Most people would say it's a bit of a contradiction, I mean how can you "intuit" something that is purely logical, yet I'd argue that is precisely what I do with technology. On my recent trip to iceland some of my friends commented on the amount of gadgets that I have (in reference to my laptop and archos) and another then commented "I don't know how he has the time to learn how they all work". I replied that I didn't "learn" how they worked, I just "intuited" it. I got a snort of derisive laughter and a knowing "ahh bens exaggerating again" look. I was surprised by Craigs look of amusement though, because the look suggested that he didn't think it was possible. It was then I started to think.
It started to occur to me that perhaps Craigs look wasn't joking and that he was serious, maybe people really DO have to sit down and think about how some piece of technology works. You see for me it's often unconcious and even when it's not its about 15 seconds of playing around, understanding some concepts that differ from the norm and then once again there is no concious effort to drive / use any technology. The reason for that, in my opinion, is that technology interfaces are all fairly similar and in many cases derived from similar bases. Take for example command line interfaces. Command line interfaces are considered clunky and unfriendly in todays computer world, primarily because people don't like to type and because theres a minimum amount of commands that need to be learnt in order to actually USE the computer. That said if you're familiar with say a unix command line interface, using something like DOS is quite easy as many commands are similar (whether thats through a concious effort of copying what was there before to keep your userbase from having to learn new commands, or because that was what works best is open to debate) and the more technology you play with the easier it becomes, soon your realise that things like Cisco's IOS are all similar on the command line to unix (though frustratingly lobotomized). Moving on to GUIs you find that windows is similar to xwindows which is similar to OSX which is similar to Amiga and so on, in fact the similarities between different GUIs are more noticeable then that of their command line brothers due to the fact that once a working GUI was found, the basic concepts were so universal that to deviate from them significantly was to actually hinder use rather then help it. I began to wonder if in fact we weren't the victim of our own successes in terms of technology interfaces, perhaps we'd be better off going right back to square one and redesigning something from scratch without the preconceptions of other interfaces. Still the fact is that in terms of using computers once you have a reasonable amount of familiarity with one using the others is easy. I can vouch for that because as a hardcore unix user I have still been able to do every task that I want or that others have asked of me on the latest version of Windows Vista that I've barely even used for more then 3 minutes.
Getting away from operating systems and computers though, back to where Craigs incredulous look originated, is the land of gadgets. Gadgets are a lot more diverse then operating systems and consequently the nature of the interfaces to them are likewise a lot more varied, or so you'd think. While it's true that superficially there are far bigger differences between interfaces on gadgets once again there are so many overlapping principals that I find it hard to understand how you can't just "intuit" their use once you've played with a couple. The first and probably the interface that most people are familiar with is the "old" digital watch.
The digital watch probably set the standard for most people's first interaction with technology devices, and in many ways it hasn't changed. The concept is still the same for most gadgets of a similar limited nature (by limited I mean simply that there isn't much user interaction required, monitors, watches, televisions and the like), the concept is one button will switch "modes", another or possibly 2 will allow you to actually change values and the last will be for miscellaneous usage. Those four buttons define almost all interactions for simple gadgets and that really hasn't changed in over 30 years now.
Outside of gadgets and fully blown operating systems we have the area that today would be termed the "mobile" market, or as I know it, PDAs. Basically this encompasses anything that has pseudo OS capabilities, but is limited in it's scope, generally limited to specific applications that have one or two functions, calendars or task lists and the like. I'd suggest that operating any PDA / mobile based gadget is actually even easier then operating a normal gadget as it is deliberately made to be OS like, and consequently anyone who is familiar with basic desktop functionality will find themselves at home using mobile devices, with the only difference being that your actual interface, normally some stylus or thumb board, is much more clumsy.
So after thinking about it for some time, and knowing that the majority of people my age or younger have spent at least some time playing with either an OS (most people work with one now), a digital watch or a PDA, you're damn right I'm surprised when you can't pick up a technology gadget and just use it.
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Iceland
Well I just got back from Iceland for an EVE gaming conference and let me say that Iceland is one really cool (forgive the pun) place to go! For a long time I've always wanted to go to Iceland, the idea of lava and glaciers in the same place is just too weird to pass up, combine that with the northern lights and scandanavian women and you've got my interest perked ;) So when I heard of the gaming conference set there I immediately signed up and along with 5 other friends headed off to see the last of the scandanavian countries that I hadn't seen.
The first thing that we all noticed as we were approaching the island was that it's actually a lot larger then you think when you look at atlas's, in fact it's not much smaller then the UK and certainly a lot more interesting to view from the air. Much like most "cold" places I've been it isn't actually that cold, I think the coldest it got while we were there was about -8 or so and maybe a few extra degree's for wind chill factor, but generally it was around 0-5. Now before you all go screaming at me that I'm a freak and that -10 is cold, think about it from the perspective of Russia which has many cities that AVERAGE well below -20 the entire year round, the gulf stream saves the entire European continent from a lot more then most people realise and this extends to Iceland which of course, sits between the European and American continents.
