10:45 am : The event just started with Amit Pande from Oracle and Anil Gupta CTO , Aditi Technologies giving an intro.

10:55 am : Amit is talking about “Design Inspirations from Science Fiction”
He cites cool design examples from Sci Fi movies like Matrix, Total Recall, Blade Runner, Minority Report, Do Andriods Dream of Electric Sheep et al. I liked the idea of using ” Web Eyes” to do real time Vlogging! (video blogging )

11:30 am : Param from Onward Research & Innovation is talking about a User Research Case study related storage in indian cars.

Usage Findings/Examples :
Ash Trays that are seldom used
Detachable Audio Panel players for increased safetyHiding laptops and locking the cars for increased safety
Storing a set of clothes for change over

11:55 am : Prof. Pradeep Pendse and Prof Anuja Agarwal Welingkar Institute of Management

Transforming B-Schools to BD-Schools
The way management is taught has changed. Use of visual language techniques like Mind Maps. Activity based learning, experience based learning through field visits are used. Business Baazigar programs, Story Telling, Out Bound programs, International exposures are also encouraged. They also have an innovation lab called “InnoWe” and also explore “Memetics”- A study on understanding how trends happen.

Think its a great idea to introduce Design Thinking & Innovation in B-Schools.

12:25 am : DCamp Design Challenge

Post Lunch Shaiyris : I’ve seen Anil Gupta entertaining the crowd at Sun Microsystems with his funny shaiyris. While some of them used to go “super kaput” owing to my limited understanding of Urdu and Hindi, he really took care to explain the meaning of some of the poetic words. He had a great sense of timing and make the crowd literally Rolling On the Floor!

02:15 Designing Apps for iPhone
Ram Brijesh is talking about how Google’s applications are optimized for iPhone. Its been design for speed, easy findability. 1 Click access using SSO and auto complete features are designed/targetted for users “on the move” one hand operation.

These ideas were initiated and driven by design teams. The experience is coherent across products. Only relevant features make it. A style guide was published first. Very iterative – 2-3 versions.

Designing for iPhone : UXers version

Get an iPhone!
http://iphonetested.com : crude user agent switcher : firefox add-on
http://www.marketcircle.com/iphoney/
Download SDK for Mac to check emulators.

03:00 pm : Deepak Srinivasan on “Paper 2.0″

Paper use and abuse, stuff that took us away from paper and that will bring us back to paper et al.
In less than 15 years the following features are likely to be implemented
Flexible Text Displays
Flexible Touch Displays
Flexible Haptic Displays

Umesh Gopinath made a cool presentation on designing mobile applications.

For more details see Wiki - > http://www.upabangalore.org/mwiki/index.php/DCamp_Bangalore

“உள்ளம் உடைமை உடைமை பொருளுடைமை
நில்லாது நீங்கி விடும்”

மன உறுதியுடைமை ஊக்கம ஆகும். அது இல்லாதபோது பொருள் உடைமை நிலைக்காது
மறைந்துவிடும்

wish i could embed google indic transliteration widget into wordpress

My xDesign team (Software Experience Design team + UCD Product team) is in the midst of setting up a design blog called design @ Sun.

And for some shameless self promotion, i’ve been selected as a blog hero

Murli used Porsche and i-Pod examples to illustrate how user experiences are conceived in a wholistic manner to appeal to user’s multiple senses and address user’s multiple needs. He also explained the importance of delaying evaluation/judgment of ideas during the early/ideation stage to come up with break through innovation, instead of just incremental innovation.

Later, participants were split into groups of 5 and were given an exercise to ideate and come up with multiple ways to solve a selected problem and then finally evaluate and present solutions.

His session reminded me of a book i read a long time back called ” The Fourth Eye” written by Pradeep, an IIM prof. According to Pradeep, creative problem solving happens in a series of steps, (not necessarily in the same order given below)

• Basic Ground work
• Ideation
• Incubation
• Inspiration
• Fine-Tuning and Implementation

The design thinking process involves using a combination of logical and lateral thinking.

The other interesting fact about the participants is that 80% of the participants never attended any of the previous upa, barcamp or dcamp meets, which is good news because one gets to interact and exchange ideas with new people. Also met up the usual suspects like Param, Rahul, Suresh JV, Shan et all.

See More Photos >
Join UPA Bangalore E-group

Both Adobe & Microsoft extensively promoted Flex, AIR, Silver Light and Expressions with some cool demos and handed-out 60 day trial versions of their products.

India is happenening and will continue to grow. About 7 million mobile devices get added every month. 50% of its population is under 20. However, the lack of infrastructure is inhibiting the growth in the no of broadband connections. Network congestion is affecting the growth in the no. of people accessing the net using mobile devices.

What is Web 20. and is there moolah in Indian Web 2.0 services and products?

The panelist sent mixed signals to these questions. Web 2.0 is seen as a natural progression of the earlier web and that it is collaborative and involves the community and it goes to the users and user s generate content and all that jazz. M.P Ranjan says that its “just a mindset” and not really about technology. KK said that Web 2.0 = 4Cs + P(Content, Commerce, Context, Community and Personalization).

