"Let me feel your forehead"

How often when you were sick (or trying to seem sick) did your mom lean in and press her check or the back of her hand to your forehead? Often with me she would say, "Hmm you don't feel warm..."

Well technology has finally caught up with mom's skin sensitivity. I was at the doctor's office this past Friday for a touch of pink eye and the PA pulls out this device and lets me know that she will be taking my temperature.

A gentle swipe across my forehead and down my temple and she was done, "98.6˚ it is very accurate too," she says and she continues filling out the form.

I wonder what other sensations we have been having for all this time that would be a more accurate (and less invasive) product. Time will surely tell.

QWERTY or DVORAK

this is typed on a Dvorak

Well at least that first line was. I discovered that a Dvorak typeset can be used on any computer. Dvorak is a keyboard organization that aligns the most used letters the home row line.

That's right, there is a better configuration than QWERTY. Back in the day when typewriters were used the Dvorak was used. Then it was replaced because, get this, it was too efficient!! Typers were crawling over the keyboard so fast that the hammers would get stuck and jam on one another.

Over the years the QWERTY keyboard became the standard for typewriters and so when the transition to computers came the slowing effects of the qwerty had been somewhat overcome so people could still make quality use.

This is a great example of how technology and user studies can affect our landscape of products. What would have been if our keyboards were reassessed after the silicone revolution? Would there be less carpal tunnel cases? Would typing have a easier learning curve? Would this have changed how texting (SMS) developed?

I will be trying the Dvorak keyboard occasionally to see if there is a benefit. Read more about the alternate keyboard arrangement online.

roll up your window

As product continue to improve and change shouldn't our expressions change with it? The other day Sarah, my wife, asked me to "roll up the window."

My jumpy mind took the tangent for a ride, so I let her know that I wasn't able to "roll" it up rather I had to use a switch.

Will our expressions become modern or will it be dubbed as classic?

Another discovery I had was in MS Word. Over the years I developed the mantra "Save and save often!" If you were one of the many computer lab rats that lost hours of work simply because you didn't save after each paragraph then you know what I am talking about.

As you can see the "Save" shortcut is an icon of the old 3.5" Floppy disk. I think it has been at least three years now that they haven't been including them in the mainstream computer options.

When will it come to pass that the icon for saving will be disconnected? Will children only know the 3.5" disk because of the save shortcut, and never have seen one?

And this one if for free: "Never look a gift horse in the mouth" Back in time horses were gifts for more than spoiled children. To ensure that a horse was in good health you would inspect their teeth. Translation: Don't review the quality of a gift, especially in front of the giver.

A new set of tools for the doctors

The medical world is changing so much and with the infusion of technology it seems that it may over complicate the very tasks that they were trying to do. Just imagine the forms and papers that you are used to completeing for you job if they were made digital. Likely you would need training on where to find certain things, as well as how to operate the certain tools.

Doctors and clinicians have been going through this for a long while. Also there were multiple layouts for the information making it all the more difficult to interpret and implement action. Microsoft has been working on a solution...

During the rigorous user-centered design process, more than 100 clinical needs were identified for standardization -- from how names are displayed to the display of patient information, dosages and dates. The toolkit turns the design guide into software components that developers and health customers can deploy, at no cost, in their own existing or upcoming clinical applications, saving their customers both money and time to market.

What sorts of things could be customized in your world that would be easier? Consider the cell phone chargers you had to buy every time you got a new phone, what if that were the same - you could save money.

I reminded myself today, Don't believe everything you see (meaning: just because it has been made that way, it doesn't mean it is right or that it can't be done another(better) way.

A journey of a thousand miles...

It's fantastic to see how words change over time and how our culture winds through the landscape of time like a river. The other day Jamie (a co-worker) was talking about taxis. I thought to myself, that seems like an abbreviation.

A few clicks later I found myself at wikipedia learning how the etymology traces all the way back to Paris and the 19th century. "Taximeter Cabriolet" has been contracted to Taxi Cab.

I like to see how things change and swerve as the culture and times takes its toll. As a design researcher my attention has been attuned to the way products are used by people and more so how people relate to the products.

Patent: Go Glove

Dispensing Apparatus Containing a Glove Stack and Method of Folding Gloves Therein