At the end of last year, I contributed to a year-end roundup piece in A List Apart called “What I Learned About the Web in 2011.” I shared the most impactful lesson I had learned from various user research projects last year.

CONTEXT IS KING
The most important thing that 2011 taught me about web design is that physical context of use can no longer be assumed by platform, only intentional context can. For the past couple of years, we have gotten into the habit of presuming that mobile means on-the-go, desktop denotes a desk, and tablet is on the toilet. But increasingly the lines are blurring on where devices are being used and how they’re being used in unison. This year I have learned to see devices as location agnostic and instead associate them with purpose—I want to check (mobile), I want to manage (desktop), I want to immerse (tablet). This shift away from objective context toward subjective context will reshape the way we design experiences across and between devices, to better support user goals and ultimately mimic analog tools woven into our physical spaces.

When I had blogged about my reflections, Jim Nielsen commented that my thoughts had spurred him to create a graphic to represent my idea. I love it so much that I wanted to reblog it here.

Paul Boag also read my thoughts in ALA and wrote about his reaction in a post titled, “Device implies use not context.” In his case he’s using “context” to denote physical context, whereas I differentiated between physical context (location) and intentional context (intention of use). While he likes the notion of tying device to intent, he isn’t entirely sure he agrees with the intentions that I apply to each device.

What do you think of how I’m using device choice as an indication of intention and not location? Do you feel that my division of check/immerse/manage is a fair one?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts as I dig into this concept more deeply.

• What I learned in 2011 and my predictions for 2012
• Apple’s Most Notorious Flops
• Pleasure and Pain has gone mobile
• TweetDeck stream of consciousness
• Why I Don’t Have an iPhone (but might someday)

The NY Tech Meetup, founded by Meetup.com founder Scott Heiferman and co-founded by Dawn Barber, has more than 19,000 members and draws 800 attendees every month. Last year, NYTM became a 501(c)(6) non-profit organization incorporated in New York State and as a result now has a Board of Directors that steers the priorities of the organization. There is currently one open board seat and I am campaigning to be elected.

My mission as a member of the NYTM Board of Directors will be to relentlessly advocate for the needs and desires of our membership, and to ensure that their priorities mirror the priorities of the organization.

Voting is now open for all members of NYTM who have RSVPed to at least one event, and continues through December 20. If you qualify to vote, I hope you’ll consider me to be your candidate.

At a Meet the Candidates event at New Work City tonight, each candidate was given two minutes to share their platform. I have shared the full-text of my speech below.

If you have any questions or comments about my platform, please don’t hesitate to ask here in the comments or via email at whitney@whitneyhess.com.

Thank you for your support.

I’m a user experience designer. That means I help organizations create easy and pleasurable experiences for their customers. And as a 4-year member of the NYTM, I can tell you that the experience of being an attendee has significant room for improvement. From the ticketing process, to entering the venue, to event format, Q&A, exiting and after party. We’ve become a really big crowd and as we’ve scaled, we have lost a tremendous amount of the camaraderie that existed in earlier years without equally increasing the value that the event itself provides.

I’m a native New Yorker, run a UX consultancy here and have worked with dozens of Startups who have had the heart to set up shop in NY. Whether in their infancy or adolescence, 5 users or 500,000, I have taught them how to understand and empathize with their customers, deepen engagement and create long-lasting fans. I show companies how to make people’s lives better.

When people pay $10 to attend a meetup, and have to hover over their browsers waiting for tickets to become available like it’s a Justin Bieber concert, we need to make them feel like it was the best $10 they’ll ever spend. Tickets need to be easier to procure, both for first-timers and for members who have supported the meetup for years. There needs to be total visibility into the demo selection process, with some degree of input from the NYTM membership. The demos — and the moderation — should be professional and rehearsed, with no duds; we should be training presenters on how to communicate their vision and wow the audience. And for a tech meetup, there absolutely needs to be reliable and powerful wifi, no excuses.

That’s what I want to do for the NYTM and that’s what I hope you’ll help me do by electing me to the Board of Directors.

Thank you.

• NY Tech Meetup — March 2011
• I was asked to join the IAI Board of Advisors
• Congrats to the new IAI board members
• NY Tech Meetup — February 2009
• I’m running for the 2008 Information Architecture Institute board of directors

My dear friend and “girl developer” Sara Chipps has been making waves in the tech community with her new initiative Girl Develop IT.

Recently featured on ReadWriteWeb, Girl Develop IT strives to narrow the gender divide in tech by offering an extremely low-cost series of classes on programming to women who want to build their own software, launch their own companies, or just become well-versed in the capabilities of various languages in order to be a better collaborator.

