SwiftKey Flow

By Oliver Wrede | Published: December 6, 2012

SwiftKey Flow is a way to use swiping for text input. It is supported by a selection of word predictions for quick completion:

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Qeexo detects different touch methods on an Android phone

By Oliver Wrede | Published: November 19, 2012

Qeexo wants to bring new dimensions of touch to interactive surfaces, and make better use of the natural richness of our hands! Fingers have many “modes” – they do not just poke, as contemporary touchscreen interaction would suggest, but also flick, rub, knock, grasp, and many other actions.

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SIGraDI 2012

By Oliver Wrede | Published: October 22, 2012

I will be giving a keynote presentation at SIGraDI 2012 conference in Fortaleza in the middle of November and I am looking forward to that.

It has been quite a while I visited northern Brazil for a conference. I was presenting on the 1st Software Design Conference in Campina Grande, Paraiba, in 1996. The Internet was a pretty new thing at that time. A lot has changed in the past sixteen years. The Internet and the World Wide Web were still pretty new things in many places of the world. There ware barely 0.5 million internet users in Brazil at that time — and now there are well over 50 million. I was introducing »Interface Design« and applied that to the new activity of Web Design. Websites have been very simple things at that time that basically anyone could do professionally in almost no time by just following some basic common sense principles. There was no CSS, no dynamic manipulation of HTML with JavaScript and web layouts were done by abusing tables with invisible borders. Since that time everything has matured: the technology, the standards, the design know-how, the business and the educational agendas.

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Testing World Outliner

By Oliver Wrede | Published: October 1, 2012

This is just a test with the WordPress editing tool of Dave Winers OPML Editor and Word Outliner software.

I owe Dave Winer a lot. He invented Frontier (which apparantly is running at the core of the OPML Editor). It got me into Blogging in 1996. I experimented a lot with it at the time an even wrote a bunch of plugins for that system. Out first univeristy blogging server was based on Frontier and UserLands Manila.

Dave is also an innovator of a rare kind and writes at scriptingnews.com. He is a developer by trade but also an Internet pioneer (or the other way around) — thinking about Internet culture and business like few do. He is always someone to listen to. He may be very subjective and personal from time to time — but we all are sometimes. He may be even wrong about things — but when he is right, he is often is dman right about it.

I lost track about what Dave is doing acouple of years ago (obviously still the same after all), but maybe I should tune in to him again. I also don’t know if I will spent more time with the World Outliner tool. But being able to edit my WordPress blog with it is a plus.

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New seminars for winter semester

By Oliver Wrede | Published: August 30, 2012

Two new seminars have been announced for the winter semester (details in German). These seminars are open to all students starting from 3rd semester.

»Data Transformation«

Lecturers: Prof. Dipl.-Des. Oliver Wrede

A seminar for information design interactive media in the context of topics like »Data Journalism«, Generative Gestaltung, »Big Data«, Datenvisualisierung, »Information Mapping«, Informationsgrafik, Data Mining, Open Data, Organic Information Design. Eventually we will use Processing for a lot of the practical aspects.

Seminar blog: campusphere.de/datatransformation

Note: There have been two older seminars to similar topics some years ago: »Code Visual« and »Dynamic Information Design«.

»Multi-Channel-Design – Design of holistic User Experiences«

Lecturers: Dipl.-Des. Wolfgang Gauss und Dipl.-Des. Markus Strick

The title says it all in this one. Students will work on topics like Responsive Design, Liquid Layout, Dynamic Layout, Scaled Content, Flexible Grids and Images, Responsive Imaging, Responsive Adds, Responsive E-Mail, Responsive Video, Cross Channel, Multi Channel, Smartphone, Tablet-PC, Touchpoints & Transmedia Story Telling, Customer Journeys, Use Cases, Device Complexity, User Experience Design, Interaction Design

Seminar blog: campusphere.de/multichanneldesign

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OK. Reset!

