Sean's Idea Kitchen

Notes from my ITARC presentation, "What's UX got to do with Architecture"

sgerety — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 19:23:00 GMT

Here are some notes, links and videos to watch that I talked about at my IASA presentation at ITARC in Atlanta.

Joseph Pine: What do consumers really want? This a great video about using experience to differentiate your product.

This quote was from the upcoming movie Objectified. Check out the trailer here.

"When you see an object.

You make so many assumptions about that object.

In seconds. What it does, how well it's going to do it.

How much do you think it should cost."

The full quote about user experience is from Don Brown from the inspireUX site.

"I think a successful company is one where everybody owns the same mission.

Out of necessity, we divide ourselves up into discipline groups.

But the goal when you are actually doing the work is to somehow forget what discipline group you are in and come together.

So in that sense, nobody should own user experience; everybody should own it." - Don Norman

Check out their site for some great quotes.

Check out MIX 09 for a great conference that focuses on User Experience from developers to designers to business. Check out visitmix.com from articles, opinions and labs.

Go hear Edward Tufte speak here in Atlanta on March 12th and 13th. It's worth every penny. And it includes all four of his books.

If you need anything else you can reach me at sean [dot] gerety [at] gmail or on twitter at http://twitter.com/ideakitchn

And Thanks to everyone that came to my session and the good people at IASA.

MIX 09 iPhone Wallpaper

sgerety — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 03:21:00 GMT

Instead of working on my 10K SMart coding challenge, like I should be. I instead took about 20 minutes and banged out a couple of wallpapers for my iPhone in honor of MIX 09 using Expression Design using the art from the MIXtify section. If you want them, just grab them. Enjoy.

One for the MIX 09 foks...

And one for the 10K challenge peeps.

Sean

Social Media is time and attention

sgerety — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 05:49:00 GMT

As I was working on my last post about the ease of Twitter, how it's simple concept and that simplicity has created a whole twitter ecosystem, I was also thinking about Social Media in general.

I've charted out the following social media components.

Longevity is the "shelf life" of a post. How relevant is it based off the current discussion thread or events. Attention or the level of urgency it requires to be relevant and Timeliness is when can you get to the post and still have it be relevant. Social Media has a wonderful flow of information that you can dip into and enjoy. Twitter is right now and Social Sites have a little more stickness to them when it comes to events. Web Search results have a timely quality, for example product search like the "Dell Mini 10", or for news. Email is queued naturally, but doesn't need your attention right now. Forums have longevity which can be searched or deal with issuses in the happening right now. Blogs talk about items happening now (think Engadget) and can be great references like Tess's blog which have a longevity.

Let me know what you think.

Sean

Twitter's Easy

sgerety — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 04:28:00 GMT

I've been doing a lot with Social Media since Atlanta Startup Weekend 2, and Twitpay. One thing that strikes me about Twitter is that it's just easy. I've created the following graphic based on the amount of work you have to do to participate in Social Media.

Twitter is so easy to use, all you do is sign up, and start tweeting from the Twitter site right away. The great thing is that from there the experience only gets richer. There are so many platforms to Tweet from and to read from, and a whole set of tools and services have organically grown up around the Twitter platform. Reply's and re-tweets are easier than commenting on blog posts (no captcha and no signing up). It's short and sweet, unlike on a social site like Facebook (get your flair!), Flickr (upload all of you photos, tag em..) or linkedin (update your profile and all your connections). From there it can go all the way to a full blown web site with a multitude of content (ala ZeFrank). Do you agree? Leave a comment or reach me on twitter at www.twitter.com/ideakitchn

Sean

How the Cloud Changes the Application Model for UX

sgerety — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 02:49:00 GMT

Video: Overnight Success

We've heard an amazing amount about the cloud at PDC. And if you think about it, the cloud is going to change the application model for User Experience. We're going to see a flip in the model from the desktop to the cloud.

