Technology, Entertainment, Design, and More: Videos of Recent TEDx Presentations in Charlotte, NC

What is TED?


"TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences -- the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK each summer -- TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Project and Open TV Project, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize" -TED


If you haven't heard,  the original version of TED "Ideas Worth Spreading" has spread around the world.  Charlotte's home-grown version, TEDx was held on September 24, 2010. What is TEDx?    "TEDx is a program that enables local communities such as schools businesses, neighborhoods or just groups of friends to organize, design and host their own TED-like events." 


Unfortunately,  I wasn't able to attend  TEDxCharlotte.  Fortunately, the presentations were captured on HD video and uploaded to the  TEDx Charlotte YouTube channel.  (I haven't watched them all, but as I learn more about each presenter, I'll update this post.)


The following TEDxCharlotte videos were organized in the order of presentation by Justin Ruckman and shared on his blog post, Video from TEDxCharlotte!


Tracy Russ (CEO, Russ Communications)& Q  (Founder, OnQ Productions) 

Roger Baumgarte, Professor Emeritus (Psychology), Winthrop University

 "Mid career, he made an abrupt change in the focus of his professional research, from short-memory to cross-cultural psychology as a result of personal experiences he had with close friendships while on a year-long sabbatical teaching at the American University in Paris." -SEITAR NC
John Silvia, Chief Economist, Wells Fargo

Patrick Dougherty, World Renown NC Sculptor

Nature of Man

Rich Deming, Co-Leader, Slow Food Charlotte

Randy Powell, Senior Researcher, Vortex-Based Mathematics Project

 "Math is the Voice of God"  The Rodin/Powell Solution: A New Approach to Vortex Based Mathematics
Irina Ly, Founding Co-Director, Community Education Project

 Tim Will, Executive Director, Foothills Connect Business & Technology Center

Robert Kosara, UNC-Charlotte, Department of Computer Science (Author of Eager Eyes)

Note:  I learned nearly everything I know about information visualization from taking Dr. Kosara's graduate course, Information Visualization and Visual Communication,  following his blog, and also following his links to awesome related research and ideas percolating amongst those in the infovis community.   Although I took the course in 2008, keeping up with infovis and visual communication an on-going process, since this field is rapidly growing and transforming.

Katie Wyatt, Abreu Fellow (TED), Founder, KidzNotes

Tom Low, Architect at Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co

Doc Hendley, Founder, Wine to Water 

Herb Jackson, Douglas C. Houchens Professor of Art, Davidson College

John Boyer, President and CEO, Bechtler Museum of Modern Art

FYI: My only connection to the Bechtler is my daughter, who spent a little bit of time during one of her internships photographing what she described as "awesome" works of art, helping out with a cataloging project for the Bechtler museum before it opened.  She now works as the coordinator of development at the Light Factory: Contemporary Museum of Photography and Film.
Plug: The Light Factory's educational program provides courses in photography and film including offerings for adults.   
Molly Barker, Founder, Girls on the Run

"Girls on the Run is a non-profit international program that inspires girls to Honor Their Bodies, Celebrate Their Voices, Embrace their Gifts and Activate Their Power. Our program is currently in over 150 cities across North America". Molly Barker's blog

John Love, Interdisciplinary Literary and Performance Artist

Below is an excerpt of an interview of John Love, posted in 2006 on the Weird Charlotte blog.  Given the de-evolution of Charlotte's banking industry and the long-lasting grip of the economic downturn,  his words are worth heeding, especially if our region's community wants to avoid following down the path of my birthplace, Detroit Michigan. (FYI: I left the Detroit area with my husband and two small children to make a new home in Charlotte in 1990.)

WC: What would help make Charlotte a more vibrant cultural city?

John: The pursuit of living poetically.

WC: What can we do right now to make Charlotte a more vibrant cultural city?

John: Be a player who creates the game, owns a piece of the game, and shares the game with the rest of the world. In fashion, art, theatre, film, music, design, and all things that define a culture, support the creation of the product here, create the product here, use the product here, value the product here, evolve the product here, and sell the product to everyone else. Don’t just be a consumer or an interpreter. Be an originator and make it all so exquisite that everyone wants a piece.

Artists at TEDxCharlotte 2010

More info to come!

