Stanford's "Coding Together: Developing Apps for iPhone and iPad" Course Video Presentations on iTunesU

Now that the school year has ended, I've taken the first step to begin my "Summer of Code".  I have five weeks off each summer, and for me, it is the best time to brush up on my coding skills.   Since my school recently piloted an iPad program, I've developed an urge to learn Objective-C.  

So on the very first day of my summer break, I noticed in an email from Apple that that all of the presentation videos from Coding Together: Developing Apps for iPhone and iPad were made available, for free, though iTunes U. The course was designed for people who have some programming courses/experience, and from what I can see, provides a relatively "quick" and useful path for those who'd like to create an app for the iPhone or iPad.

After viewing the first video,  I am happy to say that I'm impressed with the way the professor, Paul Hegarty, explains it all.  

Course Description
"Updated for iOS 6. Tools and APIs required to build applications for the iPhone and iPad platform using the iOS SDK. User interface designs for mobile devices and unique user interactions using multi-touch technologies. Object-oriented design using model-view-controller paradigm, memory management, Objective-C programming language. Other topics include: object-oriented database API, animation, multi-threading and performance considerations. Prerequisites: C language and programming experience at the level of 106B (Programming Abstractions) or X. Recommended: UNIX, object-oriented programming, graphical toolkits."  -iTunesU Website

RELATED
iTunes U links to all course materials, including videos
Coding Together: Developing Apps for iOS Videos and Lecture Slides (iTunesU)
Website with files for course-related code
StackOverflow CS193P tagged items (Stack Overflow is an online resources for people with coding Q & As)

Designing for Touch & Gesture: Tips for Apps and the Web (Updated)

In the past, our fingers did the walking, sifting through files, papers, pamphlets, and phonebooks, and then by point-click-clicking with a mouse to interact with images and text, in essence, electronic imitations of the paper-based world. Traditional forms, brochures, ad inserts, and posters informed much of the design. 

How much have things change?   It is 2013, but you'd think it was 1997 from the PowerPoint look and feel of many apps and web sites!   Touch is everywhere, but from what I can tell, not enough designers and developers have stepped up to the plate to think more deeply about ways their applications can support human endeavors though touch and gesture interactions.  

For an overview of this topic, take a look at my 2011 post, written after a number of ugly encounters with user-unfriendly applications:  Why bother switching from GUI to NUI?  

For an in-depth look into the history of multi-touch, the wisdom of Bill Buxton is well-worth absorbing.  He's worked with all sorts of interfaces, and has been curating the history of multi-touch and gesture systems since 2007:


Multi-Touch Systems that I have Known and Loved
Bill Buxton, Microsoft Research, Updated 8/30/12



Even if you are not a designer or developer, I encourage you to explore some of the links below:

Touch Gestures for Application Design
Luke Wroblewski, 10/9/12

Common Misconceptions About Touch
Steven Hoober, 3/18/13

Designing With Tablets in Mind:  Six Tips to Remember
Connor Turnbull, Webdesign tuts+, 9/27/11

Finger-Friendly Design: IDeal Mobile Touchscreen Target Sizes
Anthony T, Smashing Magazine, 2/21/12

Best Practices: Designing Touch Tablet Experiences for Preschoolers (pdf)
Sesame Street Workshop


Are Touch Screens Accessible?
AcessIT, National center on Accessible Information Technology in Education

iOS Human Interface Guidelines
Apple

Android User Interface Guidelines
Using Touch Gestures
Handling Multi-Touch Gestures
Android

Designing for Tablets?  We're Here to Help!
Roman Nurik, Android Developers Blog 11/26/12

Touch interaction design (Windows Store apps)
Microsoft - MSDN

Multi-Touch Systems that I have Known and Loved
Bill Buxton, Microsoft Research, Updated 8/30/12

Telemedicine in Schools: Promoting Health (and Mental Health)

Telemedicine might be coming to a school near you in the future!

