tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109935042025-03-24T21:11:24.029+00:00An occasional listing of notes and anecdotes on user-centred design<br>Alison Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12921802084802707831noreply@blogger.comBlogger502125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10993504.post-12780511527861521392016-03-31T13:44:00.000+00:002016-03-31T13:44:30.057+00:00

xkcd picks up a technical issue in one of our canon of nursery rhymes – although it seems it was likely not to have been intended so literally when it was first sung. I have probably sung this hundreds of times both as a child and a parent but never thought beyond the words to the improbability of the scenario.

<br>Alison Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12921802084802707831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10993504.post-86686175166368362912014-07-25T22:57:00.000+00:002014-07-25T22:57:11.992+00:00

Michelle Meyer writes in defence of the Facebook/Cornell study on people's response to the emotional tenor of their Facebook feeds. She argues the manipulation of individuals' news feeds wasn't much beyond the everyday experience of Facebook and, yes, a little ethical review and participant briefing might have been nice but let's not let over-sensitivity get in the way of corporations doing what,

<br>Alison Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12921802084802707831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10993504.post-48832624949383318262014-06-29T21:31:00.000+00:002014-06-29T21:31:24.416+00:00

&nbsp; This set of images from Prosign has, apparently, been around for some time but I've only just seen it. via Alex Pang on Facebook

<br>Alison Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12921802084802707831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10993504.post-28366805588848568292014-06-24T17:13:00.001+00:002014-06-24T17:13:43.491+00:00

... the Department of Typography &amp; Graphic Communication, University of Reading (Class of 2014).

<br>Alison Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12921802084802707831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10993504.post-60224744477048957922014-06-06T12:22:00.002+00:002014-06-06T12:22:09.240+00:00

The Economist has mapped the aggregated time spent watching 'Gangnam Style' on YouTube to other projects which have demanded much human time and effort. Via Tim Harford

<br>Alison Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12921802084802707831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10993504.post-68843249507501249362014-04-22T16:51:00.001+00:002014-04-22T16:52:23.878+00:00

Nice pop explanation at Salon of the need for quality, spaced practice, not just massed practice. This is one of my favourite, non-intuitive and robust psychological phenomena, first demonstrated in the late 19th century (by Ebbinghaus) and replicated in multiple studies subsequently. [via Katja Battarbee]

<br>Alison Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12921802084802707831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10993504.post-29141580579182122782014-04-16T17:35:00.000+00:002014-04-16T17:35:01.451+00:00

Have been wondering about the term 'marginally significant' used in research papers. It's a term that wasn't used when I learned statistics a very long time ago. Research results were either significant, at a given level, or not. So I browsed the term and found it is, indeed, acceptable in some settings, for reporting 'non-critical results' (you define what's critical). Then I found this lovely

<br>Alison Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12921802084802707831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10993504.post-51702641498971467792014-04-11T12:17:00.000+00:002014-04-11T12:17:38.491+00:00

Just looking at a version of the Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE),* a simple test used in clinical settings to assess possible cognitive impairment. The following does not bode well for patients' scores. * Folstein, M.F, Foltein, S.E., McHugh, P.R. (1975) Mini-mental state: a practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. J Psychiatric Research, 12, 189–

<br>Alison Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12921802084802707831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10993504.post-3952721217347220702014-04-04T19:19:00.002+00:002014-04-06T19:01:50.648+00:00

Concise review by Tim Harford of the promise of big data and how it can go awry, citing inaccuracies that emerged in the celebrated Google Flu Trends, possibly because Google's own search engines may have been prompting searches, even when the searcher's own symptoms didn't suggest flu. According to an analysis in Science, in 2013 this led to an over-estimate that almost doubled the actual data

<br>Alison Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12921802084802707831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10993504.post-55699074695845488042014-02-27T22:56:00.001+00:002014-02-27T22:56:08.258+00:00

Looking at Christian Aid's Lent calendars for grown ups... and for children... ... and think the kids are getting a better deal. (Clever idea, though.)

<br>Alison Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12921802084802707831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10993504.post-81171223935814736962013-12-07T00:01:00.001+00:002013-12-07T00:01:23.110+00:00

The Economist's recent article How science goes wrong is a useful reminder of publication biases in science. It recently came up in a discussion at work, which took me back to Rosenthal's paper on 'the file drawer problem' (null results in science are seen as boring and unpublishable, so tend to get filed away, while the study or its analysis is tweaked to produce something that shows a

<br>Alison Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12921802084802707831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10993504.post-82109242892957792992013-11-18T15:22:00.000+00:002013-11-18T15:22:07.799+00:00

Engaging social travel service, which never became an app and, sadly, faded. Neatly documented by one of its founders, Matt Jones.

<br>Alison Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12921802084802707831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10993504.post-77625264235014676502013-11-15T14:17:00.002+00:002013-11-15T14:17:37.596+00:00

This the Wall Street Journal's 'report card' on MOOCs, bringing together various analyses of how they're used. Interesting to see the note of Philip Guo's research on the attention span of MOOC students. 6 minutes seems the optimum time for the lecturer to make their point. [Via Seb Schmoller]

<br>Alison Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12921802084802707831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10993504.post-56614080136279978662013-11-15T13:51:00.002+00:002013-11-15T13:51:38.588+00:00

An eclectic list, presented idiosyncratically (the tiled layout, amongst other things, limits each entry to four classification categories; if tile size is of significance that beats me). But an interesting few moments' browsing. Charlie Leadbeater's description of the selection process provides some useful background.