By Oliver Wrede | Published: August 30, 2012

Well, as this blog obviously shows: I simply did not have the time to blog in the past (the Twitter account is more active). The past years have been of that sort. There is too much going on and I started to contemplate for a moment if I should revoke the old blogging habit from the nineties an »blog to focus«. Problem of that is that much of that is confidential stuff from my consulting work. But maybe I could use the subjects to touch some overarching topics. Let’s try…

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The ROI of User Experience

By Oliver Wrede | Published: March 21, 2011

In this animated video Dr. Susan Weinschenk demonstrates how user centered design results in significant return on investment (ROI).

(PDF-Download)

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Hot Topics in Information Design

By Oliver Wrede | Published: August 14, 2010

I have accepted to work for the Information Design Journal as Special Interest Editor.

I want to think in the open about this:

What is a “hot topic” anyway?

In my view there are four criteria for any topic to be “hot”:

  1. the news value
  2. actuality
  3. amount of discussion in the community
  4. touching “high-level aspects”

The news value

The news value is a very hard to identify aspect. Some topics may be news to some and outdated to others. There is no “topic map” that shows the age of topics – hardly even an identified list yet (while there is a list of research fields and areas of expertise). So the news value pretty much comes down to a statistical evaluation of demand and interest in certain topics.

Actuality

In contrast to news value the actuality can also be high for older topics that have regained some attention recently. It can also be interesting, because it is reflecting about new developments and “game changing” or disruptive topics.

Amount & intensity of discussion

To define “amount of discussion” one needs to look at two things: the quantity of participation (e.g. the postings in discussion forums and mailing lists) and the level of dissent above consensus. Both values are hard to track.

Touching high-level aspects

Any submission in the “hot topic” section should focus on the identification and reflection about the topic itself — and its location in the overall topology of topics. So the direction of a submission should be “looking from inside out” or trying to define a bird’s eye view onto the subject.

Possible candidates

I went through some monographs, magazines, conference sites and journals and tried to identify an initial list of hot topics. This list is nothing more than a starting point – a first step.

  • Multi-touch user interface design
  • Making sense of the mobile technology
  • Visualizing complex matters
  • Visualization as political propaganda
  • Open government
  • Aligning sound and visuals in UI
  • Improving public transport
  • Intercultural communication

More steps will follow and this list will change.

Do you think there is a “hot topic” not in this list? I am constantly collecting material — do not hesitate to e-Mail or twitter-message me.

Posted in Design Discourse, Information Design | Leave a comment

G-Speak

By Oliver Wrede | Published: June 5, 2010

(Via Dynamic Information Design Seminar Blog)

Minority Report science adviser and inventor John Underkoffler demos g-speak — the real-life version of the film’s eye-popping, tai chi-meets-cyberspace computer interface. Is this how tomorrow’s computers will be controlled?

G-Speak is a really interesting concept. Right now I do not feel it is where it should be to be adopted on a broader scale: You need a certain environment with at least 2-3 square meters of space in front of a quite large screen.

I wonder if Microsoft will offer a extension to its Project Natal sensor some day — so that voice commands, body language and hand gestures create an immersive UI.

I can imagine that one day displays will cover complete walls so that you get a pretty cave-like situation. It is maybe time for another Display seminar?

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IA conference 2010

By Oliver Wrede | Published: May 15, 2010

I am at the IA Konferenz 2010 in Cologne (my hometown). Would have been a crime to miss this conference here. Met James Kalbach , Søren Muus, Jason Hobbs (I owe him a written commentary to his talk) and others…

I need to write more but until I find the time to do that I suggest to look at the twitter tag feed #iak10.

Update: Presentation slides start to arrive on slideshare.net.

Track 1 from IA Konferenz 2010

 

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Björn Hartmann: Enlightened Trial and Error

By Oliver Wrede | Published: March 15, 2010

Björn Hartmann (Stanford HCI Group) talks about the different prototyping tools he and his collaborators have built to address two research questions:

1) How can tools enable designers to create prototypes of ubiquitous computing interfaces?

