Assignment #2: Book Reading: The Design of Everyday Things

Chapter by Chapter:

Chapter 1
I found the very first section called You Would Need an Engineering Degree to Figure This Out to be very interesting. I feel this way all the time, and now I realize that I'm not alone, and that I'm also not crazy or dumb. The story of Dr. Norman's friend who got trapped between the sets of glass doors was very relatable and realistic. I've found myself in a very similar situation with "automatic" doors that only work if you approach the correct side, but no clue as to which side that might be. The idea of affordances, that an object should really only have one intended use, was extremely useful.

Chapter 2
The description Aristotle's Naive Physics and the bullet and running with a ball examples were so intriguing and frustrating. I had never before contemplated these examples and on first guess, missed both. After Dr. Norman explained, the answer became obvious to me, but I was upset with myself that I had missed them in the first place. The concepts of learned and taught helplessness helped me to understand my servere dislike for mathematics.

Chapter 3
The fact that I have looked at a penny and a computer keyboard so many times in my life and could not tell you which was Lincoln's head faces or where the letter 'f' is located without looking at them is amazing. The human brain really is spectacular. I also found the coin confusion stories very relatable, as I have been known to mix up Canadian money with American money and pay way more than I should have for items. When Dr. Norman was discussing the number of things that we are asked to remember, I realized that I really do have quite a remarkable ability when it comes to those things. All of the things that he mentioned in his list, I was able to recite from memory without hesitation. The natural mappings section was also quite interesting. Easily my favorite part of this chapter, and the book in general, is the basic description of a cell phone.

Chapter 4
All of the talk of VCR's in this chapter is very comical. I realize that the concepts of the book still apply very well to our world today, but the fact that this is such a new technology at this time is entertaining. I really liked the constraints section and the Lego example. Overall, though, this section was really just a reiteration of the very first chapter. I did really like all the door examples, and I now find myself over thinking the operations of doors every time I use one. The switch control issue was also very interesting to me. the way that he implemented the light switches in his office was very useful. The ideas visibility and feedback are absolutely necessary in the use of any item.

Chapter 5
This particular chapter succeeded in making me feel much less like an idiot. I know that I frequently make mistakes, and that many of them can be explained away is a relief. I came across a statement in this chapter that I found really cool, but that could have used a bit more explanation. To paraphrase, it was basically that you do not make as many mistakes when you are first learning something. I believe that is might mean that when you are first learning something, nothing is habitual yet, therefore fewer mistakes are made, but I would love to know what Dr. Norman really meant. I felt as though I was laughing and thinking "I've done that before" after just about every mistake or slip example.  

Chapter 6

This was the first chapter in which Dr. Norman really cut designers some slack and admitted that it is very difficult to decide what the best design for a product will be. The whole section on faucets was perhaps a bit excessive, but also very true to reality. It is very rare that the same faucet setup is encountered in a different building. There is such a huge array of faucets in the world that I can see why such a large section was devoted to them. I found the idea of creeping featurism quite relatable being as I am a software consultant presently. There are always new features added to a new iteration of the software I develop because the client wants it, even though we had previously decided that it was unnecessary. Dr. Norman's description of computers and problems associated with them quite surprised me. Almost everything that he said about them was still true today.

Chapter 7
I found that this chapter did a good job of bring the book together and wrapping it into a neat little package. I found the part about the way we become attached to doing things very interesting. It is very true that change can be very scary and even frustrating when it comes to something that has been the same for a long while. I was surprised that Dr. Norman was opposed to the idea of a Smart Home. I find this idea extremely appealing, and I get excited when I hear or read about some new technology that is designed to help this become a reality.

