Next week is reading week. Translation: next week is a week of no lectures and no labs. Just catching up on papers and core texts. UCLIC places great emphasis on reading, and we have been instructed to learn how to read fast and to always have something on the go. I have two pieces of coursework to do for Physical Ergonomics and Usability Evaluation Methods, so I suspect my reading will focus on that. I’m also working on a project for Design Practice, which is going to focus on tempting commuters to modify their routines.

I’m enjoying the course. It is really making me think about design from the perspective of the user. I’ve been aware of user-centred design for a while, as it’s something I learned about as an undergraduate; but I think user-centred text design is a bit different from three-dimensional products, services, and systems. Physical ergonomics in particular forces you to focus on the user in detail, as the user has got to be able to comfortably turn a handle, push a door, and walk through the door frame. Not just a single user, but the widest possible range of users. You can’t really get deeper into user-centred design than anthropometry and ergonomics.

So, the study of people and physical things is changing the way I think about software. I’m learning tonnes! But I also have a growing awareness of: a) how much I don’t know; b) the pitfalls of academic tunnel-vision. I’m reminded of Jorge Cham’s graph (PhD Comics):

“No wonder they call it a circle—it is so round! Notice how the inside comes precisely to the line and not one whit farther. And how the outside can’t possibly get in. No corners is one of the principle things about a circle. An oval has no corners, too, but they are not nearly as no corners as a circle has. Circles are nice because we can go around in them. Hardly anybody ever goes around in squares. Ever single place on the outside of a circle is the same distance from the centre as every other place. You can’t say that about a parallelepiped.” — Colonel Stoopnagle

I’ve missed a week or two.

Apart from escalators, the course workload has been steadily increasing, and I’ve had to keep up with both that and my internship at Fjord. I’m learning (and reading) a lot.

I’ve had a mental list of things to blog about, but I haven’t got ’round to it. I am, of course, keeping up with Twitter, as 140 characters don’t require much commitment, and it’s perfect for the bite-sized snacks of procrastination between essay points.

If I had more time, and wasn’t merely procrastinating from working on my doors essay, I’d write a nice long post including the points below, crafted into beautiful paragraphs. As it stands, you have to make do with bullet points. I’m sorry.

• Did you know doors are responsible for 300,000 injuries per year in the US? I didn’t. They are everywhere in the built environment, yet given hardly any thought — not much attention is paid to them even in the human factors and ergonomics field.
• An ergonomist will argue that “walking is a series of controlled falls”.
• Field studies, task analysis, physical ergonomics, usability evaluation methods, and the vast number of methods surrounding human-computer interaction design. Some of the things I’m learning about. This perfectly complements the graphic communication background from Reading. I am swinging between being relieved and contented with my design background, and being deeply envious of the cognitive psychologists.
• I’m working on a design project with the paraphrased theme: design something to make someone want to take a walk. It is fun. Navigating group dynamics is less fun.
• I think I’m going to take the option modules Affective Interaction and Organisational Informatics next term. I’m quite looking forward to Applied Cognitive Science. In a masochistic way.
• I don’t know what I’m going to do my MSc thesis on. I really don’t know. I don’t want to get over-excited about a topic that isn’t feasible.
• … I’m kinda tempted to do a PhD. (Uh oh.)
• If I did, I’d want to do the PhD in the US. Maybe.
• I am getting ahead of myself, as usual. But I am really happy.

Apart from that, I love London, and I’m just overwhelmed by everything there is to do. I have no time to do any of it!

Here’s the original BBC article.

This term I’m taking three modules: Usability Evaluation Methods, Physical Ergonomics 1, and Design Practice.

I’m finding that they support and feed into each other well. Anthropometry and ergonomics are helping to drive home the point that people are different, and they have different needs which must be met.

User-centred design is about truly understanding what people want, what needs they have, and (really) understanding that your needs are not the same as the needs of others. Then, of course, designing.

Design —> Prototype —> Evaluate (repeat)

UEM is, so far, an interesting look at how usability practitioners evaluate websites.

Design practice is a highly-compressed interaction design module. This morning we were given an overview of interaction design paradigms and their evolution: the command line, Xerox PARC GUI, touch screen interfaces, and an overview of some recent interaction paradigm experiments: Microsoft Surface, LucidTouch, SOAP. MIT Media Lab’s Tangible Media group seeks “a seamless coupling of bits and atoms by giving physical form to digital information and computation”. There’s lots of research and experimentation in this area. Exciting.

