tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36540492011-04-21T20:42:37.929-07:00Zeno's ParadoxMusings not completely unrelated to human factors, management, critical thinking, medicine, software engineering, science, or the like.
Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comBlogger1441100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-88958940203123626672007-12-14T10:58:00.000-08:002007-12-14T11:05:24.428-08:00Critical Thinking, Humor:ED The Future (EDTF) External delivery refers to a scientific research program as well as a community of older kids, teachers, and other adults who seek evidence of external sources of Christmas presents. The theory of external delivery holds that certain features of how Christmas presents are delivered each year are best explained by an external source, not an internal Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-6921492171653500822007-12-11T11:11:00.000-08:002007-12-11T11:19:48.552-08:00Influence:The Christmas CampaignIn recent years some media pundits and "culture warriors" have waged a vocal campaign against a so-called "War on Christmas." Targeting department stores, local governments and school systems for replacing Christmas with "Happy Holidays" or "Seasons Greetings," Bill O'Reilly and John Gibson of Fox News have led the charge against what they call a "secular Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1165181178202805822006-12-03T13:17:00.000-08:002006-12-03T13:26:18.213-08:00Human Factors, Science:"Research-Based Web Design & Usability Guidelines"This 2006 edition has 22 new guidelines as well as updates to existing guidelines and sources.Nice to see that they're keeping this up to date.Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1160874883141157542006-10-14T18:12:00.000-07:002006-10-15T18:44:01.580-07:00And Now For Something Completely Different:Free HugsRonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1156820731233637562006-08-28T19:58:00.000-07:002006-08-28T20:07:17.066-07:00Not Soon Forgotten:Hurricane KatrinaRonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1154921786962109172006-08-06T19:50:00.000-07:002006-08-06T20:36:27.056-07:00Critical Thinking:Gullible AP writer gets duped into promoting a useless gadget. Gullible news agencies help promote the scam: "Magnet gadget aims to boost wine's attraction" by Michelle Locke"All that magnetic field is doing is separating you from your money," says Ball...Luckily, there are others that aren't so gullible or desperate to get out such a poorly written story:Wine Magnets and OtherRonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1152226321011815302006-07-06T15:44:00.000-07:002006-07-06T15:57:40.450-07:00Critical Thinking:"Addressing the public about science and religion" by Murray PeshkinReasonable people need to know what science is about, especially what an established scientific theory is and how scientists know when it's right...Science is based entirely on experiment. To illustrate what that means, I raise the possibility that the world was created three hours ago with all our memories and Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1152212942021256932006-07-06T12:03:00.000-07:002006-07-06T12:55:44.036-07:00Critical Thinking:"A credulous man is a deceiver" - Sir Francis BaconIn his June 9th newsletter, James Randi shares: Johnny Carson, in one of his letters to me, September 8, 2002, referred to Larry King and Montel Williams, who were blandly accepting the ridiculous claims of John Edward and thus deceiving their audiences by giving him huge TV exposure. Johnny gave me an illustrative quotation Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1146321952504147612006-04-29T07:11:00.000-07:002006-05-30T07:41:31.410-07:00Critical Thinking:The Bosnia-Atlantis Connection - Archaeology MagazineFrenzied reporting of supposed pyramids in the Balkans ignores the truth and embraces the fantastic.The world's oldest and largest pyramid found in Bosnia? It sounds incredible. The story has swept the media, from the Associated Press and the BBC, from papers and websites in the U.S. to those in India and Australia. Too bad Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1143138897329757372006-03-23T10:10:00.000-08:002006-04-30T15:16:51.690-07:00Influence, Critical Thinking:Pardon Me, But Your Propaganda Is ShowingOrac beat me to the story, twice. It's nice to see the press and other bloggers catching this. This time at least the president isn't admitting it's propoganda, but that's not the point. The issue is that the president isn't addressing peoples' questions, and isn't giving rational responses. Instead, he's hoping people Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1138037861273642392006-01-23T09:17:00.000-08:002006-01-24T14:01:28.780-08:00Influence, Science, Education:Nick News with Linda Ellerbee: God, Science, Politics and Your SchoolI was able to catch the "God, Science, Politics and Your School" on tv last night. My impression overall was that it wasn't too bad, given that it took the totally inappropriate approached of "balanced viewpoints" reporting of factual information. In the "opposing viewpoints" part of the report, Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1135363866665525602005-12-23T10:49:00.000-08:002005-12-23T10:54:46.156-08:00Influence, Humor:Happy Festivus!FestivusRonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1135099558415737162005-12-20T09:19:00.000-08:002005-12-20T09:29:42.173-08:00Science, Influence:Intelligent Design Creationism UnconstitutionalThe judge in Dover strikes down ID. It's a solid and scathing judgment that declares teaching Intelligent Design in the schools is unconstitutional. The decision by Judge Jones is available-it's joyful reading for us on the side of science.Great news for pro-reality, and just in time for the holiday season!Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1130963043309409752005-11-02T12:00:00.000-08:002005-11-04T10:40:47.343-08:00Science:Revealed: Why London's Millennium Bridge wobbledA natural phenomenon rather than a design fault caused London's Millennium Bridge to wobble and sway, forcing its closure just two days after opening in 2000...In the case of London's wobbly bridge, it was large crowds walking across a flexible footbridge that vibrated at a frequency of one cycle per second, which just happened to be the Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1122655723020762862005-07-29T09:14:00.000-07:002005-08-01T08:54:54.483-07:00Science:Humans learn without explicit thought - Michael Hopkin, Nature.comHumans can learn skills without remembering what they have done, according to a study of patients with severe amnesia...Most people gather information and abilities through a process of 'declarative' learning, in which they remember the act of learning as well as the new skill or knowledge itself. Hopefully, you'll recall Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1122562788642157142005-07-28T07:45:00.000-07:002005-08-01T08:55:55.343-07:00Medicine, Health, Critical Thinking:Echinacea Has No Effect on Colds - The New York TimesEchinacea, the herbal supplement made from purple coneflower and used by millions of Americans to prevent or treat colds, neither prevented colds nor eased cold symptoms in a large and rigorous study."We should assume that echinacea does not work until somebody proves it does," he said. That, he added, "is Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1119841476730069192005-06-26T19:59:00.000-07:002005-06-26T20:08:33.240-07:00Site Maintenance:Nooooooooo!It looks like Blogger has won in my ongoing war to keep it from reformatting my entries. My original html has been replaced in most of the recent entries I've checked. I don't have time for this...Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1119838685736625192005-06-26T19:11:00.000-07:002005-06-26T19:57:14.713-07:00Critical Thinking:The Art of 'Manufacturing Uncertainty'By definition, uncertainties abound in our work; there's nothing to be done about that. Our public health and environmental protection programs will not be effective if absolute proof is required before we act. The best available evidence must be sufficient. Otherwise, we'll sit on our hands and do nothing....Decades from now, this campaign Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1118856523207022232005-06-15T10:10:00.000-07:002005-06-26T20:17:41.716-07:00Critical Thinking:You Too Can (Pretend To) Be a Psychic for Fun and Profit!I'm fascinated how people come to believe what they do, but often have a hard time deciding how to respond to others' beliefs...Over at The Two Percent Company Rants there is an interesting article, Calling All Psychics: Help Natalee Holloway. While the don't want to make fun of a tragedy, I think they have a valid point Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1118259419014508232005-06-08T12:31:00.000-07:002005-06-26T20:16:55.036-07:00Site Maintenance:Hello Crossword Puzzle Solvers!Use "Elea" or "Citium"!I've figured a new way to get the search engines to show you the solution without you having to visit this weblog, though it won't work until the search engines see the changes...Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1117559448261401662005-05-31T09:59:00.000-07:002005-06-26T20:16:20.100-07:00Politics, Propaganda, Critical Thinking:Catapult the PropagandaI'll probably say it three more times. See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.The truth or lack of truth has nothing to do with it, though it's a nice touch to make people less concerned that you're trying to prevent them from Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1116437376522296532005-05-18T10:26:00.000-07:002005-05-18T10:50:39.760-07:00And Now for Something Completely Different:LOL. Isn't Forer effect great? If you're not already sick of the pre-Revenge of the Sith hype, you'll have to wade through lots of Flash to find the "personality test".Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1115820952644394042005-05-11T07:15:00.000-07:002005-06-26T20:15:35.803-07:00Science, Critical Thinking:Science Fare by Dr. Philip PlaitThose places I talked about before—you can get to know them too. You can experience the wonder of seeing them for the first time, the thrill of discovery, the incredible, visceral feeling of doing something no one has ever done before, seen things no one has seen before, know something no one else has ever known.No crystal balls, no tarotRonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1113098820486257992005-04-09T19:04:00.000-07:002005-06-26T20:14:54.410-07:00Science:Life lessonsWhat is the one thing everyone should learn about science?Lots of good quotes here. With all the ignorance and fear of science that exists today, I'm first concerned with teaching people that science can be done by anyone and can benefit everyone. The authors of the article are problably thinking along the same lines if the first quote is any indication:You do not have to beRonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1109276977518079372005-02-24T12:06:00.000-08:002005-02-24T12:47:20.350-08:00Science:MIRROR NEURONS and imitation learning as the driving force behind "the great leap forward" in human evolution by V.S. Ramachandran The discovery of mirror neurons in the frontal lobes of monkeys, and their potential relevance to human brain evolution — which I speculate on in this essay — is the single most important "unreported" (or at least, unpublicized) story of the decade. I predict Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1107460524236647162005-02-03T11:52:00.000-08:002005-02-03T11:55:24.236-08:00Science, Humor:
Science Privatization - Tom TolesRonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1107311650748331502005-02-01T18:25:00.000-08:002005-02-01T18:36:43.436-08:00Human Factors:
Cell Phone Users Drive like Old Folks If you have been stuck in traffic behind a motorist yakking on a cellular phone, a new University of Utah study will sound familiar: When young motorists talk on cell phones, they drive like elderly people, moving and reacting more slowly and increasing their risk of accidents.
...
