Michael+Belanger

=__//Mike's Personal Page//__=

__Week Ten Discussion:__

 * __Echolocation__**

//Sonar-Enabled Cane//: This is a very interesting product. It will definitely be a major aid to the visually impaired. I would expect its users would have to undertake a period of adjustment. It won't be a simple case of pick up and use, new users to the sonar cane would have to learn how to "read" the sonar indications, and how that translates into describing whats around them and the terrain that they are approaching. Once the user has learned to master the sonar indications however, this product will allow them to feel safer when their out in public, as they will be able to "see" whats around them.


 * __Stanch the Bleeding__**

//Self-Healing Pipelines//: This is a very creative product, that could potentially save millions of dollars in lost energy, and further millions in avoiding major repairs. If this product were to work as advertised, then the "Platelet Technology" would allow damaged pipes to continue working, saving time and money, instead of having to shut the line off completely. This product may also help companies avoid major problems, if the technology is able to seal pipes, even simply slow the process of damage, it may allow repair crews the time needed to reach the site and avoid a major catastrophe.


 * __Keeping the Bugs Out__**

//Antibacterial Film//: This product is attractive to me personally because I wear contacts. Having a product that is safe for my eyes, and kills bacteria is something almost unavailable at the moment. The eye being one of the most absorbent membranes on the body, it is not usually safe for the use of anti-bacterial products. It is also the site of many infections because of it is so absorbent. This product will hopefully alleviate the worries of many contact users, by simply eliminating the source of the problem, its not a quick fix, it's the solution.

__Week Nine Discussion:__
Bill Moggridge describes the need for collaborative design, where those who are designing a product must work with those who the product is designed for, this allows for the creation of a product that is accessible and target specific. IDEO, Bill's company focuses heavily on designing with specific intentions, not simply "knowing" how something "is", they investigate how the product would work best. He cites designing a comfortable chair as an example, you need to know more then just the size of a human body to design a chair that is intended to be extremely relaxing and comfortable. Physiology and bone structure all of a sudden become important design features. Bill describes collaborative design as the need to design in teams, because desigining with anthropology, physiology and cognitive psychology in mind becomes too difficult for one individual to deal with at a time. Teams consist of people with different backgrounds and different specialties, allowing for group knowledge to play a major role in the design process, team brainstorming or "shared minds" as Bill refers to plays a huge role in his design teams. The shared mind is even greater then the sum of their individual minds. Products that uses collaborative design are Virtual Environments [] which rely heavily on the help, advice and comments from many different groups to create vast 3-D enivronments. Teams analyse game play, characters, environments, settings, etc. and then come back together and brainstorm ways in which the CVE could be re-designed to improve gameplay and the overall appeal of the 3-D environment.

__Week Eight Discussion:__
Jan Chipchase works for Nokia's "human behaviour reseacrh" department. His main focus is to accumulate as much information as possible to help in the development of cell phones that will be more user targeted. His work helps the designers who will never set foot in the regions he travels in, to better understand the uses of the technologies in that area. Chipchase is interested in the more minute details of the job, how and why people have cell phones, and how they are now becoming a part of ones identity. He photographs the uses of the cell phone, its placement in the house, and the unusual manners its used in.

The most powerful citation in the whole article is this " The premise of the work is simple — get to know your potential customers as well as possible before you make a product for them. But when those customers live, say, in a mud hut in Zambia or in a tin-roofed hutong dwelling in China, when you are trying — as Nokia and just about every one of its competitors is — to design a cellphone that will sell to essentially the only people left on earth who don’t yet have one, which is to say people who are illiterate, making $4 per day or less and have no easy access to electricity, the challenges are considerable." Jan Chipchase describes that cell phones can have an economizing effect and that cell phones may be able to help developing economies transitions to "just in time" production. Reports also show that not everyone in a region needs to own a cell phone, but having a single person with a cell phone, he/she can act as a broker in a sale or a deal in a developing region. While farmers in developing regions may not be able to afford a cell phone on a $1 a day pay, the hope is that cell phone communication may be able to help create a more profitable market. Finally, when a family's income grows from say $1 to $4, research shows that a family's spending on ICT's increases even more so then spending on food or health care.

