"Evaluating Existing Web Sites and Applications: Consistency," by Eric Hughes

Eric Hughes’ article, "Evaluating Existing Web Sites and Applications: Consistency," is interesting to me since we’ve just designed our own rubric for evaluating web sites in our last group project. My group didn’t include consistency as a specific criteria in our rubric, and I wish that we had. The criteria that we used for reviewing 20 national news sites were usability, design, content, currency, and interactivity. (To view my group’s evaluation page, click here). On some level, I’m sure that consistency affected our grading; for instance, web sites with a consistent design are generally more aesthetically pleasing, opposed to those that use random colors and fonts on each page. However, I know that I didn’t probe each site in this area - especially for consistency in results, process, and versioning. In fact, I hadn’t even thought of these subcategories prior to this reading.

In all, Hughes lists 11 areas of consistency that one should use when looking at sites. I mentioned consistency in results, process, and versioning earlier, and the others are consistency in: form, language and content, function, coding, labeling, design, error messaging, and in the reason a piece of content exists. I think that each of these are valid categories, but relating to our last project, the category that might have been a little tricky for my group would have been consistency in language and content. Although the news sites that we reviewed definitely have their own tone, there’s a variety of news stories ranging in areas from Politics to Health to Technology. Also, there are a variety of journalists reporting in their unique style, and most news sites have a section dedicated to blogs.

One other point that I find interesting in this article is that people will tell their friends about a bad experience at a restaurant, but they are less likely to tell their friends about a bad experience with a web site because they may not be able to articulate what it is that makes it bad. Therefore, it’s important to pay special attention to consistency on your site, since you may not hear negative feedback from your audience.

Personal Technology Toolkit

In terms of my technology toolkit, I have the most tools in my arsenal in the print and Web media, and multimedia is in a distant third place. (Although I’m hoping to close the gap soon!) Below is a breakdown of the tools by medium that I have used in the past, am currently learning, and hope to learn in the future.

Print

Past: I have used Photoshop to edit images that I have then placed into InDesign and Illustrator files. Last quarter, I took the class Principles of Graphic Design and learned so much about all three of these programs, as well as, the basic design principles, typography, and print output.

Present: I’m currently working on my biggest work assignment of the year, which involves laying out the print version of the university catalogs. I learned so many tricks in last quarter’s class, that this assignment is easier than it has been in past years, and I think that it will be the most aesthetically-pleasing catalog yet.

Future: Although I know the basics of Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator, I’d like to sharpen these skills and become more proficient in each.

Web

Past: A large part of my job involves the management of the university’s Web site via the content management system, Ingeniux. I have experience with setting up workflows, training other employees, and I have also used Photoshop to edit images and banners for the site.

Present: I’m learning HTML/CSS, and I’m also becoming more familiar with all of the different browsers.

Future: I want to gain a basic understanding of SEO and Web analytics.

Multimedia

Past: I do have some video editing experience, but it’s been awhile since I’ve dabbled it. In undergrad. I took a video editing class, where I learned Final Cut Pro, and in the Proseminar class, we had an in-class video editing assignment, where I used Windows Movie Maker.

Present: I’m currently not doing much in terms of multimedia. These types of projects (departmental videos, virtual tours, etc.) are either handled by the Department of Media Resources or by an outside group.

Future: I would like to revisit Final Cut Pro, and I want to learn Flash. There have been a few projects that my office has been interested in doing involving Flash, but none of us know even the basics of this program, and that has been somewhat frustrating.

Personal Web Footprint

Part of my Web footprint, or trail of online information, consists of personal details that I voluntarily provide on popular social networking sites, such as, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. I have these accounts for a number of reasons (below), even though I know that this information is searchable by anyone and that what I share is connected to me forever. For this reason I’m very careful about what I publicize, I use the privacy settings, and I don’t post anything controversial. I also don’t post my contact information because I don’t want it to fall into the wrong hands.

• Facebook: Four years ago, I moved to the Chicago area from Ohio, and Facebook is a great way to stay connected with friends and family. We can view and comment on each others pictures and posts online at our leisure. Everyone is busy, and Facebook allows us to share information with all of our friends on our own time.
  