Strayer and his colleagues are widely known for their 2001 Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1106267231455017442005-01-20T16:21:00.000-08:002005-01-20T16:37:48.886-08:00Health, Medicine, Statistics, Influence, Critical Thinking, Science:
The STATS Guide To Evaluating Health Risks - Maia SzalavitzEvery day, new health studies fill the media, many of them often contradicting each other and earlier research...
The way health stories are usually covered by the press, it’s often impossible to tell.
But the following guidelines can help you make sense of the latest Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1106160409027676792005-01-19T10:40:00.000-08:002005-01-20T13:12:18.193-08:00Critical Thinking, Influence, Science
Further thoughts on Judge Cooper’s ruling. - Joe McFaulHe (judge Cooper) also “defined” critical thinking in a way that is particularly damaging to the Discovery Institute. Judge Cooper observed that the language on the sticker actually undermines the goal of critical thinking by “predetermining what students should think about evolution.” He did not Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1101676936302134332004-11-28T13:08:00.000-08:002005-01-27T10:55:54.783-08:00Human Factors:
Some Thoughts on a Self-Service Checkout System
I finally had the chance to use a self-service checkout system. I was in a hurry, so didn't bother trying to identify the device, but since it was in an Albertsons market, I'm guessing that it was a NCR, probably a FastLane™ Mini.
I had a small shopping basket with maybe a half-dozen items when I gave it a try. Here's a Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1100025719854770562004-11-09T10:40:00.000-08:002004-11-13T13:13:32.760-08:00Journalism, Science, Influence
Blinded By Science: How ‘Balanced’ Coverage Lets the Scientific Fringe Hijack Reality...the journalistic norm of balance has no corollary in the world of science. On the contrary, scientific theories and interpretations survive or perish depending upon whether they’re published in highly competitive journals that practice strict quality control, whether the results Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1097939794260367522004-10-16T08:14:00.000-07:002004-10-16T09:01:29.323-07:00And Now For Something Completely Different:
Jon Stewart on Crossfire (transcript)STEWART: But the thing is that this -- you're doing theater, when you should be doing debate, which would be great.
BEGALA: We do, do...
STEWART: It's not honest. What you do is not honest. What you do is partisan hackery. And I will tell you why I know it.
CARLSON: You had John Kerry on your show and you sniffRonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1097257318386484632004-10-08T10:37:00.000-07:002004-10-16T16:57:27.523-07:00Site Maintenance:
What are you looking for?
Use "Elea" for "zeno home" or "zeno's home", or use "Citium"!
I'm getting bombarded again by people looking for crossword puzzle answers. I hope that this post will give them the answer within most search engines without the need to click through.
It looks like a nationally syndicated crossword puzzle this time because I'm getting almost an equal Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1095557610943768592004-09-18T18:12:00.000-07:002004-09-18T18:33:30.943-07:00And sometimes a bit of promotion is in order:
Shiok Far-Eastern CuisineI know Madhu from the many online discussions I've had with him. When he mentioned that he was going to make a career around his love for cooking, I didn't realize he would be starting his own restaurant!
His restaurant serves good Thai, Malaysian, Indonesian, and Singaporean food. The restaurant is on CMH Road, Indiranagar,Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1094253600333923242004-09-03T16:01:00.000-07:002004-09-03T16:21:15.280-07:00Science, Human Factors:
The Science of Word RecognitionEvidence from the last 20 years of work in cognitive psychology indicates that we use the letters within a word to recognize a word. Many typographers and other text enthusiasts I’ve met insist that words are recognized by the outline made around the word shape...
The goal of this paper is to review the history of why psychologists moved Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1094146237505524102004-09-02T09:57:00.000-07:002004-09-03T08:33:34.286-07:00Biology:
A monster in your backyard
What is this?
It has 10 legs,
4 very large teeth arranged into two pairs of jaw-like pincers,
2 tiny eyes just above the jaws that so close together that they almost touch,
it moves surprisingly fast,
will chew through netting or light wire gauze,
is about 2 inches (5 cm) long,
and is likely to be in your backyard if you live in an arid or semi-arid area?
Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1092507831587814742004-08-14T11:17:00.000-07:002005-11-16T09:24:55.913-08:00Site Maintenance:What are you looking for?Please use Citium or Elea for "zeno's home" or "zeno home". I've been getting a lot of visitors recently looking for those phrases that obviously aren't looking for this site. From what I what email I've received so far, it appears that a number of crossword puzzles are to blame. Without having the number of letters of the clue, I guessed Citium or Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1091740646952901882004-08-05T14:08:00.000-07:002004-08-05T14:20:22.380-07:00And Now For Something Completely Different:
The Morphology of SteveThis report is part of Project Steve. Project Steve is, among other things, the first scientific analysis of the sex, geographic location, and body size of scientists named Steve. We performed this research for the best of all reasons: we discovered that we had lots of data. No scientist can resist the opportunity to analyze data,Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1091726024410317642004-08-05T10:08:00.000-07:002004-08-06T13:15:19.630-07:00Critical Thinking:
References on Propaganda (Updated)
All communication is in some sense propaganda. The more we understand propaganda, how people are influenced, the better we can control its influence on us. To that goal, here are a few references I recommend:
Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion by Pratkanis and Aronson, ISBN: 0716731088.
