I decided to attend class by logging in to illuminate on 4/09/09, but I signed in too late that day-- so, I missed the discussion with Rod Dunican about project management and collaboration.
Project management is a key element in everything that needs to be done. From the small things in our mundane everyday life-- to the big unveiling of the next big product. I am fascinated by the amount of work, time and some times human resource it takes to put things together-- even more when projects are done in a time constrain matter.
I think of my self as a planner; however, sometimes I feel like I could benefit from taking some project management training. At work, some times I can see our supervisors relegating work all day long, and I wonder if that is a characteristic of a project manager. However, things get done, and that is ultimately the job of the project manager, get it done.
Apr 29, 2009
Apr 24, 2009
Week 12 - User Interface Do's and Don't
Today in class we discussed the importance of the learning experience in relation to how the user will respond, how much information will the user obtain, how is the user going to get the information and reason on the importance to develop for your audience. As a graphic designer, I could not agree more.
Whenever I start any project I usually do a preliminary research on the audience based on the message or the objective of the message. After mock up is done, I usually find a person (friend, colleague) to critique it and get some feedback. Then, based on feedback I usually go back to whatever stage of the design needs improvement. Sometimes I end up starting from scratch and sometimes it just a need of little touches here and there.
Three key factors for developing learning objective in any media are:
The User experience:
- Does it appeal to the audience?
- Does reach the goal?
Information Flow:
- Will user find everything at hand?
- Will it make sense for the student?
- Does info required flow? Does it carry on?
- Is the information or lesson plan scalable for advance lesson plan?
Intuitive Design:
- Start with what works and then make it look pretty to appeal---not to distract
- Access information on one click/action
- Map, map, content map
I must say designing learning modules is not an easy task and requires a high level of technical user experience experience, so to say, but to summarize the concept of design we must strategize on what the best technical and user-experience assets are for an online meeting/collaboration site to develop the most effective visuals, questions, and overall level of engagment. Ideally, users should be able to pull out the most significant aspects of the product and really highlight those features on the home page as well as elsewhere in the site.
Apr 23, 2009
Apr 16, 2009
Final Project Idea
This is still in the idea development phase, but my idea is to create a site using Wordpress or a LMS or LCMS tool. There are a lot of tools out there and at the moment, I am in the researching stage and have been considering many Web 2.0 tools. Ning, Wetpaint and others are my options, but I will need to map out my project before I decide.
The Project
I volunteer at a couple of not-for-profit organizations in Marin. I teach English to adults at night once a week. I also teach computer classes to kids in low-income areas in Marin (yes, there are some areas believe it or not).
Some semesters; however, there are not enough volunteers and the staff is not very tech savvy either which limits the organization to the verge of closing doors or shut down projects. There is such a lack of communication between non-profits organization.
Can other organization in the Bay Area help? in New York? My idea is to create a site where all not-for-profit organizations can create, find, collaborate on ideas, projects that can help them find fast, cost effective ways to develop and attract more volunteers- as well as grant opportunitties. A non-profit network.
The Project
I volunteer at a couple of not-for-profit organizations in Marin. I teach English to adults at night once a week. I also teach computer classes to kids in low-income areas in Marin (yes, there are some areas believe it or not).
Some semesters; however, there are not enough volunteers and the staff is not very tech savvy either which limits the organization to the verge of closing doors or shut down projects. There is such a lack of communication between non-profits organization.
Can other organization in the Bay Area help? in New York? My idea is to create a site where all not-for-profit organizations can create, find, collaborate on ideas, projects that can help them find fast, cost effective ways to develop and attract more volunteers- as well as grant opportunitties. A non-profit network.
Apr 15, 2009
Design flaw
Per our assignment, here is my everyday thing with a design flaw(s)!
Laptops.
Affordances: The affordance of laptops is to take it everywhere and use it anywhere.... giving us a sense of freedom and the ability to be out there, away from the office.
However this is not the case, the majority of laptops are fragile, and by their design and material, not meant to take the everyday beating that they receive.
-The power cord and connector are usually designed in an L-shape or straight in I-shape ready to yank out the power connector from the laptop in case you stand up and move across the room while still attached or if some one walks by and trips on it.
-By puttin your Laptop on your... "Lap" the only way to prevent your laptop from hitting the ground is by puttin rigid pressure with your fingers! Yet, most of us still do it.
Constraints:
-Power, if you are away from any wall, you are being timed. Yep, on average a notebook will last you 2-3 hours of actual normal use. 4-6 hours if you don't touch it and let sit there.
-Caring for it like new born baby all the time.
