Book Reading #9: Coming of Age in Samoa

Chapter 3: The Education of a Samoan Child

Margaret Mead

Summary: In this chapter, Mead discusses the education that both, boys and girls receive ever since they are born until they become adults. Most of the early education they receive comes from older siblings, mostly girls, since they are in charge of their younger siblings since they are about five or six months old. Mead explains the distinctions that are observed between the education boys and girls receive, as well as the expectations that their village has from them.

Discussion: Something that really surprised me was the fact that girls did not really want to get married before their late teens. I was of the idea that in the past girls would get married really young, and I just assumed it would be the same. Also, I found really interesting to know that boys or young adults would be discouraged to succeed more than others, how they were limited by being only a little better than the rest. There were so many detailed examples, that I think are important to know about in order to better understand the rest of the book.

Book Reading #8: Design of Everyday Things

Chapter 3: Knowledge in the Head and in the World

The Design of Everyday Things

Donald A. Norman

Summary: Throughout the chapter, Norman makes the distinction between the knowledge we keep in out minds against the knowledge we keep in objects, such as notes, calendars, computers, etc. Norman opens up the chapter by making the note that many expert typists cannot spell out the order in which the letters are ordered in a keyboard, or how people that "memorize" poems do not really memorize line by line, but they have the ability to recite such poems thanks to constrains found in the lyrics. These are just examples of activities that we can perform, even though we do not have the detailed knowledge to reproduce the relating activity. According to Norman, the knowledge we keep in easier to retrieve than that we keep in the head; it is not necessary to learn what we keep in the world, but it is necessary to learn in to keep in the head and keeping knowledge in the head may be more efficient to use than that of the world, depending on the environment.

Discussion: I agree with the idea that Norman introduces, if we have a strong interest or connection with a certain piece of information it is easier to keep it in our head and not to forget it. In my own example, some times I can remember conversation I had with people many years ago, but it is only because in one way or another they were significant and had an impact in my life. 

As to the information we keep in the world, I think it can be most related to activities that we ought to do, maybe as an obligation or an assignment. In today's world there are many organizational tools that individuals can use. However, there is always improvements that we can work on in order to enhance such tools, maybe in the area of signaling the reminder.

Paper Reading #4: Tangible Interfaces for Download

Comments:
Adam Friedli
Jessica Gonzales
  

Reference Information:

Title: Tangible Interfaces for Download: Initial Observations from Users' Everyday Environments

Authors: E. Constanza, M. Giaccone, O. Kung, S. Shelley, J. Huang.

Presentation: (Conference Paper) CHI 2010, April 10-15, 2010, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Summary:
This article presents an example of a Tangible User Interface (TUI), how it has been presented and tested by users, and attempts to understand the effect that such an interface has upon its everyday users. The authors introduce TUIs by stating that the HCI community has been discussing and research about this kind of interfaces for about 15 years. They explain that in such a set up, physical objects are used to control and represent digital date, similar to a GUI. In order to study how the use of such an interface would be accepted by its users, they developed Audio d-touch, an Internet-based application.

The authors emphasize that such interfaces have mainly been studied in research, and are probably exhibits at museums. The reason being is that the artifacts implemented for the interface are usually expensive, thus users have not yet had the opportunity to interact with a TUI. Audio d-touch on the other hand is inexpensive and easy to set up, thus they were able to distribute it online, along with a list of easy instructions the user can follow for the set up. 

How it Works: The web cam not only records the activity, but also functions to identify the movements and positions of the blocks in relation to the activity area. Each of the objects positions is mapped to music synthesis parameters. 

Set Up: Audio d-touch only requires a computer, a web cam and a printer. The user is given markers and labels that they need to print, and glue to physical objects, like chocolate bars. Then they need to set up the web cam hanging from a desk lamp or another type of stand, and place physical interface they just created under the web cam. Then they can start creating they own rhythms of music, recording, saving or deleting.

Source

In order to be able to analyze the reaction of the users, they created a logging system, when the users that downloaded the application had to create an account, and be online every time they were using the application. With this set up, the researchers were able to obtain information about the users, for example if the had used a TUI before, if they had any music background, their age, and also they had access to the videos that were recorded when using the interface.

The authors explain how majority of comments and feedback they received from the testing were positive. Some of the comments were encouraging and would give them ideas about some functionality that they should probably add to the interface. Not many comments reported difficulties with the set up, which as they say, it shows that it is a simple, easy to follow set up. 

Discussion:

I had never read about TUIs before, but without a doubt this is an interesting and innovative concept. I liked the idea of putting such an inexpensive and easy to construct interface out there for the public. Even though, as they explain, there has been some research in this field for about 15  years, it had not been made available for everyday users.

