Posts Tagged 'user experience'

Not Like “Being There”: the Surprising Trajectory of Video Conferencing

Posted on July 31st, 2021 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion

Video conferencing has a long history… much longer as a dream than as a reality; and it is interesting to examine how that dream has evolved. Teleconferencing by voice goes back to the nineteenth century: Jules Verne’s “The begum’s fortune”, written in 1879, describes a teleconference at the city council of his utopian “France-ville”: “I will immediately convene the Council!” , said doctor Sarrasin, and preceded his guests to his study. It was a simply furnished room, whose three walls were covered with bookshelves, while the fourth had, below some paintings and objets d’art, an array of numbered devices similar.. Read more

How to Hold Magnificent Conferences in the Time of Corona

Posted on July 21st, 2020 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion, Organizational Solutions

In May I went to a large international conference, EcoMotion 2020, devoted to the exciting innovative field of autonomous vehicles and other novel means of transport. There were 3,000 attendees from 54 countries and 211 exhibitors. It was a magnificent event. Welcome speech at the start of the event Of course, in May I couldn’t possibly have gone to a large conference… not with the blasted Coronavirus imposing social distancing and travel bans. In May I stayed at home. And yet I went to EcoMotion 2020, and it most definitely was a magnificent event. The impact of COVID-19 on the.. Read more

The Case for “Internet Glue”: Why We Need a Stable User Experience!

Posted on January 17th, 2013 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion

A sorely needed product Here is a winning product I sometimes dream of producing: I call it Internet Glue. What is it, you ask? Well, it’s for use when you have a web site or a software application that works great, that you find truly useful. You pour the Internet Glue on it, and when it hardens it keeps the site or application just as it is, so it can’t change, so the user experience you love abides. Get it? What it’s good for Why do I want this admittedly fanciful product? Why, to fight that bane of computer tools:.. Read more

Do What I Mean: Is DWIM a Blessing or a Curse?

Posted on August 19th, 2012 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion

Remember Alta Vista? I do; I’ve been a search engine junkie from day one, back in the mid-nineties when the explosion of web servers made these miraculous tools indispensable. At the time I was driving Intel’s adoption of the Web, and was teaching a “Searching the Internet” course I’d developed; I believed that proper searching know-how will become a critical skill in the years ahead. I was right with that prediction, of course, but I hadn’t foreseen one development: my course had put emphasis on Boolean search syntax and the related mindset; and these have slowly been driven out by.. Read more