Book as a whole:
Overall, I found this book to be a great read with very many interesting and relatable topics. The idea that the problems might usually lie in the design of the object being used had never occurred to me. I was certainly one of the droves of people blaming themselves for making mistakes when, in fact, the fault lies in the design of the product and not the user. It took me about a week of trial and error to figure out my alarm clock. And, now I am convinced that this book has caused some sort of malfunction is said alarm clock. Since placing this book on my night stand, my alarm has been changing time at random intervals throughout the day. Of course I realize that the this is simply a chance occurrence, but you must admit that it is rather ironic. Dr. Norman does a great job of describing why and how we successfully and unsuccessfully use everyday objects with the great examples that are so relatable. His stories are usually accompanied with an explaination of good design human behavior. For example, the fundamental principals of designing for people are to: Provide a good conceptual model, make controls visible and to constantly provide feedback to the user. Dr. Norman reiterates his points at the end of the book by listing the seven UCD principles for transforming difficult tasks into easy ones:



1. Use both knowledge in the world and in the head

2. Simplify the structure of tasks

3. Make things visible

4. Get the mappings right

5. Exploit the powers of constraints-Natural & Artificial

6. Design for Error

7. When all else fails, standardize



In general, I think that this is an extremely useful method of approaching things. Simplification is really the key to everything, and given adequate instructions for the approach, things become much easier. The book as a whole is fantastic and very readable.

Good Designs:

Dog crate

This is my puppy Brodie and his crate. I feel that his crate is designed very well. It has 2 doors, so that it can be place in almost any area, but still be usable. The best part about the design of this crate is the closing/locking mechanism pictured below.  

It has great visual feedback that the crate door has closed and makes a sort of metal clicking noise when it is slid in all the way. 

Shampoo/Conditioner Bottles

These bottles are easy to use and well designed. They are curved so that they fit together in the smallest possible space, which is very convenient. It is also great that the conditioner bottle is designed to sit "upside down". The lid of this bottle is on the bottom, so that the conditioner is always right at the bottom and you don't have to do the awkward slippery bottle shake every time that you wash your hair. While the shampoo bottle is designed to sit "right side up", it is possible to flip it over when you are running low on shampoo, because the lid is flat on top.  The caps or tops of the bottles (pictured below) are also well designed.

It is very obvious where you should push when you want to open these bottles as there is a small indentation there. They also make a nice clicking noise when they are both opened and closed so that a user knows they have done so properly. 

Salt and Pepper Shakers

It is very easy to distinguish which shaker contains the salt and which contains the pepper. The conceptual model made by a user is almost without fail the correct one. 

Retractable Leash

This leash is great because it is so easy to use. There is only one button and one latch (pictured below) to operate the features and it is obvious what there functions are. 

When you want to stop the leash from releasing any more slack, you simply depress the button. If you want to lock it in that position, you depress that latch and the leash stays. It even makes a click noise when it has been locked. 

Desk Lamp

This is the lamp on my desk at work, and I feel that it is very well designed. It features a very useful knob that controls the intensity of the light. As you turn the knob clockwise the light gets more and more intense, and as you turn in counterclockwise the intensity decreases. It can no longer turn clockwise when the light is at full intensity, and makes a click and can no longer turn counterclockwise when it is all the way off. This lamp also features two outlets on the back where you can plug in anything that you like. 

Bad Designs:

Hall Light Switches

This light in my hallway is so very confusing. Each of the light switches or controls circled in red controls the light circled in blue. This hallway is literally about 5 feet long, so there is no need for it to have a switch at each end to control this light. I would be happier with it if it only had the one that is actually on the light itself. Fact is that one of the switches is always in the off position and one is always in the on position, no matter if the light is on or off. And the control on the light itself further complicates things by having no visual cue as to what mode it is in. If that bulb ever burns out, I might never know because I will simply not be able to tell if one of the switches has been operated incorrectly. 

Scentsy Warmer

 The on/off control for my scentsy warmer is badly designed. There is no visual cue as to whether the warmer is on or off. It is also positioned badly at about 6 inches down the cord. This is hard to access as it normally falls behind my television stand and I cannot reach it.

Vehicle A/C Controls

The way to control my car's air conditioning system still baffles me after over a year of ownership. While the ability to choose the temperature for each side is extremely convenient, there is also this little control at the vents that affect the air temperature (pictured below). 

