Gotta make them pape[r prototype]s

As the mashup-a-thon continues, we explore some techniques for interaction design development.  Students proposed, outlined, and prototyped applications using 2D paper mockups, then taped a user test.  Here’s one:

A series of pipes.

We looked at a bunch of mashups, and the creator of fastfoodmaps.com gave a lecture on the types of ideation that lead to the creation of these hybrid apps.  The class used Yahoo Pipes to create some mashups of their own.  Here’s a link to the DLiteracy meta-feed, a pipe which aggregates all posts from this and each of the student’s blogs into a single RSS feed.

The Voight-Kampff test and you

In class we discussed CAPTCHAs, those little speedbumps on web page registration forms that try to keep bots from signing up for accounts (typically, this involves reading some smudged words or transcribing garbled audio).  The class was charged with devising some techniques for determining whether a person they were talking to was a human, or just a sophisticated bot.

Plug it in.

Check out these firefox plugins

You can install these to increase the functionality of your browser.

Take one for a test drive, then blog about your experience.  Did you find this plugin useful?  Were there any flaws in its design?  What task did it help you accomplish?

Panopticon

Today in class we read an excerpt from Bentham’s Panopticon, a tract describing the construction of a building to allow potentially constant but unverifiable observation of its inhabitants by a guard in a central tower.

We then used search engines and social networks to see what could be found out about each other online – the type of “surveilance” that could be done by anyone, anytime.

Nice Site

Hey class.

Due Wed: Please post a link and critique of a website that made an impression on you.  Keep in mind the following: what is the site’s purpose?  Who is the audience?  What are issues with usability, interaction design?  What aspects of the visual design are working?

Also, respond with at least one comment relating to a classmate’s post.

Communiculture – The Hacker Ethic

I’ve created some spectra at communiculture.org.

Create an avatar and weigh in with your opinion of the tenets of the Hacker Ethic, as proposed by Steven Levy.

Here’s a link to one – find the others (under computers) and post!

Should access to computers be unlimited and total?

When you’re done, take a screenshot of your avatar and post it here as a comment.