Sara+Abdelshahid

**Week 1:** The unusual business model used in ipod’s fabrication as developed by Apple is designed from outside in. Apple outsoucred to companies such as: Sony, Wolfson, and Toshiba. The reliance on a reference design by PortalPalyer is what Apple relied on for the creation of the I-pod.
 * Describe the unusual business model used in the ipod's fabrication as developed by Apple.**

The core team is relatively small and invests extensively in tools and process that reflects the level of collaboration. Materials, processes, product architecture and construction are a major component in design. Twin shooting materials (moulding different plastics together) allows for new opportunities that didn’t exist before. The iPod is made from twin-shot plastic with no fasteners and no battery doors enabling the creation of a design which was dense completely sealed. New methods of joining metals with advanced adhesives and laser welding is another method being used but his team.
 * What distinguishes the work of the team of Jobs and Ive in relation to products designed by Apple? What new materials are enabling different design?**

Apple’s design team is small and made of relatively young individuals who work closely with each other, engineers, marketers and manufacturers. Companies such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft have some hope but have far to go. “Big corporations have neither the focus, the skills, nor the appetite for risk to build mass-produced products…while computer companies have focused on pinching pennies these past few decades, Apple has been perfecting its design game. The fact that rivals are now talking about design is not proof they're catching up -- but of how far they have to go”.
 * Describe the importance of Apple's design team. Are other companies trying to compete with Apple by creating their own design teams?**

**Reference**: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_39/b4002414.htm

 __**Physical ergonomics:**__ Focuses on human activity that is related to physical activity. Examples include: working postures, materials handling, repetitive movements, workplace layout, safety and health.
 * Week 2**

__**Cognitive ergonomics:**__ Focuses on mental processes (perception, memory, reasoning, and motor response). Examples include: mental workload, decision-making, skilled performance and human reliability.

Focuses on the “optimisation of sociotechnical systems, including their organisational structures, policies, and processes”. Examples include: “communication, crew resource management, work design, design of working times, teamwork, participatory design, community ergonomics, cooperative work, new work paradigms, organisational culture, virtual organisations, telework, and quality management”.
 * __Organisational ergonomics:__**

An example of an ergonomically sound product is Ergomatic Keyboard http://www.teleprint.com/

__**Case Study 4**__


 * Issue**: Some cleaning staff were reporting back and shoulder pains after mopping the floors in a building.

Step One: Task Analysis
After consulting with the cleaners doing the job and their supervisor, and then looking at the worksite, the equipment, and the cleaners’ techniques, the following points were identified:

Work organisation: Environment: Equipment: Technique:
 * as a result of roster changes, the two cleaners were allocated a 5 hour block of wet-mopping each Monday;
 * the trough used to fill and empty the buckets was low but lacked a grate on top, so buckets were lifted in and out of the trough: and
 * the main area to be mopped was a very wide, long hallway
 * the buckets were the old-style steel buckets, and the wheels were rusty, making them difficult to push along the floor; and
 * the mops had long timber handles, extending beyond the head height of these two staff.
 * the two cleaners both used the same style of twisting and bending to either side to cover a very wide area of floor;
 * both had their buckets almost full with water and solution; and
 * neither had been trained in safe and efficient wet-mopping.

Step Two: Advice
The proposed solutions included:
 * 1) reviewing the roster to provide a range of tasks each day with different physical demands, in preference to long periods of one task, or tasks with similar demands;
 * 2) installing a grate onto the trough so that the bucket can be slid on and off;
 * 3) installing a hose on the tap so that the bucket need not be lifted for filling;
 * 4) replacing the old, rusty steel buckets with a lighter weight plastic model on wheels;
 * 5) ensuring the equipment suits the user, such that these two cleaners of relatively short stature have the handles cut down to about chin height for a more comfortable and efficient grip;
 * 6) training the cleaners to wet-mop while standing more upright and to use the mop over a narrower width – so for a very wide hall to mop it in two strips rather than one very wide strip; and
 * 7) monitoring the cleaners and the above changes to check if any other modifications or adjustments are required.
 * 8) instead of using wet mops the staff could use floor buffer/scrubber machines