__Week Seven Discussion:__ Mat Hunter describes interaction architecture as designing extensible rules that allow new systems to begin interacting properly and, also to allow the design of a whole line of products, beyond the design of a singular product (in this case a camera). It allows the users and the designers to understand not only how the system will work, but of it "feels" in doing so. Using UEP and macromedia director Mat Hunter and his team were able to greatly influence the kodak digital camera already under development. All of this allowed for a better understanding of the creation of social capital.

Rikako Sakai describes the stitch assist mode developed for the digital camera. The Stitch assist mode allows the user to take one picture, and then view it on the left side of the lcd screen, allowing the user to match up the second photo in terms of alignment of the first photo. It allows users to take wide angle photos in three or four takes compared to attempting to squish the whole photo into one shot. Rikako used tabs to replace step-by-step processes in photostitch allowing the process to be simplified and become much more apparent to the user. Rikako also explains that the use of a small digital animation in the photostitch process allowed users a deeper comprehension by viewing how using tabs in a step-by-step process actually does simplify the matter.


 * Leading Questions:** A leading question is one that forces or implies a certain type of answer. It is easy to make this mistake not in the question, but in the choice of answers. A closed format question must supply answers that not only cover the whole range of responses, but that are also equally distributed throughout the range. All answers should be equally likely.
 * 1) Superb
 * 2) Excellent
 * 3) Great
 * 4) Good
 * 5) Fair
 * 6) Not so Great

A less blatant example would be a Yes/No question that asked:
 * 1) Is this the best CAD interface you have every used?

In this context, a Leading Question is one that assumes your answer is one of the above listed answers, even though the users answers may not entirely be provided by the answers given.

This forces the respondent to give thought to something he may have never considered. This does not produce clear and consistent data representing real opinion. Hypothetical questions are too open ended and cover to wide a range of opinions that a short precise answer is just not possible in the context of a survey.
 * Hypothetical Questions** Hypothetical are based, at best, on conjecture and, at worst, on fantasy. A simple question such as:
 * 1) If you were governor, what would you do to stop crime?

__Week Six Discussion:__
====The first is the enthusiast stage, when the technology is first exploited. David Liddle's three stage theory can be compared to that of the diffusion of tecnology theory. In David Liddle's theory, he states that the first users are the "enthusiasts", compared to the diffusion of technology theory that says the frist users are the "inventors". Either way, the first stage is where you will find a select few people who are willing to put up with expensive and unproven technologies, but they are also the ones who improve the technology and push it to the point where it becomes more economical and efficient for more general use. The enthuiast stage loves and appreciates the technology for its aesthetics as well as its use.==== ====Second is the professional, when the technology is developed to help people work. The second stage is achieved, once an entusiast decides he/she will be capable of using the technology in their place of work. The product will go through a stabilization process, where its layout will become more common ground and certain parts will become indispensable. Just as professional photographers began using cameras, and it eventually led to the permanent placement of the view finder, shutter, and winder all came around because of the professional stage.==== ====Third is the consumer phase, when the technology is developed far enough for people to enjoy at an accessible price. Once a greater volume of the product is built up on the professional market, thats when the general public will have access to lower prices on the same product as the professional had access to in prior years. At this stage, priorities change and David Liddle says it's at this point that most functions or options become "automatic".====

__Week Five Discussion:__
Bodystorming is a technique sometimes used in [|interaction design] or as a [|creativity technique]. The idea is to imagine what it would be like if the product existed, and act as though it exists, ideally in the place it would be used. ([|Wikipedia])

Case Study One: the participant blindfolded herself to simulate the same experiences as a blind person. She reported to the researchers experiencing increased auditory and tactile senses. The participant mentally counted steps to help record her location, as she could not see anything. Her experiences helped provide research into multi-sensory approaches including: sound and touch.

