Tag: Reboot 8

Rough notes for Jesse James Garrett – Keynote

Adaptive Path intro

  • Big & small clients
  • Elements of UX: “understanding tool”
  • “the AJAX guy”

Problem

  • We know little about people, hard to make good guesses
  • IA is about finding ways to make better guesses, but they’re still guesses

Techniques:

  • Card sort: primitive, low tech
  • New approach: just give up, create a system for users to create their own architecture (tagging)
  • Problems (no such thing as magic): insider language, controlled vocabulary non existent, most popular is not necessarily the best, tag spam, tagbombing

How to improve tagging? First step towards user generated IA From explicit IA woes to implicit user generated IA

Example: Amazon

  • Algorithmic architecture
  • Individual and aggregate data combine to create generated IA

Next step for algorithmic architecture

  • use them in the right place
  • make them transparent to the user

Better data

  • Two flavors: about content (metadata) and about users (now: user research, in thee future…)
  • Usability testing is like blind man’s cane
  • Better canes aren’t the answer, make the blind see
  • Instrumented interfaces: having a site be a continuing experiment and feed back data to designers
  • Example of Amazon URL: domain, CMS junk, prod. ID, interface tag, session ID
  • Interface tag tells you where users were clicking on a page
  • Search results: use query ID, tells you about search terms used

Example of baseball statistics

  • Start simple, then go to basic math, then to complex calculations

Getting data isn’t enough

Ethics

  • Separate behavioral data from Influence corporate policy

Early days

  • Real potential is still untapped, we need better analytics tools

Questions Q Collaborative filtering only tells you what choices were made, not what all possible choices were? A How do we preserve serendipity, don’t get locked in feedback loops? People have been working to reintroduce serendipity.

Q How do we prioritize common knowledge about communicating visited links? A Is it necessary to communicate it? He thinks it’s an open question.

Q Is Amazon now in the business of pushing this tech? A They’re certainly moving in the direction…

http://reboot.dk/wiki/Beyond_Tagging:_User-Generated_Information_Architecture

Winding down after day 1 of Reboot 8.0

I’m kicking back and relaxing while listening to a weird and crazy talk on media hacking. Before we were entertained by the great Ben Hammersley talking about how we all could become renaissance men. The diner buffet was excellent just as the rest of the day before that.

Reboot 8.0 up to now has lived up to the hype created by previous year’s edition. The quality of talks is generally high both in content and execution, excepting a few disappointments.

I have hundreds of photos to sort through on my camera, maybe I’ll be able to upload a few before retiring for the night. Otherwise it’ll have to wait for tomorrow.

Rough Notes for Mika Raento – Zero-effort media use

What happens if media capture equals media annotation, archival, sharing and presentation?

Hypothesis:

Zero effort in annotation: annotation when you capture. Use data from surrounding (GPS, devices, etc.)

Archive and sharing – tie-in with Flickr.

Download them and showing them as a screensaver.

Merkitys-Meaning

Annotation using tags isn’t enough because they’re just strings.

Effort & value: low effort = low value.

Low effort can lead to low demands and expectations.

Privacy is dead? Without privacy there’s no intimacy.

Photos are often boring without knowing from who they are or hearing a story.

New niche in media use ecology: personal broadcasting effortless captured media.

Microsoft MyLifeBits. Shows media activity during the day. When shown as screensaver people were interested.

Bluetooth id’s, privacy issues, choice, design.

http://reboot.dk/wiki/Zero-effort_media_use

Rough notes for J.P. Rangaswami – Keynote

His blog’s Confused of Calcutta.

Pays homage to Doc Searls et. al. for the markets are conversations concept.

He’s not yet stupid enough to believe in his own propaganda.

He’ll take a graveyard approach — things that should die. And then show things that should live.

Border-less World: globalization, disinter-mediation and internet.

Initially language was word of mouth. This was tricky because there was no persistence, that came with writing, then with printing came reproduction. The internet brought sharing.

Metcalfe’s Law, and such have had an impact on the things we’re doing know.

He prefers thinking about information as opposed to technology.

Work of Engelbart and others allow us to consume information.

Then came Wordstar and Visicalc to allow us to create structured data. The browser allowed us to start consuming unstructured data.

The web became live (Doc’s words) with introduction of blogs and such.

Empowerment of people.

Assembly line production approach to humanity is bullshit and doesn’t skill.

We were denied the drive to bond.

Internet as source of neutrality

Identity is not of the individual but of the group (e.g. old-style passport: “I know this person would you please look after him”

Things that are dead:

  1. Device locking – you should be able to use the device you’re comfortable with for communication
  2. Marketing – move from CRM (customer exploitation), invert pyramid move from selling to buying, make it easier to buy something don’t enforce a sale
  3. Privacy – semantic web will kill privacy? BS – concept of personal space is culturally determined, DRM is pushed to create walled gardens around digital content we would rather have be free “if you want to keep a secret, don’t tell anyone!”
  4. Copyright & IPR – priests didn’t like printing, the idea to start closed is not what humans are about, it should be the other way around

Starbucks exist because of the web, because they needed to do something with the high street shopping space.