I just can't get it right, and the temperature changes based on the setting of this twist knob, so there is no way that the temperature you have set is the actual temperature inside the car.

School Desk

This desk is just an example of similar desks that I have used before that I find to have a very poor design. Given that you lean too far back in the seat, the entire unit comes crashing down on you. The curved leg design looks nice enough, but it is much to easy to "rock" backwards and fall on your back. 

Storage Door

This is the door to the storage unit outside my apartment. While it is a perfectly nice door, it has no handle, only a lock. The door swings out toward the person opening the door, so if it were ever to get stuck, there is really no way to get it open. While the lock area does have a protrusion, it it very difficult to grasp and pull. 

Assignment #3: The Chinese Room

I believe that I agree with Dr. Searle's argument, but I must admit that I am still a little blown away by the whole concept. I didn't actually realize that there was an argument at all on this particular topic. Perhaps I am showing a bit of ignorance, but I believed that it was just common fact that a computer was incapable of "thought" as a human is. That there are those who would argue otherwise completely amazes me. 

The "other minds" argument was easily the most interesting, in my opinion, and I found it down right frustrating that Dr. Searle basically passed it off as not worth his time. There really is no way to know if the way that some other person understands is the same as the way that someone else understands. Except for the way that it is perceived that they understand, there is no way. Who is to say whether or not the computer understands except the computer itself, which is of course not to be believed. Mos of the arguments surrounding the theory are circular and thus can not in present times be proven or disproven. 

I also found the Zombie argument outlined in the Wikipedia article to be rather interesting. This seemed extremely preposterous when I first read it, but the more I think about it, the more plausible it seems. Mutations are by no means uncommon, and given that such a mutation did occur, I have no trouble believing that a "zombie" would insist that that it had the consciousness of humans. 

The syntax versus semantics argument was well put, in my opinion. It is almost exactly this idea that led me to believe that it was obvious that computers couldn't think. There is no way that a computer program could mimic the way that every individual person has a very different and unique interpretation of any one symbol. Take the hamburger example from the example story. The combination of hamburger smells, tastes, sounds, and images that come to my mind when I hear or see the word hamburger are not the same on two different occasions, let alone the same as someone else might have come to mind. To mimic that in a computer program would be next to impossible.

Personally, I don't believe that there is any need for strong AI as described by Dr. Searle. The "weak" AI is more than sufficient. The ability of computers to even mimic the abilities of the human mind is phenomenal.

Paper Reading #5: `Timid Encounters': A Case Study in The Use of Proximity-Based Mobile Technologies

Intro
Author Bios
Christian Lipcoppe - Christian is a Professor of Sociology of Information and Communication Technologies and the head of the Social Science department at Telecom Paristech in Paris, France.

Yoriko Inada - Yoriko is also a professor in the Department of Social Science at Telecom ParisTech in Paris, France.

Summary
This paper reported a comparative ethnographic study of a proximity based mobile video game (called Dragon Quest 9) in Japan. The Nintendo DS game terminals may ‘recognize’ one another and allow players to exchange game resources when they are close to one another. Players who are within about 20 meters of each other may participate in multi-player gameplay. When within the same range, a window pops up on the screen with the name of the other player’s game character and description. When this occurs, the player may go to the place in the game called ‘Rikka’s Inn’, where the other player’s avatar appears. By clicking on it, the player’s profile and tag message appear. During the event, some of the resources of the player who has just appeared may get transferred to the initial player. The game only allows three connections of this type at any one time, and the screen needs to be refreshed before allowing three more to occur. There are specific incentives in the game for users to assemble in groups. For example, the cellar and first floor of the inn, which usually remain hidden, may appear when there are several players close by whose avatars have entered the inn.

It is, however, possible to ignore interaction requests from players, unlike the real world where such a thing is obligatory. One issue that arises is that it is very simple to identify possible persons withing the game in the "real world", and players lose their anonymity.

