sneedle flipsock

23 April 2004: mmmmWAH!

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This week:

 

Who benefits from accessibility?

A Microsoft study finds 57 per cent of current working-age computer users may benefit from accessible technology because of mild to severe vision, hearing, dexterity, speech and cognitive difficulties and impairments. As the general population continues to age, the number of people who experience these impairments will increase, and more people will likely turn to accessible technology to mitigate the effects of their changing physical abilities.

Here's how to make accessible forms in Dreamweaver and some stuff to think about when developing an accessibility policy for your organisation.

23 April 2004 | top of page

Science news

"[E]ven with state-of-the-art technology, rescue robots essentially lose interest in their tasks when left on their own. They simply wander off or shut down." Armed with a US$2.6 million grant, researchers at three US universities are trying to teach the bots a bit of teamwork, and it ain't easy. The Robocup competitors could've told you that.

The Scientist reports that Kisangani chimpanzees contain a virus unrelated to HIV-1, confirming that HIV-AIDS did *not* come from a contaminated polio vaccine.

23 April 2004 | top of page

Psst! Wanna buy a(nother) phone?

Most Australians already have a mobile phone. That won't stop us buying another 6 million this year. However, Australia has slipped from ninth to 12th this year in the annual e-readiness rankings issued by IBM and the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Meanwhile Real Player's aggressive marketing--and disregard for usability--is losing business for the software company.

22 April 2004 | top of page

Web usability

Using a web site for the first time is like going on a first date. It's a one-to-one interaction and it doesn't always go as planned. That's why organisations' web sites need to make a good impression and it's worth investing some effort in user-centred web development.

Much of design involves "a kind of tea-leaf reading voodoo that is hard to justify or describe to managers and stakeholders." Enter the 'user research' expert, who uses a variety of tools and techniques to find out what people really want and need you to provide--*before* you start developing the product.

David Emberton thinks web standards are a waste of effort:

"Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are a classic example of the madness. Reared in a cubicle somewhere, they’re pitched as the pinnacle of document styling. CSS are public, free and future-proof. Sounds great until you realise that: a) you need a degree to understand them; b) Microsoft doesn’t care about them; and c) they suck. What’s more, CSS have been promoted as “the future” since the mid-90s, and by now the only thing keeping them alive is a steady stream of guilt and the occasional Movable Type installation".

IBM's EzySort (beta) helps you organise the results of card-sorting activities.

22 April 2004 | top of page

Baby boom echoes in USA

The largest generation of teenagers the United States has ever seen, called the 'baby boom echo', is currently at high school--more than 40 million of them. The generation will peak in 2009, when the biggest high school graduating class the country has seen hits 3.2 million, and continue until 2018 when today's toddlers are choosing a university. With high school completion rates increasing steadily, universities and colleges face the prospect of increased pressure to admit more students.

22 April 2004 | top of page

Media habits of 18-34 year olds

An enthnographic study of 42 Americans finds the Internet generation tends to access two or more communication media at once: TV is for entertainment; news comes from broadcast radio and from online sources; and online music is more important than online video.

22 April 2004 | top of page

Marvellous storytelling

"In Marvel's greatest comics, Lee and Kirby were... more than the sum of their parts, and ... derived their greatness from the push and pull of incompatible visions. Kirby always wanted to drag the [Fantastic] Four into the Negative Zone - deeper into psychedelic science fiction and existential alienation - while Lee resolutely pulled them back into the morass of human lives, hormonal alienation, teenage dating problems, pregnancy, and unfulfilled longings to be human and normal and loved... Kirby threw at the Four an endless series of ponderous fallen gods or whole tribes and races of alienated antiheroes with problems no mortal could credibly contemplate. Lee made certain the Four were always answerable to the female priorities of Sue Storm - the Invisible Girl, [who] was willing to quit the Four and quit the marriage to stand up for what she believed."

Slate reckons "In Prime Suspect 6, Helen Mirren proves she's still got it."

