Is the end of the web in site.

App Economy – Hidden Story Behind the Rosy App World

I've always found the web wonderful as a source of information. But as a usability guy a lousy place to program rich user interaction experiences. Witness the difficulties of doing a Javascript word processor in Google Docs vs the 20 lines of Code is takes in Cooca( IPhone/Mac interface).

So the end of the web ( that is application web) is good long live th e data web.

Roles, Classes & Aspect programming.

Intensive conversation with Simon.

We got talking about ways of thinking about how you might abstract over both object
oriented sytle inheritance and aspect programming.

Simon said something interesting
Imagine your class is a dictionary. You have selectors ( method names) for keys and code ( or source code) as when one class is derived from the other ( Doctor is derived from person). What you are trying to do is merge the Doctor dictionary with the person dictionary. Most cases are the same 'Heal()' is in the doctor dictionary and not in the person and 'Breath()'is in person but not doctor so merging these dictionaries no problem, is only when the selectors are the same ('Jump'()) do you have to do some code splicing.

I pointed out that Apsect programming can also consider it as merging two (or more) dictionaries together with more fancy splicing.

Simon wants to think about Role centred programming - a role is like a class but when you aggregate the exposed interface remains exposed. So a you can combine an driver role and a doctor you get a ambulance driver. The probelm is how to handle the overlaps when you effectively merge the dictionary.

It was the kind of intensive conversation that makes you glad your an academic. On the down side Gordon my prize Phd student can't afford to go on to full phd.

Strange grumpy observation of the day

There is a nice call up at the moment about Transforming Energy Demand in buildings through digital innovation. 

It sounds all very good and grand but for me it just shows how divorced research is from delivery. For example there is very little work on the design of domestic thermostats. Its just not that glamourous enough research to get funded ( even if someone was willing to do it - I mean you don't get in CHI for that kind of work).  Yet if you wanted to make a big impact quickly with out people campaigning against you then making sure the heating in the house was off when you were out ( i.e can you program your digital thermostat correctly ) would be the biggest use. 

Ruth and I were in conversation - we talked about tools for early stage impact on energy consumption for non domestic buildings. There is a system called BREEM which architects can use to guess the amount of energy there building will have. Did you know there are no BREEM or LEADS energy calculators on the iPhone or iPad. 

Strange omission.

Ar-chi-tecture

Ar-chi-tecture

Finally got the CHI workshop site up and running on sister blog.

http://archiitectureinteractionworkshop2012.blogspot.com/

Future Finder, Vision, Sketch, Demo...

Well CHI rebuttals where a trail so I've cheered my self up with some codeing this weekend. I've made this you tube demo of my current sketch - its all in cinder.

Chi I can't believe it

I got exactly the same review for every paper I submitted!  Still I can't do anything until Monday and when I have a cool head will start rebutting one by one, point by point.

Baltic Bin - Interactive Ingredients

Baltic Bin - Interactive Ingredients

Yvonne mentioned me on her new blog about the trip we made with Amelia to the Baltic. It was really nice seeing her. I agree with her I think George Shaw made the best work( of the 4) . Perhaps I'm an a pessimist but I don't think he will will - it's too approachable to accessible for the every day public and there fore least likely to win. My money is on the paper and bath balls girl ( she studied at my dad's art school in Newcastle so she's the 'home' team).

The Seattle experiment

Sounds like the Seattle experiment went really well. 


Lots of very positive responses to iPfad's use and keen noises in using it more.  I'm going to look at the results of the user testing and then put a new version up on Apple's IStore. Only 4 direct users ( 20 indirectly as subject) so I'm going to have to run a second test with more users probably in a more ubicompy situation. 


Very pleasing. 

CHI workshop proposal got in

To day as a good day. 

The CHI workshop bid got OKed !

Here is my internal press release. 

Dr  Sheep Dalton and Professor Gerd Kortuem  ( members of the pervasive computing group) along with an international team of fellow academics have be successful in a bid for a workshop the CHI2012 conference.  The ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) series of academic conferences is generally considered the most prestigious in the field of human–computer interaction. It is hosted by ACM SIGCHI, the Special Interest Group on computer–human interaction. CHI has been held annually since 1982 and attracts thousands of international attendees. CHI 2012 will be held in Austin, Texas, USA.

The workshop Ar-CHI-tecture seeks to examine the growing relationship between the fields of human computer interaction and Architecture. 

The rise of ubiquitous computing leads to a convergence between the areas of architectural design and HCI. Human-computer interaction is a type of human-artefact interaction, and its research is characterized by analysing human behavior, cognitive processes and task structures. Buildings can also be understood as artefacts and people interact with them in numerous ways. We believe that the methodological toolbox of HCI researchers/practitioners can be valuable for understanding the challenges of designing buildings that meet users’ needs. Conversely, architectural knowledge is essential for HCI professionals and researchers designing interactive technologies for architectural settings. This workshop will bring together these communities to explore the benefits of architecture envisioned as integral to an expanded CHI community and identify fundamental differences, similarities and synergies between design and research approaches that use architecture in different ways in HCI.

I actually got this yesterday - but I was too busy with finalising another experiment to notice!

PS notice the bit shamelessly stolen from wikipedia ?