Re: [IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[Pascal Finette]

Hi,

I'm a little late to the discussion (and new to IxDA)... Nasir was
so kind to point me to this thread - I'm working with Mozilla Labs,
spearheading our efforts to build a global Open Innovation program
under the roof of the Labs Concept Series
(http://labs.mozilla.com/projects/concept-series/).

Having said that - it's amazing to see the ideas being discussed
here. We are currently working on the next iteration of what started
with a simple discussion forum - the idea being, that we want to
create a space/collaboration tool which allows the wider community to
come together, hash out ideas, move them along to mockup and prototype
stage, fork them off, build upon, mash them together and "create
innovation".

You'll find some initial ideas, user stories, wireframes, etc on our
wiki: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Labs/Site_2.0 (the two documents under
"idea creation tool" are the relevant ones).

I would love to start a dialog with this group and get your feedback
- on how we can build not only a tool but a program which fosters
opportunities for UI/UX/HCI people to get involved in Open Source.

To give you some starting points on what we did, do, plan to do and
think about:
- We launched the Design Challenge, an event directly targeted
towards UI/UX/HCI students from around the world
(http://labs.mozilla.com/2009/01/introducing-the-design-challenge/)
- The University of Michigan%u2019s School of Information held two
Mozilla Labs Design Jam events which we hope to bring to many more
schools around the world
(http://sochi.cms.si.umich.edu/?q=content/design-jam-mozilla-design-challenge-spring-2009)
- I recently held a Skype Video-Conference call with a group in
India, where I explained what we are trying to do with the Concept
Series (http://www.vimeo.com/3236930)

Warm regards from London,
-Pascal


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[Edo Amin]

Jonathan Abbett wrote:
"What's the SourceForge or Google Code for designers?"

Love the question - my variation on it is "What's the DynamicDrive
(JS script depository) for designers?"

and another variation, assuming designers work with product managers:
"What's the design depository for product managers?"

Every time I enter a wrong password in a web site, I notice that the
ensuing behavior is somewhat different from other web sites, beyond
what is justified by the particular circumstances. Seems to me that
some "open source"/"best practices" (for limited scenarios, such
as "log in"), if specified in some standard way, could be so useful
as to spread on their own - through product managers. 

A depository of ix design for both product managers and designers,
would look like this:

- "Open Source Spec" items
- Wiki based entries
- Text, plus standard flowcharting graphics
- Limited scope of each spec item
- Spec items could have optional/alternate parts to accommodate
enrichment by specific circumstances 
- User case #1: product managers
- User case #2: interaction designers 

Does this exist?


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[Angel Marquez]

http://www.link.angelrobertmarquez.com
Help me populate the above, please.

Rock On.

I stole the code from someone else as a learning experience...

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[Elizabeth Bacon]

Hey folks,

Sorry -- I just wanted to say that I'm super incredibly busy with
another IxDA initiative right now (in addition to N other things) --
so if you wrote me off-list about this topic & were waiting for a
response or if people were waiting for me personally to try and get
something up and going in the short-term under the IxDA banner, I
wanted to apologize proactively for the lack of attention. :) 

Andrew, if you want to create the foundation of a collaborative
working environment for this initiative, I say go for it! 

And if you or anybody else would like IxDA to provide a working area
for project coordination, we use Basecamp to manage most of our
initiatives and I'd be glad to set you up with a project & account.
Just say the word! 

Depending on how any external working area develops, we could look at
folding it into the IxDA infrastructure. But it's more important, I
think, to seize the energy manifesting itself here and make something
happen organically. 

I'll reiterate that this kind of go-for-it approach is the core of
our organization's philosophy. As we said in our value manifesto:
"IxDA relies on individual initiative, contribution, sharing and
self-organization as the primary means for us to achieve our goals."
Rock on! :)

Cheers,
Liz

Vice-President, IxDA


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[Angel Marquez]

fedora  is another

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[Jarod Tang]

Gimp may be a case for open design for os project.

