226 days, 13 hours, 26 minutes and 31 seconds
until my Churchill Trip - 11th May - 13th July 2012
Perth>SF>Seattle>Austin>NY>Boston>London> Heidelberg >Salzburg>Vienna>Singapore>Perth
I have been listening to several
HBR (Harvard Business Review) Idea Cast and it has raised many ideas. One of
the main themes that have been coming out of several the Podcasts was that
knowing the objective you are looking to achieve in what you do. As you may
have guested this is the areas I am recording my journey in my research
overseas for my Churchill Research Project.
The information I placed in my
application for the 2011 Churchill Fellowship was:
"New Frontiers in
Technology for Child Protection
This project will explore how
breakthroughs in mobile technology can help social workers in the field, and
providing an improved child protection service. It will examine how to remove
usability barriers imposed by the complexity of unwieldy applications and
devices. It will try to remove, or moderate, the impersonal use of technology
in meetings, with clients, where a high degree of empathy and emotional intelligence
are needed. Working with experts in child protection this project will seek
ways to record and process information captured in the field using a new
generation of smart devices and innovative software applications. Key goals
will be in a drop in staff workload, improved access to information for
colleagues, and a rich interaction with clients strengthened by the removal of
technology barriers. A decreased in computer training can be achieved due to better
understanding of usability and human interfaces into these devices. This will allow
staff more time to focus on relationships with clients."
During my time since being awarded
the scholarship I have been thinking more about my topic in this research.
Working to better understand what it is I hope to communicate in my final
paper. Trying to better understand how
my trip better arm me with the necessary information to address my topic. But
to understand what I will need, I need to better explain exactly what I am
trying to achieve. In other words my objectives and why I am going where I am
going as well as why am I meeting the companies and people that I have
identified so far.
I am looking to address my topic
from four aspects. They are:
1.
Technology - The
actual device be it a tablet, laptop, ultra- laptop and desktop computer
2.
Software – The
design of the software and the usability aspects of that software
3.
Business – How do
we re-engage business to usability? To be involved in the discussion before the
product or services is developed
4.
Usability
– In general how do we go about addressing usability both in
design of specific technology and then the interfaces into the systems that are
used on this technology?
To address
these questions I am working to meet with several different people, companies
and organisations involved in technologies. In meeting with these organisations
I am hoping to better understand the questions that need to be asked and
considered where building, developing and using technology. Other organisations
I hope to meet and talk with are organisations which use technology and
understanding how they have addressed these questions and do they have some of
the answers.
My first stop
will be San Francisco (SF) where I have made contact with Stanford University
where I will be meeting Professor Terry Winograd. He is a professor of computer
science and is involved with the Human Computer Interaction (HCI) Department.
He has invited me to visit and to be involved in any of the workshops that
might be running at that time. Here I hope to find out about the study of human
computer interaction and what is studied.
While in SF I
am also arranging to meet representations at Cisco, Facebook, Google and Apple.
But as it still is sometime before I head off I am waiting to make contact
early in the New Year. I am fortunate to have a close friend, Jack & Lucy who
now lives in SF and works for Cisco.
Following SF
I then head to Seattle to meet with Microsoft. I am hoping to see their futures
laboratories but this is to be confirmed. I have made contact with the Child
Protection Agency in Seattle but still waiting on a response. I will follow
this up in the New Year. From Seattle I then head to Austin Texas where I will
be visiting Motion Computing a manufacturer of tablet computers. Looking at
their work with tablets and how they go about design their product. While in
Austin I am hoping to catch up with the Department for Child Protection who did
a case study on their use of tablet computers in the field. And finally I have
received confirmation from Craig Tomlin to meet and discuss his work in Usability. I came across Craig on a blog discussing his views about usability and it was a re-buttle to a response to his article from Charles Mauro of Mauro New Media. I then head to New York to actually me up with Charles.
In New York I have confirmed meetings with Charles Mauro, Adam Greenfield of urbanscale LLC | Design. Adam I came across in a book he wrote called "Everyware" - The dawning age of ubiquitous computing. After reading this book I then started to research Adam and found him in New York and approached him to see if he would meet to discuss some of his idea. He has agreed and is another of my interviews. I have also arrange meetings with the Chief Software Architect of Epicenter Consulting. As well as a number of other contact if I get the time. One of the other locations I am hoping to visit is the IBM futures laboratories just outside of NY but this is still being worked on.
I then head off to Boston to visit MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This has been one of the locations I have dreamt about and the opportunity presented itself. I have made contact with a professor involved in HCI and Usability and will be meeting. I am still trying to find a contact at Harvard to see if I could discuss the business angle with this research project. From Boston I then head to London, UK.
In London I am still working on my contacts. Child Protection in the UK comes under Health but is managed in the shires and Burroughs. I am fortunate in that I have a contact in the Department here in WA who has worked in the UK in the area and working on a contact there. From London I then head to Heidelberg to visit SAP.
SAP recently purchased a company called Sybase and they have a technology which is used in the production and deployment of mobile solutions. At this point in time I don't have much more information. I will be flying into Frankfurt and then taking a train to Heidelberg. From Heidelberg I then catch a train to Salzburg.
In Salzburg I will be visiting the university of Salzburg and their HCI department. Again I have made contact with one of the professors their and this discussion is to be further developed. I am there as with most places for a week so I am leaving this opportunity open to see what I can achieve. From Salzburg I then catch a train to Vienna.
In Vienna I will be visiting C.U.R.E. the Centre for Usability Research and Engineering. I have has some initial discussions with one of the staff at this centre and this will get further developed early next year. Finally after eights weeks I then head to Singapore via London.
Singapore is 4-5hrs from Perth and will be where I was going to take a break. But I just can't help myself and have already found a connection there. I have made contact with MicroUsability one of the largest usability organisations in the world which is based out of Mumbai. Again I have a confirmed contact and will be corresponding in the New Year to fix dates and times.
When I arrive in Singapore I will be meeting up with my wife after the initial 8 week for a bit of a break. Before heading back to Perth and work on the 16th July after leaving on the 11th May I would have travelled over 29,000 miles and meet many different people and hopefully be in a better position of understanding to be able to offer some insights into better designs for usability aspect in the area of Child Protection.
Stay tuned for more information as it come to hand.
