David, thanks for your post on the iPod. I had done a post as well on the iPod and, like you, had a hard time downloading files to it. Unlike me, you were far more patient. You managed to figure out that you needed to download mp3 files. I will eventually go back to the pod and try again. Thanks for the tip.
-Laura
Monday, October 29, 2007
Dual Screens and Hearing Aids
Thanks Maury for your posts on screens. Every time I am stacking and reducing windows in my 15 in screen, I think of you and think how nice it would be to claim more of the screen real estate available.
It is amazing to realize the virtual world is not at all contained in the frame of our screen. I realized this a few years ago when I was trying to project a dvd from my computer onto a classroom screen. It was completely disorienting to realize the mouse had scooted out from my laptop screen onto the external screen. I was surprised to realize that it was not the same screen just projected over head: the virtual screen was way bigger than I had been led to believe by the frame of my computer. The virtual world seems to have no confines. We arbitrarily impose them due to our hardware restrictions, our habits and issues of practicality. Do we really want to carry around an infinite screen? Probably not. But just knowing it is there is thrilling.
Thank you also for your detailed posts on hearing aids. I read them with great interest and was intrigued to learn how sounds are processed. My mother started wearing hearing aids 5 years ago. The aids dramatically improved her hearing but it never occurred to me to ask " How are you hearing sounds?" I look forward to having that conversation with her next time I see her. Thanks again!
Best, Laura
It is amazing to realize the virtual world is not at all contained in the frame of our screen. I realized this a few years ago when I was trying to project a dvd from my computer onto a classroom screen. It was completely disorienting to realize the mouse had scooted out from my laptop screen onto the external screen. I was surprised to realize that it was not the same screen just projected over head: the virtual screen was way bigger than I had been led to believe by the frame of my computer. The virtual world seems to have no confines. We arbitrarily impose them due to our hardware restrictions, our habits and issues of practicality. Do we really want to carry around an infinite screen? Probably not. But just knowing it is there is thrilling.
Thank you also for your detailed posts on hearing aids. I read them with great interest and was intrigued to learn how sounds are processed. My mother started wearing hearing aids 5 years ago. The aids dramatically improved her hearing but it never occurred to me to ask " How are you hearing sounds?" I look forward to having that conversation with her next time I see her. Thanks again!
Best, Laura
RFID and DoCoMo and Ray Bradbury's Farenheit 451°
Thanks Bernice and Peter for your posts on chips.
Here's a pastiche of highlights cut from the linked articles in Peter's and Bernice's posts with comments.
From the Reuters article on the DoCoMo Phone cited by Bernice:
Pastiche:"The Japanese company DoCoMo has developed mobile phone prototype which uses a sensor made by start-up Kaiser Technology Co. that can send electric signals through the human body to transmit data, enabling electronic payments or data transfer at the touch of a finger. Here's a sample application: Doors to secure areas would open as your phone transmits your ID code through your feet, or you can get in a car and have the car instantly adjust the seat and steering wheel to the perfect angle, said DoCoMo spokesman Takushi Koinumaru."
How do I feel about the possibilities? At the present time, I have two replies. If I am feeling curious: "Very interesting, but no thank you." If I am feeling threatened by its dark side, " No way in hell!" In the future when this technology may become run of the mill, I will most likely feel very differently. Also, our tech societies may evolve to the point where one has no choice but to pay bills via a chip in their body. Because it is so strange to us today it is frightening. In 10 -15 years , it may seem strange no to do so. Yet today I remain uncomfortable at having a device in me that can track me at all times.
From the link Peter posted, Lev Grossman discusses both the Orwellian and benign possibilities of the RFID chip. This quote on a more benign implementation of the technology really shows how human interaction may be dramatically altered by the new possibilities. I find the possibilities described by this excerpt really kookie:
"The cheaper RFID tags get, the more ubiquitous they'll become. But personally I envision a slightly more benign future, one in which the trend of human-implantable RFID tags merges with the online social-networking craze. What if all the information in your Facebook profile were tucked snugly into a tiny RFID-like chip embedded, say, in the ball of your thumb? Your RFID-enabled cell phone could beep every time you walked past somebody two degrees of separation or less from you or who had the same favorite novel you do or who liked to play Scrabble and wasn't doing anything later. Nightmare or utopia? You decide."
