Brad Lauster .comtag:bradlauster.com,2008://12007-01-25T21:06:09ZOn creating a framework for Integral DesignMovable Type 3.33Congratulations, Humanized!tag:bradlauster.com,2007://1.11272007-01-25T06:26:48Z2007-01-25T21:06:09ZAt this time last year, I was hard at work with a team of extremely talented developers, designing and building the humane computing environment that Jef Raskin described in his book, The Humane Interface. That project basically fell apart after...Brad Lausterhttp://bradlauster.com/
Humanized.
Today, Humanized released their first product, Enso, which comes in two flavors, Launcher and Words.
Launcher gives you lightening fast, mouse-free access to launching your programs by making use of a quasi-mode that you invoke by pressing the caps lock key. Finally, caps lock does something useful!
Words is invoked in the same way, but is adds a spellcheck that works exactly the same in every program - even programs that don't have spellcheck built in. Brilliant!
Both of the products do other things as well. I recommend checking out the demos on the Humanized site. You can also download trial versions of both products. You might also want to check out Walt Mossberg's review of the products.
I'm very proud of what the guys at Humanized have accomplished in less than a year. They've carried on Jef Raskin's work in a practical, accessible way that I'm sure will lead to some exciting innovations in both user interfaces and ways of interacting with your computer.
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Side note: Some of the work we did is still available at the Raskin Center for Humane Interfaces website.]]>
Why Integral Design is Importanttag:bradlauster.com,2006://1.11122006-10-17T18:06:55Z2006-10-18T06:51:58ZBefore I get back to the questions I posed in my last entry, I'd like to tell you a little about why I think building a framework for Integral Design is important. Recently I've been reading the writing of a...Brad Lausterhttp://bradlauster.com/
last entry, I'd like to tell you a little about why I think building a framework for Integral Design is important.
Recently I've been reading the writing of a theorist named Ken Wilber. Ken has developed a really nice framework for examining the ways in which we can approach a given practice, such as medicine or design[1]. Ken's framework urges us to think explicitly about a given problem or idea from a variety of perspectives and viewpoints.
Wilber says that the best approach to carrying out a practice is to consider it through the lens of each of the four quadrants of his framework. By practicing design in a way that integrates considerations from all four quadrants, we'll end up with a more holistic, or integral, way of doing design.[2]
So, if Wilber is right, then by adopting a more integral approach to design, our solutions will, in turn, be more holistic. He also contends that by using an integral approach, it's more likely that our designs will be successful. This seems reasonable, since the more factors we consider regarding a design problem, the more likely it is that our solutions will be successful.
Sounds like a laudable goal, yes? Wasn't this what we wanted to do with experience design before terms like "user experience" were co-opted by organizations that were focused more on PR campaigns than on delivering holistically designed solutions to peoples' problems?
I think most of us can agree that a more integral approach to design would be a good thing - especially if we can realize a way to actually put it into practice.
Ever since I first became interested in design and began practicing user-centered design, I've wondered what was next. How do we improve the practice of design beyond the user-centered methods we use now?
The idea of considering the behaviors, motivations, and contexts of people during the design process is one idea that's gaining more traction lately. This is important work as we begin to build a framework for Integral Design, but simply adding those concerns on top of the concerns of user-centered design will only cover two of Wilber's four quadrants.
User-centered design, which I believe is fundamentally concerned with tasks, states and goals, seems to map to the upper-left quadrant of Wilber's model. This quadrant is focused on the interior of the individual or, to put it another way, the subjective mind.
Design (we don't have a name for it yet) that focuses more deeply on behaviors, motivations, and contexts seems to map quite nicely to the lower-left quadrant of Wilber's model. This quadrant is focused on the interior of the collective or, to put it another way, it's focused on intersubjective culture.
For now, we're still a long way from being able to practice Integral Design, but I think building a framework and describing it is an important first step towards getting there.
