
STORIES:

Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2001 23:19:12 -0400 (EDT)
From: R u t h i e <relee@andrew.cmu.edu>
To: Randy Pausch <pausch@cmu.edu>
Subject: stories...
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Hi,

I'm went through the lecture notes and will list each story...

1. Be paranoid - the TA who brought extra light bulbs for the
overhead/projector

2. Epcot Center - not talking about the same set of people in regards to
the word "demographic"

2a. Epcot Center - users not understanding the word "aspect" in a
questionnaire.

3. Signs on doors - in an experiment where students put signs on doors,
the error rate went from 60% to 45%.

4. Pin # - guy sues bank for stolen card with pin # on back.

5. Convincing a group of engineers that user testing is important and that
they are not the users.

6. Debugging with Odie the dog.

7. Hotel alarm clocks - default set at 5pm (or some strange time to wake
up).

8. Niece with digital watch that sets time using the analog way, but
refuse to sell it to you.


-Ruth


- Mickey vs. Sharp watch - digital could have a stem too
- Motorola phone versus pager - pager has switch for vibrate, phone has button functions which are hard to remember
- engineers lacked empathy
- PIN number legal case - most people write down PIN to make it info in the world
- Plumber "trap" - plumbers have jargon that others don't understand, we have our computerese
- Odie the debugger - talking about a problem helps to solve it
- "I'm sorry I wrote such an awful program..." - programmers had to apologize for program before helping users in user test.

 "Damon Hamm" <dhamm@andrew.cmu.edu>

-Disney 'aspect' questionnnaire
 
-Star Trek - the one with the whales - Scotty talks to the mac, then talks to the mouse like a mouse.
To add a story / urban legend of my own: There is a funny story relating this to a customer service call, but the gist of it is that an older female novice computer user mistook the mouse for a footpetal like on a sewing machine.  There are also stories about mistaking the CD drive for a retractable cupholder and plugging a power strip back into itself.
 

--- Ric E. ----

Stories for Usable Interfaces:

1.	Epcot guy going up to people with his hand extended and bowed to play on cultural convention - people find it hard not to come with him.  Avoids teenagers because it is cool to resist.  Go for the people who make a lot of eye contact or look at him, than away then back - avoid people who look away and don't look back.
2.	Understanding the language that people use - meeting with a group for a half hour and then realizing at the end of the conversation that when they were talking about a demographic shift, they didn't mean the same thing as the other party - little word choices kill
3.	Mickey Mouse watch versus the digital watch
4.	Motorola StarTac versus the Motorola pager
5.	car controls versus cell phone controls -100-200 controls in a luxury car, but placed close to the driver -  when they are labeled and mapped properly, you can have more and still have them mean something
6.	swiss army knife design - a mile wide and an inch deep
7.	inverted mapping of light switches in old classroom in Virginia
8.	remembering passwords - "Visa1234" "Amazon1234" - using codes to remember what they are
9.	testing on the Dean of Engineering - he got uncomfortable with the user test because it was showing him that he didn't know what to do - let them quit if necessary
10.	redesigning the Epcot ride - the manager didn't want to hear what was wrong, but if all you get is white noise, then there is probably nothing wrong; otherwise, there is something wrong, especially if it keeps popping up
11.	Epcot once again…syntax and word choice can kill a test - the questionnaire that was axed because 1 out of 4 people couldn't understand it
12.	error commands - people don't understand what "-13 type error" means - make it simple and understandable
13.	the more sketchy something looks, the better - people will be hesitant to criticize if it looks finished
14.	I also have something written down about Finnish teenagers and cell phones, I think it relates to text messaging, but I'm not sure what the whole story was

Hope this helps!
-rick

From: "Micah Alpern" <micaha@andrew.cmu.edu>
To: "'Randy Pausch'" <pausch@cmu.edu>
Subject: RE: reminder: calling all stories
Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2001 23:17:40 -0400
Organization: Carnegie Mellon University
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Story descriptions:

 

Tall angry manager at Epcott center.

Worst doors at CMU.  Label with big sign and measure failure rate

Smash VCR at start of semester

 

 


Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2001 23:35:32 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jennifer R Date <jdate@andrew.cmu.edu>
To: Randy Pausch <pausch@cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: reminder: calling all stories
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Hi Randy,

I only came up with a few past Marianne's "Starter list":

- Stop lights switched from verticle to horizontal - effect on color
blindness

Other cultural constraints
	- standing in elevator the wrong way
	- staring a people
	- ignoring people when they are looking for a response
	- cutting in line

Can rent a car anywhere in the world, and still know how to drive it.

Alarm Clocks (Bag o') - "we shape the tools and then the tools shape us"

Users saying "Whow" (sp?) when overwelmed.

Football coaches watching the films over and over.

Monopoly is a "zero sum" game.

Lake Wobegon effect "where the women are strong, the men are good looking,
and the children are above average."

what engineers really lack is empathy

focus groups, william kennedy smith jury selection

"aspect" in theme park survey

2 person user testing: parent & child; get parent (less experienced) to do the input devices

Happy accidents: Bob Ross and painting



Your dad as an insurance salesman..."waiting for the printer..."
end-to-end, the only thing that matters.

VCR - Flip down door exposing more options.

Memory  - Put something in front of the door to remember it the next day.
	- String on your fingers, forget and then feel awful

	- Memory Palace - associate with a physical object in a building
	- Learning someone's name - "Mike with a monkey on his head :)"

Hope this helps.