About making monies in the Web 2.0 space, India is clearly not yet there. Big global players like Yahoo, Google and Microsoft will make money through Web 2.0 services ( online advertising is one) post an inevitable shake-out. Facebook aint making enough monies and so does LinkedIn. It is difficult to predict the outcome. A few Web 2.0 solutions that address unique localized needs will make monies (Eg. www.BharatMatrimony.com)

The 3 Screens that matter are TV, Mobile & PCs. To this Prof. Ranjan reacted there are multiple experience opportunities (like haptic ) are available and are yet to be targetted. Rajan recommended a wholistic approach to not just address the needs english speaking city breds, but also the unique local needs to Indian rural folks.

Geo Search Engine models that worked for the Western countries might not really work in the Indian context because the varied user needs, cultural differences et all. “Pan Wallah” model using “Landmarks” was recommended.

I quite enjoyed Google’s Parminder Singh’s preso on “Maximizin marketing effectiveness with latest Online & Search Tools. The different phases of AIDA principle need not necessarily happen in a progressive order but can happen in any order online.

It takes anywhere between 2 minutes to 2 month to 2 years for users to research and buy products either online or offline. The visual he used was interesting and directly drove the point home. Tradionally, marketeers used to look at market segments using a magnifying glass. Often the wrong target audience was targetted at ineffectively. On the other hand, individual users are now looking for products with magnifying glass ( searching) and that being available to them at the right place, at the right time with the right message will itself help increase sales. The term he used to sum it all up was “M.O.R”, the Moment of Relevance.. He also talked about the flexibility of the internet advertising space with neat examples and how mass marketing and precision marketing get united with google’s online advertising strategy.

Met some ex colleagues and acquaintances like Karthikeyan, Kiruba, Pandurang et all

Some observations : The online payment gateway malfunctioned but online registration kinda worked (so much for all that jazz about web 2.0 bla . Speakers were lost in the dark and the backdrop was in focus thanks to the incorrect lighting. Looking forwards to Day 2.

November 5th and over 100 designers, technologists, usability professionals and public attendees gathered at the NIAS Auditorium at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. The event: World Usability Day, which was founded to ensure that the services and products important to life are easier to access and simpler to use. Organized and supported by UPA Bangalore, CHI Bangalore, leading usability companies, and usability enthusiasts, the event focused on Healthcare, Education, and Government Services and other public services and utilities that touch our lives everyday.

The event kicked off with an introduction to the World Usability Day. The five-hour long event included talks and presentations by experts in the field, the results of usability testing of a public services website, and a very engaging design workshop.

Talks and Presentations

Dr. Girish Prabhu, director for design research and innovation for Asia in Intel’s emerging markets platform group, shared key perspectives on the design of the Community PC. He highlighted the importance of understanding stakeholder needs and conducting ethnographic studies while designing products, the lack of which resulted in the failure of the Community PC.

Prof. M.P. Ranjan, member of the Faculty at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad (NID), India, and Chair of the Task Force on GeoVisualization set up by the Government of India spoke about how design is about real world contact and the need for rethinking so that design has social equity. His presentation titled Towards an Accessible World – Opportunity for Designers also spoke about how designers should cater to each individual, since each individual’s needs are specific and different.

Sean Blagsvedt, CEO of Babajob.com, spoke about how an innovation can fight poverty in a scalable fashion. His presentation also covered on the HCI aspects of the site and how it helped in reaching out to non-computer literate users.

Dr Reynold Washington, the Director STI, HIV Care and Surveillance at Karnataka Health Promotion Trust (KHPT) and Gururaj H, Sr. Officer at KHPT highlighted the various initiatives undertaken by the KHPT to make a positive impact on the health of populations in India. Sanctioned by the Government of Karnataka, with the University of Manitoba, Canada as the implementing agency, KHPT, through research and innovation, training, and capacity building, aims to develop better technological strategies towards HIV prevention, care and support.

Acid Test Results

Sarit Arora from HFI presented the results of usability testing conducted on a public website, the IRCTC site of the Indian Railways. The key results of this test were that while most people found the service useful, they were frustrated using the site. Usability issues faced by the test participants were effectively shown in the form of videos to the audience.

Design Workshop on Key Public Service Scenarios

A design workshop was conducted in which the audience enthusiastically participated. Split into teams, the participants were given public service scenarios and a problem statement. The teams had to then brainstorm and design a solution within the specified time frame. The solution then was presented to a panel of judges. The workshop saw a buzz of activity, with participants excitedly working together towards one common goal – to design the best solution. The results were announced at the end of the day and prizes presented to the top three solutions.

Event Photos | Also see M.P.Ranjan’s blog post

on Oct 4th | 5 pm
at Fuga , #1 Wood Street (Nagarjuna Building) Castle Street Entrance, Off Brigade Road
Register here >

on Oct 5th & 6th
3.30 pm onwards
at Taj Residency in Bangalore

Be considered for participation >