Creative Instability, Frameworks, and Syntax
Going to conferences, if they are good, fills me with moments of euphoria. And at the recent AEA in San Francisco, I had that experience while listening to a talk by Liz Danzico. I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of emergent properties. For all that you can say about Web 2.0, the API libraries and frameworks have provided the catalyst for this wave of individual innovation: Be it something as simple (from a user’s perspective) as co-opting your Twitter feed to post to your Facebook account, or some other “mash-up” utilized by a developer on a published site.
In Liz Danzico’s talk, she used the analogy of Miles Davis’ innovation of modal jazz and its use of musical modes as its framework. Some would say agreement on any framework is the important part (be it chord progression or modal sketches) but some frameworks allow for greater innovation, or as Davis put it “creative instability”. In her discussion she focused on websites as frameworks (not the more literal translation of Ruby on Rails, Django or CSS frameworks). We as web developers provide the user, a framework for innovation. In our shift to user created content we’re providing the playground for interaction, not static environments. This requires the use of smart defaults to encourage participation. Her example of the discrepancy between organ donation adoption in the US vs. Europe “ being that while both countries support the concept, Europe’s adoption of close to 95% (and ours of around 10%) - is due to an opt-in versus opt-out default.
Danzico went on to compare smart defaults to the “Yes, and” context of Improv. In the one painful improv class I took, I learned quickly how difficult it is to perpetuate the flow of dialogue. You have to always respond in the positive or innovation is shut down, and the sketch grinds to a halt. In this move from static content to dialogues between users, we are seeing (what Danzico quoting Alex Wright’s observation in Glut) “a resurgence to a kind of oral tradition.’ While we’re publishing blogs or tweets, we’re less publishing and more talking. She went on to discuss the importance of paying attention to your users and their expectations. The use of Crazy Egg and other eyetracking studies are web versions of “desire paths”. We’re observing where users want there to be interaction or result.
User-centered & participatory design are too focused on design - not on design in use.
-Liz Danzico, AEA SF 2008
On a recent redesign that I worked on, we were armed with the data from Crazy Egg, and were able to see that most users click on the large images of products, even if they weren’t tied to a product description. The desire to just go there and see that, even if I don’t know what it is - was strong. We proceeded to build that into the site, making even those images that are more visual decoration, links to the actual product it’s a picture of. Danzico stated that user-centred and participatory design, involve the user in the design process but it still differs from their actual use.
In reading a recent article in Wired on the English language, it discussed the fact that
By 2020, native speakers will make up only 15 percent of the estimated 2 billion people who will be using or learning the language.
-Michael Erard, in Wired
It reminded me that while as developers we’re creators of a website framework – we can’t always control the syntax used within our mediums. We provide ways cross-purposed content can be cited. Such as the “posted via” an API, source when listed in an application other than it’s origin. (It will be interesting what these items will say when we achieve “ubiquitous computing” ) “ I hope to god locations stay vague and we won’t have examples of my tweets being “posted via BathroomWall”.) And while the Twitter Facebook app won’t post your @username replies from Twitter, it will post your mentions of friends @username in the body - a context specific syntax that has ventured out of it’s intended venue.
You can see the change history of the application in reviewer’s posts on the Twitter Facebook application reviews. One example is that the way a tweet is viewed on facebook changed from [Name] “is Twittering” to [Name] followed by update. User's have noticed some of the things that work and don't work due to the cross-over sytnax. Some of the comments taken from the Twitter reviews:
Different purposes, different syntax
Twitter allows me to post freeform commentary. It's more of a personal narrative. Facebook status is more rigid and defined syntactically, i.e. User is [Tweet]. When my tweet comes over it reads [User][Tweet] and it doesn't parse correctly. One way from Facebook to Twitter would be great.