Propaganda Analysis by Aaron Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1087850660068366212004-06-21T13:43:00.000-07:002004-06-25T10:51:32.203-07:00Critical Thinking, Influence:
Bridging the Chasm between Two CulturesI've been studying the conflict between the skeptical community and the metaphysical/new age community for a few decades now, and I think I've finally discovered the central issue that makes communication so difficult. It is not merely, as many surmise, a conflict between fact-based viewpoints and faith-based viewpoints. Nor is Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1079554904313444152004-03-17T12:21:00.000-08:002004-06-21T14:10:29.163-07:00And Now for Something Completely Different:
How to Not Think About Elephants
It's simple, really. The trick is to think about something else, something that will not include thinking about elephants while at the same time require concentration and memory. For instance, try making a mental list of ten words that start with the letter "d" while not subjecting any of your senses to anything that Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1079040051134499312004-03-11T13:20:00.000-08:002004-03-13T09:02:40.826-08:00Critical Thinking, Science, Influence:
Hickok's Letter Regarding High School Science Curriculum
The following is an unconfirmed copy of the text of the letter from Gene Hickok, the United States Department of Education's Acting Deputy Secretary, to Linda McCulloch, Superintendent of the Montana Office of Public Instruction, clarifying that "Intelligent Design" is not required to be part of Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1078943695249696222004-03-10T10:34:00.000-08:002004-03-10T16:12:37.326-08:00Critical Thinking, Influence:
It's the Mundane Stuff That Kills (LATimes.com)Why do we intuitively fear the wrong things? Why do smokers, fret about flying? Why do we fear violent crime more than clogged arteries? Why do we fear terrorism more than accidents, which kill nearly as many in a week in just the U.S. as did worldwide terrorism in all of the 1990s? Even with the horrific scale of 9/11, Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1069359342063937152003-11-20T12:15:00.000-08:002004-03-01T12:18:56.733-08:00Human Factors, Critical Thinking:
Kudos to Lyle
Lyle Kantrovich's Croc o' Lyle is one of the very few places where there is consistently good, critical discussion of human factors (usability, ux, ia, etc) practice and issues. Keep up the great work, Lyle!Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1065554346062144592003-10-07T12:31:00.000-07:002003-10-14T11:33:56.970-07:00Management, Human Factors:
Creating A Killer Product (Forbes.com)Three in five new-product-development efforts are scuttled before they ever reach the market. Of the ones that do see the light of day, 40% never become profitable and simply disappear.
Most of these failures are predictable--and avoidable. Why? Because most managers trying to come up with new products don't properly consider the Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1065034939720712432003-10-01T12:02:00.000-07:002003-10-01T12:25:16.280-07:00Human Factors, Critical Thinking, Management:
Striving for Quality Requires Humility
In a recent discussion on a private list, Rolf Molich of DialogDesign surprised me with the following statements:Do we have a problem? You bet!
Part of the solution is that we start discussing our own problems more openly instead of constantly glorifying our work and assuming that "the others" are just not Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1064376062637313142003-09-24T19:11:00.000-07:002003-09-24T19:39:31.920-07:00Human Factors:
Eight Lessons Learned (When Designing for Seniors) (Older Wiser Wired - AARP)
Looks like Tom Tullis has written better advice for designing for seniors that I had planned for my followup to Designing for Seniors (Part 1): Findings from a usability test. Here are his main points with a few comments:
Older adults tend to read most of the text on a page.
Older users tend to be Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1064343239471127082003-09-23T11:53:00.000-07:002003-09-23T12:18:03.926-07:00Management, Human Factors, Critical Thinking:
New Organization for Designers Forming:
It appears that the new organization I mentioned earlier is focusing on self-promotion and mutual support without any thought or concern for self-improvement. They're so confident in the quality and value of their work that it's unimportant to improve. That decided, I will no longer be involved.
They have aRonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1063568943626883752003-09-14T20:06:00.000-07:002003-09-14T20:06:33.390-07:00Marketing, Human Factors:
Ask not what telemarketers can do to you
Leading the charge for the telemarketing industry is the American Teleservices Association (suggested motto: Some Day, We Will Get a Dictionary and Look Up 'Services'). This group argues that, if its members are prohibited from calling people who do not want to be called, then two million telemarketers will lose their jobs. Of Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1063485011961711742003-09-13T13:30:00.000-07:002003-09-13T13:46:49.003-07:00Marketing, Management, Human Factors:
Contempt of Consumer: It's a Real Crime (Fast Company)Some marketers may understand how strip-mining consumer trust is costing them, but most don't want to take two steps back to the good old days. Instead, they're fighting the wrong fights. They're getting ready to sue TiVo, because the device makes it too easy to skip commercials. They're faking the headersRonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1062192263033847802003-08-29T14:24:00.000-07:002003-09-13T13:34:03.013-07:00Management:
Failure Is Always an Option (The New York Times)If engineers are pessimists, managers are optimists about technology. Successful, albeit flawed missions indicated to them not a weak but a robust machine. When engineers and managers clashed over the 1986 Challenger launch, the managers pulled rank. In the case of Columbia, engineers who worried about damage that the spacecraft may haveRonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1061415939840432602003-08-20T14:45:00.000-07:002003-08-21T12:44:21.383-07:00Critical Thinking, Business:
Beta vs VHS: The Decline and Fall of Betamax (Helge Moulding)Even Sony today agrees that the difference in recording length was the difference that layed Beta low. The other factor appears to have been the one factor for which no company can control: pure luck.Myths make for great propaganda. How many times have you heard that Beta video was higher quality than VHS,Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1061167389535254752003-08-17T17:43:00.000-07:002003-09-23T11:54:32.890-07:00Management, Human Factors, Critical Thinking:
A New Organization for Designers Forming?