Jenna Date

On Sun, 14 Oct 2001, Randy Pausch wrote:

>
> Thanks to the many of you who have already replied -- to the rest of you,
> if you can get these to me before classtime Tuesday, I'd greatly
> appreciate it.
>
> From now on, Mike will be scribing for me, so this won't be necessary
> going forward.
>
> thanks!
>
>         Randy
>
>
>       Date: Tue, 09 Oct 2001 21:26:12 -0400
>       To: pui-list@cs.cmu.edu
>       From: Randy Pausch <pausch@cmu.edu>
>       Subject: calling all stories
>
>
>       As I said in class, I'm trying to round up and start writing
>       down some of the real world stories I've been rattling off in
>       class (going forward, Mike will be making some notes).   As I
>       said, my primary motivation is to collect these for what will
>       end up as some notes or a WWW that will go with the course.
>
>       Feel free to respond just to me, or to the entire list; if
>       it's just to me, feel free to be as short/cryptic as you
>       like; just enough to jog my memory: then I can re-create the
>       story.
>
>       Since nothing in life happens without a deadline, can you
>       please get these to me before class next Tuesday?
>
>       thanks!
>
>               Randy
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------------
> Randy Pausch, pausch@cs.cmu.edu, http://www.randypausch.com/
> Professor of HCI, Computer Science, and Design
> School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University
> 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213-3891
> voice=412/268-3579, fax=(801) 991-9434
> ---------------------------------------
>
>

Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2001 21:22:05 -0400 (EDT)
From: Rahul Culas <rculas@andrew.cmu.edu>
To: Randy F Pausch <pausch@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: stories
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Status: U


sorry for it being so late..

1. airline usability is where usability started
2.Ford's mistake - you can have any color as long as it's black
3. cell phones for smsing as an example of people not being able to
predict successs of product or service
4.the palm pilot as an example for left handers.. the case changes sides
5.traffic light color blindness
6. magician who used to get people on stage.
7. only the paranoid survive - intel CEO
8. the guy who made millions with flash.. (light bulb spare for projector)
9.best way to introduce yourslef is by going up and shaking hand (social
constraint)
10.jack of all trades and master of none.
11. make the easy things easy and the hard things possible
12. kitchen sink design
13.aspect virtual reality game
14. demographic - ambiguity about the word .. artists ..
15.mickey vs. sharp
16.motorola phone takes out battery instead of opening,
17. vibrator is function 8
18.VCR - " is your mother stupid?"
19.cars vs. telephones no of controls
20.door error rate is 60% greater than if by chance
21. thermostat - randy's mom sets temp to 500 to get it to 350 soooner
22. memory - guy who sued bank for pin number
23. einstein " i dont waste portions of my brain by remembering things i
can look up"
24. when critiquing mentioned story about the "skinner boxes" slot
machines
25. maya angelou quoting ancient philosophers  its always surprising who
we are more alike than we are different.
26.SUIT story simple user interface toolkit  weird dynamic male
tester/women user
27. w.K. smith trial.. elderly women in sexual assualt case as jury.(in
relation to focus groups)
28.neurosurgery.. description of what went on ( nothing delicate
intitially..)
29.word choice matters. print the memo vs. spool the memo to the printer.
30.mosaic web browsers self revealing
31. ambiguity  sept 7th vs. 09/07
32." we shape our tools then our tools shape us" - i didnt get who said
this, would be grateful if you could enlighten me.
33. heisenberg uncertainity principle
34. debuggin with odie the dog
35.Bob Taylor - 6'3 did you like it. Aladdin
36.Interface by tolstoy(you were critiquing an interface and i found this
mad funny. you have to copyright this! else in a while i will!!! =)
37. design for the novices and the experts will buy?
38.videogame self play mode it teaches user how to play.. idea from fasted
way to learn is to watch someone else
39. blinking text and it's abuse on the www.
40.just the facts maam  - dragnet??
41. gonzo journalism, joel stern
42. football coaches dont watch a video only once.
43. lake wobegon effect " all the children are above average:
44. randy's father and the printer : waiting for the printer"
45.vcr... 4 buttons .. the flip down panel how it prepares user and
directs them to important buttons
46.plumber - use terms that make user feel stupid
47.offload to person who will benefit.
48.ABC sing song .. greeks learnt rhyming and name and image.. mike monkey
49.direct manipulation bad for grouping  *.txt no good substitute
50.govt user fired for niggardly
51.jim gray .. used simple words

some of above may be in lecture notes.
some may be just lines used in class that i found really nice.

i have not included the critiques/comments on various assignments done in
class.
hope this helps.
regards
rahul

Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 13:01:41 -0400 (EDT)
From: Andrew K Li <akli@andrew.cmu.edu>
To: <pausch@cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: calling all stories
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-doors - pull or push
-Mickey vs Sharp watch
-the word "aspect" on a user survey
-cell phone vs pager - pager has a switch, cell phone uses button
functions
-plumber's jargon - "trap"

-------------

-  Spikes in the curve vs. bell curves
-  "Waiting for the printer"  (Efficiency only in expert use.)
-  Efficiency -> Drop-down panel
-  Memorability/Coping = info in the world
-  Greek oratory (memory palaces)
-  "No feedback" conversation experiment.
-  Masking tape on borders of TV screen for editing
-  Nuclear power map (Green squares vs. red circles.)
-  Weather map (color banding)
-  Chopping the bar chart
-  Bob Ross example. (I walked in in the middle of this.)