The key word here is ubiquitous. It would need to be so for us to become blasé about it. But this said, the enduring questions of privacy will probably be fiercely fought over the implementation of this technology. I would imagine people could control when they choose to emit their signal or one would hope to have that level of control on settings. Still a bit scary..
Here's another quote from the other article Bernice posted:
"A new poll shows that nearly 1 in 4 Americans say the Internet could be a stand-in for a significant other for a period of time. Among singles, the percentage was even higher: 31 percent. (One wonders how popular such responses as "reading a good book" or "playing with my cats" were to the question of substitutes.)"
Today, I heard a great discussion of Ray Bradbury's futuristic novel Fahrenheit 451°. Although published 50 years ago in reaction to the advent of television, he anticipated many aspects of our modern day society. One of the scary aspects of modern life he anticipated is the very phenomenon mentioned in the quote above: people will become so engaged with media/technology that they will forgo actual human companionship. How prescient Bradbury was in anticipating media's hold on our society!
As far this phenomenon, NO THANKS!!! While I marvel at technology, nothing replaces sitting down face to face and talking to a real live human being. NOTHING!!!! So I need not worry about falling under this zany spell.
Thanks for letting me mull over these issues.
And who knows,
your perhaps future gong-ho advocate of implanted chip enabled capacities,
Laura
Here's a pastiche of highlights cut from the linked articles in Peter's and Bernice's posts with comments.
From the Reuters article on the DoCoMo Phone cited by Bernice:
Pastiche:"The Japanese company DoCoMo has developed mobile phone prototype which uses a sensor made by start-up Kaiser Technology Co. that can send electric signals through the human body to transmit data, enabling electronic payments or data transfer at the touch of a finger. Here's a sample application: Doors to secure areas would open as your phone transmits your ID code through your feet, or you can get in a car and have the car instantly adjust the seat and steering wheel to the perfect angle, said DoCoMo spokesman Takushi Koinumaru."
How do I feel about the possibilities? At the present time, I have two replies. If I am feeling curious: "Very interesting, but no thank you." If I am feeling threatened by its dark side, " No way in hell!" In the future when this technology may become run of the mill, I will most likely feel very differently. Also, our tech societies may evolve to the point where one has no choice but to pay bills via a chip in their body. Because it is so strange to us today it is frightening. In 10 -15 years , it may seem strange no to do so. Yet today I remain uncomfortable at having a device in me that can track me at all times.
From the link Peter posted, Lev Grossman discusses both the Orwellian and benign possibilities of the RFID chip. This quote on a more benign implementation of the technology really shows how human interaction may be dramatically altered by the new possibilities. I find the possibilities described by this excerpt really kookie:
"The cheaper RFID tags get, the more ubiquitous they'll become. But personally I envision a slightly more benign future, one in which the trend of human-implantable RFID tags merges with the online social-networking craze. What if all the information in your Facebook profile were tucked snugly into a tiny RFID-like chip embedded, say, in the ball of your thumb? Your RFID-enabled cell phone could beep every time you walked past somebody two degrees of separation or less from you or who had the same favorite novel you do or who liked to play Scrabble and wasn't doing anything later. Nightmare or utopia? You decide."
The key word here is ubiquitous. It would need to be so for us to become blasé about it. But this said, the enduring questions of privacy will probably be fiercely fought over the implementation of this technology. I would imagine people could control when they choose to emit their signal or one would hope to have that level of control on settings. Still a bit scary..
Here's another quote from the other article Bernice posted:
"A new poll shows that nearly 1 in 4 Americans say the Internet could be a stand-in for a significant other for a period of time. Among singles, the percentage was even higher: 31 percent. (One wonders how popular such responses as "reading a good book" or "playing with my cats" were to the question of substitutes.)"
Today, I heard a great discussion of Ray Bradbury's futuristic novel Fahrenheit 451°. Although published 50 years ago in reaction to the advent of television, he anticipated many aspects of our modern day society. One of the scary aspects of modern life he anticipated is the very phenomenon mentioned in the quote above: people will become so engaged with media/technology that they will forgo actual human companionship. How prescient Bradbury was in anticipating media's hold on our society!
