Break

History has shows that as the public adopts new media, savvy politicians are quick to embrace it. FDR used radio to sell his New Deal, many argue that Nixon lost to Kennedy due to his poor appearance on televised debates. So it is in this election season as candidates try to figure out how to use the Internet and other new media outlets to get out their message. Recently, EA announced that Barak Obama has placed advertisements in the game Burnout Paradise. While this might not be the first time political ads have appeared inside a video game it certainly shows how far the video game has come as an advertising medium.

I just downloaded the recently release Open Office 3.0 productivity suite. On first launch of the software, I was prompted to register the software in order to help Sun determine the global market share. I didn’t mind doing this so I clicked the Register button. What transpired was a very long process requiring me to fill out a form for the Sun Developer Network, receiving a registration email which I then had to validate. After this registration process was complete, I still had to go back to the original Open Office registration page which, in the end, didn’t actually work. Sun in one stroke ticked me off before I had a chance to even see the software. I’ve given up my time and my email address and our mutual goal (registering the software) wasn’t achieved. Not a great first impression and very poor customer service. However, it is valuable to reflect on this experience when designing your own software.

The point is, determine what the most significant thing that you want your users to do and give them the shortest path to achieving this goal. Goal driven design is nothing new and agile developers tend to already think this way. If Sun’s goal is to determine market share, here is one alternative to the process.

1. “Do you want to register now and help Sun get a snapshot of the global market share of Open Office.org”, Yes / No
2. Clicking Yes takes you to a simple form that asks for email address and password and a submit button.
3. Customer fills in email address and password, clicks register.
4. Sun could then send a single email to me explaining the benefits of the more full fledged program. If I do not choose to opt-in to the full program then Sun still has what they want, a registered user of Open Office, with minimal hassle on my part.

On further thought, Sun could make this simpler:

1. On first launch, ask the user if they would like to provide feedback to Sun.
2. If the customer agrees then on each launch, send a ping to Sun’s database with information on who is using the software.

This is a gross example but represents some real world UI lunacy we are often faced with. Make sure you give your customers the easiest path to achieving their goals.

For those who like to fact check, as it turns out, the 3 million dollar overhead projector mentioned by Sen. McCain in the debate was in fact a replacement planetarium projector for the historic Sky Theater.

To clarify, the Adler Planetarium requested federal support - which was not funded - to replace the projector in its historic Sky Theater, the first planetarium theater in the Western Hemisphere. The Adler’s Zeiss Mark VI projector - not an overhead projector - is the instrument that re-creates the night sky in a dome theater, the quintessential planetarium experience. The Adler’s projector is nearly 40 years old and is no longer supported with parts or service by the manufacturer. It is only the second planetarium projector in the Adler’s 78 years of operation.

Science literacy is an urgent issue in the United States. To remain competitive and ensure
national security, it is vital that we educate and inspire the next generation of explorers to
pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

Senator McCain’s statements about the Adler Planetarium’s request for federal support do
not accurately reflect the museum’s legislative history or relationship with Senator Obama.

• sorry missed the HH. Wanted to watch debate #

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• Popcorn and beer, gearing up for the debate. #
• Go Phils! #
• Embarrased to know a Hillary supporter who is voting for M/P based on Palin. #
• Palin did better than I expected. #

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Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, is interested in electing the candidate who will be best for the economy. But along the way he has learned the iron law of the political marketplace: there is an excess supply of political blowhards, and there are far too few unbiased experts. Even worse, it is hard to sort out just who is an expert and who is a blowhard.

But Scott had an ingenious insight:an anonymous survey of leading economists might yield an unbiased snapshot of the opinions of professional economists. He paid a survey company to survey over 500 members of the American Economic Association, and he just released the findings.

• datamining #
• Idea for SNL Skit McCain/Palin Geico Ad #
• Go Back in time http://www.google.com/search2001.html #

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