I think it should of been expected that many of the users that tried Audio d-touch would see it more as a toy or interesting artifact instead of a professional tool. This interface still needs some more functionality to be added before it can be useful to professional musicians. However, if they were to continue working on it, and really try to develop something that would be marketable, I think they would be able to obtain different manufactured settings that would look more professional and musicians would really appreciate it as something worth their value, and not just a toy.

I understand they were trying to study the reactions and interactions between such interfaces and their users, but I still think they were obtaining much information from the users. I mean, they were even able to learn about the places where these interfaces were setup, for example, they mentioned majority of them had been set up on offices or bedrooms. I am not sure if I would be willing to give up such information even when it seems like a really interesting activity to do.

Book Reading #7: Opening Skinner's Box

Opening Skinner's Box

Lauren Slater

Chapter 1: Opening Skinner's Box

B.F. Skinner's Rat Race

Summary: In this chapter, Slater discusses much of the work and life of B.F. Skinner. Lauren emphasizes the areas where he had most recognition in, but also those that even though not recognized, he did influenced greatly. Even though she starts the chapter by describing what many people think of him, and how they describe him, she gives a turn and starts describing his work and life from her own point of view, and the information she gathers from his daughter Julie.

Discussion: Before reading this chapter, I had not much knowledge about who B.F. Skinner was, and what he represents for the psychology field. I think I had heard a little about him, maybe a couple of years ago in a psychology class, but not much details about his work and life. I was really surprised by the first couple of pages describing Skinner, but then as she explained it from her own point of view and his daughter's testimony I realized he was not that "evil," as Slater thinks many people would describe him. I can't say I completely agree with all of his claims, but I am interested in reading more about positive reinforcement.

Book Reading #6: Coming of Age in Samoa

Coming of Age in Samoa

Margaret Mead

Chapter 2: A Day in Samoa

Summary: In this second chapter, Margaret Mead describes with much detail a regular day at Samoa. She details the activities that each member of a family will do since dawn until past midnight when the day was over. From the smallest kids, to the elders of the villages, Mead captures their daily lives and customs, giving a general idea of how the life at a community like this one is.

Discussion: In my opinion, Mead uses a really descriptive language, that for me it was a bit difficult to follow at some points. However, I do think that she did such a great job in describing how each group of people would spend their days in such a short chapter; she was even able to let the reader know about some on the customs, for example, who eats first at dinner time, who goes to sleep first and who at last, etc.

Appendix II: Methodology of This Study

Summary: In this appendix, Mead describes what assumptions she does, what methods she chose to follow, and clarifies certain points that are important for the basis of her study. She describes how it is impossible to obtain really accurate data, because for example, she was not able to obtain accurate dates of birth. Another thing she explains, is how she obtained the information and background of the place, by native informants, before being able to start analyzing the behavior of the adolescent girls, by interviewing with them personally. She also clarifies that all the information was gathered in their native language.

Discussion: I think it was interesting to read this information before reading the contents of the book. Now we have an idea of why and how she decided to go about the gathering of information, and how accurate and verifiable she thinks it is. 

Appendix V: Materials upon Which the Analysis is Based

Summary: In this appendix, Mead presents detailed explanations of the information that she obtained from the girls and how she obtained it. She also gives some numbers, and tables containing some of the information she gathered. This information includes family, social and sexual interactions of each of the girls, as well as the topics of the intelligence tests that she gave to these girls.

Discussion: I found all the information from the tables to be really interesting. Majority of the information is really personal, I can't imagine how Mead was able to gain the trust of these people and be able to go so deeply into their lives. I think she did a great job, and I haven't yet read the book! I'm really looking forward to read the rest of the chapters and be able do discover how such an observation can be possible.

Book Reading #5: The Design of Everyday Things

Chapter 2: The Psychology of Everyday Actions

The Design of Everyday Things

Donald A. Norman

Summary: In this chapter, Norman discusses some misconceptions and erroneous ideas that sometimes people decide to believe in order to make life simpler. For example, falsely blaming ourselves for not being able to use an object, when in reality the object has a bad design. Or blaming the wrong cause for something that happened only because by coincidence one happened right after the other. Norman also talks about some misconceptions that we may have about everyday life, for example the way a thermostat works; he explains that we are explanatory creatures, thus we try to have an explanation of everything. He then discusses two concepts, learned helplessness and taught helplessness, that can be the reasoning behind self blame. Lastly, he discusses the Seven Stages of Action that individuals "use" when carrying out an action.

Discussion: The examples presented in this chapter just make me remember about similar situations that I have encountered in the past, for example, having someone think that an object works one way, but in reality it doesn't, so do you tell the person that's not how it works, or do you just let it go? I have to admit I have let it go in the past. 

