SXSWxBC Notes

SXSWxBrandcenter

Didn't take notes? I'm a student, I'm used to it anyways.

Created by @rachelmercer

Gamechanging: Turn Your App into a Cooperative

Game

Thor Muller | @tempo | Get SatisfactionBuster Benson | @busterbenson | Health Month

What's the deal with Cooperative Games?

• They solve a different kind of problem• As we enter an era of social gaming, games as a result have

to become more and more cooperative

Competitive vs. Cooperative Gaming

• In an era of gamification, we have a lot of tools that are available off the shelf

leaderboards points badges

• The problem with these is that they can often have the unintended consequence of exclusion

When do we use Cooperative games?

• First, note that cooperative games feel different• Use cooperative gaming when you want to create change,

you can create a new kind of motivation• This can keep the game together over a period of time• Board game example: Pandemic >> Gives people "special

powers"

For Developers to note:

• Kickstarter is like a cooperative game Share achievements Levels are based on willingness to contribute, then you

get more difficult levels Has a badge aspect

• Gamestorming Cooperative Brainstorming Exercises Rapid Prototyping in the office environment

How this works @ Health Month

• What is Health Month?  A system which helps individuals live healthier for fun It's a game that you play every month Play is based on different rules that you set every

month• We realized the problem with health is motivation

Health stuff is all moving online Framing the change makes it easier Prevent the 'long tail' where you're slowing getting

bored and eventually give up By sharing stories and doing it together, you can be

more successful

Social health is good health

• Most health solutions aren't medical, they're social• "The Catholic Church created one of the earliest social

games, Lent" - Jay Parkinson• "If you want to make lasting change, your friends need to

change with you"• Teams allow the collaborative/cooperative games to develop

a different game culture (an alternative to you're playing it wrong vs. you're playing it right)

HealthMonth is a platform to play with some of these ideas

1. Sponsoring people who need some motivation from others (every paying user can sponsor one non-paying user per month)

2. You can plea for help if you mess up, you don't die, the game isn't over

3. Team points make your game about more than just yourself (just be careful, points can be awesome, or sucky)

Should agencies behave more like software

companies?

#agileagency

Ben Malbon | @malbonnington | Google Creative LabsRick Webb | @rickwebb | Barbarian Group

Allison Mooney | @allimooney | GoogleRob Rasmussen | @robras | Tribal DDB

Mike Galligan | @mg | SimpleGeo

Do agencies need to think like tech companies?

In an initial survey, there's an overwhelming YES.

78% of respondents replied Yes.22% No.

"Digital Experimentation is more than a fad,  it's a business strategy"

What do marketers need to learn from software companies?

• Have a translator in the company who can talk about technology, and who can be there from ideation point to build point

• When you reach crunch time, make sure to keep them in the conversation

• @ Barbarian - Everyone in the company should understand tech

• Agencies need to be honest about how tech savvy they really are, find people to work for you who "get it"

The role of a Creative Technologist in an agency setting

• Currently, the job title is predicated on that they're going to be with the creative department, but sometimes it's different / more than that

• Can be UX / Designers / Interactive Art Directors• Maybe we need a Strategic Technologist too.

Notable Quotable

"I don't write code, I just come up with shit."  - Mike Galligan

"We share our technology with people we want to play with it."- Ben Malbon

"Agencies fetishize what they don't know rather than   familiarizing themselves with existing technology."- Ben Malbon

"The concept of technology is ever changing, like fashion."- Rick Webb

Agile is now a Philosophy

• Have fewer people do work than you would in an agency (ideal sizes: 4 person teams)

• Practice prototyping - this is thinking by making iterate as you make.

"Tech companies know the  technology, but they don't have the  marketing solution"

- Mike Galligan

Software companies can learn from agencies• Agencies (at their best) can capture and distill culture• We can help you understand who you're designing for --

agencies do this at the cultural level, whereas tech companies do it at the user level

• Access to untethered creatives• Tech companies suffer because there's so many of them

doing the same thing

Offline America: Why we have a Digital Divide

#digdiv

Jessamyn West | Fiona MorganJustin Grimes

22% of Americans Live without Internet Access• 35% of Americans are living without Broadband• There is only a 1% change in this statistic from year to year• Of that 22% only 1 in 10 plan on using the internet

in the future

Digital Dirt Roads & Information Cul De SacsIt's a question of Access (Will I get it?) versus Adoption (Will I buy it?)

An issue of access:

• Less than 1 hour away from America's "most wired city" people still have dialup

• E-mail is painful, attachments don't work, YouTube is out of the question

• Individuals with small businesses find that they can't compete online

• Kid's can't keep up in school, or have the freedom to be kids online

• Satellite Broadband is prohibitively expensive (+data caps!)

Why is the last mile the hardest mile?

• Too much land and not enough people, this is a difficult justification to service providers for a return on investment

• This causes broadband access to become a local political issue

• This creates a culture of digital inclusion

Availability vs. Adoption

• Availability is expensive to fix, and politically fraught• Adoption is easier to fix, and politically a win-win

Why Policy is Failing:Fundamental Disagreement

There's two sides here• Side A: It's a severe, serious issue that's not being resolved

by market culture• Side B: Doesn't believe the digital divide is a problem (like

any other inequality - ie social, economic divide)

Why Policy is Failing:Improper Framing of the Problem

• It's not a technical problem, it's a social problem• Existing Terminology is unagreeable (digital divide is circa

1998)• It's about access -- literacy / education / price are all parts of

the issue

Why Policy is Failing:Data

• There is bad data / a lack of data / no data• Telecommunications act of 1994 requires that service

providers also provide data, but they still debate on what that "data" should be

• It's only through data that we can gain understanding• In 2008 it was still a question of "what does broadband

even mean?"

