Jon Cheyer pointed me to his new favorite toy, Squeezebox, from SlimDevices. It’s a small digital music player — comes in wired and wireless versions — that plays a variety of audio formats: MP3, WMA, even Ogg Vorbis and SHOUTcast. Squeezebox gets the music off one of your computers which runs the Squeezebox server software. The software is written in Perl and is Open Source. The device itself looks nice, and has both digital and audio speaker outputs. At $280 for the wireless version, the price is a bit high, but as Jon points out, these folks are doing it Open Source with all the pluses associated with that. If that’s your cup of tea, it’s worth the premium. (I8I)
PB&J Humor
My first exposure to programming came in the third grade, when my elementary school got a fresh shipment of Apple IIs. (My only prior experience with computers was from poring over those old Radio Shack TRS-80 comics featuring Superman. Anyone remember those?) My third grade teacher, Mrs. Keltner, introduced us to programming by asking us to write down instructions for making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. After collecting our recipes, she surprised my class the next day by literally following our instructions. Apparently, she hammed it up, and the class had a ball. One kid wrote, “Put peanut butter on bread,” so she put the jar on top of the bread. (I80)
After going through a few recipes that were far too general, she finally came across a working recipe: mine. Yes, I was anal as far back as the third grade. My prize: A correctly constructed PB&J sandwich. (I81)
I didn’t get to experience the glory of winning firsthand, as for some reason, I was absent for the first part of school that day. All I remember was coming in later that afternoon, seeing a sandwich on my desk, and asking my friends, “What the hell?” (I82)
That sandwich had an amazingly (perhaps disturbingly) powerful effect on me. Years later, when I was teaching computers to kids at the Midpeninsula Boys & Girls club, I decided to use the same lesson. Worked like a charm. The kids had great fun with it. (I83)
Yesterday, I spent half a day giving a group of nonprogrammers an overview of the software development process, and I thought it would be fun to do the ol’ PB&J exercise. Frankly, I expected the results to be about the same as it was with kids, but I underestimated these folks. Everyone wrote nicely detailed instructions. One woman wrote a damn treatise on the subject. I actually had to ask her to wrap it up. (I84)
The funniest comment came from a guy who tapped his colleague on the shoulder and asked, “Did you write, ‘Call my wife’?” (I85)
FLOSS Usability Sprint, Feb 18-20
Blue Oxen Associates and the good folks at Aspiration are organizing a usability sprint for open source software. The sprint will be held at Jeff Shults‘s fantastic new facility in San Francisco, February 18-20. Those who should apply: (HTW)
- Developers who want to improve the usability of their Open Source projects. (HTX)
- Usability practitioners who want to help improve the usability of Open Source software. (HTY)
I got the idea from a breakout session at the Advocacy Developer’s Convergence last June. A few months later, I accidentally ran into Zack Rosen on the CalTrain, and our conversation pumped me up about the idea. The next step was to find a partner in this endeavour, and Aspiration was the natural choice. (HTZ)
This event is going to be very exciting. It will be the first gathering of developers, usability practitioners, and users devoted to improving the usability of Open Source software. It’s going to be high-energy and productive, as all Aspiration workshops are. And, it’s going to have a real and immediate impact on the quality of several applications. (HU0)
Most importantly (from Blue Oxen‘s point of view), it will showcase outstanding collaborative processes and tools, both face-to-face and online. As always with Blue Oxen projects, the goal is for this kind of event to be replicable by anyone, and the expectation is that this sprint will be the first of many. (HU1)
Go to the web site if you’re interested in participating. Contact me if you’re interested in sponsoring the event or if you have questions or thoughts. (HU2)
Camels and Group Process
This morning, Gail Taylor told me where she first came across the term, “Group Genius.” From the Tomorrow Makers‘ FAQ: (GIK)
In 1976 I stumbled on Lawrence Halprin‘s personal notebooks in the library. He had written the words “group genius” beside one of his stories. At that moment I realized that my work was all about what has comed to be called Group Genius. (GIL)
“A camel is a horse designed by a committee.” (GIN)
This old saw demeans the camel – which is an admirably designed animal (for the environment in which he lives) and the group design process. It is not the ideas of collective creativity which has failed but the committee idea itself: which attempts to function without clear understanding of the necessary processes involved in group problem solving. (Lawrence Halprin, 1974) (GIO)
Red and Yellow Threads
Gail Taylor likes to talk about the need for The Red Thread and Yellow Threads in groups. The Red Thread is a concept from filmmaking. It’s the tie that binds, an element found in every aspect of a project that helps create a unified whole. Alicia Bramlett, an artist and filmmaker who often works with MGTaylor, has written a beautiful description of The Red Thread and its role in filmmaking. (GFZ)
Gail first described Yellow Threads to me a few weeks ago as we were discussing the participants of an upcoming Blue Oxen Associates event. If you look carefully, you will find Yellow Threads woven throughout oriental carpets. They themselves are not apparent, but their presence makes the surrounding colors more vivid. (GG0)