I like how Norman relates the principles he presented in the first chapter to the information at the end of this chapter. It helps me understand the point that he is really trying to make.

Book Reading #4: HCI Remixed

Chapter 24: A simulated Listening Typewriter: John Gould Plays Wizard of Oz
Chris Schmandt. MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
J. Gould, J. Conti, and T. Hovanyecz, 1983: "Composing Letters with a Simulated Listening Typewriter"
 
Summary: This essay discusses some of the early history of speech recognition programs, around the late 1970s. This essay demonstrates how a speech recognition program was evaluated even before it existed. This technique became knows as the Wizard of Oz, where a hidden human is manipulating a device, while a a subject spoke in a microphone in front of the monitor, and the typist in the other room listened and typed what the subject was saying. The computer interface was being evaluated.

Discussion:
Clever way to evaluate a device, even before having it fully developed. I find really interesting to read about such technologies, and how they started being developed. It is helping me set a time fame in my mind that is leading to what we have right know and making me think of what is to come in the future.


Chapter 25: Seeing the Hole in Space
Steve Harrison. Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A.
K. Galloway and S. Rabinowitz, 1980: Hole in Space (Video)
 
Summary: In this essay, Harrison describes how the work of two artists, Galloway and Rabinowitz, changed the way he thought about video-mediated communication. The Hole in Space was an art project developed in 1980, where a communication was made possible between two cities, utilizing projectors and audio. Harrison realized that they not only worked with communications, but that their medium was human relations.

Discussion: The only interesting part about this essay was the minimal description about the Hole in Space project. Even though that is part of the name of the title of the essay, unfortunately, it does not discuss the project any further. 


Chapter 26: Edward Tufte's 1 + 1 = 3
Scott Jenson. Google, Mountain View, California, U.S.A.
E.R. Tufte, 1990. Envisioning Information.
 
Summary: In this essay, Jenson explains how he utilizes the 1+ 1 = 3 concept in analyzing the design of things, how this clutter makes things difficult to understand. This is, 2 items put together in a space create a third item, clutter. He describes the time of his realization, when he confused the close/open buttons in an elevator.

Discussion: Even when at the beginning this was a little confusing, the concept of 1 + 1 = 3 is interesting to read about. I can personally identify with the example of the elevator buttons, I hate pushing the open button when in reality I want to push the close button. Ironic, it should be the other way around, but like he says, people are always in a hurry, and pressing the open button just makes it worst!


Chapter 27: Typographic Space: A Fusion of Design and Technology
Jodi Forlizzi. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
D. Small, S. I shizaki, and M. Cooper, 1994: "Typographic Space."
 
Summary: Forlizzi discusses a little of the history of typography evolution. She focuses her paper in the contributions made by Muriel Cooper, who was a designer who later started teaching and working with graphic design and how it contributes to technology.

Discussion: I found the concept of kinetic typography to be quite interesting. Reading this article made me realize the importance of typography; it is something that I never really thought about before, but thanks to this field of study, today, we are able to better express our speaking in writing. 


Chapter 28: Making Sense of Sense Making
Steve Whittaker. University of Sheffield, Sheffield, U.K.
A. Kidd, 1994: "The Marks Are on the Knowledge Worker."
 
Summary: Whittaker summarizes Kidd's views and claims about how to process new information, and how to manage the old. He claims that mainly used ford for passive storage of information, but that they are not good at the processing of making sense of the information we gather. However, Whittaker proposes that maybe the reason of the problem is task management skills, instead of making sense.

Discussion: I agree with many of points highlighted by this essay, for example that information we have stored, many of the times we still forget that we have it, or even where we have it, so it basically defeats the purpose of storing information. However, I do believe that it depends on the use, and how organized he/she is. I would be awesome if there was such a software that would automatically arrange our file system, but even if there is, the user still needs to contribute to such a task in order to know where their files were stored.

Chapter 34: Revisiting an Ethnocritical Approach to HCI: Verbal Privilege and Translation
Michael J. Muller. IBM Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
A. Krupat, 1992: Ethnocriticism: Ethnography, History, Literature
 
Summary: Muller summarizes three major principles written by Krupat that an ethnohistorian could use in order to better understand a culture that wasn't their own: multiculturalism, poly-vocal polity, heterogeneity as a norm. Then based on these principles, Muller raises some questions that he had faced as an HCI worker: the analyst's location, translation as a core process, and verbal privilege as a core problem in HCI.

Discussion: In my opinion, this essay is missing more analysis on how to relate these topics to the HCI field. For example, if Muller had extended his discussion about those three areas he presented at the end, then maybe it would have been a more interesting reading.
 

