NS2011_web
Content
newsletter, newslet ter, issue 1 (1 (13) 2011 2011
board
USInet USI net Team Team 20 2010 10 2
USInet team currently consists o ve ocers: Prina Bajracharya, Daniel Tetteroo, Tetteroo, Sasha Pozdnyakova, Tanya Zavialova and Xinyu Ma. The organization is divided in committees and Prina serves as the General Chair
that oversees all committees. Tanya Tanya operates as the nancial ocer o USInet. Sasha serves as secretary and also chairs the events committee together with Prina. Daniel, the vice chair, chairs the Public Relations committee
and Xinyu is responsible or managing the website and the newsletter. Many other members help with dierent aspects o USInet, including Duy Le who is USInet’ USInet ’s in-house photographer. photographer.
Dear Reader! In USInet summer newsletter 2011 we will bring you closer to the most recent USI lie. The newsletter consists o ve major parts. In USInet Event, we will bring you back to the events organised by USInet in the past six months. USInet tradition tells you about the USI traditions that generation kept and invented. The new USIs, USI generation 2010 will be presented to you in part o USInet People.
There you will also nd the interview with Maddy, who retired as USI director in last February and another interview with Thomaso USI 2009 about his experience at USI and now at Hong Kong Phillips. Last but not least, we will present you our partners who have been great support or USInet. Hope you enjoy reading this newsletter!
Acknowledgments Special thanks to all the USIs 2010 or taking nice pictures and prooreading the articles, to Xinyu and Daniel or taking part as chie editors, to Sasha or nice illustrations, to Tanya Tanya or putting everything together and to Prina or the support and inspiration!
www.usinet.nl
in[email protected]
3
traditions
Throug Thro ugh h th the e Yea Yearr Graduation Ceremony
Graduation Git
Marks the beginning and the end o the USI lie. For the new generation the ceremony is the very rst USInet event. Come over to say “Hello”! “Hello”!
The one year old generation USIs surprise the graduating generation with a token that reminds them o their time spent at USI and wishes them good luck or their uture ventures.
Halloween Party At the end o October USInet throws a Halloween Party. All the USIs dress up or this event.
Pot Lucks To enhance cultural exchange the USIs cook something traditional rom their homecountry or just something yummy and bring it or the party.
Internship Git At the end o December, when the one year old generation is ready to leave the USI oce or the Each of the USIs Internship, current USIs from generation 2009 was granted with a prepare some small gits.
Suit-Up Day
piece of wooden cake to remember all the pleasant moments together.
In the middle o the semester, guys come in suit and girls dress up or one working day.
Non-Shaving February 9 USIs managed to keep their beard growing or the whole month in February.
Conerence Coneren ce Outt
USIs celebrate Secret Santa ater Christmas holidays by exchanging surprise gits using a lottery system. Along with gits, the USI composes a handwritten poem in Dutch tradition or the person they are supposed to give a git to.
Each year beore the conerence, USIs design the t-shirt that contains the USI logo and promotes the program. USIs wearing t-shirts perorm a group photo session during the conerence and send the awesome pictures to Mia.
USI Moms’ Birthdays
4
Secret Santa
There are two important people in USIs lie also known as the USIs’ Moms: Mia and Lucille. USIs always remember that on January 29 it is Mia’s birthday and October 29 is Lucille’s, and contribute in getting some nice presents.
W it h L ov e f r ro m Be
r l l in
End-o-year BBQ To To celebrate the end o a productive year the end-o-year BBQ takes place on the last week beore USIs’ ocial summer vacation.
traditions
Day-by-Day Cleaning Day
Inspiring Tuesday
USI Birthdays
One o the most pleasant o USIs duties’. Each day one o the USIs is responsible to take clean dishes out o the dishwasher and put them in the cupboard. At the end o the day, the same USI needs to collect and put dirty cups and dishes in the dishwasher, turn it on and clean the sink. The USIs schedule the cleaning day themselves.
On Tuesday Tuesday at 16:00 one o the USIs gives a talk to their colleagues. The topic can be anything that the USI want to explore. Last year it was substituted with Animation Tuesday.
Birthdays are an important part o USI lie, and there are several steps that have to be done. First o all, there is the cake. The USI who has a birthday brings it and share it with all the USIs. And last but not least there is a birthday git that is arranged by the USI who had his/her the birthday beore this one.
Cookie Wednesday
Cofee Corner
USI Timeline On Wednesday around 15:00 one o the USIs brings cookies or cakes or their ellows. The The schedule is attached on the ridge. Coee at the USI oce isn’t ree. The chosen representative o the USI Coee Corner Association (USICCA) is responsible or collecting money and getting supplies like coee, tea, sugar, and milk or the coee corner.
Thirsty Thursday
On Thursday ater work USIs go out or a beer either at the TU/e campus or in the city center.
Generation 2010 has started a USI timeline, where along with the courses and conerences they write down important and un happenings. Considering that USI lie is ull o those, it is always nice to look back at those shared pleasant moments.
5
3TU.. School for Technological Design 3TU
STAN ACKERMANS INSTITUTE
User -System Interaction Post master program Does your company need temporary an excellent User Experience trainee and you also prefer to have access to the supervision and support of the TU/e?
For more information please contact: Mia Jelsma 0031 00 31 40 2475230 or m.l.jels m.l.jelsma@t ma@tue. ue.nl nl
events
USInet New Ne w Yea Yearr Drink was organised on 20th January, 2011 at Zwarte Doos at TU/E campus.
Around 40 USInet members met or the celebration o the New Year. In the event the new USInet committee was ocially introduced to the USInet members. A guitar perormance was provided at the beginning o the event and New Year Year gits were distributed by means o lottery at the later stage.
Maddy’s Farewell Party We got the chance to say arewell and show our appreciation to Maddy on 23rd February at De Zwarte Doos. Maddy gave us an inspiring speech in which she spoke words o wisdom about the do’s and don’t or USI alumni. A git basket which contained the gits rom all over the world was prepared and given
to Maddy by USI2010. In the event, the dean o Industrial Design also gave a speech in which Maddy’s great work and contribution at USI program was acknowledged.
7
events
CHI 2011 impressions
I’d say, the act that CHI 2011 took place in Vancouver Vancouv er is already something impressive about the conerenc conerence. e.