As far this phenomenon, NO THANKS!!! While I marvel at technology, nothing replaces sitting down face to face and talking to a real live human being. NOTHING!!!! So I need not worry about falling under this zany spell.
Thanks for letting me mull over these issues.
And who knows,
your perhaps future gong-ho advocate of implanted chip enabled capacities,
Laura
Kudos Allison! Routers and Routing....
Well Allison, you'll become the resident expert on setting up routers. Yes, the time and cost are a drag but the upswing will be that you will have wi-fi access on future visits. I'm impressed it took only 1 1/2 hours. It took me over 4 hours all told with various trouble shooting.
Thanks David for your post on bank routing numbers. Having lived overseas, the routing number was my friend when in need of a wire transfer of funds.
I was curious if routing numbers and routers have anything in common. I just did a quick search so I may have missed something. Initial impression: the technologies are not linked except in principle: each system ensures information is transmitted from one point to another.
FYI: While electronic these days, bank routing numbers are part of a system developed by the Banking Industry in 1910 to help identify banks. It is officially called a Routing Transit Number, an RTN.
For more information on routing numbers, click on the link below: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Routing_transit_number
-Laura D
Thanks David for your post on bank routing numbers. Having lived overseas, the routing number was my friend when in need of a wire transfer of funds.
I was curious if routing numbers and routers have anything in common. I just did a quick search so I may have missed something. Initial impression: the technologies are not linked except in principle: each system ensures information is transmitted from one point to another.
FYI: While electronic these days, bank routing numbers are part of a system developed by the Banking Industry in 1910 to help identify banks. It is officially called a Routing Transit Number, an RTN.
For more information on routing numbers, click on the link below: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Routing_transit_number
-Laura D
The "I" in IT
Since we have been very focused during this course on the T of the IT formula, I'd like to focus for a moment on the I. Information! Information traveling at lightening Speed!
As Leslie mentioned in her blog, we forget the degree to which we take the benefits of technology for granted. Living in Vermont, I have learned how quickly one can be plunged into living in the past, in the dark, completely incommunicado and with no water. All it takes is a strong wind to knock down a branch and we are reminded of our complete inefficiency without our powered tools. Once its back on, we return to our hyper-efficient little world that can reach the far end of the earth. And we may forget how wondrous it all is.
Well, in the last couple of weeks, even though I am accustomed to the instantaneity of e-mail communication and web pages pulling up in fractions of seconds, I had to marvel at how fast information can travel thanks to our digital age.
For the Fundamentals of Business Class, we had to consult various on-line financial information resources. Most have general information available to non-subscribers and more detailed information available to subscribers. One site claimed you could have a free trial of the unabridged information: all you had to do was fill a registration form to kick-off the free trial. Within an half-hour, I received a phone call from one of the company's agent offering to help me with my "business." I was actually astonished by the rapid turn around of information once my irritation at their shamelessly aggressive marketing approach wore off. Back in the pre-digital day, this "courtesy" phone call would have taken probably a couple of weeks from my initiating the process with an inquiry either by mail or by phone to the company, a request which would then perhaps had to have been processed before the appropriate agent would have called me. Astonishing how efficient the process has become.
Efficient to the point of being intrusive. In our digital age, boundaries of privacy are being redrawn and as a society in transition we can't help but be alarmed as the novelty catches us unaware. With a streak of malicious glee, I told the agent I was a penniless student with no business to be helped and the call came to an even quicker conclusion: she had just wasted a few extraordinarily precious minutes on a non-revenue dead-end!
The website that generated this call claims that students can have free access to the site. A few days later, I tried to subsribe to the free student site. Again like clockwork, the phone rang within an half-hour. In our conversation, the agent obliquely admitted there is no free student access. She essentially admitted it was false advertising. So the promise of a free trial is simply a ploy to get the user's information and to hound them. This show the ease with which certain practices can veer into the unethical. I may report the misleading advertising.
Despite my irritation, I must say I marveled at the technology that allowed information to not simply be transmitted but to be processed and acted upon with astonishing alacrity. I can understand the irresistible draw the potential of this technology has for big business.