SOMEWHAT RELATED
Just in case you were thinking of hosting your own local TEDx event:
TED's advice for creating effective multimedia presentations of TEDx talks

TEDx Charlotte (NC) Videos

This post was updated and revised. To view the new version, see:


Technology, Entertainment, Design, and More: Videos of Recent TEDx Presentations in Charlotte, NC

Words of Wisdom (and more) from Harry Brignull: UX Roots in Psychology, Design, Info Architecture...and so much more!

Harry Brignull is a User Experience Consultant at Madget in Brighton, England. According to his "about" page info, his work involves "building experiences by blending User Research, Interaction Design, and process consultancy."  Harry's 90 Percent of Everything blog is a well-spring of information and inspiration.

Back Story
I came across Harry's work in 2004 or 2005, when I was taking a VR Class (Virtual Reality for Education and Training) and working on an assignment about large-screen displays.   At the time, Harry was a Ph.D. working in the Interact Lab at the University of Sussex on the Dynamo project, in collaboration with researchers from the Mixed Reality Lab at the University of Nottingham.

I revisited this work again in early 2007 when I was studying HCI and Ubiquitous Computing, and researching information about collaborative interaction on large displays in public spaces.  The following research article inspired me at the time, and looking back, I consider the work of this team to be seminal, and worth revisiting once again.

Izadi, S., Brignull, H., Rodden, T., Rogers, Y., Underwood, M. (UIST'03)
Dynamo: A public interactive surface supporting the cooperative sharing and exchange of media (pdf)  



(The picture was taken from the Dynamo project's website, and shared on my 2007 blog post, Revisiting promising projects, Dynamo, an application for sharing information on large interactive displays in public spaces.)


Links to a few of Harry's useful blog posts:

UX as Applied Psychology:
Clear Reporting & Critical Thinking:  Why User Experience Needs to Remember its Roots in Psychology (10/4/10)

"There was a time, back in the early 1990s, when almost everyone involved with UX research had a background in Psychology.  Back in those days, the term "User Experience" didn't really exist, and the nearest discipline was Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)..."

Comment:
As a school psychologist, I'm well-steeped in the process of research, observation, and data collection.  I also know that the fundamentals of applied psychology are a very important ingredient in UX work.  Don Norman, one of the "grandfathers" of UX/HCI, was a cognitive psychologist.  He was the co-author of one of my psychology textbooks when I was a university student the first time around. Coincidentally, Norman's book, Design of Everyday Things was required reading for my HCI graduate class.

























Mobile Usability Testing for Low Budgets
Mobile Usability Testing Tip: Recording from Two Webcams
In this post, Harry discusses quick and cheap methods of using two webcams for mobile usability testing. This method could be used in other situations, such as developing presentations. (It might also be applicable for use in therapeutic and special education settings.)

Image: Nick Bowmast


UX Brighton Presentation on Dark Patterns: User Interfaces Designed to Trick People
My Presentation on Out of Box Experience Design  (Harry Brignall)
David Ogilvy: We Sell or Else


RELATED
Links to Harry's Blog Posts, By Topic

• Bad Design
• Good Design
• Information Architecture
• Madgex
• Methods & Tools
• Mobile
• Theory
• User Experience

SOMEWHAT RELATED

Essential Interaction Design Essays and Articles:  Dan Saffer's Lists, Don Norman, and Interaction Design 

Designing for Multitouch Tables and Surfaces, by Erin Rose, Open Exhibits Blog

If you are interested in exploring collaborative tabletop applications, take a look at the Open Exhibits blog. Erin Rose's recent post, "Designing for Multi-touch Tables and Surfaces", is a good overview of lessons learned over the past couple of years in design, development, and implementation of multi-user interactive tabletop applications.

Although the focus of Open Exhibits is on applications and systems designed for museum exhibits, many of the design challenges hold true for similar applications in other settings, such as classrooms, libraries, and other public spaces.

Erin's post explores each of the following topics in more detail:

• Don't forget that the table is omni-directional.
• Individual control of objects encourages multi-user interaction.
• Promote collaboration, founded in healthy competition.

(Erin Rose is a developer and community liaison for Open Exhibits.)

RELATED
Exhibit Files
Jim Spadaccini
Visitors Explore L.A. in Google Maps and Flickr Mashup.