I want my designs to help create a future that's more sustainable, more caring and even more deeply-ethical. For now, Integral Design is the best way I can think of to get there.
[1] In his writing, Wilber describes many uses for the model, though he never directly discusses design. I'm just using design as an example of a practice that could be approached in an integral way.
[2] I'll do a proper introduction of Wilber's framework in a future entry, but in the meantime, you may want to take a look at the AQAL entry on Wikipedia. You could also Google it yourself, but I should warn you that the top Google result only covers Wilber up to 2001. I believe Wilber's framework has been refined quite a bit since then.]]>
Rethinking Designing for Experiencetag:bradlauster.com,2006://1.11102006-10-03T19:31:30Z2006-10-13T17:42:27ZA few months ago, a friend of mine, Todd Wilkens, posted some provocative thoughts on the Adaptive Path blog. Essentially, Todd says: Instead of a framework focused on tasks, goals, and states, designers should use a framework focused on behaviors,...Brad Lausterhttp://bradlauster.com/
Todd Wilkens, posted some provocative thoughts on the Adaptive Path blog. Essentially, Todd says:
Instead of a framework focused on tasks, goals, and states, designers should use a framework focused on behaviors, motivations, and contexts.
A new framework is needed because the framework based on tasks, goals, and states doesn’t explicitly account for behaviors, motivations and context. Because of this, it's difficult to account for those concerns in our designs. That is, we fail to realize certain solutions because our framework for thinking about the problem actually prevents us from considering some solutions.
I agree with Todd. A better understanding of peoples' behaviors related to, motivations with regard to and contexts of use concerning our designs will lead to better designs.
But why stop there? Why not move even further, toward an integral framework for design? The more considerations we can integrate into our framework for design, the better our resulting solutions should be, yes?
Why not consider an even higher calling? What if, for example, our designs could help people become better people?
Imagine the level of integration into someone's life your design would need to have for someone to say, "That [service] has my back," or "My [product] actually cares for me."
Now, when I say caring, I'm not simply talking about displaying kindness and concern for others. I'm talking about something deeper than that. I'm talking about having a relationship that facilitates self-actualization.
Self-actualization is probably not a word you use every day, but the concept is simple. Self-actualization is the fulfillment of one's talents and potentialities. Self-actualization is about becoming the best "you" that you can be.
What I'm talking about are designs that are deeply ethical, not only in terms of environmental sustainability and social responsibility, but also in terms of caring.
I think few will argue that this is a bad idea, but all we have so far is an interesting thought experiment. In my mind, there are several important questions that remain:
Can a system be designed such that it can actually have a relationship with a person?
Are the concerns that go into designing such a system really that different from the concerns that go into user-centered design as we practice it today?
In practice, how do we go about understanding these concerns?
What would an integral framework for design look like?
What are your thoughts? Are there other questions I should be answering?]]>
NeuroEthics: Science, Ethics, and Lawtag:bradlauster.com,2006://1.10852006-04-14T02:13:58Z2006-07-18T21:45:47ZHi there. I just attended the weekly Symbolic Systems Forum at Stanford. This week's talk, NeuroEthics: Science, Ethics, and Law, was given by Hank Greely of the Stanford Law School. Here's the abstract: "Neuroscience is in the midst of a...Brad Lausterhttp://bradlauster.com/
"Neuroscience is in the midst of a revolution that is transforming our knowledge of the human brain and how it works. Our ability to predict future mental illness, neurological disease, or personality characteristics is expanding dramatically. We seem likely to be able to use devices to "read minds," by directly detecting brain activity that is correlated with various mental states. And drugs and devices, developed to help the injured or ill, hold out the possibility of "enhancing" human brains with unprecedented powers. This talk will describe those advances and the legal, ethical, and social issues they pose."
The ethical issues related to this technology are very interesting to me, mainly because they are so deeply intertwined with design. This technology, in as little as a few years, will begin to force the entire design community to consider the ethics of situations that simply haven't existed before.
