View my LinkedIn profileFinal Versions
“Nobody knows that the final version of aircraft will be. It may have no wings; it may be round and flat and saucer-shaped; it may be powered by new chemical fuels or by the atom.”
From Men of Science and Invention, 1960, a weathered children’s book I picked up at the recycling center. The final version of an aircraft? An interesting thought, I had never considered the possibility of a perfect, un-improvable object. Something antithetical to capitalism and Kaizen. And a metaphor for software development: today’s perfect code is the impetus for tomorrow’s perfect code.
Skyping in Damascus?
I assume that Skype is now well established enough to turn it into a verb.
After a week crossing the Aegean coast of Turkey by bus, I arrived in Damascus to start my project work with To Learn Arabic. I am impressed as always by the information technology infrastructure available in “developing” nations. Minutes after arriving and navigating my way to the center of town, I was sitting using a fast dual-core Intel base PC, videoconferencing via Skype to the east coast of the United States. And predictably, the cell-phone service cheap, reliable, and does not lock customers into a plan or a phone.
Gartner: Microsoft Vista On A Downward Spiral
The Gartner group believes Windows Vista is “collapsing”, and that Microsoft must make radical changes to maintain their market dominance. As evidence, they site the fact that only 6% of existing Windows businesses have adopted windows so far. So are there are inherent technical problems with Vista? Or is it because the Vista brand and marketing, in conjunction with all of the baggage surrounding Microsoft, have failed to inspire IT managers?Coverage at Tech Crunch, and Computerworld.
Wireless connectivity for the two-thirds world
ArsTechnica is covering a new Intel research project designed to evolve the 802.11 wireless standard so that it cannot operate over larger distances than ever possible. With a theoretical maximum range of 60 miles, the Rural Connectivity Platform can go where fiber can’t, providing enough bandwidth to provide a small village with email and web access, for an estimated $1000 initial setup charge for two nodes.
This sounds similar to the WiMAX initiative the Philippine Department of Science hosted, which seemed quite promising. It remains to be seen whether RCP will suffer from weather degradation like WiMAX, what the power requirements are, or how much training will be required to maintain it.
"Justifying Design" - Refresh the Triangle
Rob Goodlate, free lance designer, soon to be with Facebook, talked at IContent about his UX philosophy.
Purpose
“Act with purpose”, According to Rob, design often stops at aesthetics. If your abstract art piece has a red mark, it needs no justification. But if you mark a red mark on your website, it should have a purpose.
Rob suggests that design is not decoration, it’s about problem solving. Design is a process. Going with a cookbook solution, so called “solutioneering” leads you to a place where you are solving a different problem than you intend.
Function
A decision is justified if it’s the answer to a problem. Design is asking interesting questions, and find solutions to those questions.
Rob walked though problem’s with his existing website. Posts at the bottom of his blog would be buried by text above. Image width was inconsistent.
Those problems gave him a new design. He introduced a grid (blue print perhaps??), for a unified page layout. Rob seems to get into ratios, four units for main content to two for a sidebar.
Understand the culture of the target audience (it would make sense for an IMDB logo redesign to include pictures of classic movies), and the medium that you are working in (don’t break convention just to be original), and the message that you are trying to communicate.
Aesthetics
Contrast, color, shading. Classic tools for solving asthetic problems, typography gives tools to solve basic questions.
How to start?
- Write goals/problems/etc, and use them as a guide
- Use a sketch book, easy to push designs around. If a design doesn’t work in the sketch phase, it won’t in photoshop
Purpose, function, and aesthetics, in that order says Rob. And finally, have a voice, not a style.
I asked Rob why UX/Design folks wern’t going crazy over flash. I know as a developer that flash is of course more difficult to interface on the backend, but is that the only reason? Was there something you can do in flash or HTML that you couldn’t do in flash?
He seemed to think there wasn’t anything so compelling about flash that it would overcome it’s proprietary nature, and the backend difficulties.
Which all leads me to wonder, how can I enhance my poor old Hemingway blog theme?
Carolina and Kibera
I felt sick for the early part of the day with lingering traces of the flu. By afternoon I was feeling a little more perky, and wandered down the beautiful streets of Carrboro to the University of North Carolina campus. As I passed by a newish building I had jogged by on a number of occasions, I noticed a coffee shop inside, and went in to investigate.
A student and security guard duo working behind the desk clued me in that the building was actually the home of the Center for Global Studies at UNC. They showed me around a map of the facilities and gave me a complimentary copy of Nelson Mandela’s biography. What a reward for being a stranger! They also pointed to a presentation on that was just starting.
Rye Barcott was introduced as the speaker. Rye, a former U.S Marine Captain now at Harvard, was an energetic and engaginc speaker, and I liked the initial premise he set forward for his devlopment work, namely that “the poor have the solution to the problems they face.”
Carolina for Kibera was the result of experiences based during his experiences living in Kibera and his desire to do development work. Rye had studied Swahilli, amazingly enough, while at UNC, and some point his travels led him to study in Kibera, Kenya, where he rented a small shack. His knowledge of Swahilli led him into discussions with the Kenyans that delved directly into devlopment issues. He asked them in essence: “What do you need?” Grassroots, bottom up….”what do you need?”
A local nurse by the name of Tabitha was quick to tell him what she needed. Tabitha told him in no uncertain terms that she could start and sustain a clinic, if only she had the resources. Rye loaned her 2000 sheckles. After a few years, her new clinic was treating 20,000 people a year.
Based on the success of Tabitha’s clinic, Rye began to assist a local sports organization that emphasized local leadership. He outlined two essential principles that he thought were key for development projects:
- Look for model organizations
- Projects should be conceived and led by Kiberans
Carolina for Kibera formalized these organizations and provides a structure for growth and further development.
I like Rye’s emphasis on local leadership, an am impressed with his ability to tye two disparate regions together (Carolina and Kibera) to the benefit of both. Development projects are an unbelievably difficult thing to do well, and I think Rye’s is a promising new approach.
Thanks to UNC for the great presentation!