I've been spending quite a bit of time following (and contributing to) all the discussion that's occurred in response to Bruce Tognazzini's "It's Time We Got Respect"
Do we need another organization? Most of the supporting arguments are petty or based upon ignorance of existing organizations...
Who would Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1059503426215319172003-07-29T11:30:00.000-07:002003-08-12T10:25:54.310-07:00Human Factors, Critical Thinking:
Report Review: Nielsen/Norman Group's Usability Return on Investment (Peter Merholz and Scott Hirsch)The key strategy is to get businesses to recognize that user experience is not simply a cost of doing business, but an investment–that with appropriate expenditure, you can expect a financial return. Proving a return can be remarkably hard–tying user experience Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1059408061786640722003-07-28T09:01:00.000-07:002003-07-28T09:42:57.713-07:00Title changed from "Ron's Ramblings" from a suggestion by Dennis G. Jerz. What do you think?Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1059245613472567912003-07-26T11:53:00.000-07:002003-07-28T10:35:43.930-07:00Science, Propaganda:
Youth spend more time on Web than TV-study (Reuters)Teenagers and young adults spend more time on the Internet than watching television, indicating a shift in media consumption for a demographic prized by advertisers...
On average, young people said they spent nearly 17 hours online each week, not including time used to read and send electronic mail, compared with almost 14 Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1059156653786863762003-07-25T11:10:00.000-07:002003-07-27T09:37:15.130-07:00Critical Thinking:
Randi on Religion (vs Science) (Swift Online. Jul 29, 2003 - James Randi)The structure of Science itself is also in a constant state of development; ideally, it does not have an "orthodox" state into which it settles down comfortably and complacently. It only takes something like a new statistical standard or an observational innovation to change its approach to any event or Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1058211176835230072003-07-14T12:32:00.000-07:002003-07-24T16:09:42.366-07:00And Now For Something Completely Different:
Comments on ? Poll (D.J. Jerz)Nearly 70,000 people took the time to vote in this poll. This is beyond stupid -- so far beyond stupid that it approaches significance. It's impossible to deconstruct this poll because it has no content, but how many equally pointless polls have appeared in USA Today or sparked local TV news stories? I am both amused and Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1057614262701383742003-07-07T14:44:00.000-07:002003-07-24T13:48:09.100-07:00Critical Thinking:
Critical Thinking Mini-lesson - The Wason Card Problem (Topic #4 of Skeptic's Dictionary Newsletter 27 - Robert Todd Carroll)Four cards are presented: A, D, 4, and 7. There is a letter on one side of each card and a number on the other side. Which card(s) must you turn over to determine whether the following statement is false? "If a card has a vowel on one side, then it has Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1056749758510806532003-06-27T14:35:00.000-07:002003-06-27T14:47:56.293-07:00Science, Propaganda:
Coming Soon: A Horror Show for TV Ads (BusinessWeek)On June 2, personal-video-recorder outfit TiVo (TIVO ) unveiled an analytical tool that can tell advertisers, agencies, and networks not only how many people tune in for a show but whether they're watching the ads. Unlike a Nielsen rating, which relies on surveys filled out by viewers, TiVo's system tracks what a viewer Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-1056729154557224322003-06-27T08:52:00.000-07:002003-06-27T11:25:55.573-07:00Propaganda:
High Court Rejects Nike Appeal in Speech Suit (Los Angeles Times)The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed without deciding a closely watched free speech case brought by Nike Inc., with the majority of justices saying they had jumped too soon to take up an appeal by the athletic shoe company.
Nike had been sued under California's false advertising law by Marc Kasky, a San Francisco Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-959851762003-06-24T09:22:00.000-07:002003-06-24T09:22:07.176-07:00A Note to Sheffield Hallam University students:
I'm curious. What is it you're discussing that references this site?Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-945473952003-05-18T13:21:00.000-07:002003-05-18T13:30:51.000-07:00Critical Thinking:
References on Propaganda
All communication is in some sense propaganda. The more we understand propaganda, how people are influenced, the better we can control its influence on us. To that goal, here are a few references I recommend:
Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion by Pratkanis and Aronson, ISBN: 0716731088.
