PANNA

Adi my 2 year old nephew likes to play whenever we meet. He currently is fascinated by a ball. He quickly makes rules asking me to stand still in a place, stretch my legs so that i look shorter and he throws me the ball. In turn i have to throw him back. He is persistent that i do not budge! Well he just invented a half game! He made simple rules so that he can maximize his play. He has no sense of counting, so there are no scores. But fairly large part of the game is already designed by him. He has made great rules so that he can maximize what he likes to play, that is throwing the ball, catching it back, running around, trying to win by getting the ball right. In a couple of days he also improved his skill of throwing and catching. He now knows, if not distracted improving his skill can be a obsession. Once he will learn to count, i am sure he will use the knowledge of the count again to maximize his play. He might be lost in the concept of win may be all through out his life but cer...

I was remembering my HLL research work where we wrote "people brush in auto pilot mode" and wondered about our conscious decisions and non conscious decisions. I didn't really know the answer then. Lately learning from User Studies, I have been observing that over 80% of interaction after the initial learning happens ‘unconsciously’ or auto mode. Conscious interaction follows a formal awakening; you can see its traces only in the initial 'learning of the tool' period (newness of the object makes him* notice, pay attention, explore, discover and question the object).Later a fictious "script" also called "mental model" governs the activity and its goal is simply driving the activity towards being more efficient (like doing quickly,gaining the most etc). Works of John A. Bargh. links this phenomenon in depth. Felt like sharing. He maintains that the resulting findings "are very consistent and in harmony with evolutionary biology. And this is ...

Its been a long time I blogged! Always wondered why one has to! Anyways sometimes it could be just for simply put things on your mind. Sindhu and me drove to Asundi. It was a great drive with new roads and amazing dry landscape of the central Karnataka. We watched the burning afternoons,setting sun,evenings getting dark and ofcourse the starlit sky clear and filled. Meeting relatives and exploring temples,good weekends have become a good time for contemplation and revelation! Its become important to focus your mind on simple things like evenings or food or tea or just a walk. That small free mind is capable of making you wonder and put you in a good state of play as well open the mind for few basic questions of our existence. Realxed mind throws some interesting questions filled with wonder.I got a chance to vist a family temple at my village where there was an annual chariot ritual of Lord Hanuman. The pooja, abhisheka and the ritual was performed by my uncle and I got to see my Great...

My sister many times calls fellow young musicians to her practice den and they practice and discuss together in a good spirit. Yesterday a young talented and enthusistic lad - Omkarnath Havaldar came over to sing along few devotional songs which they had to perform in a concert. Me and my sister wished to listen to his classical talent. He was nice and he sang rag Madhumad Sarang which was one of his favourites. The rendering and swar patterns were amazing and after the brief recital, all three of us stood silent for a long time to sink in the idea of the beautiful rag. Ofcourse this was due to his excellent rendering. While he sang, I noticed sound being present all over the place. Even behind the artiste. I went out to test and realised that, the musical sounds were present almost in every part of the space all around him upto aound 25 feet. This was a breath taking experience for me since I was enjoying the sound very pecularly in all directions. There was no use of mike. I felt li...

Its funny how products are designed! Longtime ago products were mere tools to ease ones tasks or objects which are pleasing to look at. After industrial revolution they were expressions of technology. All products have technological features. ( 120cc, 4stroke, 8 valve, 4 chamber, metallic blue etc etc). Ironically they were also the real USP's - The features! So products come with cool technological features, the real feat of an organization and its R&D! The value of the product is proportional to its technological features and capability. Whats interesting though is that, modern products are attractively and efficiently powered with technological features. Technological features are important as they make us feel that well, this might work! as I haven't built it - an assurance! When these high powered features went into the hands of delicate,fragile,notorious,unpredictable, finicky, crazy, casual, uninterested, young, old, moody, cranky, emotional, conservative, forward et...

When do people use products and services? Basic Huh! - When some need is met - I want to talk to my friend, I use a phone and I am happy when I successfully finish my talk and end - When something is beneficial - I want to clean my clothes and I see a value in using a detergent as it cleans the dirt distinctly,visibly,authoritatively hence I use it - Out of a cultural habit! - A ritual, Brushing is a morning ritual and brush will help to perform that - When it is desirous - I am unable to resist the temptations of Mercedes Benz or a piece of jewelry so I buy out of desire - When an interest is created - When an object engages my mind I tend to take smaller challenges as interest is created hence I use them like board games. - When it is forced/inevitable - I have to use it as a part of a larger system is forced on me like an organization forces computers on people to communicate - When it makes sense (again it is seeing a benefit) - When it is convenient or easily availa...

A need is as a psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a goal and the reason for the action - Wiki One of the problems with a psychological theory of needs is that conceptions of "need" may vary radically between different cultures or different parts of the same society. One person's view of need may easily be seen seen as paternalistic by another. - Wiki It might be said that an individual's needs are represent the costs of being human within society. A person who does not have his or her needs fulfilled -- i.e., a "needy" person -- will function poorly in society. -Professor Ian Gough Fulfilling needs - Adequate nutritional food and water, adequate protective housing, a safe environment for working, a safe physical environment, appropriate health care, security in childhood, significant primary relationships with others, physical security, economic security, safe birth control and child-bearing, and appropriate basic and cross-cultu...

