The Medion x9613 is a Windows 7, multi-touch all-in-one that has all of the features needed for playing games, working collaboratively with a colleague or classmate, watching HD video content, and more.
The following YouTube video is from Gizmodo, via Engadget.
According to Cali Lewis, of GeekBrief TV, this all-in-one will be available in the US. (Cali also previews other interesting gadgets and tech on the GeekBrief TV clip below.)
RELATED
Medion X9613: A Multitouch PC that Longs to Be Your Home Theater
Mark Wilson, Gizmodo
I haven't set eyes on this one yet. If anyone has played with a Medion X9613 a bit, or even used it for work, please leave a comment! How do YOU use your "All-in-One?"
Oct 7, 2009
We Need Collaborative Surfaces: The Shared IT Project & Other Research Touched by Yvonne Rogers and/or her Colleagues
Today I came across Doug Clow's blog post, "Tangibles, tabletops or mobiles: Which is best for collaborative learning?". In essence, the post was a "liveblog", written during Yvonne Roger's review of her work of the past 10 years at an IET Technology Coffee Morning session held at Open University in London.
I've been following Yvonne's research for some time now, and I thought I'd take this opportunity highlight her work. (I've provided additional information for those of you who are new to this blog.)
Background (from my perspective)
Back in the early 1990's, I ran a "paired learning" study skills/social skills group three mornings a week in a computer lab, for a crew of fourth grade students referred to me (the school psychologist) for support for behavior, learning, and social skills problems. Since many of the students needed to work on social skills such as waiting turns, cooperating, and working nicely with others, I decided to pair the students up, two to a computer.
Some of the applications were designed for two students, taking turns, but other applications were designed for only one person, and for those applications, the student's were encouraged to forget about the "rules" and help each other out, in other words, one student would control the mouse, and the other would be the "mouse-seat driver". I spent some time teaching "mouse-sharing" skills. One of the students was trying to grab the mouse when it wasn't his turn, and his partner whacked him over the head with it!
Moving on...
When I first touched an interactive whiteboard, it was 2002 or 2003. It was a SmartBoard, and I was fascinated by the possibilities that it held. Since I used it as a tool for group counseling and study skills in my role as a school psychologist, I couldn't help but hope that a new version would come out that would allow at least two students to interact with the screen at the same time.
Better yet, wouldn't it be cool to have the group table offer the same sort of functionality? I realize when people envision a learning environment, they are likely to think of students seated in single desks. While this is the case in many classrooms, many teachers manage to focus on group work, such as group projects, collaborative/cooperative learning lessons, or science experiments...even if they DON'T have tables. They push the desks together to form a "table".
In my life as a school psychologist, particularly during my days at an elementary school, I spent a good part of my day sitting at a table, with 3-6 students, for the purpose of group counseling, social skills training, and so forth. (The speech and language therapist worked with groups of children around a table, too.) You can imagine that something like the SMARTTable or the Surface would have been a godsend, provided that it came with a wealth of therapeutic activities and templates that could be easily customized to meet the needs of the students!
Interactive displays and whiteboards are now common in our schools and workplaces. There are a few classrooms that have interactive tables, and these tables are also found in museums and visitor centers. But there is much work yet to be done- in terms of content development, hardware design, interaction design, and research.
No one discipline "owns" this problem-space. Better said, no one owns this "solution-space"!
(For more information about this topic, read "Don Norman's Keynote at the 21st Transmedia Symposium: Transmedia Design Challenge: Co-creation" and "Transcending Disciplinary Boundaries in Interaction Design", by Eli Blevis & Erik Stolterman)
Yvonne Rogers has been a key player in this arena. She is focused, but at the same time, takes a big-picture, multi-faceted point of view, something that I find lacking in much of the computer science research that crosses my path. Yvonne's approach is consistent with other forward-minded thinkers in the field, such as
When she was a professor at Indiana University, Yvonne's team produced a short video to outline the types of problems when groups of people encounter when they share information and collaborate on projects.
What I like about this video is that it works towards solutions. Although the video is from 2006, it still rings true.
If you have ever worked with students in small groups forced to share one mouse and computer screen, some of the footage will bring you to a smile.