Propaganda Analysis by Aaron Delwiche
Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-939939012003-05-08T08:10:00.000-07:002003-05-08T08:24:30.000-07:00Human Factors:
WebUsability.com
Dr. Bob Bailey has made public his website which includes his popular newsletter (which is no longer distributed through HFI Inc.). An excellent source of information!Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-930753002003-04-22T16:03:00.000-07:002003-04-22T21:23:33.000-07:00Critical Thinking, Medicine:
Silly Chiropractic Advice about Obesity Prevention (Stephen Barrett - Quackwatch)The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) likes to pretend that the scope of chiropractic is very broad and that its members are qualified to play a major role in preventive public health. On April 7, 2003, in line with this objective, the ACA issued a a news release through PRNewswireRonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-914966852003-03-27T11:22:00.000-08:002003-03-27T11:25:33.000-08:00Critical Thinking:Building Courses from Material in Skeptic's DictionaryThe Skeptic's Dictionary, in part to promote the upcoming book, has lists of entries organized for use in a number of proposed courses including General Logic and Critical Thinking and Science and Pseudoscience.
Highly recommended!
Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-906576822003-03-13T10:02:00.000-08:002003-03-13T10:08:12.000-08:00
I've moved my math and computer science website, including the sorting network reference, to Angelfire.
Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-897163712003-02-25T07:56:00.000-08:002003-02-25T08:50:22.000-08:00Human Factors:Older Wiser Wired Launched (AARP)
More and more U.S. adults over 50 have computer access (estimates range from 40-60%), with most of those using their computers to go online. They bank, they buy, they search, they read, they contribute. But how hard is it for them to find what they need? AARP is convening a community of those who use the web to provide information and services to Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-886761132003-02-06T16:19:00.000-08:002003-02-12T08:24:03.000-08:00Critical Thinking, Human Factors:Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments (Justin Kruger and David Dunning - Journal of Personality and Social Psychology):People tend to hold overly favorable views of their abilities in many social and intellectual domains. The authors suggest that this overestimation occurs, in part, Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-886117762003-02-05T14:06:00.000-08:002003-02-05T14:44:56.000-08:00Human Factors:Usability News (Software Usability Research Laboratory - Wichita State University)
Eight research articles in this issue, including research on:paging vs scrolling of online text documents
tolerance to website download delays
use of breadcrumb navigation
cascading menus on web sites
optimizing screen design for older adults
personality characteristics of online purchasers
Articles IRonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-875372932003-01-16T07:51:00.000-08:002003-01-17T09:29:38.000-08:00Critical Thinking:Too few comments...
I've failed so far to elicit the number of comments I'd hoped for concerning my previous weblog entry,
Toward a Reliable and Valid Usability Testing Methodology: Part 1 - The Problem. In addition to a few email replies, there are a few comments on WebWord and several on Signal vs. Noise. I'm going to wait for further comments before I post Part 2.
If Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-872305632003-01-10T11:26:00.000-08:002003-01-13T08:21:20.000-08:00Human Factors, Critical Thinking:Toward a Reliable and Valid Usability Testing Methodology: Part 1 - The Problem
As I’ve pointed out before, there have been some nice studies showing that usability testing is unreliable. Disappointingly, little has been done to address the problem.
As long as people are calling radically different testing methods "usability testing" and are using them for Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-870684032003-01-07T09:50:00.000-08:002003-01-07T10:03:33.000-08:00Human Factors:Usability Testing: Myths, Misconceptions and Misuses (Richard F. Dillon - HOT Lab)In this article, I identify and try to straighten out some common misconceptions about usability testing...
1) Usability testing is user-centred design.
2) There are many types of usability testing procedures.
3) Evaluation isn't necessary in an iterative user-interface design process.
4) You don't Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-870121382003-01-06T08:41:00.000-08:002003-01-07T09:47:19.000-08:00Human Factors:56 Rules to Design By (UI Design Update - Dec'02 - Bob Bailey)Every year since 1983, I have reviewed and summarized much of the usability-related research literature that was published during the previous year. This has provided the basis for the popular, annual 3-day User Interface Update course. My annual two-month "read and outline" activity provides me with a number of Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-861853982002-12-17T13:53:00.000-08:002002-12-18T20:51:49.000-08:00Human Factors:Professional Usability Testing and Return On Investment (57-page PDF file, 340kb) Summary (Charles L. Mauro - TaskZ)
After going through this report in detail, I highly recommend it for both its discussion of the return on investment of usability testing and its comparison of lab-based versus online usability testing. A few highlights with comments:
Definition: Professional Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-857128392002-12-08T21:31:00.000-08:002002-12-08T21:57:59.000-08:00Human Factors:Professional Usability Testing and Return On Investment (57-page PDF file, 340kb) Summary (Charles L. Mauro - TaskZ)Professional usability engineering and testing is a well-established development discipline that has been used extensively to create some of our most successful military and commercial systems. With the maturation of the web as a delivery model for information and Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-849448942002-11-22T14:39:00.000-08:002002-11-24T22:09:40.000-08:00Management:Paul O’Neill: Values into ActionEvery company parrots the same phrase: "Our most important asset is our people." Real leaders know how to prove it, said U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Paul H. O'Neill, who spoke to students at HBS recently.