2) How can design tools support the larger process of learning from these prototypes?

(Duration: 1 hour, 13 minutes; this is from Stanford’s HCI Seminar lecture series, February 2009; This is a more in-depth version of the talk Bjorn gave at Interaction 09)

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When faces become hyperlinks

By Oliver Wrede | Published: February 25, 2010

The algorithms for facial recognition have improved a lot in recent years. Here is a company showing a working prototype of a mobile app that recognizes faces and attaches links to social network layers to them:

The prototype was shown last year — but there was a live demo at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelone last week. Obviously the company that also created the polarrose.com service wants to turn this in to a real application.

The implications of this is shown in the video: when looked through the “eyes of the app” people virtually carry logos, brands, name tags and messages around.

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Create some music with Flash?

By Oliver Wrede | Published: January 21, 2010

There is a new release of the Hobnox Audiotool coming up! Until release you can play with iNudge:

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10/GUI & con10uum

By Oliver Wrede | Published: October 20, 2009

10/GUI (by Clayton Miller) is an novel approach to human-computer interaction. But it draws attention to the fine line designers will need to walk to effectively create physical human-computer interactions.

The video demonstrates the potential advantages of navigating within a desktop interface with up to ten fingers, rather than via a single cursor:

[More on fastcompany.com]

Posted in Interaction, Interface | 1 Comment

Mouse 2.0?

By Oliver Wrede | Published: October 7, 2009

These research prototypes for future computer mice by Microsoft are very interesting approaches:

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Next generation of devices: Tablets

By Oliver Wrede | Published: September 24, 2009

There have been many attempts to make a computer work from your pocket and without a keyboard. Apple is rumored to work on a tablet device. It has invented the Newton Message Pad over 15 years ago – which was a marvelous (but expensive) device at that time.

Microsoft is working on a new prototype that features a dual-screen called Courier. Here is a design mockup (published by Gizmodo) that shows how the device could look like:

Here is a discussion from TechViShow:

I’m am a little bit skeptical looking at the design mockup. And I think Microsoft should take a different course: finish the product in the lab and market it as “availbale now” instead of creating new vaporware.

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GPS + Compass + Motion sensors = Augmented Reality

By Oliver Wrede | Published: September 24, 2009

The new iPhone 3GS adds a compass to the set of sensors. Combined with the GPS, the motion detection sensor and some image change detection via the internal video camera, this enables a new breed of “augmented reality” applications.

NearestWiki for example displays WikiPedia entries about buildings and places in the vicinity.

NearestWiki is not the first augmented reality app for the iPhone, but it is the first that is not tied to a specific region or city (like Metro Paris)

Next versions of the iPhone may feature more precise sensors and a lower latency – giving a much better feeling (e.g. labels not jumping around in the scenery).

Posted in Disruptive, Interaction, Interface | Leave a comment

Introduction to HTML5

By Oliver Wrede | Published: September 22, 2009

Here is a very good introduction to HTML5 by Brad Neuberg that is a must see for web designers and developers – at least if you are new to HTML5:

Introduction to HTML 5 from Brad Neuberg on Vimeo.

Posted in Interaction, Interface, Programming | Leave a comment

Tinderbox goes Universal

By Oliver Wrede | Published: August 29, 2009

One of the tools I am using for years now is Tinderbox from Eastgate. I have used it for quite some time to write this weblog here (but swichted to WordPress + MarsEdit recently). Nevertheless I think Tinderbox is a helper in many ways – although there are always features that can be and will be missed.

With a retail price of $229 USD the tool is not cheap – but depending on the usage and potential productivity gain this can be a bargain.

tinderbox.jpg

If you are ready and able to write some export templates one can export almost anything to XML or HTML and turn that into layouted documents, presentations or websites.

The “magic” of Tinderbox is that it allows visual unstructured brainstorming and turn that into structured documents over time. But does not stop there like other mind mapping tools: by adding text notes, metadata, agents and actions that perform queries and manipulate data. So you can make your document smarter and add some automatism to it. There are endless ways to use Tinderbox and to make it fit to your brain.

