Life has been a trifle hectic recently what with the move back to the Netherlands from Philadelphia and working midweek in the UK. Not only am I behind with my blog posts I have a mountain of Guardian Weekly's to catch up on too. That's why an article from the July 20th edition has only just caught my eye.
The success of the printing press in 1476 was made possibly by the ready supply of cheap paper upon which to print. But where did the cheap paper come from? From underpants according to Dr Marco Mostert of Utrecht University.
Until the 13th century books were produced on expensive parchment. The breakthrough came when a way was found to manufacture cheap paper from the rags of old underwear. Marco's research has shown that the use of underwear increased dramatically in Europe after 1200, as more people moved into towns (rural folk apparently preferred to go without). More underwear in use meant an increased supply of rags, which in turn led to more paper being available to print on.
I find it fascinating that the development of the publishing industry and with it the spread of learning, depended on something so mundane. It is also interesting to note how these two breakthroughs came together. Caxton made it easy to publish, underpants made it cheap.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Small things matter
I've always thought that small details often say much, much more than their size would imply.
Here's an example. I'm sitting in the gate area after security waiting to board NorthWest flight 69 to Boston. As usual at Schiphol on a Sunday it is busy.
In front of me are two guys with fairly large bags. These are placed to the sides of their chairs partially blocking the way through to the 'plane. There's enough room for a person to walk through though. Besides who can blame them there's nowhere else to put their bags.
Along comes a NorthWest flight attendant in uniform with two wheeled bags one in each hand. He's a wide load and obviously cannot quite get through the gap.
So what does he do? Does he wheel one bag through at a time? Does he ask politely if one of the guys could move his bag?
Nope. He blasts through pushing the bags sideways partially running over the corner of one of them. He doesn't even turn around to look, let alone apologise.
Now what does that tell you about NorthWest's attitude to customers?
All of us sitting here will board the 'plane. We are all customers even if we are not yet on board.
It's a small, tiny detail - insignificant to some I am sure - but I suspect it is telling sign.
Working in the service sector is tough. Customers are often rude and ungrateful. However I would maintain that every single interaction with a customer - whether minor or major, whether on duty or off duty, whether in the 'plane or outside it - is an opportunity to shine or stink.
Think about the companies you respect for fabulous customer service. Think about the sort of people they employ. And think about what they would have done in this situation. They would have had respect for us poor passengers and not because there was a corporate communication saying be nice to customers. They would have respect because that's the kind of person they are.
The NorthWest guy pushed through because that's the knd of person he is.
That's what small details are - they are indicators of the kind of people we really are.
UPDATE turns out the guy was the senior flight attendant on the flight
Here's an example. I'm sitting in the gate area after security waiting to board NorthWest flight 69 to Boston. As usual at Schiphol on a Sunday it is busy.
In front of me are two guys with fairly large bags. These are placed to the sides of their chairs partially blocking the way through to the 'plane. There's enough room for a person to walk through though. Besides who can blame them there's nowhere else to put their bags.
Along comes a NorthWest flight attendant in uniform with two wheeled bags one in each hand. He's a wide load and obviously cannot quite get through the gap.
So what does he do? Does he wheel one bag through at a time? Does he ask politely if one of the guys could move his bag?
Nope. He blasts through pushing the bags sideways partially running over the corner of one of them. He doesn't even turn around to look, let alone apologise.
Now what does that tell you about NorthWest's attitude to customers?
All of us sitting here will board the 'plane. We are all customers even if we are not yet on board.
It's a small, tiny detail - insignificant to some I am sure - but I suspect it is telling sign.
Working in the service sector is tough. Customers are often rude and ungrateful. However I would maintain that every single interaction with a customer - whether minor or major, whether on duty or off duty, whether in the 'plane or outside it - is an opportunity to shine or stink.
Think about the companies you respect for fabulous customer service. Think about the sort of people they employ. And think about what they would have done in this situation. They would have had respect for us poor passengers and not because there was a corporate communication saying be nice to customers. They would have respect because that's the kind of person they are.
