Vincent Gable’s Blog

February 15, 2010

Usability Problems are Cultural

Filed under: Accessibility,Programming,Quotes,Usability | , , , ,
― Vincent Gable on February 15, 2010

Obstacles to getting real feedback are now mainly cultural, not technological; any business that isn’t learning from their users doesn’t want to learn from their users.

Clay Shirky, on Meetup’s Dead Simple User Testing

February 4, 2010

Deus Ex Ignorantia

Filed under: Design,Quotes | , , , ,
― Vincent Gable on February 4, 2010
Felten’s Third Law
Given an intractable and complex policy problem, people tend to look to areas they are not experts in to save the day.

For example,

Given a difficult technology policy problem, lawyers will tend to seek technology solutions and technologists will tend to seek legal solutions. … It’s easy to reject non-solutions in your own area because you have the knowledge to recognize why they will fail; but there must be a solution lurking somewhere in the unexplored wilderness of the other area.

Ed Felton.

February 19, 2009

“Enhanced” Sports

Filed under: Research | , , , , , , ,
― Vincent Gable on February 19, 2009


200px-Oscar_Pistorius-2.jpg


Oscar Pistorius
, “The fastest man on no legs”, uses carbon-fiber prosthetic feet to run … apparently more efficiently then an able-bodied sprinter. And if he isn’t more efficient today, it’s a sure bet that technology will surpass mere flesh in the near future (at least in sprinting).

The cultural, ethical, and even technological, issues surrounding cyborg/transhuman athletes are fascinating.

The Genie is Out of the Bottle

Let’s be blunt, technology plays a roll in every sport today, and there is no going back.

Technology goes into equipment as basic as a shoe — making them lighter, springer, and more adhesive then anything humans have worn before.

The impact of better equipment was popularly recognized by at least the 1920s (if you have an earlier source please share),

Much of Improvement in Baseball Is Attributed to Evolution and Steady Progress of Mechanics and Invention

WHEN Babe Ruth hits three home runs in one game or the home team cracks out a barrage of base hits to score seven or eight times in one inning, it does not necessarily mean that long-distance hitting in modern baseball comes from superiority of today’s players over those of years past. The truth is that much of the improvement in the game itself and in the proficiency of its players has come from evolution and progress in science and invention.

Popular Mechanics, May, 1924

Then there’s the elephant in the room: the athlete’s body, and the “stuff” that goes into it.

The prisoners dilemma essentially forces athletes to dope — because the only way to be sure your opponent does not have an advantage over you is to take advantage as well. (This is the best overview of the doping problem, and solution I have seen.)

But it’s not just drugs and steroids. There’s also nutrition, and sports medicine. Where exactly is the line between a supplement and a drug? More chemical sophistication goes into todays vitamins than the drugs of the past.

Modern training regimens and equipment seem to have more to do with the science of conditioning then the love of a sport. It’s interesting that someone who just played all day would be at a disadvantage compared to someone who used targeted exercise machines.

Genetic engineering might be the most interesting future trend to watch. Obviously genetics are a huge part of determining physical ability.

What do We Want?

We love to watch superhumans compete. Professional athletes are supermen, since they play significantly above average human ability.

But we also want a “fair” and “honorable” fight. I honestly don’t know exactly what it all means. It’s OK to have an unplanned genetic advantage. Drugs are bad, even if everyone has access to them. We love the underdogs the most, yet celebrate the winners who have the most funding going into their training.

What’s Sportsmanlike

It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you place the blame.

–Oscar Wilde

The problem with giving disabled athletes accommodations, like carbon fiber feet, is that they are only work until they start winning. Then accommodations become an unfair advantage. It doesn’t matter if they are unfair in reality, because they look unfair.

But there’s a quality of life problem with essentially saying, “you cripples can only play with the other cripples”.

Accommodations in the context of sportsmanship is a sticky issue, and I don’t pretend to have the answers. But I’m not necessarily against “play until you win”, as a lesser of many evils. Sometimes playing is more important then winning.

One analogue is gender differences. There is good reason behind having separate men, women, and weight categories for sports. But in recreational play, mixed gender teams are often the norm (Ultimate seems to work very well with mixed gender teams).

But there’s a good case to be made for letting “enabled” athletes to compete separately, but to their fullest — essentially making the Paralympics the Cyberlimpics.

Conclusion

Maybe these pretty women will distract you from realizing I don’t have any answers, (Via Sensory Metrics):

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July 26, 2008

Floppy Disk Drives Getting Smaller

Filed under: Uncategorized | , ,
― Vincent Gable on July 26, 2008



To complete this picture you need a USB thumb-drive on the far right.

July 6, 2008

Open Systems Can Be Built With Closed Systems

Filed under: Quotes | , ,
― Vincent Gable on July 6, 2008

Even the worst of our closed platforms, the telephone system, wasn’t closed enough that the internet couldn’t be built on top of it.

— Jack Shedd

June 27, 2008

The Heat Barrier

Filed under: Research | , , , ,
― Vincent Gable on June 27, 2008

Technology improves at an overwhelming pace. The prospect of exponential growth has some people making fantastic predictions. Eg. “In 15 years, life expectancies will start rising faster than we age”.

I’m a big believer in the power of human invention. But I stumbled upon a somewhat sobering magazine article a few days ago.
CAN WE CRASH THE DEADLY FLAME BARRIER? (Oct, 1955)

Fly a plane fast enough and friction will melt it. Can we “put out the fire?”

As near as I can tell, the answer is no. Worse, maximum airspeed has declined over the years. For example, the absolute air-speed record of 2,194 MPH was set in 1976 with a currently retired aircraft. In 1976, we came up against the heat barrier, and could not break it. Since then, we have also retired the only two models of supersonic transport aircraft to see active service. The minimum time to cross the Atlantic is higher today then 20 years ago.

Now it’s safe to say that miles per gallon of fuel, and speed / gallon, have increased since 1976. This is almost certainly of more practical importance to the world. But I think it’s worth noting an example of a purely-technological dimension that has regressed with time. Not everything in technology doubles every two years.

May 12, 2008

Early Cybernetics in Baseball

Filed under: Quotes | , , , ,
― Vincent Gable on May 12, 2008

Much of Improvement in Baseball Is Attributed to Evolution and Steady Progress of Mechanics and Invention

WHEN Babe Ruth hits three home runs in one game or the home team cracks out a barrage of base hits to score seven or eight times in one inning, it does not necessarily mean that long-distance hitting in modern baseball comes from superiority of today’s players over those of years past. The truth is that much of the improvement in the game itself and in the proficiency of its players has come from evolution and progress in science and invention.

Popular Mechanics, May, 1924

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