Deutschland taking the flak

Germany taking the flak. 
Some see Germany as the villain in the current Greek crisis, arguing that it should be more lenient and forgiving with their debt. Since it has benefited from having access to cheap labour and to new markets, it would only be fair that it writes down Greece’s debt. 

Germany is a nation that prides itself on hard work and austerity. When reunification took place, a special tax was introduced in 1991 to aid with transition. Additionally, many inefficient state industries were disbanded. Things were difficult for many Eastern Germans. It has managed to be an economic powerhouse again through discipline, specialization and hard work as well as access to new markets. 

Large German retailers such as DM, Aldi, Lidl, Penny and Rewe are found in former countries that make up the Eastern Bloc. I’ve seen their presence in Poland, Czech Republic, Romania and Bulgaria. These stores offer quality products at reasonable prices. I am thankful to have access to these stores while in Eastern Europe.  
    
    
    
 

The Wheels for the road less traveled

The landscape of Transylvania is dotted with walled cities that date from the Middle Age. These were built by the Saxons to protect the inhabitants from the Tartar incursions. Many of them are surprisingly intact and well preserved. As there were so many places to choose from, a decision was made to visit the most famous ones which included Viscri, Sighsoara, Biertan and Sibiu. They are also known by the German names of Weiss Kirche, Schäsburg, Birthälm and Hermannstadt. Visiting these cities gives one an excellent glimpse Transylvania life. 

In order to visit so many places in one day, it was imperative to have a rented car. Many Romanians on the other hand are still traveling by basic horse drawn carriages, which are quite common in the countryside.  
 

The rented bug

     

    
    
  

Weiss Kirche

  

Weiss Kirche

  

Graveyard at Weiss Kirche

   

View from the central tower at Weiss Kirche

   

Sighisoara

  

Vald Dracul was born at Sighisoara

  

Covered stairs at Sighsoara

    

Fortified church at Biertan

  

Biertan

  

Sibiu

  

Sibiu

  

Main square at Sibiu

  

Evangelist Church, Sibiu

 

Identities that pushes boundaries in the art scene in Budpaest

As this is Pride week in Budpaest, a whole week of activities dedicated to the event. I was lucky enough to attend one, which questions the use of one’s body to explore the importance of socialization. Presentation led by a Phd candidate who is doing her thesis on gender identification.  

    
    
  Nikolette Kormos talking about gender identification   
    
    
    
  Police presence  

Budapest cooler and prettier in pink

I don’t well in high temperatures, this made it difficult for me to visit Budapest today. So, when I didn’t want to brave the sweltering heat,  a fellow traveller kindly offered me her pink umbrella. I knew that I would look fashionably awkward as it wasn’t raining, but I figured that I earned this holiday and no one is allow to judge me! Besides, I am traveling alone and will not embarrasse anyone except myself. The fashion faux-pas allowed me to do a quick visit of the parliament buildings and the Buda castle this afternoon. 

    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
   

Globe 2010

The 11th annual Globe conference took place in Vancouver during March 24 – 26th. It is a conference that links sustainability experts with those from the business community.

I attended a town hall meeting titled “Moving the Green Economy Forward” on the morning of the 26th. It featured Honourable John Yap, the BC minister responsible for Climate Change Action. Others on the panel included:

Dianne Dillion-Ridgley from Interface Inc.
Tony Manwaring from Tomorrow’s Company
Nicholas Parker from Cleantech Group
David Runnalls from International Institute for Sustainable Development
with Christopher Henderson from Lumos Energy as the moderator.

Minister Yap mentioned that the BC government will be implementing strict measures in the near future in the hopes of reducing our carbon footprint. BC will be the first place in North America to place a carbon tax and is aiming to have the public sector be carbon neutral in 2010. This means that all public sector organization such as government ministries, schools and hospitals will be carbon neutral (referring to emissions). Although we still have a long ways to go as a society, I believe that is an important first step. Peter Senge is the author of The Necessary Revolution, he writes that about 60% of our emissions come from heating and cooling our buildings and homes.

The panel indicated that we are in a serious crisis with the environment but that consumers, businesses and governments could all play a major role in reducing our impact.

More info at: http://www.globe2010.com/

The Guest Experience at the Four Seasons in Vancouver

Good hotel service in Vancouver was made by polite and efficient staff; it was sufficient to treat your guest well to be a top notch hotel. With the arrival of many international guests, the standard has improved greatly in recent years. On January 20th, some lucky members of VANUE (Vancouver User Experience Group) were treated to “The Guest Experience” at the Four Seasons Hotel in Vancouver. This program has been designed around the hotel guest, and they do this by meeting and exceeding their expectations.

John McConder, the director of HR at the Four Seasons explains that all staff are trained in this philosophy and are reminded of this in annual workshops. Some of the ways to achieve this includes noting the personal preferences of every guests in a CRM type software; he gives the example of a guest preferring honey over sugar with their tea. When the guest has her meal the following day, she does not need to specify as this information has been noted in the system. Or the preference of a particular newspaper. Although the hotel chain has a database of every client, only certain information is kept at a particular location. If a guest were to prefer a view of Stanley Park, then there would be no need for other hotels to have this information.