More about Dr. Rogers and her colleagues:
Dr. Rogers is the lead researcher of the SharedIT Project, an interdisciplinary endeavor that exploring how new technologies, such as multi-touch tables, gesture-based systems, interactive wall displays, and interactive tangibles, can support collaborative activities among small groups of people in a range of situations and settings.
Some of the people affiliated with Dr. Rogers and the Open University Pervasive Interaction Lab are highlighted in the video clip below. The video was filmed at an event held on June 23, 2009 at th Science Museums' Dana Center (UK), in collaboration with the London Knowledge Lab. The video highlights the work of researchers, artists, educators, and technologists, all exploring collaborative tangible, interactive technologies and surfaces. Some of the questions asked: What sort of new interfaces can support "collective creativity"? How can these technologies support interactions between people who are in different places around the world?
Surface Tension: Interactives and Workshops (June 23, 2009)
Surface Tension: Interactives and workshops from Dreamtime Film on Vimeo.
Yvonne was one of the researchers involved in the Dynamo Project,the topic of one of my posts a couple of years ago: Revisiting promising projects: Dynamo, an application for sharing information on large interactive displays in public spaces. (9/16/07)
Doug Clow provides a good overview of some of the SharedIT projects in his April 2009 post, "Low-hanging fruit: interactive tables for collaborative learning". If you are curious and want to dig deeper, below is a link to the SharedIT publications web page, along with an assortment of articles related to Yvonne Roger's work.
ShareIT Publications
Hornecker, Eva (2008) "I don't understand it either, but it is cool" - Visitor Interactions with a Multi-Touch Table in a Museum. (pdf) IEEE Tabletop 2008
Rick, J, and Rogers, Y. (2008) From DigiQuilt to DigiTile: Adapting Educational Technology to a Multi-Touch Table. IEEE Tabletops and Interactive Surfaces. 79-86.
Related publications of interest:
Rogers, Y. (2008) A comparison of how animation has been used to support formal, informal and playful learning. Learning with Animation, edited by R. Lowe and W. Schnotz, CUP, Cambridge. 286-303.
Rogers, Y. and Muller, H. (2006) A framework for designing sensor-based interactions to promote exploration and reflection. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 64 (1), 1-15. PDF version
Rogers, Y., Brignull, H. and Scaife, M. (2002) Designing Dynamic Interactive Visualisations to Support Collaboration and Cognition. In First International Symposium on Collaborative Information Visualization Environments, IV 2002, London, July 10-12, 2002, IEEE, 39-50. PDF version
Of course, there are many other researchers who are exploring collaborative technologies, and I've featured a good number on this blog. I'll be sure to feature more, from a range of disciplines, in future posts.
I've been following Yvonne's research for some time now, and I thought I'd take this opportunity highlight her work. (I've provided additional information for those of you who are new to this blog.)
Background (from my perspective)
Back in the early 1990's, I ran a "paired learning" study skills/social skills group three mornings a week in a computer lab, for a crew of fourth grade students referred to me (the school psychologist) for support for behavior, learning, and social skills problems. Since many of the students needed to work on social skills such as waiting turns, cooperating, and working nicely with others, I decided to pair the students up, two to a computer.
Some of the applications were designed for two students, taking turns, but other applications were designed for only one person, and for those applications, the student's were encouraged to forget about the "rules" and help each other out, in other words, one student would control the mouse, and the other would be the "mouse-seat driver". I spent some time teaching "mouse-sharing" skills. One of the students was trying to grab the mouse when it wasn't his turn, and his partner whacked him over the head with it!
Moving on...
When I first touched an interactive whiteboard, it was 2002 or 2003. It was a SmartBoard, and I was fascinated by the possibilities that it held. Since I used it as a tool for group counseling and study skills in my role as a school psychologist, I couldn't help but hope that a new version would come out that would allow at least two students to interact with the screen at the same time.
Better yet, wouldn't it be cool to have the group table offer the same sort of functionality? I realize when people envision a learning environment, they are likely to think of students seated in single desks. While this is the case in many classrooms, many teachers manage to focus on group work, such as group projects, collaborative/cooperative learning lessons, or science experiments...even if they DON'T have tables. They push the desks together to form a "table".
