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Argentine tango blog
/ with Interaction Design interludes / by Oleh Kovalchuke |
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February 2006
Feb. 16, 2006 - Ambient devices
The product concept is way, way (that's two ways) cool. The website sucks - try to find out more about that ambient umbrella.
The concept: Essentially Lava Lamp, which shows useful information beyond spacey globs of goo for those who wish to look and put info into the goo.
Feb. 15, 2006 - Let me be entirely credible with you, my friend...
Website credibility is essential in the era of social information foraging. Here are 10 guidelines from Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab. They don't talk much about latest developments (tags, citations, reviews, gossip - marketplace conversations in other words).
Feb. 10, 2006 - Sounds of forest to monitor health of nuclear station or any system for that matter
Lada Gorlenko wrote to the IxD list:
I found this very intriguing:
iSIC is short for information music. It is a unique research project which explores the use of musical rules as a way to convey information. iSIC is a monitoring system, sort of a baby sitter for big complex systems. The complex system could be a large network, a server farm or a nuclear facility. iSIC lets operators mind the activities of systems through precisely mapped sounds which play pleasantly in the background.
I am clearly not an expert, but slightly modified concept seems to be very much viable as secondary monitoring system.
Some common sense thoughts:
Music tastes are varied and ever changing (personally and lately I prefer to listen to Argentine tango, jazz and techno pop for background music). Finding pleasant background music for group of people could be challenging.
Why not use forest as a background sound?
Let's say forest represents entire nuclear station facility. In 3-d environment sounds from different clumps of trees in the light breeze could represent related parts of the system chugging along, occasional songs of specific birds - periodic updates from critical variables (bird songs, length and pitch could change), a moose rushing toward you through the underbrush - emergency from that particular part of the system.
Ah, the intriguing possibilities... One could monitor system performance via headphones anywhere, even in the bathroom. Imagine the nail-biting suspense of moose in the bathroom.
Not all people listen to music, but most of us do use ears frequently, I would even argue every day. Why not design for hearing?
Actually, the idea of sound of forest as an auxiliary feedback for system status is essentially an extrapolation on sound as part of feedback mechanism from both Norman (expressed in Emotional Design and in The Design of Everyday Things) as well as Cooper (in About Face II). Except both Norman and Cooper talk about short melodic chord-like sounds or mechanical ventilation hum and would probably prefer clunks and clinks instead of more organic metaphor (both dislike system "beeps" (as far as I know only some of developers enjoy hearing those and even then I think they like it because the error box is so easy to code)).
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Well, it's hard to come up with an entirely new idea. Enters stage right Peep! The Network Auralizer (via Marc Rettig (idea proposal and the paper describing the idea)) with soundbite examples. Here is relevant description of the idea proposed six years ago in 2000:
It's implied in Star Trek that Engineer Scott can tell whether the ship is running well by the sound it makes. Instead of looking at just a computer screen, Commander Scott uses all his senses, including touch, hearing, and smell to know whether things are going smoothly. Even the computers hum and beep appreciatively when running smoothly, and acknowledge all commands with an enthusiastic response of beeps and gurgles. A network is very much like that starship; it is large, complex, and difficult to describe in pictures. Why shouldn't we incorporate our other senses into the process? If we can create a semiology, in which individual sounds distinguish activities, and sonorities represent states, we can define normality in terms of the gestalt sonority it generates.
Over the last 6 years, since Joan Francioni and Mark Brown first sonified parallel computations[2,3], little has been done to exploit the representational qualities of sound in describing network behavior[4]. Partially this arises from the difficulty of using musical representations that remain pleasing regardless of the data they represent. This, in turn, came from an insistence upon using pure tones as a representational medium. We consider the problems of tonal combinatorics too difficult to solve in general, and instead take the very radical approach of layering natural sounds to represent an event stream. In this way, the resulting sonorities can be made both representative and naturally metaphorical for the network states they represent.
The Star Trek implementation is a bit closer to what I was thinking about - surround sound feedback from different parts of the system. Otherwise the homology of thinking is uncanny - wind, birds and frogs... No moose though. Also I think as apractical implementation it is a bit radical for current culture. Maybe in another 5-10 years.