--jarod

On Thu, 12 Feb 2009 23:51:22, Andy Polaine  wrote:
> Hi Andrew - not snarky at all. I felt sure something was probably
> happening somewhere, but I hadn't see it.
>
> The hardest part, as I see it, is moving from a kind of shared
> knowledge environment, like a wiki/whiteboard, into something more
> akin to the kind of versioning that open-source development projects
> commonly used.
>
> As people have mentioned before, the versioning needs to not lose or
> kill off half-formed ideas but have some way of incorporating them
> until they're further developed and ready to be more clearly
> specified to a point where they're useful for, well, for who?
> That's also a question - developers? Users? Other designers?
>
> Or it may be that the kind of versioning mindset we're used to
> seeing in software development projects *isn't* the right way to go
> about an open-source ux/ixd process. I think it's worth us all
> thinking broader and drawing upon other ways of working. Music making
> is one thing that comes to mind here. I'm sure there are others.
>
>
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
> Posted from the new ixda.org
> http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=38371
>
>
> 
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>

-- 
Sent from my mobile device

http://designforuse.blogspot.com/

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[Andy Polaine]

Hi Andrew - not snarky at all. I felt sure something was probably
happening somewhere, but I hadn't see it.

The hardest part, as I see it, is moving from a kind of shared
knowledge environment, like a wiki/whiteboard, into something more
akin to the kind of versioning that open-source development projects
commonly used.

As people have mentioned before, the versioning needs to not lose or
kill off half-formed ideas but have some way of incorporating them
until they're further developed and ready to be more clearly
specified to a point where they're useful for, well, for who?
That's also a question - developers? Users? Other designers? 

Or it may be that the kind of versioning mindset we're used to
seeing in software development projects *isn't* the right way to go
about an open-source ux/ixd process. I think it's worth us all
thinking broader and drawing upon other ways of working. Music making
is one thing that comes to mind here. I'm sure there are others.


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[Andrew Boyd]

Hi Andy,

I like this thread, and would enjoin anyone interested to contribute to the
FOSS movement in whichever way they find appropriate - there's some good
stuff happening out there :)

Yours is a good response, well structured.

Without trying to sound snarky, churlish, or childish, I have to point out
that some form of UxD involvement has been happening in parts of the FOSS
movement for years - although, true, to look at some of what comes out you
may not think so :) The thing is, new or not, this concerted effort is the
start of something wonderful that will help.

Good luck with it, and if you need a blog/wiki/whatever thrown together to
provide a collaborative environment, let me know.

Best regards, Andrew

On Fri, Feb 13, 2009 at 8:12 AM, Andy Polaine  wrote:

> I think this discussion is probably the best example of the beginnings of
> developing that process. It is a lot more difficult to do with diagrams and
> ideas than code and text, which lend themselves to much more computer regexy
> crunching.
>
> I think it is worth abstracting a little what need to goes on rather than
> hook onto a specific tool just yet (especially a commercial one).
>
> From what we have so far from the suggestions are:
>
> - A need to break down the design (and docs) in a modular way
> - A need to be able see that documentation in a merged form
> - A need to be able overly 'layers' as a kind of versioning process
> - A need to make changes that percolate through all the other modules and
> docs
>
> By the way, the thing that immediately comes to mind is the kind of process
> used for those giant lithographs of microchip circuits and/or the way
> four-colour printing works (or used to) when the printer would overlay the
> films together and immediately be able to spot an error or misalignment
> visually.
>
> That's at least for the middle or latter stages and that part I can see
> managed by some kind of tool than a person (which is what mostly happens on
> projects right? One of us is the, ahem, tool.)
>
> I'm still finding it hard to imagine that working for the earlier,
> importantly rougher parts of the process. I've done quite a few online
> collaborative projects run globally across many countries with many people
> and the brainstorming, back-of-the-napkin process is the hardest bit to do,
> but where a lot of the magic happens.
>
> Once things become a bit more refined (like a digitally created wireframe
> rather than a napkin) it gets a bit easier to share and modify.
>
> But it would be good to be able to work out how that earlier part could
> work well. And I think it would be good if the tools used for it weren't
> proprietary. I wouldn't want an open source project to fall over just
> because Adobe screwed up, oh I don't know, an installer or a particular
> format.
>
> Maybe simply being able to write notes on images of sketchpads (please
> don't say 'digital whiteboard') like Flickr allows is another start. This
> seems to be the way a lot of those links given above have worked.
>
> FluidIA looks like a great start and is asking a lot of the right
> questions. I think we do need to just do it as David says and then find out
> what works and doesn't, but at the same time we need to ask the right
> questions at the start to get the process even roughly lined up IMHO.
>
> Count me in. Somehow. ;-)
>
>
> Best,
>
> Andy
>
> 
> Andy Polaine
>
> Interaction & Experience Design
> Research | Writing | Education
>
> Twitter: apolaine
> Skype: apolaine
>
> http://www.polaine.com
> http://www.designersreviewofbooks.com
> http://www.omnium.net.au
> http://www.antirom.com
>
>
> 
> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
> To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org
> Unsubscribe  http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe
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>