  In my profile, I post some photos and general information: interests, favorite movies/books, and hometown to name a few. I don’t post contact information or religious/political views because I don’t want all of my friends (like co-workers) to see this. Also, I know that these preferences may change over time, and I might not want my views today to be connected with me in 20 years.

• Twitter: The thing that I like about Twitter is that I can “follow” interesting people, like celebrities, artists, and journalists. However, I don’t like posting tweets because I’m a private person and can’t think of anything interesting to tweet most of the time. My account hasn’t gotten a lot of action lately - that’s something I’ll have to work on.

• LinkedIn: I have a LinkedIn account for networking purposes. This profile contains most of my employment and education history, connections, and a link to my Twitter account. I don’t post a picture or contact information.

In the Proseminar class that I took last Fall, our class read a PEW Internet Report called Digital Footprints, and we did a similar assignment. One of the things that I learned from this assignment was that it's important to periodically enter your name into a search engine to see if your profile information pops up - as this is what a potential employer would see. My name unfortunately is very common, and I don't show up at all in the results....I think that I just found my question for this week. How can I get my profile information to show up on the first page of Google search results?

In-Class Video/Audio Editing Assignment

It was a fun assignment composing a video and audio file (finished clips below) with the samples that you provided us in class – mainly because I don’t typically work with these media. I liked using the two media, video and audio, to create one project because it allowed me to create a certain feeling, or mood, to the final video. Below is a brief description of the approach that I used for this assignment.

I began the editing process by watching and listening all of the clips. Then, I imported the video clips into Windows Movie Maker in chronological order, and I also imported a song that I thought complimented it. After trimming this song to match the length of the video, I watched what I had so far, and it looked a bit rough. To make the scenes flow together more smoothly, I added a few transitions. This was a little challenging because I didn’t want to add too many different transitions, but I didn’t want to just use the traditional fade either. After finding a healthy balance, I added some opening and closing titles and watched the video again. Overall, I liked what I had, but I thought that it needed a little something extra. That’s when I started to experiment with different video effects, and I was very happy with “Film Age, Old” because I felt that it added to the nostalgic feeling of the video.

There were a few challenges that I ran into with the editing of this video, aside from the transitions. Although I liked the music that I layered behind the video, there were some scenes where the music wasn’t synching well. I overcame this to a degree by speeding up certain scenes, but overall the synching still isn’t great. Another constraint was that I wanted to split the sound from the video files that you gave us so that I could delete some of the background noise, but I wasn’t sure how to do that.

I also created an audio file by using Audacity, and I thought that this was more difficult than the video editing process. As with the video, I listened to all of the narrated clips, and I organized them into what I thought was the chronological order. Then, I imported them into Audacity, and listened to what I had so far. At this point, I realized that I needed to edit some of the silence out and some of the narration so that it transitioned better. I repeated the process of listening to the entire file and editing parts out until I was relatively happy with what I had.

Although I’m not used to working with these programs or media, the editing process wasn’t all that different than writing/editing a paper. For example, before I start a paper, I read the materials that my paper’s about, and then I organize my thoughts into chronological order. Once I have a draft, I read it over and edit it. Then I read it again, revise it further, and reread it until I’m happy with it.

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Book Report - Delete: The Virtue Of Forgetting in the Digital Age

For this assignment, I chose to read Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age by Viktor Mayer-Schonberger because it addresses an intriguing topic – the importance of forgetting. In the past, it was easy, even normal, for people to forget details over time, but in today’s digital age, it’s nearly impossible due to these four factors: digitization, cheap storage, easy retrieval, and global reach. But even though it’s easy and cheap to remember, it’s necessary to forget because people and their views change over time. It’s not fair that information, whether offered voluntarily or not, can follow a person for their lifetime. Of course, there are some steps that people can take to protect their personal privacy, such as digital abstinence, but not even this response is foolproof.