Wrangler Bluebell Jeans Interactive Ad on my TouchSmart PC -"How-to", plus a demo of ad on iPad

The content of this blog post was removed at the request of Wrangler.

Interactive Technology in the Carolinas: Discovery Place Science Center

I recently visited the Discovery Place science center in Charlotte, N.C.  It was my first visit without kids, and I thought it would be fun to explore all of the exhibits at my own pace. I was excited to play with the interactive applications created for exhibits running on Microsoft's Surface table-top computers. There were so many kids and teens at Discovery Place that every exhibit was in use. Fortunately, I obtained permission from parents to videotape/photograph some of the action.

Next time, I'll make sure that I visit at a less-busy time!

The following displays were developed by the Microsoft Surface team at Quatrefoil.  Quatrefoil is a company located in Maryland that develops immersive interactive experiences, primarily for museum exhibits and related projects.

Midwife Toad App on a Microsoft Surface

Project Build Exhibit video, from the Quatrefoil YouTube website, helps people understand the architectural design process:

THEM exhibit, from the Quatrefoil YouTube site:

"This health-related exhibition at Discovery Place in Charlotte, NC, explores how the human body is an ecosystem with a myriad of flora and fauna. Visitors are presented with an exciting and educational experience. The content is delivered in a way that carefully walks the line between gross-out information and the need to keep the context within the human body...Quatrefoil Associates designed the exhibit and produced creative media including Attack of the Superbugs, a video about antibiotic-resistant bacteria." -Quatrefoil Associates

The Reactable at Discovery Place

Designing for TV Screen Interaction: Interesting IxDA Thread

The IxDA (Interaction Design Association) forum has an thread about designing for TV interaction.  Several IxDA members have shared some resources on this topic.  I've just uncovered the links and resources and thought I'd share them in this post, with a detailed follow-up in a week or so, as I'm also researching topics related to 3D TV.

Maurice Carty recommends the PVR (Personal Video Recorder) report from teehan+lax:
http://teehanlax.com/work/pvr-report/  (you can download the pdf version of the report from the link)

From bauruag, who is a fan of Boxee:

Boxee : http://method.com/#/productui/index/detail/CaseStudy/43 [1]
Time Warner - http://method.com/#/productui/index/detail/CaseStudy/35 [2]
Microsoft Online Media - http://method.com/#/productui/index/detail/CaseStudy/30 [3]

RELATED
Definition of Interaction Design

Definition of IxD

"Interaction Design (IxD) defines the structure and behavior of interactive systems. Interaction Designers strive to create meaningful relationships between people and the products and services that they use, from computers to mobile devices to appliances and beyond. Our practices are evolving with the world; join the conversation." -IxDA

Beautiful Nature by Numbers by Cristobal Vila & Eterea Studios (via Infosthetics and Flowing Data)

Here is a video from Cristobal Vila, of Eterea Studios inspired by "numbers, geometry and nature":


Nature by Numbers from Cristóbal Vila on Vimeo.


RELATED
Images of the process of making Nature by Numbers

More Multi-touch: Multi-touch Table at Schlossmuseum Linz, by Strukt Design Studio

Schlossmuseum Linz / Multitouch Installation from Strukt Studio on Vimeo.

Info from the Strukt website:
"The first game Strukt produced is called “Solar Land”. The visitors can place solar panels on a map of Upper Austria, guessing where they would be most efficient according to the altitude of the sun in the area. After all items are placed, the participants can start a simulation of the insolation over the duration of an entire year. The game shows how much energy is produced during that period of time, and the top simulations are listed in a high-score. The results encourage people to discuss their decisions and to play the game once more, using the knowledge they gained to reach a better score."





-Picture from the Strukt website


Strukt studio is located in Vienna, Austria, and is a design agency that specializes in interactive media for events and exhibitions.  Strukt has an innovative portfolio of interesting work.

Here's what I wanted to see at IXDA's Interaction10 in Savannah - ( & some other links)

I really wanted to attend IXDA's Interaction '10 conference in Savannah, Georgia. Unfortunately, it is sold out. If you are interested in learning more about the hot topics in interaction design, take a look at the Interaction '10 Speakers  page that includes links to each speaker's presentation or workshop description, and in some cases, some interesting links.

