RSS feedThe illusion of control
“If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough.” - Mario Andretti
Control is a slippery thing. It’s important to our lives; we need it to rationalise and justify our decisions, but sometimes it’s simply beyond our influence. The well-known fundamental attribution error is a clear example of how we overstate human involvement in random events - in short, we don’t like the idea that we or, failing that, another human, are not in full control of a situation.
With technology this is particularly prevalent. When we are asked to to let a machine act on our behalf we become nervous if we don’t feel at least partially in control. One example of this is the excellent writing tool Scrivener which has an elegant autosave built in, running after every pause of two seconds. This ensures that flow, very important for writers, isn’t interrupted, but provides the peace of mind that reams of text won’t be lost in the event of a crash. However, even with this tight policy in place, Scrivener offers a force save mapped to the regular keyboard shortcut Cmd-S.
Gmail offers a similar redundant safety net when composing a new mail. State is of course saved in the background via Ajax but Google again allow users the comfort of saving at a point of their choosing.
Sometimes genuine control is not possible, in which case the answer can be to hide this from the user to keep them happy. Lift buttons are a classic example; below, a picture of the lift controls in my apartment block.
Lift / elevator passengers essentially volunteer to be shut inside a metal box suspended hundreds of metres off the ground. Not only that, but they abdicate responsibility for their safety to a computer. Few sane humans would be willing to do this on these terms. As a result, lift designers have to be very careful to ensure passengers feel in control of the system, even though in reality they have only partial control at best.
The Door Close button is a result of this pretence of control. On the majority of lifts it has absolutely no function since the lift is on a predetermined timer. However, tests show that users like the peace of mind of the Door Close button, providing as it does the belief that there is no element of the lift experience that we cannot influence. Ethically, there might be concerns that this is flat-out manipulation of users. However, situations where a little interaction white lie works to reduce anxiety of users, it’s probably acceptable.
Appendix 1: As it happens, some lift models do have an important role for the Door Close: enabling debugging modes for engineers. Certain button combinations (e.g. floor number + Door Close) activate express modes, stop the lift running, and so on. Other models use a lock and key to prevent public access to these functions.
Appendix 2: For more info, try Up And Then Down, an excellent New Yorker feature article on elevators, their design challenges, and a mildly terrifying account of Nicholas White, who was stuck in a lift for 41 hours.
Wolfenflickr 3D
Some mashups are unlikelier than others. However, none as unlikely as the collision of Flickr and id’s classic shoot-em up Wolfenstein in Wolfenflickr 3D.
The Web truly is a mysterious place.
Vive la FIP
At last I have broadband. Too many stories to relate, but there’s one I’d particularly like to share.
While setting up my bedroom basics (alarm clock, airbed - thankfully now usurped by a real bed) I chanced upon a French radio station playing some very listenable French hip-hop. I stuck with it, and over the next couple of weeks it remained my humble alarm/snooze companion until, late last week, I took a short lie in and actually listened to it properly.
Brilliant! No ads, no DJs, just a very short hourly news update; and otherwise totally dedicated to a spectacularly diverse playlist taking in The Divine Comedy, Chopin, Parisian indie (Cocosuma, apparently), Prince and old music hall numbers. Yes, it’s a little Radio 2 and as such there’s a little ‘Ceefax music’ in there too, but it’s always of the quirky arpeggiated strings variety rather than the xylophone variety.
Curiosity piqued, I turned to Google and learned that I was listening to FIP (France Inter Paris) Radio, which turns out to be something of a cult Brighton institution. Instead of floating across the Channel as I’d first assumed, it appears that it’s rebroadcast in the city. Legend (well, the local rag) has it that the perpetrator was previously stopped by Ofcom, but vowed to return. Either he kept his word or my neighbours have a very powerful iTrip. Brighton’s love for the station has even stretched to a website set up in its honour and a Bastille Day FIP club night which I’m dying to go to.
Delighted, I immediately concluded that any city that shares my love for this quirky station has to be a good one. And that was the moment I felt at home in Brighton.
Reboot10
The concept of “free” was, in retrospect, a little incongruous with Copenhagen. Although, according to the locals, Denmark is the cheapest of the Scandinavian nations, £6.50 for a pint is still something of a sting. Plus, of course, there was the irony of the Free Beer, released under a Creative Commons licence but which, at £9 a bottle, was particularly hard to swallow.
