February 28th, 2011
Is the new Human hyper-networked and overheated? Should we call that Human 4.0? Evolving over time from oral communication, written word, static (but evolving) web, and now to the simultaneous hyperconnected web presence that we live in has even altered how our brain works. There may be more human point releases in the past that I’m skimming over, but the amount of information exchanged and absorbed today is unprecedented. (more…)
Dustin Collis
February 16th, 2011
Application Development, Technology, Usability
Have mobile applications made us idle? Do we leave the house less, interact less, and use our brains less than we used to? Are applications slowly phasing out elements of socialization that were once an integral part of human experience? I’ve heard comments of this nature before, most often from my favorite luddite, my mother, who marvels at my generation’s inability to pen a thank you note and unfailingly signs each of her sporadic texts with “this is your mother.” But is there actual merit to the argument? (more…)
Hayley Wilson
February 10th, 2011
Yes, search before Google actually existed and took many different forms. A few that come to mind are HotBot, Excite, WebCrawler, Ask Jeeves, Ask.com, Yahoo, Dogpile, AltaVista, Lycos, AOL Search, Netscape…the list goes on.
These days, most people regard Google as the defacto standard for searching. In the user research I’ve conducted over the last few years, research participants even use Google as a verb. (more…)
Heather Hogue
February 1st, 2011
In the January/February issue of Foreign Affairs, Clay Shirky succinctly lays out a social purpose and political strategy for utilizing Social Media to gain organizational capacity where no hierarchical presence exists. While interesting, I’ll skip the political strategy and repeat some of the uses of social technology used over time. It’s far more interesting when applied against a backdrop of necessity of human virtue versus a need to find a great restaurant in Georgetown. (more…)
Dustin Collis