Some of the presentations I wanted to see:


Designing Social Interfaces: The Game
Erin Malone, tangible ux and Christian Crumlish, Yahoo!


The Use of Virtual Worlds Among People with Disabilities
Kel Smith, Anikto LLC


Augmented Reality: Is it Real?  Should We Care?
Kevin Cheng, Twitter (also author of OK/Cancel)


Interaction Design for the Fourth Dimension
Maria Cordell, Macquarium


Thinking Like a Storyteller
Cindy Chastain


Citizen Volunteerism and Urban Interaction Design
Solomon Bisker, Carnegie Mellon/School of Architecture


Designing for the Web in the World
Timo Arnall/Oslo School of Architecture & Design



NOT TOO RELATED


So why didn't I go to Interaction 10?   


For those of you new to this blog, after spending a few years working part-time at one and taking graduate courses, I returned to work full time in 2008, due to the economic downturn, daughters in college, etc. 


I am a school psychologist, and my "day job" sometimes spills into several evenings, as I serve two small high schools, a small "early college" program in addition to my home site, a program for students with severe disabilities. I have quite a bit of paperwork to complete, and this time of the year is especially busy.  I often must work on psychological evaluation reports, counseling& consultation notes, and mandatory special education paperwork/data entry, outside of work hours.


I try to devote about one hour a day, on average, devoted to researching and writing for this blog, and about 5 hours a week working on computer projects to keep up my design/development and programming skills.  When I'm out and about, I pay close attention to people and how they interact with a range of technologies in public spaces.  


Comment:
If you are interested in education and the range of topics of concern to school psychologists, the following link is to web page of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP).  This page that includes and extensive list of links to articles written by school psychologists that were published in the Principal Leadership magazine, a publication of the National Association of Secondary School Principals.  


There is a need for solutions in education that incorporate the use of useful and usable technology. If you are interested in designing, developing, and researching applications for use in educational settings, I encourage you to spend some time reviewing some of the topics included on the NASP website! 

Principal Leadership Magazine Articles
(Most of the articles contain useful references.)

Sample of articles-in PDF format:
Understanding and Fostering Achievement Motivation
Transformative Leadership for Social-Emotional Learning
Promoting School Completion
Self-Concept and Self-Esteem in Adolescents
Angry and Aggressive Students
Preparing Students with Disabilities for School-to-Work Transition and Postschool Life

Pictionaire Multi-touch Collaborative Design Table from Microsoft Research (CSCW 2010) Found on Andy Wilson's Site

Pictionaire Table
(This looks like it is in the testing stage)


Link to video and information on Andy Wilson's website


Link to paper:
Pictionaire: Supporting Collaborative Design Work by Integrating Physical and Digital Artifacts (pdf)

Classroom of the Future: Orchestrating Collaborative Spaces (Interesting book!)

I'd like to share a link to a new book that looks worth reading:  "Classroom of the Future:  Orchestrating Collaborative Spaces".

I follow the blogs of two of the book's authors.   Stefano Baraldi is  a researcher and consultant in the field of HCI, and  Albrecht Schmidt, a professor and chair of pervasive computing and User Interface Engineering at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany.

"The future of the classroom is an issue that essentially concerns many of us as students, parents, taxpayers, policymakers, teachers, design professionals, or researchers. A glance at the history of pedagogical practice reveals, however, that despite rapid developments in the outside world, classrooms have evolved very little over the years. While our understanding of learning and favourable learning environments has substantially improved and technological innovations are offering a variety of new possibilities, it still seems that most of today’s schools and universities remain more or less unaffected by these developments.

This book brings together the perspectives of researchers, architects, technical designers, and teachers on emerging theoretical and technological developments pertaining to the classroom of the future.