Paper Reading #3: Experience in Social Affective Applications: Methodologies and Case Study

Comments:
Adam Friedli
Jessica Gonazales

Reference Information:
Title: Experience in Social Affective Applications: Methodologies and Case Study.
Authors: Paul Andre, Alan Dix, M.C. Schraefel, Ryen W. White.
Presentation: (Paper) CHI 2010. April 10-15, 2010, Atlanta, GA.

Summary:
The authors of this paper are discussing the experience of use and the affect that social networks are able to provide. They express their interest in finding out if combining the previous mentioned characteristics would enhance quality of life, or at least in the social interaction aspect of it.

They developed Healthii, an application that allows users to express their current status of well being utilizing the following set of descriptors: 'busy', 'enjoyment', 'stress' and 'health'; and 'not', 'quite' and 'very'. The state of well being is represented by an avatar, which can be updated through Facebook or Twitter. 

Two related works are discussed, Affector and eMoto. Affector is a video window that can be placed in between neighboring offices of two friends, and thanks to sensor readings, such as movements in the office, it can communicate the mood of the person. eMoto is an application that allows "emotions" to be transmitted through text messages, depending in the way the user inputs the text message.

The authors explain they were not only interested in developing a tool that could express the state of well-being, but also in understanding the concept of well-being expressing, and trying to understand the experience of the user when trying to determine their well-being state. The method they utilized on testing Healthii was the following: they selected ten people from their own lab, who were already friends and users of a social network. They were given the Healthii tool, and asked to use it for a period of five weeks, during which they would meet regularly to discuss about the effect that Healthii was having on them as well as positive and negative aspects of the tool.

Furthermore, they present two areas of critiques obtained from the reviews of their original CHI paper. One area is how they were opened for redesign during the testing period, and the way they designed the tool itself. They also explained how existing methodologies, such as Participatory Design, longitudinal studies, ethnography or focus groups did not exactly fit the goals they had for their project. In the final part of the paper, the authors discuss arguments for and against the aspects of their chosen methodology. 

Discussion: 
On the design of the tool itself, I believe the numeric representation of moods can be somewhat confusing, and take away from the intentions of the tool. If the avatar representation is supposed to convey the mood of the user, then either there is no need to have a code, or instead of the code have the spelled out well-being state. Something I liked from the design, is how it gives you the constrained vocabulary, which makes it easier to decide how you are feeling, but they also give you the 'More' option, which lessens the constraints of the design.

I liked how it gives a brief explanation of related work, how they express they share a common goal, but at the same time their applications are really different from each other.


I think this is a good example of how to think through a methodology for a project. The fact that they do not just utilize one set method, but design their own, the one that best fits the goals of their project. Also, the fact that they recognize the pros and the cons of their methodology, gives the reader a sense of trust, since they are showing how they evaluated their options, and how they think this is the best option to take.

Ethnography Ideas

1. Use of electronic devices, such as cellphones and music devices, v. reading or other activities while riding the bus. Since I moved offcampus and started riding the bus on my way to/from campus, it always amazes me that more than half of the students riding the bus will be using such electronic devices.

Source

2. Observe who utilizes the self-checkout/service stands at different venues (the characteristics of the person). For example, grocery stores compared to department stores, as well as banks, and even the library.

Source

3. Women in Computer Science at Texas A&M. It is of no surprise to anyone that women are a minority in our field. But what brings women to this field, to this particular university? Is there a trend on the objectives or specialization goals among us? What is the impact we bring to the field?

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Paper Reading #2: Interaction Design in the University: Designing Disciplinary Interactions

Comments:
1. Patrick Firth - http://pfrithcsce436.blogspot.com/2011/01/paper-reading-2-interaction-design-in.html#comment-form
2. Adam Friedli - http://jaiachi.blogspot.com/2011/01/book-reading-3-hci-remixed.html#comment-form

Reference Information:
Title: Interaction Design in the University: Designing Disciplinary Interactions
Authors: Gale Moore, PhD and Danielle Lottridge.
Presentation: (Conference Paper) CHI 2010, April 10-15, 2010, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Summary:
Interaction Design is a field that emerged from both, HCI and design communities. More specifically, from the third paradigm of HCI, "phenomenological matrix," which focuses on "intellectual traditions and ways of knowing." On the other hand, the report Being Human discusses the concept of interaction, first applied to the idea of human interaction with computers, and then the computer-mediated interaction among people. The authors claim that through the studies of interactions between humans and computers, it has also arisen the need to move beyond the preset limits, and go beyond the expected. They explain how it is difficult to study fields like Interaction Design only from one perspective.