In my life as a school psychologist, particularly during my days at an elementary school, I spent a good part of my day sitting at a table, with 3-6 students, for the purpose of group counseling, social skills training, and so forth. (The speech and language therapist worked with groups of children around a table, too.) You can imagine that something like the SMARTTable or the Surface would have been a godsend, provided that it came with a wealth of therapeutic activities and templates that could be easily customized to meet the needs of the students!
Interactive displays and whiteboards are now common in our schools and workplaces. There are a few classrooms that have interactive tables, and these tables are also found in museums and visitor centers. But there is much work yet to be done- in terms of content development, hardware design, interaction design, and research.
No one discipline "owns" this problem-space. Better said, no one owns this "solution-space"!
(For more information about this topic, read "Don Norman's Keynote at the 21st Transmedia Symposium: Transmedia Design Challenge: Co-creation" and "Transcending Disciplinary Boundaries in Interaction Design", by Eli Blevis & Erik Stolterman)
Yvonne Rogers has been a key player in this arena. She is focused, but at the same time, takes a big-picture, multi-faceted point of view, something that I find lacking in much of the computer science research that crosses my path. Yvonne's approach is consistent with other forward-minded thinkers in the field, such as
When she was a professor at Indiana University, Yvonne's team produced a short video to outline the types of problems when groups of people encounter when they share information and collaborate on projects.
What I like about this video is that it works towards solutions. Although the video is from 2006, it still rings true.
If you have ever worked with students in small groups forced to share one mouse and computer screen, some of the footage will bring you to a smile.
More about Dr. Rogers and her colleagues:
Dr. Rogers is the lead researcher of the SharedIT Project, an interdisciplinary endeavor that exploring how new technologies, such as multi-touch tables, gesture-based systems, interactive wall displays, and interactive tangibles, can support collaborative activities among small groups of people in a range of situations and settings.
Some of the people affiliated with Dr. Rogers and the Open University Pervasive Interaction Lab are highlighted in the video clip below. The video was filmed at an event held on June 23, 2009 at th Science Museums' Dana Center (UK), in collaboration with the London Knowledge Lab. The video highlights the work of researchers, artists, educators, and technologists, all exploring collaborative tangible, interactive technologies and surfaces. Some of the questions asked: What sort of new interfaces can support "collective creativity"? How can these technologies support interactions between people who are in different places around the world?
Surface Tension: Interactives and Workshops (June 23, 2009)
Surface Tension: Interactives and workshops from Dreamtime Film on Vimeo.
Yvonne was one of the researchers involved in the Dynamo Project,the topic of one of my posts a couple of years ago: Revisiting promising projects: Dynamo, an application for sharing information on large interactive displays in public spaces. (9/16/07)
Doug Clow provides a good overview of some of the SharedIT projects in his April 2009 post, "Low-hanging fruit: interactive tables for collaborative learning". If you are curious and want to dig deeper, below is a link to the SharedIT publications web page, along with an assortment of articles related to Yvonne Roger's work.
ShareIT Publications
Hornecker, Eva (2008) "I don't understand it either, but it is cool" - Visitor Interactions with a Multi-Touch Table in a Museum. (pdf) IEEE Tabletop 2008
Rick, J, and Rogers, Y. (2008) From DigiQuilt to DigiTile: Adapting Educational Technology to a Multi-Touch Table. IEEE Tabletops and Interactive Surfaces. 79-86.
Rogers, Y., Lim, Y., Hazlewood, W. R. and Marshall, P. (2008) Equal Opportunities: Do Shareable Interfaces Promote More Group Participation than Single User Displays? - To Appear in Human Computer Interaction
PDFRelated publications of interest:
Rogers, Y. (2006) Moving on from Weiser's vision of of calm computing: engaging UbiComp experiences. In: P. Dourish and A. Friday (Eds.) Ubicomp 2006 Proceedings, LNCS 4206, pp. 404-421, Springer-Verlag, PDF version
Rick, J., Harris, A., Marshall, P., Fleck, R., Yuill, N. and Rogers, Y. (2009) Children designing together on a multi-touch tabletop: An analysis of spatial orientation and user interactions. Proceedings of Interaction Design and Children (IDC '09), 106-114
Harris, A., Rick, J., Bonnett, V., Yuill, N., Fleck, R., Marshall, P. and Rogers, Y. (2009) Around the Table: Are multiple-touch surfaces better than single-touch for children's collaborative interactions? Proceedings of CSCL 2009
Rick, J., Rogers, Y., Haig, C. and Yuill, N. (2009) Learning by Doing with Shareable Interfaces. Children, Youth & Environments, In Press.
