Extra Credit

We learn about maps throughout our entire education, from scavenger hunts and pirates to learning the geography of the world. However, we are taught only a very narrow definition of what a map is; we’re taught that it’s a piece of paper that takes us from one location to another. Maybe eventually in our education, we are taught to map out points on a graph for math class or map out an essay, but rarely are we taught that maps do not have to be some kind of image on a piece of paper or screen. However, the “This American Life” program on maps re-conceptualizes the definition by exemplifying unusual kinds of maps, taking our perception of them beyond the direction-oriented sheet of paper that we are used to.
The “This American Life” (TAL) program gave examples of five different kinds of maps, each one created through one of the five senses. The first of these sensory maps dealt with sight, which I initially thought would be about everyday maps. However, I was pleasantly surprised when the cartographer Dennis Wood described his intention of making a novel with the numerous maps he made of his neighborhood. He mapped things that initially appear to be unmappable like maps of the underground system of manholes, of the power lines, of traffics signs, of jack-o-lanterns, and so much more. Wood’s maps make his neighborhood come alive, with each map describing a different aspect of where he lives, making his neighborhood really come alive.
The second section of the program dealt with mapping the landscape of background noise from our everyday lives, which was undertaken by a musician, Toby Lester. As Lester began a new job, he began noticing the various sounds around him, such as the loud office heater, the hum of his computer, and his phone’s ring. He eventually began harmonizing with all of these sounds and recording the various feelings associated with each musical tone. Lester found that many of the sounds from our background noises (whether individually or combined) create sadness, stress, and anxiety. This, according to Lester, is one possible aspect as to why our society is so anxious, bored, and unhappy.
Next, TAL provided discussion on mapping smells, as they discussed Cierno Science’s robotic nose. According to the reporter, this robotic nose looks like a small table with a circuit board and a microprocessor that sniffs through a small tube. The reporter goes on to explain that the robotic nose is only programmed to identify a few smells (solvent vapors, decaying bacteria, and perfume) and must learn to identify other odors over time. Eventually, the robotic nose’s creators hope to develop a handheld version of this device that can detect landmines, diseases, poisonous gases, and counterfeit money.
TAL’s fourth discussion dealt with mapping via touch and tells the story of Deb Monroe, who has been mapping her body through touch for several years. Years ago, Monroe read a magazine article on breast cancer and eventually convinced herself falsely that she had the disease. Ever since, she has become preoccupied with her body and has developed hypochondria, where she actually convinces herself that she has various diseases. She spends her days poking and prodding her body, trying to find anything that could be harmful, inevitably creating an inaccurate map filled with landmarks that aren’t even there.
The final map discussion in TAL’s program discussed mapping taste, in which the TAL reporter interviewed food critic Jonathan Gold. In the mid-1980s, Gold began mapping the different foods/restaurants on Pico Boulevard in Las Angeles. He wanted to create a map of sense that would get him from one end of Pico to the other (which is several miles long). By creating a set of rules, he eventually ate at pretty much every restaurant on Pico (with some exceptions based on his rules). After visiting countless restaurants, Gold found that the majority of ethnic groups are represented through food on Pico. His goal through this map-making process is to make people less afraid of their neighbors through food.
A discussion on echolocation would be an excellent addition to this program, as it is a mapping technique used by animals and humans alike to “see” their surroundings when their eyes fail. Rudimentarily speaking, echolocation occurs when an animal (e.g. a bat) sends out sounds waves by making a noise, which are transmitted uninterrupted until they hit an object (e.g. an insect). The sounds waves then bounce back toward the animal, which enable it to then identify the object based on the sound of the echo. (Here’s a very basic version of this phenomenon http://members.aol.com/bats4kids/
echo.htm).
Some blind individuals have the ability to use echolocation as well like Ben Underwood, who uses echolocation (among his other senses) to navigate his world of darkness (Here’s a very interesting YouTube video on Ben and his abilities:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpBm4KoWsrY). These individuals seem to be innately capable of using echolocation and use clicking noises or the noise from a cane to create the sound waves necessary for the process to work. As seen in the video about Ben, echolocation allows blind individuals to see the world around them with amazing accuracy. Those of us fortunate enough to have our sight often take it for granted, and we probably would not know how to begin mapping our surroundings without it. Echolocation seems impossible, but those who rely on it every day know that it is a remarkable way to map their world.

3 points and a question - Krug

1. Nowadays, usability testing findings are not written in long reports with suggestions on how to improve the website. Krug holds conference calls with Web teams to introduce the findings and then collaborate on how to fix the problems.

2. For most website usability testing all you need are a group of "people who have used the Web enough to know the basics" (139).