 

Interaction Design can be informally defined as an "orientation toward shaping digital artifacts... and the qualities of the user experience." One issue that arises is that because of its diverse origin, and even though there is a develop research on the field, this field often does not fit into a university's departmental and faculty structures. The authors claim that universities must find the ways to fit these kind of fields into their structures, since they are some of the "most dynamic, flexible and responsive parts of the institution." 

The authors continue by explaining the knowledge production in the university.  They define 'interdisciplinarity' as the term to discuss the field or activities where there is participation from individuals from more than one disciplines, a disciplinary crossing, where the product of the research from both disciplines is brought together.. They also define "multidisciplinarity" as "research that involves more than a single discipline in which each discipline makes a separate contribution. An a third disciplinary crossing is also defined, "transdiciplinarity." It places its focus on the "generative potential of the interaction of individuals from different disciplines working together in the context of a specific problem." They establish the idea  that interdiscipliarity and multidisciplinarity both better fit into a university's structure, however a transdiciplinary study may not.

Even though a transdisciplinary approach is more complex, it is in this approach where the field of Interaction Design better fits. Thus, the authors propose a "disciplined transdisciplinarity" approach to the field, so that it can better fit the university's structure. They affirm that this approach values both, discipline but also the need of contribution from more than one field.  

Discussion:
In my opinion, this was a difficult paper to follow and a bit boring. I expected more discussion about the field of Interaction Design, but instead it was more about how this program does not really fit into a disciplined university structure. However, I must agree with the authors intention, finding a way to integrate this field into a university program. I see how it is related to HCI, since it focuses not merely in the design, but also on the user's experience with the product. I believe this is still an emerging field, but in order to become something bigger research needs to be done, but if universities do not support this idea, then it will be really difficult for any emerging field to really develop into something bigger. In particular, I would like to know if there are any courses related to this topic at our university? 

About the image shown above, I found this picture when trying to find a definition for Interaction Design in order to understand better what the paper was about. I think it is simple, but it gives the most basic description about the field.
  

Book Reading #3: HCI Remixed

Chapter 1:  My Vision Isn’t My Vision: Making a Career Out of Getting Back to Where I Started

William Buxton, Microsoft Research, Toronto, Canada

J.K. Pulfer, 1971: "Man-Machine Interaction in Creative Applications"

Summary:

This essay relates the story of a musician and how we was first introduced to the world of computers. He states that his life was changed after visiting the lab, and continues on describing the characteristics of the computer that he started working on. He recognizes the work of the designers asserting that the system had being built "with technologically naive users in mind," and how the real objective of these system designers was to study HCI, and not simply develop a music system. 

Discussion:

It is interesting to read about how computers change people's lives. It makes me think about what we have been discussing in class, it is important to develop systems that will be useful and desirable to use; when developing technology we should keep in mind who will be using this product. I also found really interesting the author's opinion about Pulfer's paper, how we thinks the paper does not really describe the impact that this system had. I really liked the fact the author appreciates and recognizes the contribution the system had for the field of HCI.

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Chapter 4:  Drawing on SketchPad: Reflections on Computer Science and HCI 

Joseph A. Konstan. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota

I. Sutherland, 1963: "SketchPad: A Man-Machine Graphical Communication System"

Summary:

Konstan describes characteristics of the SketchPad system such has its capability of pointing with a light pen, rendering of lines, circles and text, constraints and their display, as well as the data structures, algorithms, and programming structures used in the development of the system.  He describes these capabilities in order to demonstrate how HCI and the advancements in the field of Computer Science are closely related. Konstan is trying to refute the idea that HCI should be separated from the computer science departments, according to him, the field of computer science has advanced thanks to the efforts of trying to develop a computer that can better interact with humans.

Discussion:

In this essay, Konstan mentions how there was a lack of work directed at more specialized systems, systems that for example would require a more extensive training. In the previous readings and discussions, we have been talking about how the technology we develop should be 'user friendly,' how there are many people out there currently using only one setting on their everyday products because they are  too complicated to understand. I liked the fact that Konstan reminds of the importance of HCI research on those more specialized areas, of course if I was having a surgery, I would like my doctors to understand thoroughly the technologies they are using, and not just use the one setting they have managed to understand.

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Chapter 5:  The Mouse, the Demo, and the Big Idea

Wendy Ju. Standford University, Standford, California.

D. Englebart, 1968: "The oNLine System (NLS) Demo"

Summary:

The first part of this essay talks about how the creation and demonstration of the mouse in 1968, inspired Wendy Ju, in 2006, to understand what she really wanted to do with her career. The second part illustrates her realization of the importance of demos. In the final part, Big Idea, Ju explains how the demonstration of a Big Idea will not always convey the message that the demonstrator wants to convey, even further, not all people in the audience will take with them the same message at all.