Innovative ideas are offered on how new technologies and learning approaches can be integrated into schools. It challenges us to think of learning spaces in a new way. Classroom of the Future is of interest to researchers and students, designers and educators across various disciplines including education, cognitive, social and educational psychology, didactics, computer science and design as well as to parents and policymakers." (Publisher's description)

Free preview of the book (1st chapter)

For your convenience, the book's table of contents:

1. The Classroom of the future - an introduction ......................................................1

Kati Mäkitalo-Siegl, Jan Zottmann, Frederic Kaplan and Frank Fischer

Part I: Learning Spaces Shaped by Instructional, Classroom, and School Building Design

2. The classroom of the past .................................................................................15

Andreas Schratzenstaller

3. Spaces for learning — schools for the future?     ...................................................41

Joanna Sutherland and Rosamund Sutherland

Part II: Facilitating Learning Using Technology-Enhanced Objects and Furniture

4. Taking teaching beyond the classroom: Pervasive computing technologies

for the classroom of the future    ..........................................................................63

Paul Holleis, Albrecht Schmidt, Heiko Drewes, Richard Atterer and Petra Dollinger

5. Making the classroom a play-ground for knowledge         ................. .....................87

Stefano Baraldi

6. Computer support for children’s collaborative story-making in the classroom...........115

Giulia Gelmini Hornsby

7. Scriptable classrooms ......................................................................................141

Frederic Kaplan and Pierre Dillenbourg

Part III: Knowledge Building in Virtual and Physical Learning Spaces

8. Knowledge communities in the classroom of the future........................................163

Nicolae Nistor

9. Digital cultural heritage to support novel activities in the classroom of the future...181

Lily Díaz and Lotta Partanen

Part IV: Joint Efforts for Designing and Implementing Future Spaces of Learning

10. Designing tomorrow’s classroom with today’s teachers ........................................199

Andreas Lingnau

11. Evolving the classrooms of the future: The interplay of pedagogy, technology

and community ...................................................................................................215

Jim Slotta

Part V: Discussion

12. Turning the classroom of the future into the classroom of the present..................245

Ingo Kollar

List of contributors..............................................................................................257

Author index.......................................................................................................259

Subject index......................................................................................................267

Stefano Baraldi's blog:  On the Tabletop

Albrecht Schmidt's blog:  User Interface Engineering

Apple iSlate, iTablet , MacBook Touch: Will it support gesture interaction & haptic feedback?

Soldier Knows Best produces great tech-oriented videos. Here's his spin on all of the rumors about the possibility of the Apple iSlate.


I just inherited a 10 month-old Mac Book, installed Snow Leopard and upgraded to iLife 2009. I'm so used to touching the screen on my HP TouchSmart PC that I found myself touching my Mac Book screen from time to time, especially when I was editing video clips in iMovie. I think the latest version of iMovie was designed with touch/gesture interaction in mind!

From what I can tell, Snow Leopard and iLife 2009 will be able to support a range of touch interactions, if not gesture input as well.

Here are some rumors that have been conjured up and distributed on the web:

The Exhaustive Guide to Applet Tablet Rumors (Matt Buchanan, Gizmodo, 12/26/09)
Apple Expects to Sell 10 Million Tablets in First Year (Pete Cashmore, Mashable, 1/1/10)
iGuide Emerges as Another Potential Apple Tablet Name (Adam Ostrow, Mashable, 12/29/09)
The Tablet (John Gruber, Daring Fireball, 12/31/09)
"And so in answer to my central question, regarding why buy The Tablet if you already have an iPhone and a MacBook, my best guess is that ultimately, The Tablet is something you’ll buy instead of a MacBook."
Apple Owns iSlate.com Domain: The Mystery Deepens (Dan Nosowitz, Gismodo, 12/25/09)
What is the Ultimate Role of the Apple Tablet? (Arnold Kim, MacRumors, 12/31/09)

• 153+ comments to the above MacRumor post

iPad, iTablet, iSlate, or MacTab  (Cruz Miranda, 8/31/09)

Why am I excited about this?

I want to see if the iSlate would be good for collaborative educational games, assisted technology, augmentative communication, and alternative assessment for students who have multiple/severe disabilities.

That is a huge goal, so I'm going to start simple.  I am not giving up on Windows 7 multi-touch programming. I just have an urge to find out for myself what works, what doesn't, and what platform works best for specific "personas" and "scenarios".

I plan to make a little app for the iPhone/iPod Touch, based on a game I made several years ago, "Shoes Your Battles" for a game class. I think I'd like to make this game for the Apple iTablet!

The first version of Shoes Your Battles created with Game Maker, and the second version was in Flash, back in the days of ActionScript 2.0.  I started on third version, one that could be used as an advergame for people to play while shopping for shoes during shoe sales, but it never got past the planning stage.  

