Today is my last day in Salzburg. As a Sight seeing destination it has been a big one. I was only able to obtain a small amount of time with Astrid at the University. Taking with institutions involved in Human Factor Engineering or Human Computer Interaction was a wild shot. I have had a little success on understanding this areas of study which has given me a better appreciation of what it is I am trying to capture. But I am still learning more of this field, I believe it is the underpinning of all that we do in the areas of usability but understanding it from a far high level of details and science.
I was initially recommended to explore this area from one of my contacts at C.U.R.E. in Vienna, Lars Ellensohn. Unfortunately he no longer works at C.U.R.E. and I have not heard from him. I recently re-connected with the centre and they have offered me 3.5 days of their time which I am keenly looking forward to.
After doing a little research for a contact at Salzburg University and the HCI department I came across Astrid's details and made contact. I believe her work focusing on the evaluation of usability, user experience, social acceptance and societal impact of human interaction with advanced robotic systems in collaborative working environments could be of interest to what I am looking at. The area that I am working is not robotics but it is human interaction with technology. Mobile technology may not be as interactive as a robot could potentially be but it is still a user experience and social acceptance and impact to the people we work with. I believe there is some synergy but I will find out more this afternoon.
Before I headed into the University which I had confirmed a few days ago when I was in the older part of Salzburg, I took a dry run to the car hire location. I do this for two reasons, one so I know I have the correct way and location and to confirm with the company what time I can drop off the car and if I can get a lift to the station. After doing that I then headed into town to the car park which has been carved out of the hill that surrounds the old part of Salzburg and which the fort is located on. The car park can hold upto a 1000 cars which is great and very central. I then head to a very famous cafe called the Cafe Sacher which is famous for its Sacher Torte (The Original).
From the Hotel Sacher website
The story of the world-famous Original Sacher-Torte began in 1832, when the all-mighty "coachman of Europe", Wenzel Clemens Prince Metternich, ordered the creation of a particularly palatable dessert for spoiled high-ranking guests.
"Take care that you do NOT make me look a fool tonight", he warned. That very day, however, the chef was unavailable! The order was reassigned to a 16-year-old apprentice in his second year, the quick-witted chap Franz Sacher...
One thing was certain; the speciality which was finally presented to the masters and mistresses was a resounding success: a soft and fluffy chocolate cake with the tasty apricot jam under the icing. Franz certainly never forgot the great success of his ingenious idea within this exclusive circle. He spent his apprenticeship working for the Count of Esterhazy, first in Bratislava and then in Budapest.
When, as a fully qualified cook, he started to work on his own account, he offered his successful composition once again, this time on a large scale. He was successful and soon the "cake by this man named Sacher" was in great demand, and the victorious career of the probably most famous of all cakes began.
So I ordered an ice coffee and a slice of Sacher Torte. (The Original)
After that I then headed over to the ICT&S Center to meet and talk with Astrid Weiss. I recorded the whole session for review and my notes for later. Initially I commenced with the background to what, why and how I was doing my research and some of my findings todate and then Astrid explained what she had been doing with respect to evaluation of usability, user experience, social acceptance and societal impact of human interaction with advanced robotic systems. The topic not being totally related to what I was researching but many of the aspects did relate. We discussed that the unit she worked for was a research arm within the university and that they were responsible for 90% of their revenue to sustain their unit.
We covered the changes in the understanding of usability and human computer interaction and how the market place is changing. That companies and users are realising that there needs to be more understanding of the expectations and the ability to deliver for effectively with technology. That there needs to be a far better understanding of how business actually achieves its outcomes with technology and that technology alone or usability alone can not delivery the outcomes required.
It was good to get some further insights into what and how research do to delivery better outcomes using technology. The other part that I had come to understand that the elephant in the room is Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and Human Factor Engineering (HFE) which has been there all the time. But the important part is that where my research is approaching this from four perspectives that of the user, developer, manufacturer and business it is an alignment of all these parties with the HCI and HFE that is required at the start. Understanding the needs, expectation and then engineering a result that delivers on the outcome. To better understand what it is that all these parties don't know that they don't know.
Again more information to my swiss layer cake and knowledge and trying to understand how we work to building a more intuitive and easier solutions.
Signing Off 6:03pm
No comments:
Post a Comment