-- 
---
Andrew Boyd
http://uxaustralia.com.au -- UX Australia Conference Canberra 2009
http://uxbookclub.org -- connect, read, discuss
http://govux.org -- the government user experience forum
http://resilientnationaustralia.org Resilient Nation Australia

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[Elizabeth Bacon]

I'm so excited about the productive energy here! This thread *is* the
best example of beginning a new endeavor in this space. 

Nasir, Dave and I are on the Conan infrastructure project which has
an explicit goal of being able to support or nurture or otherwise
account for the existence of OSS-IxD projects. 

I liked what Jonathan described: "I imagine IxDA Labs could take a
hybrid approach... weave together a wiki, knowledge management tools,
digital whiteboarding... "

And then, as raised earlier, source control for design artifacts is a
big, important topic. Although, perhaps you could say we can (& do!)
suffice with a dated/tagged/sorted record of design outputs at a
minimum.

And Jonathan's more minimal idea has value for a starting point:
"there's no reason why some thoughtful designers can't iterate
over a great product idea and publish the design for the world to see
(with no initial concern for developer collaboration)... Then, some
developers, business types, etc., could download the full design and
implement it." 

One thing to ask is whether there's really going to be a lot of
designer-to-designer collaboration in such a system, or whether it's
really going to be more common for individual designers to partner
with a development team. 

Brainstorming time! What other qualities or features would this new
system, this green-field-of-OSS-IxD-goodness possess?

Cheers,
Liz


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[Andy Polaine]

I think this discussion is probably the best example of the beginnings  
of developing that process. It is a lot more difficult to do with  
diagrams and ideas than code and text, which lend themselves to much  
more computer regexy crunching.


I think it is worth abstracting a little what need to goes on rather  
than hook onto a specific tool just yet (especially a commercial one).


From what we have so far from the suggestions are:

- A need to break down the design (and docs) in a modular way
- A need to be able see that documentation in a merged form
- A need to be able overly 'layers' as a kind of versioning process
- A need to make changes that percolate through all the other modules  
and docs


By the way, the thing that immediately comes to mind is the kind of  
process used for those giant lithographs of microchip circuits and/or  
the way four-colour printing works (or used to) when the printer would  
overlay the films together and immediately be able to spot an error or  
misalignment visually.


That's at least for the middle or latter stages and that part I can  
see managed by some kind of tool than a person (which is what mostly  
happens on projects right? One of us is the, ahem, tool.)


I'm still finding it hard to imagine that working for the earlier,  
importantly rougher parts of the process. I've done quite a few online  
collaborative projects run globally across many countries with many  
people and the brainstorming, back-of-the-napkin process is the  
hardest bit to do, but where a lot of the magic happens.


Once things become a bit more refined (like a digitally created  
wireframe rather than a napkin) it gets a bit easier to share and  
modify.


But it would be good to be able to work out how that earlier part  
could work well. And I think it would be good if the tools used for it  
weren't proprietary. I wouldn't want an open source project to fall  
over just because Adobe screwed up, oh I don't know, an installer or a  
particular format.


Maybe simply being able to write notes on images of sketchpads (please  
don't say 'digital whiteboard') like Flickr allows is another start.  
This seems to be the way a lot of those links given above have worked.


FluidIA looks like a great start and is asking a lot of the right  
questions. I think we do need to just do it as David says and then  
find out what works and doesn't, but at the same time we need to ask  
the right questions at the start to get the process even roughly lined  
up IMHO.