Price of beer aside, Reboot10 was enjoyable; relaxing yet stimulating, and a great chance to meet old friends and new.
Most of the presentations seemed to have been written specifically for the conference, focusing as they did on the concept of freedom, openness and collaboration. I didn’t have the energy for that, so I reheated my old BarCamp presentation “Beauty in Web Design”. It seemed to go well. Standing room only in a sweltering upstairs room, and several vague, rambling follow ups from keen audience members. We are told videos will be up shortly, although I have some doubts given that last year’s aren’t yet up either.
At the risk of nepotism, I have to say I did enjoy my fellow Clearlefters‘ talks the most. Reboot is undoubtedly an intellectual conference and there are some undoubtedly clever people there. However, the presentations varied wildly - some swimming in philosophical rhetoric and way above my head, some pitched rather too low, and others quite entertaining.
I can’t say it’s a conference I learned much of practical value from, but it has given my brain some new questions, which makes it the perfect antidote from the entry-level stuff I’ve been fed at recent conferences. So I do hope to go again next year, by which time perhaps the exchange rate will have swung in our favour.
dConstruct buttons
I’m very fond of what Paul’s done with the dConstruct 2008 buttons: in addition to the usual branded colours, you can also supply your own background image (from Flickr, or elsewhere on the web) to create some a sort of social mashup button. Here are a couple of my attempts:
I’m also rather starstruck at the prospect of meeting one of the speakers. Can you guess who?
BarCampLondon4
Despite some early WiFi problems (which prompted me to finally go out and buy the broadband dongle I’ve been considering for a while), I’d say BCL4 was a big success. I was particularly pleased to find many people bucking the geek trend and choosing not to watch Dr Who, instead joining in the beery Werewolf games long into the night. Overall it all went swimmingly, for which many thanks go to Ross Bruniges and GCap.
I gave two presentations: Beauty in web design and How to beat your dad at chess. I’m hoping to give a rerun of the former at Reboot in Copenhagen in a few weeks, so I’m holding off posting the slides for now. It seemed to go down well, despite an unfortunte clash with Natalie’s IE6 bugfest.
Although my personal presentation style is heavy on planning and lofty cerebral topics, as a BarCamp audience member I also really enjoy the unscripted sessions. Paul Johnston’s session on 101 Uses For Friendfeed was a good example, with the presentation soon melting away into a free-for-all on identity, signal/noise, OpenID and user-created walled gardens as a means to cope with information overload. It’s heartening to be reminded how a conversation with just a handful of intelligent people can set cogs turning and new thoughts emerging for weeks to come.
I also enjoyed a chance to review eyetracking data from a university website, which confirmed a few things about male genital fixation, banner blindness, where not to place primary navigation and so on. I’m still far from convinced that eyetracking gives sufficient design insight to justify the cost, but I’ll gladly look at someone else’s expensive data if they’re showing it…
As a final thought, I must confess I sometimes wish that the level of design discussion at large events was a little higher. Perhaps it’s because many conferences are still largely developer-heavy that ‘Why UX matters’ presentations are still prevalent, but I find this approach faintly condescending and I struggle to get value from it. This isn’t a criticism of BarCamps per se, where the amateur status of many participants is a reasonable excuse: I’ve also been disappointed recently by a few paid conferences and the rather basic level of debate, and I worry that the UK conference scene has grown a little stale. There are exceptions (dConstruct, of course!) but increasingly I’m looking overseas for my dose of mind-blowing knowledge. I’ll certainly kick myself if I miss SXSW and the IA Summit next year.
First day at Clearleft
So yes, it’s official, the new job is with the lovely Clearleft.
© Richard Rutter, flagrantly nicked (sorry Richard…)
Just back from my first day, and I can officially confirm that commuting from Highbury will kill me. Therefore I’m also on the move to Brighton. London’s been fine to me, but I’m sure this is the right move: quality of life, walking to the office, the time of year, house prices. Lots of personal factors but mostly, of course, it’s down to the work. I’d be daft to pass up the chance to work with people this damn good, help out with dConstruct (and maybe Silverback), finally use a Mac each day, and many other things that make a web geek happy. Consider me officially chuffed, and thanks to the Clearleft guys for a splendid first day!
Pragmatism, not idealism
I’m currently taking a short break before starting my new job (more to follow on this).