Related Work
Diaz, L., Ekman, U. (2011) Introduction to Mobile ubiquity in public and private spaces

De Cindio, F., Foth, M. (2007) Digital cities 5 : urban informatics, locative media and mobile technology in inner-city developments (Workshop)

Drucker, S., Gumpert, G. (2010) The Urban Communication Infrastructure: Global Connection and Local Detachment

Gordon, E., Silva, A. (2011) Net locality: Why location matters in a networked world

Waltz, S. (2010) Toward a ludic architecture: the space of play and games

There is no directly related work, so it would seem that this is in fact a novel idea.

Evaluation
There was no formal evaluation completed, other than observation of players participating in the game. There arose certain subsets of the population who played the game very frequently and subsets who were not so fond of the proximity feature, thus did not play.

Discussion
Seems like an interesting idea, but also has some drawbacks. 

Paper Reading #4: Homeless Young People on Social Network Sites (Blog #4)

Intro
    Author Bios

Jill Palzkill Woelfer - Jill is a PhD Candidate in Information Science at the Information School at the University of Washington and an affiliated graduate student in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, Canadian Studies Center. Her primary research focus is improving situations for homeless youth. She has a cat named Tigger.

David G. Hendry - David is an Assistant Professor at the Information School, University of Washington. His primary research focus is improving situations for homeless youth. Jill has worked with David on quite a few projects.








Summary

Studies show that homeless young adults use social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter) and face similar challenges as college students who are transitioning into a work place. That is, they struggle with keeping a profile that is forced to sever multiple social spheres.

 It is estimated that up to 1% (about 3 million people) of the population of the United States is both young (under 30 years old) and homeless at some point in the year. This is rather a sizable number of people, so it is very easy to justify a study on their social networking habits. Findings suggest that these social networking sites are very beneficial to the homeless young people who might otherwise only have contact with others on the street. After interview and use evaluation, individual profiles were created for 8 of the participants. Their main uses for social networking sites is outlined below:
Bernie: Family, Tech Savvy and Survival
Lulu: Facebook for Friends and Life
Jazz: Multiple Selves
Mary: Street Friends
Sheri: Multiple Profiles for Different Audiences
Marvin: Friends with Everyone and a Better Life
Roger: Facebook is like Crack
Chip: Skateboarding and Couchsurfing
You can see that each of these individuals is using social media for slightly different purposes, but they do have some commonalities. They all seem to be dealing with identity problems in some way, attempting to further develop their social ties, and manage their affiliations. 

Related work
Bailey, S., Ennett, S., Federman, E. (1999) Social network characteristics associated with risky behaviors among runaway and homeless youth

Hoyt, D., Johnson, K., Whitbeck, L. (2005) Predictors of social network composition among homeless and runaway adolescents

Passero, J., Zax, M., Zozus, R. (1991) Social network utilization as related to family history among the homeless

Tyler, K. (2008) Social network characteristics and risky sexual and drug related behaviors among homeless young adults

Hersberger, J. (2003) A qualitative approach to examining information transfer via social networks among homeless populations

Barman-Adhikari, A., Monro, W., Rice, E., Young, S. (2010) Internet Use, Social Networking, and HIV/AIDS Risk for Homeless Adolescents

While it was slightly difficult to find directly related work, all related work found was nearly identical. The research idea does not seem particularly novel.

Evaluation
Twenty-three participants of varying ethnicities were interviewed in groups of same-sex individuals featuring 4 participants each. There were 11 women and 12 men with a mean age of 21.7 year old. The interviews consisted of questions about the uses, benefits, and harms of social network sites and how people present themselves online. Qualitative analysis of these interviews showed that young people explore their identities, cultivate and exploit social ties, experience interpersonal tensions, manage incompatible audiences, and respond to shifting affiliations and transitions.

Discussion
I find the social media research geared specifically toward homeless youth fascinating. It is a great way to get a look into the mind of any young person, and that is a great way to go about helping to meet their needs. 

