Re: [IxDA Discuss] [Event] Interest in a Montreal IXDA face-to-face in September?

[Boris Volfson]

I am interested. Both to attend and organize (if help is needed). Send
me an email.


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[IxDA Discuss] Energy Consumption Trends, Patterns - Study The link for the survey is as below... http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/149062/persona-building-survey-energy-consumption

[vineeth]

Hi all,
We the UX team at Samsung India Software Operations is in the process
of conducting a survey to understand energy conservation practices, or
energy consumption patterns globally. It would be great help if you
could answer the survey (25 questions) and have some of your friends
or colleagues answer it as well. Its an online survey and whoever is
interested in our initiative could volunatrily let us know (in the
survey itself) whether they would like to be contacted by us, for a
one to one telephonic call.

The link for the survey is as below...
http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/149062/persona-building-survey-energy-consumption


"This questionnaire is intended to gather information about you as a
persona (archetype) to help us design an application that monitors
your electricity consumption."
 
Looking forward to some zealous responses,
 
Regards,
Vineeth

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[IxDA Discuss] JOB: User Experience Designer I San Diego I DIGITARIA I Fulltime

[Julia Hinger]

Digitaria is looking for a User Experience Designer for our San Diego
location.
The User Experience Designer role mainly focuses on examining user's
needs and client's business challenges and translating them into
solutions to improve online processes and experiences.
A UX Designer is expected to have a good understanding of Human
Computer Interaction principles and usability best practices. Good
knowledge of visual and interaction design principles is desired,
plus familiarity with modern web design and development tools and
practices.
UX Designers work closely with project team members, communicating
ideas and concepts and help guide a project to completion with any
initial goals and concepts in mind.
If you are comfortable juggling multiple projects and tasks at  a
time, working in a fast paced environment, bring with you a positive
attitude and a sense of humor you might be the one we are looking
for.

As a member of the User Experience Team you would be expected to: 
- Establish structured systems for information architecture,
navigation, and user interactions
- Develop and extend user research, personas, scenarios, competitive
analyses, gap analyses, prioritization documents, interaction
diagrams, wireframes, site maps, prototypes, and usability tests
- Work on your own and with the project team to come up with ideas
and concepts that combine business and creative goals

 Requirements: 
- Experience in the field of User Experience Design
- Experience translating research into sound design decisions
- Good presentation skills and attention to detail
- Familiarity with usability testing would be a plus
- Familiarity with commonly used wireframing tools, especially
Omnigraffle
 
Digitaria provides competitive salaries, excellent benefits, 401k,
and is headquartered in San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter.  This is an
in-house position and candidates must reside in or be willing to
relocate to San Diego.
Please contact us at iwanttow...@digitaria.com and include your
resume, salary history and where you heard about this position. 
Please put "User Experience Designer" in the subject line of your
email.

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Filters: Is there a better way?

[poomoo]

Hi Audrey,

First, I just want to be sure I'm clear about what you're talking
about. Are you referring to filters similar to those in the following
examples?

John Lewis (Left hand filter/sub nav)
http://www.johnlewis.com/Technology/Televisions/Televisions/SubCategory.aspx

Tiso (Right hand filter/sub nav/tagged breadcrumb)
http://www.tiso.com/shop/clothing/mens/berghaus/


Second, are you saying that in the user research you have carried
out, novice/lightweight internet users find it difficult to
understand these methods of interaction?


Third, with regard to your car filters examples, surely it would be
better for the majority of users to have the key filters
listed/opened/indicated as primary filters so that the site benefits
the majority of users. 

At the first step, it's not important to disclose all
options/filters in one go. It's probably better to have "sensible
default" filters to let people dive in, while supporting power users
with additional and deeper filters later in the process.

A faceted search lets you navigate through tags or attributes of a
product. That's a pretty powerful way to navigate through a data
set. Supporting the UI through good copy writing and labelling should
help the users. Terms like "Refine your search" or your "Choose
Your New Car" example are good.

While, I understand you have problems with filtering (that is if I am
properly understanding your original point!), I'm not sure seeking an
alternative to faceted search is the best route to take.