21 April 2004 | top of page

In the portrait gallery

In London's National Portait Gallery, you're surrounded by photographs of people: "take in the mysterious, amusing, sad, odd particularity of these pictures and you reach out, not for generalisations, but for stories: why did the young man want to be photographed outside the back door with his violin and an aspidistra?"

21 April 2004 | top of page

The ruins to the right of me

Everywhere you go in Western cities, you can find eminently photographable modern ruins. For fans of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, the photos of abandoned London Tube stations have particular appeal.

21 April 2004 | top of page

Marketing magic

Medtech Forensics sells scientific equipment to police and forensic scientists. Naturally, they take their business seriously: that's why their pin-up boy is Elliott, the skeleton.

21 April 2004 | top of page

Serious playfulness

The Smithsonian Institution's web developers say "In pretending, we learn to navigate with ease between real and imaginary worlds while learning the differences between them. Using our imaginations encourages original thinking, flexibility, adaptability, empathy, and the ability to generate multiple solutions to a problem. Pretend play helps us learn to think visually and spatially and to both capture and express ideas."

You could just play with their cloud-maker: make a cloud shape that appeals to you and send it drifiting across a blue sky. Mine turned out somewhat cubist. (Requires Shockwave/Flash)

21 April 2004 | top of page

Things to make and do

The completed ERN005-PC (KANA)First, disjoint all parts thoroughly apart. Then build your ERN005-PC (KANA), pictured at right. Be warned: "Seems the editors made a mistake at the photo taking; they located power-suppoly unit in wrong place. It's due to the lack of communication between they and I, who could not join the party." (via Geisha Asobi)

Kana is certainly an evocation of that curious modern Japanese aesthetic, cute:

Cute is a "very contemporary aesthetic, a style, a taste, an affectation: it denotes anything small, vulnerable and childlike that induces a feeling of pitiful love...

"Cute is a kind of rebellion, then, but its retreat to the imagery of childhood indicates that there is no alternative to the adult world except a deliberate regression to this one remaining realm of freedom... it is far darker than punk, which had an energy and rage that promised action, if not social change. Cute disguises its pessimism and political inertia as winsomeness."

mmmmMWAH! (via Geisha Asobi) (requires Shockwave and a sound warning)

21 April 2004 | top of page

.edu

University campuses face particularly knotty IT security challenges: a steady stream of worms and viruses, tough federal information-privacy regulations and lawsuits targeting student file swappers, just for starters. And then there's the need to preserve university traditions: one person's junk mail is another person's academic freedom.

Economist Bruce Chapman says the government's decision to increase the HECS repayment threshold will help people in low-income jobs and those who stay at home to raise children. Actually, the newspaper report says it will help women graduates, but presumably men on low incomes and parenting full-time will also benefit.

Chapman also recommends that government funding for universities be indexed to cover salary increases, otherwise students will face higher tuition fees.

The Australian Universities Quality Agency wants Griffith University to improve supervision of students' research and do more benchmarking with other universities. AUQA applauded the university's library, its web-based feedback service and support for indigenous students by the Gumurri Centre.

21 April 2004 | top of page

Echoes in the Hall

The Australian newspaper reports that:

"A leading immunologist, who supported former University of NSW vice-chancellor Rory Hume's censure of scientist Bruce Hall, says the handling of academic misconduct is unfair and must be made more transparent.

"John Dwyer, chairman of the division of medical practices at Prince of Wales Hospital and head of the UNSW clinical school, told The Australian yesterday that university investigations needed to be made independent."

21 April 2004 | top of page

Internet trends

More old people using the Internet.

The Reuters news agency wants to help teachers identify plagiarism of its articles.

21 April 2004 | top of page

Writing about design

"There is a place for an inward-looking design terminology," says Rick Poyner, "But the real challenge for design writing now is to move outwards into a world in which design is everywhere." He gives two examples of clear writing about art and design:

"...take a look at almost anything that finds its way on to Arts & Letters Daily. There is no shortage of sophisticated thinking, but the prose that delivers it is vigorous, endlessly supple and engaging everyday English.