Count me in. Somehow. ;-)


Best,

Andy


Andy Polaine

Interaction & Experience Design
Research | Writing | Education

Twitter: apolaine
Skype: apolaine

http://www.polaine.com
http://www.designersreviewofbooks.com
http://www.omnium.net.au
http://www.antirom.com



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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[Jonathan Abbett]

We should also think about open-source design apart from open-source
development.  Just as developers come up with neat ideas, build
something, and put it out there for others to download and use,
there's no reason why some thoughtful designers can't iterate over a
great product idea and publish the design for the world to see (with
no initial concern for developer collaboration)...  Then, some
developers, business types, etc., could download the full design and
implement it.



On Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 2:15 PM, William Selman  wrote:
> Having worked with open source tools as a developer and with
> developers for five years now, I think the cultural obstacles
> mentioned in the Paula Bach article above (which is an excellent
> piece, thanks for the link!) are very real. I think it would be
> useful to seriously consider strategies for overcoming and/or
> resolving these obstacles before approaching specific projects.
> Obviously, there will be some project communities that would love IxD
> contributions. However, I just want to emphasize that some project
> communities may offer resistance (or just ambivalence) and that
> thinking through how to overcome those reactions would make
> successful collaborations more possible.
>
>
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
> Posted from the new ixda.org
> http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=38371
>
>
> 
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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[William Selman]

Having worked with open source tools as a developer and with
developers for five years now, I think the cultural obstacles
mentioned in the Paula Bach article above (which is an excellent
piece, thanks for the link!) are very real. I think it would be
useful to seriously consider strategies for overcoming and/or
resolving these obstacles before approaching specific projects.
Obviously, there will be some project communities that would love IxD
contributions. However, I just want to emphasize that some project
communities may offer resistance (or just ambivalence) and that
thinking through how to overcome those reactions would make
successful collaborations more possible.


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[Nasir Barday]

We've bounced around the idea of IxDA labs for a while now. In fact,
some might argue that we've had one for the longest time-- people have
always been welcome to show us a better way to do things, and we have
ways of setting up sandboxed development environments, albeit very
manually.

What got me excited over the weekend was Aza Raskin's point that there
is a vast gulf of opportunity for Interaction Design in the open
source world, and that we are welcome to the table in many ways. While
OSS is indeed a code-based world, I think there are collaborative
behaviors our tools need to pick up in order for us to effectively
join the party:

-) Our design deliverables are not well suited for source control
systems. They can't "diff" our files and tell us clearly what changed,
nor do a sexy "merge" like you can with text-based code. Sure, you can
annotate a change when you check it back in to the main branch, anyone
who works with source control knows those change annotations usually
get BSed. It's useful to see *everything* that changed-- there's
always some small change that wasn't made clear in the comment.

-) To the point of modularization: In the same fashion that it takes
effort to modularize code, so can we do the same with design docs. Set
up common symbols and background layers so that a change in one place
propagates across the design doc. Find a way for people to work on
those symbols and layers without having to check out the whole
freakin' file. Allow people to update, or "build" the latest snapshot
so everyone is on the same page.

Anyone know of a solution for this? Would Adobe Version Cue help here?
Fireworks doesn't seem to be invited to that party, at least in CS3
...

- Nasir

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[Dave Malouf]

While bring UX to open source is not impossible and there are great
people putting up a great fight. These are more the exceptions than
the rule. 

We need to realize that until the culture of OSS evolves from one
where code contribution is king, to one where idea contribution (in
ALL its forms, including code) is king, it will remain difficult.

I think there needs to be a bit of a revolution and one I'm hoping
to have something to do with (maybe even with Aza's help). In the
spirit of Carpe Diem, I really want to "just do it" and create an
OSS project, even if only experimental that starts out with
attempting to answer the question, "What would a designer led open
source software project look like?"

The goal isn't to negate the developer, but create a space totally
different from before. The outcome is not to learn how to lead
developers, but to create a space for exploring design in its
relation to development in a new way and see what succeeds and what
fails. The ultimate goal would be to work towards modeling a new
culture where business, development and design can co-mingle/lead OSS
initiatives/projects. 