The idea for the third version came to me when I my elderly aunt came to visit from out-of-town and just had to go shoe shopping on the day after Thanksgiving.  It was extremely difficult to figure out what was on sale, how much it cost, after taking off the previous mark-downs and what was on sale that had a price that was not yet marked down.  

Adding to the confusion was the fact that there were few salespeople and herds of women.   It was madness.  There were pairs of shoes in the wrong boxes, boxes of shoes and no way to quickly find out the true prices!   We were in the shoe department for hours, and it wasn't as fun as you'd think. If you've been in a crowded women's shoe department to buy that special pair of shoes during a fantastic shoe sale, you'll know what I mean.

At any rate, I wanted my little "Shoes Your Battles" game to help with this dreadful scenario, by somehow incorporating a shoe shopping advisor and a means to figure out the REAL sales prices of those awesome, to-die-for shoes. Unfortunately, the technology wasn't where it needed to be at the time- I am always dreaming up things that are too d--- futuristic!

4 years later, we have iPhones and SmartPhones and 3G internet and RFID and ubiquitous WiFi and the Wii and more women who like to play games and...and... The time is ripe.

Apple better come up with the iSlate!

SOMEWHAT RELATED


Thinking about post-WIMP HCI
It is always important to re-visit wisdom from the past when thinking about new interfaces and means of technology-supported human interaction.  Here are a few resources from the field of Human-Computer Interaction found on the HCI Vistas website:
The Prism of User Experience  -A nice graphic metaphor to help the conceptualization process. (Denish Katre, 2007)
Journal of HCI Vistas: Multi-disciplinary Perspective of Usability and HCI
Personas as part of a user-centered innovation process Lene Nielsen, 1/08 HCI Vistas Vol-IV
10 Steps to Personas (Lene Nielsen, 7/07, HCI Vistas Vol-III)

IDEO's Human Centered Design Toolkit - A MUST READ and a great resource!

Update 12/3/12:  The IDEO HCD Toolkit is available for download, but you will need to sign up in order to download the free 105-page copy on the IDEO  HCD Connect website.


The 105-page document is a great resource from IDEO, a global design consultancy.  It is clearly written and contains a variety of pictures, charts, and diagrams that facilitate the understanding of concepts.  A 61-page field guide is also available for download, and provides support for facilitators of design projects to lead group meetings and individual interviews. It includes exercises that teams should complete before going out into the field.


"Why Human-Centered Design?"
"Because it can help your organization connect better with the people you serve.  It can transform data into actionable ideas.  It can help you to see new opportunities.  It can help to increase the speed and effectiveness of creating new solutions." -IDEO


The HCD Toolkit, 2nd Edition, was prepared for use by organizations that work with communities of need, primarily in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, which is important for high school students to know about, particularly those who are pretty sure about pursuing further education in a technology-related field.  


I also think that exposure to concepts related to human-centered design focused on work in developing countries would be helpful to encourage more female students to enroll in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) courses.  (This still is a significant problem. Both of the high schools I work at have very few girls in the computer programming classes, even though both schools have at least one female who teaches programming!)


At any rate, I think this toolkit should be a MUST READ for anyone interested in emerging technologies and human-centered design, anywhere on the planet. It transcends the concept of "design as a job that must be done" to something that can facilitate broader innovation across organizations, our communities, and the world.


The toolkit is full of tidbits of wisdom:


"Tip 1" (addresses the measurement of outcomes, akin to the "miracle question" used in solution-focused therapy/counseling/consulting.)
"Ask yourself what you would expect to see happening if the solutions were improving the lives of people. For example, if your goal was to increase household income, would women starting more businesses be an early indicator? If your goal was to increase childhood vaccinations, would the number of casual conversations about vaccines be a possible indicator?" -page 99
"Tip 2"
"It is critical to track the effects of solutions on men and women, young and old, empowered and disempowered – even if your ideas are focused on other groups. Often the group that is not the intended audience for the solutions is a key player in the implementation and use of solutions." -page 99


The toolkit also provides useful cautions:
"Watch Out"
"Often teams look for only the positive and intended consequences. To get a full view of impact, it is critical to challenge yourself to look for the negative and unintended
consequences of solutions." -page 99