..."I told the financial staff that if anyone ever calculated how much money we were saving by being safe, they were fired," O'Neill said. "I Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-848412132002-11-20T16:08:00.000-08:002002-11-20T16:08:52.176-08:00And Now for Something Completely Different:Boilerplate: Mechanical Marvel of the Nineteenth CenturyBoilerplate was a mechanical man developed by Professor Archibald Campion during the 1880s and unveiled at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.
Built in a small Chicago laboratory, Boilerplate was originally designed as a prototype soldier for use in resolving the conflicts of nations. Although itRonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-848407962002-11-20T15:59:00.000-08:002002-11-20T16:13:24.000-08:00Human Factors, Critical Thinking:Spanking Jakob Nielsen - (John Rhodes - WebWord)While I think intranet usability is extremely important, I do not think we are being given the full picture of intranet productivity, savings, benefits, and costs. While I admit to saying that usability can save a company, it is not everything. There are other things we should consider. At a minimum in this case, we Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-848252002002-11-20T10:11:00.000-08:002003-05-13T08:08:04.000-07:00Human Factors, Critical Thinking:Miller's 7+-2 Doesn't Apply
(This is a slight update to my previous entries on Miller's 7+-2)
7+-2 is not an accurate measure of any human capacity limit.
7+-2 does not apply to any design problems or solutions.
The widespread use of 7+-2 in design shows that designers want to appear familiar with research while they remain ignorant of it.
References on Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-843662802002-11-11T08:00:00.000-08:002002-11-20T16:22:42.000-08:00("Miller's 7+-2 Doesn't Apply" and the commentary on Nielsen's "Intranet Usability" were reposted November 20.)Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-841517932002-11-06T19:36:00.000-08:002002-11-07T15:17:27.000-08:00Management:Why Employees Don't Collaborate - sidebar to "From Lone Star to Team Player" (Harvard Business School Working Knowledge) There are four obstacles involving employees' motivations and abilities that must be overcome...
First, unwillingness to seek advice and learn from others...
Second, there is inability to find expertise...
Then there is unwillingness to help...
Lastly, there isRonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-838535112002-10-31T18:02:00.000-08:002002-11-03T14:13:42.000-08:00Management:Stop the Clock? Critics Call the Billable Hour a Legal Fiction - (New York Times)Carl T. Bogus, a law professor at Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I., noted that "no human being can be productive every minute of the workday."
"Lawyers must eat, interact socially with co-workers, walk down the hall for a cup of coffee, speak on the phone with spouses or friends and conduct Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-837420072002-10-29T16:05:00.000-08:002002-10-29T16:05:43.806-08:00Human Factors, Marketing:The Temptation is Back - (Los Angeles Times)...farmers are firing up their buzz saws, felling and burning Red Delicious orchards as fast as they can raise the money to replant them. During the last four years, some 60,000 acres of Red Delicious have been replaced with new varieties that don't just look nice, they taste good. Sweetness, spice, juiciness and a rowdy autumn Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-835568392002-10-26T08:56:00.000-07:002002-10-26T09:49:08.000-07:00Critical Thinking, Science, Education:EQUAL TIME ALL THE TIME FOR EVERYONE - (Minster Michael Shermer)Genesis 1:1-3 is only a theory, and as such cannot be treated as fact and is really nothing more than an educated guess. It is only fair that we remember that there are other theories of the creation that deserve equal time. For example:...
Some Zuni Indians, Cook Islanders, and Tahitians have aRonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-833129602002-10-21T13:09:00.000-07:002002-10-23T18:37:12.000-07:00Human Factors:VoiceUI.Info - (Sam Horodezky)Voice recognition technology holds enormous potential: who doesn't like the idea of effortlessly talking to his or her computer? However, as with any technology, the limitations which constrain the User Interface are not well understood. In the case of voice recognition, the constraints are very significant.A new resource on speech user interfaces.Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-831341012002-10-17T13:39:00.000-07:002002-10-17T17:19:11.000-07:00Influence, Critical Thinking:In my discussions of methods of influence, the subject of subliminal advertising often comes up. It's an interesting topic because it is a study in how people continue to be influenced by a hoax from almost 50 years ago.
Subliminal Advertising - (Snopes.com)For neither the first nor the last time, a great deal of time and money and effort was expended on "protectingRonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-829807052002-10-14T14:05:00.000-07:002002-10-26T16:15:43.000-07:00Management, Critical Thinking:What the world needs more of - accountability - (Liz Doup, Knight Ridder Newspapers) (article no longer available)You're bored, so you blame your job.
Your kid's failing, so you blame the teacher.
Your family's unhappy, so you blame the world.
Shame on you for playing the blame game, pointing the finger at everyone but yourself for what's wrong with your life Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-828217652002-10-10T19:38:00.000-07:002002-10-10T20:18:14.000-07:00Human Factors:An interview with Peter Merholz and Nathan Shedroff on User-Centered Design - (Digital Web Magazine)Peter Merholz: Contrary to common wisdom, user-centered design is not a process, but a philosophy. User-centered design requires the inclusion of a product's end-users throughout the design process.