-- dave


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[Andy Edmonds]

The Mozilla labs team, under Aza's leadership, is making headway in bringing
usability test results into the collaborative environment.
Zac Lym, a mozilla intern with mentorship from myself and others, has been
doing tests and struggling to make these consumable to the Ubiquity
development team.  A combination of Vimeo for video hosting & tagging along
with structured, written summaries has been the technique arrived at through
much iteration:
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Labs/Ubiquity/Usability/Usability_Testing/Fall_08_1.2_Tests/Tester_06#Discovery
http://www.viddler.com/explore/indolering/videos/10/

Back in the Netscape vs Mozilla days, some talented UI folks from the
community make ASCII specifications of UI a fine art, much to the chagrin of
some folks at Netscape who produced more polished deliverables.  Historical
post http://www.surfmind.com/musings/2003/02/21/index.cfm#index

The pendulum has swung the other way with the MozConcept series where we saw
concept videos with high-end production values from Adaptive Path.  In the
middle are the sketches and low-fi mockups we see on blogs and flickr (ex.
http://www.lizblankenship.com/tabviz/?p=92)

Trac and Bugzilla are not that inaccessible -- they support attachments and
auto-hyperlink URLs.  I'm not sure that I fully agree that the tools are
"ill suited" though there's certainly room for improvement.

- (a different) Andy

On Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 1:20 PM, Jonathan Abbett wrote:

> 
> The point Andy makes above (about open-source versioning tools being
> ill suited for design) is an important one... how do we set up the
> infrastructure for OSS design collaboration? What's the SourceForge or
> Google Code for designers?  I imagine IxDA Labs could take a hybrid
> approach... weave together a wiki, knowledge management tools, digital
> whiteboarding...
>

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[Jonathan Abbett]

I've been working in open-source for a bit over four years now...
getting designers to donate their time for collaborative projects at
the same level as developers do would be a tremendous boon.

Plus, an IxDA-facilitated open-source initiative would be an excellent
way to get more experience on a wider variety of projects, while
contributing to the state-of-the-art.

I for one would relish the opportunity to see how others work and
build some battlefield camaraderie.

The point Andy makes above (about open-source versioning tools being
ill suited for design) is an important one... how do we set up the
infrastructure for OSS design collaboration? What's the SourceForge or
Google Code for designers?  I imagine IxDA Labs could take a hybrid
approach... weave together a wiki, knowledge management tools, digital
whiteboarding...

Please count me in :)

-Jonathan



On Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 2:35 AM, Elizabeth Bacon
 wrote:
> Tom, et al.,
>
> I'm really excited to say that IxDA may be able to support and aid
> you in your & others efforts to connect with the Open Source movement
> and community.
>
> Several IxDA board members met with Aza Raskin of Mozilla  at the
> Interaction'09 conference to discuss how we could work together in
> the future, given the alignment of interests we have in making the
> world a better place. IxDA really wants to enable new sorts of
> design-led open source efforts to succeed. We're presently
> envisioning having a kind of "IxDA Labs" area, just like they have
> a Mozilla Labs area, where such design-led, collaborative open-source
> projects can be seeded and developed.
>
> Our steps in this area thus far have been semi-connected to the
> current infrastructure project. Anybody who's interested in pursuing
> this idea further, please let me know what you think about being a
> leader and/or forming an initiative in this area with support from
> IxDA. :)
>
> Cheers,
> Liz
>
>
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
> Posted from the new ixda.org
> http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=38371
>
>
> 
> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
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>

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[Elizabeth Bacon]

Tom, et al.,

I'm really excited to say that IxDA may be able to support and aid
you in your & others efforts to connect with the Open Source movement
and community. 

Several IxDA board members met with Aza Raskin of Mozilla  at the
Interaction'09 conference to discuss how we could work together in
the future, given the alignment of interests we have in making the
world a better place. IxDA really wants to enable new sorts of
design-led open source efforts to succeed. We're presently
envisioning having a kind of "IxDA Labs" area, just like they have
a Mozilla Labs area, where such design-led, collaborative open-source
projects can be seeded and developed. 

Our steps in this area thus far have been semi-connected to the
current infrastructure project. Anybody who's interested in pursuing
this idea further, please let me know what you think about being a
leader and/or forming an initiative in this area with support from
IxDA. :) 

Cheers,
Liz


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=38371



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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[Jakub Linowski]

I've also realized that one thing which works very well for open
source development (and not design) are branching and merging
activities. So far, these activities do not translate very well into
visual deliverables such as wireframes as design elements are not
very modular. Lacking such modularity it is very difficult to have
multiple designers work separately and merge "design elements" or
"design rules" into one coherent whole. 