From Louise Ferguson (who spends much of her time on ethnographic research in organisations):
Anthropologists know that 'why' is not a good question. People are forced into a corner and rationalise. 'How' works much better, and generally brings out the latent whys
That's why contextual interviews are more effective for finding out user goals than marketing surveys or business analyst's question-'n-answer interrogation technique.
Incidentally asking how questions instead of why is good approach in personal relationships too.
Feb. 9, 2006 - Forthcoming tooltips
If you use tooltips there is system-defined delay before tip shows up. To indicate that tip is there David Gee suggests:
Another tip with icons with rollover text - because tooltips show after a system-defined delay, sometimes people aren't immediately aware that I'm there. You can alleviate this by changing the CSS cursor property to "help", so that when they rollover the icon, the cursor changes to a question-mark, giving them a clue that there's info "underneath".
Feb. 7, 2006 - Marketing as a battle for mental footprint
While reading "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" stumbled upon this passage, which could have come straight from Plato: (slightly paraphrased)
To cope with the terrifying reality of being alone in this world, people define themselves by their associations with outside world: clubs, organizations, hierarchies. People firmly believe that outside world is more real than the world in their heads. The opposite is true: the universe exists only because it is reflected inside your head and heads of others. Marketing is manipulation of these perceptions.
Unexpected and refreshing reference to philosophy in the othewise very practical if bitter (to the usual corporate manners) book.
Feb. 4, 2006 - Two books worth reading and two movies worth laughing
There are books, which are very hard to put down once you crack them open. Bible, for example... Not really. But both McCloud's books are. Very stimulating and engaging read on communication, industry and art as well as comics as representative of the same.
Two movies so obsene they are hilarious. The Aristocrats - visceral, incredulous laughs, which rely heavily on manic delivery. Me and You and Everyone We Know - gentle, reflective obcsenity.
Feb. 3, 2006 - Tango map - map of milongas around the world
From Áron Ecsedy:
Have you seen tangomap.com ?
It is a list of milonga venues for the entire world based on GoogleMap, however most data is for Europe at this moment. Only a few items are entered in the US and other parts of the world. I think it would be very handy if more organizers would enter their data there (it is connected with the www.tango.info database and new items can be entered at data.tango.info)
Basically the same idea as maps of apartments for rent and real estate.
Feb. 2, 2006 - Pursuing advanced degree in academia or going to business
I have met more original thinkers with Bachelor and Master degrees than those with PhD. The reason is simple: the biggest virtue of research scientist is methodical patience.
There are two kinds of people who would be happy pursuing scientific careers: exceptionally bright and those who are able day after day reproduce the same observations to prove the point. Geniuses are generally hard to come by in any field (when you do the experience might be devastating to your ego). There are also other personality types but they do not fit very well, have to adjust against the grain.
In science most of the time is spent reproducing results to prove an occasional inspiration. Thus scientist digs deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole to prove single point. If the point is good enough there could be entire new world on the other end of the tunnel. Or perhaps in one of the side shoots. More often than not all you get is really deep hole with scientist in it. Scientists with advanced degrees are often indispensable specialists in exceedingly small field.
In business inspirations compete with each other in different businesses. One does not have to reproduce observations to prove their validity, if idea is wrong it, like any other meme, simply dies with its originator often left unemployed (in ideal world - right away, in the real one - possibly and eventually). One has to constantly move, innovate, and reinvent himself to stay afloat. People skills are essential (that's why bullshit is rampant).
All of the above is oversimplified generalized view of course.
And so the choice is between personality types (not so much money, by the way, in the long run). If you are happy with methodic paced lifestyle and excited about the field enough to be motivated to dig the same tunnel for years, go for PhD. If constant change is more to your taste get educated well enough to understand the ropes and get the rest from solving problems while you work.
As far as material compensation is concerned, on average and in the life-long run it is about the same. It is much more important and much easier, more enjoyable to make money if you play to your strengths.
Academia does have one trump card though - the campus life with all those Bachelored youngsters filled with inspiring ideas swarming around.
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I have PhD in Molecular Biology. I know one tango musician with degree in Molecular Biology, but I doubt there are many IxD practitioners with the same.Before you pack your bags to travel to Buenos Aires you would be well advised to read these excellent insights from Deby Novitz.
I would like to add another perspective to this topic that is a little bit outside the world of tango. It speaks more to the culture in Argentina as a whole rather than just looking at one slice of the life here, which is tango.
