Developing Usable Experiences

13.7 billion years and giant ants

March 19th, 2008 11:21 pm —  156 views

ants_in_alley.JPG

I was watching a nerd show tonight on my DVR about the Hubble space telescope and how it enabled scientists to calculate the age of the cosmos1. Apparently it has been 13.7 billion years since the “big bang.”2 What a bunch of shix I say. What was before then? When was 13.8 billion years ago? Nowhere? I don’t buy the big-bang theory to be honest. The whole notion that there has to be a beginning to things just strikes me as so…limited. Embrace the infinite people!

Today I found myself marveling, yet again, at what I’m being exposed to at the School of Information. The people I meet, the groups I’m part of, the classes I attend. The difference between that and my day job is significant and jarring at times3. The academic world is so hungry for knowledge, newness, and to find and explore the unknown. While the corporate world seems so scared, so paranoid, so reluctant to recognize that research and innovation at the academic level has a significant influence on where the capitalistic interests orient. But then, maybe I don’t know shix. All I have are my evolving instincts.

To be honest, this is just a crazy hypothesis I’ve concocted. To question the influence between academic research and the business sector is something I’m very curious about. They seem so disconnected sometimes.

My TASK group finished the last two of our usability tests this evening. The 5 usability tests we conducted were very interesting and the patterns that emerged most revealing. Over the next week we’ll be processing what we gathered and concentrating it into a report that we can submit for this milestone.

I wonder how the Waltzing Bear is doing. It has been radio silence since the weekend and I’m feeling the drought. Hopefully he’s dealing with his shix in a quality way. I have to think he is. If I’m any judge of character, I’d guess he’s doing what he needs to do. But what do I know. I’m just a programmer (wink wink).

The world of computing, social computing, information architecture, usability, and interaction design is rife with potential and possibility. What will it take to survive in this domain? Awareness? (Yes.) Openness? (Yes.) Curiosity? (Yes.) A willingness to learn? (Yes.) A recognition that maybe you don’t know all you think you know? (Yes of course.)

I don’t know what I think I know. So I’ll just sit back and watch for evidence to guide me and maintain a recalcitrant sense of what I know. Evidence and behavior speak volumes. Our usability tests are supporting this at least.

Image: Walking back to my Jeep tonight I took a different route. I rode in the elevator from the roof of the parking garage to the ground level today with a stranger. When we exited the garage, he went right, I went left. Crossing the street a couple blocks later, I saw him in front of me. Curious, I sought his route on my way back to my Jeep and found it down this alley. The walls were painted with giant ants and I took a number of photos (in the dying light) with my trusty Sony. This is one of them.

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  1. W. was at a business dinner or this wouldn’t have happened. [↩]
  2. I made a point to memorize this number because it seemed like such bunk. [↩]
  3. I’m beginning to let go of the notion that work actually wants me to learn. While I hold out hope, evidence to the contrary is tough to ignore. [↩]

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One Response to “13.7 billion years and giant ants”

  1. Dawn on March 20th, 2008 8:48 am

    My experience is that work only wants you to learn what WORK wants you to learn, and only if it (the learning of) doesn’t interfere with your current work, and only if it doesn’t inspire you to question your work.

    Secondly, the ants are evidence of what cool places you can go if you’re curious!

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