As posted in a newer thread, this is one area which I plan to think
about and tackle with a new UI prototyping tool (also open source).
If everything goes well to plan, the tool will allow for the creating
of design element alternatives (branching) as well as merging of
various design elements from different sources.

Check out http://www.fluidia.org and ping me if you're also
interested in working on this.

Jakub Linowski


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[Andy Polaine]

I haven't gone and read those links yet and maybe the answer is there,  
but I would be interested to hear about how interaction/user- 
experience design can be worked into the open-source model.


I can't help feeling I'm being naive here, but the checking in and out  
of code, branching and patching and the control of that process seems  
to suit code way more than it does, say, wireframes or design concepts.


The latter are, by their nature, rougher than finished code would be,  
yet would need to go through a typical open-source process of being  
added to the 'build' in some way and good ideas, or too rough ideas  
might get killed off in the process.


How have people gone about this workflow and process in existing open- 
source projects? The Yahoo! pattern library process seems like it  
could be a good model: http://tinyurl.com/by4bq


Best,

Andy


Andy Polaine

Interaction & Experience Design
Research | Writing | Education

Twitter: apolaine
Skype: apolaine

http://playpen.polaine.com
http://www.designersreviewofbooks.com
http://www.omnium.net.au
http://www.antirom.com

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[Luca Cappelletti]

On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 17:03, Tom Coombs  wrote:

> I've been thinking about the open source movement.
>
> I know very little of the UX community's involvement, so firstly I'm
> posting
> to ask what has been happening so far.  Mozilla, Open Office and some
> others
>
>
If you want to build an IxD group applyed to solve open source software
issues I'm with you.
FLOSS is to much closed to the coder knowledge in my opinion and must be
helped by IxD fields.

Luca Cappelletti


-- 
---
Luca Cappelletti
Infodomestic.com

"...Together we stand, divided we fall."

.O.
..O
OOO

GTalk,MSN: luca  cappelletti  gmail  com
Linux Registered User: #223411
Ubuntu Registered User: #7221

"l'intelligenza è utile per la sopravvivenza se ci permette di estinguere
una cattiva idea prima che la cattiva idea estingua noi"

"La chiave di ogni uomo è il suo pensiero. Benché egli possa apparire saldo
e autonomo, ha un criterio cui obbedisce, che è l'idea in base alla quale
classifica tutte le cose. Può essere cambiato solo mostrandogli una nuova
idea che sovrasti la sua"

"Uno studioso è soltanto un modo in cui una biblioteca crea un'altra
biblioteca "

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[Nikhil paul]

Hi Tom, 

I completely agree with your thoughts on encouraging Design
participation in open source projects. 
I am a part of an open source project where Interaction design is the
basis of the project (www.itsme.it) and I know that the project could
benifit a lot with designer participation. 
In the past, we extensively involved potential users, designers,
developers to gain feedback on the design features and evaluate the
concept. But now i am trying to understand how can I increase the
partcipation of designers in the project to a greater level. 
We are launching a new interactive website in march, and thinking
about opening up our design process inorder to discuss design
features in greater depth.

I found these opensource projects that encourage designer
participation aswell.
http://tango.freedesktop.org/Tango_Desktop_Project
http://everaldo.com/crystal/ 

Would be nice to see more comments/ideas on the subject.


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=38371



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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[Jakub Linowski]

I just ran into Paula Bach's work on UX and Open Source, in
particular: 

"Designers Wanted: Participation and the User Experience in Open
Source Software"

http://cscl.ist.psu.edu/public/users/pbach/paper1367-bach.pdf

A nice read ...


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[Andy Edmonds]

For more linkage, see http://delicious.com/andyed/opensource+usability
The openusability.org site Adrian referenced is a sort of "virtual agency".
 The Mozilla efforts are I think the culmination of a rising trend here,
capping work in Usability sprints, along with more dedicated projects in
GIMP, Drupal, and Wordpress.