All in all it was an inspiring experience on many dierent levels. The works presented ranged rom undamental to applied research and came rom universities as well as industry. And then there were the talks that were neither undamental or practical, such as human-cat interaction, which was great un!
8
CHI Madness, was the reason that we managed to get up that early...
CHI was a wonderul experience with some really nice talks!
events
Most impressive was probably the Microsot’ Microsot ’s presentation «Your Noise is My Command: Sensing Gestures Using the Body as an Antenna» about how to turn any wall in the house into a touch-surace. I liked Japanese girl Emi Tamaki Tamaki and her «PossessedHand» that controls the user’s ngers by applying electrical stimulus to the muscles around the orearm. Guys at University o Caliornia and Pixar animations developed a tool called Eden, which helps proessional animators design virtual organic environments. The talk by Joe Marshall & Brandon Walker (University o Nottingham) on ear as basis or goal or interaction was very inspiring. Impressive in CHI 2011 was also the number o people that were interested in using things, and doing so in the interactive sessions.
Bill Buxton convincingly explained why it is important to look to the past when designing...
... and sometimes it was like a sneak peak into the uture o the interactions and technology technology..
9
events
Interview with Jef Johnson at CHI 2011 During CHI 2011 we were lucky to have a small talk with Je Johnson, President and Principal Consultant at UI Wizards, Inc. So, Mr. Johnson, what is your vision on the development o HCI eld in the uture? Jef: The eld o HCI exists or about 30 years and during that time we have been working hard to bring UserCentered design ideas into the eld. And we succeed with major big companies. But within the last 10 years, a number o companies in the sotware developing business expanded enormously. Those who previously were producing toasters are now producing products that have complicated user interaces. Many shops are going online and sotware
10
development processes are being outsourced in many companies. And among all those developers there are numbers o people who have no idea about user interace design. So basically they should ollow the same path, as we did with those big companies, to bring user centered design into small companies. Thank you or sharing your vision. Jef, in your opinion, what are the most important qualities or an Interaction Designer? Jef: First o all everything you design should be usercentered, not usage-centered. usage- centered. We should ocus on a user’s needs. Then you should always consider that the design process is iterative, so you shouldn’t assume that you’ll
Je Johnson has worked in the eld o HumanComputer Interaction since 1978 and his recent books «Design with the Mind in Mind» and «GUI Bloopers 2.0» are well known and desirable among UX people. never come back. Design with that in mind! Also you should remember that it is not always a point to design something that is easy to learn, but make it easy to use and easy to learn as much as possible. Thanks or your time, mister Johnson!
User Intelligence is a user experience consultancy. Our mission to bring user goals and business goals together by using interactive technology.
events
UXCamp Europe 2011 In early June more than 20 USIs spent a ew great days in Berlin attending UXCamp Europe 2011. The main rule o the event is “No spectators, just participants!” That does not mean everybody has to do a session, but everybody should come prepared to participate in an active manner.
UXCamp was ull o the inspiring topics and engaging discussions. It was not a surprise that all the tickets were sold out on the very st day o the registration. Turn on your reminders to reserve a ticket or the next year: www.uxcampeurope.org
CHI Sparks 2011 Some guerilla marketing was done in order to create some buzz around USInet
For the rst time USInet has been a proud partner o the CHI Sparks 2011 conerence www.chi-sparks.nl held on 23th o June 2011 at the Hogeschool van Arnhem en Nijmegen www.han.nl It has been a great event in which
we met many ormer, current and possible uture USIs. Сonnections have been made with people rom industry and as well as rom academia at the USInet conerence booth.
11
people
USI ‘10 ‘10 People This year we decided to present our generation - USI’10 with a Tag Cloud that consists rom words describing ourselves
Daniel Tetteroo Dutch / German Masters: HMI @ University o Twente, Speciality: interactive installations Biyong Zhang Chinese Bachelor in ICT, MSc in Computer Science Engineer (specialised in Inormation Security) Prina Bajracharya Nepal BSc in Computer Engineering Engineering Bachelor: Computer Engineering at Nepal Engineering College (NEC) Masters: Inormation Management at Asian Institute o Technology (AIT), Bangkok Interest: Interaction Design, UX Design
12
surprising
player psychologist nice open opinion sleeping
wise
queen relaxed
worker
super
sweet team teaser pragmatic
programmer technical
Xinyu Ma Chinese Bachelor o Industrial Design at BJFU China and Master o Strategic Product Design at TU Delt. Speciality: Product and Interaction Design Mariana Serras Pereira Born in Lisbon Master in Clinical Psychology rom ISPA ; Post-graduation in Psychotherapy; Specialities: Psychology Psychology,, Human development and behavior; Research, User research; Tin de Zeeuw Dutch Education/Work background: BSc in Computer Science, MSc in Human Media Interaction, reelance website design Specialities: the technical side o p rojects and keeping an overview / coordinating projects.
NIKolay Chupriyanov I am Russian. I have a degree in computer science with a double major in nuclear physics. Oddly enough, I have 5+ years o experience working as a graphic, web and user-experience designer. Matthijs Jan Zwinderman Dutch Work background: Articial Intelligence,, specialty computer Intelligence vision and robotics Azadeh Shirzad Iranian Education: Bachelor’s in Sotware Engineering, Master’s in Interaction Design Specialities: Ater Efects, C#, Photoshop, Flash
diligent
creative critical
designah drawer
laugh niam
people
calm clever code cofee at ather eisty riendly un guy helvetica artist awesome easy going
energetic
huge humor
jamon
awesome beard baby
designer jokes knowledgeable
organiser peace specialist structured statistics
cool strong Hans Sandberg Danish Neuropsychology Neuropsycho logy and applied cognitive psychology Usability testing Thelxi Mamagkaki Greek Computer Engineering & Inormatics (Polytechnic Faculty, University o Patras, Greece), Thesis on Game Development. Paul Lehouck Belgium Master Product Design Specialities: Combining Interaction/Industrial/Graphic design.For more ino see www.paullehouck.be
Tanya Zavialova Originated rom Ukraine. Engineer by education and way o thinking. Have been working as a GUI designer since 2007. Truly believes that user experience research is a good excuse or gaming. Glenn Veugen Belgian Masters: Communication & Multimediadesign Specialities: Interactive applications Frank Versteegh Dutch Education: Master Applied Cognitive Psychology Psychology at Leiden University Work: During my Masters I did an internship at the National Aerospace Laboratory on clutter in helmet mounted displays.