Faceted search/navigation/browsing works for many very successful
ecommerce sites. If it was broken, they wouldn't use it.

Finally, a good visual design will address your issues of affordance
and clarity.


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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Types of Faceted Search

[poomoo]

Although the 'dynamic' version is better because of the instant
feedback/results, both versions need to be implemented for two
reasons:

1. Users without JS - they need to navigate through page refresh
2. SEO - Search Engines can't index dynamic pages

Ambrose, I'm very interested in seeing the discussion you linked
although, I'm very much less interested in installing Silverlight to
do so :(


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Re: [IxDA Discuss] "His/Her" vs. "Their" in website copy

[live]

For what it's worth, I just noticed this on Facebook:
' just commented on their own status.'

They even already know what gender I am...

There. Dead horse, beaten.

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[IxDA Discuss] good read: Jonathan Ive on The Key to Apple's Success

[Jarod Tang]

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/next/archives/2009/07/jonathan_ive_th.html

"We try not to bring out another product that's just different," he said.
"'Different' and 'new' is relatively easy. Doing something that's genuinely
better is very hard."

-- 
http://designforuse.blogspot.com/

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[IxDA Discuss] People who learnt wikipedia syntax

[Alok Jain]

Hi All,

Wikipedia has had such wide-spread acceptance despite the fact the it
expects the user to learn a new syntax. Of course one needs to learn
that only if one wants to do some formatting, add images etc.. but
one would quickly need those tools when writing articles.

I am wondering if there is any material available on how this new
language was adopted.  Was it that the early adopters were much more
tech savvy and quickly learnt? was the help content great? is the
syntax itself very natural? Something else?

Cheers
Alok Jain (AJ)

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Interaction design versus Instructional Design

[Alok jain]

Bryan, 

Your note reminds me of the three processes that are at work behind
every click - motor, perceptual and cognitive. 

I think that the Instructional design focuses mostly on the cognitive
process and a bit on perceptual. The interaction design focuses on all
3. That's not to say that instructional design is a subset of
interaction design. Both go beyond each other in different scenarios.

Also instructional design does not equal to an elearning material.
The latter is an output that involves many other principles includes
information arch, technology component etc.

Alok jain (AJ)




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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Looking for creative ways to run a Data Analysis & Brainstorming session

[Alok jain]

Sally,

Phil Mckinney - one of the executive at HP has a wonderful podcast
abut innovation where he also talks a lot about brainstorming. There
were some fun exercise as a prep to brain storm which help open up
the mind and think out of the box. 

 I don't have the specific podcast links handy but checkout
http://www.killerinnovations.com/blog/ there is some really good
material.

Alok jain (AJ)


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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Types of Faceted Search

[Alok jain]

Vishal,

To your core question, the choice of static v/s dynamic is
essentially a question of your "design language" you want to use.
In other words if you do it in one place, people expect it
everywhere. I always imagine any software as a dialogue between user
and the computer. If the computer responds to a user question in one
way then user forms a mental model of how the software operates and
expects similar behavior everywhere.

Take an example of an app that extensively uses inline editing (jut
click on something and start editing) , then for a specific area due
to whatever limitation you ask the use to click on a link to edit
something. User would make mistakes if they are used to of the other
parts of the software.

If the design language you establish throughout is very dynamic, then
the search should not be an exception. So consider this also in the
design decision.

I the search is the major function and is establishing the design
language for the dialogue between the user and the software, then it
is really a question of skills and money. The dynamic model in my
opinion bring following value:
1. Faster response
2. Maintains continuity so user doesn't have to re-orient
3. Communicates the changes (or has the potential to) much better

Cheers
Alok jain (AJ)


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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Time to add some functionality to Minimize, Maximize and Close buttons.

[Alok jain]

Jim,

for both scenarios you posted I think there should be a "smart
default"  that matches 80% usage scenario. for instance I would
argue that pdf should open with vertical maximized view and then
remember user state per file.