Today, Girl Develop IT announced a new series called Foundations for Founders, and I’m honored to be among the teachers. Foundations for Founders is a series of master classes on Saturday afternoons, aiming to provide people with the basic skills that are needed to get their tech businesses off the ground.

So far the schedule is as follows:

October 09, 2pm: Lauren Leto “Getting Funded” Lauren founded the popular site Texts from Last Night and just got her second startup Bnter funded as well. She knows what it takes to be a successful woman in this field and get what you need to get your idea going. Finding people with resources is a huge step, Lauren will share her experience and pass on this wisdom to students.

October 16, 2pm: Spencer Fry “Hiring and Communicating with Developers” One of the largest frustrations I have seen with various founders I have met with is that they don’t know how to get their site actually built. It’s rough understanding what is needed when technology is a big black box. Spencer was not a developer when he started his site Carbonmade, however, he has learned how to sustain a great working relationship with a team while they create his vision.

October 23, 2pm: Campbell McKellar “Writing a Business Plan” This most basic part of starting a business is getting your ideas on paper. The founder of Loose Cubes has lots of practice. For those of us without our MBAs in business this can be a daunting task.

November 13, 2pm: Whitney Hess “Wireframing” A close friend of the Girl Develop IT! and a well recognized UX expert. She is going to walk our ladies through the process of becoming aware of the user experience. She is going to be showing them tooling that will help them do so and giving them a peek at her process.

I’ll let you know when registration opens up! Huge thanks to Sara for asking me to participate in this awesome initiative. I can’t wait to get started.

• Who is Spencer Fry’s mentor?
• I’m Speaking at Pittsburgh Web Design Day
• Developing a Website
• Web 2.0 Expo NY: Wednesday Keynotes
• I did the UX design for Brighter Planet

This month’s NY Tech Meetup was titled Rally for the Future. With almost 700 people in attendance at FIT’s Haft Auditorium, NYTM veered off its typical format of 7 presenters for 5 minutes each. Instead a wide variety of people gave impassioned arguments about how to bring New York to the forefront of the technology revolution. Some were compelling, others were unconvincing, and a couple were just plain strange.

Read my Twitter notes from the event below:

• NYTM is about to begin. Quite a lineup tonight! Can’t wait to see @tonybgoode on stage :)
• But the cell service at FIT still sucks
• Long rant by @heif telling us we don’t all need to be fixated on bringing 20th century problems into the 21st century. Some truth here
• It doesn’t help NY tech’s reputation when @heif constantly talks about how we need a “rebirth.” We aren’t dead. Look around
• Up now is the founder of Sustainable South Bronx. She’s talking about the factors that contribute to growth in at-risk areas.
• Up now is Transportation Alternative. He says we’ve become an urban society. Be healthy, work on sustainable technologies, walk places
• Now up is Ben from SeeClickFix. Report non-emergencies around cities by tagging them on Google Maps. It’s being used globally
• SeeClickFix has an incognito employee at the Department of Transportation who is anonymously using the site to fix problems around NYC
• Two dudes from U Mass Amherst are rallying us to scream FREEDOM and encouraging us fight to protect our freedoms.
• Now up is my dear friend @tonybgoode of @nwc! Wooohooo!
• - @tonybgoode telling us that in 10 years we’re all going to be working wherever we want. Laundromats, parks, daycare centers. Freedom
• Learn how to make the new working world a reality with @tonybgoode at http://bit.ly/nwcfuture conversation continues 2/12 @nwc
• Now up is @clayshirky on how the Twitterverse has gotten bland since it’s gone mainstream. I think I was talking about this last month
• - @clayshirky says that I’m the center of the universe. I knew it!
• Your diet affects your weight but your friends’ diets affect your weight too. Health is a social construct, not personal like we think
• Friend of friend networks may be the wrong scale. Studies show that we are affected by the 3rd circle (friends of friends of friends)
• This 3rd circle is the urban scale, or what @clayshirky likes to call the Serendipity layer. He thinks there’s unexplored value there
• “Narcissism has never been a bad business model.” — @clayshirky
• Mission statement for @NYTM is: “To support the NY tech community for its people and the world.” — Andrew Rasiej
• Andrew Rasiej says NYC is the best city in the world, but we need to do more to prove it. We’re stuck in the 20th century
• Guy from the MTA just up talking about how they”re putting out their data for “licensors” to make use of. Why not free? asks @orian
• Jacqueline of AcumenFund @jnovogratz is up now. She’s focused on using tech to bring dignity, not just wealth, to ppl around the world
• “The answers to the world’s problems aren’t that difficult. They’re fundamental to what it means to be human.” — @jnovogratz
• Now up is @aym The Alliance for Youth Movements. Using tech and social media to fight back against violence
• Editor of Tech Section of Huffington Post is up now talking about the future of media. “Media is put out before it’s thought out.”
• Rachel Stern of Ground Report is up now talking about the “new rules” of the new news economy. Real-time, never-ending cycle
• Citizen journalism in practice: 1st photo of US Airways flight landing on Hudson River was taken & posted to Twitter by non-journalist
• Jay Parkinson, pediatrician, is talking about the future of healthcare. Lots of numbers going up on the screen that I can’t capture
• - @lessin says we can no longer focus on small scope problems. “Real” problems have global scope and expand faster than we can control
• Reverend Billy and Church of Life After Shopping are parading down the aisles! #nytm http://tweetphoto.com/10278364