Case Study Two: Participant number two had to successfully recite a phone number while solving math problems to simulate ADD. With numerous sources of sound and distraction in the environment, the participant reported it very difficult to concentrate, leading to anger and lower self esteem. Participant number two was unable to give the correct phone number showing that clear naration and enjoyable gameplay and environment are key to aiding with ADD.

Case Study Three: Participant number three had to simulate the pain and immobility of chronic arthritis. Participant number three reported constant fear of injury even in calm, ordinary conditions. He expended more energy, causing his body temperature to rise adding to his fear. Participant number three demonstrated the need for usable space, safe materials and tangible objects needed in cases of arthritis and other disorders causing immobilities. Speech recognition systems were also recommended for further research to aid participants.

__//Material Economy//____//://__
The material economies first and major problem is that it is a linear economy, meaning that it runs step by step and depends on a set of ressources and materials to adavance each step. The real problem occurs because the linear system relies on a finite amount of materials, meaning eventually the linear system will be depleted of its ressources and a crisis will insues within the material economy. The extraction of ressources over the last decade has exhausted upwards of 1/3 of the planets total ressources, meaning we are truly depleting our source of raw materials. Another problem occurs when corporations claim that residency does not equal property. Corporations use the third world for their ressources, and claim that since the residence within those borders do not use the ressources or contribute to the market share, they have no claim to the ressources in question. Annie also claims that since we use chemicals in combination with the ressources during the production phases, we create chemical products. With over 100, 000 synthetic chemicals in use in production currently, and hardly any of them being tested for synergistic conflicts, we are truely not aware of any possible combinations that create hazardous products.

Erosion of the third world ressources forces close to 200, 000 people a day to move into industrial centres, creating a constant cycle of slums and cheap labour, creating a impossible cycle to break. These jobs tend to be in the production end of the economy where the hazardous products are created, and then putting chemicals into our own bodies, assuring a constant supply of chemicals being cycled through our life cycles. Externalizing costs is another problem with our current linear economy. We do not end up paying for the items we purchase. Big corporations simply do not pay employees enough and tend to skimp on health benefits in order to keep costs low to entice us to purchase more. Consumption has become our way of life, we need to consume to help accelerate and to keep our economies going, this all began after world war two to help boom the world economies.

Sustainability and Equity are the solutions to solving our polluting ways. Green chemistry, renewable energy, and closed loop production and local living economies are the solutions to our material economy. Without changes Annie claims we are in peril. I have doubts about some of her claims, and to be honest she has an incredibly pessimistic view of the world. Yes we pollute way too much, and are not even near as efficient as possible, however the tone Annie uses shades every government and corporation as evil and twisted. As if everyone in the industrialized world his holding the third world down. Yes, their are many evil corporations, but not everyone uses cheap labour and waste ressources, not to mention changing an economy 200 years in the making since the invention of specialization during the industrial revolution, will be nearly impossible to reverse.

__//T5 Socially Responsible Conditions://__
I read the article on the solar aid ([|http://other90.cooperhewitt.org/Design/solaraid)] The solar aid was developed in Botswana, it is aimed at helping the nearly 10% of the worlds populations that lives with hearing impairments. Considering that 80% of people with impairments lives in under developed countries, a normal hearing aid becomes very difficult to afford. The most expensive piece of a normal hearing aid is the battery itself and continually having to replace it, the solar aid avoids this problem completely by using a solar cell as the battery instead. This in turn allows people to continue in school, and helps stimulate the local economy as well. Godisa, its producer intends to make this affordable technology everywhere soon. This is just one example of a socially responsible product, many more are on the horizon. Energy and Communications are two areas that are of major focus in terms of developing cheaper and more sustainable products to help develop the nearly 5 billion people who do not live in the western developed world. Education, Economic develop and Health safety are other main areas of develop and research as to how to bring developed technologies to under developed regions of the world.