The NorthWest guy pushed through because that's the knd of person he is.
That's what small details are - they are indicators of the kind of people we really are.
UPDATE turns out the guy was the senior flight attendant on the flight
Saturday, August 18, 2007
More from Agile 2007
Heather's wrap-up from the Agile 20007 conference. Congratulations to her for what I hear was a terrific presentation. I really like Heather's concluding words. Sometimes we are so focused on our own internal issues that we forget to benchmark ourselves against the real world out there. What we might find routine the rest of the world considers innovation in action. Thanks Heather for reminding me how important it is to get out more.
"Day 2 was pretty uneventful, but I've had a lot of opportunity to talk with developers, IT managers and product owners about UCD. Its pretty cool that they're so interested. I am discovering that many of these people are seeking to establish UCD groups in their company.
One of the interesting things I learned about was from a Google session. He was suppose to be talking about how they were doing agile (which he eventually got to), but what caught my attention was their "fix it" days. Once or twice a quarter they will seize 5000 engineers (*pfft*) onto a problem or bug and fix it. This stuck me as an awesome idea. It takes some work to organize a "fix it" day, but i can imagine me & my own teammates organizing our efforts for one day and knocking out a lot of 'good intentions' small projects. I'm sure most teams could do something like this.
Day 3, my last day at Agile 2007 and our presentation day didn't turn out quiet like I imagined it. Andrew (my UCD mate presenting with me) wasn't able to make it, so I had to go solo. When it was time for our 30 minutes of "UCD is awesome" glory, I probably talked a little bit too fast at in the beginning, but I chilled out. Everyone stayed awake, people stopped emailing and doodling. AND I didn't even have to read a single slide. I think I connected to my audience. And people asked questions too! It kicked ass completely.
It dawns on me, when I get opportunities like this to speak with others in our industry I learn more where my strengths and weaknesses lie. These events are excellent to pick up new techniques to keep doing one's craft better. Even more cool though, where other teams are challenged to find a sweet spot to integrate real users into Agile development, our UCD team at Elsevier is trailblazing methods for integrating our practices into Agile development."
Heather Williams :: Elsevier UCD Philadelphia :: h.williams@elsevier.com
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Guest blog from a single at Agile 2007
My friend and colleague, Heather Williams is attending this event in Washington DC. In fact together with Andrew Ferguson she is presenting an Experience Report there on Wednesday at 4 p.m. If you are there, please do stop by say hello and cheer loudly at appropriate moments.
Anyway, here is the first of Heather's guest contributions:
"Going to a conference as a single, especially when its not a conference in your own "domain" can be a bit intimidating. At least it was for me, as a UCDer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User-centered_design), when I checked in at Agile 2007.
When I arrived late afternoon today I registered, strolled around and starting staking out the place, the people, the atmosphere. I crashed the last hour of my Shepherd's tutorial on prototyping & usability testing. That was neat. I got a chance to study the program in a more readable manner (the online program is seriously lacking in ease of readability). While I'm at Agile 2007 I'm doing my second ever conference presentation on Wednesday with colleague Andrew Ferguson ("The UCD Perspective: Before and After Agile" http://www.agile2007.org/index.php?page=sub/&id=563). So I was able to scope out our room and get a feel for the crowd we're going to be talking with.
With the first day of a conference comes, of course, the grand opening social event. Tonight was a lovely candle light buffet service with soft TV sitcom music playing in the background. Being a single at a conference can be a little lonely also, especially when so many others arrive with their own network of classmates or colleagues. My network does not arrive for another day. So when the balloon artist asked me if I would like something I said, "Oh yeah, especially if it's big and I can wear it!" He made me a wonderful hat (http://www.flickr.com/photos/hgruber/1110434476/in/set-72157601426489591/)! What a conversation piece that turned out to be! It's a sure way to help any fish out of water to make friends. I met scads of people and was even able to evangelize UCD mythology in an Agile environment.