Currently we have the web 2.0 AJAX model and desktop applications to use a simplified viewpoint. The desktop applications that we use may also have a companion application, usually a web based app that you use when you're away from your desktop. For example, Outlook and OWA (or Outlook Web Access) or Picasa (desktop) and Picasa web.

Now, we're seeing the web pushed down to desktop via Google Gears, Adobe Air and soon Silverlight. Frameworks/ runtimes that allow "web apps" to run on your desktop.

Now we use the web for our email, projects, documents, conferences, photos and social networking. Our applications and data live in the cloud, which allows us to share and collaborate more, all via mobile, desktop, web and API's.

I think we'll see some interesting usage patterns.

App's hosted in the cloud.
Online in the cloud, and offline on the desktop.
The cloud as a mesh between an applications. (Picasa and Picasa web)
The cloud as a connector between applications.
The cloud as a Sync between devices (Mesh)
The cloud as the disk drive (Especially once we get high speed transactional TCP/IP)

Now as Designers, Developers and Architects we should take all of these into account and how our applications behave and interact.

This week I'll be attending the Microsoft Strategic Architect Forum and this will be one of discussions. It should fit in nicely with the three different tracks.

I'll blog about it when I get back.

visitmix, now in a retro 8-bit love format

sgerety — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 01:42:00 GMT

Our favorite web, UI and UX conference site has grown up. It's no longer just a site about the best conference out there, MIX. It's now a site for discussion, learning, ideas, projects and yes MIX still gets some love. MIX has a new URL which is more inline with the conference. It's http://2009.visitmix.com/ And here's a peak at the landing page.

Let's look around a bit. First I like the way the site is laid out logically with Home, Articles, Lab, Opinions and About sections nicely categorizing content.

On the home page we've got a nice jambalya of content.

We've got the latest articles, opinions and labs, along with links to MIX related sites, and events. It's also got a great retro "8 bit love" format to the site. Great colors, layout and no Flash or SilverLight that I can see (bonus).

I really like the new format, with labs being the playground for code. And from the look of it it looks like they will be updated with fresh content. They've started off with Oomph, a lab that teaches you about Microformats and gives you code to play with as well. The code is on codeplex and is open source under the Microsoft Public License. I downloaded it last night and actually would love to see this as part of IE8. Even more, I'd love to have this on my iPhone. Next month, is Descry, Exploring Data and Information Visualization. Looks tasty, can't wait and I'm curious to see what is created.

The articles section has articles that are clean, easy to read (which is important with the amount of info we're hit with today and tomorrow), and they're from folks like John Allsopp. So we are hearing voices from different parts of the web.

Opinions looks to be the blog and discussion section of the site. Check out Thomas Lewis's post which lays out the vision and direction of the new site.

And over in About there's a lavender frog. Huh? I don't know either. But, there is an important statement in the about section.

Offer insightful articles that are relevant to the scenarios you want to design and develop for the web.
Provide freely downloadable, open source, and immediately useable prototypes with no strings attached.
Encourage user contribution and ongoing dialog.
Believe in sharing ideas.
Think about scenarios and users first, technology second.

The last point is probably the most relevant. When I have a business issue at work. It's not a C-Level person coming to me saying "Oh, we need be on technology X right away", and if they do you should question why. They come to you with a business objective or scenario. And that's how we work in everyday life.

Hat's off to the visitmix team. You've done a fantastic job. It's nice to see a different approach.

Art & Connection

sgerety — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 04:02:00 GMT

Art, whether it's music, visual or another of our senses, art creates a connection to the experience.

Why do we disregard it in our software so often?

Here's something for you to enjoy.

Solar, with lyrics. from flight404 on Vimeo.

Surface Has Been busy since Mix08

sgerety — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:36:28 GMT

It looks like the Surface group has been really busy since Mix08. Found by way of Long Zheng, are refined and polished versions of existing apps and a bunch of new applications.

Check our Long's post.