Paper Reading #3 “Oh, dear Stacy!” Social Interaction, Elaboration, and Learning with Teachable Agents

Intro
Author Bios:

Amy Ogan - Amy is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute.

Samantha Finkelstein - Samantha is a Doctoral Student in the Articulab in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.
Elijah Mayfield - Elijah is a Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon University at the Language Technologies Institute in the School of Computer Science.
Claudia D’Adamo - Claudia is a Psychology and Computer Science double major with an interest in Human Computer Interaction at Wheaton College and a research Assistant at Carnegie Mellon University.
Noboru Matsuda - Noboru is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University
Justine Cassell - Justine is the Charles M. Geschke Director of the Human-Computer Interaction Institute, in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University.


Summary

The main focus of the paper was to gain insight on how peer teaching affects a child's learning of a subject. The researchers focused mainly on correlations between increased cognitive or meta-cognitive reflection moves, inside-system versus outside-system language, and increased social moves with the learning of children.  This was tested using a system called SimStudent. SimStudent is basically designed to test a "think-aloud technique" of tutoring.

Stacy is a simulated student who was based on a Nintendo Wii character. 

The study featured two sessions that were split between two days. 12 (2 girls and 10 boys) students between the 7th and 10th grade were studied for these sessions. Before beginning the first session, Stacy was programmed to know only basic operations.  On the first day, they were asked to take a pre-test in algebra, then given study instructions, and finally tutored Stacy. These study instructions simply told the students to teach Stacy how to simplify linear equations. On the second day, the same students tutored Stacy immediately until she could pass 4 quizzes or until their time of 45 minutes expired.  Finally, the students too apost-test in algebra and
 were interviewed.
The inside-system versus outside-system language refers to using pronouns like "you" versus using pronouns such as "she". Researchers thought that participants would learn more when inside-system language was used. The inside system language insinuates that the participants have formed some sort of a bond with the system.

Related Work

Biswas, G., Bransford, J., Brophy, S., Katzlberger, T., Schwartz, D. (1999) Teachable agents: Combining insights from learning theory and computer science

Blair, K., Schwartz, D. (2007) Pedagogical agents for learning by teaching: Teachable agents

Biswas, G., Bransford, J., Katzlberger, T., Schwartz, D. (2001) Extending Intelligent Learning Environments
with Teachable Agents to Enhance Learning

Biswas, G., Davis, J., Leelawong, K., Vye, N. (2002) The effects of feedback in supporting learning by teaching in a teachable agent environment

Chou, C., Chan, T., Lin, C. (2003) Redefining the learning companion: the past, present, and future of educational agents

Chase, C., Cheng, B., Chin, D., Dohmen, I., Oppezze, M., Schwartz, D. (2010) Preparing students for future learning with Teachable Agents

Pareto, L., Schwartz, D., Svensson, L. (2009) Learning by Guiding a Teachable Agent to
Play an Educational Game

Belynne, K., Biswas, G., Bodenheimer, B., Bransford, J., Davis, J., Leelawong, K., Vye, N. (2003) Intelligent user interface design for teachable agent systems

Biswas, G., Blair, K., Leelawoong, K., Schwartz, D. (2007) Animations of thought: Interactivity in the teachable agent paradigm

Biswas, G., Leelawang, K. (2008) Designing Learning by Teaching Agents: The Betty's Brain System

This is obviously not the most novel of concepts, but the approach to the study was a new one.

Evaluation

The evaluations completed on this system were both qualitative and quantitative. The scores on both the pre-tests and post-tests were recorded as well as the students interview answers and all of their remarks during tutoring sessions. The participants remarks were categorized and given numeric values based on these categories. These categories were as follows:
1. social: positive - hope, encouragement, excitement, or negative - threats, frustration
2. tutoring: examples, elaboration
3. alignment: based on pronoun use - inside-system - you, we, outside-system - she, it
4. cognitive: simple - "she understands", elaborated - "she doesn't understand distribution"
5. correctness: evaluating Stacy's knowledge as either correct or incorrect
These numeric values were used to create the following chart:

Discussion

I found this to be an extremely interesting topic, because children and their learning at young ages is so often overlooked. Any new strides made in this area is welcomed. It is something that even I should keep in mind as I approach my studies from here.