The use of a Telemedicine cart, made by Rubbermaid, will be piloted in one of the Union County Public Schools soon. In the article below,  the school district's superintendent was quoted as saying that she hopes the technology can also be used to tackle the problem of mental health:

Presbyterian, UCPS partner to put Telemedicine in schools
Carolyn Steeves, The Enquirer Journal, 1/9/13 


According to information from the Rubbermaid Healthcare Telemedicine website, the cart supports high definition video teleconferencing, a plug and play I/O panel, platform computing, and is white board capable. The touchscreen has annotation capabilities.  

For more information, view the following video and also see the Rubbermaid Telemedicine Resources site.



Here's the promotional information from the Rubbermaid website:

HD Video, Touch-Screen Apps, & Shared Content 

"The Rubbermaid Telemedicine Cart combines full computing capabilities with HD video conferencing into one, easy-to-use, mobile point-of-care clinical platform. Its clean, slim line design and small footprint provide access into the smallest and busiest clinical settings. Its multi-touch interface, simple integration, and superior maneuverability streamlines work flow and creates high adoption rates by staff members."

 "Each Telemedicine Cart comes equipped with a 720p HD video camera, upgradable to 1080p HD video. It also provides computing access to any software or web-based application, including electronic medical records and PACS imaging systems. It can be outfitted with any number of optional medical devices (both analog and digital) that can be shared through the computer or video conferencing equipment or both. The Telemedicine Cart supports digital input through DVI and HDMI as well as legacy inputs such as VGA, S-Video, and composite video. In addition, it is a fully portable platform that runs for two hours via built-in battery power and can be quickly and easily wheeled from room to room, requiring only a standard, high speed internet connection (wired or wireless) to initiate an HD video conference."

Below is a screen shot of telemedicine images from a Google search:

RELATED
Rubbermaid Healthcare Telemedicine Resources (Videos, Whitepapers, News)
Rubbermaid Healthcare Telemedicine
FCC Gives Telehealth $400M Boost
Mary Mosquera, Healthcare IT News, 1/10/13

Crafting Gorgeous User Interfaces: Rich Robinson, of Skookum Digital Works, talks about dynamic interface/experience/interaction design.

Rich Robinson, of Skookum Digital Works, gave a presentation at a recent Charlotte User Experience Meet-up. 

The title of the presentation, "Crafting Gorgeous User Interfaces" is slightly misleading. 

It's not just about making things pretty. It's about ideas, problem-solving, and understanding the people who will be interacting with dynamic interfaces, across devices, screens, and contexts. 

At the end of the presentation, Rich suggests that you take the time to watch the "Connecting" video, a video I featured on one of my recent posts.   



Thanks, Rich, for sharing your thoughts and ideas!

LINK: Mobile's Role in a Consumer's Media Day: Smartphones and Tablets Enable Seamless Digtal Lives -Study by ABIresearch (IAB Mobile)

I've been reflecting on how much I do things differently, now that I'm surrounded by digital devices throughout the day - and also surrounded by other people, who are also linked to more than one device or screen.

More often than not, we are all connected to the web, or at least one person/device away!

I don't think we've figured out the "seamless digital lives" part!

MOBILE'S ROLE IN A CONSUMER'S MEDIA DAY: Smartphones and Tablets Enable Seamless Digital Lives (pdf)
(An IAB Mobile Center of Excellence Research Project)

Web Version

Press Release:
Tablets & Smarphones Generate Strong Ad Engagement, According to IAB Mobile Research
IAB Media Contact:  Laura Goldberg  7/16/12



Credit:  IAB, via Flat World Business

First-Person User Interface; Mobile to the Future; Mobile Experience Design Strategy: Presentations by Luke Wroblewski

Luke Wroblewski is a digital product/interaction/interface designer who has written about mobile computing and web design. His presentations provide a good summary of how smartphones are functioning in today's world, how they might be used in the very near future, and what designers/developers need to consider.

"The tools are in our hands to really design experiences in a different way."