• NY Tech Meetup — March 2011
• NY Tech Meetup — February 2009
• I’m running for the Board of Directors of the NY Tech Meetup
• NY Tech Meetup — January 2009
• New to New York?

The world is rapidly changing. Do you realize what is happening around you? Do you understand the context in which the products and services you help to create will be used, reused, and repurposed? Ecosystems are paradigms are shifting so dramatically that the research you do at the beginning of a project may no longer be relevant by the end of it.

Last week Orian sent this tweet sharing an amazing video titled Did You Know? A presentation originally by Karl Fisch, mashed up by Scott McLeod and Jeff Bronman, the video illustrates the state of information technology in our universe. It’s staggering, and it makes me realize how ill-equipped we are to keep up. The status quo is officially over. What are you going to do to prepare for the new reality?

• Jeff Bezos says: obsess over customers
• Follow-up to “You’re not a user experience designer if…”
• A Book Apart: Empowering Fuzzy Teams in 100 Pages or Less
• Flickr introduces video
• Do Not Underestimate the Power of a Great PM

As some of you may know, I was computer scientist before I was a user experience designer. Because I was always on the computer, I was persuaded by an 8th grade teacher to enroll in the one high school computer science class when I entered the 9th grade, and I loved it so much that I took it every year thereafter until I graduated. It was my computer science teacher Charles Rice who encouraged me to look into Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science, where I eventually applied, was accepted, and three weeks into freshman year completely hated. I stuck it out for three semesters before switching to Professional Writing, ultimately picking up a double-major in Human-Computer Interaction and subsequently getting a Master’s degree in the same.

But wow, was I a computer science geek. My very popular, athletic, non-techie best friend in high school still insists that she always knew where to find me in the school building — the computer lab.

Today as I was poking around my external hard drive, I happened upon some old homework that I guess I saved off of my old Performa 6300. I don’t know how I managed to hold onto it all these years, but I’m so glad that I did.

Here are some excerpts of computer science homework that I found. Hope it gives you as much of a laugh as it gave me. I bet I got As ;)

From 9th grade:

Whitney Hess
December 19, 1996
Computer Science

Lab Report

For the third experiment we had to construct a 3-input AND gate using the 7408 chip. We could only have one wire to the LED and we were not supposed to have more than one wire from each switch, but that was my first experiment.

I purposely wired the board improperly for my first experiment to see why we were not allowed to have two wires coming from one switch. So I put 14’s wire to the power, 7’s wire to the ground, 1 and 2’s wires to the first and second switches. Because we were trying to create a 3-input AND gate, I put 3’s wire to the third switch instead of the the LED. Then, from the same switch that 3 was connected to, I linked a wire to the LED.

Truth Table for the 3-input AND gate when two wires went to the third switch

A B C D
0 0 0 0
1 0 0 0
0 1 0 0
0 0 1 0
1 1 0 0
0 1 1 0
1 0 1 0
1 1 1 1

Even though we were told not to link two wires from a switch, when I did so, I created a perfect 3-input AND gate. Only when all three switches were on did the LED turn on.

And from 10th grade:

Whitney Hess
November 5, 1997
Computer Science 2

Flip Flop

Experiment Description:
The purpose of this experiment was to understand how a flip flop works. We did this by producing a flip flop by wiring chip 7400 (with NAND gates). After wiring the chip we put both switches in the 1 position (on). Then to store a 1, we moved the set switch to 0 then to 1. To store a 0 we moved the reset switch to 0 then to 1.

Circuit Wiring Diagram:
See attached sheet

Truth Table:
Set Switch Reset Switch Result
A B C
1 1 0
0 1 1
1 1 1
0 1 1
0 0 1
1 0 0
1 1 0
0 1 1
0 0 1
1 0 1
1 1 0
0 1 1
0 0 1
1 0 1
1 1 0
0 1 1
0 0 1
0 1 1
1 1 1

Conclusion:
This experiment demonstrated how a flip flop works. One switch set the LED while the other reset it once switched to its off position and then to its on position.