3. Two types of usability testing: a) "get it" testing - "show them the site, and see if they get it," look to see if the user understands the purpose of the site, the value, the organization, how it works, etc. ( 144) b) key task testing - ask the use to do something and watch how they do it

Question: What are some examples of usability testing the class has conducted or participated in?

Week 15: 3 points and a question

• Krug suggests that it is much better to test a few people several times throughout the design process than to test many people just one time. “Design is an iterative process. Testing isn’t something you do once. You make something, test it, fix it, and test it again” (135). By testing multiple times, the designer is able to see what works and more importantly what doesn’t work, make changes and then test again. Once changes have been made to the original design a second round of testing will likely uncover other issues that the first tests didn’t uncover.
• You should review the results of a usability test as soon after the test as possible.
• In reviewing the problems people saw during a usability test and deciding which problems need to be fixed, Krug offers some guidelines about deciding what to fix and what not to fix. He suggests avoiding “kayak” problems, resisting the impulse to add things where test users had trouble doing/getting something, taking “new feature” requests with a grain of salt, and changing the obvious and easy-to-fix problems.

Question: Can we (and should we) apply these usability testing guidelines to documents other than websites?

Look what I found!

So my mom sends me a lot of chain emails (I feel like I am in fifth grade again). Anyway, she sent one to me the other day with a whole bunch of weird facts. So, I came across this, and it reminded me of our class because I am pretty sure we talked about this at some point in the beginning of the semester, but we couldn't find it. So, here it is for some fun...


I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

Paper Topic ?

Dr. Fishman,

I was thinking about doing my paper about the interplay between text/diction choices and their corresponding visual elements. In other words how visual rhetoric doesn't stand alone, or perhaps is improved by text and looking at the connections between the two. I don't have a piece in mind to examine yet, but I was wondering if that seems like a good angle to approach the paper from. Too broad? Too narrow?

Thanks,
RJ

Vector Graphic Program

Here's the website I mentioned in class today:

http://vectormagic.stanford.edu

The idea is that most image files are composed of pixels, which is why, when you enlarge them, they look grainy. A vector image, by contrast, is defined by graphical data--points and lines rather than pixels--so you can make them as large or small as you need them to be without affecting image quality.

Generally, the simpler the image, the more easily you can make it into a vector image, but experiment and see what works.

Extra credit opportunities:

Greetings,

I've gotten a couple of questions about extra credit, and I have two opportunities for you to consider:

1. Compose a briefly annotated bibliography of between 3 and 5 visual texts that you would recommend adding to the MAPC reading list. If your selection would be a good update or replacement for a current item, briefly note why. (This should be no longer than one page). Your selections do *not have to be traditional texts* but they can be.

2. Listen to this episode of This American Life which is all about maps, then write a blog entry of approximately one page reflecting on something from the show, and adding something of your own --some new musing or idea--to the conversation (the conversation taking place on the show) about maps and mapping. Make sure to look at the pictures.

Each of these opportunities are worth up to 5 percentage points (half a grade). Points will be awarded for engagement and thoughtfulness.

Week 15 3 points and question

1. A focus group is a small group of people that sits around a table and reacts to ideas and designs that are shown to them. In a usability test, one user at a time is shown something and asked to either figure out what it is or try to use it to do a typical task.

2. Test early and often.

3. Things that diminish goodwill: 1) Hiding information that I want, 2) Punishing me for not doing things your way, 2) asking me for information you really don't need, 3) shucking and jiving me, 4) putting sizzle in my way, and 5) your site looks amateurish.

Question:
How is the "lost our lease, going-out-of-business sale" tactic relevant to usability testing? How is it any different?

Paper deadline extension

Attn: Class members

I spoke to Dr. Fishman a little while ago, and she agreed to give our class a due date extension on our group project paper. Please see her recent email to the class members for more details.

Thank you Dr. Fishman for your kind gesture.

Kevin

Krug - 3 pts and Q

1.) Why tabs are awesome: they’re self-evident (everyone knows what tabs are); they’re hard to miss (they are more obvious than buttons as navigation); they’re slick (tabs add polish and are useful).
2.) The trunk test (questions you should be able to answer about a site very, very quickly)
What site is this?
What page am I on?
What are the major sections of the site?
What are my options at this level?
Where am I in the scheme of things?
How can I search?
3.) Remember that conventions are your friend and are very useful as signposts. Designers should resist the urge to “reinvent the wheel” when it comes to conventions.

Do you think the phrase “don’t make me think” creates a negative image of the user as unintelligent rather than pressed for time?

3 P's and a Q

First I have to ask, are we still required to do these? I notice only a few people have for this week and I know there was some confusion among everyone in class based upon the syllabus. Just thought I'd ask...

