Technology takes the wheel

The nature of driving will be reshaped drastically and some auto industry players are trying to capture a piece of the revolutionary market they see coming in a few years. One of the technological revolutions referred to in this case is Google’s driverless car. Its potential transcends the notion of cruise control and by 2020, the connected car will be able to run along the highway, pass other vehicles, and probably take the next ramp off all on its own.

Another in-built ability it will have is to warn drivers of daily dangers such as pedestrians and cyclists who suddenly cross traffic. If the driver’s reaction time is slow, the car would take over. Some of the underlying actions that follow include hitting the brakes or steering away before it is too late. The driver’s eyes will also be monitored as well as the frequency of their closing to jerk them awake if they sleep at the wheel. Parking will be taken into account as well as the car will be able to go off and find a spot only to return later by themselves.

Additionally, vehicles available to most Americans will be able to transform the traditional driving experience by way of a combination of sensors within a car and cross-communication with other cars. As such, this boils down to the buy-ins from auto companies and their supplier networks. Not to mention their belief in the technology but also a way to gain a competitive edge.

Forum Two - Personas

Title: The secret life of a persona: When the personal becomes private

Authors: Elina Eriksson, Henrik Artman, and Anna Swartling

To conclude, personas in relation to user centered design and HCI can be broken down into some of the following observations. First of all, personas are advantageous and efficient especially in instances where a scarcity exists in availability of time, information or people (Eriksson, Artman, & Swartling, 2013).The method is also a possible remedy whether actual users are not known or need to be anonymous. For example, the approach in the paper has been used in systems security works well as a portrait for hacker communities or system attackers.  Another area where personas are used is in industrial settings in which high dissemination risk of information that is critical to business exists.

Personas could also be viewed from a user centered design perspective (Eriksson, Artman, & Swartling, 2013).  For example, they may alienate emancipatory design aspects or stereotype users to a higher degree.  However, there was no possibility presented to suggest a more traditional UCD (User Centered Design) where a meeting took place for a design to be conducted between prospective users and developers.  The persona method in this case helped users influence system design by getting their voices heard.

Equally important, another major contributing factor was the importance of secrecy transformation into a resource (Eriksson, Artman, & Swartling, 2013).  Thus, personality subtleties had to be incorporated in professional descriptions and the persona goals through small as well as important social markers.  The omission of details also proved to be a mechanism from which an organization can reorganize a persona.

References

Eriksson, E., Artman, H., & Swartling, A. (2013). The secret life of a persona: When the personal becomes private. SIGCHI (pp. 2677-2686). Paris: ACM.

Large – Scale Video Displays

Google has recently decided to embark on a project in which they are trying to develop large screen displays. The display will be made up of smaller screens that plug together in a similar fashion to legos. This in turn creates a seamless image. The screen could also be molded into different shapes and sizes and this can be attributed to its associated modular pieces.

Theoretically, the screen may be used for different functions such as watching television or movies. Internet and email may also be conducted simultaneously. However, manufacturers need to take into account the market demand by making screens cheaper and easier to install.

Lastly, though the project seems feasible, it does have a few challenges. One of them is the technicalities that come into play with a screen of this scale and magnitude. Secondly, it also faces the challenge of electronic software stitching issues between the seams. As such, they are contemplating to get some extra help from display experts, Gecko Design, as they do not have much experience in this particular area.