Then there is an alternative state that can be accessed through a
shortcut - alt click. OSX has done this really well. These are what I
refer to as "hidden gems" and they make the experience better

On top of this we get into a preference layer where users can set
their preference. A lot of preference should be implicit by the
software remembering or understanding the state. For instance with
Omnigraffle if I duplicate an element and place the duplicate in a
manner that it is aligned in a certain way and has a certain
distance, then the next time I duplicate it uses the delta I set with
previous duplicate and duplicates the object and also duplicates the
delta (my pseudo preference). 

An explicit preference becomes th last step for the users who want
complete control and have uncommon needs. For instance I use a
JavaScript shortcuts as a bookmark to re size my browser to 1024
size. I needs this to be able to test the apps that I work on in
required resolutions.

I think the core idea you are referring to is very relevant, I don't
think the solution is in display more options to everyone. Most users
would only find it confusing IMHO.

Cheers
Alok Jain (AJ)



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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Are We The Puppet Masters? The Ethics of IxD.

[Brian Mila]

I didn't mean to speak specifically to advertising, just to the
notion that you definitely can influence a person's behavior, to the
point of them taking an action they might not have done otherwise. 
Take the example of default opt-out for organ donation.  I'm sure
you've all heard of it where the organ donation rate went way up
simply because the person was defaulted to opt-in on the form.  
Organ donation is a pretty big decision for some people, and yet they
were "coerced", "manipulated", or whatever you want to call it
because of the design of the form.

Adrian, in this case, the ethical concern is with the design of the
form, isn't it?  Would you consider it an "ethical violation"?  In
either case, the box being checked or not is going to influence the
user.

Brian


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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Time to add some functionality to Minimize, Maximize and Close buttons.

[Alan Salmoni]

I seem to remember some Linux window managers doing this. I cannot
recall the commands exactly, but something like CTRL-click on the
expand button would make the window maximise horizontally only, and
ALT-click would maximise it vertically. This might have been KDE. It
was quite a handy function but required recall of the exact commands
and, I would guess, more effort to complete the task than plain
maximisation. Having said that, it was a lot easier than maximising
in only one plane by dragging the window to the required shape.


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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Types of Faceted Search

[Audrey]

See also the related discussion on filters:
http://www.ixda.org/discuss.php?post=43844

In usability of the site I'm working on and others, which has mostly
newbies as users, dynamic filters have the drawback of being miss-able
("Is that navigation on the left, or...?) and scary ("Ahhh! What is
that? Too complicated!") Not universal reactions to every
implementation, but consistent across several users and several
sites. 

There seem to be some new tools starting to emerge. The uBid example
listed in the filtering thread is interesting. 

You could also think of Pandora as a sort of clever filter, where
there are too many variables to ever present in advanced search or a
set of filters, so you make one choice, and then refine from there by
liking or disliking proposed matches. The system manages the filters
behind the curtain, but it's happening nonetheless.


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Re: [IxDA Discuss] date pickers starting on Sunday

[J. Ambrose Little]

On Sat, Jul 25, 2009 at 1:10 AM,  wrote:

> It could also be related to Catholicism: God created the Heavens and
> the Earth and on the seventh day he rested. Which means that his week
> started on Monday :-)
>



A point of clarification: The Jewish tradition came before the Catholic one,
and their day of rest is Saturday (Friday night to Sat night).  So according
to their reckoning, what came to be known as Sunday was the first day of the
week--the day after the day of rest.  Christians inherited this reckoning
since they came out of the Jewish faith.

Early Christians moved the weekly day of worship and, consequently, rest to
Sunday because it is the Lord's day--the day of Christ's Resurrection.  From
what I can tell, though, Sunday continued to be considered the first day of
the week throughout Christendom (see, for example, the counting of feriae
from Sunday).  Also, theologically speaking, the new covenant came with
Christ and his Resurrection is all about new life, so it would make sense
for the celebration of the Lord's day to initiate a new week.

It's worth noting, though, that the seven days and their names based on
astrological bodies predate Christianity and even after Christ are not
universally used.  The calendar in use in the Roman Empire at the time
Christianity entered the scene was that introduced by Julius Caesar (the
Julian) in 45 BC, which was used in the West until the Gregorian reform in
AD 1582. The early Julian calendar didn't have the names we have today; I
can't even tell if they really considered the start of a week as anything
significant (seems more focused on month/mid-month for significance).  Also,
I read something that suggested Saturday (based on how the hours were
counted in relation to the astral bodies) would be the logical first, if
any.