Duy Le Grew up at Ho Chi Minh city, a southern part o Vietnam. Aeronautical Engineering major at Hochiminh university o technology, Cambridge Computer Science diploma, master in Mechanical Engineering & Product Design. A. Pozdnyakova Sasha rom Russia. Graduated St Petersburg Polytechnic University. Specialities: Inormational design and Multimedia. www. losha.ru Rinze Leenheer Dutch MSc Cognitive psychology, Ergonomics and Media (University o Twente), BSc Computer Science (University o Twente) Bridging between design and engineering
13
people
Last February Maddy Janse retired as director o the USI programme. Ater serving USI or more than 13 years, she handed over her responsibilities to USI’s USI’s new director Panos Markoupolos. On one o Maddy’s last days at USI, USInet looked back with her on this period.
Interview with Maddy Maddy, you’ve been at USI or over 13 years. What made you decide to take the job in the rst place? Maddy: The USI program was started in 1998 as a joined venture between Philips Research and TU/e. By the time USI was ounded, I was working at Philips and Pro. Theo Bemelmans was the director o USI. He needed someone to setup up the program, which is where I came in. I was hired out by Philips to the TU/e to set up the program in just 2 days a week. The initial idea was to train people rom the industry in the area o USI, but that turned out to be very dicult to arrange. Then the program was changed to what it is now, in which participants o the USI program are trained in a ull time manner.
14
So, how would you describe a typical USI student? What things did you consider during application interviews? Maddy: Initially, the USI student prole consisted o just behavioural scientists and engineers. Later we ound that designers could be very useul as well, since they could help to ll the gap between technicians and psychologists. But regardless o their background, I think
motivation and industrial interest are crucial or USI applicants. Regarding the interview procedure, did you know that we used to would fy in applicants rom all over the world just or the interviews? Alternatively, we would also fy out to countries to interview participants there. O course, with today’s budgets, this would be unthinkable! What would you advise to your successor? Maddy: Your responsibility is to make sure that what is getting out matches intentions and goals o USI’s as well as needs in industry. Also, keep extremely close contacts with industry and R&D departments. Keep an eye on current projects, so you can anticipate on the uture: consider managing USI as a long term process. Finally, like your students rom top till toe! What are your plans ater USI? Maddy: Well, actually I don’t have too many plans yet. I’m still advising at Philips and also involved in EU projects as a reviewer. reviewer. Besides work, I picked up the senior sport called gol. Haha, and I think I need to learn working with a Mac. Apparently the Mac is not as easy as people tell you it should be.
Finally, what’s your advice or USINET members? Maddy: Know what you DON’T want to do. I you do, there’s still a lot open and a lot o fexibility. And something I learned rom my childhood hobby, sailing: i the tide and wind are against you, there is not much use in going against them. Lay down until one o them changes so you can go your way. Same holds or your lie in general: make plans, set beacons, but don’t orceully pursue your goals. Thanks a lot Maddy, or this interview and your contributions to the USI programme! Thank you too! And may Maddy: Thank Maddy: I say that I couldn’t have have done the USI management without the hard work and commitment o a lot o people, especially the person who is in charge o the operational management, i.e., Mia or in previous years Patricia. Finally, I owe a lot to Panos and Jacques Terken, who are specialists in helping to nd and coach USI’s teachers. Read the interview with Panos Markoupolos in the next issue o USInet Newsletter
Lie Ater USI
people
in Philips Hong Kong Kong A talk between Xinyu Xinyu (USI 2010) and Tomaso Tomaso (USI 2008) What was your background beore USI? Tomaso: I took both my bachelor & master at the University o Padua (Italy) where I spent some o the best years o my lie so ar, exploring the amazing eld o psychology rom dierent angles. During those years as a student I visited rst the University o Queensland (Australia) and then the Boston University (US) – great great experiences that have deeply contributed in broadening my horizons. Towards the end o my master I joined the Risk and Decision Research Centre at the University o Padua and then, as a reshgrad, I worked or a year at Synovate-Censydiam in Milan where I quickly dove into various consumer/user-centered research techniques. In the rst years o my studies I was very enthusiastically into clinical psychology and my deep interest or human well being is actually something I try to bring into my daily work. I truly see technology as an extension o the human mind, thereore, rom my point o view, it should work or improving our condition, on dierent levels. Doesn’t matter i we are talking o an MP3 player or a pain-management system: we should unconditionally unconditionally work with the human wellness in mind as nal goal. How do you eel about USI lie? Tomaso: The Tomaso: The USI experience gave me a lot since I had the privilege to work on daily basis with very dedicated proessionals and riends with whom I shared many successes and rustrations, always keeping the will to learn and improve. Just by working together, side-by-side I had the opportunity to learn rom each o them and I thank them all or
having shared those two years o their lie with me.
Could you please tell us something about Hong Kong Philips? Tomaso: The Tomaso: The Innovation & development Philips Site o Hong Kong came to me as a ast growing reality, where engineers, designers and researchers are working together on dierent categories o products or delivering the best innovative solutions or serving the astgrowing Asian market. Not only. Many products or western countries are also developed here rom scratch, taking competitive advantage o o the act that many many global technologic suppliers are located in the South China area. For proessionals like us it means aster prototype iteration processes, more iterations, direct interaction with suppliers, closer look to prototyping details. Working or Product Research Centre here, is great to me since I have the possibility to take care o the perspective o the user/consumer throughout the product development process at dierent stages. In a ew words, our role at PRC is to work closely with engineers, designers and marketing managers to provide them with indications on product development by designing & executing research on various products o Philips Consumer Liestyle range.