There's more to the Mozilla picture than described here so far -- "Test
Pilot" aims to get a representative 1% of the firefox user base for
instrumentation aided remote usability exercises:
http://labs.mozilla.com/2009/01/test-pilot-vision/

Cheers,
Andy

On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 12:14 PM, Adrian Howard wrote:

>
> On 9 Feb 2009, at 16:03, Tom Coombs wrote:
>
>> 
>
>
>> exist, I wonder if there's the potential for us to structure some kind of
>> virtual agency that would allow us to engage effectively.
>>
> [snip]
>
>> Any thoughts?  Knowledge of UX involvement so far?
>>
>
> You might find some of http://delicious.com/adrianh/opensource+ux of
> interest, especially http://www.openusability.org/
>
> Cheers,
>
> Adrian
>

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[Adrian Howard]

On 9 Feb 2009, at 16:03, Tom Coombs wrote:


I've been thinking about the open source movement.

I know very little of the UX community's involvement, so firstly I'm  
posting
to ask what has been happening so far.  Mozilla, Open Office and  
some others

must have had serious UX involvement.  Secondly, if it doesn't already
exist, I wonder if there's the potential for us to structure some  
kind of

virtual agency that would allow us to engage effectively.

[snip]

Any thoughts?  Knowledge of UX involvement so far?


You might find some of http://delicious.com/adrianh/opensource+ux of  
interest, especially http://www.openusability.org/


Cheers,

Adrian

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[Adrian Howard]

On 9 Feb 2009, at 16:03, Tom Coombs wrote:


I've been thinking about the open source movement.

I know very little of the UX community's involvement, so firstly I'm  
posting
to ask what has been happening so far.  Mozilla, Open Office and  
some others

must have had serious UX involvement.  Secondly, if it doesn't already
exist, I wonder if there's the potential for us to structure some  
kind of

virtual agency that would allow us to engage effectively.

[snip]

Any thoughts?  Knowledge of UX involvement so far?


You might find some of http://delicious.com/adrianh/opensource+ux of  
interest, especially http://www.openusability.org/


Cheers,

Adrian

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[Jeff Noyes]

I'm glad to see this post.

Drupal is a good example.  Until recently, Drupal was largely built with
little help from folks like us.  The founder, Dries Buytaert, however is a
strong believer in usability and experience and managed to get Drupal
formally tested twice in lab setting.  Given the poor test reults, the
community is rallying around becoming more usable and organizing itself.
groups.drupal/org/usability is a fine example.  Folks in this channel and
various IRC channels come together to build better designs - and engineers
are begining to shift towards these channels for advice.  These channels are
essentiall the virtual agency you speak of - but are Drupal specific.



On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 11:03 AM, Tom Coombs wrote:

> I've been thinking about the open source movement.
>
> I know very little of the UX community's involvement, so firstly I'm
> posting
> to ask what has been happening so far.  Mozilla, Open Office and some
> others
> must have had serious UX involvement.  Secondly, if it doesn't already
> exist, I wonder if there's the potential for us to structure some kind of
> virtual agency that would allow us to engage effectively.
>
> Few thoughts
>
>  - In my opinion, several OS projects are incredible achievements that are
> hampered by small usability problems or even just language issues.  I
> really
> believe in the movement.  I think some corners of it need our help.
>
>  - UX involvement, unlike coder involvement, might be more effective if the
> people weren't aligned to a single project, so maybe the movement doesn't
> naturally structure itself to include us.
>
>  - Be a good way to spread the UX word, and a good way for us to
> collaborate
> and learn from each other.  Might be especially useful for people trainign
> in UX.  Maybe meetings like the book club but instead the topic is an open
> source project that everyone's looked in advance.
>
> Any thoughts?  Knowledge of UX involvement so far?
>
> Tom
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ...
> Tom Coombs
> http://www.manwomanandchild.com
> +44 (0) 7968 151198
> 
> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
> To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org
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>

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[Shaun Bergmann]

Great timing!  Aza Raskin's presentation at Interaction09 yesterday was
specifically targeting this very topic.  Mozilla for one is really pushing
to get us together and help bushwack that path.
In my opinion, there was an underlying theme of global empathy running
through the conference, and with a user base of something like 240 million
people using firefox, it's a great opportunity to use our skills to 'make a
difference' and affect some change.
check out http://labs.mozilla.com for a start.