As for ISO, I can't quite figure out why they set the first day as Monday.
 Maybe just so "weekend" would be literal, or maybe just to be iconoclastic,
or maybe something as banal as it making it easier to count the weeks or
something.  I wouldn't put it past them. :)

What I am getting at is that to discuss "Monday" as a thing in itself, i.e.,
something significant as opposed to Sunday for starting a week, is
arbitrary; why not have "Thursday" be the first day?  You'll answer perhaps
that Monday "starts" your work week, but maybe I have Tuesday and Wednesday
off (and work Thurs-Mon), so Thursday would be my start of week.

Any changing at this point would be arbitrary and probably parochial, so as
for why secular folks still (or should still) use it, my answer would be
that it's simply a matter of convention and familiarity for many, many
people in this world due to historical circumstances.  And as you point out,
a lot of digital tools people use adopt (and ergo reinforce) this
convention.

You could certainly make the case for following the arbitrary definition
from ISO, but people don't generally bother to change w/o a good reason,
i.e., I think you'd be fighting an uphill battle.  Not sure it'd be worth
it.  After all, even ISO hasn't effected a general change in this reckoning.

-ambrose

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Types of Faceted Search

[J. Ambrose Little]

On Mon, Jul 27, 2009 at 12:48 PM, Vishal Iyer  wrote:

> The VW example leads another question- search v/s filtering. Its
> always 'faceted filtering' not
> search, isn't it?
>



We discuss this in the Faceted
Navigationpattern
in Quince.  One of the points in the rationale is this:

This is sort of the inverse of the common “Advanced Search” screen that many
have employed over the years, and it is better because it doesn’t require
the user to know or specify these details up front. It is encouraging and
usually optional because they’re not confronted with a big, complex form
they have to fill out in order to start exploring the data and, if
implemented well, it actually encourages more exploration by fast updating
based on progressive facet selection.

I think the distinction in facet kinds (i.e., those you might pre-select for
a search vs filter on with facets) should be based on an understanding of
the most crucial facets for your domain *that people are likely to know (and
want to filter on) up front*.

For instance, in flights, knowing place of departure/arrival and dates are
the most crucial and are the most known of all the facets.  Maybe keyword is
the most feasible starting facet in a domain like Amazon that sells
everything, but you can also choose a department if you think you know it
(though it's not required, which is important).

Also, it seems to me that if your total set is (and will remain) small
enough not to cause anxiety and/or perf problems, you could even just start
with an all listing and filter down from there.  But I guess this might be
playing with fire unless you do enough testing to validate.

-a

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Time to add some functionality to Minimize, Maximize and Close buttons.

[Adrian Howard]

On 24 Jul 2009, at 20:11, Jim Harrison wrote:


Over the past few months I have been thinking how nice it would be to
have a couple extra windowing buttons. Here is my short list.
Maximize Verticle
Maximize Horizontal
2-3 Custom sizes and locations with the ability to rename

I work with multiple windows open. Comparing, sharing and
transferring data between windows on a regular basis. Drag and drop
is my best friend.

How would you feel about 3-4 more squares in the upper corner of your
window?



There's also the Macintosh behaviour that switches between the  
"standard state" (what the app thinks a sensible default size for the  
window to be) and the "user state" (what I resize it to be).


Back in the OS9 days most apps seemed to do _really_ sensible picks  
for the standard state - so hitting zoom would usually take me to the  
size that I wanted the app to be. Seems to be less true in more recent  
OS X apps.


I miss it when using Windows machines (then again - most Windows users  
seem to the lack of a full-screen-zoom annoying on the Mac :)


Adrian

--
http://quietstars.com  -  twitter.com/adrianh  -  delicious.com/adrianh




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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Are We The Puppet Masters? The Ethics of IxD.

