facilitator and trainer Kristin Low will explore the future of User Experience - Fringe UX - and what the rapid advances in technology mean for our practice as User Experience professionals.
The availability of ready to hand video technologies for recording, editing, and publishing 'everyday ephemera' has seen an explosion of content online, from the low brow populism of YouTube through to the sophisticated observational post produced work of Robert Croma. These technologies of recording, editing, and distribution provide documentary practice with an everyday, quotidian apparatus for the creation of informal, reflective, observational and autoethnographic work. This paper will examine the use of ready to hand video technologies in concert with the use of the Korsakow interactive video authoring software, to create small scale, 'ready to hand' or 'dirty media' documentaries. This provides a model to investigate and develop alternative modes of making nonfiction video online material that falls outside of the economy of spectacle that dominates YouTube or the 'personal broadcasting channels’ of Vimeo . The problem investigated is how to contextualise and author in these systems so that work created is outside of the unstructured banality of aggregative platforms and the serialised limitations of the blog. Emerging software models such as Korsakow require a creative practice of making that involves the critical curation of video ephemera into complex, emerging and multilinear constellations and clouds of associated material that let these works lie between the personal documentary, essay film, home movies and broader poetic traditions. More significantly the use of systems such as Korsakow allows for an autoethnographic methodology of personal, informal and everyday observation to produce a ‘soup’ of material that is then structured through the elucidation of emerging or unveiled patterns of relation amongst shots and sequences. These patterns create affective and poetic “lines of flight” for both maker and user and their value lies in the possibility of poesis amongst otherwise unremarkable moments.
This presentation looks at various notions of “Web2-ness” within a wider context of a more wired web.
Although not the true “Semantic Web”, practitioners argue that many of the sites and services available today have the hallmarks of connectedness which Berners-Lee originally suggested would ultimately make up the next phase of the internet.
In the cultural context, this raises questions and outlines possibilities about how best to develop our web products so as to best capitalise on the notion that the power of the web is in sharing, and not – as has been typical to date - in silos.
The major issues tend to show themselves in two ways, and this presentation will focus on both: Firstly, how best to capture and share the voices of our users, and secondly how the power of the distributed web can help us cheaply and easily improve our offerings.
-Carpeta O Medio Mariño: cadernos informativos e fichas de traballo: o medio, as plantas, as aves, os peixes, os crustáceos, os moluscos, varios, o home (1994-95)
Final presentation to #xAPIBootCamp July 15, 2015 where the team shares how we used xAPI and Internet of Things (and the Internet of Internets) to support new hire orientation.
Fringe User Experience: Designing for the Future Kristin Low
Before Wearables and the Internet of Things (IoT), designing for Mobile was "the next big thing." While Mobile devices have proliferated faster than anyone anticipated, our practice as User Experience designers is still lagging: put simply, we're still figuring this out. But when the medium of our profession is advancing faster than the principles that underpin it, how do we evolve as practitioners? Is the future of UX tied to keeping up with the latest technology only, or is there something deeper to the practice of UX which needs to be identified and developed to help us make sense of the rapidly unfolding future?
In this keynote address, Hong Kong based User Experience practitioner, facilitator and trainer Kristin Low will explore the future of User Experience - Fringe UX - and what the rapid advances in technology mean for our practice as User Experience professionals.
The availability of ready to hand video technologies for recording, editing, and publishing 'everyday ephemera' has seen an explosion of content online, from the low brow populism of YouTube through to the sophisticated observational post produced work of Robert Croma. These technologies of recording, editing, and distribution provide documentary practice with an everyday, quotidian apparatus for the creation of informal, reflective, observational and autoethnographic work. This paper will examine the use of ready to hand video technologies in concert with the use of the Korsakow interactive video authoring software, to create small scale, 'ready to hand' or 'dirty media' documentaries. This provides a model to investigate and develop alternative modes of making nonfiction video online material that falls outside of the economy of spectacle that dominates YouTube or the 'personal broadcasting channels’ of Vimeo . The problem investigated is how to contextualise and author in these systems so that work created is outside of the unstructured banality of aggregative platforms and the serialised limitations of the blog. Emerging software models such as Korsakow require a creative practice of making that involves the critical curation of video ephemera into complex, emerging and multilinear constellations and clouds of associated material that let these works lie between the personal documentary, essay film, home movies and broader poetic traditions. More significantly the use of systems such as Korsakow allows for an autoethnographic methodology of personal, informal and everyday observation to produce a ‘soup’ of material that is then structured through the elucidation of emerging or unveiled patterns of relation amongst shots and sequences. These patterns create affective and poetic “lines of flight” for both maker and user and their value lies in the possibility of poesis amongst otherwise unremarkable moments.
This presentation looks at various notions of “Web2-ness” within a wider context of a more wired web.