What happens when we as designers have the ability to know things about the users of our services that they don't know about themselves?
At the beginning of his talk, Hank outlined the 3 major areas of neuro-ethics:
Research ethics, or what is the ethical thing to do with the information you gain about the subjects of, say, a study employing Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI) technology?
Neuro-economics, or what happens in the brain when we make decisions?
Social implications, which is the most interesting area for both Professor Greely and myself. This area deals with topcis like prediction of behavior, mind reading and body enhancement.
A particularly interesting subtopic in the area of mind reading is that of reading emotions. How exciting! Imagine the accuracy with which you could design a service to elicit a certain emotion if we could read the users' emotions directly from their brain?
Of course, this is currently completely impractical, but only because of the rapidly vanishing constraints of, for example, getting people into an FMRI machine and forcing them to work on tasks they'd probably never do otherwise. During his talk, Hank outlined several new technologies that could be used for the purpose of lie detection - some of them could even be administered without the knowledge of the subject!
As a group of people who pride ourselves on believing that we are a force for contributing positive change to the world, I have to think that there are others out there who care about the ethics of our profession. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like there's anyone doing much talking about it.
Anyone have any pointers for me?
Serendipity: As I sat here outside a cafe on University Avenue in Palo Alto, Brian Knutson walked past me and into a restaurant a few doors down. If you're unfamiliar, Brian's primary research interest is in the neural basis of emotion.]]>
The Best Thing I Read This Weektag:bradlauster.com,2006://1.10742006-02-10T02:14:31Z2006-07-18T21:46:24ZFrom Paul Graham's essay, How to Do What You Love: "Prestige is especially dangerous to the ambitious. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, the way to do it is to bait the hook with...Brad Lausterhttp://bradlauster.com/
How to Do What You Love:
"Prestige is especially dangerous to the ambitious. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, the way to do it is to bait the hook with prestige. That's the recipe for getting people to give talks, write forewords, serve on committees, be department heads, and so on. It might be a good rule simply to avoid any prestigious task. If it didn't suck, they wouldn't have had to make it prestigious."
]]>
Brad Marshall's "The Axis of Paradox"tag:bradlauster.com,2005://1.10552005-11-16T18:31:32Z2005-11-16T18:40:57ZMy friend Brad finally got around to starting a blog. He calls it, appropriately, The Blog of Brad. Woo! Ever heard of the idea that the French have a high fat diet, yet have very low levels of heart disease?...Brad Lausterhttp://bradlauster.com/
The Blog of Brad. Woo!
Ever heard of the idea that the French have a high fat diet, yet have very low levels of heart disease? That's called the French Paradox and in his first post, Brad refutes the idea.
Well done! Definitely check it out.]]>
My Signature StrengthsFinder Themestag:bradlauster.com,2005://1.10512005-11-04T06:06:16Z2005-11-04T07:32:52ZThe Gallup Organization's Clifton StrengthsFinder is a 180 question, web-based survey designed to identify your top five themes. The themes and the research upon which they are based are discussed in Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton's book, "Now, Discover Your...Brad Lausterhttp://bradlauster.com/
Clifton StrengthsFinder is a 180 question, web-based survey designed to identify your top five themes. The themes and the research upon which they are based are discussed in Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton's book, "Now, Discover Your Strengths."
The book's basic theme is that you can accomplish more in life by doing activities that engage your strengths, rather than trying to improve the areas in which you're simply not talented.
I found the results far more interesting and useful than the results of the personality tests I've taken. The results of the StrengthsFinder test aren't about your personality, rather, they describe your areas of talent. Ultimately, this maps to the fundamental types of activities that get you engaged and excited. It's a nice tool for thinking about the careers in which you can be truly exceptional.
In case you're interested, these were my top five themes:
Competition — People strong in the Competition theme measure their progress against the performance of others. They strive to win first place and revel in contests.