In November 2010 you moved to Hong Kong. How is your experience so ar? Tomaso: So ar the overall experience here in HK is great, as I am learning new things and testing mysel on new challenges every day. At rst I was a little concerned about the relative lack o personal space, especially while browsing around using public transportation. As you can imagine, HK is an extremely packed hub. Walking in the subway network in the rst days made me eel like a tiny red blood cell pushed through vessel streams… Soon I realized though that the overall transportation system is extremely well organized so ater the rst “shocking” impression I started to eel at my own ease. (Besides I have to say I am quite tall compared to HK natives, so I can easily keep a clear view on what’s around me at any time:-) Hong Kong is an extremely vibrant and exciting place to be. As a nancial and technological hotspot it attracts proessionals rom all over the world, thereore at night it’s easy to have interesting and diverse conversations on a semi-random basis. Very dierent i compared to Holland. You can easily get What suggestion do you have any kind o ood rom Asia or the new USIs? and Europe, on the top o the Tomaso: I would like to wish delicious seaood dishes at the all the best to the new USIs or street markets. The only drawback taking the best they can rom I am sadly experiencing is the the privilege o being a USI. That high level o pollution that aects means to me, being as active the air that I breath every day. and reactive as possible in the For the very rst time in my lie TU/E innovative environment, to I’m realizing how sustainable be humble and learn as much as development and consumption you can rom everyone around is no more a matter o clever and you. That’s That’s a unique lie/career sensitive people but an urgency experience! or everyone.
15
resh
Fresh: April, May 2011 www.usinet.nl/resh FRESH is a new, monthly online magazine by USINET. It contains a selection o recent work done by the current USI generations, giving you a peek into the minds and ideas o current USIs. In case you missed all the uzz, here are excerpts rom the two latest editions. In FRESH_April 2011, you will nd two USI projects done during the module o Inormation Visualization.
Visual Recipe
optimise and visualize cooking process. The The aim was also to create a visually pleasant recipe ormat that invites and encourages experienced cooks, as well as beginners, to prepare dishes and meals rom simple to complex ones. For more information, please contact Daniel Tetteroo [email protected]
Stockmarket
16
«How to visualize a complex interactive process?» was the initial triggering question the group wanted to investigate. investigate. In I n exploration o dierent processes rom fying an airplane to medical charts in a hospital, cooking People who are new to the seemed to be an intriguing stock market are conronted challenge. In act, the group with an overload o soon discovered that cooking inormation. It is dicult to with conventional recipes separate the inormation that presented several challenges matters rom the inormation and that cooking itsel is a that is perhaps less useul. surprisingly complex process The useulness o inormation with several variables, that is a very subjective measure could denitely benet rom as people employ a lot o new ideas. dierent individual strategies By using a complex and which they personally laborious, our course dinner think will lead to success. as an example, the problems were investigated in detail. An Visualizing inormation in a structured manner could help alternative or the recipes was new or hobby investors in then designed to answer the nding and understanding most important challenges. the inormation they are The result is the «Visual interested in more easily. In Recipe» concept, an on-line application aiming to acilitate, this study a visualization o
the stock market or these new or hobby investors will be introduced. Because o the complicated nature o the stock market the visualization presented in this study ocuses on the basic details. This will help the user to rst get a basic understanding o the stock market beore diving into a highly detailed inormational environment. It is even possible that this detailed inormation remains unnecessary or a large group o users who are more than happy with the proposed structured, tiered presentation. For more information, please contact Xinyu Ma [email protected] Ma [email protected] FRESH May_2011 brings you 4 projects done by current USIs in 3 modules which are: Qualitative Research Methods, Multimodal Perception and Video Prototyping.
Save the Sae
Two video prototypes were reverse-engineered rom an existing outdoor children’s game created in a study by Iris Soute et al. in 2009. Purpose o the videos was to investigate the suitability o a video prototype in predicting the opinion o uture users. Two
resh
Fresh: April, May 2011 video prototypes were created or two versions o the game: game with the belt and game with the ball. Project by Daniel Tetteroo, Xinyu Ma, Frank Versteegh, Paul Lehouck, Duy Le and Hans Sandberg.
Oh Music where Art Thou?
Most navigation systems currently on the market use visual cues to inorm the user, as these can provide a large amount o inormation in an ecient way. A problem o using visual cues is that users have to shit their attention rom the road to the designated screen, which distracts them rom their main activity like driving a car or riding a bike. The problem can be reduced drastically or even eliminated completely when other senses are considered. Unlike vision in which ocused attention is necessary, the human auditory system can detect signals rom all directions simultaneously without the need to ocus on one specic direction. The act that ocused attention is not necessary makes audio an ideal sense or navigation, making it more natural and intuitive. The The human capability or detecting the direction o a sound source enables to possibility to lead
users to a certain direction through manipulation o an audio signal. signal. Sound based spatial navigation works by dierences in the audio arrival time and relative intensities detected in both ears, out o which the human brain can calculate the perceived location o a sound source. Sound closer to one ear will sound louder at that ear, and will arrive slightly earlier there than at the other ear. There are other variables that also infuence the way the sound arrives at the ears, like the shape o the human ear. The dierences in perceived sound according to its source can be used to simulate stereo-audio that appears to come out o a predened location. By giving an audio clue we can lead users to a certain cer tain location by having them ollow the simulated ctional sound source. Project by Daniel Tetteroo, Matthijs Zwinderman, Tanya Zavialova & Paul Lehouck. Poster accepted for MobileHCI 2011 conference in Stockholm.
Library Quest
The goal o the concept presented in this video prototype is to motivate students and employees
o a university to visit the university library. Our concept tries to incorporate game elements into the library experience, hopeully inducing people to visit the library more requently. Although the video prototype was meant to be not too serious, it shows the main idea behind the concept. Project by Daniel Tetteroo, Frank Versteegh, Glenn Veugen, Hans Sandberg & Duy Le
Interactive Whiteboard
The concept o this Interactive Whiteboard is designed to improve group discussions. People can write on it with dierent colours or erase the content by simply using his/ her nger. Pictures and videos can also be easily uploaded to the interactive whiteboard. To add comments, people can write on a digital post-it and drag it to the place where the comment targets on. Project by Mariana Serras Pereira, Paul Lehouck, Sasha Pozdnyakova, Biyong Zhang and Xinyu Ma To be updated about latest USI projects, check FRESH regularly on the USInet website.