Marshall, P., Fleck, R., Harris, A. Rick, J., Hornecker, E., Rogers, Y., Yuill, N. and Dalton, N. S. (2009) Fighting for Control: Children's Embodied Interactions When Using Physical and Digital Representations. Proceedings of CHI'09, 2149-2152. PDF version
Rogers, Y. and Price, S. (2009) How mobile technologies are changing the way children learn. In A. Druin, (Ed.) On the Move: Children, Learning and Technology. Elsevier. 3-22. PDF version
Rogers, Y. and Price, S. (2008) The role of mobile devices in facilitating collaborative inquiry in situ. Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning. 3 (3), 209-229. PDF version
Rogers, Y. (2008) Using External Visualizations to Extend and Integrate Learning in Mobile and Classroom Settings. In J. Gilbert (ed.), Visualization: and practice in science education. CUP. 89-102.
Brignull, H., Izadi, S, , Fitzpatrick, G., Rogers, Y. and Rodden, T. (2004) The Introduction of a Shared Interactive Surface into a Communal Space. In Proc. of CSCW 2004, Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, November 6-10, 2004, Chicago, USA: ACM Press. 49-58. PDF version
Randell, C., Phelps, T. and Rogers, Y. (2003) Ambient Wood: Demonstration of a digitally enhanced field trip for school children. In Adjunct Proc. UbiComp 2003, 100-104. PDF version
Brignull, H. and Rogers, Y (2003) Enticing people to interact with large public displays in public spaces. In Proceedings of INTERACT'03, Zurich, 17-24. PDF version
Of course, there are many other researchers who are exploring collaborative technologies, and I've featured a good number on this blog. I'll be sure to feature more, from a range of disciplines, in future posts.
Oct 6, 2009
I want to play with mice! Microsoft's Multiple Multi-touch Mice Preview
Hot off the press from Microsoft's Applied Sciences Group at UIST 2009!
Mouse 2.0: Multi-touch Meets the Mouse
"In this paper we present novel input devices that combine the standard capabilities of a computer mouse with multi-touch sensing. Our goal is to enrich traditional pointer-based desktop interactions with touch and gestures. To chart the design space, we present five different multi-touch mouse implementations. Each explores a different touch sensing strategy, which leads to differing form-factors and hence interactive possibilities. In addition to the detailed description of hardware and software implementa-tions of our prototypes, we discuss the relative strengths, limitations and affordances of these novel input devices as informed by the results of a preliminary user study."
The following video is courtesy of Microsoft's Applied Sciences Group:
Music: "Motion Blur", by Bjorn Hartman. (Bjorn is an HCI researcher and electronic musician.)
The researchers on the team:
Nicolas Villar, Shahram Izadi, Dan Rosenfeld, Hrvoje Benko, John Helmes, Jonathan Westhues, Steve Hodges, Eyal Ofek, Alex Butler, Xiang Cao and Billy Chen
Here is a video preview/demo of the multi-touch mice prototypes from Microsoft's Applied Sciences Group Lab, courtesy of CrunchGear:
-CrunchGear
Mouse 2.0: Multi-touch Meets the Mouse
"In this paper we present novel input devices that combine the standard capabilities of a computer mouse with multi-touch sensing. Our goal is to enrich traditional pointer-based desktop interactions with touch and gestures. To chart the design space, we present five different multi-touch mouse implementations. Each explores a different touch sensing strategy, which leads to differing form-factors and hence interactive possibilities. In addition to the detailed description of hardware and software implementa-tions of our prototypes, we discuss the relative strengths, limitations and affordances of these novel input devices as informed by the results of a preliminary user study."