After watching some screencasts you can read some examples of what people are doing with Tinderbox.

You can’t expect from Tinderbox: online collaboration, custom import of any data, direct export to MS Office documents and the like, table editing within notes, a programmable enviroment (alhtough actions and agents can do a lot already), a Windows version (supposed to be in the making).

Here is a software review by Natan Matias from Sitepoint.

Posted in Cognition, Practice, Tools | Leave a comment

Thoughts on Google Wave

By Oliver Wrede | Published: August 2, 2009

I am just collecting some thoughts about some observations and issues – while I am trying to understand Google Wave.

google_wave.jpg

(see a demo on their site)

Google Wave is an integrated set of technologies (with protocols that allow semi-synchronous editing of outlines and their federation across several servers). With this approach Google Wave solves some difficult technical and infrastructural problems.

But it also generates some new problems that need to be solved to make Google Wave a success — otherwise I think users will not adopt the system (which in case of Google will set the seal on this project I suppose!).

1. Misty horizon

Google Wave is a frameworked solution for things people did not ask for and communication processes that no one is practicing yet (but no one has really “asked” for the mouse as input device either!). It is hard to see where Google Wave is going to be. This breeds creation, but it also challenges the non-developer. There will be best practices, but it will take a lot of time to identify use cases that people can learn “to wave” with.

So Google Wave challenges the imagination – and few people will be able to answer the “What is it all about?” question easily. The horizon is schrouded in mist.

Possible approach: A potential solution to this is to start with guided tours (a LOT of them) showing very common and powerful use cases for different scenarios. This is probably going to happen when Wave gets closer to the public beta.

2. Asynchronous patterns

We have learned to communicate in a turn taking fashion. It is polite to let someone speak until he has finished before starting to respond. It is not polite for everyone to speak up at any time. Waves allow people to reply or edit without obeying to the turn taking pattern. This can cause “stress” and also a lot of misunderstanding. People could reply to a text, that is going to change without them noticing that. Their reply suddenly become nonsense – the playback feature could become the only way to percieve a conversation properly. But playback is new – people have learned that the threaded view is a chronology – but in Google Wave it is not (or not necessarily).

Even with the playback feature, people need to become aware of the asychronicity in Google Wave – and learn how to recap conversations correctly.

Possible approach: Find a very good way to understand the chronology of a wave (e.g. making the playback as fundamental for navigation of a wave like scrolling)

3. Information (over)flow

While Google Wave may integrate many messaging systems – it also generates a lot of density. Means of communication that were apart from each other – using different URLs and applications for each – are now combined. The crucial part of that is to understand which option is suited for what purpose.

With Waves being set to “updated” by displaying them in bold typeface and sorting it to become a top item in the inbox, this also means that things are brought to my attention that should remain buried for a good reason. Google Wave users would have to learn how to manageund understand the “Inbox” and the “Active” areas properly, to be able to get the most out of it.

Possible approach: Allow users very powerful and fine grained control over the way they are informed about updates.

4. Scattered spaces and framgmented scopes

One of the things that really can make things too complex to be comprehended properly is that people can read & write to waves – but replies can extend or narrow the scope (e.g. who may read and reply to a new item. Who is reading? Who am I replying to? Is this part really private or not? Am I releasing a secret to the public accidentally?)

With a view from a different angle: What I can see within a wave may be different to what someone else is seeing. To make my communication appropriate to the situation I need to be able to “read” from a different standpoint. It is required to understand when communication could fail on the recieving end.

Whenever I want to understand the perspective of someone else – in need to be able to represent his/her view in my mind. The change of scope for parts of a wave within that wave can make this difficult.

Possible approach: Make any changes of the scope (e.g. recipient list) within a wave very visible and allow users to navigate them.

Posted in Interaction, Interface, Tools | 1 Comment