Futuristic — People strong in the Futuristic theme are inspired by the future and what could be. They inspire others with their visions of the future.
Command — People strong in the Command theme have presence. They can take control of a situation and make decisions.
Individualization — People strong in the Individualization theme are intrigued with the unique qualities of each person. They have a gift for figuring out how people who are different can work together productively.
Activator — People strong in the Activator theme can make things happen by turning thoughts into action. They are often impatient.
More information is available at Gallup's StrengthsFinder Center.]]>
Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanfordtag:bradlauster.com,2005://1.10452005-10-04T19:19:05Z2005-10-04T19:55:07ZYesterday I attended a party to celebrate the establishment of the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University. Bruce Nussbaum of Business Week already wrote a wonderful post about Plattner's 35 million dollar gift, a post that David Kelley...Brad Lausterhttp://bradlauster.com/
party to celebrate the establishment of the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University.
Bruce Nussbaum of Business Week already wrote a wonderful post about Plattner's 35 million dollar gift, a post that David Kelley mentioned in his speech.
As Plattner pointed out during his speech, Nussbaum was essentially responsible for introducing him to IDEO when he got IDEO on the cover of Business Week in May 2004. That led to Plattner and David Kelley (a professor at Stanford and founder of IDEO) getting together, which eventually led to the gift.
The party was full of the usual suspects from Stanford's Mechanical Engineering and HCI programs, as well as people from IDEO and students from Stanford. There were even a bunch a Stanford GSB students there, which I thought was cool.
The Institute is only offering certificates at this point, but I believe they'll offer design degrees once their new space opens up in 2007.
There are some pictures from the event, including a few of my own, posted under the d.school tag on flickr.]]>
Subscribers: please update your feed linktag:bradlauster.com,2005://1.10402005-09-22T21:19:24Z2005-09-22T21:22:28ZSorry for the interruption, but I've decided to start using Feedburner. If you're subscribed to this site's feed, please update the URL. The new feed URL is: http://feeds.feedburner.com/bradlausterdotcom Thanks for reading!...Brad Lausterhttp://bradlauster.com/
http://feeds.feedburner.com/bradlausterdotcom
Thanks for reading!]]>
San Francisco Traffic Schoolstag:bradlauster.com,2005://1.10392005-09-20T00:44:08Z2006-10-04T19:21:05ZEarlier this summer, I got a speeding ticket in Marin County and elected to take traffic school. The court gave me 60 days to complete the schooling. Of course, I waited until today (57 days) to look at the letter...Brad Lausterhttp://bradlauster.com/
entire letter was written in capital letters, but that's a gripe for another post.
Great. Apparently Marin county isn't aware of this thing called the Internet. So, I searched Google for a list of approved traffic schools for California. Of the 25 schools that operate in San Francisco, a paltry 5 of them had websites and only two offered online booking. One of numbers even connected me to an advertisement for a phone chat line instead of a traffic school (brilliant scam, by the way). Of course, you wouldn't know this from the information provided by the DMV. They just give you a phone number and the (often ridiculous) names of the schools.
Of the two that offered booking online, only one offered a class within the timeframe that I needed. It made me happy that this school also had a simple, easy to understand website that didn't require me to enter a credit card or any information that I thought was unnecessary to be able to make the reservation. (See my choice at the end of this post.)
So, in case you're unlucky enough to get a ticket in one of the few counties in California that doesn't accept certificates from internet traffic schools, here's what I found when I called the traffic schools in San Francisco:
Great Comedians Traffic School
800-925-1707
http://greattrafficschool.net/
You can sell them your email address for $3 (they email a coupon to you)
No information about class times on the web
Pizza 4U - Great Comedians
800-775-5233
No website
Improv, The Comedy Club Presents
800-775-5233
http://www.trafficschoolbyimprov.com/
Save $3 on all CA classroom registrations when you pre-pay by credit card. Promo code: CACLASS
Class times are available on the web
ASAP Traffic School
800-760-0923
No Website
Fun N Cheap Traffic School
800-748-5933
No Website
National Traffic Safety Institute
800-732-2233
http://www.ntsi.us/
No information about class times on the web
Great Classes on Sat/Sun/Days/Eve
800-500-2307
Announced the school as Pizza 4U when they answered
No website
Pacific Seminar Traffic Safety, Inc.