Counting Chip/ Display Symbols

Experiment Description:
This experiment revealed how a computer counts using binary numbers and how digits are represented using a display. We wired a 7493 chip and recorded the status of the input LEDs and the appearance of the display symbol each time the pulser was pushed.

Circuit Wiring Diagram:
See attached sheet

Truth Table:
# of times pulser pushed Status of input LEDs Status of Display LEDs
A B C D 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1
1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0
2 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 1
3 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1
4 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0
5 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1
6 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 1
7 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0
8 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
9 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0
10 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1
11 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1
12 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0
13 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1
14 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1
15 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Questions:
1. Which LED is on the most?
They are all on the same amount of times.
2. Which LED will burn out first? Why?
All the LEDs will burn out at around the same time since they are all on the same amount.
3. Which display LED is on the most?
Display LED #4 is the one that is on the most.
4. Design an efficient display for alphabetic characters.

Conclusion:
This experiment demonstrated how the pulser can control the appearance of both the input LEDs and the display LEDs depending on the number of times the pulser is pressed. The input LEDs and the display LEDs also work in accordance.

Basic Gates

Experiment Description:
This experiment demonstrated how the three basic gates (AND, OR and NOT gates) can be incorporated into one chip in order to simplify circuits. We wired a 7400 chip (a NAND gate) and recorded the truth tables for each basic gate so that we could prove that all gates existed within the chip.

Circuit Wiring Diagram:
See attached sheet

Truth Tables:
AND gate OR gate NOT gate
A B C A B C A B
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0
0 1 0 0 1 1
1 1 1 1 1 1

Conclusion:
This experiment demonstrated how a three basic gates can be incorporated into one chip, the 7400 NAND gate chip. When you wire the chip to create an AND, OR or NOT gate, the gates will still operate without a wire to the ground. While a NOT gate is wired, it will still operate with only one wire going to the switch, but in the others the wires to the switches must be in place.

Boolean Logic

Experiment Description:
This experiment demonstrated how chips can be used for mathematical proof by wiring a combinatoric circuit to achieve the results of a Boolean logic expression. We created a combinatoric circuit by wiring three chips in pairs, 7432 and 7404, and 7404 and 7408. We proved Demogan’s Law which says that NOT (A or B)= NOT A and NOT B and that NOT (A and B)=NOT A or NOT B.

Circuit Wiring Diagram:
See attached sheet

Truth Tables:
NOT (A or B)=NOT A and NOT B: NOT (A and B)=NOT A or NOT B
A B C A B C
0 0 1 0 0 1
1 0 0 1 0 1
0 1 0 0 1 1
1 1 0 1 1 0

Conclusion:
This experiment proved that mathematical equations can be proved by wiring combinatoric circuits. The truth tables for both sides of the equations were the same, therefore the equations were accurate.

Unfortunately this is all I saved. Can’t seem to find any exe’s or code. But if I do, you know I’ll post it here!

• From the Archive: Changing Majors
• Macworld Expo 2008: Steve Jobs’ Keynote Speech
• I Am Not A Woman Blogger
• Who is Keith Lang’s hero?
• Why the new Skittles website is ridiculous but I don’t actually care

Last weekend, Orian and I flew down to Miami for BarCampMiami and Carsonified‘s Future of Web Apps (FOWA). Unfortunately I caught a cold and we missed most of BarCamp, but at least we made it to Fraser Kelton‘s presentation on AdaptiveBlue‘s Glue — a browser add-on that lets you see what your friends think about stuff all over the web [I plan to write an in-depth review of Glue soon].

The Future of Web Apps took place on Monday, February 23 (workshops) and Tuesday, February 24 (conference). We only attended the second day, a one-track lineup of some of the biggest names in the business. Celebrity certainly draws a crowd, but I have to admit that the whole day was pretty underwhelming and uninspiring. It seems the only session that actually dealt with the future of web apps — “How to create powerful web app user interfaces using Objective-J and Cappuccino” from 280 North — was the one we missed when we got caught up in a hallway conversation with Fraser, Alex Iskold (founder of AdaptiveBlue), and Alex Hillman (a.k.a. @alexknowshtml). While the conversation was great, it was a bummer that we missed one of the few, if not the only, insights into what’s next.