-by Paul Fu Jr at 8:20am on August 31st, 2008Didn't meet my needs
I wanted an application that would pass all my Facebook updates to Twitter, but not the reverse. The reasoning behind this is that: 1) All my Facebook updates are suitable for Twitter audience, but not the reverse. 2) Twitter replies are out of context and look awkward in Facebook, especially for FB users who haven't even heard of Twitter.
-by David Soul at 12:40am on August 26th, 2008
I wonder how long before we see a Facebook to Twitter post, and what developers/designers create to further meet the needs of their “cross-platform” users. Or what syntax will evolve in the next few months, much like the English language over the next decade, as users’ take matters into their own hands and create their own cross-application syntax as messages widen past their mediums.
Why I didn’t buy an iPhone.
I finally broke down and bought a new cell phone. The last one I had was an old school Nokia, and my mother had the same one. And it was newer. I wish I were kidding. But it served me well. Ages ago my first cell phone was a Nokia. I then switched to I believe a Motorola - I was dating a guy that worked there at the time - and did nothing but bitch about the interface. As though he had anything to do with it. You'd make a choice on the Nokia, and you could hit the same button over and over to just jump through the controls. I want to delete something, I hit the same button a couple of times, I was done. With the Motorola interface it required that I jump from the left button to the right and back to the left. To apparently save me from myself, and prevent me from too rapidly doing what I wanted to do. (Hmm... where have I experienced this before? *coughwindows!*) And with that one thing it essentially sealed my fate of Nokia brand loyalty. The Motorola didn't hold a charge (btw this was eons ago - for all I know Motorola is kicking ass in the cell phone division. Ok, I actually do know that's not so true - just from reading on their lack of innovation after the Razr, but I digress...)
Not to say I wouldn't take an iPhone *snap* like that. I thought long and hard and it's one of the reasons I didn't buy a cell phone for the longest time. To iPhone or not to iPhone, that was the question. I compared rates. Wondered if I would actually USE the data enough to justify an almost doubling of our cell phone bill. After some time and being held at gunpoint by my husband who's cell was literally dropping connections (He was using my even older cell phone.) I broke down and got another Nokia.
My reasoning was this. I used to have an old Klein mountain bike. A hard tail. The thing was a beauty, elegant, the brand taken off - it was just red. It must have been a 1988 (the Klein shown here is actually mine without the decals!)? I got it used in 1994?! But it had internal cable housing, which I just thought was such the shit. It was a gift for riding in Colorado, and California. Nice peaty trails. Then I moved to Arizona. And after some endless rides on the rocky trails - such as Desert Classic, Papago Park, Mormon, National, and Pemberton I vowed to get suspension. I didn't just get front suspension. I got full. And it was awesome. And I rode it all the time. But I never knew what it was like to just have front suspension. And when I raced (for a brief stint) folks would tell me it was better to have the hard tail. The less absorption of your speed. But I'll never know how a hardtail raced.
So that's why I decided to get a Nokia. It does tons of cooler stuff than my old one: takes pictures (I know, step into the 90s will you), and video, has mp3 player and get this: a radio?! (This actually thrills me, since you never know when a quake will hit and you'll need a radio. I actually know how handy this can be!) Which granted isn't as cool as the iPhone. But now I'll know how a hardtail races before I move on to full suspension.
From Suppe(nkuche) to Nuts!
I really should be asleep. I'm tired and not particularly coherent. But feel I have to write something to say goodbye to San Francisco! I have slight anxiety that my husband won't recognize me tomorrow (or should I say, won't want to recognize me) given I'm busting at the seams with the Frisco Fifteen. I don't know what it is about conferences in general. I'd argue it's all the sitting. But web folks aren't exactly rocking the calesthenics during the normal 9-5. However, 9 hours sedentary is slightly better than the 12 hours of sitting that I've been doing with very little exercise, around, or in between. Unless, of course, you count lifting that fork of cake to my lips during the intermissions. There's a part of me that's hoping I'm just the outer stack of the Libby Russian Doll and as soon as I get home I can take off the fat babsha outfit and get back down to my moderately hefty version.