<br>Alison Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12921802084802707831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10993504.post-71732090642128899692013-11-06T11:36:00.000+00:002013-11-06T11:36:40.284+00:00

Virgin America's recently released air safety video is getting a bit of press at the moment. Fun on first viewing but even then, too long. Thomson's approach (as a holiday company, aimed at a different audience) is probably equally grating after too much exposure but, at least, is shorter. I can imagine they both hold the viewers' attention longer than a flight attendant miming to a

<br>Alison Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12921802084802707831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10993504.post-55141466985723978812013-06-27T14:39:00.000+00:002013-06-27T14:39:08.079+00:00

Department of Typography &amp; Graphic Communication, University of Reading. June 2013

<br>Alison Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12921802084802707831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10993504.post-46358955381025434132013-06-13T21:32:00.000+00:002013-06-13T21:32:24.828+00:00

Believing myself to be an efficient-ish sort of person, I imagine I screen out irrelevant detail when searching for information on the web. But, as advertisers know so well, extraneous information impinges on the consciousness of even the most focused researcher. Which is why, I suppose, I was so distracted by the banner image (above) on the web site of the Oxford Institute for Science,

<br>Alison Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12921802084802707831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10993504.post-69712401558739852212013-06-12T21:42:00.002+00:002013-06-12T21:43:24.931+00:00

Van Gogh's Irises, from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam Tom Stafford gives a commentary on 1993 research by Tim Wilson and team, showing how getting people to introspect on their reasons for preference choices can shift the choices people make. When asked to select between a set of fine art or cartoon posters, students who were required to introspect about the reasons for their choice were more

<br>Alison Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12921802084802707831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10993504.post-48832203175049824112013-06-12T19:32:00.000+00:002013-06-12T19:32:27.596+00:00

Some of our recent work at Centre for Information Design Research for GOV.UK has just been&nbsp;published and blogged. We looked at GOV.UK's internal guidelines for text preparation for the web and provided research background that either supported their guidelines or suggested different approaches to presenting information. Many government web sites are not just providing information, but

<br>Alison Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12921802084802707831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10993504.post-64240406753354054722012-11-19T18:24:00.001+00:002012-11-19T23:18:52.799+00:00

Robert Krulwich describes xckd's rocket diagram (all explained in words within the most frequent 1,000 used in English) as 'Deep Simple' and wishes there were more accessible explanation around. I was surprised to see 'space' in the top 1,000 words (it's well in, according to the Corpus of Contemporary American English at 522), whereas moon is down at 2471 (and, yes, given that we're diurnal,

<br>Alison Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12921802084802707831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10993504.post-30383285753724841392012-11-06T22:34:00.002+00:002012-11-11T10:20:01.581+00:00

Thought provoking. Though you may need anti-glare glasses. Interesting postscript in John Naughton's Observer column on the Obama campaign's use of data to track and tailor their message to specific supporter groups. Presumably also to raise funds. [via Fast Company]

<br>Alison Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12921802084802707831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10993504.post-29547344786462691462012-11-05T20:58:00.001+00:002012-11-05T20:58:16.843+00:00

Interesting&nbsp;slide presentation by Alex Balfour on use of digital media during the London Olympics. It is a bit of a PR piece but the build up to the heart of the presentation, showing development of digital media use during the lead up to the Olympics, is a useful reminder of how access to information has changed over the past seven years or so.

<br>Alison Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12921802084802707831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10993504.post-52550826460724408902012-09-07T17:30:00.000+00:002012-09-07T17:30:02.642+00:00

[via&nbsp;John Naughton, and even more poignant in the light of today's brouhaha over Nokia's bicycle video]

<br>Alison Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12921802084802707831noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10993504.post-20011186417150193362012-07-29T17:12:00.000+00:002012-07-29T17:12:27.229+00:00

The Royal College of Physicians has announced a standard, National Early Warning Signs (NEWS), chart to be used across the NHS, to monitor the vital signs of seriously ill patients, in order to detect any deterioration rapidly and reduce medical errors. No one could doubt the sense in this. Deciding what measures to include in the chart, and how those measures are combined into a score, has

<br>Alison Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12921802084802707831noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10993504.post-29117500795604637862012-07-29T15:25:00.000+00:002012-07-29T17:13:02.410+00:00

Neuroskeptic, generalising a little unfairly, shows how it shouldn't be done... In a somatic society which promotes visible, idealized forms of embodiment, men&nbsp;are increasingly being interpellated&nbsp;[sic]&nbsp;as image-conscious body-subjects. Some research&nbsp;suggests that men negotiate appearance issues in complex and varied ways, partly&nbsp;because image concerns are conventionally

<br>Alison Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12921802084802707831noreply@blogger.com0