//__Three Definitions of "Ergonomics"__//__:__
Physical Ergonomics: is concerned with human characteristics related to physical activity. Relevant topics include working postures, materials handling, repetitive movements, work-related musculoskeletal disorders, workplace layout, safety and health. __Cognitive Ergonomics__: is concerned with mental processes, such as perception, memory, reasoning, and motor response, as they affect interactions among humans and other elements of a system. The relevant topics include mental workload, decision-making, skilled performance, human-computer interaction, human reliability, work stress and training as these may relate to human-system design. __Organizational Ergonomics__: is concerned with the optimisation of sociotechnical systems, including their organisational structures, policies, and processes. The relevant topics 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.

//Case Study 7://
Another cause of pain for the truck operators which is not mentioned in the case study is the seat itself. While positioning and seat height do play factors into the overall health of the operator, the physical ergonomics of the seat, which affect the operators back, shoulders and neck are crucial to be evaluated as well. I would suggest the use of lumbar supports on the operator's seat which allows for proper alignment of the back and spine, which could be one of the contributing factors as to why the operators have reported neck pains. Lumbar supports can come in the basic form of a pad or pillow placed against the back support of a seat to promote proper seating position. The website below offers a number of ideas to help eliminate the operator's discomfort. [|(http://www.trucomfort.com/)]

__Week One Discussion__:
//A////rticle One:// Steve Jobs and Apple's design plan of the IPod was probably more of an exception at the time of its original release date. As the article states, the original release date of October 2001 put the IPod directly into third place among mp3 sales. Apple having designed the look of the IPod prior to deciding its technical components is something that would have been "backwards design" in the early 2000's maybe even today. Were always instructed start from the basics and wok are way out. Apple decided to do some role reversal. Obviously it worked out to their advantaged as they created a simple yet truly effective and attractive design. Looking back, I'm sure if their design process was fully disclosed at or prior to the release date their would have been many critics of the mp3 player who would have doubted outsourcing parts and hardware from other companies would lead to major product errors. This in turn could have damaged the appeal of the IPod during its release. It now appears that Apple made an insightful decision to withhold elements of the design chain, and hold its contractors under privacy agreements. Secrecy usually creates skepticism however for Steve Jobs and Apple, it worked to their advantage.

//Article Two:// Mr. Ives argues in the second article that what separates Apple from most other mp3 and computer companies is their genuine care of creating new and useful technologies. Ives states that their is a " preoccupation with differentiation is the concern of many corporations rather than trying to innovate and genuinely taking the time, investing the resources and caring enough to try and make something better" ([|www.designmuseum.org]) while Apple focuses on the design process and bringing something new to the table. Ives describe their design studio has a uniquely open space with all new technologies and processes, with limited personal space. This forces the small design team to work together and be uniquely tight knit, which seems the total opposite of single-task manufacturing of factory work today. Along with the uniquely small and close design team, Ives notes that advances in polymers and metal-plastic fusing has allowed for designs that were once viewed as impossible.

//Article Three://
Apple's design team is unlike any other design team in the industry. Ive's heads of a small team of international designers in a small secluded office. Their design space creates openness and creativity without much to offer in terms of personal space. Ives spends most of the design budget on the purchase of state-of-the-art design equipment rather then on a large scale design team. The design team creates and re-creates products until they feel completely satisfied with the final product, and even then the design team may hone and tweak the products. Other leading corporations including IBM, HP and Microsoft do not completely share the same design visions as Steve Jobs and Apple. The other corporations feel that Apple sets its sights on specific products, allowing it to only capture certain specific markets, while the competing corporations have more flexible designs and spend less time on refining the artistic value of their products. The article does not state whether Apple's competitors wish to create their own unique design teams based on Apple's innovative designs, however I would not be surprised if they were not secretly designing products in the same manner as Apple.