Presentation: First Person User Interfaces (pdf)
"The design challenges and opportunities of interfaces that allow people to interact with the real world as they are currently experiencing "

Luke Wroblewski | Mobile to the future from IxDA Oslo on Vimeo.
Presentation: Mobile to the Future (pdf)

Mobile Experience Design Strategy with Luke Wroblewski 
(Presented at Cascade SF Meetup)

(At about 45:30, Luke discusses the problem of "checkout" on a mobile phone, giving an example from Dell.)

iPad3 and iPad Mini: Hands-on Side-by Side Comparison Video, by Eric Sailers (quick post)

Here is a good side-by-side "hands-on" comparison of the new iPad3 and the new iPad Mini by Eric Sailers:

Eric Sailers is a speech and language pathologist who has co-created apps for iOS devices since 2009. His website has a wealth of information iOS devices and apps for education, especially for children with special needs.  

Tablet and Mobile Day (or Era): Lots of upcoming news about tablets and mobile devices. New Chromebook, too.

I will be devoting a few upcoming posts to tablets, larger smartphones, and other mobile computing devices. I'll be hearing from the folks at Stantum later today.

This morning I woke up and turned on the TV as I was getting ready for work, and the first thing I saw on my local station was this cute family-focused ad for the new Google Chromebook, which at $249.00, is affordable:

I especially like the scene were a toddler stomps on a Chromebook left on the floor.

SAP's new Mobility Design Center: Services Described in a Cute Animated Infographic Video

The following video was released by SAP to introduce its new Mobility Design Center. The video uses animated infographics to outline the key features of the SAP mobility design process.



RELATED
SAP's new Mobility Design Center uses user-centered design approach
Putting People First,  9/23/12
Develop User-Centric Mobile Apps: SAP Mobility Design Center
Mobile Consulting & Development
Designing for Mobile, Part 1: Information Architecture
Elaine McVicar, UXBooth, 9/25/12  (also see related posts, listed at the end of Elaine's article.)
Mobile Design Best Practices: Joshua Mauldin's UX Charlotte Talk- Photo, Sketchnote, and Slides 

Mobile Design Best Practices: Joshua Mauldin's UX Charlotte Talk - photos, sketchnote, and slides

Joshua Mauldin, founder of Invisible Interface & Awesome Gifs, and app creator/manager for The Business Journals, gave a talk about best practices in touchable mobile design at a recent Charlotte User Experience meet-up. I especially liked his use of clips from Arrested Development to remind us of the wide range of emotional responses people get when they use technology, good or bad.  (Take a moment and look over the slides for the meat of Joshua's talk.)

(Photo by Brad E.)

Slide-share of Joshua Mauldin's Mobile Design Best Practices talk:

Mobile design best practices from Joshua Mauldin

Below is sketchnote of the talk, drawn by hand by Antoine RJ Wright, using Adobe Ideas on his iPad:







(Photo by Bermon Painter)

The event was hosted by MyJive, located at the NC Music Factory. I was fortunate to grab a comfy spot to sit - there were about 85 in attendance.At the end of the meetup, I won a ticket to Web Afternoon!

Creating Responsive HTML5 Touch Interfaces (Stephen Woods -Video and Slides)

Here is an interesting video I came across during my HTML5 explorations - Stephen Woods, from Flickr, shares his words of wisdom about HTML5 and touch interfaces:


Stephen Woods (Flickr): Creating Responsive HTML5 Touch Interfaces




Here are a few links from the presentation:


Slides:  Creating Responsive HTML5 Touch Interfaces
http://www.slideshare.net/ysaw/creating-responsive-html5-touch-interfaces

Responsive Web Design 
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/responsive-web-design/

Eric Sailer's Lists of iPad, iPod, and iPhone Apps for (special) education

Update: Here is a link to Eric Sailer's resources on Scribd:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/24470331/iPhone-iPad-and-iPod-touch-Apps-for-Special-Education



Update:  I think Eric Sailer's blog has moved.  For now, here is a link to his website:
http://ericsailers.com/iresources.html

Eric Sailers is a speech/language pathologist who has an extensive amount of experience using "apps" in educational settings.  He's compiled a great list of apps and related resources on his blog:  http://slpsharing.com/app-resources/

Eric spends some of his time giving presentations about the use of Apple's mobile devices in education. He's co-created a few apps, too!