17
Upcoming Talks Among other regular activities, ac tivities, this all USInet plans to invite some interesting people to discuss reelance opportunities and ethical issues in the HCI eld. stay tuned: www.usinet.nl
19
board
USInet USI net Team Team 20 2010 10 2
USInet team currently consists o ve ocers: Prina Bajracharya, Daniel Tetteroo, Tetteroo, Sasha Pozdnyakova, Tanya Zavialova and Xinyu Ma. The organization is divided in committees and Prina serves as the General Chair
that oversees all committees. Tanya Tanya operates as the nancial ocer o USInet. Sasha serves as secretary and also chairs the events committee together with Prina. Daniel, the vice chair, chairs the Public Relations committee
and Xinyu is responsible or managing the website and the newsletter. Many other members help with dierent aspects o USInet, including Duy Le who is USInet’ USInet ’s in-house photographer. photographer.
Dear Reader! In USInet summer newsletter 2011 we will bring you closer to the most recent USI lie. The newsletter consists o ve major parts. In USInet Event, we will bring you back to the events organised by USInet in the past six months. USInet tradition tells you about the USI traditions that generation kept and invented. The new USIs, USI generation 2010 will be presented to you in part o USInet People.
There you will also nd the interview with Maddy, who retired as USI director in last February and another interview with Thomaso USI 2009 about his experience at USI and now at Hong Kong Phillips. Last but not least, we will present you our partners who have been great support or USInet. Hope you enjoy reading this newsletter!
Acknowledgments Special thanks to all the USIs 2010 or taking nice pictures and prooreading the articles, to Xinyu and Daniel or taking part as chie editors, to Sasha or nice illustrations, to Tanya Tanya or putting everything together and to Prina or the support and inspiration!
www.usinet.nl
in[email protected]
3
traditions
Throug Thro ugh h th the e Yea Yearr Graduation Ceremony
Graduation Git
Marks the beginning and the end o the USI lie. For the new generation the ceremony is the very rst USInet event. Come over to say “Hello”! “Hello”!
The one year old generation USIs surprise the graduating generation with a token that reminds them o their time spent at USI and wishes them good luck or their uture ventures.
Halloween Party At the end o October USInet throws a Halloween Party. All the USIs dress up or this event.
Pot Lucks To enhance cultural exchange the USIs cook something traditional rom their homecountry or just something yummy and bring it or the party.
Internship Git At the end o December, when the one year old generation is ready to leave the USI oce or the Each of the USIs Internship, current USIs from generation 2009 was granted with a prepare some small gits.
Suit-Up Day
piece of wooden cake to remember all the pleasant moments together.
In the middle o the semester, guys come in suit and girls dress up or one working day.
Non-Shaving February 9 USIs managed to keep their beard growing or the whole month in February.
Conerence Coneren ce Outt
USIs celebrate Secret Santa ater Christmas holidays by exchanging surprise gits using a lottery system. Along with gits, the USI composes a handwritten poem in Dutch tradition or the person they are supposed to give a git to.
Each year beore the conerence, USIs design the t-shirt that contains the USI logo and promotes the program. USIs wearing t-shirts perorm a group photo session during the conerence and send the awesome pictures to Mia.
USI Moms’ Birthdays
4
Secret Santa
There are two important people in USIs lie also known as the USIs’ Moms: Mia and Lucille. USIs always remember that on January 29 it is Mia’s birthday and October 29 is Lucille’s, and contribute in getting some nice presents.
W it h L ov e f r ro m Be
r l l in
End-o-year BBQ To To celebrate the end o a productive year the end-o-year BBQ takes place on the last week beore USIs’ ocial summer vacation.
traditions
Day-by-Day Cleaning Day
Inspiring Tuesday
USI Birthdays
One o the most pleasant o USIs duties’. Each day one o the USIs is responsible to take clean dishes out o the dishwasher and put them in the cupboard. At the end o the day, the same USI needs to collect and put dirty cups and dishes in the dishwasher, turn it on and clean the sink. The USIs schedule the cleaning day themselves.
On Tuesday Tuesday at 16:00 one o the USIs gives a talk to their colleagues. The topic can be anything that the USI want to explore. Last year it was substituted with Animation Tuesday.
Birthdays are an important part o USI lie, and there are several steps that have to be done. First o all, there is the cake. The USI who has a birthday brings it and share it with all the USIs. And last but not least there is a birthday git that is arranged by the USI who had his/her the birthday beore this one.
Cookie Wednesday
Cofee Corner
USI Timeline On Wednesday around 15:00 one o the USIs brings cookies or cakes or their ellows. The The schedule is attached on the ridge. Coee at the USI oce isn’t ree. The chosen representative o the USI Coee Corner Association (USICCA) is responsible or collecting money and getting supplies like coee, tea, sugar, and milk or the coee corner.
Thirsty Thursday
On Thursday ater work USIs go out or a beer either at the TU/e campus or in the city center.
Generation 2010 has started a USI timeline, where along with the courses and conerences they write down important and un happenings. Considering that USI lie is ull o those, it is always nice to look back at those shared pleasant moments.
5
3TU.. School for Technological Design 3TU
STAN ACKERMANS INSTITUTE
User -System Interaction Post master program Does your company need temporary an excellent User Experience trainee and you also prefer to have access to the supervision and support of the TU/e?
For more information please contact: Mia Jelsma 0031 00 31 40 2475230 or m.l.jels m.l.jelsma@t ma@tue. ue.nl nl
events
USInet New Ne w Yea Yearr Drink was organised on 20th January, 2011 at Zwarte Doos at TU/E campus.
Around 40 USInet members met or the celebration o the New Year. In the event the new USInet committee was ocially introduced to the USInet members. A guitar perormance was provided at the beginning o the event and New Year Year gits were distributed by means o lottery at the later stage.
Maddy’s Farewell Party We got the chance to say arewell and show our appreciation to Maddy on 23rd February at De Zwarte Doos. Maddy gave us an inspiring speech in which she spoke words o wisdom about the do’s and don’t or USI alumni. A git basket which contained the gits rom all over the world was prepared and given
to Maddy by USI2010. In the event, the dean o Industrial Design also gave a speech in which Maddy’s great work and contribution at USI program was acknowledged.
7
events
CHI 2011 impressions
I’d say, the act that CHI 2011 took place in Vancouver Vancouv er is already something impressive about the conerenc conerence. e.