The following video is courtesy of Microsoft's Applied Sciences Group:
Music: "Motion Blur", by Bjorn Hartman. (Bjorn is an HCI researcher and electronic musician.)
The researchers on the team:
Nicolas Villar, Shahram Izadi, Dan Rosenfeld, Hrvoje Benko, John Helmes, Jonathan Westhues, Steve Hodges, Eyal Ofek, Alex Butler, Xiang Cao and Billy Chen
Here is a video preview/demo of the multi-touch mice prototypes from Microsoft's Applied Sciences Group Lab, courtesy of CrunchGear:
-CrunchGear
Problems with Kindle in Education: Looks as if Amazon forgot to do usability and accessibility homework!
When e-readers first were released to the world, I thought I'd be the first on the block to run out and get one. But I wasn't, and I didn't. Why not?
Winthrop professor uses Kindle to spark new age of learning- but response to e-reader lukewarm (Shawn Cetrone, Herald Online, 10/5/09)
"About a month into the semester at Winthrop, the device has yet to garner many fans...
“I don't really like it,” senior Cindy Satta said after class. “We used to highlight things we read, especially with complicated texts. We can't do that now.” And Satta prefers leafing through paper pages over fumbling with the Kindle key pad. But, she added, it was nice not having to buy a book."
EDUKINDLE: Kindle for Educators
Problem: Usable and useful for reading fiction, but not much else.
I'm delighted to share Jakob Nielsen's reviews of the Kindle- he is an "older" guy, and given his background in the usability field, he's well-aware of factors related to reading text on screens. I don't need reading glasses yet, but given my age, reading small print will become an important issue when and if I purchase an e-Reader!
Kindle 2 Usability Review (Jakob Nielsen, Alertbox, 3/9/09)
"Amazon's new e-book reader offers print-level readability and shines for reading fiction, but it has awkward interaction design and poor support for non-linear content."
Kindle Content Design (Jakob Nielson, Alertbox, 3/16/09)
" Adapting content for the Kindle e-book reader requires that you follow an unholy mix of usability guidelines for other environments........ Given these constraints, navigating non-linear content on Kindle feels much like navigating websites on a mobile phone. Kindle content designers should therefore follow mobile usability guidelines for many user interface issues, including the presentation of article pages."
Kindle DX - Disappointing (Jakob Nielsen, Alertbox, 5/2009)
"Reduced crispness means fuzzier fonts, which again means reduced legibility and slower reading speed. Thus, Kindle DX is not likely to replicate the pleasant reading experience of Kindle 2. This is particularly catastrophic since it's intended for reading textbooks which are dense in word count...Seeing only one page at a time will reduce students' ability to learn, relative to reading books that display two-page spreads as the designer and author intended."
Problem: Lacking key features required for accessibility and conforming to UDL (Universal Design for Learning) principles.
NOTE: Somehow I missed the controversy about accessibility and e-Books! Since I don't have an e-reader and I don't know anyone who owns one, it was off my radar.
Apparently e-Books don't come with audio rights, and this issue is much more complicated than one would think. I am sure there are many sides to the story. In my humble opinion, much of this controversy could have been prevented if all parties involved in the eBook revolution had done their homework before the first e-Book came to market!
National Federation of the Blind and American Council of the BlindFile Discrimination Suit Against Arizona State University: University’s Amazon Kindle DX Pilot Program Discriminates Against the Blind
"The Kindle DX features text-to-speech technology that can read textbooks aloud to blind students. The menus of the device are not accessible to the blind, however, making it impossible for a blind user to purchase books from Amazon’s Kindle store, select a book to read, activate the text-to-speech feature, and use the advanced reading functions available on the Kindle DX"
"Darrell Shandrow, a blind student pursuing a degree in journalism at ASU, said: “Not having access to the advanced reading features of the Kindle DX—including the ability to download books and course materials, add my own bookmarks and notes, and look up supplemental information instantly on the Internet when I encounter it in my reading—will lock me out of this new technology and put me and other blind students at a competitive disadvantage relative to our sighted peers. While my peers will have instant access to their course materials in electronic form, I will still have to wait weeks or months for accessible texts to be prepared for me, and these texts will not provide the access and features available to other students. That is why I am standing up for myself and with other blind Americans to end this blatant discrimination.""