Although tonight I think it's more of a German stack doll. Given I was busy stuffing her (Her being myself as a stack doll? Don't worry my referring to myself in the third person is actually freaking ME out...) with spatzel and strudel. God you think I'm joking. You think I'm just saying "spatzel and strudel" - to use alliteration. Sadly, no. I actually DID eat spatzel AND strudel. In the same night. And no I don't live in Germany. And no, I don't have a pushy German grandmother. And I'm pretty sure your average German would find that kind of indulgence gross. (Kzeerist!? She ate ze spatzel and ze strudel?! Tzsk, tzsk. Ze fat Americans vunder vy ze so fat?) Sorry. That was a bit inappropriate - but those are the voices in my head.
We went to Suppenküche! I had been there eons ago, and really miss remembered what it looked like inside. I had only remembered the wood tables, but in my mind made them modern. No. Not so. Rustic interior and you sit family style. Which meant we sat asap, and had a night of hillarity listening to the adventures of Bob and Tim. Bob and Tim currently pay 1/3 of what their neighbors pay for their apartment of 20+ yrs thanks to rent control. Tim gives his part time employees health benefits. They support Obama. They've been together over 25 years. Not sure if they're partners or friends and it was irrelevant. It was obvious that they both cared about each other, were proud of each other and truly enjoyed each other's company.
We sat and listened to them and their tales of travel to Hong Kong, Indonesia and Germany, only slightly more impressed with our mushroom gravy and pork loin. (I'm thinking of the tire rims I saw in the bike exhibit in PDX - about 3-4 inch rims called Large Marge. May need to get me some of them.)
We started the evening's journey by going to see the Golden Gate Bridge. We took a cab to the Palace of Fine Arts which is currently covered in scaffolding, but which was nonetheless truly impressive. We turned around and headed over to Crissy Field to stare off into the fog where I proceeded to tell spaceninja where the GG bridge, Tiburon, and Alcatraz would be - if you could see them. We hopped back in the cab back to Suppenkuche, and afterword asked some bewildered locals where City Hall was? "Uh. Well. *pointing, mouth moving but no words* Over there." The unsaid version being, "Why the hell are you going there now?"
"To show spaceninja how Willy Brown pimped his ride, adding gold plate to the centerpiece of the Civic Center. I would later read about the 3 years of extensive renovations and retrofitting that would serve San Franciscan's well and endure thanks to him.
Stuffed to the gills, we found ourselves buying a burger we wouldn't eat - so we could pee. Welcome to the city. We wound our way back to the hotel and parted ways to pack for home. It was a really awesome trip.
The age old query.
I've always been asked, "How best do you learn?" And it's such a tricky question. I've gone through times when I can pick up a book and (I'd like to say burn right through it gleaning all of the famously pertinent information, and devouring it from cover to cover!) - actually it's more like, I devour it rapidly for the first 40 pages. And then my interest peders out, and chances are good, I rarely if ever venture to use what I've learned other than the few samples attempted as coded in the book. The other venues for learning - the ones that happen daily - are more of an "I can't get this shit to work", variety - and is a sloppy combo of trying something, it not working, and seeing who else has run into it, trying more things, till I invariably learn something and/or fix it, not necessarily both as is sometimes the case with CSS and browser specific issues.
The other times I've felt truly engaged in learning has been in class. I'm not talking about the classes I drug myself to as a 20 something undergraduate. There were quite a few of those that had value. That I will never forget. For one the Belgian TA who taught me how to write. And I had always gotten A's in English - written well - but this woman took the gloves off and truly taught me a lot about writing. None of it evident here, of course. I'm sure she'd thank her lucky stars that I can't remember her name. But the classes, strangely, that I always loved, were math. In grade school, I moved from New Mexico, which must have been one of the crappier schools in the region to attend Notre Dame catholic school in California. My math skills were abysmal and I had to bust ass just to get up to speed. But it seemed like with the struggle came the fascination. I started spending my time in the math room at lunch. Don't get me wrong - I could have done other things! I actually CHOSE to be a social parriah. Or so I tell myself. But I enjoyed going into Ms. Williams' class at lunch. Then Mrs. Anderson's. And later in my second round of college (post-bachelor's dalliance with returning for a computer science degree - that I never got!) I found myself in the office hours of my calculus professors.