All in all it was an inspiring experience on many dierent levels. The works presented ranged rom undamental to applied research and came rom universities as well as industry. And then there were the talks that were neither undamental or practical, such as human-cat interaction, which was great un!
8
CHI Madness, was the reason that we managed to get up that early...
CHI was a wonderul experience with some really nice talks!
events
Most impressive was probably the Microsot’ Microsot ’s presentation «Your Noise is My Command: Sensing Gestures Using the Body as an Antenna» about how to turn any wall in the house into a touch-surace. I liked Japanese girl Emi Tamaki Tamaki and her «PossessedHand» that controls the user’s ngers by applying electrical stimulus to the muscles around the orearm. Guys at University o Caliornia and Pixar animations developed a tool called Eden, which helps proessional animators design virtual organic environments. The talk by Joe Marshall & Brandon Walker (University o Nottingham) on ear as basis or goal or interaction was very inspiring. Impressive in CHI 2011 was also the number o people that were interested in using things, and doing so in the interactive sessions.
Bill Buxton convincingly explained why it is important to look to the past when designing...
... and sometimes it was like a sneak peak into the uture o the interactions and technology technology..
9
events
Interview with Jef Johnson at CHI 2011 During CHI 2011 we were lucky to have a small talk with Je Johnson, President and Principal Consultant at UI Wizards, Inc. So, Mr. Johnson, what is your vision on the development o HCI eld in the uture? Jef: The eld o HCI exists or about 30 years and during that time we have been working hard to bring UserCentered design ideas into the eld. And we succeed with major big companies. But within the last 10 years, a number o companies in the sotware developing business expanded enormously. Those who previously were producing toasters are now producing products that have complicated user interaces. Many shops are going online and sotware
10
development processes are being outsourced in many companies. And among all those developers there are numbers o people who have no idea about user interace design. So basically they should ollow the same path, as we did with those big companies, to bring user centered design into small companies. Thank you or sharing your vision. Jef, in your opinion, what are the most important qualities or an Interaction Designer? Jef: First o all everything you design should be usercentered, not usage-centered. usage- centered. We should ocus on a user’s needs. Then you should always consider that the design process is iterative, so you shouldn’t assume that you’ll
Je Johnson has worked in the eld o HumanComputer Interaction since 1978 and his recent books «Design with the Mind in Mind» and «GUI Bloopers 2.0» are well known and desirable among UX people. never come back. Design with that in mind! Also you should remember that it is not always a point to design something that is easy to learn, but make it easy to use and easy to learn as much as possible. Thanks or your time, mister Johnson!
User Intelligence is a user experience consultancy. Our mission to bring user goals and business goals together by using interactive technology.
events
UXCamp Europe 2011 In early June more than 20 USIs spent a ew great days in Berlin attending UXCamp Europe 2011. The main rule o the event is “No spectators, just participants!” That does not mean everybody has to do a session, but everybody should come prepared to participate in an active manner.
UXCamp was ull o the inspiring topics and engaging discussions. It was not a surprise that all the tickets were sold out on the very st day o the registration. Turn on your reminders to reserve a ticket or the next year: www.uxcampeurope.org
CHI Sparks 2011 Some guerilla marketing was done in order to create some buzz around USInet
For the rst time USInet has been a proud partner o the CHI Sparks 2011 conerence www.chi-sparks.nl held on 23th o June 2011 at the Hogeschool van Arnhem en Nijmegen www.han.nl It has been a great event in which
we met many ormer, current and possible uture USIs. Сonnections have been made with people rom industry and as well as rom academia at the USInet conerence booth.
11
people
USI ‘10 ‘10 People This year we decided to present our generation - USI’10 with a Tag Cloud that consists rom words describing ourselves
Daniel Tetteroo Dutch / German Masters: HMI @ University o Twente, Speciality: interactive installations Biyong Zhang Chinese Bachelor in ICT, MSc in Computer Science Engineer (specialised in Inormation Security) Prina Bajracharya Nepal BSc in Computer Engineering Engineering Bachelor: Computer Engineering at Nepal Engineering College (NEC) Masters: Inormation Management at Asian Institute o Technology (AIT), Bangkok Interest: Interaction Design, UX Design
12
surprising
player psychologist nice open opinion sleeping
wise
queen relaxed
worker
super
sweet team teaser pragmatic
programmer technical
Xinyu Ma Chinese Bachelor o Industrial Design at BJFU China and Master o Strategic Product Design at TU Delt. Speciality: Product and Interaction Design Mariana Serras Pereira Born in Lisbon Master in Clinical Psychology rom ISPA ; Post-graduation in Psychotherapy; Specialities: Psychology Psychology,, Human development and behavior; Research, User research; Tin de Zeeuw Dutch Education/Work background: BSc in Computer Science, MSc in Human Media Interaction, reelance website design Specialities: the technical side o p rojects and keeping an overview / coordinating projects.
NIKolay Chupriyanov I am Russian. I have a degree in computer science with a double major in nuclear physics. Oddly enough, I have 5+ years o experience working as a graphic, web and user-experience designer. Matthijs Jan Zwinderman Dutch Work background: Articial Intelligence,, specialty computer Intelligence vision and robotics Azadeh Shirzad Iranian Education: Bachelor’s in Sotware Engineering, Master’s in Interaction Design Specialities: Ater Efects, C#, Photoshop, Flash
diligent
creative critical
designah drawer
laugh niam
people
calm clever code cofee at ather eisty riendly un guy helvetica artist awesome easy going
energetic
huge humor
jamon
awesome beard baby
designer jokes knowledgeable
organiser peace specialist structured statistics
cool strong Hans Sandberg Danish Neuropsychology Neuropsycho logy and applied cognitive psychology Usability testing Thelxi Mamagkaki Greek Computer Engineering & Inormatics (Polytechnic Faculty, University o Patras, Greece), Thesis on Game Development. Paul Lehouck Belgium Master Product Design Specialities: Combining Interaction/Industrial/Graphic design.For more ino see www.paullehouck.be
Tanya Zavialova Originated rom Ukraine. Engineer by education and way o thinking. Have been working as a GUI designer since 2007. Truly believes that user experience research is a good excuse or gaming. Glenn Veugen Belgian Masters: Communication & Multimediadesign Specialities: Interactive applications Frank Versteegh Dutch Education: Master Applied Cognitive Psychology Psychology at Leiden University Work: During my Masters I did an internship at the National Aerospace Laboratory on clutter in helmet mounted displays.