Taylorism & McLuhanism are evil!

Content is an evil word!

We have to start claiming back things we have lost.

Litigious society should die too, contracts are evil by nature. Please don’t get married. Covenant relationships are much better, you want to fix them not look for blame.

Longevity hasn’t changed – we have to simplify, enfranchise people to prevent info overload. A basic computer should for instance have a battery by default.

Our world has already gone virtual.

What happens to a person’s blog when he dies?

One should be free to choose whether to use social software.

If you want good to be said about you – do good.

Don’t stop and sensor people, it’s about relationships, do the right thing.

Example: rateyourteacher.co.uk

Rough notes for T.L. Taylor – Play

MMOGs have roots in RPGs and MUDs.

Software and service.

Ultima, EverQuest, Wow…

Social contexts

MMOGs isn’t anti-social. Social isn’t icing on the cake. Social is the substance of the game. It’s key.

On- and offline connections mix.

Emergent social activity. E.g.: “guilds”; trust, responsibility, reputation.

Game devs aren’t giving players the tools to be social. Focus is on artefact first.

Rough map of guild – connections between players are offline

Transcript of in game chat. Lots of offline connections.

“Friends are the Ultimate Exploit”

EULA: sharing accounts is not allowed (in EQ).

Collaboration and teams:

Complex coordinated actions.

Co-creative culture

Players also produce and design. Emergent culture and technologies that change the game…

Players change the product in deep ways.

Game in box is just part of larger game space.

WoW opens up UI for players to change. Big differences between players.

Cheating – modification of game is debated.

IP – who should be the designer, what’s play?

Selling avatars on eBay. Game companies own the avatar so it’s not allowed. Embodiment – you don’t own your body!

In EQ there was a lot to do about fanfic.

WoW in game protests. “Protesting in game is not a valid way to give us feedback.”

Are game worlds public space? Or not because they’re corp. owned?

Commodification of culture. Designers want control over players / users. Let go!

Things that are happening in game are examples of bigger issues such as: UX, IP, mash-ups, P2P, etc.

Book: Play Between Worlds, T.L. Taylor.

Questions:

What about scale? Do these thoughts apply to smaller games? We need smaller games to experiment with governance and such.

Is there an end to the game? “End” is player-defined… Games should be better at helping people leave.

Can these games become the new platforms for productivity? There’s a lot of mumbling, but no-one knows. You pick up valuable skills while playing.

Does this apply to alternate reality games? E.g. ILoveBees… She did a piece on Majestic. Beta during 9/11. It was mixed with reality.

How can we use traditional ethnographic thinking? The work isn’t comparative enough to make any strong statements.

http://reboot.dk/wiki/Play

Rough notes for Matt Webb – Making Senses

Navigational metaphor. How to use senses.

5 human senses for features of next gen web browser.

Sight Distance – short distance is meaningful People who are looking Peripheral vision Moving through world – active vision All about surface, we only see cover, spectacle

What is sight?

Idea: sitemapdb. Zoals CDDB maar dan voor sites. Crumbtrail, local nav, search.

Smell We’re embedded in smell, we move through it. It’s a mute sense. Maybe we’re moving to smellspace rather than spectacle. Categories for smell are culturally dependent. 5 categories.

Bad meat: no mistake. Code has bad smell sometimes.

For browser we need taste too.

Taste Is active smell. Destroy things in our mouth. Flavor is taste, smell and sight as well.

Voorbeeld: screen grab, page type, terms.

Voorbeeld voor smell: browsing trend, heatmap, all links.

Moving away or towards a smell. Smell like barometer.

Sound Is like sight, it’s spatial. Sound is like smell too. Sound is signal of s’thing alive. Hearing is rhythm analysis.

Idea #4: identified rhythm, others to visit. Who else resonates with me? We could meet each other. Assistance. Make visible personal map of browsing. Map that’s just a map.

Touch Not sure. Touch is low res. Like everything else. Not good for look ahead. If you feeel it, you’re too late.

It’s all browsers do right now. Like stumbling around dark building. We can only flinch. Generalise it, create undo (for ajax).

Scientology

What does sense involve?

  1. reception
  2. perception
  3. instant perception

More senses

  • Balance
  • Echolocation
  • Magnetic
  • Electroceptive (vogelbekdier!)

Echolocation Sense of closeness. WWII listening ear. Before radar. Virtual glove = mobile phone. Use it to change channel.

Magnetic It’s like GPS! Sound that gets louder when you near decision point.

Electroception Use of peripheral vision. Infostreams. Ambient. Feed forward before something happens.

E.g.: Emergency eject before something bad happens.

Other senses

  • Danger
  • Quantity
  • Good or bad
  • Dereferencing

Step back: summarize

Reception isn’t enough we need perception.

Why now?

Wayfinding – “The Image of the City” – direct toepasbaar op grote websites. Direct manipulation is dominant. Navigating isn’t enough.

Data exists everywhere and we’re just revealing it.

Renaissance of the senses.

Before pangea – early cambrian period. Illustration of sea floor. Dirty seas – only touch on surface. Seas clear, light penetrates, sight and senses were necessary. Ideas in book are nonsense but designers can use it. We’re in the same situation. Oceans of internet are clearing. We’re building super senses.