1) Make it obvious what's clickable - Using the example of Orin Hatch's 2000 presidential campaign website the book discusses how important it is to make it obvious to visitors what is and is not clickable. His site has 18 links but only two of them made it clear they were links. This is important because taking time to discover links takes away patience and time to process the message and complete tasks.

2) Happy Talk - Happy talk, or the "welcome to our site, here's why its so great..." intro to pages (usually on the homepage) detract from other more significant elements on the site and are usually read very casually if they're read at all.

3) "Link-dominant" vs. "Search-dominant" - Some users are naturally inclined to go straight for the links on a page and search from there, whereas others are inclined to go straight for a search box on the page to navigate. For everyone else who is not already one of these types, the method of browsing is usually dependent on how much time you have to search.

Question: As it relates to the differences between Link and Search dominant users, how exactly does this correlate to design, in terms of a user profile/layout elements, etc.?

3 points and a question

1. What counts in website persual is not the "number" of clicks it takes to get somewhere, but how much thought is required in doing the clicking.
2. Instructions should be unnecessary: The user should not have to "think" to begin with, much less read instructions. If instructions are necessary, they should be presented as simply as possible.
3. Using tabs in page desing is very effective: It's a metaphor that works very well to make a connection between the "real" and the "cyber" world.

Question:

Do you think that Clemson's website is user-centric?

3 points and a questions

1. Making a page self evident is like putting in better lighting--everything just seems better. Putting puzzling information in a site makes users angry because it wastes their time and energy. Therefore, for web pages to be successful, they have to be effective at the first glance, and the best way to do this is o make pages that are self evident.

2. We don't read pages. We scan them, looking for important words and phrases. We scan because we are in a hurry, we know we don't need to know everything, and we are good used to reading things like this (newspapers, magazines, and books). What we see when we look at a site reflects what we have in mind, but that's usually only a fraction of the page.

3. You need to make sure that you "make it obvious what's clickable." Because users are generally searching for the next clickable thing, they don't want to spend a lot of time search for clickable objects. Users should be able to distinguish links at a glance, so do not imbed links in text or pictures without clearly labeling them.

Question: While discussing eliminating puzzling information in a site, Krug says that users tend to spend a lot of time plodding through this information instead of trying another site. Do you think this is true? If so, why do you think users tend to stick to the initial page instead of searching elsewhere?

paper question

Is it supposed to be 3-4 pages single spaced or double spaced?? I remember her saying something about single spaced papers, but I don't know if that was involving our papers. If you could help me with this one, it would be a big help.

Thanks guys,
Kiel

Week 11: 3 Points and a Question

First of all, yay Krug. I think he does an excellent job of practicing what he preaches. His concepts are clear, concise, and to the point; he does not make the reader think. Although he accomplishes this, he finds a nice balance of still presenting a lot of useful information.

1) I tried my hand at designing a department's website before. The problem was that another girl and I collaborated on it and it was our first time designing a site and using the software Dreamweaver to do so. Needless to say, the outcome was somewhat disastrous. I think we abused every convention and the site was so cluttered that I'm assuming anyone who visited it probably left it frustrated. Our audience had to think very hard about what was a link, what wasn't a link, what path the should take, and almost every page was overloaded with information that nobody was going to read. I knew it was a failure because we constantly got phone calls from students asking about information that was located on the website, they just couldn't find it. I struggled with the other girl in organizing the site because we both had very different visions, and you could easily see that conflict portrayed in the site.

2) I love how Krug uses Amazon as the quintessential website because it really is a very well constructed site. It uses the classic "L" shaped design and his discussion about the use of tabs makes you wonder why no one else thought of this before. The site is incredibly easy to navigate, and all of the site entities are accessible on every page you navigate because of the tab system. I used to think that it was not the best site because it seemed very plain and unattractive, but aesthetics can easily take a backseat to ease of use.

3) I like his discussion about the number of clicks it takes a user to get where he/she wants to get. I personally find breadcrumbs helpful and like when sites use them because I think it explains a lot about the organizational structure of the site. It is crazy how many clicks you to do to get where you want, but what is more surprising is how easily I'll continue to click if I know it's getting me in the right direction and how easily I'll go to another site if the first click or two takes me nowhere. I think the hierarchical structure of the website is by far the most important aspect because it is what's going to drive the number of user who use it and continually come back to it.

Question: There are some absolutely huge websites out there with hundreds and thousands of pages. How does one easily organize such an overwhelming site so that the navigation is easy for users?

Question About the Paper

Dr. Fishman,

I'm wondering if we need a works cited page for our paper. I ask because we're currently doing a similar reflection paper for Dr. Howard's class and he mentioned that we didn't need one because we were all familiar with the readings etc. I wasn't sure if not having one was a convention of this type of paper or not.

Thanks,
RJ