Multi-touch Update from Stantum

The people at Stantum have been working hard to improve multi-touch technology, focusing on smaller tablet-sized systems.  Stantum is a company I've been following for several years, from the time it was known as Jazz Mutant.  I have been impressed by Stantum's focus on the needs of people as well as the company's careful attention to important details.


I'm pleased to see that the company has an idea of how its multi-modal technology can support multi-touch in education:   "Ambidexterity and multi-modality are the two pillars of Stantum's core project – making the use of touch-enabled devices more creative and productive. Amongst others, there is one field of application where we truly see a soaring need for ambidexterity and multi-modality – augmented textbooks." -Guillaume Largillier


At the Society for Information Display's Display Week exhibition this past May, Stantum introduced a new palm rejection feature for its Interpolated Voltage Sensitivity technology. This technology provides users with a more natural way to interact with the interface and application content on tablets.   The technology supports Android's multi-touch framework and is also Windows 7 certified.  The palm rejection feature will be a welcome improvement for future multi-touch applications designed for education settings, where it is likely that  more than one hand - or person, might be interacting with content on the screen at the same time.


Below are two videos that provide a glimpse of Stantum's innovations:




Stantum's technology can enable ten simultaneous touches, is highly responsive, and supports high-resolution content. According to a May press release, "Palm rejection is available as an API (application programming interface) to Windows and Android operating systems on x86 and ARM platforms. IVSM touch modules are offered to OEMs through the company’s Qualified Manufacturers Partners, comprising tier-one touch-screen manufacturers with high-volume production capabilities. More information is available at info@stantum.com"


RELATED
Stantum's TouchPoints Newsletter (July 2011)


Stantum Whitepapers:
How to Evaluate Multi-Touch While Standing in a Store (pdf) - a great source of information.
Jim Meador, Pascal Auriel, Gauthier Chastan, Stantum
Specifying and Characterizing Tactile Performances for Multi-touch Panels: Toward a User-Centric Metrology (pdf) - outlines some important points!
Guillaume Largillier, Pascal Joguet, Cyril Recoquillon, Pascal Auriel, Axel Balley, Jim Meador, Julien Olivier, Gauthier Chastan

Revisiting CHI 2011: Videos of Interactive Touch, Gesture, Large Surface, and Mobile Apps with Potential for Use in Education (CHI = Computer Human Interaction)

One of my interests is how the power and potential post-WIMP interactive technologies can be harnessed for use for formal and informal education purposes, including life-long collaborative learning.  


In May, I had a chance to meet with a number of like-minded people during the CHI 2011 conference at the 2nd Workshop on UI Technologies and Impact on Educational Pedagogy.  I was impressed with the depth and breadth of the presentations at the workshop.   Since then, I've been looking through other papers and videos from CHI 2011 to find interesting applications that hold potential for use in educational settings.  


I've come across a good number of interesting applications and prototypes, so be sure to check back for future posts on this topic.  For now, here are a few applications that I'd like to share.  


Below are a few videos from Phillip Chi-Wing Fu.  (He doesn't know it yet, but I've admitted his videos into the Post-WIMP Explorers' Club.)


Interactive Multi-touch Sketching Interface for Diffusion Curves

"A novel multi-touch sketching interface enabling interactive and practical design with 2D diffusion curves is proposed; featured interaction techniques include simultaneous sketching of multiple diffusion curves and at-the-spot colors tuning."


Distinguishing Multiple Smart-Phone Interactions on a Multi-touch Wall Display using Tilt Correlation

"This paper proposes a novel matching technique, called tilt correlation, which employs the built-in tilt sensor on smart-phones to identify their concurrent contacts on a common multi-touch wall display."


WYSIWYF: Exploring and Annotating Volume Data with a Tangible Handheld Device (CHI 2011)


"Integration of a multi-touch wall display with a tangible handheld device with multi-touch and tilt sensing capabilities to provide intuitive what-you-see-is-what-you-feel visual exploration and annotation of volume data."


