World Usability Day was established in 2005 by the Usability Professionals Association. Each year, design professionals come together to discuss how to “develop technologies in a way that serves people first.” On November 8, 2018, professionals met at almost 100 locations around the world to discuss the how to “Make Life Easy.” I attended World Usability … Read more What Can Usability Teach Us About Working Together?
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
We have text-to-voice prostheses for the visually impaired, and voice-to-text (captioning) for the hearing impaired. What about a prosthesis for the cognitively impaired? Configurable in settings, the prosthesis for the cognitively impaired could allow a user or their surrogate to specify the areas in which the user needs support. Have trouble interpreting statistics? Check. Find … Read more How Technology Can Help Increase Understanding
I bet you know someone who is totally smart but who never seems to understand the teacher’s assignment. Or a good friend who is mystified by the subtleties of the recent comedy-of-manners film you just saw. Or maybe you are seeing your mother or father show signs of cognitive decline after years of being the smartest … Read more Designing for Users with Cognitive Impairments
This year two bright young high school students I know did something quite unexpected. They graduated. One has spent much of his high school years addressing thorny mental health issues. The other (someone I have a semi-maternal interest in) just doesn’t like school — except for the social aspect — and really couldn’t be bothered … Read more Down with Education; Up with Learning
In August A Book Apart released On Web Typography by Jason Santa Maria. This is an excellent introduction to typography and well-timed, since most of the predictions for hot design trends in 2014 include something about fonts. Forbes: large fonts. The Next Web: Non-boring typography. Moveable Online: More experimental type. Web Marketing Today: custom fonts. But … Read more Fun with Type (But Keep It Functional)
Like many in the Sandwich Generation, lately I’ve been spending an unfortunate amount of time thinking about the hazards of growing old–especially when you are poor–today. When you go to the hospital you get great care (expensive, I’m sure), but your out-of-hospital care is crappy. After a couple of weeks out of the hospital, back … Read more A Fitbit For Grandma
I recently worked with a team to develop a site to promote a vacation rental property. The client has a lovely second home in the Orlando area that he makes available for rent. While he has a relationship with a local property management company, he wants to promote and rent the home himself. The client … Read more UX Doesn’t End With the Final Click
I recently spent some time playing the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board’s game, Into the Book. The game, developed in conjunction with Wisconsin Public TV and others, is designed to increase reading comprehension among K-3 students. It is a well-done series of fun activities (even for me, and I’m way outside the K-3 range) crafted around … Read more Gettin’ Into the Book
The potential of MOOCs is (potentially) amazing. Massive Open Online Courses, where hundreds of thousands of students take a single class, make many delirious with hope for the spread of knowledge, unlimited by tuition costs, geographical distance, and suspect merit selectivity. I’m interested, too. I’ve taken a couple of classes and marveled at many more. … Read more Can MOOCs Make the World Smarter?