One person who especially wishes that the Internet could forget is Stacy Snyder, who in 2006 was looking forward to starting her teaching career. She had satisfactorily completed all of her coursework when she was told by her university that her teaching certificate would be denied due to her inappropriate behavior. It turns out that a teacher, who worked at the school where Stacy was interning discovered that Stacey, like 110 million people, had a MySpace page, and on this page, she had posted a picture of herself dressed as a pirate drinking from a cup with the caption, “Drunken Pirate.” Although Stacy was over the legal drinking age, the teacher argued that students could potentially find this picture of her consuming alcohol. Perhaps Stacey should have shown better judgment and not posted the questionable picture, but the author cautions, “Should everyone who self-discloses information lose control over that information forever, and have no say about whether and when the Internet forgets this information (4)?”

Similarly, Canadian psychotherapist, Andrew Feldmar, wishes that some of his personal information could be forgotten. In 2006, he was attempting to cross the U.S./Canadian border when a guard decided to enter his name into an Internet search engine. The guard found an article that the respected psychotherapist had written for a 2001 journal, in which he admitted taking LSD in the 1960s and because of this article, Feldmar was denied further entry to the United States (4).

In these two cases, personal information was volunteered, but in most instances people provide information about themselves without realizing it. For example, in 2007 Google reported that it had a record of every query that every user had entered, and it knew whether that user clicked on one of the results that it had returned or not. It would seem that Google remembers more details about us than we remember about ourselves. Other organizations, such as travel Web sites, doctor’s offices, credit bureaus, and law enforcement agencies, keep digitized records that contain our personal information too (6-9).

Mayer-Schonberger concedes that there are some benefits to a digital comprehensive memory, but the cons outweigh them. Since the Internet and other digital devices, like camera memory cards and USB storage devices, keep a perfect memory of the information that people provide (knowingly or not) people will not only be judged by their present peers, but also their future peers (11). In the past, when a teenager wrote an article for a school newspaper, she didn’t have to worry about that article following her around for her entire career. Today, it is more likely that the article would remain attached to her long after her views have potentially changed over the years. As people are becoming more aware of the Internet’s ability to remember them and negative cases, such as Snyder and Feldmar’s are becoming more common, people are becoming more hesitant to express their true beliefs. The author smartly concludes that, “the future has a chilling effect on what we do in the present (12).”

Human memory is complex, and for thousands of years, our ancestors have been looking for ways to increase it. Remembering consists of two parts: storing information and later being able to retrieve that information. Early humans realized that if they repeated an act, like sewing, that they would be able to commit it to their memory, and this is known as procedural memory. Another type, declarative memory, is when “recall from procedural memory is automatic (19).” For instance, remembering a special occasion would fall into the latter category. One simply searches their brain for this information and they can remember it. Scientists are also unsure of what it means to forget. Many believe that information can’t be erased from the brain unless if psychological damage occurs. Rather the information is still stored in the brain, but there is no link to it (16-19).

Throughout the years, remembering was made easier for humans by language and other media, such as paintings and script. Language made it easier for people to communicate information to one another, and it also allowed for information to be spread geographically and for it to be passed from generation to generation. However, it took a lot of time and effort to communicate via language. Likely, information had to be repeated numerous times for the other person to remember it accurately. People soon realized that it would be easier to remember by using external memory. During the Renaissance, it was chic for families to hire a painter to capture a moment in time by painting a family portrait. This, however, was time-consuming and expensive. Writing was another means that our ancestors used to preserve memories, but this too was costly. Even with Johannes Guttenberg’s printing press, books were still a novelty until the 20th century. Similarly, film and photography were expensive ways of creating memories. In the 1850s, it cost 50¢ - $10 to develop a photo, which was the equivalent of $100 - $2,000 in 2006. Furthermore, a negative of the image wasn’t produced (23-46).

Now, however, it’s much easier and cheaper to remember because of digitization, cheap storage, easy retrieval, and global reach. Many media today are kept in a digital format: music, photography, video, and newsletters; even personal files, such as letters and journals are stored digitally. And unlike analog media, digital media withstands time and perfect copies of digital files can be made. Furthermore, it’s cheap to store these digital files. Consider that “in 2008, the cost of storage for one megabyte of information had been reduced to one hundredth of a cent (63).” If a person runs out of room on their storage device, they can simply purchase another one rather inexpensively. Digital storage in most cases is even cheaper than keeping an analog version. For example, a laser-printed piece of paper costs around 10¢, and a megabyte worth of text would cost around $50, whereas a megabyte of digital storage costs around one hundredth of a cent. It’s also easier to retrieve information when it exists digitally. One simply has to type a few words into a search box to find the relevant information, opposed to searching an index. Finally, a person can access stored information regardless of their location, as long as they are connected to that network (52-79).