The lineup was as follows:

• Getting Real 2.0 – Jason Fried, 37 Signals
• What is the Future of the Browser – Dion Almaer and Ben Falbraith, Mozilla
• Open Strategy :: Applied – Dan Theurer, Yahoo
• Scaling your tech team – Joe Stump, Digg
• Outisde the interface: more words to worry about – Kristina Halvorson, Brain Traffic
• Order from Chaos – Future of the Web – Aza Raskin, Mozilla
• Facebook Connect – Dave Morin, Facebook
• How to achieve tech team nirvana – Joel Spolsky, Fog Creek
• Brand 2.0 – Alex Hunter, Virgin
• How to create powerful web app user interfaces using Objective-J and Cappuccino – Francisco Tolmasly, 280 North
• Ryan Carson interviews Joel Spolsky and Jason Fried
• A typical rant – Gary Vaynerchuk, Wine Library TV

Naturally, I did my best to capture it all on Twitter. My wi-fi connection was spotty, so there are more holes here than I’d like, but you’ll get the idea. Overall, it’s safe to say that I wasn’t terribly impressed, and would have greatly preferred to see a series of truly innovative web apps by startups and corporations around the world that are actually changing the game, not just a bunch of product pitches and trite advice from the usual suspects. Maybe I’m too immersed in the conference circuit and I’ve just heard it all before. I hope that’s the case, and that the other 300 or so attendees really got something of value out of it.

My Twitter notes are below:

• About to head into the Adrienne Arsht Center for #FOWA Miami
• I’m Twittering from the Future of Web Apps in Miami http://events.carsonified.com/fowa/2009/miami
• If you don’t want to follow my #fowa tweets, feel free to unfollow. Follow @whitneyhesslive to find out when I’m done so you can re-follow

Getting Real 2.0 – Jason Fried, 37 Signals

• Jason Fried of @37signals is on the stage. He was going to give his “Getting Real” talk, but decided instead to do something new
• He’s talking about products that are organically built on the byproducts of what we do every day. Getting Real generated $1mil last yr
• Jason Fried: @garyvee just owned a wine shop, and was doing all this other stuff to support it. But that other stuff rocketed him
• Famous chefs a great example of this. They don’t just cook food. They have books, TV shows, kitchenware, etc. They share themselves
• “The best thing to do is share the information” Think about your byproducts, don’t be afraid of your competitor learning your secrets
• “Free is the wrong direction for this industry” — Jason Fried. “Free is not the future of business; it’s the future of failure”
• Charging for something doesn’t mean you’re going to survive, but it’s a lot easier for services who don’t charge to die
• Pownce bought by SixApart, I Want Sandy bought by Twitter. Lots of users left with no service.
• Even Google has decided that certain things aren’t worth giving away for free.
• “Somehow failure became cool.” — @jasonfried Wouldn’t tell a farmer to fail early & fail often. Why do we think it’s ok in software?
• Look for your byproducts. Don’t focus on failure. Pay attention to successes. Start charging for your products — @jasonfried
• Most @37signals users on paying plans starting on paying plans. “Free converts, but pay converts better.” — @jasonfried
• Don’t focus on the competition. We’re in a world where 100 companies doing the same thing can be very successful — @jasonfried
• People are going to start trusting free services less and less. Users want to know that the company has a vested interest in surviving

What is the Future of the Browser – Dion Almaer and Ben Falbraith, Mozilla

• Up now: Dion Almaer and Ben Galbraith of Mozilla on “What is the future of the browser?”
• Ben Galbraith & @dalmaer showing old Netscape browser. Audience chuckles. They’re saying that browsers are actually getting simpler
• @jjg gets a shout out for coining the term “AJAX”– Web has come a long way since the invention of AJAX. Expectations are much greater
• We all thought Mapquest was cool until we used Google Maps. Once something better comes along, your expectations are changed forever
• All that browsers really give us are text, rectangles and graphics. But lots of technologies have been built on top to do so much more
• The Mozilla guys are talking about Canvas — games, image manipulation in the browser. In Chrome, Firefox, Opera, but not IE
• Fast JavaScript totally changes what you can do in your web app. “It can power really expensive algorithms in the browser”
• Ben Galbraith showing a video of internet latency. “This is something we need to guard against”
• Twitter timeout for geeky stuff I don’t understand
• @orian next to me getting turned on by talk of the Palm Pre
• Mozilla Labs working on Bespin, v1 launched last week. High-performance code-editing environ in browser https://bespin.mozilla.com/
• Delicious Library http://delicious-monster.com/ lets you scan your books into your comp using iSight camera
• Mozilla guys just showed photo of Jared Leto looking hot, and another looking fat. “Different interface, same implementation”
• If you don’t want to follow my #fowa tweets, feel free to unfollow. Follow @whitneyhesslive to find out when I’m done so you can re-follow

Open Strategy :: Applied – Dan Theurer, Yahoo

• Dan Theurer @dantheurer of Yahoo! on the stage now talking about openness. Unfortunately his slides are corrupt so he’s winging it
• Carsonified is building a new web app called Truvay http://truvay.com Top secret, Ryan won’t tell us what it does. Silly

