emily conrad

In my family, we’ve had our eye out for the new Junior Tag Reader from Leapfrog since it came out in January. I’m often impressed with the design and capabilities of LeapFrog’s products, especially after such a wildly successful experience with Learn and Groove . I got that hideous thing at my babyshower and was so inclined to return it, but my mother discouraged me. Turns out to be my daughter’s favorite toy to this day. But now that she is starting to outgrow it, we’re happy to move forward too.

The Tag Reader is a book companion that can be tapped or dragged over pages to have the image or text be spoken outloud. It reinforces language skills in children and gets them excited about reading, at least in theory. We thought we’d test it out for ourselves.

How it works:
The Twitter version (Thanks @andrewmiller): “They use the Anoto pattern of tiny dots tracked by the pen’s camera. each combo is unique, so the pen knows which “page” it’s in”.

Also known as Digital Ink, the paper has these tiny 2-Dimensional bar codes (like mini QR codes) that are visible to the naked eye, but indecipherable. Each image or text has it’s own unique code that the pen reads. So it’s like a scanner at the grocery store, or even something like a phone reading a QR code, which makes me think this will all doable through mobile someday.

The Interaction:
Blue is fascinated with the pen, it’s white and bright green with two buttons. It even has two rubber nubs on top that look kind of like eyes. At first all she wanted to do was turn the pen on and off because it makes fun sounds. Buttons and fun sounds can entertain her for a good while, and did until I showed her what she’s “supposed” to do (lost points there).

Books and pens don’t mix in her mind, this is pretty much how we’ve trained her. So she didn’t immediately grasp it. And with books, she likes to quickly point and touch an image and say what it is, or even better what sound it makes, over and over (rib-bit, rib-bit, rib-bit). So she carried over this behavior and used the pen as a pointer to quickly tap the image. And it spoke, so she didn’t immediately. It was like watching her learn a new language pattern. But she quickly got the hang of it and then charged off to something else next.

I’m curious to watch her grow into this new toy. If she’ll have the patience to listen to it, and do more hovering over the pages and less jabbing with it. The book we got (there’s only a handful of them available, and the pen can only hold the information for 5 books) was Dora, so it alternates between Spanish and English. This was confusing to her because there’s no visual cue explaining that the pen is spaking about the same object. For example if the page could respond to the pen by outlining the mango, Blue might better understand the mango is being described in two ways.

And one thing that I don’t understand is why we have to listen to the anonymous and often annoying voices, why can’t I just record myself or other people familiar to Blue? I’ve been doing a lot of this sort of prototyping on my own . It just makes sense to supply this sort of capability in a flawless interface, which btw the website that you have to log into to initiate the Junior Tag reader is not. The more toys I play with, the wider the market seems to grow.

Tomorrow we have a plane ride and will see how it goes. I know at this point I’ve gotten more fun out of the Reader than she has, so hopefully that will change.

I had the good fortune of heading to the Enterprise 2.0 conference in Boston last week. For me, the word “enterprise” has always been one of those slippery words that can mean many of a thing, but in this case it specifically refers to innovative large companies. Enterprise 2.0 is the term used for the various suites of tools being developed to help with knowledge management, collaboration, and efficiency within corporations. The suites of tools have varying ranges of social media, document management, and governance. Most Fortune 500 companies have Sharepoint or some other giant software (Documentum, Lotus) already in place. This presents a challenging but interesting dilemma for start ups (Thoughtfarmer, Box.net, SocialText) whose software is more nimble and arguably more adept. They claim there is no point in trying to “dance with the elephant” when it’s possible for more people to use cheaper and better software than at any point in history. Still at the end of the day, the challenge remains for executives and managers to figure out how to leverage more of the desirable parts of technology.

The good news was apparent- the execs and managers don’t have to figure it out alone. The common factor of all the winning software tools was usability. I heard this over and over, from Gentry Underwood of IDEO discussing their internal collaboration software to Amy Vickers of Razorfish discussing how she customized Sharepoint. The Executives who spoke would often refer to the need for people-centric software, and the need for level of granularity between a completely shut system (think banning Facebook, Twitter, and other informal ways to communicate), and one that is completely open. So how can companies can keep the desirable aspects of technology, like building a participatory culture, receiving information when and where you need it, connecting people and sharing knowledge, while deterring the undesirable like data leaks and security issues? I saw this as a challenge for designers, developers, usability experts- how can we better design the front end of these software tools to create social space and collaboration around knowledge topics, while also promoting the level of efficiency and security prioritized by the enterprise?

A few solutions came up around the front-end design. The first from Gentry Underwood of IDEO. He walked through IDEO’s internal collaboration website. He mentioned they had tried at least 25 different tools before landing on the right one. Here’s the five principles for designing collaborative tools that work:

• Build pointers to people
Connect people, because most of the valuable information doesn’t get shared in digital space. It’s often too contextual and tacit. Focus on the people the people, not rote knowledge. Earlier at the conference I heard that 80% of a company’s knowledge is in people’s heads. This number is likely inflated because it’s truly impossible to gauge, but the point is well taken.

• Reward individual participation
It’s simple, offer recognition of good work, let other employees know what their peers are working on, and encourage the next step up. What are they working towards? HR needs to be included in this discussion.