Day one was not so bad, even as a single. Hum, I wonder what tomorrow will bring..."
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Canada is fantastic
My family and I have just returned from a vacation in western Canada. We flew to Vancouver, rented an RV (motorhome) and drove to Calgary, then flew back to Philly.
I can say without hesitation that this was one of our best vacations ever. Canada is simply spectacular. The people are wonderfully friendly and welcoming. There is so much to do and so much to see there. It really is a terrific vacation destination.
Our rough itinerary is below. If you'd like some insider tips on any of these places then please leave me a comment.
Philadelphia to Vancouver, day trip to Victoria, Vancouver, Harrison Hot Springs, Manning Park, Oliver (Okanagan Valley), Fintry (Okanagan Lake), McLure, Wells Grey Park, Jaspar, Lake Louise, Banff, Bow Valley Park, Cochrane,Calgary.
We stayed at the following campsites:
Bigfoot (Harrison Hot Springs), Mule Deer (Manning Park), KOA Oliver (Okanagen Valley), Fintry Park (Okanagan Lake), Clearwater Lake Wells Grey), Whistlers (Jaspar), Lake Louise RV, Bow Valley Campground, Bow Rivers Edge (Cochrane)
Photo's here
Friday, July 20, 2007
More on airport usability
I am sitting on the floor opposite Gate A4 at Philadelphia Airport waiting for our flight to Amsterdam. It took me a while to find a power outlet that wasn't being used by someone else.
From where I sit I can see at least 10 people plugged into various power outlets. Some have laptops, others DVD players; some are charging their mobile 'phones. Some of us are sitting on the floor, the lucky ones have cables stretched to a seat.
Before I plugged in I took a walk up the terminal. It's the same story around all the gates.
It would seem to me that there is a great opportunity her for the Philadelphia Airport Authority to provide chairs with built-in power outlets. Wouldn't that be an improvement for customers?
Since this same scene is to be found at airports all over the country, perhaps the greatest opportunity is for airport furniture designers to build useful chairs for airports.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Last post from Blog|Philadelphia
Heather's final post:
Blog|Philadelphia, the unconference, is over. I had a very interesting experience over the last two days. I'm glad I went. I'm also thankful for the wireless access so I would multitask.
Though there was mention of vlogs <outbind://11/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlog> , or video blogs, I was wondering why there was not more discussion of other forms of social media. Also, what about outside the world of Philadelphia?! I have a friend in Belgium writing his Ph.D. around interactive TV <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_television> . The BBC <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/5092618.stm> is doing a lot with this viewer experience. And what about new technologies? Yes, there's the glorious iPhone, but what did the unconference SME's know about other technologies on the horizon? Gee golly, what about the Microsoft Surface <http://www.microsoft.com/surface/> ? That's definitely the coolest thing I've seen since ... hum, maybe one of the coolest things I've ever seen.
It's great that an interested, local community came together. I learned there is a very active [professional] blogging community in Philadelphia. And my Twitter <http://www.twitter.com/> friends expanded from my new connections. I've learned not to be intimidated by blogging and perhaps to even check out group blogging in the future. Sounds like it could be fun.
As a first time blogger, I did get interviewed for Ziddio <http://www.ziddio.com/> netTv for my first time blog experience. That was neat. Thanks to you Jonathan. Who know's how long I would have waited for my this first blog opportunity otherwise!
Heather Williams::Elsevier UCD Philadelphia
h(dot)williams(at)elsevier(dot)com
Blog|Philadelphia, the unconference, is over. I had a very interesting experience over the last two days. I'm glad I went. I'm also thankful for the wireless access so I would multitask.
Though there was mention of vlogs <outbind://11/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlog> , or video blogs, I was wondering why there was not more discussion of other forms of social media. Also, what about outside the world of Philadelphia?! I have a friend in Belgium writing his Ph.D. around interactive TV <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_television> . The BBC <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/5092618.stm> is doing a lot with this viewer experience. And what about new technologies? Yes, there's the glorious iPhone, but what did the unconference SME's know about other technologies on the horizon? Gee golly, what about the Microsoft Surface <http://www.microsoft.com/surface/> ? That's definitely the coolest thing I've seen since ... hum, maybe one of the coolest things I've ever seen.