The following videos were uploaded by alucero:


Pass-Them-Around: Collaborative Use of Mobile Phones for Photo Sharing (CHI 2011)

"Pass-Them-Around is a phone-based application that allows a small group of collocated people to share photos using the metaphor of passing paper photos around. The prototype encourages people to share their devices and use them interchangeably while discussing photos face-to-face. The prototype supports ad-hoc photo sharing in different contexts by taking into account the spatial arrangement of users around a table, measured with sensors embedded in their mobile phones."


The next video was part of MobileHCI '10:
MindMap: Collaborative Use of Mobile Phones for Brainstorming

iPad: A couple of good articles about the enchanting tablet, via WIRED

I thought I'd share links to two articles about the iPad, a tablet that is enchanting millions around the globe: 


Nobody Needs a Tablet.  So Why Are We Gobbling Them Up?
Brian X. Chen,  WIRED Gadget Lab, 3/24/11


"Indeed, it turns out that a tablet needn’t do everything that a more powerful PC can, according to multiple research studies on iPad usage. Rather, the tablet’s main appeal lies in the approachable touchscreen interface that just about anybody at any age can pick up and figure out...That’s the genius of the blank slate — with nearly 400,000 apps that allow the iPad to become a toy, a TV, a medical tool for doctors, a notetaker for students and more, it caters to an extremely broad audience." -Brian X. Chen


iPads Are Not A Miracle for Children With Autism
Daniel Donahoo, WIRED GeekDad, 3/22/11


" ...the potential of the iPad is not achieved by the iPad alone, nor by simply placing it in the hands of a child with autism. The potential of the device is realized by the way professionals like speech pathologists, educators, occupational therapists and early childhood development professionals apply their skills and knowledge to use the iPad to effectively support the development of children. The potential is realized by engaged parents working with those professionals to explore how the device best meets the individual needs of their child." -Daniel Donahoo


(I have a few thoughts about the iPad of my own that I'll share in a future post.)

How Social Can News Get? SoCon11 Presentation by Lee Rainie, Pew Internet Project

If you'd like to learn more about social media,  take a look at the following presentation from the recent SoCon11 conference, "How social can news get?", by Lee Rainie,  Director of the Pew Internet Project:


"Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Internet Project, discusses the Project’s latest findings at the SoCon11 conference. He goes through trends in social media use in the last five years of the Project’s data. He explores how the turn to pervasive, participatory, personal, and portable news changes the way news consumers and producers behave and think about the role of news in their lives." - Pew Internet and American Life Project


Quite a few topics were covered at the conference, which can be found on the SoCon11 Agenda site.

2011 2.5.11 - kennesaw -- social news
View more presentations from Lee Rainie.

RELATED

SoCon11 Attendees
SoCon11 Speakers

Child-Computer Interaction: A Featured Community at the Upcoming CHI 2011 Conference!

Last year, I attended CHI 2010 and participated in a workshop about the next generation of HCI and education.  It was a wonderful opportunity to share ideas with people from all over the world who are interested in emerging technologies, kids, and education.  I plan to attend CHI 2011 in Vancouver, Canada next May 7-11, and even though the conference is months away, I can barely wait.  The good news it that the Child-Computer Interaction community will have an important presence at the 2011 ACM CHI conference.  I wanted to share a little bit about this development on this blog. 

During CHI 2010, I signed up for the  "Designing for the iChild" course.  In one afternoon, I learned more than I had expected, especially the technique called "Layered Elaboration", a collaborative design strategy that involves inter-generational teams of children and adults.  

One of the leaders of this course was Allison Druin, Associate Professor and director of the Human-Computer Interaction Lab at the University of Maryland.  Dr. Druin's focus is in the area of child-computer interaction and how children can be meaningfully involved as partners in the design process.  

The quote below, found on the HCIL Children as Design Partners website, explains why this is so important:

"We have a chance to change technology, but more importantly we have a chance to change the life of a child. Every time a new technology enables a child to do something they never dreamed of, there are new possibilities for the future."  -Allison Druin

In my work as a school psychologist, I use technology with students quite often, especially when I'm at Wolfe, a program for students who have more complex disabilities, including severe autism.  I have been fortunate to have a new SMARTBoard at my fingertips, and access to the school's SMARTtable.  I learn from my students every day.