Advocates for the Blind Sue Arizona State U over Kindle Use (Marc Beja, Wired Campus, Chronicles of Higher Education, 7/2/09)
Blind Access Journal (Darrell Shandrow's Blog)
Broad Coalition Demands Access to Amazon Kindle/Electronic Books: Reading Rights Coalition Urges Authors to Allow Everyone Access to E-books
Author's Guild Statement Making the Kindle Accessible to the Print Disabled(4/7/09)
Reading Rights Coalition
(Direct links to the member groups of the Reading Rights Coalition can be found on the home page.)
The Kindle TTS Issue
"Shortly after the Kindle 2’s release, the Authors Guild, as an organization that represents some writers, protested Amazon’s deployment of text-to-speech on the Kindle 2. The Authors Guild argued that reading a book out loud, as occurs with the Kindle, requires the specific permission of the copyright holder. It also expressed a concern that text-to-speech could inhibit the development of the market for audio books. On February 24, 2009, the New York Times ran an op-ed piece by Roy Blount, Jr., president of the Authors Guild, which escalated media attention on the issue."
CNN iReport Author's Guild Protest
HOPE FOR THE FUTURE?
How Tech for the Disabled is Going Mainstream: Designs conceived for the handicapped, such as voice commands for PCs, often lead to products for the masses
(Reena Jana, Business Week 9/24/09)
""Companies could look at designing for accessibility as a sales opportunity. Most features that are accessible for the disabled have great value to everybody," says Donald A. Norman, a former Apple vice-president for advanced technology who heads a joint business and engineering program at Northwestern University."
"While VoiceOver helped broaden Apple's reach to the blind, it also became a mini-engine for innovation within the company. "When we created the VoiceOver idea and concept for the Mac, we also realized we could take advantage of it by mainstreaming it," says Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice-president for iPod and iPhone marketing."
"At Google (GOOG), a deaf software engineer, Ken Harrenstein, spearheaded the creation of a captioning tool for videos posted on Google's YouTube site. His original intention was to help deaf users. But the company soon figured out the software could also help translate languages. That idea led in late 2008 to an auto-translation tool that allows people to add captions in 50 languages instantly to YouTube videos they upload, increasing the number of people who can watch and understand the clips"
Rebooting the Book (One Apple iPad Tablet at a Time)
(Mark Sigal, O'Reilly Radar, 9/22/09)
In the above article, Sigal digs into the history of Apple's past visions for the future, visions worth contemplating in 2009. Sigal that believes the "iPad" could function as an interactive learning device, a chemistry and physics lab, a story-telling narrative vehicle, and an information and reference guide.
Sigal provides some interesting scenarios that anyone interested in this area should seriously consider!
(Also read Sigal's "Apple, the Boomer Tablet, and the Matrix")
- They are too expensive.
- They don't provide me with the text/content/concept/nonlinear/multimedia interaction I want (not useful for my purposes.)
- Issues regarding usability, accessibility, and universal design have yet to be resolved.
Problem: Not quite useful or usable for students.
Hyung Lee, The Daily Princetonian 9/28/09
“I hate to sound like a Luddite, but this technology is a poor excuse of an academic tool...It’s clunky, slow and a real pain to operate...Much of my learning comes from a physical interaction with the text: bookmarks, highlights, page-tearing, sticky notes and other marks representing the importance of certain passages — not to mention margin notes, where most of my paper ideas come from and interaction with the material occurs,” he explained. “All these things have been lost, and if not lost they’re too slow to keep up with my thinking, and the ‘features’ have been rendered useless.” - Aaron Horvath, student, PrincetonWinthrop professor uses Kindle to spark new age of learning- but response to e-reader lukewarm (Shawn Cetrone, Herald Online, 10/5/09)
"About a month into the semester at Winthrop, the device has yet to garner many fans...
“I don't really like it,” senior Cindy Satta said after class. “We used to highlight things we read, especially with complicated texts. We can't do that now.” And Satta prefers leafing through paper pages over fumbling with the Kindle key pad. But, she added, it was nice not having to buy a book."
