MSIM 2011

Well, MSIM cohort of 2011, we have officially graduated and are moving into the next chapter of our stores.

In the last two months since the end of the program for us, I have found myself revisiting this site and rethinking my own MSIM experience in the new context of job searching. I've found myself applying for postitions that I would have never dreamed even existed two years ago, and viewing other jobs in a completely different light. For example, in the process of applying for a reseach analyst position at one firm, I started thinking about how much my research skills have improved because of the knowledge I have gained about searching and filtering. My ability to find the right information, or at least know how to better look for the right information, has been significantly improved through my time in the iSchool. While taxonomy and XML will never be my favorite subjects, I find I have a profound appreciation for the roles both play in enabling me to do what I want to do in the systems I find myself in. The lens through which I see my future is simply changed.

What I really wanted to say, though, as I write at the end of this collection of different MSIM thoughts, is that I have appreciated the interaction and sharing of ideas between members of this cohort the most. The in-class, after-class, and random-places discussions are one of the most valuable and informative parts of my time in the program, I honestly believe. The classes had their high moments and low moments, and we all have our different stories of frustration and excitement with projects and research, but ultimately I appreciate the chance to have met everyone in our cohort the most. 

So I hope we can keep in touch as we all scatter into the world of solving information problems and making information work. Go forth and inform!

And so here we are. We are nearly masters of information management. What have we learned in the past two years about what that means? What are you going to tell your friends, family, and future employers about what it means to manage information?

This Thursday, June 2, the UW iSchool will present Information Overload. Undergrads, Masters, and Doctoral candidates from the Information School will present our Capstone projects – the culminating event of our academic efforts – at the UW Tower starting at 6PM that evening. Details are included on the graphic, above, and all are welcome to join us (RSVP requested). Hope to see you there!

Have you ever got tongue tied talking to a friend or college about cloud computing?  I remember having a debate about whether Yahoo mail in the 90's was cloud computing.  I was trying to describe why it was't and I felt like I was loosing.  

Now imagine a scenario where you have to explain and justify cloud computing to executives at your work.  I've tried that too and was moderately successful but I still didn't have a good grasp of all the aspects of describing the benefits and challenges of cloud computing.

Surprisingly, Tony Scott, CIO of Microsoft has some very insightful things to say on the subject.  

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9194218/Microsoft_CIO_Eats_His_Own_Cloud_Dog_Food?taxonomyId=154&pageNumber=1

He's able to explain why it's hard to get your finance guys to buy into the cloud utility computing model as well as given me some good ammo when the topic turns to security issues.  

An article in Slate.com today gave an interesting account of a small child who seems to mistake an iPhone for his mother. Since he spends a lot of time listening to his mother's voice on the phone and using the photo album to look at pictures of his mother, the child calls the phone "mama," - and then invents another (similar) word to refer to his mother when his parents try to correct the situation. 

But the experiential truth for the child, as it turns out, may be far more complicated based on his stage of development. Early in life and without fully-developed language tools, children may use a word to refer to both a person and an action, or as a command for a specific need (such as "show me pictures of mama on the phone again").  

Even though this particular instance involves a very small child with still-developing language skills, I think it serves as a good reminder that the articulation of experiences can be as varied as users themselves. In addition, technology has become a sort of feedback loop with real-world experience. His father writes: "...Luka goes down a slide, I film it, we watch, and then he goes down the slide again. The recording of his memories is intimately intertwined with the experiences that become memories, almost from the start of his life." By the time they grow up, then, the very small children of today (digital natives) will have integrated technology into their lives very differently from digital immigrants.

I've already written a little on the power of good User Experience design elsewhere, but also wanted to share an amazing post (from June 2010) from Austin Seraphin. He reports on his first week using Apple's VoiceOver on iPhone.

I remember TA Shaun Kane speaking about designing applications for blind users in IMT540, so I wanted to share a user's view of the technology. Austin's iPhone allows him to receive text messages, use most applications (notably, however, not iTunes), and see colors:

"The other night, however, a very amazing thing happened. I downloaded an app called Color ID. It uses the iPhone’s camera, and speaks names of colors. It must use a table, because each color has an identifier made up of 6 hexadecimal digits. This puts the total at 16777216 colors, and I believe it. Some of them have very surreal names, such as Atomic Orange, Cosmic, Hippie Green, Opium, and Black-White. These names in combination with what feels like a rise in serotonin levels makes for a very psychedelic experience."

His full post is available here.

UX Magazine recently published the first article of a series by our own Professor Samantha Starmer entitled Don't Become a Digital Dinosaur;  it's well worth a read. Samantha argues that UX designers need to focus on the complete user experience -- including offline and mobile -- in order to deliver a holistic customer experience. 

The Internet can start to feel like work after a while. Particularly if one's RSS feed fills up with Very Important People we should all emulate to be good designers and content specialists.

Then every once in a while I have the good fortune to stumble on something really engaging on the Internet. I just started reading style rookie. It's a blog by Tavi, a 14-year-old fashion enthusiast whose posts range from stream of consciousness about starting high school to analysis of fall fashion lines to showing off her wonderful school-folder collages. Tavi's posts are very visual, but her writing is also extremely thoughtful and straightforward. She seems to have found the balance in putting a lot of care into her content while keeping it current.

I think Tavi will be my new role model for creating content. I found her from this post by Penelope Trunk of the Brazen Careerist, so I guess I'm in good company.