Duy Le Grew up at Ho Chi Minh city, a southern part o Vietnam. Aeronautical Engineering major at Hochiminh university o technology, Cambridge Computer Science diploma, master in Mechanical Engineering & Product Design. A. Pozdnyakova Sasha rom Russia. Graduated St Petersburg Polytechnic University. Specialities: Inormational design and Multimedia. www. losha.ru Rinze Leenheer Dutch MSc Cognitive psychology, Ergonomics and Media (University o Twente), BSc Computer Science (University o Twente) Bridging between design and engineering
13
people
Last February Maddy Janse retired as director o the USI programme. Ater serving USI or more than 13 years, she handed over her responsibilities to USI’s USI’s new director Panos Markoupolos. On one o Maddy’s last days at USI, USInet looked back with her on this period.
Interview with Maddy Maddy, you’ve been at USI or over 13 years. What made you decide to take the job in the rst place? Maddy: The USI program was started in 1998 as a joined venture between Philips Research and TU/e. By the time USI was ounded, I was working at Philips and Pro. Theo Bemelmans was the director o USI. He needed someone to setup up the program, which is where I came in. I was hired out by Philips to the TU/e to set up the program in just 2 days a week. The initial idea was to train people rom the industry in the area o USI, but that turned out to be very dicult to arrange. Then the program was changed to what it is now, in which participants o the USI program are trained in a ull time manner.
14
So, how would you describe a typical USI student? What things did you consider during application interviews? Maddy: Initially, the USI student prole consisted o just behavioural scientists and engineers. Later we ound that designers could be very useul as well, since they could help to ll the gap between technicians and psychologists. But regardless o their background, I think
motivation and industrial interest are crucial or USI applicants. Regarding the interview procedure, did you know that we used to would fy in applicants rom all over the world just or the interviews? Alternatively, we would also fy out to countries to interview participants there. O course, with today’s budgets, this would be unthinkable! What would you advise to your successor? Maddy: Your responsibility is to make sure that what is getting out matches intentions and goals o USI’s as well as needs in industry. Also, keep extremely close contacts with industry and R&D departments. Keep an eye on current projects, so you can anticipate on the uture: consider managing USI as a long term process. Finally, like your students rom top till toe! What are your plans ater USI? Maddy: Well, actually I don’t have too many plans yet. I’m still advising at Philips and also involved in EU projects as a reviewer. reviewer. Besides work, I picked up the senior sport called gol. Haha, and I think I need to learn working with a Mac. Apparently the Mac is not as easy as people tell you it should be.
Finally, what’s your advice or USINET members? Maddy: Know what you DON’T want to do. I you do, there’s still a lot open and a lot o fexibility. And something I learned rom my childhood hobby, sailing: i the tide and wind are against you, there is not much use in going against them. Lay down until one o them changes so you can go your way. Same holds or your lie in general: make plans, set beacons, but don’t orceully pursue your goals. Thanks a lot Maddy, or this interview and your contributions to the USI programme! Thank you too! And may Maddy: Thank Maddy: I say that I couldn’t have have done the USI management without the hard work and commitment o a lot o people, especially the person who is in charge o the operational management, i.e., Mia or in previous years Patricia. Finally, I owe a lot to Panos and Jacques Terken, who are specialists in helping to nd and coach USI’s teachers. Read the interview with Panos Markoupolos in the next issue o USInet Newsletter
Lie Ater USI
people
in Philips Hong Kong Kong A talk between Xinyu Xinyu (USI 2010) and Tomaso Tomaso (USI 2008) What was your background beore USI? Tomaso: I took both my bachelor & master at the University o Padua (Italy) where I spent some o the best years o my lie so ar, exploring the amazing eld o psychology rom dierent angles. During those years as a student I visited rst the University o Queensland (Australia) and then the Boston University (US) – great great experiences that have deeply contributed in broadening my horizons. Towards the end o my master I joined the Risk and Decision Research Centre at the University o Padua and then, as a reshgrad, I worked or a year at Synovate-Censydiam in Milan where I quickly dove into various consumer/user-centered research techniques. In the rst years o my studies I was very enthusiastically into clinical psychology and my deep interest or human well being is actually something I try to bring into my daily work. I truly see technology as an extension o the human mind, thereore, rom my point o view, it should work or improving our condition, on dierent levels. Doesn’t matter i we are talking o an MP3 player or a pain-management system: we should unconditionally unconditionally work with the human wellness in mind as nal goal. How do you eel about USI lie? Tomaso: The Tomaso: The USI experience gave me a lot since I had the privilege to work on daily basis with very dedicated proessionals and riends with whom I shared many successes and rustrations, always keeping the will to learn and improve. Just by working together, side-by-side I had the opportunity to learn rom each o them and I thank them all or
having shared those two years o their lie with me.
Could you please tell us something about Hong Kong Philips? Tomaso: The Tomaso: The Innovation & development Philips Site o Hong Kong came to me as a ast growing reality, where engineers, designers and researchers are working together on dierent categories o products or delivering the best innovative solutions or serving the astgrowing Asian market. Not only. Many products or western countries are also developed here rom scratch, taking competitive advantage o o the act that many many global technologic suppliers are located in the South China area. For proessionals like us it means aster prototype iteration processes, more iterations, direct interaction with suppliers, closer look to prototyping details. Working or Product Research Centre here, is great to me since I have the possibility to take care o the perspective o the user/consumer throughout the product development process at dierent stages. In a ew words, our role at PRC is to work closely with engineers, designers and marketing managers to provide them with indications on product development by designing & executing research on various products o Philips Consumer Liestyle range.
