Archive for the ‘ human factors ’ Category
Using Technology in the Classroom
Earlier tonight, I went to the BostonCHI meeting, which was held at the Microsoft New England Research and Development (NERD) Center in Cambridge, Mass. Tonight’s topic was about moving from “eBooks to Learning Books,” and the talk was given by Dr. Boris Goldowsky and Lisa Spitz of the Center of Applied Technology (CAST). If the topic sounds interesting, I’d check out their video, when it is posted, from the BostonCHI video library.
Their talk got me thinking about a few other topics, including the use of technology in a classroom environment. Although it hasn’t been that long since I was in ..read more
A Word About Typography
I ran into an interesting error today when I was signing up for a Coroflot portfolio. I had recently read the FastCompany post about how typography choice made a huge difference in readability for Al Gore’s new book, and so the thought was fresh in my mind when I got to the bottom of my Coroflot registration page.
There, they had one of those images of letters that I’m supposed to be able to read, while a computer cannot. Unlike many of the images these days, this one was actually fairly readable – it was just some normal letters, really, on ..read more
Three Bookmarklets That Simplify My Life
My first exposure to bookmarklets was through Google Bookmarks. I started using Google Bookmarks because I was trying to back-up the bookmarks I use in Chrome, as well as keep track of some things I wanted to check out later but weren’t worth a (seemingly) more permanent bookmark in my browser. Things that I intend to read, or things that require actions, like a job posting.
Shortly after I started using the site, I found the bookmarklet, which was great. The bookmarklet lets you name, tag, and capture notes without ever leaving the page in question. I tag things with topics ..read more
7 Awesome Features of Windows 7
Now that my finals are over, I decided it was time to use my free upgrade to Windows 7. I have to admit, I didn’t hate Vista as much as the next person, and I had heard bad things about the upgrade process (though not about Windows 7), so I was a little nervous going into it. I thought I would start the install, only to come back to a completely unusable computer, stuck halfway between operating systems, that I would then have to wipe clean and start fresh. Thankfully, this was not the case.
I started the upgrade process by ..read more
Why I Had Zero Visitors and My Identity Stolen
I have encountered two human factors issues lately that have left me confused — some for far too long.
The first of these is with Google Analytics. I used Analytics to find out if there are actually people viewing my site and where these people are from. However, I recently updated the theme for my website, and forgot to include the Analytics tracking code.
It should have been obvious, when right around the same time I rolled out the changes, Analytics kept telling me no one at all was visiting my site, but I also hadn’t posted a new entry ..read more