Scaling your tech team – Joe Stump, Digg

• Joe Stump @joestump, Digg’s lead architect, is up now talking about “Scaling your tech team”
• @joestump saying that all developers are stubborn, lazy, whiners :-P
• Developers are eccentric. @Joestump telling story about dev who required shower installed in his office – does his best thinking there
• How to scale your dev team: Lower barriers. Recognize that Jedis are rare, & you need to keep them focused on their core competencies
• Digg has four dev teams. They use Basecamp to collaborate, Track to track bugs. They’re semi-Agile and have daily scrum

Outisde the interface: more words to worry about – Kristina Halvorson, Brain Traffic

• @kristinahalvorson taking time out of her presentation to discuss why there are so few women on the speaker circuit
• @orian gave me his computer so that I could tweet this, my wifi is all f’ed up
• @halvorson asked Ryan Carson @ryancarson & Chris Messina @factoryjoe to sit on the stage w her to talk about the lackof women speakers
• I don’t think that the lack of women speakers is the conf organizers fault. I think it’s the women’s fault. Put yourself out there!
• @ryancarson asking people to send him ideas for great women speakers tagged with #fowaspeak
• @factoryjoe: we need more diversity throughout. Been an issue for BarCamp as well. Friends need to encourage each other to contribute
• Thanks to @orian for being so selfless. I’m out

Order from Chaos – Future of the Web – Aza Raskin, Mozilla

• Rule #1 for running a conference: make sure speakers can show the slides they spent weeks working on
• Aza Raskin of Mozilla is on the stage talking about “chaordic” nature of open source
• Aza proving that it’s very difficult for us to talk about people without personalizing them — so why do computers dehumanize us?
• @azaaza says we need to stop thinking of things as technical problems and start thinking about them as people problems
• “IM is people with the web tacked on. The browser is the web with people tacked on.” — @azaaza
• Since the presentation is broken at FOWA, @azaaza isn’t able to demo Ubiquity. Check it out here: http://is.gd/1Wns
• The concept of Ubiquity: web content is disconnected, and *you* have to go to it. Instead what if everything came to you?

Facebook Connect – Dave Morin, Facebook

• Dave Morin @davemorrin from Facebook is up now.
• @davemorrin talking about Facebook connect. “Web isn’t about information anymore, it’s about people.” Wasn’t it always?
• Facebook Connect is the first step in enabling everyone on the web to break down walls between applications and around Facebook
• Facebook Connect: identity, friends and feed
• Why is a Facebook Connect pitch part of the *Future* of Web Apps? Facebook Connect is in the present. What’s next?

How to achieve tech team nirvana – Joel Spolsky, Fog Creek

• Joel Spolsky @spolsky is now on stage talking about “How to achieve team nirvana” http://www.joelonsoftware.com/
• @spolsky just showed this hilarious Best Buy image making fun of Circuit City: http://is.gd/kI7R
• “Stop making social networks. They’ve all been made. There’s only going to be one micro-blogging platform: Twitter” — @spolsky
• @spolsky is showing off his very cool Fog Creek offices http://fogcreek.com with private offices for developers to concentrate
• @spolsky showing pic of the Mahalo office, all open desks. “If you ever happen to get in the zone, you’ll quickly be taken out of it”
• Mahalo offices: http://is.gd/kIfV
• At Fog Creek, meetings are always scheduled for right after lunch. Lots of snacks in the office. Showers. Flowers in the bathroom.
• @spolsky justifying his $849 Aeron chairs for each developer by showing that they’re only $1.63 per dev per week cuz they last 10 yrs
• Breaking bread together every day is critical for team dynamic. Daily team meal keeps them all motivated, connected — @spolsky
• Sucks that #FOWA Miami website has already been taken down. I was using the schedule to tweet. @RyanCarson are you aware of the problem?

Dave McClure, surprise guest

• @davemcclure is on the stage now with his AARRR presentation http://tinyurl.com/2gxq4q
• If you don’t want to follow my #fowa tweets, feel free to unfollow. Follow @whitneyhesslive to find out when I’m done so you can re-follow

Brand 2.0 – Alex Hunter, Virgin

• Alex Hunter @cubedweller from Virgin is now on the stage talking about “Brand 2.0″
• @cubedweller asks the audience: “How are you going to get us [consumers] to love you [brand]?”
• @cubedweller just showed the “JUMP! You Fuckers” sign outside the NYSE http://is.gd/kIuJ
• @cubedweller says about our generation: “We’ve all been fitted with bullshit detectors.” We know when we’re being marketed to
• @cubedweller is demo’ing new Virgin.com feature to the public for the very first time. It’s essentially a community reputation system
• @cubedweller just gave a huge shout out to http://rokkan.com, the agency who helped develop this upgrade to Virgin.com

Ryan Carson interviews Joel Spolsky and Jason Fried

• @spolsky & @jasonfried on the stage w @ryancarson, but I’m not finding the Qs particularly probing. Wish I could interview these guys
• Really disappointed that there weren’t any user experience practitioners on the presenter lineup at FOWA today. We cannot be ignored!