The first day we headed off on what was to be the first and last of our tourist trips. We did a trip around the eastern part of the island which started to give us all an appreciation of just how spectacular the nature really is in Iceland. We went and saw the geysirs which every 7-12 mins would burst up ~20m into the air in an explosion of water, sulfur and pure force that was quite spectacular. Equally fascinating were just the hot pools that were so hot that they'd basically sterilized the water and had a clarity to them that was amazing allowing you to peer down into what seemed like the depths of the earth. From there we headed out to Gulfoss waterfall which was the site, 10000 years or so ago, of a glaciar melting in a day due to geothermal activity and the resulting watershed carved out the single most impressive waterfall i've ever seen. At this point though it was about 1600 and the sun set and the temperature started to fall to what seemed like the depths of the waterfall in fact. We immediately started jumping around to try and stay warm which in turn resulted in a mammoth snowball fight on a treacherous icy path located just above a 100 meter fall into the abyss. Fortunately no one fell off, but few dodged my snowballs (of course throwing them is for girls, point blank is more my style!).
The next few days were mostly spent around the gaming conference, which conveniently, was located in our hotel. As usual Iceland is the epitomy of all things scandanavian, great women, high standard of living and amazingly expensive. Even coming from London, my normal fallback for when people complain about cost, didn't save me from wincing on the odd occasion when you pay 5 pounds for a standard beer. There was the usual drunk stories (actually some of them were more then "usual" given that 2 of my friends were scousers) one of which I'll relate as I thought it was quite amusing. Ritchie decided on the first night in Iceland that he'd have a big night and proceeded to get very drunk. By very drunk I basically mean insensate. By the time the night was winding down Ritchie was basically unable to walk and unfortunately for him he was staying in a hotel just down the road. At this point we got a storm warning and high winds as Ritchie and the guy he was sharing with leave for their hotel. Ritchie managed to fall over 27 times onto bushes, cars and basically anything next to the road. Then about halfway back to the hotel he just did a runner. We got a frantic call from the other guy saying that he couldn't find Ritchie and was worried he would die of exposure. A few people got back out of bed at 0500 and start to search, but after 30 minutes we couldn't find him so we all head back to bed. At 0600 Ritchie turns up back at our hotel saying "i'm cold, i just woke up on a building site". Scousers, got to love them.
In summary Iceland was a lot of fun, though a little too disconnected for me. Even though it's a first world country and in Scandanavia, it still lacks a lot of basic things that most big city dwellers take for granted, so while it's a great place to visit (and I'll be back even if just to see the aurora borealis which our trip was cancelled due to poor visibility both nights :( ) it's off my list of countries where I'd like to live.
The first thing that we all noticed as we were approaching the island was that it's actually a lot larger then you think when you look at atlas's, in fact it's not much smaller then the UK and certainly a lot more interesting to view from the air. Much like most "cold" places I've been it isn't actually that cold, I think the coldest it got while we were there was about -8 or so and maybe a few extra degree's for wind chill factor, but generally it was around 0-5. Now before you all go screaming at me that I'm a freak and that -10 is cold, think about it from the perspective of Russia which has many cities that AVERAGE well below -20 the entire year round, the gulf stream saves the entire European continent from a lot more then most people realise and this extends to Iceland which of course, sits between the European and American continents.
The first day we headed off on what was to be the first and last of our tourist trips. We did a trip around the eastern part of the island which started to give us all an appreciation of just how spectacular the nature really is in Iceland. We went and saw the geysirs which every 7-12 mins would burst up ~20m into the air in an explosion of water, sulfur and pure force that was quite spectacular. Equally fascinating were just the hot pools that were so hot that they'd basically sterilized the water and had a clarity to them that was amazing allowing you to peer down into what seemed like the depths of the earth. From there we headed out to Gulfoss waterfall which was the site, 10000 years or so ago, of a glaciar melting in a day due to geothermal activity and the resulting watershed carved out the single most impressive waterfall i've ever seen. At this point though it was about 1600 and the sun set and the temperature started to fall to what seemed like the depths of the waterfall in fact. We immediately started jumping around to try and stay warm which in turn resulted in a mammoth snowball fight on a treacherous icy path located just above a 100 meter fall into the abyss. Fortunately no one fell off, but few dodged my snowballs (of course throwing them is for girls, point blank is more my style!).
The next few days were mostly spent around the gaming conference, which conveniently, was located in our hotel. As usual Iceland is the epitomy of all things scandanavian, great women, high standard of living and amazingly expensive. Even coming from London, my normal fallback for when people complain about cost, didn't save me from wincing on the odd occasion when you pay 5 pounds for a standard beer. There was the usual drunk stories (actually some of them were more then "usual" given that 2 of my friends were scousers) one of which I'll relate as I thought it was quite amusing. Ritchie decided on the first night in Iceland that he'd have a big night and proceeded to get very drunk. By very drunk I basically mean insensate. By the time the night was winding down Ritchie was basically unable to walk and unfortunately for him he was staying in a hotel just down the road. At this point we got a storm warning and high winds as Ritchie and the guy he was sharing with leave for their hotel. Ritchie managed to fall over 27 times onto bushes, cars and basically anything next to the road. Then about halfway back to the hotel he just did a runner. We got a frantic call from the other guy saying that he couldn't find Ritchie and was worried he would die of exposure. A few people got back out of bed at 0500 and start to search, but after 30 minutes we couldn't find him so we all head back to bed. At 0600 Ritchie turns up back at our hotel saying "i'm cold, i just woke up on a building site". Scousers, got to love them.
In summary Iceland was a lot of fun, though a little too disconnected for me. Even though it's a first world country and in Scandanavia, it still lacks a lot of basic things that most big city dwellers take for granted, so while it's a great place to visit (and I'll be back even if just to see the aurora borealis which our trip was cancelled due to poor visibility both nights :( ) it's off my list of countries where I'd like to live.
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