Obviously I’m relaxing and enjoying the weather, but I’m also brushing up on XHTML and CSS so I can ditch Visio wireframing and start creating live prototypes. I had planned to use this blog as my sandbox, but to do the job properly would require PHP knowledge I neither have nor want, so I’ve dropped in the WP Premium theme with a view to perhaps revisit at a later date.
I’m rather overdue in making the switch, since Visio is increasingly obsolescent for modern user experience work. Aside from its limited functionality, the page-based format makes rich interaction design hard to document. Much like with Blogger (see earlier posts), I only stuck with it to delay the productivity dip I’d get from ditching it, so this seems the perfect time.
One effect of the move to HTML is that, although I’ll still remain a user experience specialist, I expect to become a little more hands-on and versatile. This is in line with the way I personally want to develop, and I’m sure it’s the way to create better websites. Iain Tate talked about his company’s ideal hire being a “creative mini-CEO” - perhaps this is analogous, if miniaturised. Clearly designers are more useful when they talk the same language as developers and business people; think the T-shaped model but stretching out on the z-axis too.
However, as I make this move, I do notice some tendency in UX for people to drift in the other direction, and claim the high ground of hyper-specialisation. Particularly this is the case with newcomers and HCI graduates. The more I interact with them, the more I realise they clearly know the right theory, but there’s an astonishing lack of knowledge and interest in living, breathing web design. HTML seems to be a dirty word, something left to the developers.
This can’t be right.
User Experience folks are already accused (mostly behind our backs) of a certain prima donna quality, stuck in our ivory towers of cognitive psychology, user testing and LIS. We certainly don’t need more of this. Perhaps it doesn’t help that Jakob is still very much the poster child for the academic HCI community. Much as I respect some of his work, he seems to be the sole gateway drug, as witnessed by neophytes swearing fealty to all he says, to the point of dogmatism.
It seems daft for designers to reject the basic language of web standards and development. As an analogy, take reading music. As a member of a band, it helps to have an understanding of what it’s like to play other instruments; you don’t want to write parts that no one can play. And isn’t that a perfect crystalisation of the user-centred approach anyway? Understanding our customers’ environments so thoroughly that our solutions are naturally harmonious?
I’ve talked to a number of people about this issue, whilst mulling over the change. Developers in particular seem to love the idea (for natural reasons: it brings them closer to designers, and vice versa). But I also think the leaders of enlightened web companies are increasingly looking for people who have the flexibility, the breadth of understanding to help them adapt. The future needs specialists, sure, and we can still fill those roles - but more than anything the future needs specialists with extra strings to their bow: midfielders with an eye for goal, singer/songwriters, designers who can get down and dirty with the rest of the web.
Double or quits
I’m facing a pleasant dilemma. I’m off to All Tomorrow’s Parties next weekend, and it’s without a doubt the finest lineup they’ve ever had. Unfortunately it clashes with the Cup final, which I never in a million years dreamed would matter to me. So while I wait for ticket news, I’ve plotted an elaborate transport plan to get me to Wembley and back on Saturday. It’s a 7.30am start, and a 11.35pm return. Two trains, two coaches, 3 Tube journeys, but it’s a journey I have to make, for reasons I could never adequately explain to someone who’s not a football fan. I’ll miss The National, Iron & Wine and Okkervil River, but at least I’ll be back in time for Battles, who are pretty much exactly the band I’d like to watch after winning the FA Cup.
Anyway, this could all be moot, since I don’t find out until tomorrow morning whether I have a ticket or not (it’s touch and go). It’s rather like going double or quits on Christmas.
Update: Got it. Ticket number 24,824 out of 25,000! Looks like you may have to indulge me and suffer one more football-related post early next week ;)
Blogger to Wordpress; first thoughts
And thus I emerge, blinking, on the other side, having seen things I wish to never see again. Debates on the security risks of chmod 777. Regular expressions. 301 redirects and other such server-side horrors. In all, a testing transition, but one that must surely extend geek cred for another twelve months.
Of course, right now I’m lumbered with a design I don’t like, unsolved 404s on archives and longer-titled posts, and probably a decreased PageRank. Despite all this, I feel good about having made the switch. We all know that Blogger isn’t regarded as a suitable tool for professionals, and frankly I only stuck with it as a result of seven years of inertia. Luckily, Wordpress has already elicited a ‘wow’ or two from me (the Import feature was a thing of beauty) and I’m really excited to see what it can do. Early next week I’ll fix the last of the redirects and get knee-deep in CSS…