800-448-4140
No website
Gay Community Traffic School
800-429-4968
No website
Comedy School
800-341-5554
No website
Lettuce Amuse U Comedy Traffic School
800-286-8051
No website
The Smart Choice Traffic School
800-279-3095
The number is an advertisement for a "talk line" (like a telephone chat room, I guess)
Great Traffic Safety Classes
800-257-5357
No website
Cheap School
800-234-7283
No answer (apparently, they're that cheap!)
Comedy For Less Traffic School
800-218-0013
No website
Academia De Trafico en Espanol
415-865-0900
No website, but the operator did speak a little english, which was nice
SF Bay Driving & Traffic School
415-759-9500
http://www.sfbaytvscounseling.com/
Spoke to Josh who was helpful
Sunset Traffic Academy
415-753-1397
No website
A-Safe Way Driving School, Inc.
415-665-1133
http://drivingthesafeway.com/
Nice, simple wbesite...and you can signup online!
Rosy Driving And Traffic School
415-587-1233
No answer - went to voice mail
Days, Evenings, Weekends D.E.W.
415-558-9899
No website - the operator, Megan, was nice
Nu Tech Driving & Traffic School
415-468-1288
No answer - went to voice mail
Les Driving & Traffic School
415-441-7855
No answer - went to voice mail
Speed Traffic School
415-333-1300
No answer - no voice mail (rang for a couple minutes)
New Chinatown Traffic School
415-221-9050
No answer - went to voice mail
The school I chose: A-Safe Way Driving and Traffic School
In addition to the nice things I mentioned above, it cracked me up that they list the instructor as "the "legendary" Mr. Lee." I imagine this guy will be as into driving safety and my high-school driver's ed instructor, Mr. Hanley, which should make for an entertaining afternoon. I'll let you know how it goes.
Update: Mr. Lee was quite the character. I have a feeling that most of the stories he told were fabricated, but they were all entertaining. I found myself laughing at the ridiculousness of them quite often.
It's also worth noting that Mr. Lee is quite religious. His personal philosophy is what I can only describe as a blend of Catholicism and Buddhism. If you have a problem with people relating everything back to the "word of god," then A-Safe Way Driving and Traffic School may not be for you.
I am a Bright, which means I don't believe in god, but I didn't have a problem with Mr. Lee's style. He actually had an easy way about himself and I came away with a renewed appreciation for the things in life that really matter: friends, family, health, etc.
I wouldn't call it the perfect traffic school for everyone, but it was good enough to recommend.
If you found this post helpful. Please post a comment!]]>
Moving Hoststag:bradlauster.com,2005://1.3902005-07-22T20:58:07Z2005-08-23T20:05:35ZAnother chapter in the life of this site... I'm moving hosts on the evening of Monday, July 26, 2005. Expect it to take a couple days for the dns changes to propagate. Once I get everything moved over, you can...Brad Lausterhttp://bradlauster.com/
Another chapter in the life of this site...
I'm moving hosts on the evening of Monday, July 26, 2005. Expect it to take a couple days for the dns changes to propagate. Once I get everything moved over, you can expect updates more often. Yay! Hopefully you'll be interested in reading about the crazy things I've been thinking about lately.
See you on the other side!