[Jordan, Courtney]

Speaking from a mother's perspective, it's quite a bit easier to brush
kids' teeth (and to feel like you "got them all") of a sometimes squirmy
child with an electric toothbrush set to low (I use the plug-in electric
toothbrushes, not the disposable ones, as for whatever reason, they
decided not to make those have circular brushes, which is the ideal
shape for cleaning teeth - especially in tiny mouths!) rather than a
traditional toothbrush. 

It's also a heck of a lot easier to simulate the "round circular
motions" that dentists prescribe to ensure proper teeth cleaning and
reduce gum recession. It seems that we took a difficult and tedious task
and made it easier so that hopefully more people will do it. I don't see
that there is an ethical dilemma in having made toothbrushing more fun.
We've also really improved floss from something that hardly anyone used
and pretty much everyone disliked to cater to a wide range of mouths and
personal preferences, from woven to wax to flavored to those little
flossing sticks. 

I appreciate most products that promote personal hygeine and make it
easier for parents to effectively care for their children's personal
hygeine. It's resulted in a more educated (and dedicated!) populace on
the matter of personal hygeine. Better mouth care means you get to keep
your teeth longer and don't have to deal with dentures or implants, so
you make a little investment now to save thousands later.
 
It's not environmentally sound, but neither are those tons of plastic
bottles - why can't we just go back to glass - everything tasted better
out of glass - but of course, they lost money due to bottle breakage and
kids got cut on glass and the movies show people fighting with glass
bottles and so they brought in plastics with all their BPA and other
harmful chemicals that pollute our landfill at a much faster rate than
toothbrushes which we at least use for 3 months. Those little blue
bristle toothbrush indicators that let you know when your toothbrush is
no longer doing its job effectively are wonderful, and again, result in
a populace that can better understand that toothbrushes don't last
forever. 

Okay, that's all I have to say on toothbrushes - brushing kids' teeth is
a difficult process, so if you don't get to do it every night, you can
live vicariously through my pain! 

Don't even get me started on the voting machines!! Check out
blackboxvoting.org, if you haven't already!

Courtney


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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Are We The Puppet Masters? The Ethics of IxD.

[adrian chan]

Brian,

I think coercion is probably a misnomer. It suggests use of force or  
the threat of use of force, and if we use it we'll confuse matters  
with truly oppressive political and institutional strategies... I'd  
prefer terms like "appeal," "suggest," even "deceive," "falsify," or  
"manipulate" if you want to thematize the negative.


The most logical approach would be to distinguish, as linguists and  
semioticians do, between information and form, or between the content  
its expression. We can then say that there's a falsification occurring  
in each: the content is false (advertising is a lie); the form is  
manipulative (aesthetically pleasing, sexually suggestive, appeals to  
lifestyle, etc).


We then have the two axes of "designing the false": one is to  
deliberately mislead using content and information (what is said, how,  
and what's not said); the other is to use familiar design languages,  
images, signs, stories, etc to misrepresent  and to appeal to the  
customer's senses. The former engages the customer's knowledge; the  
latter engages the customer's style.


Ethical questions could then be raised with each: is it right to use  
information to mislead? is it right to use design to appeal to the  
senses or to be suggestive?


Keep in mind that advertising, while it lies, is up front and above  
board about lying -- so the consumer is complicit in the whole system  
of buying into brand strategies, advertisements, and so on. The  
consumer has the right to buy or not. (In political matters it's  
different -- taxes have been paid on basis of a representative  
political system and social contract).


adrian

415 516 4442 Twitter: /gravity7
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blog) (slideshare)

Sr Fellow, Society for New Communications Research (SNCR)
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On Jul 27, 2009, at 9:26 AM, Brian Mila wrote:


"Influencing behavior is not the same thing as coercing behavior."

Where do you draw the line between influencing and coercing?  Do you
even draw the line at all?  Product advertisements have been made for
hundreds of years, with the intent of maximum persuasion to buy the
product (coercing?).  Is that wrong?What about when it happens in
political commercials?  Is it wrong then?  Do we as designers need to
adopt a code of ethics like other professions have done?


Brian



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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Are We The Puppet Masters? The Ethics of IxD.

