obso1337.org

(I had been hoping to post about my next KDE App of the Day, but this seems more important…)

The KDE and K/Ubuntu communities have been given an incredible opportunity! My department at the University of Baltimore has its own usability lab which is used for classes and research projects. Every spring semester, graduate students of the Research Methods class has the opportunity to conduct usability testing as an educational activity. I have arranged to have user-based testing on both digiKam and ubiquity (the installation process for Ubuntu and Kubuntu) conducted for the small cost of participant stipends.

digiKam is an incredible photo management tool as well as have an incredible community of developers who are dedicated to their users. Its functionalities include being able to interface with your camera, organize your digital photos, and make simple edits to make them better. I call it the next amaroK for photos. It isn’t without its flaws, but the developers are very anxious to get feedback on how they can make improvements.

Ubiquity is the name given to the installation process on both Ubuntu and Kubuntu. In addition to examining the process itself, we will also be investigating how well participants understand concepts such as a “Live CD” and identify any problems which may occur because of it. This is a great way to help make installing the distribution for humanity even easier.

We will be recruiting 9 participants for each project and testing is slated to start at the beginning of April with results available in the beginning of May.

seele :: Mar.14.2007 :: General, KDE/Kubuntu, Usability :: 9 Comments »

Sometimes when I am out and about, I notice peculiarities about the design of our every day things. We had some company in the previous weekend, and one of the places we went was to the George Washington Univ. vs. Duquesne Univ. basketball game. I can’t say it was my top priority to do that weekend, but college ball is certainly more exciting to watch than the NBA.

Anyway, as we were watching the game I noticed something weird with the score board. Here is a picture. Do you notice anything a little strange?

If you think about it for a while, you might notice it. Then again, you may not notice it at all (just as the manufacturers didn’t). Let’s take a moment to think about color and its strength in conveying a message. The meaning and experience of color is deeply rooted in culture. In most of the Western world, green means go, red means no, blue is calming, green is relaxing, yellow is positive, black is negative, and so on.

Here is a closeup of what I am looking at:

NO is an abbreviation for Player Number, displayed in yellow. F is an abbreviation for Foul, displayed in green. PTS is an abbreviation for Points, displayed in red. The negative item (Foul) is displayed in a positive color (green), while the positive item (Points) is displayed in a negative color (red). Also, the number of team fouls is in a matching green and the number of team points is in the matching red. It almost seems as if the color should be reversed.

Strange, isn’t it?

seele :: Mar.07.2007 :: Design, General :: 7 Comments »

My Nintendo Wii number is 5087 5807-6001-6460-9728. My Mii is named Seele and J’s Mii is named Neomantra.

Let me know what your Wii number and Mii name is!

seele :: Mar.02.2007 :: Games, General :: 24 Comments »