Although not the true “Semantic Web”, practitioners argue that many of the sites and services available today have the hallmarks of connectedness which Berners-Lee originally suggested would ultimately make up the next phase of the internet.
In the cultural context, this raises questions and outlines possibilities about how best to develop our web products so as to best capitalise on the notion that the power of the web is in sharing, and not – as has been typical to date - in silos.
The major issues tend to show themselves in two ways, and this presentation will focus on both: Firstly, how best to capture and share the voices of our users, and secondly how the power of the distributed web can help us cheaply and easily improve our offerings.
Owning the Interaction in Dynamic Environmentsguestf4f7a4b38
Abstract
As the internet gets more interactive with the widespread adoption of broadband, we must continue to own user interactions across this changing landscape. This presentation will highlight the challenges from a UK design agency perspective and demonstrate my commerical, practical method for describing dynamic user interactions.
Check for blockchain-related metadata: When art is created using blockchain technology, there may be metadata associated with the artwork that indicates its origins. This could include information about the artist, the date the artwork was created, the blockchain platform used, and more. If you have access to this metadata, you can examine it to see if it suggests that the artwork was generated using blockchain technology.
Look for a blockchain certificate: Some blockchain platforms offer certificates that can be used to verify the authenticity and provenance of art. These certificates may include information about the artwork's origins, the blockchain platform used, and more. If you have access to a certificate associated with the artwork in question, you can examine it to see if it suggests that the artwork was generated using blockchain technology.
Consult with experts: If you're unsure whether a particular piece of art was generated using blockchain technology, you can consult with experts in the field. This might include art historians, blockchain developers, or other professionals with expertise in art and technology. They may be able to examine the artwork and its associated metadata to provide insights into its origins and the technologies used to create it.
Check for other indicators: While there may not be a foolproof way to determine whether a piece of art was generated using blockchain technology, there may be other indicators that can help you make an informed guess. For example, you could look for stylistic or thematic similarities between the artwork in question and other pieces of art that are known to have been created using blockchain technology. You could also examine the artwork's provenance and history to see if there are any clues that suggest it may have been created using this technology.
Overall, verifying whether a piece of art was generated using blockchain technology may require a combination of these approaches, as well as careful analysis and consideration of the available evidence.
Reverse Image Search: One way to check if an artwork has been generated using AI is to perform a reverse image search on the artwork. This will help you identify if the artwork has been generated using an existing image dataset or if it is unique.
Metadata Analysis: Another method is to analyze the metadata of the artwork. If the metadata indicates that the artwork was created using an AI algorithm, then it is likely that the artwork was generated using AI.
Pixel Analysis: You can also perform pixel analysis on the artwork. AI-generated art often has a distinct pixel pattern that is different from traditional art.
Artist Verification: If the artwork is attributed to a specific artist, you can check if that artist has a history of using AI in their art. If the artist is known for using AI, it is likely that the artwork was generated using AI.
Fans fuel media, but how fan-centric is your media? This presentation from consultant Nick DeMartino, looks at that question from the perspective of Theatrics.com, a cloud-based collaborative storytelling platform which he advises. The presentation shows how easy it is to create a Theatrics story or brand experience in which fans can directly engage.
Connect Conference 2022: Passive House - Economic and Environmental Solution...TE Studio
Passive House: The Economic and Environmental Solution for Sustainable Real Estate. Lecture by Tim Eian of TE Studio Passive House Design in November 2022 in Minneapolis.
- The Built Environment
- Let's imagine the perfect building
- The Passive House standard
- Why Passive House targets
- Clean Energy Plans?!
- How does Passive House compare and fit in?
- The business case for Passive House real estate
- Tools to quantify the value of Passive House
- What can I do?
- Resources
Fonts play a crucial role in both User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) design. They affect readability, accessibility, aesthetics, and overall user perception.
Can AI do good? at 'offtheCanvas' India HCI preludeAlan Dix
Invited talk at 'offtheCanvas' IndiaHCI prelude, 29th June 2024.
https://www.alandix.com/academic/talks/offtheCanvas-IndiaHCI2024/
The world is being changed fundamentally by AI and we are constantly faced with newspaper headlines about its harmful effects. However, there is also the potential to both ameliorate theses harms and use the new abilities of AI to transform society for the good. Can you make the difference?
1. Toy Systems
and
Taco Trucks
Case studies of effective
multimedia & interactive content
Original Client: HHMI / Tangled Bank Studios
Prepared by: John Pavlus / Pavlus Office
Updated: 12 Dec 2015
2. Introduction: Attention vs. Engagement
The most attention-grabbing interactive and multimedia
journalism of the past few years — from The New York Times’
Snow Fall to The National Film Board of Canada’s One
Millionth Tower — dazzled web users (and the press) with
immersive interfaces and technically innovative formats. But
did these experiences drive sustained engagement with
the content?
