The first paper that we were supposed to cover this week; Comics, Robots, Fashion and Programming: outlining the concept of actDresses, was a paper that I found refreshing. I would describe it to be an exploration of the field of physical objects integrated with robotic consumer products. They call their concept actDresses, which is a play on words where the meaning is that the robotic product will act in a certain way from an external object, getting "dressed" onto the robotic product. This is an area that I believe has not been explored that much in the past, and one that does not really exist on the consumer market. I therefore believe that the main purpose of the article was to put up new thoughts on the programming/developer agenda and cause a bit of a stir in the industry mindset.
I generally like such articles - articles that in some way tries to push the boundaries of perceptions and technology. I therefore think it was a good thing that the authors had a very general and reader friendly approach to their writing. This makes the article more easily receptive by pretty much any reader, with any background - rather than if they would have gone into detail about what programming languages to use or which algorithms that are essential. Why I think this is a good thing in this case is because of the purpose fulfillment with such an approach. If you want to push boundaries and get publicity, it is probably a good idea to write the message for everyone to understand.
Another interesting aspect of the text is that it is very much on time in regards to the trend talk of the IT industry. For the past few months there has been a lot of hype regarding the fusion of digital technology and physical objects. Per example, a big theme for this year's Swedish anchor event of IBM - IBM Smarter Business, was the rise of the "digi-physical" revolution. Physical, "external", objects become smarter and can be integrated with other physical objects through their "internal" digital technology. My question to the authors would therefore be if they believe themselves that these kinds of digi-physical solutions, or languages as they put it, will be highly visible for consumers in the next few years.
Turn Your Mobile Into the Ball
Evaluating Media Technologies
Well, first off I will have to say that the spectrum that is defined by Media Technologies is very wide. It is hard to pinpoint a specific evaluation method that would work for all different types of projects. If you want to evaluate a ready go-to-market computer program, one specific method may be favorable, whilst evaluating a concept prototype of some physical object may require a different evaluation method. It it also important to identify what types of insights you want to gain from the evaluation. You do per example have the choice of evaluating by seeking up experts in the area or gaining insights directly from consumers. Speaking from my own point-of-view, I like to conduct consumer centered evaluations, as I in most cases value end user input rather than input from some so-called expert. This is also the type of method that Haibo Li and his colleagues use as they conduct a classic HCI user study based on the HCI main parameters of usability: effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction.
Prototypes in Research
Prototyping can play a central role in design research. It both makes it faster and easier for researchers to illustrate concepts, ideas and even implement-ready designs. It can significantly speed up the iteration processes of coming up with final designs, and also serves a purpose as often being "more sloppy" than the final products. With this I mean that when you evaluate prototypes you will generally get more feedback as it does not feel as bad to criticize a "sloppy prototype" rather than a final, polished design. When you per example talk further about the field of usability and HCI, you often sketch prototypes on paper in the design process for this reason.
Prototyping also allows researchers to explore fields that are not as developed as others may be. Take the example of the actDresses article, where the authors could comprehensively illustrate their design ideas by prototypes and user scenarios, as they perhaps did not possess the knowledge or time to implement the ideas as working end products. This, conclusively, also opens the possibility for more people in different fields to contribute to other fields where they do not possess the same depth in knowledge.
Turn Your Mobile Into the Ball
Evaluating Media Technologies
Well, first off I will have to say that the spectrum that is defined by Media Technologies is very wide. It is hard to pinpoint a specific evaluation method that would work for all different types of projects. If you want to evaluate a ready go-to-market computer program, one specific method may be favorable, whilst evaluating a concept prototype of some physical object may require a different evaluation method. It it also important to identify what types of insights you want to gain from the evaluation. You do per example have the choice of evaluating by seeking up experts in the area or gaining insights directly from consumers. Speaking from my own point-of-view, I like to conduct consumer centered evaluations, as I in most cases value end user input rather than input from some so-called expert. This is also the type of method that Haibo Li and his colleagues use as they conduct a classic HCI user study based on the HCI main parameters of usability: effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction.
Prototypes in Research
Prototyping can play a central role in design research. It both makes it faster and easier for researchers to illustrate concepts, ideas and even implement-ready designs. It can significantly speed up the iteration processes of coming up with final designs, and also serves a purpose as often being "more sloppy" than the final products. With this I mean that when you evaluate prototypes you will generally get more feedback as it does not feel as bad to criticize a "sloppy prototype" rather than a final, polished design. When you per example talk further about the field of usability and HCI, you often sketch prototypes on paper in the design process for this reason.
Prototyping also allows researchers to explore fields that are not as developed as others may be. Take the example of the actDresses article, where the authors could comprehensively illustrate their design ideas by prototypes and user scenarios, as they perhaps did not possess the knowledge or time to implement the ideas as working end products. This, conclusively, also opens the possibility for more people in different fields to contribute to other fields where they do not possess the same depth in knowledge.
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