Joshua Mauldin, founder of Invisible Interface & Awesome Gifs, and app creator/manager for The Business Journals, gave a talk about best practices in touchable mobile design at a recent Charlotte User Experience meet-up. I especially liked his use of clips from Arrested Development to remind us of the wide range of emotional responses people get when they use technology, good or bad. (Take a moment and look over the slides for the meat of Joshua's talk.)
(Photo by Brad E.)
Slide-share of Joshua Mauldin's Mobile Design Best Practices talk:
The event was hosted by MyJive, located at the NC Music Factory. I was fortunate to grab a comfy spot to sit - there were about 85 in attendance.At the end of the meetup, I won a ticket to Web Afternoon!
I'm convinced that tablet technology will be adopted by schools at a faster rate than anticipated a year or so ago, now that Apple has launched iBooks Textbooks for iPad and the iTunesU app.
Parents, teachers, students, administrators, and school IT specialists, hold on to your hats!
iPad for Art: Sketchbook Express, via the Montlieu Academy of Technology, a public K-5 magnet school that adopted a 1:1 iPad initiative in August, 2011.
COMMENT I have been planning on devoting more posts in the future about the iPad and related interactive technologies for learning- and for fun. When I have a chance to write my mega-post, you won't be disappointed!
Take a look at a a Usability Geek blog that is a repository of guidelines from an assortment of well-known corporations. I'm bookmarking the page for reference!
Since I'm a fairly new owner of an iPad2, my first tablet, I've been having a blast using it with students at work as well as watching my nearly 9 month old grandson play around with it. Although I am happy that I have this "innovative" technology at my fingertips, I know that the concept of tablet computing has been a round for a very long time.
If you are curious to learn more about the history of ideas behind the tablet/iPad/eReader concept, take a look at the video below. It features the work of Roger Fidler and his team at the Information Design Lab, reviewing their work between 1992-94. Also explore the links in the "Related" section - I've included links to articles, a dissertation, and a book that mightof interest to those who are researching this topic. (A must-read is Alan C. Kay's "A Personal Computer for Children of All Ages", written in 1972.)
The Tablet Newspaper: A Vision for the Future Information Design Lab, 1994, Knight-Ridder, Inc.
The Tablet Newspaper: A Vision For the Future Teresa Martin, Knight-Ridder Information Design Lab, CHI '95 Proceedings Abstract: "The Table Newspaper: A Vision for the Future overviews tomorrow's portable information appliances and the ways in which we may interact with information. It explores the role a newspaper may have in the digital era and the form a newspaper may take as an electronic product." The Media Business; Knight-Ridder Shuts Down Research Lab New York Times, 8/3/95 Below is a quote from the NYT article, written in 1995:
"Knight-Ridder Inc. has closed a research lab it established to explore electronic publishing alternatives like the flat-panel newspaper.
The Information Design Laboratory, which opened here three years ago, was developing a notebook-sized computer for receiving and displaying electronic newspapers. The electronic tablet weighed less than two pounds and displayed a screen image that looked like the front page of a newspaper. The lab never designed a product that was marketed by Knight-Ridder.
"I.D.L. made a valuable contribution to the company's long-range vision of electronic publishing and helped to further the flat-panel newspaper concept," P. Anthony Ridder, Knight-Ridder's chairman and chief executive, said Monday. Knight-Ridder plans to concentrate its electronic publishing efforts on existing technologies like the Internet and on-line services, Polk Laffoon, vice president of corporate relations, said."
I've been thinking about creating my first iPad app, and as I was searching for information, I came across a few articles related to Apple's new iOS 5 that I found interesting.
Because my target user group includes young people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), I was intrigued by the possibility that the facial recognition APIs might provide a means of assessing mood or emotional states. Most of us understand that our faces function as mirrors to feelings, and we use our facial expressions to communicate our feelings to others. Unfortunately, this is a concept that is difficult for young people with ASD to understand. My hunch is that there is an "app for that".
I'd love to great to create a little iPad app for young people with ASD for education, intervention, and/or communication activities that incorporates the facial recognition feature!
Apple's iOS facial recognition could lead to Kinect-like interaction Darrell Etherington, GigaOm/Reuters, 7/27/11 Here is a quote from the above article: "You could create apps that track a user’s eye movement and dynamically change content accordingly, for instance. App developers might even be able to use data gathered from facial recognition APIs to identify so-called “hotspots,” providing insight about where a user is looking most within an app and arranging content accordingly. In time, an iPhone app might even be able to assess the emotional state of the user, based on whether they’re frowning or smiling, and address the user in a manner appropriate to their mood. It might also be able to tell how engaged users are with mobile ads and content, which might be useful for iAd customers, among others."
Eric Sailers is a speech/language pathologist who has an extensive amount of experience using "apps" in educational settings. He's compiled a great list of apps and related resources on his blog: http://slpsharing.com/app-resources/
Eric spends some of his time giving presentations about the use of Apple's mobile devices in education. He's co-created a few apps, too!
For just $4.99, this app has given me hours of joy - and I've only had it for a week! The first time I played around with it, I exclaimed that I no longer have a need for my Motif 8 keyboard.
(Seriously, my husband now thinks I'll be unloading my keyboard on eBay or Craigslist soon.)
Below are a couple of videos to give you an idea of what the iPad version of GarageBand is all about:
If you love music and have an iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, you'll have fun exploring and experimenting with NodeBeat. As soon as I get my iPad, I plan to get this app!