There was something about being in a group pouring over the problems that didn't quite make sense, or sharing what you'd figured out - that made the environment - one that some would consider a punishment - fun. Recently, at work, I've rediscovered this environment. It's not quite as fun as the few programming classes I took in college. We don't do anything that in depth, and it's not as nerdy as a daily math commune in the lunchroom. But we've started, as a group, reading Jquery in Action. Simple sliver of a book. (Note to self, one way to finish a book is to pick smaller ones. Brilliant!) Jam packed with relevant doo-dads. I'm only on Chapter 4. Been doing a chapter a week, which would seem penny-ante. But that's more than I would have read solo. And I'm actually applying it. Simple stuff like adding classes, adding event listeners, etc. Which I could have done with a simple getElementById, onmouseover etc. But it's so much simpler. I have to know so much less, to do so much more. It's really powerful.
So the technical book group is my new best friend as far as learning tools go. I'd really recommend it.
Tonight
Wow. It must be time for my monthly blog post. It's always so difficult when you haven't written in so long. Not that I have a public with expectations. Oh no. Don't get me wrong. It's more of, "Where do I start?!" Do I gun for the all inclusive - where the hell have I been? - holiday letter styled post? Or just "What I did today." To narrow the scope.
I think it's safer to start with the latter. Tonight I had my first whiskey sour. And then I had my second. It was a shindig for a very talented designer who is parting ways and heading off into the sunset (Or is that a tequila sunrise? Or is it a whiskey haze?) Given my still relative new-ness in Portland (We've been here a year and it feels like we're just now getting time to explore...) I'm always in awe when I roll upon a new place. Tonight's happy hour was at Alexis Restaurant a Greek place that is tucked into a kind of ratty section in town. As soon as the door closed behind us though, it was warm wood and filled bellies. I ate too much, drank too much, and made a mental note to get re-introduced to Mitch Hedberg.
Work seems to be keeping me insanely busy - in my days and unfortunately my nights. Last night I had to pry my eyes open to stop the looptape of nonsense around some random issue with navigation on a site I'm working on. It wasn't even something to resolve. So I couldn't get up, fix it and move on. It was just a remember to, remember to, remember to, don't forget to, maybe it's something in your css, try that before you talk to the programmer, but remember to, remember to, remember to. I'd love to cut the tongue out of my synaptic savant who kindly visits around 3 am to go over my to-do lists.
This week I need to crank out a blogpost for work. Given how infrequently I write on my own blog, it feels like a herculean task. So I'm hoping if I dip my toe in, ever so reluctantly here when I go to dive off the deep end it won't feel so frightening. There's something about putting something in writing in a professional venue that feels like it's going against everything my mother ever told me: Don't write notes! In catholic school, kids were forever getting busted for writing F*@! Sr. So and So (I can't even write the name of the poor sister who was the target - it feels so cruel NOW!) I can say I never did do it or get caught for it. In part due to my moms sage advice. It might appear a kind of questionable ethic lesson "If you do it you're an idiot, but if you leave a paper trail... *shaking her head*." An appropriate line of advice for white collar crime, maybe she had greater aspirations than I'd imagined for my future.
But as I was saying. Writing it down. Well, it feels like I'll never quite know the appropriate mix of professionalism, humor, appropriate topic. I'm just sure I'll cross a line. But I'm getting a bit more comfortable with the fact that that's who I am. At least here! On the work blog though. Egod. It feels like a dangerous testing ground. But I'll do it, and it'll be fine. I just need to start.