Discussion:

I think the purpose of this essay is to make the reader realize that even when we do not receive the outcome or appreciation we expected from the ideas we present, it does not mean our ideas are not valuable. It just means they are valuable in different ways to different people, and they show their appreciation in different ways.

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Chapter 18: Observing Collaboration: Group-Centered Design

Saul Greenberg. University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada.
J. Tang, 1989: "Listing, Drawing, and Gesturing in Design: A Study of the Use of Shared Workspaces by Design Teams." 

Summary:
Greenberg talks about observational studies of shared work surfaces carried out during the late 1980s by various individuals. These studies compared and contrasted how small groups of people interact when working together and sharing work surfaces. Greenberg explains how these studies affected the way new systems were being developed at that time, and how this affected future shared workspace research.

Discussion:

Reading about these studies reminds of an ethnography. The researches studied the behavior of groups working together on paper or white-board and how they interacted with each other. Thanks to the results, they built the technology that would allow for the interaction they discovered on their studies.

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Chapter 20:  Taking Articulation Work Seriously

Geraldine Fitzpatrick. University of Sussex, Brighton, U.K.
K. Schmidt, and L. Bannon, 1992: "Taking CSCW Seriously: Supporting Articulation Work."

Summary:

Fitzpatrick describes how Schmidt and Bannon's work has impacted her own studies and the field of CSCW. This essay defines CSCW (computer-supported cooperative work) as "an endeavor to understand the nature and requirements of cooperative work..." Fitzpatrick states that CSCW remarks the idea that "... even social situations involve interaction and coordination 'work'."

Discussion:

This essay was heavily dependent on definitions, which I believe it made it difficult to follow. However, I do see the connection between our course with the essay, which I think is that in order to develop CSCW technology, we have to study how we deal with interaction and cooperative work in our daily lives.

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Chapter 23: Video, Toys, and Beyond Being There

Brian K. Smith. The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania.
J. Hollan and S. Stornetta, 1992: "Beyond Being There."

Summary: 
Smith talks about how his mother was first able to have a "being there" relationship with her granddaughter through video conferencing, while she was in chemotherapy treatments. "Being there" can be defined as a CMC used when a F2F communication is not possible to obtain. Smith talks about the paper "Beyond Being There," and how it challenged researchers to develop communication tools that would add value to F2F communication. As an example of this type of tools, Smith talks about a Lily doll, and how his mom and his daughter were able to use and enjoy together. This doll added value to the time a grandma was spending with her granddaughter ('emotional design', 'experience design').

Discussion:
I want to start by saying that this was a really emotional essay, I really enjoyed reading about Smith's story. Last semester, in my ethics class, we did much work on analyzing the impact that Facebook has over real friendships, whether it was a positive or negative effect. And now with this essay, I realize the importance of expanding  our technologies to enhance human relationships and communication.

On Computers

Comments:

Evin Schuchardt -http://csce436spring2011.blogspot.com/2011/01/on-computers_20.html#comments

Luke Roberts - http://lroberts-tamuchi.blogspot.com/2011/01/on-computers.html#comment-form

Reference Information:
Title:  On Plants
Author: Aristotle 
Presentation: (Book) The Complete Works of Aristotle - Edited by Jonathan Barnes. Bollingen Series LXXI 2, Princeton University Press.


Summary:

On this writing, Aristotle starts by trying to determine if plants have a life. If they do, he states, this life is "hidden and not evident." However, in order to answer his first question, he must first resolve if plants possess a soul or not. He uses humans and animals as two basis of comparison in order to determine this dilemma. Some of the arguments supporting the idea that have souls are that they are influenced by desire, that they experience sensations, like sadness or pleasure, etc.

Aristotle considers first some of the main characteristics that would indicate that plants have a soul. For example, that plants take food because they desire food, that they feel pleasure and pain. Aristotle also presents the views of other philosophers like Plato, Anaxagoras and Democritus. 

Apparently, Aristotle believes that plants do not completely lack a soul, but do no have a complete soul like animals and humans do. Throughout the writing, Aristotle goes on explaining many details about plants, their growing characteristics under different conditions, the way they reproduce, and the way the produce their fruit. There is much detail about how different natural conditions, sun light, water, weather conditions, etc. affect the 'life' of a plant.

Discussion: 

I have always thought that plants have a life. I agree with the facts that can be proven with science about their growth, their necessities, etc. but I had never asked myself if I believed plants have soul. For me the soul is something spiritual, something you can't see, touch, nor feel. So this topic really got me interested in this question. Even though I am sure we could compare the inquiry of whether or not plats have a soul, to the issue discussed on the Chinese Room of whether or not computers have a mind, and because of my spiritual views, I MIGHT agree that plants have a soul, or at least partially, but not that computers have a mind.