Another encounter with the I in IT. Last week I finally got around to filling out my FAFSA form on-line. It had been on my list of things to do for week and I finally had all my ducks lined up to do it. Having filled one out last academic year, I knew the on-line process was easy and straightforward and expected it to to me an hour or so tops. So imagine my delight when I logged into my account to file a new form, I discovered that all the standard information which usually does not change from year to year had been remembered. All told, it took me a half hour to key in the variable information and it was done. I must say the website has excellent user interface which also contributed to the ease of filing the application.
This experience with FAFSA should not have surprised me: I am accustomed to buying books or other products on-line that remember my credit card number, address and such. But it did! I believe my memories of the paper application were my operating paradigm and not the internet. On one naive level, I simply didn't expect it to retain such a log of sensitive information. On a practical level, I was also preparing a new application - in my mind's eye this materializes as an actual form- and I didn't expect information I filed from last year would be available for the new year. But alas it was!
In both cases, the Financial and FAFSA websites, JavaScript was used to gather process the data.
Still Susceptible to Tech Surprises,
Laura
As Leslie mentioned in her blog, we forget the degree to which we take the benefits of technology for granted. Living in Vermont, I have learned how quickly one can be plunged into living in the past, in the dark, completely incommunicado and with no water. All it takes is a strong wind to knock down a branch and we are reminded of our complete inefficiency without our powered tools. Once its back on, we return to our hyper-efficient little world that can reach the far end of the earth. And we may forget how wondrous it all is.
Well, in the last couple of weeks, even though I am accustomed to the instantaneity of e-mail communication and web pages pulling up in fractions of seconds, I had to marvel at how fast information can travel thanks to our digital age.
For the Fundamentals of Business Class, we had to consult various on-line financial information resources. Most have general information available to non-subscribers and more detailed information available to subscribers. One site claimed you could have a free trial of the unabridged information: all you had to do was fill a registration form to kick-off the free trial. Within an half-hour, I received a phone call from one of the company's agent offering to help me with my "business." I was actually astonished by the rapid turn around of information once my irritation at their shamelessly aggressive marketing approach wore off. Back in the pre-digital day, this "courtesy" phone call would have taken probably a couple of weeks from my initiating the process with an inquiry either by mail or by phone to the company, a request which would then perhaps had to have been processed before the appropriate agent would have called me. Astonishing how efficient the process has become.
Efficient to the point of being intrusive. In our digital age, boundaries of privacy are being redrawn and as a society in transition we can't help but be alarmed as the novelty catches us unaware. With a streak of malicious glee, I told the agent I was a penniless student with no business to be helped and the call came to an even quicker conclusion: she had just wasted a few extraordinarily precious minutes on a non-revenue dead-end!
The website that generated this call claims that students can have free access to the site. A few days later, I tried to subsribe to the free student site. Again like clockwork, the phone rang within an half-hour. In our conversation, the agent obliquely admitted there is no free student access. She essentially admitted it was false advertising. So the promise of a free trial is simply a ploy to get the user's information and to hound them. This show the ease with which certain practices can veer into the unethical. I may report the misleading advertising.
Despite my irritation, I must say I marveled at the technology that allowed information to not simply be transmitted but to be processed and acted upon with astonishing alacrity. I can understand the irresistible draw the potential of this technology has for big business.
Another encounter with the I in IT. Last week I finally got around to filling out my FAFSA form on-line. It had been on my list of things to do for week and I finally had all my ducks lined up to do it. Having filled one out last academic year, I knew the on-line process was easy and straightforward and expected it to to me an hour or so tops. So imagine my delight when I logged into my account to file a new form, I discovered that all the standard information which usually does not change from year to year had been remembered. All told, it took me a half hour to key in the variable information and it was done. I must say the website has excellent user interface which also contributed to the ease of filing the application.
This experience with FAFSA should not have surprised me: I am accustomed to buying books or other products on-line that remember my credit card number, address and such. But it did! I believe my memories of the paper application were my operating paradigm and not the internet. On one naive level, I simply didn't expect it to retain such a log of sensitive information. On a practical level, I was also preparing a new application - in my mind's eye this materializes as an actual form- and I didn't expect information I filed from last year would be available for the new year. But alas it was!
In both cases, the Financial and FAFSA websites, JavaScript was used to gather process the data.