"One of my favourite essays about--not exactly design--but popular visual culture was written by George Orwell in 1941. 'The Art of Donald McGill' is a fond analysis of British comic postcards, which combined great sexual frankness, for their day, with vulgar humour. Orwell’s vocabulary could not be plainer and more direct, yet the sentences push along with great energy and he is brilliantly attentive to the postcards’ visual routines, to their social and cultural meanings."

21 April 2004 | top of page

Paler roof reduces cooling costs

Painting your roof white or terracotta-red will reduce your cooling costs. Presumably silver corrugated steel roofing has a similar effect, provided there's insulation in the ceiling cavity. (via BoingBoing.net)

21 April 2004 | top of page

Decisions, decisions

A new study concludes that the "human ability to appreciate aesthetics is based in the prefontal cortex, part of the brain involved in decision making," reports BoingBoing.net.

On average, people are less happy at 42 than at other times of their lives, reports the Guardian. That's when you finally accept that you'll never be a rock star. "Ask yourself whether you are happy," wrote John Stuart Mill, more than 100 years ago, "and you cease to be so." (via BoingBoing.net)

21 April 2004 | top of page

From pig-nipple-tweaker to bland role model

Mickey Mouse has evolved "from pig-nipple-tweaker to bland role model", soon to be seen in a 3D animated feature. He, and the brand he represented, have lost their way: they've forgotten about the value of storytelling. You'll need a username (flipsock) and password (sneedle) to read the New York Times article. (via BoingBoing.net)

21 April 2004 | top of page

How to create user personas for your web site

A practical example of how to develop and employ a 'user persona' for your web site. The technique works well for small sites, like blogs, as well as for larger corporate sites.

21 April 2004 | top of page

Economics of hacking

Paul Kocher analyses the economics of hacking a computerised voting machine in a typical USA election:

"If a voting machine collects 250 votes (about 125 for each candidate), rigging the machine to swing all of its votes would be worth $25,000. That's going to be detected, so is unlikely to happen. Swinging 10% of the votes on any given machine would be worth $2500.

"This suggests that it is necessary to assume that attacks against individual voting machines are a serious risk.

"... Any voting machine type deployed in 25% of precincts would register enough votes that malicious software could swing the balance of power without creating terribly obvious statistical abnormalities.

"In 2002, all the Congressional candidates together raised over $500M. As a result, one can conservatively conclude that affecting the balance of power in the House of Representatives is worth at least $100M to the party who would otherwise be losing. So when designing the security behind the software, one must assume an attacker with a $100M budget."

(via BoingBoing.net)

21 April 2004 | top of page

Whacko!

Paul Williams asked a question on Science Matters about microtubule spindle apparatus in animal and plant cells. I know nothing of the subject, but it led me to another googlewhack:

A screen shot of my googlewhack

Thanks, Paul :-)

19 April 2004 | top of page

Amazon.com search engine

The Internet bookseller is starting up a search engine company, A9.

via James Harris

15 April 2004 | top of page

Haunting guidelines

"Guidelines. We seem to have a love-hate relationship with them. At the same time we construct them, we worry they’ll come back to haunt us... As you bring guidelines into the design process keep in mind that they are not conclusions, but instead just part of the conversation between designer and the design situation."

15 April 2004 | top of page

Appearing professional

Police are more likely to think a suspect's psychological profile is accurate if they believe a professional profiler wrote it.

15 April 2004 | top of page

A 1608 coffee-table book

"Thomas Trevelyon's 600-page manuscript can best be described as a prototype coffee table book, created for the entertainment, education, and edification of his friends and family. The subject matter leaps from mundane to mythical, poetic to practical. Familiar scenes of domesticity and husbandry are intertwined with epic religious and political epitomes."