EDUKINDLE: Kindle for Educators
Problem: Usable and useful for reading fiction, but not much else.
I'm delighted to share Jakob Nielsen's reviews of the Kindle- he is an "older" guy, and given his background in the usability field, he's well-aware of factors related to reading text on screens. I don't need reading glasses yet, but given my age, reading small print will become an important issue when and if I purchase an e-Reader!
Kindle 2 Usability Review (Jakob Nielsen, Alertbox, 3/9/09)
"Amazon's new e-book reader offers print-level readability and shines for reading fiction, but it has awkward interaction design and poor support for non-linear content."
Kindle Content Design (Jakob Nielson, Alertbox, 3/16/09)
" Adapting content for the Kindle e-book reader requires that you follow an unholy mix of usability guidelines for other environments........ Given these constraints, navigating non-linear content on Kindle feels much like navigating websites on a mobile phone. Kindle content designers should therefore follow mobile usability guidelines for many user interface issues, including the presentation of article pages."
Kindle DX - Disappointing (Jakob Nielsen, Alertbox, 5/2009)
"Reduced crispness means fuzzier fonts, which again means reduced legibility and slower reading speed. Thus, Kindle DX is not likely to replicate the pleasant reading experience of Kindle 2. This is particularly catastrophic since it's intended for reading textbooks which are dense in word count...Seeing only one page at a time will reduce students' ability to learn, relative to reading books that display two-page spreads as the designer and author intended."
Problem: Lacking key features required for accessibility and conforming to UDL (Universal Design for Learning) principles.
NOTE: Somehow I missed the controversy about accessibility and e-Books! Since I don't have an e-reader and I don't know anyone who owns one, it was off my radar.
Apparently e-Books don't come with audio rights, and this issue is much more complicated than one would think. I am sure there are many sides to the story. In my humble opinion, much of this controversy could have been prevented if all parties involved in the eBook revolution had done their homework before the first e-Book came to market!
National Federation of the Blind and American Council of the BlindFile Discrimination Suit Against Arizona State University: University’s Amazon Kindle DX Pilot Program Discriminates Against the Blind
"The Kindle DX features text-to-speech technology that can read textbooks aloud to blind students. The menus of the device are not accessible to the blind, however, making it impossible for a blind user to purchase books from Amazon’s Kindle store, select a book to read, activate the text-to-speech feature, and use the advanced reading functions available on the Kindle DX"
"Darrell Shandrow, a blind student pursuing a degree in journalism at ASU, said: “Not having access to the advanced reading features of the Kindle DX—including the ability to download books and course materials, add my own bookmarks and notes, and look up supplemental information instantly on the Internet when I encounter it in my reading—will lock me out of this new technology and put me and other blind students at a competitive disadvantage relative to our sighted peers. While my peers will have instant access to their course materials in electronic form, I will still have to wait weeks or months for accessible texts to be prepared for me, and these texts will not provide the access and features available to other students. That is why I am standing up for myself and with other blind Americans to end this blatant discrimination.""
Advocates for the Blind Sue Arizona State U over Kindle Use (Marc Beja, Wired Campus, Chronicles of Higher Education, 7/2/09)
Blind Access Journal (Darrell Shandrow's Blog)
Broad Coalition Demands Access to Amazon Kindle/Electronic Books: Reading Rights Coalition Urges Authors to Allow Everyone Access to E-books
Author's Guild Statement Making the Kindle Accessible to the Print Disabled(4/7/09)
Reading Rights Coalition
(Direct links to the member groups of the Reading Rights Coalition can be found on the home page.)
The Kindle TTS Issue
"Shortly after the Kindle 2’s release, the Authors Guild, as an organization that represents some writers, protested Amazon’s deployment of text-to-speech on the Kindle 2. The Authors Guild argued that reading a book out loud, as occurs with the Kindle, requires the specific permission of the copyright holder. It also expressed a concern that text-to-speech could inhibit the development of the market for audio books. On February 24, 2009, the New York Times ran an op-ed piece by Roy Blount, Jr., president of the Authors Guild, which escalated media attention on the issue."
CNN iReport Author's Guild Protest
HOPE FOR THE FUTURE?