End. No questions?!

http://reboot.dk/wiki/Making_Senses

Ruwe notities van Michael Thomsen’s keynote

Wat is renaissance?

Waarom van computer naar innovatie – vanwege blinde vlek voor massive change.

Eigen en andere ogen openen voor innovatie.

Digitale tech. is alomtegenwoordig, dus we moeten verder kijken dan technische issues.

Op verzoek van Thomas verhaal over renaissance.

Concept is vaag en moeilijk te plaatsen in moderne context.

Teveel conferenties over “kleine dingen” (RFID, etc.)

Renaissance met grote R – weg uit de middeleeuwen. Opkomst van humanisme en individualisme.

Westerse wereld is niet klaar voor wedergeboorte. Ogen openen van blinde man is moeilijk.

Renaissance met kleine r + vraagteken: betere aanpak maar mogelijk antiproductief.

Niet proberen wiel opnieuw uit te vinden, focussen op grote issues.

Derde perspectief: focus op comm. tech.

Comm. tech. invloedrijk in opkomst en ondergang van beschavingen.

Opmerkelijk vroeg succes: oude Egypte. Sumerische cultuur schrift ontwikkeld over 5000 jaar. Egypte heel snel. Tempo van ontwikkeling in samenleving nam ook toe.

Alfabet werd niet herkend als superieur aan hiërogliefen. Elite had liever laatste: blindheid voor verandering.

Semieten namen alfabet wel over. Instrumentaal in opkomst in monotheïsme (!)

Gat tot 800 BC. Grieken kregen alfabet van Phoeniciers.

Abstract alfabet inspireerde abstract denken. Bijvoorbeeld Adam, individu, etc.

Grieken werden ingehaald door Romeinen (vonden ze lui.)

Rome verloor Europa aan de middeleeuwen.

Andere kant van de wereld: China ontwikkelde zeer moeilijk schrift. Drukpers uitgevonden. Werden introvert. Gingen in winterslaap.

Zonder drukpers geen reformatie, geen opkomst van wetenschap e.a. En dus ook geen 19e-eeuwse comm. tech.

Drukpers zorgde dat fictie, religie en politiek zich massaal kon verspreiden.

Koninkrijken worden niet gemaakt of gebroken door comm. tech. Maar heeft wel grote invloed. Zij die nieuwe comm. tech. het beste kunnen aanpakken hebben voordeel.

Is er een digitale renaissance? Wie zijn de genen die er voordeel bij hebben?

Renaissance niet zeker.

50 jaar na drukpers, nu 50 jaar na computer. 1500: chaos, meeste productie werd gezien als porno. Als iedereen mag gaan schrijven krijgen we alleen maar slechte tekst. Klopt maar we hebben ook goed spul gekregen.

Digitale tech. verandert kennisproductie. Maakt het dynamisch.

Kracht van polylog (dialoog online): wedergeboorte van mondelinge overdracht?

Orale overdracht: geen waarheid, geen historie maar verhalen, geen individu want bestaat alleen als onderdeel van groep, geen oppermachtige god, geen bureaucratie, geen staten.

Wat gebeurt er na deze renaissance met eigendom, kennis, de staat, religie, etc?

Hangt van onze acties af.

Wie heeft er baat bij (laatste vraag): diegenen die niet aan mass media hangen, zij die het beste zijn in dialoog. Westerse cultuur is niet waarschijnlijk, blind door onze eigen paradigma’s.

Unieke positie om de toekomst te beïnvloeden. Westerlingen moeten aandachtiger en opener zijn.

Er zij grote krachten die tegen radicale verandering zijn. Maar die zijn gedoemd.

Gebruik reboot om de grote vragen onder ogen te zien.

Als je dat doet ben je hierna in ieder geval verfrist en misschien herboren.

Reboot 8.0 questions

Here’s some questions to ask during Reboot 8.0 (heard after Michael Thomsen’s talk on renaissance?):

What’s the point of it all? Is it actually going to happen? Re-renaissance? What’s the impact of current way of writing on our thinking? What happens to privacy when we’re interconnected? What will be the next phase of democracy? Are we doing everything we can with current tech? How do we work together on larger scale to improve the world (e.g. Amnesty)? How can we be more honest with users of our tech? What is the next step? Where are the lifeboats on our titanic? What will not change? What will our children think of all this? How can we monitor this change and make it accountable? If all this stops what trade will you do tomorrow? Is this the end of nation states and will we live in 2nd Life? How can we be smarter together? Are we on thee verge of letting massive availability kill the idea of greatness?

Preboot

I’m sitting in the main room of Kedelhallen watching Thomas fiddle with his laptop. We’re ready to start rebooting. Yesterday we arrived in the evening, quickly checked into the hotel and went into town for a bite. After a burrito at a dodgy latin tourist trap, we went over to a stylish coffee bar for some espresso and sweets.

Aso, I’ve given my new IXUS 60 a spin yesterday, and am very pleased with it’s performance. Later I’ll start uploading some stuff to Flickr.

Preboot is done, let’s get rebooting. (Yay!)