Feedback: The only feedback you get is, after you have dropped it, spilled coffee on it, the laptop won't start or give off an annoying beeee-p.
Protecting my laptop or treating it like a baby is probably not the best way to describe how to care for one. My last two laptops (PowerBook, Dell Vostro) suffered from the two flaws above and as it were, they were the main reasons both are R.I.P now. Some one yanked the power connector off my PowerBook when they tripped on it in a classroom and the other just slipped out from my "Lap" down to the cement. Ouch! said my wallet.
Laptops.
Affordances: The affordance of laptops is to take it everywhere and use it anywhere.... giving us a sense of freedom and the ability to be out there, away from the office.
However this is not the case, the majority of laptops are fragile, and by their design and material, not meant to take the everyday beating that they receive.
-The power cord and connector are usually designed in an L-shape or straight in I-shape ready to yank out the power connector from the laptop in case you stand up and move across the room while still attached or if some one walks by and trips on it.
-By puttin your Laptop on your... "Lap" the only way to prevent your laptop from hitting the ground is by puttin rigid pressure with your fingers! Yet, most of us still do it.
Constraints:
-Power, if you are away from any wall, you are being timed. Yep, on average a notebook will last you 2-3 hours of actual normal use. 4-6 hours if you don't touch it and let sit there.
-Caring for it like new born baby all the time.
Feedback: The only feedback you get is, after you have dropped it, spilled coffee on it, the laptop won't start or give off an annoying beeee-p.
Protecting my laptop or treating it like a baby is probably not the best way to describe how to care for one. My last two laptops (PowerBook, Dell Vostro) suffered from the two flaws above and as it were, they were the main reasons both are R.I.P now. Some one yanked the power connector off my PowerBook when they tripped on it in a classroom and the other just slipped out from my "Lap" down to the cement. Ouch! said my wallet.
Apr 14, 2009
In the beginning... Design of Everyday Things
I read this book way back in school for my theory design class. I thought it made some good points on the design aspects of things. Yes, there are some products out there that are poorly designed (Windows Vista), ones that simply underestimate human intellectuality (Windows Vista) and others that pay no attention to customer/student feedback (Windows Vista).
Norman's view is everyone's rants. If we sit down and ask ourselves why things are the way they are, we are bound to find flaws. One of my undergrad projects in my product design class was to find a flawless product.
To my surprise, I came to the conclusion that the TOOTHBRUSH was the most simplistic, most primitive tool/instrument ever. Its success relies on its simplicity. Brush and a handle. Yet, and this is my response to Norman's book, the industry has tried to turn it into a sophisticated instrument (see Oral-B 9100). In other words, companies are restricted in design from the lack of RnD or overcompensation to differentiate from other brands.
The education:
Regardless of the toothbrush, thinking of how people adapt to learning theories depends on many things such as cultural differences, native language, age, gender, social and economical status, etc. All these differences need to be addressed prior to curriculum development to better design and assess instructional design. Another important aspect for the instructor/developer/designer is to focus on a clear conceptual and consistent model that is scalable to the audience's need. This is where I see Web 2.0 tools, such as Wikis, blogs, etc become the key to collaborate with other instructors overcoming instructional obstacles.
Flexibility is a major key factor in designing models, instructors need to be able to adapt and evaluate in a timely matter, to reach those students that are falling behind without retarding the learning process for others.
Norman's view is everyone's rants. If we sit down and ask ourselves why things are the way they are, we are bound to find flaws. One of my undergrad projects in my product design class was to find a flawless product.
To my surprise, I came to the conclusion that the TOOTHBRUSH was the most simplistic, most primitive tool/instrument ever. Its success relies on its simplicity. Brush and a handle. Yet, and this is my response to Norman's book, the industry has tried to turn it into a sophisticated instrument (see Oral-B 9100). In other words, companies are restricted in design from the lack of RnD or overcompensation to differentiate from other brands.
The education:
Regardless of the toothbrush, thinking of how people adapt to learning theories depends on many things such as cultural differences, native language, age, gender, social and economical status, etc. All these differences need to be addressed prior to curriculum development to better design and assess instructional design. Another important aspect for the instructor/developer/designer is to focus on a clear conceptual and consistent model that is scalable to the audience's need. This is where I see Web 2.0 tools, such as Wikis, blogs, etc become the key to collaborate with other instructors overcoming instructional obstacles.
Flexibility is a major key factor in designing models, instructors need to be able to adapt and evaluate in a timely matter, to reach those students that are falling behind without retarding the learning process for others.
Apr 9, 2009
The Social Business of the Capitalist World
On my short visit to the Web 2.0 Expo on Friday.