The answer seems to be “no.” Few such features continue to
be regularly produced. The technical complexity of producing
them could be a limiting factor, but it’s more likely that readers
just don’t find them all that compelling in the long run.
Meanwhile, in 2014 Buzzfeed quietly introduced a new
interactive component called a “slider” to its already
multimedia-heavy content. The slider was nothing more than a
vertical line that, when “dragged” horizontally across an image
via the mouse, revealed another image “underneath”. No
breathless media coverage followed.
What did follow was massive engagement. Posts with the
slider garnered millions of views, and the format has been
sustainable: a year later, Buzzfeed regularly deploys the slider
not just to augment celebrity-driven clickbait, but to
enhance its explanatory and public-service journalism.
Attention does not necessarily translate to engagement.
The following case studies identify some values that do drive
sustainable engagement with interactives and multimedia.
They don’t demand expensive tech or flashy functionality; nor
do they encourage superficiality or “dumbing down” of content.
They do require, however, some new definitions.
3. Effective Interactives as Toy Systems
Which object best fits with your common understanding of the
word “interactive”: a flight manual or a flight simulator? Both
describe the behavior of a thing (the airplane), but only the
latter does so by dynamically modeling a system so that:
• you can freely explore its behavior
• by manipulating its features
• and responding to its feedback.
Which system would you rather use to learn more about how
airplanes work: a NASA flight simulator or an educational video
game? Both are interactive, but only the latter is a “toy”– i.e.,
a version of the system that is:
• casual (easy to start/escape/resume at any point; requires
few or no special prerequisites),
• bounded (the “rules” or “edges” of the system are legible
and evident),
• forgiving (may have robust “help” designed into it; errors
are easily reversible or have negligible cost).
Content that doesn’t dynamically model a system isn’t
meaningfully “interactive”; and systems that aren’t
appropriately toylike lack appeal as content. Interactives are
most effective when, like a Rubik’s Cube, they support
“meaningful fiddling around.”
4. Effective Multimedia as Taco Trucks
A wise man once wrote that the web is primarily a customer
service medium. Form and content bow to context and
convenience. People may want to consume rich media online,
but what they want more is to simply avoid hassle.
And yet hassle is what most multimedia “experiences” are
made of. Waiting through pre-rolls or prologues. Evaluating
ambiguous options and quality. Parsing unfamiliar layouts.
Consuming multimedia is like ordering from a fussy waiter at a
restaurant, when it should be like eating from a food truck:
• up-front: clear, WYSIWYG value proposition
• familiar: approachable & satisfying vs. “innovative”
• cheap: low-commitment in time/attention
• easy: minimal interactivity, simple to sample/share/move
Like any good taco truck, successful multimedia presents a
simple but compelling offer: low stakes, high quality.
5. Case Study: TypeDrummer
WHAT IT IS: interactive music generator
WHAT IT DOES:
• maps electronic percussion samples to ASCII keyboard input
• generates real-time audio loops of percussion
• creates shareable URLs for audio loops
WHO MADE IT: Kyle Stetz (independent designer/developer)
WHAT WORKS:
Typedrummer is a toy system par excellence. The simple
interface is inviting and instantly understandable. The name,
illustration, and text box provide clear cues for what to do, how
to do it, and what to expect. The system is simple enough to
idly “fiddle with” but rich enough to generate novel patterns
and reward exploration of its deeper structure & relationships if
the user wishes to do so.
6. Case Study: TypeDrummer
“TOY SYSTEM” VALUES
• Direct manipulation with dynamic feedback: supports
“meaningful fiddling around”
• Bounded: One input box dominates the user interface.
Secondary functionality is limited to two explicitly labeled
text-buttons
• Forgiving: Instructions make clear what the “first move” is.
Large type makes it easy to see and change the system’s
state. No error messages for “breaking the rules” — the
system ignores inappropriate input without interrupting any
musical feedback already in progress
• Casual: familiar, available controls (i.e., typing) and dynamic
response (i.e., no “execute” button or mode mediating the
interactivity) mean that interaction can unfold on the fly
“TACO TRUCK” VALUES
• Up-front: simple layout, clearly worded
• Familiar: interface is just text and links
• Fast: plain-text URL sharing is universal & idiot-proof
• Cheap: loads instantly; single keystrokes generate
meaningful feedback
7. Case Study: The Ladder of Abstraction
WHAT IT IS: an interactive lesson / demonstration of how to
design effective interactive lessons / demonstrations
WHAT IT DOES:
• Describes fundamental concepts in the left column, and
models them with interactive examples in the right column
WHO MADE IT: Bret Victor (independent designer/developer)
WHAT WORKS:
The interactive richness of The Ladder of Abstraction is difficult
to convey in a static document like this — which is precisely its
creator’s point. I’m including it as a counterpoint to
Typedrummer, to show how “toy systems” can be deployed to
communicate powerful, subtle, complex ideas that are not
necessarily “toylike” themselves: abstraction, emergence,
algorithms, simulation, data structures, and the like.