Still Susceptible to Tech Surprises,
Laura
Thursday, October 25, 2007
RSS Feeds and iGoogle
One of the goals I set was to set up RSS feeds to my blog. My intention: I wished to customize my blog page with a selection of RSS feeds on topics of interest. I imagined that the blog site offered aggregator services.
The reality: After some poking around, I realized that the way RSS feeds work at eBlogger was not what I had in mind. From my blog, the most I could do is set up a RSS feed to essentially "broadcast" my blog to the world wide web. Folks at large on the web would be able to read my site because they set up aggregator/reader pick up my site based on the topic. Not what I intended.
The solution: After reading David's blog about iGoogle, I decided to customize my own page. The starkness of the classic Google home page always irked me. In the early days of web browsing, I had used Yahoo! and liked the format of its search page. For the last six years, my web browser had been set to the Google basic page as a default. Over the last six years, I simply did not have time to explore the web let alone the fancifying options Google offered. I was tipped off to the possibility of customization when I had seen Allison's cool page. I asked her "How did you do it?" "iGoogle" she said. It suddenly made sense: I should have known that Google's starkness was actually a blank canvas asking me to leave my mark. I planned on doing it but it wasn't until Dave mention it that I set to task.
To my delight, as David said, it was easy to do and cool. While all the gadgets are both neat and useful, the best part was being able to add a tab for new pages and load each with a selection of RSS feeds. In addition to the home page, I added a page with French news and another with culinary feeds. I love how I can with one click get to information I want with out having to do a search. Since I customized, when I go to my browser which loads the Google search page, I have a customized page but not access to the other pages: for that, I still need to log into my account to view my other pages. I find this inconvenient: I wish it would just load automatically without having to sign in. Today I realized though that once I sign into iGoogle, I can access gmail without having to sign in again.
I wonder however if I search the web after having signed into iGoogle, is Google able to keep better track of my habits than if I used the search engine without signing in? I wonder..
One RSS step further : I also went and explored the Google Reader and decided to set up my reader. It was easy to set up my RSS feeds.
Now all I need to do is make it a habit to use all this convenient technology!
The reality: After some poking around, I realized that the way RSS feeds work at eBlogger was not what I had in mind. From my blog, the most I could do is set up a RSS feed to essentially "broadcast" my blog to the world wide web. Folks at large on the web would be able to read my site because they set up aggregator/reader pick up my site based on the topic. Not what I intended.
The solution: After reading David's blog about iGoogle, I decided to customize my own page. The starkness of the classic Google home page always irked me. In the early days of web browsing, I had used Yahoo! and liked the format of its search page. For the last six years, my web browser had been set to the Google basic page as a default. Over the last six years, I simply did not have time to explore the web let alone the fancifying options Google offered. I was tipped off to the possibility of customization when I had seen Allison's cool page. I asked her "How did you do it?" "iGoogle" she said. It suddenly made sense: I should have known that Google's starkness was actually a blank canvas asking me to leave my mark. I planned on doing it but it wasn't until Dave mention it that I set to task.
To my delight, as David said, it was easy to do and cool. While all the gadgets are both neat and useful, the best part was being able to add a tab for new pages and load each with a selection of RSS feeds. In addition to the home page, I added a page with French news and another with culinary feeds. I love how I can with one click get to information I want with out having to do a search. Since I customized, when I go to my browser which loads the Google search page, I have a customized page but not access to the other pages: for that, I still need to log into my account to view my other pages. I find this inconvenient: I wish it would just load automatically without having to sign in. Today I realized though that once I sign into iGoogle, I can access gmail without having to sign in again.
I wonder however if I search the web after having signed into iGoogle, is Google able to keep better track of my habits than if I used the search engine without signing in? I wonder..
One RSS step further : I also went and explored the Google Reader and decided to set up my reader. It was easy to set up my RSS feeds.
Now all I need to do is make it a habit to use all this convenient technology!
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
HCI and Microsoft
A few weeks ago, just before class, I wished to print a copy of my white paper for my presentation. I went to the one of the PC stations in the computer cluster of the grad school, opened up my document in the spiffy new Windows application and tried to print the document. With the new version of word, with seemingly no drop-down menus from which to chooses actions, I spent some time trying to understand the new interface before me. I finally saw an icon that seemed like a good candidate for print. I clicked on it and expected a dialog-box to pop up to walk me through the usual steps to print a document or I expected to at least see a window pop up confirming that the document had indeed been sent to the printer.
