Killer UX Design

I just got finished reading Killer UX Design by Jodie Moule.  (Please note that O'Reilly provided a copy of this for free through their review program, which I recommend by the way.)  The book has several features that make it ideal for someone who is interested in usability or has been doing it for a few years.  What is unique about this book is that it provides a very comprehensive case study and weaves it into a thorough usability process.  This book is a great complement for more encyclopedic books such as Designing the User Interface or User Interface Design and Evaluation.  At the end an app, cook,  is produced and I actually downloaded it from Apple's app store. 

The book takes the reader through the process using the app to illustrate the steps in the process: Research, Insight, Concept and Design.  Throughout she provides sage advice on when to delve deeper and when to let it go.  She also focuses on behavior and behavior change.  A quote from page 125:

Based on what we know about the users and the environment, what does a [new way of living and behaving] look like?

This illustrates the constant strong emphasis on behavior change and not just cranking out an app.  The book is lavishly illustrated and I do recommend it highly especially for folks interested in usability or in their early years.  Do not get it if you want a comprehensive survey of Usability.  Do get it if after reading the comprehensive books listed above you want to then actually focus on usability in your next project.

Bottom line is that I do highly recommend it.  In fact, I am going to use it in my HCI class in 2014.
It has been a while sicn eI posted on this site, hope to do better!  Later,

Python Definitely or Fruit Pi, Clouds and a Snake!

Okay, so maybe I went overboard on the title!  If you are interested in effectively using the Raspberry Pi and also working with admin on the open source cloud software,  OpenStack, one of the best languages to use is python.  Even if you are not interested in clouds or raspberry pi's, python is just a blast to use, so long as you pay attention to white space.  I am brushing up on my python and was pleasantly surprised when I supported a kickstarter  on a python course.  Real Python and Real Python on the web are superb courses.  The style quickly whisks you through the knowledge with lots of examples very efficiently.  These course/books should be a model for future language texts.  Highly recommended!

Although I have not been fortunate in generating much discussion, hope springs eternal.  My topic for this post is, "What version of Python are you using?"  I have been sticking to 2.7 since OpenStack uses it.  Would anyone recommend learn 3+ or should I wait?

Please note this was originally posted on my Aging Hacker  blog but it is very appropriate for this blog too.  Recall my admonition to learn at least one language a year and learning python is a must.
Later!

STEM

The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) coalition
http://www.stemedcoalition.org/ is a very special organization to
increasing technical literacy in the US by enriching the education in
k-12.  I think a crucial component to this literacy is code literacy. 
Others may disagree, but learning to code is and coding are truly
transforming and exhilarating.  One of my Stevens students, recommended
an excellent short video
which captures many of these thoughts much better than I can articulate
them.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!  Later

--Gregg

iPad experience revives market for real books!

Will my subject tagline, "iPad experience revives market for real books!" appear in a newspaper article in the next few years?

If
my experience is any judge, there is at least a chance.  I've noticed
that when using my iPad if I come across a boring part of a novel or a
tech book, rather than plowing through it, I often revert to web browing
or playing a game.  The result is I read less.  I ma now combating this
by using ereaders and dare I say, real books!

Am I just an anachronism or does anyone else share my experience?

Later,

   --Gregg

ps- also posted in my google group, software experience

UK advice on User Centered Design

One of my students,  Michael Carrano, suggested a great article by UK Government User Centered Design experts on Design Principles.  I especially liked the Need-O-Tron  for needs management, available at github. Their ten principles are augmented by examples and, of course, Principle 3, Design with data and h Principle 6, build for inclusion, "accessible design is good design," are my favorites.

I will follow the evolution of their principles and report back when warranted.  They are currently at the alpha version and it is an impressive start.

The last few weeks of the year signal the deluge of log books and I hopefully will have other chestnuts to share from my students, along with a few of my own.  Later!

Spacey Ergonomics

I usually devote a few slides to ergonomics, discussing human reach and comfort.  Today I ran across a real application for the Dragon capsule of SPACEX.  Note that they spent a day examining the human factors and ergonomics of their Dragon spacecraft design meant to accommodate up to seven astronauts. 

I have been a fan of spaceflight since the 1960's following the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs.  I  am a fan of robotic spaceflight too.  The space fellowship is a great site to follow advances in studying the universe.

Update on my fignition post.  I ordered and received the fignition kit and am following their blog.  Now all I need is time to solder and test the board to get my forth computer running!  I will keep you posted on progress.  Later!

Go FORTH

Early in December I tweeted on a great little board that ran the FORTH language called FIGnition.  It entranced me for two reasons, first it reminded me how much I missed the computer language, FORTH and second it reminded me of the days of building your own machine to experiment with softwaare (and hardware concepts).

FORTH is a great language, having both high level and low level aspects, it still is used in some boot loaders.  One of its unique aspects was that it used RPN, Reverse Polish Notation - think old school HP calculators.  RPN is postfix, to add two numbers one would enter " 3 <enter> 4 +", the <enter> was a real key that would push the first number on the stack.  This inspired a popular (for geeks at least) bumper sticker of the era, "FORTH love if honk then" that you can still purchase here.  It was low level in that it defined an entire very simple OS with primitive file management that made it very popular with microcomputer hobbyists. 

My recommendation for the best page to begin discovering FORTH is the homepage of a defunct organization, the FORTH INTEREST GROUP, aka FIG.  I was once a member of FIG and still miss FORTH, that is why I will probably reacquaint myself with it by building a single board computer that runs it, the FIGNITION.   It is under $35 dollars when delivered form the UK.  Note it is a kit and you should have the hang of soldering, but at the end you can claim you built your own computer with far fewer connections than my original ALTAIR.  I will keep you posted on my progress on my twitter account, SWUniverse.

Hopefully I am back in the blogging swing of things.  Have a bunch of great blogs from my students that I would like to post.  Happy 2012!  Later!