On kids and user behaviour

In a recent article on useit.com Hoa Loranger (from NN/Group) published a summary of a study about: Teenage Usability: Designing Teen-Targeted Websites. Interesting reading and something of a myth buster (again - there was a previous study showing many of the same findings).

I have two kids at home (currently aged 10 and 12). It is with great fascination and also some trepidation that I watch their ways with computers. They have no fear (as opposed to my parents (the other day my father "destroyed the Internet" :-)). And they also have no clue! It is so fascinating to talk to them about this computer usage - the have absolutely no idea about the concept of the Internet (servers running software and linked with cables). It's just there for them to enjoy. And the best part of it - they don't care. I talked to them about this, and during the talk I realised that to them it is a part of life just as the telephone, TV and radio have been for me. I don't remember how old I was when I first started wondering about the workings of a phone.

But here's the thing: They are morons. Writing a document in a Word-processing they never format using styles (so they're not that different from the majority of users). They have no clue how to get an Internet connection. They don't know how to update their system (or the reason why this is a good idea). I do realise, though, that my kids are not as computer-savvy as some of their class mates (who on the other hand are distinctly unhealthy to look at).

So in conclusion: All of us trying to make computers easier to use, can rest assured that we will not loose our jobs anytime soon. Rather - we need more of us to help all those hapless children get on in the world,

On-hands demo (Cycling computers and more)

A year ago I bought myself a new cycling computer (I wanted one where I could see altitude meters as I've begun bringing my bike to some mountains around Europe and riding up these mountains). I ended up buying a Sigma BC 2600 (price was a factor too - otherwise I would probably have gotten myself a Garmin, which would - in theory - ensure that I didn't get lost). Anyway - Sigma has this cool feature where you can "try" the computer in your browser - click various buttons and see what happens. Pretty nifty.

So I'm wondering - given that many of the mobile devices we use are built on some sort of platform, how hard is it to port this to the web for us common folks to try out before to see if we like it? I'm thinking mostly of the plethora of new touch screen devices. It would be so cool to actually try out how it works before buying it (and not in some store with a sales clerk breathing down your neck). I realize that some of the more quirky motions would be hard to emulate using a mouse (e.g. "pinching" an image), but just to give the general idea it would be great.

User behaviour when taking photos

Have you noticed how people now a days always hold the camera in front of their face (between 20-40 cm)? On our recent summer holiday in France a friendly person offered to take a picture of the whole family (normal photographer included), and he did exactly that. Problem is, we've got a digital SLR camera, which means that you can only view the picture on the screen on the back AFTER the photo has been captured. He never even thought of putting his eye to the finder on top of the camera. 10 years ago this would never have happend. Interesting how our habits change due to usage patterns without us even noticing.

Twitter etc.

I'm not sure what I think of this. Although I've become hooked on lancearmstong. Not that it's particualry interesting, but I keep coming back ... strange. I suspect it's the same reason we love to read gossip about the VIP's of the world (Oh! And don't deny it - you do it too).

From a usability point of view there isn't all that much to remark. It works - even though tinyurls suck without a title (but that's not twitters fault).

Our culture in ruins?

I'm in the proces of reading "The cult of the amateur" by Andrew Keen, and I know that I should probably finish it before commenting, but this guy is really depressing me. He comes across as a really grumpy old guy. His basic claim (which isn't all that far of) is that the coming of Web 2.0 is killing or culture, because basically anyone can become (and soon is) a voice on the internet. The first half of the book is filled with examples. Of how everyone cheats and lies and how we can't distinguish facts from fiction anymore. Well, here's my take: Cheats and liars have existed since we crawled out of the slime quite some time ago. Some time later, in the early days of the telegraph elaborate ways to use this new medium to cheat were not uncommon as Tom Standage explains in "the Victorian Internet".

Another example of how Web 2.0 is undermining our community is the claim that our economy is crippled by having amateurs doing the jobs of professionals. In one example he calculates that $331.000 were sucked out of the economy because a company choose to have amateurs compete to create their Super Bowl Ad. Somehow I don't really feel sorry for the Ad professionals being cheated this way. Also, could it be that the $331.000 were spent on something else, or maybe even given to shareholders? And finally - I do believe that the marketing people will have made a decent cost benefit analysis of this before going this way.

I really feel insulted that I should not be able to distinguish between what's good and what's bad. I'm a normal person - but that doesn't mean that I'm naive and don't question the validity of any source of information I come across. And even if I can't tell right from wrong, I hope that they will teach my kids more thorough source criticism, than I was taught.

The most ironic thing is that Andrew Keen has his own blog!

Sorry that there were no user focus in this entry - but I just had to get this of my chest. I'll get back when I've finished the book - I might just end up being positive after all.

At last: PS2 in the house

Finally! My 6 year old wanted a Play Station for Christmas - and of course he got it. Being an old (and misery) dude I never wanted to buy one because I know myself good enough to know that I couldn't argue the case of spending the money and then using it so little as would be the case (I'm way past the time (untill he gets a real intersting game) where I spent whole nights shooting monsters in dungeons).

I was through serious considerations of going for the X-Box (because I could use the Media Center Extension on it, and he would therefore be able access the favorite recorded kids-shows from the living room), but ended up with the PS/2 because he needs to get into the gaming world first.

We've had some serious football games (FIFA 07) and it's really amazing to watch his approach to learning the system. There's absolutely no reading (or asking for that matter) of manuals. It's pure trial and error. And it seems to work: he already beats me half the time. I'm not quite sure how much is inteded and how much is pure luck that he hits the right buttons at the right time (he hits the buttons a lot!!!). Anyway: Quite impressive user interfaces that are easy to learn; the kid of 6 (who can't really read yet) navigates effortlessly through them. And even more funny: much easier to watch DVD's on than our regular (low price) DVD player residing in the little girls room.

More real life intervention

I recently moved to a new house. All is nice, but there is one thing that is very strange. The outside handle on the garden door is mounted vertically instead of the usual horizontal. It took me a while to figure out that the door would not be able to open if it was placed in the "normal" way. I can live with it - but it bothers me a bit. What's interesting here is that my wife hadn't even noticed - she just opens the door ;-)

I'm not even sure what the usability learning points in this is - except that even though it is not the standard we can still figure it out. So that means that you will accept strange interaction schemes just because you use it often. This is leading into the "theory" of inductive vs. deductive user interfaces.

User experiences traveling

I recently attended CHI2005 to hone my skills. It is always interesting to go abroad when you focus on user experience. A couple of observations:

1. On the plane over I sat next to large (not fat, just large) Norwegian woman. She was about my mothers age (65 going on 70). I observed her struggle with her headset and she never asked for any help (I volunteered at some point when she looked especially forlorn). During the 10 hour flight from Copenhagen to Seattle she never watched a film (we were at the emergency exit and thus did not have a screen in front of us but rather a fold-up version below the seat). Did she not want to watch a movie or was she too shy to ask for help? I'm still wondering because she sort of fell asleep and invaded my private space rather seriously (leaning her head against my shoulder) - that's not what shy people do is it? I don't have an answer - it just baffles me. Just like the next one
2. Did you ever really have to navigate a new airport when arriving? Or did you just follow the stream (like a lemming)? Who knows where to go? Interestingly enough the signage may have very poor usability without any significant consequences because it will almost always be someone familiar with the lay-out of the airport going first.
3. And finally: What's with Portland? Everything - and I mean everything - was in both English and Spanish. Is Portland some old Spanish bastion? Or do they get a lot of immigrants after they are kicked out of California? It's actually rather a good service - but also makes navigating and getting around a bit distracting (especially if you're not familiar with Spanish).