Paper reading #2: It's Complicated: how romantic partners use Facebook

Intro
Author Bios: 

Xuan (Sharon) Zhao - Xuan is a first year Ph.D student in the department of Communication at Cornell. In addition to her work with social networking research, she plans to work on interactive media designs guided by the study of how social interaction in video games and immersive virtual environments affects individual’s real-life experience. She is also a very talented artist.

Victoria Schwanda Sosik - Victoria is a third year PhD student in Information Science, minoring in Communication, at Cornell University. In addition to her work with social networking and its affect on relationships, she has explored how people use persuasive health technologies such as Wii Fit and how these technologies can better support people in attaining physical wellbeing. She has been a competitive figure skater for 14 years.

Dan Cosley - Dan (aka DanCo PhD) is an assistant professor in Cornell University's information science department. He is currently working on a project that helps you to remember good times by sending occasional e-mails to trigger memories. He said of its name, "The project I'm currently most excited about is code-named Pensieve until we get sued by J. K. Rowling."




Summary

This paper explored the many different affects that Facebook can have on a couple and their relationship. This included tracking use of particular features and the relational significance attached to those.  They found that particular facebook features, such as photos or wall posts, each had a different associated meanings.  Relationship statuses are a way to let the entire electronic world that you are "on" or "off" the market.  Participants in the conducted study had a tendency to either felt as though their relationship was stronger or less strong depending on the relationship status chosen by their partner on facebook.  Friending partner's friends was also viewed as an extremely significant step in a relationship. It was stated that the participants felt as though they were further committing to their partners when they added their friends as well, because they were creating other ties to that person.  Photos were viewed in almost the same was as a relationship status update. By posting photos, participants felt that their significant others were acknowledging and therefore improving the relationship.  Wall posts were generally not very widely used by the participants to express relationship related things, and if they did, it was in a subtle way. Wall posts were seen as too public to divulge intimate details. Strategies for managing the tensions related with facebook and relationships.

Related Work
Dwyer, C., Hiltz, S., Passerini, K. (2007) Trust and Privacy Concern Within Social Networking Sites: A Comparison of Facebook and MySpace
Joinson, A. (2008) Looking at, looking up or keeping up with people?: motives and use of facebook

Hewitt, A., Forte, A. (2006) Crossing Boundaries: Identity Management and Student/Faculty Relationships on the Facebook

Cha, M., Gummadi, K., Mislove, A., Viswanath, B. (2009) On the evolution of user interaction in Facebook

Mazer, J., Murphey, R. Simonds, C. (2007) I'll See You On “Facebook”: The Effects of Computer-Mediated Teacher Self-Disclosure on Student Motivation, Affective Learning, and Classroom Climate

Grasmuck, S., Martin, J., Zhao, S. (2008) Identity construction on Facebook: Digital empowerment in anchored relationships

Calvert, S., Pempek, T., Yermolayeva, Y. (2009) College students' social networking experiences on Facebook

Bugeja, M. (2006) Facing the Facebook

Arseaneault, J., Orr, E., Orr, R., Ross, C., Simmering, M. (2009) Personality and motivations associated with Facebook use

DiMicco, J., Millen, D. (2007) Identity management: multiple presentations of self in facebook

There are plenty of works related to Facebook, in general, but almost nothing related to romantic relationships specifically.

Evaluation

Evaluation simply involved asking participants to keep a 2 week journal of their feelings when making decisions about creating (or not creating) facebook content, and also the reasons behind these decisions. This is obviously both subjective and qualitative.

Discussion

I find this topic extremely intriguing since I use facebook every day. I most assuredly make the same decisions and have similar feelings to the participants involved, but I never particularly thought about it until reading this paper. I would have liked to have seen a bit more in depth and less emotion related research on the topic.