John take us on a private tour of the hotel where we were shown examples of the guest experience with “housekeeping turn down service” and “the personalized bar service”.

Room attendants in housekeeping “turn down the room” in the evenings to make guests feel more at home. In addition to turning the evening lights on and drawing the curtains, they will fold a shirt that have been left out. And if the shirt is missing a button, the attendents will do their best to find a matching button for it. Other niceties include placing single female guests on the lower levels and in proximity of the elevators.

At the YEW bar, we were treated to a martini composed of pear puree, lemon juice, vodka, gin and sugar cane. When the drinks came, I almost forgot that this was a user experience outing…until the bar manager explains that all guests are greeted immediately. He then places a napkin in front of each guest and this is a subtle signal to other service staff that this guest has been greeted and taken care of. If a guest is unsure of a drink, then the service staff will recommend their favourite. Other examples of impeccable service include serving morning drinks (coffee) within two minutes of seating.

We ended the tour with delicious finger food at the YEW restaurant. If only all educational outings could be this much fun!

UXCamp Vancouver 09 #uxcv09

The first UX Camp Vancouver was organized by Karen Parker from Burntsand and David Drucker,  a seasoned UI Consultant. The event was held at the Vancouver Film School on December 5th and it was attended by over 100 participants. In the spirit of the 2.0 community, the “unconference” camp was free with pre-registration as the only requirement.

The morning started with two key speakers, Amanda Gibbs and Elizabeth Snowdon. Amanda is the director of audience engagement from the Museum of Vancouver and she gave a talk on “Rethinking Museum Spaces”. Elizabeth Snowdon works at Sage Software as a Senior Usability Analyst and she presented Remote Usability Testing.  Both talks were held at the same time and I wished that I could have been in both places at once. As Elizabeth is my sister, I had no choice except to attend her presentation; she has posted it on slideshare at http://www.slideshare.net/esnowdon/remote-usability-testing-2702925.

In 2003, Elizabeth began remote usability testing at PMC Sierra, a manufacturer of semi-conductor chips located in the Vancouver area. She continues today at Sage Accpac, another local company that specializes in end-to-end operational and accounting software. Elizabeth emphasizes that remote tests are cost-effective solutions that can be done easily from any location with internet connection. Her last usability test on 24 international participants at Accpac have saved the company at least $50, 000 as compared to a traditional lab environment.

Two discussion panels followed, one was “User Research” and the other one was “Tools of the Trade.” I was torn again as I wanted to see both….ended up attending the talk given by Karen Parker and Karyn Zuidinga from Analytic Design Group. The discussion panel looked at the various type of studies used in User Research, sample size and the advantages and disadvantages of quantitative versus qualitative studies.

We took a short lunch break and met again at 1 for a half hour jam session for the afternoon’s talk. As the usability community is no exception to the 2.0 community, attendees were invited to present on topics. 13 out of the 15 available slots were filled. Jocelyn Smith from Group Analytics managed to convinced me to talk about bio-medical device and usability example. With our combined backgrounds, we talked about a real consumer device to test blood glucose level and how it could be designed to be more user-centric. Jocelyn was well experienced with this topic and she made it easy to present. Some of the other talks that afternoon included: People & Projects / Learning from the Games Industry, Information Architecture for Intranets, Startup Speed-Dating, Getting Away from “Big Design Up Front” / Agile Usability Information Architecture Labelling Devices, Designing Cutting Edge Web Trends Cartoons; Customers , People Circles, Getting messages across to the uninformed, Improv for Usability, Roleplaying for dummies, Requirements in Second Life and UX Crash Course.

At 4:15, we had a 15 minute wrap up of the day’s event. I really enjoyed myself and hope that the event will take place again next year.

World Usability Day; Designing for a Sustainable World

The 5th Annual world usability day is taking place on Thursday, November 12 this year. The event encourages usability designers to think green by ensuring that the products they design get recycled into other products or that they are bio-degradable. We take this into account for a wide range of things that include consumer goods & services, infrastructure and even our health care system. We then consider their impacts on the earth. Our planet is part of the usability equation and we must be kind to her and her users.

There are 130 events taking place around the globe this year. For more info, visit their website:

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Sunup to Sundown Design Slam, November 12

A bunch from the Vancouver User Experience Group (Vanue) are coordinating their efforts on November 12 for World Usability Day. With sustainability as the main theme, the Vanue group will be going to the large community garden on Pine Street in Vancouver. Activities start at 8am for a 16 hour work marathon. They will use their usability expertise to identify problems commonly encountered in a community garden, prioritize them and then come up with workable solutions. Planning to be there with my rain gear and rubber botties. I think that the Pine Street community garden will soon become much more user friendly.

The Human Factor by Kim Vicente

Kim Vicente is a cognitive engineering professor at the University of Toronto and has been named by Times Magazine as a leader for the 21 century who will shape Canada’s future.

“Kim Vicente puts human simplicity into technology.” TIME Magazine

In his book, he writes about the relationship between humans and technology or the lack of it. Engineers can design an fully functioning product but is it useful if the common person cannot use it or make sense it? Vicente shows us how technology can be either dangerous or beneficial; that the human factor is the most important aspect of it. He provides useful frameworks for us to manage technology and shows us how it can impact us at all levels. A great read.