At Mix 08

sgerety — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:37:00 GMT

I haven't really had a chance to blog to much while I've been here at Mix 08. There's just to much to see. From Surface to Elvis there is just to many cool things here and even more great people to meet. I've been twittering most everything because I can do it from the session. You can follow those at www.twitter.com/ideakitchn

I've run into a lot of folks here from chatting with Miguel de Icaza about running MoonLight on a the ASUS EeePC to Karsten and the need to add an architect role to "The New Iteration", which actually became a quick conversation about different workflows for different organizations (Enterprise, Startup, etc)

I'll post more later on, with pics and also add more about what's going on with my new job.

Sean

Off to MIX 08

sgerety — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 11:27:00 GMT

I'm getting ready to head out the door for MIX 08. Looks like the weather here in Atlanta may be a little nasty. I'll be twittering along the way. I'm looking forward to hitting the tables at MIX, once the Sandbox is open. I had started a Flotzam restyle, but only did a little on the Digg template.

I was just having some fun creating the "Venetian Pantry". I was going to do "Digg Beer", "Flickr Cheese", and "Twitter Soda". If you want to XAML for it, meet me at MIX08, contact me or wait till I get back to put it online. See you there.

Sean

Tufte in Atlanta

sgerety — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 11:51:00 GMT

Edward Tufte, master presenter, author and information design visionary will be in Atlanta on March 24th and 25th. If you haven't seen him, register here. You also get all four of his books included in the price. I'll be here and if I can go, possibly we could have a meetup with Professor Tufte after.

Sean

(edited on 26 Feb 2008 for date corrections)

Photosynth usage idea

sgerety — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 02:13:00 GMT

Here's an idea for Photosynth that I'd like to see happen, that I had about a year ago.

Premise: Visual hyperlinking that uses Photosynth style photo mapping for search matches.

Usage: You're out looking for a place to eat and you snap a pic with your camera phone of a café, the send the image to the Photosynth query engine and you get back a tagged result set with items. Places to eat, businesses, history, events, and ratings to name a few. You could then click through a couple of results and get impressions of other people that have eaten there.

With the increase in geotagging of photos (2.2 million this month), online public photos galleries (ala Flickr) and hyperlinking to blog posts the information is already there. All we need now is the Photosynth query service.

I'll be at Mix if you want to chat about it.

Sean

Wayne Gretzky "gets" new technology

sgerety — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 02:46:00 GMT

Whenever the discussion comes to new technology and why would an organization risk using new technology, I think that Wayne Gretzky, yes the hockey player, got it right with this quote.

I skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been.

Wayne Gretzky

Just swap "puck" with "technology" and "skate" with "code" (or "architect" or "move") you get...

I code to where the technology is going to be, not to where it has been.

Hockey and new technology, I guess being in Canada for a day or two is influencing me. :)

Sean

I'm now Twittering

sgerety — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 01:20:00 GMT

I've now got a twitter account. Follow my twitter updates at http://twitter.com/IdeaKitchn or if you'd like here's a RSS feed.

Sean

Predictions for MIX08

sgerety — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 04:13:00 GMT

I thought I'd put together a list of predictions for MIX 08. Some could happen, some will happen and some could not happen, you decide!

Steve Ballmer gives Keynote in black turtleneck and jeans.
IE 8 demo
IE 8 uses the "Office Ribbon" toolbar.
Popfly version 2.0, now with DLR
SilverLight 2.0
Expression Design running on a Mac
ASP.NET MVC
Surface SDK
Six foot wall mounted version of Surface
IIS 7
IIS 7 speed race with Apache for PHP
Great sessions by the good people at Identity Mine
Actual WPF line of business applications
The new default "charcoal grey" color scheme for Visual Studio
Expression Blend storyboard mode
New UX ROI koolaid for business owners and project managers
Steve Ballmer says "Designers" twenty seven times in a row in the keynote.
SilverLight on the iPhone.
(added 25 Feb 2008) Apple to release iPhone SDK at MIX08.

If you've got some to add, leave them in the comments (You'll need a profile if you've got something to say) or send it to me on my "contact me" page.

See you at MIX.

Sean