“Until a few decades ago…to remember was the exception; to forget, the default (92).” But now, it’s costly to forget, and as a result we will all pay a price. In the past, people had more control over the information that they shared with others. For example, Stacy Snyder may have only intended for her friends to view the “drunken pirate” picture, but her supervisors also viewed it. Furthermore, a perfect copy of this photo could be redistributed to anyone without Stacy’s knowledge. There is also a comprehensive amount of information that is collected on individuals in various databases over time. It’s truly frightening that some information providers collect this information and create bundles that include a person’s interests, friends, and beliefs, and they will sell this information to anyone for a relatively small sum. In the past, a person had the opportunity of creating a fresh start in a new location, but not so much anymore (97-104).

There are some steps that people can take to protect themselves, but the effectiveness is questionable. Perhaps the most obvious action is digital abstinence. It would seem that if people avoid providing their information to a digital memory, they could easily be forgotten. However, they would also have to avoid search engines, like Google, and other ecommerce sites, such as Amazon. A major problem with giving all of this up is that a person wouldn’t receive the benefits of these sites. They make browsing easy. Another solution would be to enforce stricter information privacy rights. This would be tricky though. In theory, a person would give a company, such as the Post Office, a property right to her personal information, and she would relinquish control. However, what if she wanted the Post Office to have her new address, but she didn’t want to allow them to provide this information to a third party? These laws would have to be carefully crafted to work. The author also proposes an information ecology, in which digital files can only be kept for a certain time period. For example, DNA collected from witnesses and cleared suspects is deleted from databases in some U.S. states. Another “possible response aimed at preventing or mitigating the challenges of power and time posed by digital memory (128)” is perfect contextualization. In this case, people would have to evaluate the various information that is collected on a person and come to their own conclusions. This policy would create “a transparent society, in which comprehensive information about everything is available to everyone, and individual information control would be replaced by general transparency (164).” This system, too, has flaws. In this type of society, people would feel as though they were constantly being watched, and they would act with that in mind (128-165).

I really enjoyed this book because I agree with the author, Viktor Mayer-Schonberger, that our privacy rights are severely compromised in the digital age, and that we all have “the right to be forgotten (ix).” It’s tough because I, like many people, want to provide some personal information to various sites for different reasons. For example, I upload some personal details to my Facebook profile because it’s a way of socializing and keeping my friends updated on my life. I also use Google religiously. Before this book, I knew that it kept a record of searches, but I was shocked by the accuracy and details of their records. It’s truly frightening that they could tell me what I searched for in 2002 – something that I have clearly forgotten. Furthermore, it’s unsettling that some companies collect information about me that is stored in several databases, and this information is for sale. As the book details, until recent years, it was normal for humans to forget, and this allowed for people to act in the present. Now, however, it’s more expensive and difficult to forget, due to digitization, cheap storage, easy retrieval, and global reach. After reading this book, I’m going to limit the amount of personal information, in the form of pictures, videos, and blogs that I post online. I’m not scared of being judged by my peers now, but I don’t want to be judged by future peers. I also hope that we as a society will take careful consideration before judging others based on ideas that they express in a digital environment.

Works Cited

Mayer-Schonberger, Viktor. Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2009.

"An Interview with Andrew Feenberg," by Mark Zachry

In 2007, Mark Zachry interviewed Andrew Feenberg - a leader in the philosophy of technology, whose work deals with the relationship between technology and society, for Technical Communication Quarterly. Zachry explains that before Feenberg’s work, “technology was treated as an irresistible or deterministic force (453).” Since then, it is accepted that people play a key role in the evolution of technology, and society’s actions determine technology’s course. (It seems that Feenberg and Marshall McLuhan are on opposite ends of the spectrum here).