Designing stuff kids will use & love

#designingforkids

Chris Bishop | PBS Kids InteractiveRick Panchera | WGBH Educational Foundation

Dan Willis | SapientSilvia Lovato | PBS

The basics - from Chris Bishop

• "Don't ever assume that parents will be there"• Kids can't read, make it so they know what's going on• Consider a scope of complexity so that it's friendly for the

youngest users (and the oldest ones)• Place stuff for grown ups at the top of the screen (kids are

short, so that's their last consideration, not their first)

Usability Testing

• If you have the time or budget - absolutely do usability testing, it gives great insights (ie kid's don't understand the difference between full screen and full length)

• Find a really good moderator for UX testing, they must be able to put the kids at ease (kids really want to be right, and please adults)

• Kids are not used to thinking aloud• Listen to what kids want, the user base has opinions too

Lessons from 20 Years of Designing for Kids

• Don't make anything that scrolls, ever.• Make user accounts / login, they always want

personalization, or screennames• Let Parents be able to log in separately after the fact in order

to track progress• Early readers look for things to read, consider self-leveling

content

People as Peripherals:The Future of Gesture

Interface

#sxswnui

Lee Shupp | Cheskin Added Value

Futurism• There's a gap between what technology can do and what

we're ready for• Our job as designers is to create acceptable change• " The problem with computers is that there's not enough

Africa in them." - Brian Eno (Wired, 2004) What he means is that there's not enough intuitive movement, understanding

Interface EvolutionEvolution of Computer Interfaces

Gesture EvolutionEvolution of Computer / Human Gesture

NUI Deep Dive• We've mastered Mouse Clicks• We're mastering Touch• We will soon master Gesture• In the far future we will be reliant on BioSynth technology

Why is it so hard to move away from the mouse?

Advantages:• Accurate• Fast / Flexible• Subtle Movement• Ubiquitous

Disadvantages:• Forces us to sit down• Takes up space• Extra Peripheral to manage• Takes away from keyboard

Wii = mobile mouse, which is okay, but not great.

Technology is moving away from desktop computing, leaving the mouse behind.

Moving towards touch

Advantages:• Works for lots of things• More Natural• Good for Mobile• Small Devices

Disadvantages:• Smudging / Fingerprints• Hand Covers Screen• Inaccurate• Hands vary in size

"The more challenging & complicated the gesture, the fewer   people will be able to do it."

What about Gesture?

Advantages:• Natural• Allows Distance• Allows Kinetic Activity

Disadvantages:• Inaccurate / Clumsy• Delayed Computer reaction• Small Window of Space• Physical Exertion

We're not at the Minority Report level of complexity yet, but we've got a good start with the Kinect

How can we reduce "Gorilla Arms"? -- Integrate voice, eye movements, facial expression, body language, proximity awareness, multimodal interaction

Advances in Thought Computing

X Wave Headseto Works in tandem with iPhone/iPado Detects excitement versus calmo HARD at first, but people will adapt

Thought Helmeto Technology for voiceless communicationo Being Developed by the US Army

Intel Brain Implantso Estimated to be Ubiquitous by 2020o 80,000 People already have them

BrainGate (Biosignals/Cyberkinetics, neuroscience @ Brown University)

Obstacles to Thought Computing• Brain is too complex• Requires focused concentration• Humans are currently used to multitasking, this doesn't allow

for that• The Brain does not have an innate connection to machines• If people can't read people, how will computers?

Man vs. Machines• Ray Kurzweil predicts the Singularity (between 2040 and

2050)• What happens when computers can process more and faster

than humans? Well, it depends on your assumptions around intelligence:o Humans are "smarter" because computers are only "book

smarto Computers will be able to come up with solutions faster

than humanso We will become a super-species (computer-human hybrid

-- see: Extropian Movement, Transhumanism)

The Future of Touch User Interface Design

#futureoftouch

Amish Patel | @amishpatel | MicrosoftKay Hofmester | @kayhof | Microsoft

Evolution of User Interfaces

• Text Commands, Pointing Devices

• Computer communicates back in multiple ways

• Designed for a single user

• Multiple points of interaction

• Can imply multiple users

If you take a new input method and apply the old method of communication (interface). It won't work

Input languages develop in stages

3 Stages of Media

For example: Film

Then there was the Mouse

Touch is still in Stage 2, WTF?Why is this?• Touch is still emulating the mouse (Reliant on X, Y Coords)• Touch is still emulating the hardware keyboard (which is an

emulation of a typewriter on our computer• Touch is still using scrolling / scollbars

What are some alternative options?• Combine Gestures with the Keyboard (swipe?)• Use Real Life Metaphors (ie Page Flip) -- be careful though

because this can limit new input methods

Our Path to Stage 3

1. Body-Aware• Before we were communicating through just a mouse - the

human element was very much removed and reduced• Posture is very important• Consider the actual rotation of the arm, natural finger swipe

path• Targeting doesn't work if it doesn't understand what your

hand is, it's shape, etc (occlusion)• Computers don't understand social manners (it doesn't

address you first, you must always interact with it for it to respond)

2. Multi-Touch• Focus is all gone - too many fingers will get ignored (4 hands

= 20 input systems)• How does a system work with Multi Touch?• See: Vision Video - Microsoft Labs Office of the Future

3. Multi-Modal• Hands should move things whereas pens should write• "Every input method is best for something and worst for

something else" -Bill Buxton• Should consider combining input methods - such as:

Touch + Pen Touch + Speech Touch + Air (Gesture/Space)

• Consider proximity - computers are kind of rude, they don't realize that you're there. The closer you get to an object, the information that it displays should change.