The toolkit provides specific strategies, including helpful worksheets and forms, and good advice about story sharing, prototyping, identification of patterns, and so forth. Below is an example:





-IDEO



-IDEO, via Fast Company
Note:  The Human-Centered Design Toolkit was developed with the International Development Enterprises (IDE), Heifer International, ICRW, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

RELATED (and somewhat related)
Design Thinking for Social Innovation (Stanford Social Innovation Review,Tim Brown & Jocelyn Wyatt, Winter 2010)
IDEO's Guide to Designing for Social Impact
About IDEO:
Founded in 1991, IDEO is a global innovation and design firm that uses a human-centered, design-based approach to help organizations in the business, governments, education, healthcare, and social sectors grow and innovate.
Open-Source Innovation:  IDEO's Human-Centered Design Toolkit (Fast Company, Allisa Walker, 7/7/09)
Video: CEO of IDEO, Tim Brown, on Creativity, Play, and Innovation
(Touches on how our schools and work environments can and do suck out our playfulness and creativity, and provides interesting, simple suggestions.)

Participatory Design Conference 2010 "Participation :: The Challenge" + some thoughts

I really want to go to Australia next year and attend this conference! Below are links to the conference, along with an excerpt from the conference description:

11th Biennial Participatory Design Conference:  Participation :: The Challenge (pdf)
PDC2010 Conference Website
PDC2008 Conference Website

"Participation is the complex, contested, changing, creative and celebratory core of participatory design. We invite you to explore what participation can and needs to mean in the design contexts where we are working now and those we are likely to encounter soon. While current ‘best practice’ in many areas of interactive technology design now at least pays lip service to people’s participation, how is this participation being negotiated and defined, and by whom? And if Participatory Design methods developed some 20 years ago are claimed to have become standard design practice, how do we go about developing the methods that will define standard design practice 20 years from now?"


REFLECTION
Judging from what I've experienced as a consumer/user,  there are many things that are floating around in the form of electronics, software, and related gadgets that are examples of the absence of participatory design.

My daily pet peeve is the remote control for my entertainment set-up, which includes DVR and a small but growing number of interactive TV channels.  Another pet peeve is the usability of productivity software, including the software I must use for work.

At any rate, below are links to some of my thoughts related to usability topics that might be of interest to people who are thinking about or practicing participatory design or user-centered design.

2007 Letter to the Editor, Pervasive Computing
Useful Usability Studies (pdf)

2007 Blog Post
Usability/Interaction Hall of Shame (In a Hospital)

2008 Blog Posts
Interactive Touch-Screen Technology, Participatory Design, and "Getting It"
An Example of Convergence: Interactive TV: uxTV 2008

2009 Blog Posts
Microsoft: Are You Listening?  Cool Cat Teacher (Vicki Davis) Tries out Microsoft's Multi-touch Surface Table
Haptic/Tactile Interface:  Dynamically Changeable Physical Buttons
The Convergence of TV, the Internet, and Interactivity:  Update
UX of ITV:  The User Experience and Interactive TV (or Let's Stamp Out Bad Remote Controls)
ElderGadget Blog: Useful Tech and Tools

"Five Rules" for Engaging and Meaningful PowerPoint Presentations, Featuring PPT 2010 Beta

I came across the video of the following "5 Rules" presentation on Long Zheng's "I Started Something" blog. This presentation created by Duarte, a company that focuses on visual stories and corporate branding.  The presentation can be found embedded in the public beta version of Microsoft Office 2010 Microsoft Office 2010.  The new version of PowerPoint features a DirectX-powered graphics engine, which supports smooth animations.

The concepts shared in the presentation are useful for students, teachers, and anyone else who has the challenge of creating an engaging and meaningful presentation. At the end of the video, the last slides provide more specific "how-to" information regarding the nuts and bolts of putting together a quality presentation.   You'll probably need to view the presentation Office 2010 Beta in the PowerPoint format if you have the urge to dig deeper. You can find it in the Sample Templates section.

Duarte's Five Rules for Creating World-Changing Presentations

Office Powerpoint 2010 "Five Rules" sample presentation from Long Zheng on Vimeo.

RELATED
Duarte Blog