Donald A. Norman's Blog, page 8

Sleights of mind : what the neuroscience of magic reveals about our everyday deceptions (Macknik, Martinez-Conde & Blakeslee)

A fascinating book revealing the properties of cognition that are manipulated so expertly by magicians to make us believe what they wish us to believe.

Learning the tricks only makes them more fascinating. I too have been to the Magic Castle in Los Angeles. I've had tricks explained to me in great, exhausting detail, but nonetheless, still fooled by the very tricks I had just had explained. The skills are amazing. And their understanding of human cognition is astounding.

The first two authors are neuroscientists, using their studies of magic to discover new phenomena to explore scientifically. As is usual, the artists and practitioners discover phenomena long before scientists do. The third author is a gifted science writer: the combination of the three makes for engaging reading.

I consider myself somewhat knowledgeable about magic and extremely expert about human cognition. But I learned a lot from this book.

Highly recommended. Enjoyable reading, while being educational about both magic and cognition.

Smarter thank you think: How technology is changing our minds for the better (Clive Thompson)

It is easy to find books proclaiming that the end of the world is herre: machines will take over. In this engaging and provocative book, Clive Thompson argues just the opposite. Yes, machines are getting smarter and more powerful all the time. But they enable us. They add to our creativity.

Interview: Understanding Good Product Design

"In this interview, Don Norman explains the importance of designing for the right audience, the role of the generalist and the specialist. He also reveals what makes good product design and why you should ask the stupid questions." (Streaming audio or download.)

Streaming Audio Interview: Wearable tech (Australian

An interview with Antony Funnell on Wearable Technology for ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corp.). Available as streaming audio or Download. (Includes interviews with: Sandy Pentland, Billie Whitehouse, me, Gesche Joost, and Ben Moir).

Foreword: Computers as Theater (Brenda Laurel)

Theatre is about interaction, about themes and conflicts, goals and approaches to those goals, frustration, success, tension, and then the resolution of those tensions. Theatre is dynamic, changing, always in motion. Our modern technologies with their powerful computers, multiple sensors, communication links and displays are also about interaction, and treating that interaction as Theatre proves to be rich, enlightening and powerful. Real interaction does not take place in the moment, on a fixed, static screen. Real interaction is ongoing over a protracted period. It ebbs and flows, transitions from one state to another. Transitions are as important as states. Up to recently, the only computer systems that acted this way were games. But as students of the theatre have long known, we get the greatest pleasure from our ability to overcome early failures and adversaries. If everything runs perfectly and smoothly with no opportunity to deploy our powers and skills, pleasure is diminished. Human emotion is sensitive to change: starting low and ending high is a far better experience than one that is always high. Is this a cry for deliberate placement of obstacles and confusions? Obviously not, but it is a cry for a look at the temporal dimensions, at engagement, agency, and the rise and fall of dramatic tension. The future of our interactions with technology will build upon the foundations provided by Brenda Laurel in this deep, thought-provoking, and critically important book.

GigaOm Interview

Rani Molla of Gigaom, the technology newsletter, recently interviewed me about the new edition of DOET, the MOOC I am doing for the book, my new startup (Palate Home), and other topics. She did a great job of finding photos -- I didn't provide them, gigaom got them.

The Paradox of Wearable Technologies

Can wearable devices be helpful? Absolutely. But they can also be horrid. It all depends upon whether we use them to focus and augment our activities or to distract. It is up to us, and up to those who create these new wearable wonders to decide which it is to be.

Living with Complexity Selected for Georgia Tech Freshmen

Georgia Tech's First-Year Reading Program selected Living with Complexity as the book that all incoming freshmen (about 2500), and many others, read and then discuss in various venues - see http://enrichment.gatech.edu/2013-rea...

Microinteractions (My Foreword)

Great microinteraction design requires understanding the people who use the product, what they are trying to accomplish, and the steps they need to take. it requires understanding the context of those interactions. It is essential to develop empathy with the user, to develop observational skills of users and the knowledge of how to combine different aspects of your product - perhaps the results of different programming teams or even different divisions - into a single, smooth microinteraction? Chapter 1 does a great job of introducing the principles of how to do this. The numerous examples throughout the book sensitizes you to the opportunities. After that it is up to you, to continual observation that leads to discovery of the opportunities. And it is essential not to be blocked, as Apple's developers apparently were, if the solutions require cutting across company organizational structures. After all, doing things right for the user is what great products are all about.

Evil by Design (My Foreword)

Sloth, Pride, Envy, Greed, Lust, Anger, Gluttony. What? I'm supposed to design for these traits? As a human-centered designer, I should be repelled by the thought of designing for such a list. What was Chris Nodder thinking? What was his publisher thinking? This is evil, amplified.

Although, come to think of it, those seven deadly sins are human traits. Want to know how people really behave? Just read the law books. Start with one of the most famous set of laws of all, the Ten Commandments. Every one of those commandments is about something that people actually did, and then prohibiting it. All laws are intended to stop or otherwise control human behavior. So, if you want to understand real human behavior, just see what the laws try to stop. The list of seven deadly sins provides a nice, tidy statement of fundamental human behavior, fundamental in the sense that from each of the deadly sins, one can derive a large list of less deadly ones.