The interactive models are info-dense but always
approachable and lucid. Thoughtful details reduce the
cognitive “noise” of manipulating the interface (e.g., sliders
move automatically when moused over, without requiring an
awkward “click and drag” gesture), making it much easier to
engage with the increasingly challenging concepts while
simultaneously reinforcing them.
8. Case Study: The Ladder of Abstraction
“TOY SYSTEM” VALUES
• Explorable via direct manipulation and dynamic feedback
• Bounded: visualizations are confined to simple, credit-card
sized cartoons that can be assessed at a glance; most
cartoons model just one parameter of the system at a time
• Casual: click-and-drag mouse gestures are automated,
creating effortless interactions that free up attention for
observing how the system behaves
• Forgiving: Clear instructions, multiple visual cues, and
synchronized animations take pains to keep the user
oriented within the system at every move; no “getting lost”
“TACO TRUCK” VALUES
• Up-front: Simple (but well crafted) 2D graphics
• Familiar: skeuomorphic controls reassure the user that
they’re in “safe territory” and they won’t “break” anything
• Easy: Small visual “chunks” are easily scannable /
browsable; right column is not overloaded with them
• Cheap: Mousing over graphics “activates” them; otherwise
they maintain their last state
9. Case Study: “Species in Pieces”
WHAT IT IS: A visual carousel of 30 endangered species
WHAT IT DOES:
• Depicts each species as a cluster of animated 3D polygons
• Displays conservation status statistics as infographics
• Displays fact-sheets and short videos about each species
WHO MADE IT: Bryan James (independent designer/
developer)
WHAT DOESN’T WORK:
“Species in Pieces” caught the attention of design-savvy
science nerds for its gorgeous visuals and impressive-looking
animations and infographics. But it’s not “interactive” in any
meaningful way. Take away the sexy animated transitions, and
it’s basically equivalent to a Powerpoint deck. It’s a relatively
thin content experience as well.
That said, dynamically modeling the behavior of an interesting
system was probably not “Species in Pieces”’s goal (it’s billed
as a digital “exhibition”). And it does embody one of the values
of effective multimedia: it’s quick to load and very responsive.
As a gallery of animated data posters (and a demonstration of
the expressive power of CSS), it’s undeniably effective; as an
engaging and rich content experience, less so.
10. Case Study: “Species in Pieces”
“TOY SYSTEM” VALUES: not applicable
• “Interactivity” limited to navigating between static content
cards and selecting menu options
“TACO TRUCK” VALUES:
• Fast: can navigate quickly, and easily get “in” and “out” of
content once the interface is learned
WEAKNESSES:
• Inscrutable interface elements
• All-caps body typography discourages close reading
• Chartjunk & difficult-to-interpret infographics
11. Sidebar: Non-Interactive Multimedia
The previous case studies show that meaningfully interactive
content can be challenging to create, especially when mere
content navigation is often (and mistakenly) “promoted” to the
status of interactivity.
But effective multimedia doesn’t even need to be
interactive. In fact, non-interactivity might be multimedia
content’s ideal stance, as the following examples demonstrate.
• A science explainer that reimagines the web slideshow as a
grown-up storybook, by The New York Times
• A map of the Silk Road in China that matches photos and
video loops to locations as the user scrolls down the page,
by The New York Times
• A “filmstrip” of captioned GIFs that sets up a visual metaphor
to explain your brain on drugs, by PBS NewsHour
12. Conclusion: Meaning > Marvels
It’s easy to assume that in the overcrowded marketplace of
attention online, the best way to communicate a message is to
wrap it in the most attention-commanding package you can.
With interactive and multimedia content, this approach often
takes the form of “innovating” — coming up with some novel
way to format or present information.
But while people may like this kind of novelty-driven
“innovation”, what they want is something different, simpler.
They want what they do online to make more sense.
The litmus test for evaluating the effectiveness of multimedia or
interactive content is not: Will they think this is cool?
But rather: Will this make what they’re doing, right now,
make more sense?
The answers may surprise you.
Marvels
I’m pretty ambivalent about this new strain of multimedia
journalism. … These kinds of things, I think, are meant to
be marveled at more than they are meant to be read.
Khoi Vinh, former design director of NYTimes.com
Ignore the structure of current [software] designs, and ask
only, “Why is a person using this?” Abstracted, the
answer almost always is, “To learn.”
Bret Victor, author of “Up and Down the Ladder of Abstraction”
Use the SLIDEY THING to investigate these doppelgängers
for yourself!
John Gara, author of BuzzFeed’s “34 Celebrities Who Share
The Same Face”