[Amy Jones]

Generally speaking, folks don't have to subject themselves to our
designs, and when they do, they can resist the behavioral adjustments.
There are exceptions, of course:  children are often seen as having less
ability to resist adjustments, and less choice about what they
experience. That's why they have parents.  

When a tool becomes omnipresent or necessary to access something we
consider non-negotiable, influence approaches coercion.  

An example of this might be the design of voting machines.  If
electronic voting is your only option, and the design of the machine
(whether industrial or software) influences you to vote a certain way,
that's obviously an ethical issue, especially if that influence isn't
apparent.

I see little ethical dilemma in the design of a children's toothbrush,
though.  You can make an environmental argument, sure, but that's a
decision I think we make collectively (either through government or
popular sentiment/market forces), and that collective decision will
decide the success or failure of the product.  

--Amy Jones

-Original Message-
From: discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com
[mailto:discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of
Jennifer R Vignone
Sent: Monday, July 27, 2009 11:42 AM
To: disc...@ixda.org
Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Are We The Puppet Masters? The Ethics of
IxD.

"Influence" and "coerce" are different in that coerce has the notion of
force associated with its meaning.
Advertising may influence but I don't think it coerces.
Would you fall into submission so easily to a commercial?
What is "maximum persuasion"? 
I think people are influenced as much as they allow.
"Persuade" implies using an argument or reasoning, hopefully backed by
fact, which is not necessarily "influence" or "coercion".
There are usability issues with how words are being switched which
confounds this discussion.





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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Types of Faceted Search

[Vishal Iyer]

The VW example leads another question- search v/s filtering. Its
always 'faceted filtering' not
search, isn't it? For example, in http://autos.yahoo.com/carfinder (interact
with any one facet, say price $15k- $25k to get this started).
Although none of the makes are shown selected, the results are for all
makes selected. The
act of selected a particular make filters the results. Should there have
been better indication that all makes are selected in the initial state or
is this a case of good inconsistency from a IxD perspective?
-Vishal

On Mon, Jul 27, 2009 at 12:31 PM, Peter Morville <
morvi...@semanticstudios.com> wrote:

> Dynamic beats static from a UX perspective. I agree it comes down to a
> question of implementation (cost, performance, accessibility). I love how
> results fade *before* you release the sliders at VW UK...
>
> http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/#/new/
>
> ...but I don't love waiting for the application to load prior to
> interaction.
>

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Are We The Puppet Masters? The Ethics of IxD.

[Jennifer R Vignone]

"Influence" and "coerce" are different in that coerce has the notion of force 
associated with its meaning.
Advertising may influence but I don't think it coerces.
Would you fall into submission so easily to a commercial?
What is "maximum persuasion"? 
I think people are influenced as much as they allow.
"Persuade" implies using an argument or reasoning, hopefully backed by fact, 
which is not necessarily "influence" or "coercion".
There are usability issues with how words are being switched which confounds 
this discussion.





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securities, accuracy and completeness of information, viruses,
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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Types of Faceted Search

[Peter Morville]

Dynamic beats static from a UX perspective. I agree it comes down to a
question of implementation (cost, performance, accessibility). I love how
results fade *before* you release the sliders at VW UK...

http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/#/new/

...but I don't love waiting for the application to load prior to
interaction.


Peter Morville
President, Semantic Studios
http://semanticstudios.com/
http://findability.org/

 


-Original Message-
From: discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com
[mailto:discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of Vishal
Iyer
Sent: Monday, July 27, 2009 9:17 AM
To: disc...@ixda.org
Subject: [IxDA Discuss] Types of Faceted Search

There seems to be two major methods of faceted search
design- for the sake of my own vocabulary- I call them 'static' and
'dynamic'
(I suppose there would be some formal terminology, but I couldn't find any).
The Static model (Eg: Search for laptops in Yahoo Shopping-
http://shopping.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AitSGJz_qz4V.Woy9WLIzSQbFt0A?p=laptop&;
did=)
typically involves clicking through one facet element at a time (multiple
select being present occasionally) causing the search results to filter
accordingly

The Dynamic model (Eg: Flights in Kayak- http://www.kayak.com/r/K0nJrU)
enables the user to quickly navigate different options to find the needed
product/ service.