How Tech for the Disabled is Going Mainstream: Designs conceived for the handicapped, such as voice commands for PCs, often lead to products for the masses
(Reena Jana, Business Week 9/24/09)
""Companies could look at designing for accessibility as a sales opportunity. Most features that are accessible for the disabled have great value to everybody," says Donald A. Norman, a former Apple vice-president for advanced technology who heads a joint business and engineering program at Northwestern University."
"While VoiceOver helped broaden Apple's reach to the blind, it also became a mini-engine for innovation within the company. "When we created the VoiceOver idea and concept for the Mac, we also realized we could take advantage of it by mainstreaming it," says Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice-president for iPod and iPhone marketing."
"At Google (GOOG), a deaf software engineer, Ken Harrenstein, spearheaded the creation of a captioning tool for videos posted on Google's YouTube site. His original intention was to help deaf users. But the company soon figured out the software could also help translate languages. That idea led in late 2008 to an auto-translation tool that allows people to add captions in 50 languages instantly to YouTube videos they upload, increasing the number of people who can watch and understand the clips"
Rebooting the Book (One Apple iPad Tablet at a Time)
(Mark Sigal, O'Reilly Radar, 9/22/09)
In the above article, Sigal digs into the history of Apple's past visions for the future, visions worth contemplating in 2009. Sigal that believes the "iPad" could function as an interactive learning device, a chemistry and physics lab, a story-telling narrative vehicle, and an information and reference guide.
Sigal provides some interesting scenarios that anyone interested in this area should seriously consider!
(Also read Sigal's "Apple, the Boomer Tablet, and the Matrix")
Oct 5, 2009
Adam Greenfield's Encounter with Fashionable Urban Screens
Curious? I posted about it on The World Is My Interface blog, along with links to Adam's blog post and related information:
Adam Greenfield's Encounter with Fashionable Urban Screens: "jnd: An emergent vocabulary of form for urban screens"
Good News for Creative Techies: Adobe Flash Player 10.1 Adds Support for Multitouch!
I sort of knew something was going on at Adobe when I posted the following video clip on this blog a few months ago. Rumors can transform into realities, right?
If you want to cut to the chase, sign up NOW to be notified about the BETA release of Flash Professional CS5 BETA: Adobe Labs: Adobe Flash Professional CS5 BETA
Here are the new features as described from the CS5 BETA website:
Adobe tries keeping Flash in Web vanguard
Stephen Shankland, CNET news 10/4/09
"Flash Player 10.1 also adds support for multitouch user interfaces, which are all the rage for good reason right now because they can enable an intuitive, direct interaction with computing equipment. There have been experiments with multitouch in Firefox, but it's a complicated issue in general since there's some contention about whether the operating system, a browser, or a browser plug-in is in charge of interpreting multitouch commands"
If you want to cut to the chase, sign up NOW to be notified about the BETA release of Flash Professional CS5 BETA: Adobe Labs: Adobe Flash Professional CS5 BETA
Here are the new features as described from the CS5 BETA website:
- Applications for iPhone — Publish ActionScript 3® projects in Adobe Flash Professional to run as applications for iPhone. Learn more.
- New text capabilities via the Text Layout Framework (TLF) — Get unprecedented text control and creativity with projects created in Flash. Advanced styling and layout, including right to left text, columns, and threaded text blocks, let you work with text in Flash like never before.
- XML based FLA files — Manage and modify project assets using source control systems and enable teams to easily collaborate on files.
- Code Snippets panel — Choose prebuilt code that can be injected into projects to increase interactivity and also reduce the ActionScript 3 learning curve.
- Flash Builder™ integration — Use Adobe Flash Builder software as your ActionScript editor within projects in Flash.
- Improved ActionScript editor — Improve productivity with custom class code hinting and completion.
Adobe tries keeping Flash in Web vanguard
Stephen Shankland, CNET news 10/4/09
"Flash Player 10.1 also adds support for multitouch user interfaces, which are all the rage for good reason right now because they can enable an intuitive, direct interaction with computing equipment. There have been experiments with multitouch in Firefox, but it's a complicated issue in general since there's some contention about whether the operating system, a browser, or a browser plug-in is in charge of interpreting multitouch commands"
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