For me plants are living things created in nature by God, so maybe they do have a soul. However, computers are created by human intelligence. Humans have worked hard throughout the recent past in order to develop this inanimate items. As I have mentioned in my previous blogs, computers are a tool, we have created them with a purpose and functionality, and computers will not do more than humans want them to do. Our minds and brains, in the contrary, are able to think, create, and develop new ideas, because that is how we were designed by God. 

Chinese Room

Comments:
Miguel Alex Cardenas - http://alex-chi.blogspot.com/2011/01/chinese-room.html#comments
Zack Henkel -  http://zmhenkel-chi2010.blogspot.com/2011/01/chinese-room-blog.html 

Reference Information:
Title: Minds, brains, and programs
Author: John R. Searle
Presentation: (Article) Behavioral and Brain Sciences 3 (3): 417-457
 

Summary:
This article is about a question raised in the 1980 by John R. Searle about the idea that computers' understanding of their own work. Do computers really understand what they are doing? The scenario presented by Searle consists of a hypothetical program that can respond to any questions (input) it receives in Chinese, and respond (output) accordingly to the question, in Chinese. The question becomes, does the computer really understand Chinese just because it is able to maintain a conversation with a Chinese speaker. Searle sets a scenario with a man inside a room, with enough file cabinets full of papers that allow him to translate and answer questions that are passed to him under the door. Even if he is able to carry out this function, does that mean he understands Chinese? 

Searle raises two questions, does the computer really understand what it is saying? Which Searle identifies as strong AI, or is the computer merely simulating a knowledge?, weak AI. Searle's position is that strong AI is mistaken. That a computer cannot have an understanding of it functionality simply because a computer does not have a mind. 

Source

Discussion: 
In the discussion presented in Wikipedia, it explains the importance of this article, and the great impact that it has had since its publication. It explains how majority of critiques are trying to refute Searle's position. I think I partly understand his point and agree with him. For me a computer is just as smart as the programmer can make it. For me, computers simulate the brain functionality in order to provide a service. For example, in the scenario that Searle explained, the computer's main functionality was to provide a service. Something that maybe Searle could do by hand, but that it is more convenient and faster to have it done by a computer. However, that does not mean that he himself would understand what he was doing if he was just following an algorithm, for example. I just do not think that a human mind can be compared to a computer. Maybe the brain can, since a computer can have a capacity of problem solving and storage. My overall opinion is that computers simulate the functionality of the human brain. Now I'm a little confused between the difference between the mind and the brain, but I shall do more reading about it in order to give a more solid opinion.

Paper Reading #1: There's Methodology in the Madness: Toward Critical HCI Ethnography

Comments:

Shena Hoffmann - http://csce436-hoffmann.blogspot.com/2011/01/reading-1-theres-methodology-in-madness.html?showComment=1295528233035#c6445829508038446680
Jessica Gonzales- http://jngonzales-chi2011.blogspot.com/2011/01/reading-1-theres-methodology-in-madness.html

Reference Information: 

• Title: There's Methodology in the Madness: Toward Critical HCI Ethnography
• Authors: Amanda Williams and Lilly Irani
• Presentation: (Conference Paper) CHI 2010, April 10-15, 2010, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Summary:

The first part of the paper explains that there are new methodologies showing up in HCI publications that extend from the standard representation of the user and the field sites of ethnography development. The first trend is an evolution of the standard user, they are having users that today collaborate in a different way than they used to. The second trend is related to field sites; they are evolving from set workplaces to mobile or virtual field sites, which in turn allow for multi-sited ethnographic studies.

Two examples of new methodologies been used on the field are explained. The first one explaining the importance of being able to refine the design methods according to the field site, not the field site to the design models. Have an open mind to whatever situation you discover in the field, because it can be very different from what you expected. In the second example we see an evolution from the "neutral observer," to an ethnographer that now also plays a role in the design, implementation and even the technology support for the studies. Also, in this example we can find how participants were involved in the design, and not just being observed by the ethnographers.

The next section of the paper just demonstrates in solid examples how the role of the user is shifting to include also a design component. Then, the authors follow to explain the importance of mobility, Following the users through out multiple sites will produce a better of understanding of how technology becomes "usable, useful, and desirable." Also, it may lead to recognize similarities between cultures, something they associate with globalization.

The authors follow to analyze the relationships between ethnographers and informants, as wells as problems with the concept of field site withing anthropology.They also expose the evolution that ethnography went through in the discipline of anthropology during the 80s and 90s. 