Aza Raskin back to demo Ubiquity

• @azaaza finally giving his demo of Ubiquity http://tinyurl.com/5lf7n7 Looks pretty damn sweet!

Gary Vaynerchuk, Wine Library TV

• “Most people in business are thin-skinned, have no passion for what they do and are in it for the money” — @garyvee. Dead on
• @garyvee says that the sucky people are going to lose jobs and people with real skills are going to flourish = “market correction”
• “Go back to your hotel room, look in the mirror and ask yourself, ‘Why am I at this company that sucks straight shit?’” — @garyvee
• “If you don’t know where you want to end up, you’re broken.” — @garyvee
• @garyvee says he needs to hustle more. He’s doing too many speaking gigs and videos, and neglecting other projects
• “Everyone needs to stop crying, stop worrying, and [do something].” Stop talking about failure. Who’s the judge?
• That’s all folks. I’m done live-Twittering from the Future of Web Apps in Miami. Thanks for listening!

• Web 2.0 Expo NY: Wednesday Keynotes
• Web 2.0 Expo NY: Jason Fried’s “10 Things We’ve Learned at 37signals”
• Find me at Web 2.0 Expo NY this week
• Facebook Chat
• I’m Speaking at Pittsburgh Web Design Day

In the midst of everything last week, I attended Dan Saffer‘s presentation Wednesday night at the IxDA NYC monthly meet-up, hosted at the beautiful R/GA offices (I particularly like the gated courtyard/parking lot in front of the building).

Dan gave the same talk at Web 2.0 Expo NY earlier in the day, but I had missed it to see Jason Fried, and honestly I was more excited to see it among my interaction design colleagues. Unfortunately I had to bounce as soon as he finished his talk in order to make it to a family dinner, so I missed the 30+ minutes question and answer period. Still, I was incredibly impressed with the content, the obvious abundance of research that went into it, and the pared down, organized and clear way it was presented. This is just a small selection from Dan’s upcoming book titled, Interactive Gestures: Designing Gestural Interfaces coming out this fall. Pre-order it on Amazon now!

There’s a lot of interesting stuff here, and it’s important for us to know how the technology is evolving in order for us to be ready to design useful, usable and pleasurable interfaces for it in the near future.

My Twitter notes from the talk:

• IxDA does NOT have membership dues (unlike most other organizations of its kind), but donations are welcome. http://ixda.org
• Overwhelming response for this talk. 100s were turned away
• Public bathrooms are becoming interaction design labs. The “air blade” hand dryer, “unfortunately named product”
• Touchless remote control from Bang & Olufsen. T-Mobile’s touch wall. Microsoft Sphere. All examples of “gestural interfaces”
• Physics involved in representing how objects would actually move, but in a virtual space
• Not surprising that we’re seeing these interfaces. We’re not meant to sit still at a desk. We’re designed for hunting/gathering
• David Little: “We’re using bodies evolved for hunting…for tasks like word processing and spreadsheet tweaking”
• “We’re in the midst of an interaction design revolution” — @odannyboy
• How do we design for interactive gestures? Agenda: brief history, touch targets, documenting, prototyping, choosing appropriate gestures
• HP 150 first touchscreen computer in 1983. VideoPlace, rooms w/ cameras, ppl could interact b/w. Simon, 1993, touchscreen mobile
• Now, airline check-ins, vending machines. Two types of interactive gestures: touchscreen (aka TUI, single & multi), free-form (wide)
• Free-form: the Clapper!
• Wii-mote has multiple sensors for multiple gestures. Orientation, tilt, etc
• Kinesiology & physiology: What can the physical body do?
• Hands can do more than we give them credit for. Fingerpads, 8-10mm wide. Touch targets have to fit in that area
• Fingers: fingernails (blessing & curve), fake ones (evil, plastic doesn’t conduct electricity), finger oil, prints, left-handedness
• Accessibility issues, wrist support, gloves, inaccurate, attached to hand (aka screen coverage).
• Be aware that user might not be able to rest their wrists. Fingers are inaccurate when compared to a cursor
• Beware that the hand may cover over key elements on the screen. Labels should be above interface elements
• 4 types of touchscreens: resistive (pressing 2 layers together creates event), surface wave, capacitive, infrared
• Touch target size: Fitts’ Law still applies! Time it takes to get to target = distance to target / size of target
• A quarter is 25mm, dime 18mm, keyboard 15mm, BlackBerry key 8mm, iPhone key 5mm
• Iceberg tips: must hit specific point. Adaptive points: iPhone expands target of letter if it can guess that it’s your next letter
• Traditional UI elements to watch out for: cursors, mouseovers/hovers, double-click, right-click, selected default buttons, undo
• Touchscreens better to activate the event on *release* and not click
• Gestural interfaces documentation is like dance notation. But annotated wireframes still work. More architectural. Keyframes
• Sometimes easier to draw the action than to write it out, which could lead to misconceptions about how it’s supposed to work
• More context, clarity: storyboards. Swim lanes framework (scenario, technical level, business level, etc). Animation for timing
• Movies can demonstrate scenarios.
• Prototyping gestures: low-fidelity (paper constructions) need “the man behind the curtain” to make it work. High-fidelity are exact
• High-fidelity prototypes can use off-the-shelf products. DIY require electronics and industrial design, quite complex
• Turning gestures into code: variables (what’s measured), data (from sensor), computation, patterns, action
• Sensors need to convey presence (hey, I’m here) and instruction (this is how you use me)
• Far away, observation is often how we learn to use it. Interaction, at a closer range, to figure out what we can do with it
• “Attraction affordance” brings people into the interface in a low risk way, like the iPhone’s Unlock feature. Gets you involved
• Written instruction: “Touch here to start” like on NYC Metrocard vending machines. You can actually touch anywhere to start!
• Illustration: motion-activated paper towel dispenser shows you to wave. Demonstration: Wii shows how to make gesture in context
• Determine appropriate gesture: available sensors and input devices, what task needs to be performed, physiology of human body.
• ergonomics of human gestures: avoid hyperextensions and repetition, allow to relax muscles, etc.
• Obvious but true: complicated gestures for more complicated actions
• Naoto Fukasawa: “Best designs dissolve into behavior”