One of the first questions that Zachry asks Feenberg is, “How did you get interested in computers?” and the answer contains an interesting history lesson. He was working at the Western Behavioral Sciences Institute in the early 1980s when he received his first computer. At this time computers were rare, and a personal computer cost around $5,000! Also, in these early days, computers were used primarily for filing and calculating, but he and his colleagues used them for communicating. He refers to this as “computer-mediated communication (456).”

He continued to study computer-mediated communication through his work with the Minitel, which was “a domestic computing network with a very simple interface that anyone could learn to use (457).” The Minitel was intended as a means for people to access information, such as, train schedules and phone listings, but hackers figured out how to instant message via the technology. (Wouldn’t this be an example of remediation?)

Throughout the interview it is obvious that Feenberg, like Donald Norman, is very interested in the influence that user’s have on the redesign of technology. He explains that the design of the Internet changed because it’s more commonly used as a communications device opposed to an information device. Another interesting detail that he provides is that computer companies used to think that they were connecting people to machines, but there came a time when they realized that they were rather connecting people to people. This observation lead them to design a program that allowed people to communicate with one another (458).

Zachry also asks about the relationship between critical theory and the design process. As Feenberg explains, critical theory “is a critique of domination exercised through the organization of technically mediated institutions (459).” I’m still not sure that I understand this term, but I think that it refers to a generalization of the characteristics of society, and companies design products with these characteristics in mind.

Towards the end of the article, they discuss online communities and education, and I thought that this section was particularly interesting. In the 1980s, Feenberg spent years experimenting with online education, but it never really went anywhere until years later when this technology became all the rage. All of a sudden, the president of the state college and university system in California decided to put the equipment into the classrooms for online education, even though nobody knew how they were supposed to use this technology to teach (468). This reminds me of the Norman reading, when he discusses the implementation of the university’s phone system. They spent millions of dollars installing these fancy phones without trying them out, and unfortunately most of the staff dislikes the phones (Norman 19). In both cases, the ideal would be to test the equipment and work out the kinks before installing such expensive equipment.

Click here to view the entire Interview.

Works Cited

Norman, Donald A. The Design of Everyday Things. Basic Books, 1988.

Zachry, Mark. "An Interview with Andrew Feenberg." Technical Communications Quarterly, 16.4 (2007): 453-472.

The Design of Everyday Things, by Donald Norman

Preface to the 2002 Edition

Donald A. Norman’s goal with his book, The Design of Everyday Things (DOET), is to encourage designers to employ good designs when it comes to everyday items so that these items can be used easily, efficiently, and enjoyably by the consumer. He explains that too many objects, such as, doors, telephones, and automobiles are designed poorly, and in effect bring frustration to the user.

Through his work as a cognitive scientist, Norman became especially interested in human error. At first, he focused his work on finding ways to help people avoid making mistakes. His interests shifted though after he participated on a team that was supposed to investigate the mistakes of control-room operators at a nuclear power plant accident. Instead, he and the team found that the errors were caused by the design of the room and not the operators (viii).

Similarly, he began to notice that the designs of everyday items were designed poorly. For instance, during his time at the Applied Psychology unit in Cambridge, England, he was puzzled by the doors; some slid open, while others required a push or pull. In any case, there were no visual clues that indicated which method to use. His annoyance with the complexity of these types of items inspired him to write this book, which was originally titled, The Psychology of Everyday Things (POET). He later switched the title to DOET after learning that the book was being shelved in the psychology section of the bookstore opposed to the design section because of the word “psychology” (viii-x).

The three main topics that DOET covers are:

1. It’s not your fault: I feel so much better about myself after reading this selection because there are a few common items that I occasionally have trouble with, such as, the DVD player, oven stove, and telephone at work. It’s good to hear that many people have similar issues with appliances that should be simple to use. However, they aren’t because of poor design (x).


2. Design principles: Principles (a short list follows) are discussed so that designers can create easy-to-use products. (a.) Conceptual models – Items should explain how they work through their appearance. There should be “an obvious and natural relationship between the location and operation of the controls, so you always know what does what (xi-xii),” and Norman refers to this as “natural mapping.” (b.) Feedback – It’s important for a person to receive feedback so that they know the effect of their action. For example, at work I have to submit various requests online and after I submit them, I receive an e-mail, which tells me that my request was successfully submitted. Without that, I wouldn’t know whether my request was received or not. (c.) Constraints – Designers should create a product so that it can only be used one way. For instance, batteries should only be able to be inserted into a device one way, or if there are multiple ways, each way should work. (d.) Affordances – The proper actions of an item should be obvious to a person, while the improper actions shouldn’t (xi-xii).