In my mind, the dynamic model is a much better user experience because it
allows for faster  modification of facets. But there seems to be a dichotomy
of implementation based on the product category. Travel products generally
use the dynamic model, while Shopping uses static. The obvious difference
between the two is in the temporal nature of the data involved. Travel data
is transient. Shopping, not as much- the static model hence allows the
creation of 'pages' for significant facet elements.

I can however see the dynamic model being tweaked in such a way that it
supports data with a longer shelf life and hence SEO friendly etc. If that
is indeed the case, is there any other reason to use the static model? Am I
missing something here?

-Vishal

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Are We The Puppet Masters? The Ethics of IxD.

[Brian Mila]

"Influencing behavior is not the same thing as coercing behavior."

Where do you draw the line between influencing and coercing?  Do you
even draw the line at all?  Product advertisements have been made for
hundreds of years, with the intent of maximum persuasion to buy the
product (coercing?).  Is that wrong?What about when it happens in
political commercials?  Is it wrong then?  Do we as designers need to
adopt a code of ethics like other professions have done?


Brian


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Posted from the new ixda.org
http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=44045



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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Types of Faceted Search

[John Lucas]

IMO, The choice largely depends on your implementation options. From
an IxD perspective I think an Ajax based implementation is definitely
superior as far as speed of refresh. But it might limit your browser
choices. Speaking for the static example, the same widgets in the
Kayak example can be implemented server side as well so you don't
necessarily lose capabilities, it's just slower.

>From a designer's perspective i'd work out the types of facets,
views and sorting methods you'd like to use and then work with your
implementation team to see what your options are.


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=44132



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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Are We The Puppet Masters? The Ethics of IxD.

[Amy Jones]

I have to say I find this thread a little silly.  Of course design
influences behavior.  Everything in the environment influences behavior.
We design tools, and we wouldn't design them (or build them) if we
didn't want people to use them.  

Influencing behavior is not the same thing as coercing behavior.  There
are certainly ethical implications to design, but the bare fact that
design influences behavior seems, to me, to be both ethically neutral
and inescapable.

Amy Jones

-Original Message-
From: discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com
[mailto:discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of
Jared Spool
Sent: Sunday, July 26, 2009 3:50 PM
To: j.eric townsend
Cc: IxDA Discuss Rule
Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Are We The Puppet Masters? The Ethics of
IxD.



> This discussion, as I understand it, is about whether designs that  
> unknowingly influence behavioral changes is somehow unethical. Here we

> have a design that has produced positive results by doing just that.  
> Is it wrong? Should the devices be taken off the market? Should  
> designers have a code of ethics that suggest they shouldn't engage in

> such projects?
>
> That's what I want to know.
>
> Jared



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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Looking for creative ways to run a Data Analysis & Brainstorming session

[Sally Abolrous]

Thanks Chauncey. That does sounds like a great idea and I would love
more detail.

Sally


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Usability of pre-filled versus empty in content capture software

[Phillip Hunter]

Juan and Julia,

Thanks for your responses.  They are both helpful.

Juan,

I thought of that same idea. While I think it's better, I still have
the concern that perhaps the user would treat it too casually. 
Especially since, in my case, there are multiple lines of content per
field.  It still might be too easy to scan and accept without fully
comprehending.

Phillip


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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[IxDA Discuss] Types of Faceted Search

[Vishal Iyer]

There seems to be two major methods of faceted search
design- for the sake of my own vocabulary- I call them 'static' and 'dynamic'
(I suppose there would be some formal terminology, but I couldn't find
any).
The Static model (Eg: Search for laptops in Yahoo Shopping-
http://shopping.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AitSGJz_qz4V.Woy9WLIzSQbFt0A?p=laptop&did=)
typically involves clicking through one facet element at a time (multiple
select being present occasionally) causing the search results to filter
accordingly

The Dynamic model (Eg: Flights in Kayak- http://www.kayak.com/r/K0nJrU)
enables the user to quickly navigate different options to find the needed
product/ service.