It's great that an interested, local community came together. I learned there is a very active [professional] blogging community in Philadelphia. And my Twitter <http://www.twitter.com/> friends expanded from my new connections. I've learned not to be intimidated by blogging and perhaps to even check out group blogging in the future. Sounds like it could be fun.
As a first time blogger, I did get interviewed for Ziddio <http://www.ziddio.com/> netTv for my first time blog experience. That was neat. Thanks to you Jonathan. Who know's how long I would have waited for my this first blog opportunity otherwise!
Heather Williams::Elsevier UCD Philadelphia
h(dot)williams(at)elsevier(dot)com
Friday, July 13, 2007
Day 2 of Blog|Philadelphia, an Unconference
Heather's 3rd contribution:
Where the heck is everyone?
Yesterday ended on a low note – very subdued. I suspected that the previous evening's entertainments was wearing heavy among the key personalities driving this event. Though everyone perked up for the happy hour at the end of the day, hosted by the Radisson (since this is there the unconference is held), I did not continue on with the planned after party. If I had, perhaps I would understand why no one is here yet *Doh*
So I took this time to wiki the term, "unconference". I confess, I've never been to one. In fact, I had not heard of these before now. Turns out it's a "conference" where content is driven &/or created by the participants, on a day-by-day basis (thx wiki <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconference> ). This could explain why the moderators seemed so unprepared yesterday … maybe the attendees were unprepared!?
Day 2 promises to be good though. There's a bit on Mobile Social Networking, which I think has yet to even boom. New devices like the iPhone will keep other mobile creators coming out with new and better technologies and driving the next evolution of user experiences.
In the late morning I may check out some open-source marketing (what's that anyway?) and then hop into the '2.0 world without a textbook'. Then looks like I may wrap up with 'Group blogging' … I think that sounds like fun!
Heather Williams :: Elsevier UCD Philadelphia
h(dot)williams(at)elsevier(dot)com
Where the heck is everyone?
Yesterday ended on a low note – very subdued. I suspected that the previous evening's entertainments was wearing heavy among the key personalities driving this event. Though everyone perked up for the happy hour at the end of the day, hosted by the Radisson (since this is there the unconference is held), I did not continue on with the planned after party. If I had, perhaps I would understand why no one is here yet *Doh*
So I took this time to wiki the term, "unconference". I confess, I've never been to one. In fact, I had not heard of these before now. Turns out it's a "conference" where content is driven &/or created by the participants, on a day-by-day basis (thx wiki <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconference> ). This could explain why the moderators seemed so unprepared yesterday … maybe the attendees were unprepared!?
Day 2 promises to be good though. There's a bit on Mobile Social Networking, which I think has yet to even boom. New devices like the iPhone will keep other mobile creators coming out with new and better technologies and driving the next evolution of user experiences.
In the late morning I may check out some open-source marketing (what's that anyway?) and then hop into the '2.0 world without a textbook'. Then looks like I may wrap up with 'Group blogging' … I think that sounds like fun!
Heather Williams :: Elsevier UCD Philadelphia
h(dot)williams(at)elsevier(dot)com
Thursday, July 12, 2007
More from BlogPhilly Unconference
The second installment from guest blogger Heather:
We've passed the lunchtime milestone. It was a lovely buffet of Philly cheese steaks (with cheesewiz – what was up with that?), onion rings and cheesecake. Yum. And during friendly lunchtime banter I learn there's a neat collection of people here that probably would not come together under normal circumstances.
But now it's time for the afternoon sessions and it's very …. unstructured, maybe that's part of an unconference (it is a free conference).
