The Economy

The love economy is what I really mean to talk about. I just spent the day around fifty-some teenagers and the biggest thing on my mind is that for one day (not to say they don't receive it elsewhere) they will feel loved and important.

Now that I consciously reflect on all the things I said there wasn't really a time that I was truly admonishing a child, but my efforts were more subtle. I tried to speak to them about things they were doing and listen with full curiosity to their stories of whatever it is they were wanted to share.

I suppose since you are reading this you have some interest in what I have to say and might even take influence, so here goes - show interest in a kid in your life, chances are she respects what you say and do, or that he wants desperately for you to approve of what he is doing right.

So spend the time and make the effort - even if there isn't an immediate response to your doings know that it will affect things unseen long before the bloom arrives.

Big Bird may have never been

I recently read The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell and I was impressed with the concepts that he was describing.

One story that stuck with me most of all was the telling of how Sesame Street was able to resonate with children so well, research. And not just simple Q&A with little Joey, but intense ethnography and eye tracing technology.

In case you are not familiar with the layout of the children's show here is a dirty download: Puppets "teach" lessons of elementary topics through songs, rhymes, and dancing and games. Each edu-tainment section was emceed by a overjoyed live person that reinforced the learning goal and introduced the next character.

This was the original plan as suggested by top psychologists of the day. They stated that mixing fiction (puppets) and reality (humans) would severely confuse and inhibit children's ability to learn and reason.

Fortunately the eye tracking studies told a different story. Whenever Elmo would be teaching a lovable factoid about the numbers 1-10 children were glued;, however when the person on the street scene would appear (no puppets for blocks) the viewing child would soon become bored and her eyes would wander to the next best thing.

This may have not been a big deal since the "human" parts were very short, but when you have a few of them throughout the show a child was for sure to lose interest and move on. Thus was the birthing of the Sesame Street gang which you know as Big Bird, Oscar the grouch, Snufflufugus and others.

The new concept of mixing humans and puppets for the transition scenes worked incredibly well. The eye tracking studies proved the concept, as well as the endless staring (and learning) by children.

Now I have to ask myself (and you), which is better? A TV show that separates fiction and reality, but doesn't command attention - or a TV show that captivates a child, but risks a surreal state of mind.

Family Tree

Earlier today I started emailing people for the family tree. My last name is somewhat unique, at least that is what I thought. I went through Facebook to find over 30 people with the name Davlin. Some even held it as their first name.

What I know so far is that the Davlin's came from Ireland and apparently spread around. I hope to link up some of these people and see how wide my paternal side runs.

As for my mom's side it is more of a mystery. She learned around the age of 40 that she was adopted. Which leaves my maternal side at a question.

If you know any Davlins pass on my info. I will try to chart the progress here as I learn more.

I am not sure what my motivation is just yet for charting my family tree, I am sure I will learn it as I go.

butter knife

well i havent written in my blog in the longest time and for some reason i think i should again. something about learning by review, and that cant be done if my thoughts arent recorded.

my mom mentioned to me the other day that the fedex logo is amazing because it has an arrow between the E and x. astonished that i never shared this with her throughout my time in school i pondered well maybe i could write about it myself.

the shipping industry is (and has been) overcome with the obsession that moving forward and going somewhere should be explicitly demarcated on their trucks via their logos. well in the early 90s federal express was looking to retool their image and realized that their most loyal of customers were nicknaming them fedex.

after careful creation of a typeface customers would forever revel in the hidden arrow that resides between the E and the x. Do you choose FedEx now due to their designer-ly logo and catchy name or do you just have a disdain for the brown?

one further thing i would like to point out is that the other e dons a striking resemblence to the fancy flatware item also known as a butter knife.

-that's the way i see it.

life takes reflection

Life is interesting and, well, the longer I wait to do things that I want to do the longer it seems things are going to get done.

I have been wanting to catalog my life one day at a time but many distractions have been keeping me from doing so.  I always wait for that next "first" to come up. I missed the March 1st, I missed the Jan 1st and well I think I have to just start whether it's a "first" or not.

I have been a firm believer that the best way to learn is by review what you have already heard. So this all the more confirms that I should be taking time to reflect on my day.  Uday and Pree have really encouraged me to clarify my understanding through the practice of writing.

So here goes, I can't say that I am going to write per diem, or with the depth of thought that Doogie Houser MD managed to script, but I will mention the big stones in my day and what they meant to me.

"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

Patent: Surgical Tray

Surgical Tray

Bill Watterson

Bill Watterson works on a Calvin & Hobbes strip to be published on Sunday, May 04, 1986. 

Photograph by Pete Copeland on 2/24/1986. This photo was published in The Plain Dealer, March 1, 1986, in the article titled Cartoon Caprices.

Bill Watterson, creator of the syndicated cartoon strip "Calvin & Hobbes" is shown in this 1986 file photo. 

Help: 

I am recreating the complete collection of Calvin and Hobbes. If you can help connect me with the remaining strips I need that would be amazing. Message me on Twitter @robdavlin

(or comment below and I will share my contact information.)

How to catch a tiger

Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson first appeared on November 18, 1985. 

It was only published in ~30 newspapers.