Newsmaker: Tech design with thought

(continued from previous page)

Name some changes you expect to see in humans as a result of our increased involvement with computers, electronics, and robots.
Norman: For years I used to say, "We shouldn't have to adapt to technology, it should adapt to us." I now believe that's wrong. We shouldn't have to adapt to arbitrary technology. On the other hand, so much of our modern life has been a major adaptation to the technology surrounding us, whether it's heating systems, lights, telephone, or television.

If you'd asked me to predict texting I'd have said, "No, it's really too hard. Jeesh, you need to type three times to get a 'C.' That's ridiculous." Not only did people learn it, but (they) learned it so well...So, there's an adaptation for you.

Now, just as an aside, I think it has not to do with the age...I think it has to do with how you live your life...In my case, it was easy because I grew up helping develop the technology so I learned it as it was developed. For many, it suddenly sprung on them and it's true, it's hard to keep up.

As people, we should not care about the technology. We should care about the benefits it gives us.

The issue is not how tech-savvy you are, or how quick you pick up to it. I believe these are things that often take many hours to master...You just didn't want to spend the next 20 hours of your life mastering it. But a lot of the kids, they have that kind of time to devote to it.

Younger people aren't getting it quicker? They just take the time to learn it?
Norman: That's what I think.

Can you give some concrete examples of the new kind of adults that we're going to see because of changes in technology?
Norman: Heavier use, heavier social networking where we don't lose track of friends.

It's going to bring people together?
Norman: People are always in touch with each other now; it doesn't matter where you are anymore.

Second, the separation between personal life and work is disappearing...People often complain they're expected to do work seven days a week no matter where they are, no matter what time it is. That's true, but I think that's OK if I can do personal things no matter where I am seven days a week, no matter what time. Now many companies still don't get that, but people do. That's why they do instant messaging and Internet shopping at work.

Let me say this is not novel. This is the way it used to be.

When?
Norman: Before the industrial revolution, the whole family sewed, did carpentry, or farmed or whatever was going on as needed...It was only the development of the factory, the industrialized revolution, then later the white collar revolution that everybody had to be in their offices at the same time.

But guess what? We're now in a world society. Making sure we're all in the office at the same time assumes we're all in the same time zone...I think we'll find interesting mixes of scheduled activities where everyone must be encountered in more flex time, more flexibility.

Do you think things are going to move to servers and the Cloud or a personal laptop that also supports work?
Norman: Why do you care is the point?...We, as people, we should not care about the technology. We should care about the benefits it gives us...We'll probably always carry our own cell phone with us, but there'll be "the cloud in the sky" so no matter where we are, we can...access the same information. I think there'll be some mix.

What kind of long-term health issues can information workers expect as a result of bad design?
Norman: The couch potato comes into the office...We are in danger of becoming a sedentary society.

More Newsmakers

[inachu]

Much of what we are looking for is not here.

Much of the technology is not here yet to unhinge us and break us away from hand based interfaces.

Eye tracking VS brain reading electronic contraptions will also hit the ethic roadblock.

There are already monitors that transmit a screen directly into the cornea. Cornea burn out?

Future is already here. We just have to look for it.

[haraldf]

Younger people just take the time to learn it!

Brilliant: "Q c|net: Younger people aren't getting it quicker? They
just take the time to learn it?
A Norman: That's what I think."

It's evident, you just never think about it.

We are real fans here ... http://www.felgner.ch/2007/11/don_norman.html

[J.G.]

I recently bought a watch...

because you're supposed to! I had been doing well enough
checking the time on my iPod and more recently on my iPhone.
But, I conformed. I wonder how much conformity has to do with
the traditional tech devices we continue to use.

On the other hand, the Marc Jacobs watch I ordered from Saks
looks a lot cooler than my broken Seiko ever did.

[fred the frog]

technology won't fix bad driving

The application of more micro processors in automobiles won't make people better drivers, they'll just find other things to distract their driving attention. We all thought it was great when "cruise control" came out back in the late sixties. We never imagined that people would use it to read books as they "drove". Engine and transmission tech gets a big "Yes"! Automobile Computers making driving "decisions" is a huge mistake and a costly one at that.