How To Duck Cell Phone Taxestag:bradlauster.com,2005://1.3892005-06-10T01:44:18Z2006-10-11T20:09:03ZFile this under "Ethically Questionable Life Hacks." :-) In a nutshell, Scott Woolley's article in Forbes, "How To Duck Cell Phone Taxes," says that you can avoid some taxes on your mobile by changing your billing address to an area...Brad Lausterhttp://bradlauster.com/
How To Duck Cell Phone Taxes," says that you can avoid some taxes on your mobile by changing your billing address to an area such as Nevada, which has the lowest cell phone taxes in the country.
I always wonder if companies, such as Verizon, consider ethics when designing policies like this. In this case, at least, it seems that if they had, they could have designed a policy that their customers wouldn't be incented to circumvent.
Actually, perhaps ethics is the wrong consideration here? I guess I'm actually talking about customer motivation. Either way, you'd think that companies would try to design their (billing, usage, etc.) policies in such a way that their customers would actually WANT to follow them. That's how you build customer loyalty, right? Congruence between the company's and the customer's philosophies?
Of course, the design of this particular policy is constrained by the relevant tax laws, but an obvious work-around would have been to design the customer interaction so that it prevented the ethically questionable behavior.]]>
Daniel Kahnemantag:bradlauster.com,2005://1.3882005-05-23T22:46:55Z2006-10-11T20:10:39ZI was getting ready to go hear this year's Symbolic Systems Distinguished Speaker talk at Stanford this afternoon, when I discovered that the video from last year's talk (which I also attended) is online! Daniel Kahneman's Symbolic Systems Distinguished Speaker...Brad Lausterhttp://bradlauster.com/
Daniel Kahneman's Symbolic Systems Distinguished Speaker talk (videos are linked near the listing for 2004) was one of the most interesting, thought provoking lectures I've ever attended.
Apparently, I never posted my notes from that talk (they are still saved in draft form in Movable Type). If I can find my notebook from last year, I'll finish them up and publish them for you.
In the meantime, take a look at the video. Kahneman's review of his research on how people experience pain is really fascinating and should be relevant for anyone designing those "pain pill" solutions that all the VC's are looking for. ]]>
SF Surveytag:bradlauster.com,2005://1.3862005-03-04T04:52:14Z2006-07-18T21:09:27ZMy new favorite website is SF Survey. It's a great source for pithy, unpretentious, sometimes naive reviews of restaurants in San Francisco. I've been on fire lately. Let me know if you read my reviews. I sort of feel like...Brad Lausterhttp://bradlauster.com/
SF Survey. It's a great source for pithy, unpretentious, sometimes naive reviews of restaurants in San Francisco.
I've been on fire lately. Let me know if you read my reviews.
I sort of feel like it has a Craigslistian quality about it. Maybe because the site is so incredibly unattractive.]]>
Goodbye Jeftag:bradlauster.com,2005://1.3852005-02-28T09:06:42Z2006-10-11T20:14:04ZJef Raskin passed away last weekend. He was my friend and mentor. I met Jef back in 2001, after a talk he gave at Stanford (video of the talk). I asked him to sign my copy of The Humane Interface...Brad Lausterhttp://bradlauster.com/
Jef Raskin passed away last weekend. He was my friend and mentor.
I met Jef back in 2001, after a talk he gave at Stanford (video of the talk). I asked him to sign my copy of The Humane Interface and then we chatted about some of the things in the book.
Since then, we've worked together under what is now known as The Raskin Center for Humane Interfaces. (Jef protested about us using his name, but we insisted.)
It makes me sad to think we'll never talk again, but I'm proud of what we've accomplished so far. Soon, we'll be able to share the first piece of our humane computing environment with the world. It's called Archy.
It'll be exciting to see how people react. We're working hard to help people understand that Archy is only one piece of the puzzle. I think the real fun will come when we integrate Archy with the other parts of our system, specifically the zooming environment. It's going to be really, really sexy.
Luckily, Jef left us with a wonderfully idealistic and well articulated vision—one that will serve our organization for many years to come. I just hope our work will live up to being the memorial that I think he deserves. ]]>