15 April 2004 | top of page

White-collar workplace

Business Week's sneak peek at the office of tomorrow has echoes of the 'paperless office' we heard so much about in the late 70s. The developers of office furniture, equipment and systems have a common goal: "To raise white-collar productivity--or at least preserve the huge gains of recent years while avoiding employee burnout."

Which reminds me: the Astor Theatre in St Kilda last week had a sell-out season of Jacques Tati's Playtime. This fabulous film will be back for another season 18-24 April, showing with Jour de Fete.

15 April 2004 | top of page

Evolution of web sites

A study of 150 million web pages over 11 weeks finds that:

  1. Most web pages don't change much.
  2. A page's previous change rate is a good predictor of its future change rate.

The findings have implications for search engines: how often do you need to crawl the web to ensure listings are up to date? CMS managers could also use this information in planning their content management workflows, basing dates for review and archiving of a page on the page's history of change, rather than on arbitrary periods of weeks or months.

15 April 2004 | top of page

last week's stuff

 

2004 flipsocks:

17 Dec: the sock has flipped
10 Dec: anything anywhere any time
3 Dec: instant flattery
26 Nov: the steamroller of branding
19 Nov: fried v rice
5 Nov: the page with no name
29 Oct: and then there were none
22 Oct: filled with naughty laughter
15 Oct: get souls and disconcert the public
8 Oct: ooh, aah, ooh
1 Oct: pinch and a punch
24 Sep: design is the new art
17 Sep: footsteps of Aeneas
10 Sep: slow art, viral aesthetic
3 Sep: I can see your house from here
27 Aug: forever blowing bubbles
20 Aug: jargon for the digital age
13 Aug: beautiful plumage, the Norwegian blue
6 Aug: brokenated terribility
23 Jul: Alice underground
16 Jul: color-coded
2 Jul: for so long treated as nouns
25 Jun: looking for love, echidna-style
18 Jun: joy-to-stuff ratio
11 Jun: fun's fun but a girl can't dance all night
4 Jun: pink dinosaur
28 May: two people every minute
21 May: incompitnce [sic]
14 May: zygomatic smile
5 May: mailbox
30 Apr: bananaguard
23 Apr: mmmmmWAH!
15 Apr: playtime
8 Apr: googlewhack
2 Apr: we wish to inform you...
18 Mar: daffy dills
12 Mar: echo chamber
9 Jan: refund profologies

 

Also on this site:

about this site
home page

articles:
who is geoffrey ebert?
testing for the fun factor
chicken at the (higher education) crossroads
crawford's theory of interactivity
froghunting
home-page real-estate wars
the eagle has landed

listmania:
must-reads for web people
recent reads
pop-culture quotes

neology:
they shoulda been words

recipe:
lemon and rosemary risotto

reviews:
Written In Blood by Chris Lawson
The Salmon of Doubt by Douglas Adams

Without whom (web):

frankenstein journal (Chris)
tbn97 (Troy)
webster's encyclopedia [sic]
science playwiths (Peter)
neroliwesley.com.au (Neroli)
Fraser
Jonathan
Maverick IT network consultants (Rick)
Look! There's a castle! (Brent)
Cairns Corporation (Gerald)
Homosapien Books (Julie and Bruce)
Southern Sky Watch (Ian)
Panda's Thumb (Ian again)
ABC Science-Matters (official)
science-matters (unofficial)
chisig
Bovios
Disinfo.com (Alex Burns)
Lee Battersby
Little Malop Gallery
Digest of Usability Resources and News (Dey)
WooWooWoo (Andrew)

 

 

Without whom (also):

Ramona P Lovechild
Dombardo
Katherine with a K
Katherine (no relation)
Catherine
Teresa
Corey
Claire
Claire (no relation)
Helsbels
Iain
Toby and Jann
Andrew
Paul, Warren, Dr K and The New Reality
Stephen
Tania
Trevor

 

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence. Site created 30 May 1999. Home page URL http://www.angelfire.com/grrl/flipsock/