"NodeBeat is an experimental node-based audio sequencer and generative music application for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. NodeBeat is designed to let you create a variety of rhythmic sequences and ambient melodies in an intuitive fashion. It is scheduled for release on April 25th." -Affinity Blue
NodeBeat is a collaboration betweenSeth Sandler and Justin Windle. It was developed using openFrameworks, with PureData for audio synthesis. According to the NodeBeat website, "Octaves and Notes make up the two types of nodes. Octaves pulse and send messages to Notes within proximity. Each Octave is assigned a random octave and each Note, a random note; therefore, a Note will play in several octaves depending on the Octave it's connected to. Pause nodes to create your own beats or let them roam free to have them generate their own." Features include adjustable node physics, node add/remove, pitch shift, adjustable pulse rate and beat sync, adjustable echo, attack, decay, and release for creative sound sculpting, and for the iPad, audio waveform display and landscape/portrait views.
The video provides a recap of the iPad and highlights how it can be used in education, for students with special needs, in aviation, in doctor's offices, in the board room, in an art studio, in the kitchen - just about anywhere.
I wonder how an iPad could transform the work of a school psychologist! I have a plenty of ideas, now that the iPad2 is out. How can it help with RTI? Progress monitoring? Digital social stories? Social skills activities? Counseling? Behavior intervention? Transition planning? Assessment? Communication? Productivity? IEP collaboration and development?
Wouldn't it be nice if there were a few iPad apps that could effectively support the work of school psychologists and those who work in similar fields?
So much of what we use in our productivity work as school psychologists was built upon applications first developed in the mid-to-late 1990's, at best. There must be more efficient and effective solutions out there. What can be done to move us forward?
Psychological and educational test publishers, can you hear me now?
I was watching a DVR'd episode of NCIS tonight with my husband and noticed Cisco Telepresence video conferencing system was a player in the story line, as well as a Cisco Cius touch-screen tablet. It seems that on TV, laptops, desktops, and old-fashioned cell phones are history. "Emerging" technologies are woven into the story lines of more television episodes, including CSI, NCIS, Bones, Grey's Anatomy, and others.
The original intention of this post was to discuss the concept of emerging technologies and product placement/embedded advertising on television programs and movies, and share a few interesting examples related to his topic. I quickly realized that there is much more to this story. Why? More people access video and interactive multimedia content when they are on-the-go using laptops, smart phones, iPads, and similar tablets. New televisions, such as Sony Internet TV, are internet-enabled, and many people already access the web content on their televisions through devices such as game consoles or Apple TV.
It is a marketer's dream.
Unfortunately, we might not be ways to "opt-out" of all of the indirect (and direct) advertising that will come our way as we access video and related content across multiple platforms. It won't be as easy as blocking pop-up ads or fast-forwarding the DVR!
Below are some examples of ways some emerging technologies are "placed" in television/film, grouped by company. In the "Apple" section, I've included video of Steve Jobs introducing iAds. Near the end of this post, I've included links that relate to ethical legal and ethical issues regarding product placement and embedded advertising.
Food for thought. I'm still digesting what I've found!
Apple iADMobile advertising that delivers interaction and emotion, 1 billion ad impressions a day, within your app. Apple's iAD isn't really product placement. It is about embedded ads in your mobile devices. "Who wants to get yanked out of their ad?"-Steve Jobs
"iAd is a breakthrough mobile advertising platform from Apple. With it, apps can feature rich media ads that combine the emotion of TV with the interactivity of the web. For developers, it means a new, easy-to-implement source of revenue. For advertisers, it creates a new media outlet that offers consumers highly targeted information." -Apple
As I searched for more information about product placement and embedded advertising, I came across a few posts/websites that suggests that in some circles, this is a hot/controversial topic:
Joseph Lewczak and Ann DiGiovanni, WLF Legal Backgrounder, 4/9/10
FIT Media FAQs (FIT= Fairness and Integrity in Telecommunications Media)
"FIT Media is a non-partisan coalition of health, media and child advocacy organizations and professionals supporting transparency and child protection in embedded TV advertising."
This is an interesting website - FIT Media covers topics such as "Advernews", "Embedded Propoganda", "Deceptive Advertising", and ways that embedded advertising might be harmful. Week ahead: FCC meeting, Do Not Track hearing Cecilia Kang, Washington Post 11/29/10
What is Apple's New Privacy Policy? "Amidst all the glitz of releasing a new mobile operating system and iPhone, Apple quietly updated their privacy policy. Why?"
Michael Kassner, Tech Republic, 6/28/10
FYI: If you have an iPhone running iOS 4 and wish to opt-out of iAD, you can do so at http://oo.apple.com
Xerox Patent Filing Make Product Placement Addressable The Media Buyer, 1/12/10 "The patent describes the system (via GoRumors) as having the ability to alter content within a program based on the viewer. For example, if a character on a show mentions Macy’s, that content could be shown to general viewers. But that small portion of the broadcast could be “marked,” and the content could be changed so that the character instead says the name of sporting goods store Modell’s. That portion of the broadcast would be served to viewers who are into sports. Similarly, if the storefront was shown during the program, general audiences would see the Macy’s store, while sports fans would see the Modell’s store."
"According to the US elite fashion industry journal Women's Wear Daily, the Murdoch-Jobs "newspaper" will be run from the 26th floor of the News Corp offices in New York, where 100 journalist have been hired, including Pete Picton, an online editor from the Sun, as one of three managing editors. The editor of the Daily has not been announced, but observers are assuming it will be Jesse Angelo, the managing editor of the New York Post and rising star in the News Corp firmament." -Edward Helmore
SOMEWHAT RELATED Here's a video clip of a recent interview of Rupert Murdoch, News Corp. Chairman & CEO discusses countries with the greatest growth for business. "Our best growth industry is in this country (US)" (Rupert Murdoch reportedly admires Steve Job and likes the iPad.)