 * Reference**:  http://www.ergonomics.org.au/ergonomics/case_studies.html#case6

 Africa: Bamboo Treadle Pump Affordability: treadles and support structure are made of bamboo, which are inexpensive and locally available Health: allows farmers to access clean groundwater during the dry season Environment: preserving crops Accessibility: Can be used by anyone Simplicity: no need for complicated technology since the pumps are operated by a natural walking motion on two treadles
 * Week 3**

**Reference:** http://other90.cooperhewitt.org/Design/bamboo-treadle-pump

Bodystorming is an alternate technique or brainstorming ideas, the purpose of bodystorming is to use your body to experience certain challenges that are associated with products. In other words bodystorming is the transformation of abstract ideas and concepts into physical experiences” http://proboscis.org.uk/bodystorming/
 * Week 5:**

Case Study one: Visual disability Participant was blindfolded as a result she felt disoriented and dependent. Heightened use of other senses and heavily relied on them to inform her decisions. The use of multi-sensory approaches such as touch and sound compensated for her lack of seeing

Case Study two: Attention Deficit Disorder To grasp the idea of ADD, participant number two had to recite telephone numbers while solving math problems, which in turn affected his self-esteem.

Case study three: Chronic Arthritis To decrease mobility participant number three’s hands were fastened to in attempt to replicated the feeling of chronic arthritis. Expanding more energy caused his body temperature to rise, thus adding to his anxiety. To help reduce the user’s anxiety the use of accessible routes, passing space, and tangible objects composed of safe materials are beneficial.

Enthusiast Stage Enthusiast are those who love the technology and enjoy exploiting it to explore the capabilities. The fact that the technology is difficult to use adds to the fun. To further explain this stage, David Liddle uses the example of the 35mm camera. The camera was difficult to operate at its early stage of innovation. An enthusiast’s goal is make the product practical so it is easily used at the workplace.
 * Week 6**

Professional Stage The product is now being used in the workplace, in regards to the 35mm camera, it went from very expensive exotica to being used by expert photographers. The controls were stabilized but remained mainly manual.

Consumer Stage During this stage, the product is ready to be sold to consumers. The product (i.e. 35mm camera) has undergone changes that include reaching a reasonable price point and its controls becoming automatic rather than manual. At this stage the product says “look at how I fit with your style, look at who you are if you use me and my capabilities.” A similar product that has undergone changes is the internet. When it was first introduced it was only used by the military and now it is virtually in every home.


 * Week 7**

Mat Hunter describes interaction architecture with respect to Kodak cameras as a series of rules that would allow not just one camera to be designed but multiples cameras, also how they communicate with it. the obvious answer would be to create a detailed booklet but he wanted something that can be experienced. As a result, he created a prototype which later became the product itself. This prototype allowed the user to review the pictures that haven taken, save or delete them or even share it. Now, the means of self expression, recording, capturing a moment or sharing ideas has been made easier.

Rikkako Sakai developed 'photo-stitching' in digital camera. This feature enables the user to "stitch" pictures with each other to produce a panoramic photo. At first, this was hard to use because the user had to fuse the photos together by having the previous photo taken on the left of the screen and try to place the next photo in alignment with the earlier photo. This process was not only not user friendly but also inaccurate in results. The improvement strategy was an interactive software that allows you to drag and match the pictures accordingly on the computer yielding more accurate and precise photos.

A leading question is one that forces or implies a certain type of answer which can be somewhat biased. A leading question can appear not only in the phrasing of the question but also the choices of answers provided. That is why it is important to provide a range of answers that are equally distributed in a closed ended format.

Hypothetical Questions are based on fantasy, meaning the question asked is not likely to occur. This does not represent real opinions, consequently it will not produce clear and consistent data. Example: If you were governor, what would you do to stop crime?


 * Week 8:**

Jan Chipchase is human behaviour researcher (or sometimes known as a user anthropologist) has been working for Nokia, for the past seven years. He travels to third world countries to gather as much knowledge about human behaviour and cell phone use to report back to the company so that designers, technologist and marketers can integrate his findings.