• Video of Dan Saffer’s talk “Tap is the New Click” at IxDA NYC
• Get a 15% discount to DelveUI in NYC
• Twitter talk at the IxDA NYC Recap of Interaction 09
• MFA in Interaction Design at the School of Visual Arts in NYC
• IxDA Interaction 09: Day 2

The design team at work recently switched to Macs and we’re running VMware Fusion for things like Microsoft Office, SharePoint and our proprietary trading software.

There are some pretty cool things about VMware that are worth calling out before I get into the rough stuff. VMware has a feature called “Unity mode” (similar to Parallels’ Coherence) that allows you to use Windows-based apps as though they’re native to your Mac; they sit on the Dock, move around in Exposé and Spaces, have the same shadow around them as your other Mac windows do.

Watch the video about it below:

Unfortunately, not everything about VMware is hunky-dory. So far my absolute biggest pet peeve is that Ctrl-click activates the context menu, even using a two-button mouse. And yep, that means Ctrl-click doesn’t let me select multiple non-consecutive items in Outlook. This is killing the organizer in me! I compulsively file my emails, and now I need to drag each message over from the Inbox to its folder one at a time. The worst part is that I can’t find a workaround to this anywhere.

For other quirks, VMware Fusion offers release notes — what I like to call “We’re really sorry for these bugs.” A few issues may be the result of running Leopard, like this particular doozy:

If you are running VMware Fusion in Unity view in one space but working in another space, the appearance of a popup window (for instance, an Outlook calendar event reminder) in the VMware Fusion virtual machine can cause Spaces to jump back and forth between the two virtual desktops.

Also annoying is that Unity view doesn’t work with multiple monitors; all windows must be contained within one monitor.

That’s all I have to report for now. As I continue to use the virtual machine, I’m sure I’ll encounter other oddities. For now, it’s pretty empowering to be able to run multiple operating systems side by side, even if it means putting up with some small hassles here and there… and if anyone knows of a fix for the Ctrl-click issue, please let me know!

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• Twitter Blocks
• Bluefly don’t bother me
• I bought a MacBook Air!
• Visualizing First-Time Interactions at SXSW

I’m Jewish and I’m single, so it shouldn’t be any surprise to you that I’m on JDate. It’s raining and I’m home on a Friday night, so obviously I signed on. And what did I see? The JDate Toolbar!

I’ve used JDate on and off for years, and one day when I have the time and energy I’ll do a full usability evaluation of the site — and boy does it suck. But when I saw this I simply couldn’t wait to post it. Unfortunately I don’t have a PC so I can’t install the toolbar, and I have no intention of installing it at work.

As noted on the landing page, the JDate Toolbar “gives you fast access to JDate’s key features, including your inbox, matches and Hot List. You also get immediate notifications when other members send you a message, so you’ll never miss a chance to meet someone special.”

If they think I could lose the chance to meet that someone special in the 10 seconds it takes to log on to the site, I guess I’m screwed — and not in a good way.

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