In November 2010 you moved to Hong Kong. How is your experience so ar? Tomaso: So ar the overall experience here in HK is great, as I am learning new things and testing mysel on new challenges every day. At rst I was a little concerned about the relative lack o personal space, especially while browsing around using public transportation. As you can imagine, HK is an extremely packed hub. Walking in the subway network in the rst days made me eel like a tiny red blood cell pushed through vessel streams… Soon I realized though that the overall transportation system is extremely well organized so ater the rst “shocking” impression I started to eel at my own ease. (Besides I have to say I am quite tall compared to HK natives, so I can easily keep a clear view on what’s around me at any time:-) Hong Kong is an extremely vibrant and exciting place to be. As a nancial and technological hotspot it attracts proessionals rom all over the world, thereore at night it’s easy to have interesting and diverse conversations on a semi-random basis. Very dierent i compared to Holland. You can easily get What suggestion do you have any kind o ood rom Asia or the new USIs? and Europe, on the top o the Tomaso: I would like to wish delicious seaood dishes at the all the best to the new USIs or street markets. The only drawback taking the best they can rom I am sadly experiencing is the the privilege o being a USI. That high level o pollution that aects means to me, being as active the air that I breath every day. and reactive as possible in the For the very rst time in my lie TU/E innovative environment, to I’m realizing how sustainable be humble and learn as much as development and consumption you can rom everyone around is no more a matter o clever and you. That’s That’s a unique lie/career sensitive people but an urgency experience! or everyone.
15
resh
Fresh: April, May 2011 www.usinet.nl/resh FRESH is a new, monthly online magazine by USINET. It contains a selection o recent work done by the current USI generations, giving you a peek into the minds and ideas o current USIs. In case you missed all the uzz, here are excerpts rom the two latest editions. In FRESH_April 2011, you will nd two USI projects done during the module o Inormation Visualization.
Visual Recipe
optimise and visualize cooking process. The The aim was also to create a visually pleasant recipe ormat that invites and encourages experienced cooks, as well as beginners, to prepare dishes and meals rom simple to complex ones. For more information, please contact Daniel Tetteroo [email protected]
Stockmarket
16
«How to visualize a complex interactive process?» was the initial triggering question the group wanted to investigate. investigate. In I n exploration o dierent processes rom fying an airplane to medical charts in a hospital, cooking People who are new to the seemed to be an intriguing stock market are conronted challenge. In act, the group with an overload o soon discovered that cooking inormation. It is dicult to with conventional recipes separate the inormation that presented several challenges matters rom the inormation and that cooking itsel is a that is perhaps less useul. surprisingly complex process The useulness o inormation with several variables, that is a very subjective measure could denitely benet rom as people employ a lot o new ideas. dierent individual strategies By using a complex and which they personally laborious, our course dinner think will lead to success. as an example, the problems were investigated in detail. An Visualizing inormation in a structured manner could help alternative or the recipes was new or hobby investors in then designed to answer the nding and understanding most important challenges. the inormation they are The result is the «Visual interested in more easily. In Recipe» concept, an on-line application aiming to acilitate, this study a visualization o
the stock market or these new or hobby investors will be introduced. Because o the complicated nature o the stock market the visualization presented in this study ocuses on the basic details. This will help the user to rst get a basic understanding o the stock market beore diving into a highly detailed inormational environment. It is even possible that this detailed inormation remains unnecessary or a large group o users who are more than happy with the proposed structured, tiered presentation. For more information, please contact Xinyu Ma [email protected] Ma [email protected] FRESH May_2011 brings you 4 projects done by current USIs in 3 modules which are: Qualitative Research Methods, Multimodal Perception and Video Prototyping.
Save the Sae
Two video prototypes were reverse-engineered rom an existing outdoor children’s game created in a study by Iris Soute et al. in 2009. Purpose o the videos was to investigate the suitability o a video prototype in predicting the opinion o uture users. Two
resh
Fresh: April, May 2011 video prototypes were created or two versions o the game: game with the belt and game with the ball. Project by Daniel Tetteroo, Xinyu Ma, Frank Versteegh, Paul Lehouck, Duy Le and Hans Sandberg.
Oh Music where Art Thou?
Most navigation systems currently on the market use visual cues to inorm the user, as these can provide a large amount o inormation in an ecient way. A problem o using visual cues is that users have to shit their attention rom the road to the designated screen, which distracts them rom their main activity like driving a car or riding a bike. The problem can be reduced drastically or even eliminated completely when other senses are considered. Unlike vision in which ocused attention is necessary, the human auditory system can detect signals rom all directions simultaneously without the need to ocus on one specic direction. The act that ocused attention is not necessary makes audio an ideal sense or navigation, making it more natural and intuitive. The The human capability or detecting the direction o a sound source enables to possibility to lead
users to a certain direction through manipulation o an audio signal. signal. Sound based spatial navigation works by dierences in the audio arrival time and relative intensities detected in both ears, out o which the human brain can calculate the perceived location o a sound source. Sound closer to one ear will sound louder at that ear, and will arrive slightly earlier there than at the other ear. There are other variables that also infuence the way the sound arrives at the ears, like the shape o the human ear. The dierences in perceived sound according to its source can be used to simulate stereo-audio that appears to come out o a predened location. By giving an audio clue we can lead users to a certain cer tain location by having them ollow the simulated ctional sound source. Project by Daniel Tetteroo, Matthijs Zwinderman, Tanya Zavialova & Paul Lehouck. Poster accepted for MobileHCI 2011 conference in Stockholm.
Library Quest
The goal o the concept presented in this video prototype is to motivate students and employees
o a university to visit the university library. Our concept tries to incorporate game elements into the library experience, hopeully inducing people to visit the library more requently. Although the video prototype was meant to be not too serious, it shows the main idea behind the concept. Project by Daniel Tetteroo, Frank Versteegh, Glenn Veugen, Hans Sandberg & Duy Le
Interactive Whiteboard
The concept o this Interactive Whiteboard is designed to improve group discussions. People can write on it with dierent colours or erase the content by simply using his/ her nger. Pictures and videos can also be easily uploaded to the interactive whiteboard. To add comments, people can write on a digital post-it and drag it to the place where the comment targets on. Project by Mariana Serras Pereira, Paul Lehouck, Sasha Pozdnyakova, Biyong Zhang and Xinyu Ma To be updated about latest USI projects, check FRESH regularly on the USInet website.
17
Upcoming Talks Among other regular activities, ac tivities, this all USInet plans to invite some interesting people to discuss reelance opportunities and ethical issues in the HCI eld. stay tuned: www.usinet.nl
19
Sponsor Documents
Recommended
No recommend documents