 

Discussion:
The concept of ethnography is a new concept to me. I have mentioned that I am always interested in learning about cultures, but I was never aware of this discipline and how important it becomes for technology development. My first exposure to ethnography was reading the first chapter of the book Coming of Age in Samoa. After reading this paper it becomes more clear to me how this discipline is so important for the field of HCI and developing technology that is useful for us.

Personally, I agree with the evolutions that the field is facing. For example, who better than the user to explain and/or design the product they are interested in buying. This reminds me of those ads about Windows 7 and how they credit the users for new ideas that finally became Windows 7. About mobility and multi-sited ethnographic studies all I can say is that the methodologies of the studies have to evolve according to the life style of the users. Why are house phones becoming obsolete? Because people are on the move everyday.
 

Book Reading #1: Microblogs for Design of Everyday Things

Reference Information

• Title: The Design of Everyday Things
• Author: Donald A. Norman
• Presentation: 

Chapter 1
*****************
THE PSYCHOPATHOLOGY OF EVERYDAY THINGS

Summary
In this fist chapter of the book, Norman introduces how important is the design of the thousands of items we use everyday. He explains various design concepts that are necessary to recognize and analyze when designing an item such as visibility, a natural design, mappings, affordances, constraints, feedback, a conceptual model, and finally a design model. At the end of the chapter, Norman also recognizes that designing is not an easy task, and designers have to meet the expectations of the manufacture, the stores, and of course the customers.

Discussion
This first chapter made me realize that every little thing that we use has a design. Someone, somewhere sat down one day and dedicated their time to design this item, and most of the times we take these designs for granted. I mostly agree with what Norman is trying to convey, the idea that the design must be easy and fast to understand, the concept of visibility. For example, just recently I was over at a friend's house, they had a brand new stove with a completely digital board. I can easily say that it had over 25 buttons! I am sure that if I dedicate some of my time to look at all these buttons I can easily figure out its functions, but it was not designed to follow what we are naturally used to. I believe that every new thing that is added to an item should increase the technology, but it also increases the complexity. I am not sure if everybody is willing to give up the simplicity of 5 or 6 buttons on a stove to the complexity of more than 25!  

 

Book Reading #2: Microblogs for Coming of Age in Samoa

Reference Information

• Title: Coming of Age in Samoa
  
• Author: Margaret Mead
• Presentation:

 Chapter 1
 *****************
Summary
In this first chapter, the author introduces the purpose of her ethnography, which is to compare and maybe find an answer to the difficulties teenagers face during puberty. The question is whether the changes are caused by this period of changes itself, or are they influenced by the society where teenagers are raised. The author explains why Samoa is the place she chooses for her investigation, and presents the idea that having knowledge about such a different culture and way of living will affect in a positive way our own behavior.

Discussion
This seems to be a very interesting book. Learning about cultures is something that I enjoy, and reading this book will not only be appealing to me for that reason, but also because it will reflect how our surroundings affect our behavior, they affect who we are. This course is about studying the interaction between humans and computers, so I guess the main point is to understand how computers affect not only our everyday living, but also  our behavior and personality.

Blog Entry #0: Introduction Blog

Howdy! My name is Paola Garza. I am a Junior, Computer Science major. I was born and raised in Mexico until the age of 15. In 2004, my family and I moved to Palmview TX... where I attended high school. In 2008, I graduated and decided to come here to A&M. I have been here since then, and hopefully graduating December 2011.

• itzeth.paola@gmail.com
• 3rd year Senior
• I'm taking this class because I think it is important to be aware of how technology affects our society; how we, as computer scientists, can work towards developing technology that will bring a positive effect to society, not only by facilitating our everyday living, but also in the long run in order to preserve and better humankind.
• The best experience I think I can bring to this class is my interest about cultures, society and how they relate to computers. Even though I enjoy programming and problem solving, and have acquired most of this experience in the classroom, I am also really interested in the effects that technology brings to our daily lives. I am not quite sure what we are going to be studying in this course, but I have the feeling that I will find it really interesting!
• In 10 years from now I expect to be working at a government agency applying my skills in a field related to network security.
• I think the next biggest technological advancement in computer science will be a completely safe internet network!
• If I could travel back on time I would like to meet William Shakespeare! Why? Because even after reading and Romeo and Juliet so many times, I still don't understand how someone can think of such a tragic ending for such a beautiful story!
• I would rather my fiance not have mustache at all...
• Besides being a native Spanish speaker, I would like to learn Italian. It all started when I heard the original version of one of my favorite songs, "Vivo per lei." I really see myself learning Italian in the near future!
• I recently got engaged! Besides planning for graduation and grad school throughout the year, I will also be planning for my wedding on January 2012!