I live here in Buenos Aires. I have been a permanent resident for more than a year. I can assure you that living here is significantly different than visiting here or even staying here for a length of time. I know, because I used to come here so much before I moved here, that people thought I lived here. One of the things that surprised me was how the relationships between men and women actually worked. I don't want to go into detail here but let it suffice to say , that there have been many surprises.
When I lived in Belgrano I knew most of the shopkeepers by name. Every day when I would walk by either alone or with my dog, the men would call out to me. I would also greet them. Sometimes I would stop to chat before walking on. Imagine my shock the first time I walked down the street with the man I was dating at the time and not one man would greet me or talk to me. They would look at me, look at him, and turn away. Even the young man in the hardware store whose dog played with mine turned away.
It was explained to me that this was out of respect to my friend. If you want to dig deeper, some say that this is because there is an unspoken belief that women and children are property. It would not have been polite for these men to address me when I was with another man. I have had this happen to me in other circumstances. Here, very few men have women friends, and very few women have men friends. (The operative word being friend.) While many times one needs a score card to figure out who is having affairs with who; on the surface there is possesiveness and jealousy, and a conduct code that went out with B-Hive hairdos. (Except they don't open doors for us here...)
What does this have to do with tango? If you understand the culture, you understand some of the codigos in the milonga. When a man enters with a woman, and they sit together at a table, everyone assumes they are together. No one will invite that woman to dance. It is being respectful. If the man roams the room looking for other women, more often than not, people are confused by this behavior. Does this mean he can dance and she cannot? Others see it as disrespect to her. Rather than create a "situation" most will ignore the couple and assume they are together.
While this might not present as much of a problem in the tourist milongas such as Niqo Bien, Porteqo y Bailarin, it will hold true in the traditional milongas where the better dancers are. One of the men I dance with is a professional dancer. When he started to show up at the milongas I go to and would plunk himself down at my table, the men stopped inviting me to dance. Even when he wasn't there they stopped inviting me. Everyone assumed we were a couple. (God forbid..) One man told me he didn't want Roberto to be angry with him because he was dancing with me. It took me two weeks to convince people that I was still single and I had no boyfriend. Many times just the fact that a woman is married, will keep some men from inviting her.(Yeah Yeah, well how do think I feel? I am from California!)
There are other sitiuations as well. There are men who dance Sun - Fri and wear no wedding band. Then on Saturday they show up with a wedding band and their seqora. Even if they had a wedding band on during the week, they will not acknowledge you when they are with their wife. They see right through you. You do not exist. The only exception is if the wife knows you. The you may approach to say hello. I know one married couple who come to the milongas together. I met them about 5 years ago. They are delightful. She allows her husband to dance with me. Yes, allows is the word. He even comes to my table and says to me that his Seqora says that he may invite me to dance. I always look to her for confirmation. She never dances with other men.
Keeping all this in mind, if you are married and you come to Buenos Aries and you want to dance with other people, here are my suggestions: Enter the milonga separate and sit separately. Lots of married couples do this in BA, even if they eventually dance together. Sit in a group. But don't sit with another couple, that is just as bad. Sometimes I have groups of 5 people with me. 2 men and 3 women. If they are 2 couples, I have them sit random so we look more like a group of friends. I try to introduce them around. Try to meet people so you can sit with them. Classes which were mentioned here are good way. Many of the teachers take their classes to a milonga afterwards where they all sit together.
Yes, I suppose you can do as people on this list have recommended "ignore the codigos", but why would you want to do that? You are coming here to experience the richness of this culture. Why would you want to thumb your nose at it? This is something I will never understand. You are in another country, continent, culture. Enjoy it, but dont try to make it where you came from, because it is not. It is disrespectful whether you agree with it or not.
Random
'Memoirs of Geisha' is good movie about femininity (which overlaps but not necessarily with feminism).Feb. 1, 2006 - Books to be read
Software design reading list. Not comprehensive.
Feb. 1, 2006 - Solo Tango TV channel online
If watching TV on the web is your thing, you may wish to subscribe to Solo Tango, the channel of choice in Buenos Aires. They have excellent series of interviews with milongueros, which include clips of their dancing and general stories of good and bad old times.
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