In my mind, the dynamic model is a much better user experience because it
allows for faster  modification of facets. But there seems to be a dichotomy
of implementation based on the product category. Travel products generally
use the dynamic model, while Shopping uses static. The obvious difference
between the two is in the temporal nature of the data involved. Travel data
is transient. Shopping, not as much- the static model hence allows the
creation of 'pages' for significant facet elements.

I can however see the dynamic model being tweaked in such a way that it
supports data with a longer shelf life and hence SEO friendly etc. If that
is indeed the case, is there any other reason to use the static model? Am I
missing something here?

-Vishal

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Going beyond Usability: The need to design for Persuasion, Emotion, and Trust

[SteveJB]

I don't mean to take the discussion about PET off track but in
reference to my earlier post:

I've been recently contacted by the training coordinator at HFI and
it seems 60% of the participants at HFI courses are self sponsored.
Apparently my experience was just an incident of miscommunication.


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=43652



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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Tag cloud generators

[Sarah Zhang]

Hi Julia,

I guess the reason of the unseccess of "tagcloud-generator" is that
you put a URL address which is not applicable for the generator. I
found the "tagcloud-generator" only drags all the words or phrases
with a link on the webpage, which means if the URL you entered has
none or few links, it probably won't work. You may try some websites
which have a number of links, it should work. However, for some people
I have asked, they don't think it is a good idea to use such a method
to generate tag clouds. 

You mentioned the "3-or-less-letters words", of course a lot of
these are stop words, such as the, a, in etc, which have no special
meanings, but still some "3-or-less-letters words" may have
particular meanings, like ox, pen. So it may be better to block the
stop words rather than focus on the length of the words.

I also found the effect of "tocloud" doesn't work, so don't mind
if you can't get it. I think "tocloud" is overall good, but it is
not good to have all the options piled together. Actually those
options can be listed in a clearer way. However, it is really smart
to select the phrases also, not only single words.

Thank you for your opinions.
Regards,

Sarah




. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Re: [IxDA Discuss] date pickers starting on Sunday

[Timesheet]

On the RepliconTimeSheet Software, that i use for time
tracking,project management, expense and client billing, a week can
start on any day as the i wish to.
isn't that flexible enough...


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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[IxDA Discuss] [JOB] UX Designer - Sydney, Australia

[Steve Baty]

Meld has reached that point where I need help to get through the work that’s
building up. There’s work on social media strategy and planning to do; work
on communications strategy and design to do; work on the strategy, design &
implementation of a Website for a small not-for-profit; and some other bits
and pieces.

Rather than specify a bunch of skills, knowledge of & experience withs, let
me just say what I need you to be able to do:

   - Be observant. Listen, watch, take notes. Ask questions. Communicate
   what you’ve observed - visually, verbally and in writing;
   - Be thoughtful. Discuss what you’ve seen and heard, and tie it to what
   you’ve done before, read about, or experienced;
   - Be creative. Based on your understanding of what you’ve observed,
   discussed, and learned, explore possible solutions - through sketching and
   prototyping - and communicate those ideas visually, verbally and in writing;
   - Learn. Get better, each time. Ask questions; read; try things out; seek
   clarification and advice. And at the end of each day, week, month and year,
   be able to do something new, better than you could previously.
   - Be honest. In your dealings with me, with our clients, and with
   yourself.

For more details, please see
http://www.meld.com.au/2009/07/meld-is-hiring-ux-designer-wanted

Regards
Steve

-- 
Steve 'Doc' Baty | Principal | Meld Consulting | P: +61 417 061 292 | E:
steveb...@meld.com.au | Twitter: docbaty | Skype: steve_baty | LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/in/stevebaty

Director, IxDA - ixda.org
Editor: Johnny Holland - johnnyholland.org
Contributor: UXMatters - www.uxmatters.com
UX Australia: 26-28 August, http://uxaustralia.com.au
UX Book Club: http://uxbookclub.org/ - Read, discuss, connect.
Blog: http://meld.com.au/blog

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