I believe that we are only at the "tip of the iceberg" with this sort of technology- and related applications such as the iPad and similar devices.   In my experience, well designed technologies and applications can open up a meaningful window to the world for children, teens, and others with disabilities.

Most of the information below was taking from the CHI 2011 conference website:

About the Child-Computer Interaction (CCI) community:

"At CHI, the CCI community will want to attract papers and contributions that represent real advances in the understanding of, or development and refinement of methods for, child computer interaction. It will also seek to unearth groundbreaking innovations addressing the needs, capabilities and preferences of children that have the potential to become reference works for developments in this field."

"By its very nature, The CCI community will have to be divergent in its thinking at CHI; it must also be about two of the mainstream CHI communities – engineering and design, but will potentially also be concerned with many of the communities of technologies (Smart devices, surfaces, mobile), of experiences (Play, Learning, Communication) and of methods (participatory design, evaluation)." ....

"Child Computer Interaction is a new community for CHI. It is a place for contributions where a method or a design is proposed that is especially suited to children and that could not sensibly be easily adapted for adults.  

We are keen to have contributions to all the usual CHI tracks but are also offering four special tracks for our own extra special community. These are:

• Child Partnership Projects (CPP): A design competition for teams that include children.

• Participatory Papers: Scholarly publications that are disseminated for children readers. (i.e. written in a different way)

• Lessons from the Trenches: Targeting industrial cases and experiences. A lively venue where experiences can be exchanged, and researchers can be exposed to the realities of industrial practice in this domain.

• Theatre pieces: High quality video contributions, available in a library after the conference, of methods that can be re used and learned from."

Child-Computer Interaction Chairs:
Janet C. Read
University of Central Lancashire
Panos Markopoulos
Eindhoven University of Techology
Allison Druin
University of Maryland
childcomputerinteraction@chi2010

RELATED
Walsh, G., Druin, A., Guha, ML, Foss, B., Golub, E., Hatley, L (2009)  [PDF] Layered Elaboration: A New Technique for Co-Design with Children.  ACM CHI 2009 

BlackBerry's "iPad" preview video! -- PlayBook

Thanks to Seth Sandler for the link!

More about this topic later...

Samsung Galaxy Tab: Video!

The video pretty much explains it all:



Tans to solydzajs for the link!

Additional information about Samsung can be found on my previous post:

Samsung's Android-based 7-inch Galaxy Tab

Educators & Parents, also see:
EduTech: ClassDroid, Collaborative PrimaryPad, Android Apps - Lots of Possibilities!

Tech Fashion: The iPad Murse (Murse = Man Purse)

I'm vacationing this week, but since it is impossible for me to fully pull myself away from tech, I grabbed my husband's arm and made a beeline to the iPad display during our walk around Historic Charleston yesterday.  Nearly every iPad on the display had been temporarily adopted by a kid. All of them wanted one, and it was clear that the interaction design was intuitive for them to use. 

My husband commented that he didn't see what the buzz was all about.  His first comment?  "How would anyone carry this? It is too big for a pocket or a purse!   I pointed out that unlike me, most of the women in the store had huge purses.  Huge fancy purses that could probably hold a bazillion iPads.   (My mind is made up. I need an iPad AND a huge fancy purse.)

I noticed that a dad of one of the iPad-exploring kids was holding an iPad in a zippered case in his hand, so I asked him about it.  It turns out that the guy is a "Virtual IT CIO",  so he knows his stuff.  He said that he loves his iPad and has no problem carrying it around.    Knowing my husband, carrying around the iPad in a case without a handle would be a problem.  A deal-breaker.

I guess that the lack of an iPad Murse (man-purse) is something worth considering.  We all want to project a professional image, right?  I chuckled to myself as I read the following article:

Searching for the perfect iPad/Netbook man-purse

Scott Stein, CNET, 7/9/10

In the article, Stein reviews a variety of "murses" suitable for the iPad and netbooks, including Cocoon's Grid-It 10-inch Harlem Netbook/iPad and Gramercy Messenger slings, Booq's Taipan Slim XS, and STM Bags' Scout Laptop Shoulder Bag.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

(Credit: waynesuttun12, flickr)