In the afternoon we looked at field studies and ethnography, and did a practice diary study — from what I can tell so far, a useful method for scoping out a problem space. The aim of a diary study is to identify problems.

For all of this, I have tons and tons of stuff to read. UCL is giving great support with this, with entire books full of papers and lecture slides. I also really like PDFs and ACM Digital Library.

Video of LucidTouch

I’m adjusting to the pace of life in London, which is much more hardcore than any of the places I’ve lived before. I’m enjoying the experience, despite being a bit shocked at how easy it is to haemorrhage cash. As I live in one of the trendiest parts of London, I have never felt so much conscious and unconscious pressure to improve my wardrobe. How do they find the time?

After induction week, I’m confident about the course. UCL’s focus is broad and academic, which I like. I will be studying these modules and two of the three option modules. My coursemates come from an array of backgrounds: industrial design, psychology, computer science, graphic communication. I’m one of the few with a graphic communication background.

One day per week I will be doing an internship at one of my favourite design companies, Fjord — I’m thankful I get to stay in touch with the real world while I study Applied Cognitive Science.

Reading
I went to university in Reading. Reading campus is rural, with a big lake with geese and ducks, and lots of green fields and trees. The town is adequate, but I always used to dislike that its shop front is a mundane row of Waterstones, McDonalds, GAP, and Starbucks. There is little personality, and a lot of, the phrase I liked at the time, emotional poverty. After three years, I was extremely restless.

Brighton
After graduating, I spent a few months back in Oxford before I ran away to Brighton. The time between making the decision to move to Brighton, and getting on a train, was about five days. I had a deliriously happy year and a half living in three different flats, as it worked out. I have no regrets. There is something about this place that transcends geography. I haven’t fallen out of love with it.

While there, I discovered a lot about good coffee (Red Roaster, Taylor St. Baristas—Oxford, please catch up), and had my first real taste of Japanese cuisine (E-Kagen). The culture in Brighton, and the wonderfully inspiring people I met, were fundamental in helping me figure out what I want to do in my life and work. Did I mention I love it. I do: as ardently as Julie Burchill. Julie allegedly lives in Hove, and I was disappointed that we never crossed paths in Tescos.

London
Um. Hold on. Why is that map there?

What? I’m moving there?

To that dense and horrifying spidernest?

It’s hard to believe, but yes. This week I’m moving to Hackney Road in Shoreditch, London. My flat is near Old Street roundabout, which was recently dubbed Silicon Roundabout.

I am looking forward to lots of things. Getting a better sense of London’s geography, or at least a portion of it. Figuring out where the best coffee is, and how I’ll pay for my daily habit. Attending events and parties in London without spending hours on a train. Being able to see friends at the drop of a hat. Checking out Columbia Road flower market…

And I’m really, really looking forward to being a student at UCL. I have a happy, persistent buzz that’s similar to the buzz I get when I’m in an airport. I cannot wait.

The shift from object to service is one I’d like to see implemented in a public transport context. I would passionately love to see a perfect public transport network and ecosystem where no vehicle needs to be personally owned. The dream becomes less impossible as urban places become beautifully networked; as more people gravitate towards living in cities.

We have broken your business, now we want your machines. — Russell Davies to the newspaper industry (the audience loved him even before he chucked Kinder Eggs at them). Photo by Matt Biddulph.

And now, a personal update:

The conference fell on decision day for me. So my decision: I’m moving to London to study MSc Human-Computer Interaction with Ergonomics (abbreviated as MSc HCI-E) at UCLIC, University College London. The induction week begins on September 28th so I’m hunting for accommodation near Bloomsbury now, hoping to move to London within the next couple of weeks. I’m happy that I’ll be close to family in Oxford, close to friends in Brighton, and a tube trip away from friends in London. I’m really looking forward to living in a big, stinky city.

Most importantly!

I want to keep one foot in industry during my studies, so I’m looking for internships and/or contract work at technology and design companies. If you know of something suitable, get in touch! — Rebecca

Okonomiyaki is a kind of Japanese pancake made with special batter (with dashi, or fish stock), mixed with cabbage, and then cooked on a hot griddle, often right in front of you. The cooked pancake is then covered with okonomi sauce and mayonnaise, and with dancing bonito, which is shaved fish.