Cell phones provide a fixed identity point since most of the third world population is displaced by faltering economies, wars and natural disasters such as floods or droughts. Cells phones in developing countries have become essential business tools and a way for communities to keep in touch. His research team have spoken to many people; from rickshaw drivers, to farmers and they all have noted that their income has increased when they received access to a cell phone.

Nokia utilizes the practice of human-centered design, in which people like Chipcase travel to certain locations to fully understand the experience of people such as the local barber or the shoe-shop owner’s wife by immersing himself in their position to understand how they live, rather than going to these countries loaded with product pitch lines. This type of research allows for a well designed product that caters to people’s needs.


 * Reference:** http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/magazine/13anthropology-t.html?_r=2&emc=eta1&pagewanted=all


 * Week 9:**

Bill Moggridge describes ‘design as a collaborative process’ as the idea of togetherness which is working together and being a part of a team. The teams are made up of participants from different backgrounds that includes disciplines from engineering, marketing, brand labeling and business to name a few. The team must also have an intimate relationship in order to brainstorm together. He believes it is important to not only think of physiology of a design but rather also, anthropology (cultural difference) and sociology (how people are connected together) in his design concept. His main concern is to involve the people that the products are designed and intended for.

An example is including the surgeons in a project for designing an instrument for throat surgery, by including the surgeons in the project the design team became much more effective because they were working with the people who are actually going to use the design. Another example is when IDO joined the American Red Cross to reveal why people do not give blood more often and find ways to improve. Results have shown that people do not donate because they felt that the place was not sterile and they felt unappreciated. So, IDO implemented the process of which people would get their picture taken, along with having them write the reasons why they donated.

An example of collaborative design process is the Virtual wallet. The virtual wallet was designed as a banking service intended to engage users with simplicity, clarity, and “on-demand” access. To come up with the Virtual wallet, generation Y and more technologically savvy generations were examined.
 * URL:** http://www.ideo.com/work/item/virtual-wallet-interactive-banking-experience/

One example in which biomimicry helps design is seen in the Japanese 500 Series Shinkansen bullet train. Owls are one of the quietest birds, which is why designers emulated them to help design the train to run quietly. Also, in order to minimize “the sonic boom” and noise pollution that happens when the train passes from a tunnel to open air designers looked for inspiration from the kingfisher’s beak, which is what the nose cone of the train is modeled after.
 * Week 10:**

Another example is which biominicry helps design is seen in the Sonar-Enables Cane. This cane is designed to help those who are visually impaired walk more freely as the cane sends out sound waves to let the person who is holding it know when objects are near by. This sound wave technology emulates how bats navigate in the dark

Skeleton Key is another product that mimics biodiversity, in this case it is the imitation of bone structures. Joris Laarman designed a line of furniture that takes on a similar structure of bones to create a strong architectural matrix of support.


 * Reference:**
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I would personally describe web accessibility as ensuring that websites are usable by all people, those with and without disabilities. Disabilities may include hearing impairments and visual deficiency such as, colour blindness or low/poor vision.
 * Week 11:**
 * 1. How would you describe web accessibility?**

Those who would benefit from accessible websites are individuals that could not previously access websites. Accessible websites will enable people with any soft of disability to become more independent and not have to rely on others for assistance. People who are blind can access the newspaper by screen readers that read aloud text from the computer, people who have trouble processing written information can also benefit from the read aloud feature. People who are deaf can get news updates that were only previously available only to those who could hear radio or TV. Lastly, people who cannot speak can participate in online discussions, such as through blog comments.
 * 2. Who do you think benefits from accessible websites and how?**

I think blog or personal websites do not need to be accessible to everyone, it would depend on the creator’s desired audience. However, when it comes to Canadian websites then they should defiantly be accessible to everyone.
 * 3. Do you think your website/blog should be accessible? Should all Canadian websites?**

I think the biggest challenge of making a website is awareness of everyone’s needs, if awareness is lacking, the website will not cater to everyone’s needs, therefore leaving out a potentially large group of people.
 * 4. What do you think is the biggest challenge of making a website accessible?**