On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 8:37 AM, Mike Caskey  wrote:

> Here's an interesting slideshare+audio (hit play button for audio and slide
> sync):
>
> http://www.slideshare.net/jsonin/flirt-date-commit-injecting-design-into-an-open-source-project-presentation
>
> I agree that a lot of open source projects out there could benefit from
> this, and of course, the community would benefit as a result.
>
> Mike C.
>
>
>
>
> Tom Coombs wrote:
>
>> I've been thinking about the open source movement.
>>
>> I know very little of the UX community's involvement, so firstly I'm
>> posting
>> to ask what has been happening so far.  Mozilla, Open Office and some
>> others
>> must have had serious UX involvement.  Secondly, if it doesn't already
>> exist, I wonder if there's the potential for us to structure some kind of
>> virtual agency that would allow us to engage effectively.
>>
>> Few thoughts
>>
>>  - In my opinion, several OS projects are incredible achievements that are
>> hampered by small usability problems or even just language issues.  I
>> really
>> believe in the movement.  I think some corners of it need our help.
>>
>>  - UX involvement, unlike coder involvement, might be more effective if
>> the
>> people weren't aligned to a single project, so maybe the movement doesn't
>> naturally structure itself to include us.
>>
>>  - Be a good way to spread the UX word, and a good way for us to
>> collaborate
>> and learn from each other.  Might be especially useful for people trainign
>> in UX.  Maybe meetings like the book club but instead the topic is an open
>> source project that everyone's looked in advance.
>>
>> Any thoughts?  Knowledge of UX involvement so far?
>>
>> Tom
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ...
>> Tom Coombs
>> http://www.manwomanandchild.com
>> +44 (0) 7968 151198
>> 
>> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
>> To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org
>> Unsubscribe  http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe
>> List Guidelines  http://www.ixda.org/guidelines
>> List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
>>
>>
>>
> 
> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
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>

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[Mike Caskey]

Here's an interesting slideshare+audio (hit play button for audio and 
slide sync):

http://www.slideshare.net/jsonin/flirt-date-commit-injecting-design-into-an-open-source-project-presentation

I agree that a lot of open source projects out there could benefit from 
this, and of course, the community would benefit as a result.


Mike C.



Tom Coombs wrote:

I've been thinking about the open source movement.

I know very little of the UX community's involvement, so firstly I'm posting
to ask what has been happening so far.  Mozilla, Open Office and some others
must have had serious UX involvement.  Secondly, if it doesn't already
exist, I wonder if there's the potential for us to structure some kind of
virtual agency that would allow us to engage effectively.

Few thoughts

 - In my opinion, several OS projects are incredible achievements that are
hampered by small usability problems or even just language issues.  I really
believe in the movement.  I think some corners of it need our help.

 - UX involvement, unlike coder involvement, might be more effective if the
people weren't aligned to a single project, so maybe the movement doesn't
naturally structure itself to include us.

 - Be a good way to spread the UX word, and a good way for us to collaborate
and learn from each other.  Might be especially useful for people trainign
in UX.  Maybe meetings like the book club but instead the topic is an open
source project that everyone's looked in advance.

Any thoughts?  Knowledge of UX involvement so far?

Tom






...
Tom Coombs
http://www.manwomanandchild.com
+44 (0) 7968 151198

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[IxDA Discuss] Open source user experience

[Tom Coombs]

I've been thinking about the open source movement.

I know very little of the UX community's involvement, so firstly I'm posting
to ask what has been happening so far.  Mozilla, Open Office and some others
must have had serious UX involvement.  Secondly, if it doesn't already
exist, I wonder if there's the potential for us to structure some kind of
virtual agency that would allow us to engage effectively.

Few thoughts

 - In my opinion, several OS projects are incredible achievements that are
hampered by small usability problems or even just language issues.  I really
believe in the movement.  I think some corners of it need our help.

 - UX involvement, unlike coder involvement, might be more effective if the
people weren't aligned to a single project, so maybe the movement doesn't
naturally structure itself to include us.

 - Be a good way to spread the UX word, and a good way for us to collaborate
and learn from each other.  Might be especially useful for people trainign
in UX.  Maybe meetings like the book club but instead the topic is an open
source project that everyone's looked in advance.

Any thoughts?  Knowledge of UX involvement so far?

Tom






...
Tom Coombs
http://www.manwomanandchild.com
+44 (0) 7968 151198

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