3. The power of observation: Learn to watch people and the way that they use objects. This, according to Norman, is the most important advice to take away from the book (xii).

Successful Designs take all of these items into account, in addition to cost and aesthetics. And although this book debuted in 1988, these design principles are still critical when it comes to newer technologies, like cell phones and computers. Norman writes that “high technology changes rapidly, but everyday life changes slowly (xiv).” Therefore the design of these items needs to be intuitive to a user so that they can understand how to use them properly and easily.

The Psychopathology of Everyday Things

The first chapter continues to explain that the difference between easy and hard-to-use items is their design. “Well-designed objects are easy to interpret and contain visible clues to their operation (2),” whereas poorly-designed objects are difficult to use and contain false, or no visible clues.

Two pieces of advice that Norman provides for creating good designs are:

1. “Provide a good conceptual model,” and
2. “make things visible (13).”

He acknowledges that some tasks, such as flying an airplane, would be difficult to the average person, even if the airplane was designed well. However, turning on light switches and faucets, and opening doors should be easy. He provides an example about one of his friends who was temporarily trapped in a post office in Europe. While the typical door has a hinge on one side, and to open it, one must pull or push on the opposite side, the doors to the post office didn’t have any visible hinges or pillars. The friend was trapped between two sets of doors because it turned out that he was unknowingly pushing on the hinged side of the door, and he didn’t escape until another group passed through. This was a frustrating situation that happened because the necessary parts of the object were invisible to the user, and the function of the object was unclear. The designer could have created visibility by including a flat plate on the doors so that people would naturally know to push on that spot to open them. This concept would refer to natural design (3-4).

I have another example of a design that has poor visibility. A few weeks ago, I bought a Honda Civic, and when I went to fill it up with gas for the first time, I spent nearly 10 minutes figuring out how to open the gas casket. In my previous car and the other cars that I’m familiar with, there’s a visible ridge on the casket that naturally tells you to lift up. Since this ridge doesn’t exist on my new car, I tried to push the casket and then I tried to pry it open. Neither of these actions worked, and embarrassed, I got into my car and started to read the manual. It turns out that there is a button on the floor by the door that you need to push in to open the gas casket. This button isn’t visible or obvious to a person who has never had a Honda.

Another principle that Norman discusses in detail is mapping, which means “the relationship between two things (23),” and I think that I can illustrate this term by explaining an everyday item that I occasionally have problems with - the stove. There is nothing special about my stove – it has two back burners, two front burners, and four knobs that control the burners, which run left to right. The problem is that I’ll sometimes intend to turn on the back burner, and I realize minutes later that I actually turned on the front burner. Why are the knobs in a horizontal line? I would understand which knob is associated with which burner better if two knobs were on the left in a vertical line and two knobs were on the right in a vertical line. This mapping would be more natural for me.

Other devices, like telephones, can be difficult to use because they have the ability to perform so many functions (assuming that the user can correctly execute them) and coincidentally have too many controls. Why add 50 functions to a telephone when the average user only knows how to perform a handful of them? A few days ago at work, I spent nearly 20 minutes trying to change my voicemail. (I checked the manual, and there were no instructions). I had to dial my number, login with my password, and skip through all of my voicemails before I got to a recording that went something like this, “You have finished playing all of your voicemails. For more options press 7*.” Then, I had the option of pressing one, for more voicemail commands or two, for mailbox commands. After several menus and selecting random numbers, I did finally get to change my voicemail, but why couldn’t I get to my greeting right away? Why did I have to listen to all of my saved voicemails first? Perhaps if I pressed 7* in the beginning I would have been able to get to the proper menu faster, but why did the designer choose an arbitrary number like 7*?

Works Cited

Norman, Donald A. The Design of Everyday Things. Basic Books, 1988.