Needless to say, it is really, really good, and available all over Osaka. But apparently, only one restaurant in London—Abeno—makes them. If you have never tried okonomiyaki, you should find out if a restaurant makes them near you and try it. I’m not alone in my obsession: here is a website devoted to the dish and it even lists restaurants around the world that serves them!

See more slightly obsessive photos here.

Takoyaki is equally deserving of obsession, but I think they’re less main-meal food, more kebab-standard food—you know, a light snack after a shisha-pipe and margarita night in the pub. They are grilled doughballs filled with—among other tasty things—diced or whole baby octopus. They are covered with okonomi sauce, mayonnaise, and dancing bonito. The dancing bonito—fish shavings on top—is a really nice (and tasty) touch, like table fireworks, but more practical. I’m not surprised there are videos on YouTube.

They taste creamy and very, very good.

Clearly, the amazing food was a major point of interest. It was mind-boggling how many restaurants there were—on one night in Kyoto I found myself in a magic, never-ending, lantern-lit corridor of equally cheap and appealing places to eat.

But I was also interested in Japan’s culture of technology and gaming. I was brought up on the products of Japanese culture, mainly the video games Final Fantasy and The Legend of Zelda. I had an infatuation with Squall, the protagonist in Final Fantasy VIII, for a good number of months. I don’t know why, as he’s really sulky and says “whatever” a lot, but that appeals to teens. Anyway, wandering about Osaka, I noticed that there are many, many gaming rooms. Play is a large part of the culture, from Karaoke—very different from Karaoke as I know it in the UK—to the seedy pay-by-the-hour love hotels.

I was also very curious about the legendary Japanese mobile phone. Like an endemic Galápagos creature, they evolved in isolation, and in some ways, are years ahead. I look forward to being able to watch TV on my iPhone and use it as a credit card. Really: why can’t we do that yet?

I had a great time and I will certainly be back to explore Tokyo and Hiroshima (where I hear the okonomiyaki is the best in the land, made with noodles and extra ingredients). Japan seems to have retained the best of its culture and fused it perfectly with the most exciting of the new.

China—which I can’t avoid mentioning—seems to be having an identity crisis with clashes between cultural and commercial interests.

• I’m flying off to Japan on Wednesday to visit my uni friend Krzysztof. He has a Polish name with far, far too many consonants. Kris and I went to university together, and since graduating has been working in  Japan. I’ll be staying with him in Osaka for a week, visiting Kyoto at the weekend.
• I’ll be arriving early on Thursday morning, and I predict staying awake will be a bit of a challenge. Fortunately Japan has a sufficiently good coffee culture: it’s apparently easy to find good coffee in Japan. Even better, decaf coffee is very difficult to find. Fine. I never saw the point of it. According to the previous link, the removal of caffeine is treated as a health hazard. Well, that sounds good to me!
• Another reason for the visit is to escape the uncomfortable state of waiting. I’m currently waiting to hear whether I’ll be moving to Germany or London, depending on possible outcomes. Patience is not a strong point. I worked out I can wait wherever I want in the world, with the same results. A bit of dithering, window shopping on Opodo, and three days later, I booked a flight to Japan, and of course I’m very excited and happy about this.
• Travel and learning about the world is, apparently, a theme. Most recently, I’ve become interested in the Middle East. This started after hearing about an incident of anti-Semitism directed at someone I know. To start to amend my ignorance on the subject, I read Dershowitz’s The Case for Israel. The book is obviously an argument in favour of the existence of the state of Israel. It lays the facts out and addresses all the arguments and criticisms. For the sake of intellectual curiosity and better knowledge about the subject, I’m also trying to penetrate Edward Said’s Orientalism, which I’ve been meaning to read ever since my good friend Sharmin mentioned it back in 2004. Said is—why are academics usually referred to in the present tense, even if they died years ago?—an interesting fellow, not to mention an influential academic and pro-Palestinian activist.
• Speaking of culture and travel … I’m wondering if the internet produces Third Culture Kids. And can you become Third Culture?
• I return from Japan on the 27th August, in time for this year’s dConstruct in Brighton, which I hope is as excellent as last year’s. Naturally I love the theme, which is “designing for tomorrow”. The scheduled talks look incredible and I’m lucky enough that it’ll be the second time I’ve attended a talk by Adam Greenfield.