Nate Shedroff: User-centered Design is an approach (with many variations) to creatingRonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-825148842002-10-04T06:42:00.000-07:002002-10-04T07:00:52.000-07:00And Now for Something Completely Different:2002 Ig® Nobel Prizes Awarded! - (The Annals of Improbable Research)
Amorous ostriches scoop Ig Nobel prize - (Summary via New Scientist)An investigation into why amorous UK ostriches were failing to breed is just one of the winners of the 2002 Ig Nobel Prizes. The annual awards for achievements that "cannot or should not be reproduced" were presented atRonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-824674242002-10-03T07:31:00.000-07:002002-10-04T10:06:04.000-07:00Human Factors:Designed for life - (New Scientist interview of Don Norman)Hands up if you still have trouble opening the door to your office first time, figuring out the dashboard controls of your car or navigating your computer. Sadly, that'll be most of us, says Donald Norman.A combination of his regular discussions on "why so many things are so unusable" and "building emotions into systems".AreRonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-823760852002-10-01T11:38:00.000-07:002002-10-01T11:45:35.000-07:00Human Factors:Email Newsletters Pick Up Where Websites Leave Off (Jakob Nielsen)
Nielsen in a Nutshell: Email newsletters tend to have fairly good usability, even though email platforms are very diverse. Nielsen looks at the usability of email newsletters, a simple topic that he addresses well in his column.
It doesn't get much simpler than evaluating the usability of email newsletters. The Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-821505882002-09-26T09:16:00.000-07:002002-09-26T14:51:52.000-07:00Critical Thinking, Science:High-flying physicist sacked for falsifying data (NewScientist.com)A high-flying young physicist (Hendrik Schön), who rapidly published a series of remarkable discoveries, has been sacked by Bell Labs, New Jersey, for "scientific misconduct".Scientist fired for fabricating data (The Skeptic's Dictionary)The scandal also illustrates how much faith scientists have in eachRonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-821238082002-09-25T18:52:00.000-07:002002-09-25T19:49:09.000-07:00Human Factors, Critical Thinking:Fix an Incomprehensible User Interface?
I found Scott Adams' Dilbert comic of May 11, 2002 to be particularly interesting:Dilbert: [pointing to a picture of money going into a computer] We can fix our incomprehensible user interface for a million dollars, [pointing to a picture of a person with his eyes tightly closed] or we can close our eyes and wish real hard Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-818269872002-09-19T09:11:00.000-07:002002-09-19T10:19:37.000-07:00Human Factors:Offshore Usability (Jakob Nielsen)To save costs, some companies are outsourcing Web projects to countries with cheap labor. Unfortunately, these countries lack strong usability traditions and their developers have limited access -- if any -- to good usability data from the target users.Nielsen in a Nutshell: Sometimes offshore web design is good, but more than likely not. Nielsen Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-817966182002-09-18T17:17:00.000-07:002002-09-18T17:22:10.000-07:00Human Factors, Critical Thinking:Open Letter to a Power User / Developer (Lyle Kantrovich)Just because YOU use it, doesn't mean it's USABLE for many people. Show me research - maybe an independent usability test. Lots of universities use Linux -- ask them to research Linux's usability. As far as adoption statistics are concerned, back up your cited numbers, show me real numbers from reputable Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-815739002002-09-13T16:20:00.000-07:002002-09-13T16:22:13.000-07:00Critical Thinking, Marketing:'Anti-radiation' trousers fuel mobile phone debate (Reuters Health)US jeans maker Levi Strauss & Co. denied on Thursday it was playing on consumer fears by launching a line of trousers fitted with "anti-radiation" pockets for mobile phones.
The trousers, with a lining that the makers say shields against radiation, are designed by Dockers, a brand name of Levi Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-814038412002-09-10T06:47:00.000-07:002002-09-10T08:58:49.000-07:00Human Factors, Critical Thinking:The trouble with usability guidelines - Lyle Kantrovich comments on Spool's "Evolution Trumps Usability Guidelines" article.I'm not willing to chuck all guidelines out the window, but I'll add my opinions to what Jared has already stated. Let me state up front that I maintain and promote use of a set of guidelines in my day to day work, so I have some experience Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-813664352002-09-09T11:51:00.000-07:002002-09-10T08:39:30.000-07:00Human Factors, Critical Thinking:Evolution Trumps Usability Guidelines by Jared M. SpoolUsing (expected placement) guidelines, we constructed the following hypothesis: if sites place these common elements where users expect, we should see users purchasing more from the sites. With our hypothesis in hand, we went to our data."Purchasing more"?! I fail to see how this is a valid measure of the Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3654049.post-812818712002-09-07T09:52:00.000-07:002002-09-07T10:38:31.000-07:00Human Factors:Ten Best Intranets of 2002This year's winning intranet designs emphasized integrated support of international offices, long development times (two years on average), one-stop start-up screens and single sign-in, and usability testing of interfaces for content contributors.Nielsen in a Nutshell: Nielsen promotes his $64 report, "Intranet Design Annual 2002: Ten Best Intranets of the Ronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01581577706161644024noreply@blogger.com