Wk4 reading (Skaalid)

Skaalid, Bonnie. Gestalt Principles of Perception. Available online at: http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/skaalid/theory/gestalt/gestalt.htm; Human-Computer Interface Design. Available online at: http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/skaalid/theory/interface.htm.

Gestalt :: How glad am I to see some more philosophy come out in our classes!
Much of this discussion of Gestalt focuses on lessons you might find in a 2D art class. This is the first thing all art students go through, from what I hear. These basic concepts of perception shape our visual understanding, and I suppose metaphorically the rest of our perception.

HCI :: This article might be well suited as a checklist. However, a checklist is used afterward... so perhaps a better term might be guideline. IO (industrial organizational) Psychology is basicly the radical notion that people aren't mind readers, or rather wireless binary readers.

Here is a link to my Four Elements of Web Design page I wrote in high school. I think it's still pretty true.

Wk3 reading (Theory of Design)

Shedroff, Nathan. Information Interaction Design: A Unified Field Theory of Design. Available online at: http://www.nathan.com/thoughts/unified/index.html

This article was very similar to two books that I read for a "New Media: Digital" class I took at Linfield; Don't Make Me Think, and The Design of Everyday Things. The big lesson is paying attention to interaction, and even recognising the concept. Additionally, I would like to praise the layout of the article with regard to online interfaces. There was a stages guide above, next-previous-home links and the level to which it was broken down.

Never before this article and T.D.O.E.T. have I read about the concept of feedback. I think it is a vital concept within technology interaction, so I'm just happy to see it pop-up again.

The main topic of the article, IMO, was the continuum of data-information-knowledge-wisdom. This runs parallel to the interaction concept, in that the true processes of using the technology are not blatantly apparent.