A hut teaches a lot. It gives a definition of need. Hut is basically a bed room. When someone sleeps, he probably needs protection and a little privacy so the idea of walls come in. Almost all other activities used to happen outdoor. Bathing, cooking, eating, work, entertainment, learning....all of these used to happen outside the hut at least in India. It is quite wonderful that all of these activities have become indoor in modern world. This gives a great clue for design. Why do people come to architects? May be it is difficult to address their own needs and probably see their spatial requirements. What I mean here is, for various activities of living there will exist an spatial requirement. Lets say we can solve this by simply working out dimensions. Dimensions are truthful as we can measure it. But this might not suffice completely. Needs for walls or spatial division comes out of either protection or privacy. If I look at todays urban requirement for a young couple who are working...

It is rather unfortunate that I was introduced to the field of User Research from a point of view of Design, But glad that I was introduced to it. The only lively part of a software system design was meeting the people whom we termed “end users”. I met technicians, educators, kids, farmers, mechanics, engineers, craftsmen, patients so on and so forth just because I was in the field of design and I was designing something for them. All of them were people of dreams and needs, well read to illiterates, highly skilled to casual users, lively to pale, creative to orthodox. Sometimes I wondered if designers go to users, as they are unsure of their designs! But soon realized that it’s quite useful to just be around your Users, instead of breaking my head on some flow of which I cant, see the higher purpose.We learnt to sit close to users and take notes of their behavior towards a System. It was very painful to understand the convincing logic or scientific truth about such an activity like d...

I opened 'orkut' main page and wondered what I wanted. Obligated scraps! I used orkut for exactly an year and half. I connected with around two hundred friends and they wrote me a thousand scraps! I hardly made any new friend! After more than a year long aquaintance, all I could experience is a sense of virtual messaging system simply an elaborate SMS! I couldnt feel a thing about a friend or know whats his life like. Whats his work like, whats his new interests are or whatever. Profiles visiting your page, you searching for old friends simply to say a "hi" and forget him all over again!, showcasing, some trying for earning a buck or a two well orkut was a boring experience. I wondered, if I had to judge a movie, I would take fifteen minutes after simply watching a movie - to tell me how I felt about it. But an interactive platform took almost more than a year for me to experience and have a clear judgement of the idea. Somewhere, it could not connect humans to an ext...

Last five days has been exhausting! I was involved in interviewing craftsmen who came from all over India to attend a Bamboo Workshop at IDC. The Bamboo Lab with collaboration with IGNOU organised a week long workshop for craftmen working with Bamboo. I got an oppertunity to introduce the participants to the world of internet. All of them were novices, some of them had hardly seen a computer. This situation is quite normal here. I used a LCD projector to show them the screens, explained the files, folders and the usage of the mouse etc. I asked them to click on the "e" button of the internet explorer and showed them various kinds of resources which is possible to get from the intenet. The participants were excited and loved the computers. Many were hesitant as they could not read English, some with the usual recluctancy to technology - "What if it spoils?" syndrome. I showed them, shops, forums, blogs, company websites related to bamboo and all were pretty thrilled....

Its one'o clock, children wait for the luch bell to rush out into the hot afternoon sun. They collect their plates and go straight for food which is served hot by the Anganwadi workers. They get a good share and luch with loud noise. Children near to school go home and bring their plates often they get teased by the villagers. "What have they cooked today?....get me some share!" tease the others. You can see many shyly walking everywhere with their plates. Mid may meals makes sense in a village as both parents are at the farms, mothers cannot afford to come home and feed the children. Many children finish their first course of food in the morning itself. So afternoon lunch is a essential filler. Its quite a great idea of the Government, well luckily executed well here. Asundi, Karnataka, India

At Ajanta ! ............No more writing on our historical treasures (only because it is strictly prohibited).....why not leaves?

Savakkas son installed a new public telephone in the village of Asundi. Not many use it though as his house is in the interiors of the village. Children of the school bump into this phone daily. It is simply an object of play. They insert a coin from the top and act like pressing the buttons and also reherse a conversation before reseting it to get back their coin. They are amused to see the coin coming back. Almost every child small or big attending the school who take this road seem to use it. During the time it has become popular as play phone! ........till Savakkas son will find the reason for its popularity.

Re-Mission by HopeLab is a well produced game where you play Roxxi a character battling a variety of cancer cells inside various human patients. The game is filled with important information and lessons about cancer and as such aides cancer patients in understanding what their condition is all about. Rigorous testing and research showed that the information and experience gained from playing Re-Mission could significantly improve patients self-esteem, and knowledge of cancer. Furthermore patients who played Re-Mission vs. control groups adhered to their treatment regiment better. Re-Mission shows that well-produced games for health can lead to informational and potentially behavioral improvements for their players and thus have a role along other styles of media in helping patients learn about and cope with their heath conditions. http://www.gamesforhealth.org

Yes they do! Kids make time to play. Recently I was testing one of my games with a group of students from a local school. Kids came from same locality and knew each-other quite well. I am talking about 10-12 yr old. The idea of a friends group is very strong among kids. They know their friends house, friends parents, the toys they own, their relatives, and sometimes even their friends interests. They share everything as they have to be accepted in the group. Many time it depends on the city culture also. Smaller towns seem to have more freedom for kids compared to cities. They have a strong sense of togetherness, and share strong communication. It is also because that the friendship stays with the friends presence at the school. Same school means more things in common to share. Kids make time to play, they plan and decide. They improve everyday on their previous attempts of play. They don't usually compete but they participate quite keenly. Their presence is very important. Eveni...