I'm sitting in a session on Social Life <http://www.secondlife.com/> . I am curious to learn more because a work colleague asked me asked me recently, "Why aren't we doing more with our products in second life?" WHAT?! This question made me a little uneasy and I wondered if I should question the credibility of a colleague I respected. I had previously checked out Second Life before and thought it was mainly for gaming and living in an alternate virtual persona. But I seem to be a little misguided.
Don Bain <http://www.electricsheepcompany.com/> is talking about how socially engaged communities are creating environments in Second Life for a wide variety of things.
Medical educators can set up a learning environment for medical residents wanting to specialize in surgery – in the safe virtual environment they can practice their procedures on a virtual avatar before on a real patient.
If this is all true, I wonder what other opportunities there are there? Can I do user understanding in Second Life? Usability testing?...
BTW, the youngest person here is in 4th grade!
Heather Williams
Elsevier UCD Philadelphia
h(dot)williams(at)elsevier(dot)com
We've passed the lunchtime milestone. It was a lovely buffet of Philly cheese steaks (with cheesewiz – what was up with that?), onion rings and cheesecake. Yum. And during friendly lunchtime banter I learn there's a neat collection of people here that probably would not come together under normal circumstances.
But now it's time for the afternoon sessions and it's very …. unstructured, maybe that's part of an unconference (it is a free conference).
I'm sitting in a session on Social Life <http://www.secondlife.com/> . I am curious to learn more because a work colleague asked me asked me recently, "Why aren't we doing more with our products in second life?" WHAT?! This question made me a little uneasy and I wondered if I should question the credibility of a colleague I respected. I had previously checked out Second Life before and thought it was mainly for gaming and living in an alternate virtual persona. But I seem to be a little misguided.
Don Bain <http://www.electricsheepcompany.com/> is talking about how socially engaged communities are creating environments in Second Life for a wide variety of things.
Medical educators can set up a learning environment for medical residents wanting to specialize in surgery – in the safe virtual environment they can practice their procedures on a virtual avatar before on a real patient.
If this is all true, I wonder what other opportunities there are there? Can I do user understanding in Second Life? Usability testing?...
BTW, the youngest person here is in 4th grade!
Heather Williams
Elsevier UCD Philadelphia
h(dot)williams(at)elsevier(dot)com
Guest Blog from BlogPhilly unconference
This is a contribution from my friend and colleague Heather Williams:
Today is Blog|Philadelphia's unconference on social media, held in Philadelphia. Its my first unconference. And this is my first 'blog' … if I can call it that.
I got off to a great start by missing the first hour b/c I was on a conference call chatting with colleagues about the glories & benefits of UCD integration with Agile development cycles. Now, 4 hours later, I'm getting into the unconference groove after a somewhat bumpy start.
I've hopped between the three morning sessions. I thought I was really going to get into the "work-private live balancing" session and I accidentally ended up in the "creating and leveraging digital video session" (which seemed more like a sales pitch for a v-blogging site), but now I'm listening in on the marketing of blogs for business … lots of underlying "understanding your users needs". Know who your readership is and you'll know more about what they want to read and how to get the message to them. Who knew!?
Stay turned, more surely to come…
Heather Williams :: Elsevier UCD Philadelphia
Today is Blog|Philadelphia's unconference on social media, held in Philadelphia. Its my first unconference. And this is my first 'blog' … if I can call it that.
I got off to a great start by missing the first hour b/c I was on a conference call chatting with colleagues about the glories & benefits of UCD integration with Agile development cycles. Now, 4 hours later, I'm getting into the unconference groove after a somewhat bumpy start.
I've hopped between the three morning sessions. I thought I was really going to get into the "work-private live balancing" session and I accidentally ended up in the "creating and leveraging digital video session" (which seemed more like a sales pitch for a v-blogging site), but now I'm listening in on the marketing of blogs for business … lots of underlying "understanding your users needs". Know who your readership is and you'll know more about what they want to read and how to get the message to them. Who knew!?
Stay turned, more surely to come…
Heather Williams :: Elsevier UCD Philadelphia
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