Since neither of my expectations were met and certain I had zeroed in on the right button, I continued to click on the icon. I sat there puzzled: why is this not working? I scanned over all the other icons one more time to be sure I was indeed on the right button. No other icon seemed appropriate, so I clicked a few more times. I finally asked for help. Someone suggested, "Well, did you check the printer? Maybe it has printed already." Skeptical but willing to follow any lead, I went to the printer and - lo and behold! - not one but a gazillion copies of the document were spewing forth from the machine. I simply could not believe it. I was furious!!!!!!!!! How could Microsoft change such a fundamental rule of computer interaction and not warn me? I interpreted the computer's silence as inaction, as non-activity. No confirmation, no print-out. As you all know, I printed enough copies for the class and then some, so I asked for a response from the bloody application at least 10 times and each time nothing. Just think nationwide the number of schmucks like me who have wasted literally reams of paper over this changing of game rules with no warning. Of course, I have learned from this but at what cost. The potential for waste is mind-boggling.
Perhaps the application was so fast that a dialog box did pop up confirming printing but popped up so quickly it was not apparent to a mere mortal's vision. If that is the case, Microsoft should have foreseen the problem and programmed a box that would linger. In short, Microsoft failed to consider some very basic concerns in creating its human and computer interaction; HCI is the acronym for "Human and Computer Interaction."
As we interact with technology, we are constantly evaluating whether or not the interaction was user friendly. While these assessments can be made in matter of moments, acting on these value judgments depends on many circumstances. If a user has a negative experience at a particular site on the web, the user will generally migrate to another site. Age is a factor in this decision-making process: younger generations who are tech savvy and therefore less patient with poor interface make these decisions far more quickly than older folks who are not as tech literate and not as aware of a less than optimal interaction. In a case like the one above or in a work environment, users sometimes have no choice but to put up with poor interface. This is unfortunate. One can only hope that the industry will eventually see the value of HCI, adopt the best practices in HCI development and strive to create optimal user interaction. With Microsoft dominating the market as it does, that hope seems dim.
Promote HCI whenever you can,
Laura
Since neither of my expectations were met and certain I had zeroed in on the right button, I continued to click on the icon. I sat there puzzled: why is this not working? I scanned over all the other icons one more time to be sure I was indeed on the right button. No other icon seemed appropriate, so I clicked a few more times. I finally asked for help. Someone suggested, "Well, did you check the printer? Maybe it has printed already." Skeptical but willing to follow any lead, I went to the printer and - lo and behold! - not one but a gazillion copies of the document were spewing forth from the machine. I simply could not believe it. I was furious!!!!!!!!! How could Microsoft change such a fundamental rule of computer interaction and not warn me? I interpreted the computer's silence as inaction, as non-activity. No confirmation, no print-out. As you all know, I printed enough copies for the class and then some, so I asked for a response from the bloody application at least 10 times and each time nothing. Just think nationwide the number of schmucks like me who have wasted literally reams of paper over this changing of game rules with no warning. Of course, I have learned from this but at what cost. The potential for waste is mind-boggling.
Perhaps the application was so fast that a dialog box did pop up confirming printing but popped up so quickly it was not apparent to a mere mortal's vision. If that is the case, Microsoft should have foreseen the problem and programmed a box that would linger. In short, Microsoft failed to consider some very basic concerns in creating its human and computer interaction; HCI is the acronym for "Human and Computer Interaction."
As we interact with technology, we are constantly evaluating whether or not the interaction was user friendly. While these assessments can be made in matter of moments, acting on these value judgments depends on many circumstances. If a user has a negative experience at a particular site on the web, the user will generally migrate to another site. Age is a factor in this decision-making process: younger generations who are tech savvy and therefore less patient with poor interface make these decisions far more quickly than older folks who are not as tech literate and not as aware of a less than optimal interaction. In a case like the one above or in a work environment, users sometimes have no choice but to put up with poor interface. This is unfortunate. One can only hope that the industry will eventually see the value of HCI, adopt the best practices in HCI development and strive to create optimal user interaction. With Microsoft dominating the market as it does, that hope seems dim.
Promote HCI whenever you can,
Laura
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