As I walked around checking every booth asking and listening to presenters on each booth talk about why their ideas are good and why it should be used, and how it's going compete with the myriad of other tools out there that will do the same job in some different way, I was almost done with the whole experience in the first ten minutes.
After an exhausting 20-minute walk around, I sat down with my Coke and bagel and started to reflect on how all this, everything around me might be the beginning, the push, of some new industry term, if such would preserve its current momentum that is, to define such fascination with Web 2.0 within its own industry.
The world revolves around money, and industries are the gears that drive eras that are defined on cultural changes, shifts and trends that drive demands and it is in the industries' best practice to capitalize by supplying the requested goods. What's all these about anyways? Strategic Manageability.
My biggest question is how do people benefits from a social movement trying to gain its way into an industry without structure? How can Six-sigma be implemented to zero-in and analyzed standards to make a movement profitable, productive, responsible? Why are all these small companies here? Just to make a short term investment? Invest, gain publicity and sell out or cash out before the ideas fizzles? What is the lean production? Where would all these take me as a student, teacher, a consumer?
It is hard to define what Web 2.0 is in terms of industry, it is not a product, not a technology rather a movement composed in technological modules. In my opinion, Web 2.0 needs a framework. Web 2.0 is driven by participation.
The transition from the old web to Web 2.0 was enabled by the emergence of platforms (blogging, social networks, etc) that collectively allowed easy content creation and sharing by anyone. Web 2.0 is the antithesis of the monolithic. A composition of modules designed to link and integrate together building a whole or something greater than the sum of its parts.
So, not to say that everything at the Expo was a dissapointment, in fact, some ventures out there are for the greater good. To recap my feelings on what the purpose of the expo should be, and am open to discussion, is to enable the distribution of technologies to integrate and collectively transform mass participation into valuable emergent outcomes. A benefit for all, by all of us.
Regardless of my two cents, below are my best in show:
As I walked around checking every booth asking and listening to presenters on each booth talk about why their ideas are good and why it should be used, and how it's going compete with the myriad of other tools out there that will do the same job in some different way, I was almost done with the whole experience in the first ten minutes.
After an exhausting 20-minute walk around, I sat down with my Coke and bagel and started to reflect on how all this, everything around me might be the beginning, the push, of some new industry term, if such would preserve its current momentum that is, to define such fascination with Web 2.0 within its own industry.
The world revolves around money, and industries are the gears that drive eras that are defined on cultural changes, shifts and trends that drive demands and it is in the industries' best practice to capitalize by supplying the requested goods. What's all these about anyways? Strategic Manageability.
My biggest question is how do people benefits from a social movement trying to gain its way into an industry without structure? How can Six-sigma be implemented to zero-in and analyzed standards to make a movement profitable, productive, responsible? Why are all these small companies here? Just to make a short term investment? Invest, gain publicity and sell out or cash out before the ideas fizzles? What is the lean production? Where would all these take me as a student, teacher, a consumer?
It is hard to define what Web 2.0 is in terms of industry, it is not a product, not a technology rather a movement composed in technological modules. In my opinion, Web 2.0 needs a framework. Web 2.0 is driven by participation.
The transition from the old web to Web 2.0 was enabled by the emergence of platforms (blogging, social networks, etc) that collectively allowed easy content creation and sharing by anyone. Web 2.0 is the antithesis of the monolithic. A composition of modules designed to link and integrate together building a whole or something greater than the sum of its parts.
So, not to say that everything at the Expo was a dissapointment, in fact, some ventures out there are for the greater good. To recap my feelings on what the purpose of the expo should be, and am open to discussion, is to enable the distribution of technologies to integrate and collectively transform mass participation into valuable emergent outcomes. A benefit for all, by all of us.
Regardless of my two cents, below are my best in show:
- OER Commons: is a teaching resource site that lets everyone share and access learning methods and ideas that are allowed to be shared. In my opinion this is a true example of the social business.
- ooVoo 2.0 : I used this for personal use. It is simple and easy to use. ooVoo allows you to video conference with up to six callers around the world, Pretty cool.
- ProtoShare: is a web-based collaborative prototyping tool that helps teams quickly build, discuss, and refine click-able website wireframes and creative design work.
- Tiddla: Mark up websites, graphics, and photos, or start brainstorming on a blank canvas. Browse the web with your friends or make that conference call more productive than ever. No plug-ins, downloads, or firewall voodoo - it's all here, ready to go when you are. Browser-agnostic, user-friendly. This is pretty cool. I use to play with my niece over seas.
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