• Demand intuitive interfaces
There is a lot of talk about adoption vs friction, and some of the things that IDEO found that increased friction was the need for specific programming languages (like the wiki), navigation was not automatic or intuitive, too much training is required. Basically an integrated system has to be created that brings content together. And most importantly, designers have to make something that fits into the organization, not something the organization has to fit into.

• Take the road more traveled
The software should be part of a habit, and feed into other habitual areas (email, for example). Experiment with putting up screens showing employee’s faces, comments, and thoughts in spaces where all employees can see (lobby, kitchen, etc.). Integrate social media in to workflows.

• Iterate early and often
I’ve definitely heard this a lot lately. The point is to try an iterative cycle, try out new things, put them out there and build out the ones that take off. He gives the example of Pocket God, an iPhone app that’s been successful for some time now because it iterates every week, there’s a new feature all the time. It’s an example of a game that’s tuned into something more.

The software they developed was on the Thoughtfarmer platform, and for reference looks like this (It’s the only public screengrab I could find):

Another set of solutions was offered in a workshop by Dion Hinchcliffe, Founder & CTO, Editor-in-Chief of the Web 2.0 Journal, Hinchcliffe & Company. He had his SLATES advice to offer:

SLATES
• Search is very important. You need to discover information. (The failure of intranets is that they do not make it easier to find information.)

• Links are need to put information in context. They allow you to move back and forth between content.

• Authorship is important to allow everyone with access to the platform and identify them when they contribute content.

• Tags allow us to apply our perspective to the content. You should also be able to see what other people thinks about that item of content.

• Extensions mine patterns and user activity. “You may also be interested in . . . .” Amazon is one of the best examples of this. The cure for too much information is more information.

• Signals make information easier to consume. Signals push out updates of new information. It shows you the flow and not just the artifact.
There seemed to be hundreds of speakers, and the most interesting of them discussed the challenges their organizations faced and the steps they’re taking to tackle and solve them. In short, the topics I heard most about or found most interesting I’ve bulleted out here:
• Bottom up, not Top Down
• The enterprise needs to recognize the 360º person
• The tools we use should be like a rearview mirror, you don’t need to slow down to use them
• 80% of a company’s knowledge is in people’s heads
• 1/3 of our time is spent looking for relevant information
• People need to know, and want to know what their colleagues are working on
• Let natural selection take place, there are lots of options, but we need to understand what’s surviving (Facebook, not Friendster)
• People are broadcast stations. We need to work with that.

Also I have attached the Enterprise 2.0 tag clouds to share the other hot topics.

I think we all knew it was only a matter of time before a major electronics company would come up with a female targeted site, but what’s interesting here is the marketing and art direction Dell decided on. And it’s got a lot of people, men and women alike, a little irritated.

What could they have done better? Well the reviews and content both appear to be fake. Adding to the fluffiness and xoxo Susie Creamcheese feeling is the set of generic tips,
“1. Get organized: Sites like lifeorganizers.com give you tips on everything from organizing your home office to planning your next vacation.”

I’d rather an in depth “Hey, so this is the best way to set up a wireless printer.” Or a more objective look at how this would work for my needs.

If the content was more supported by the community, like the reviews, the selection, the criteria for why it’s being featured, it might not come off as so abrasive. But instead there’s a pedantic air that they are trying to conceal through the design. Truth is, this is going to be hard for Dell to pull off because it’s so obviously self serving, and a lack of product diversity supports this. Would you like this Dell computer in pink bubbles or green plaid? I want to see more nuts and bolts, more of the details that translate into benefits or drawbacks for me. Not just the benefits. This is one of the sites that you look at and can’t help but to imagine the whiteboard meetings.

[caption id="attachment_90" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Regular Site"][/caption]

Today, like most days on the New York Times website, the controversial issue of childcare and nannies came up. Usually I read Motherlode each day, but have stopped reading the comments in this section because they prove to be downright nasty. Parents are self-righteous when it comes to who, how, when and where their children are raised, and everyone thinks they’re making the right decision. Usually my response is, “Great. You’re better.” and leave it at that hoping the more obnoxious ones will be ignored or pushed to the bottom of the recommendation pile. But truthfully that rarely happens so I’ve been speaking up and offering my own impressions.

Alas, today the angle was a bit different, and thankfully it was in a different section (Big City, which I hope leads to a broader audience). Tasha Blaine was touting her nonfiction narrative about the lives of three nannies and taking questions. Before I headed out to work I jotted down a few thoughts I’ve had about the issue of Domestic Workers Rights, something that is more important than the bickering about whether having a nanny is a sin.

Three months ago in the middle of February my friend Elspeth called me up to help canvas the Lower East Side (my neck of the woods) to inform locals and gather signatures about a law that could be passed in Albany, the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights . That day, I learned that there are hundreds of domestic workers on my block, very few spoke English, and even fewer had any idea what this Bill of Rights was all about. But they all had stories to tell; some pleasant, some awful, but mostly they felt no one listened to or cared about them. So I’ve gotten involved in this cause and helping to give domestic workers a stronger voice.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out during lunch that my comment is taking top honors (FTM). But more importantly, I’m hoping to hear reader’s thoughts.
___________________________
Tasha-
I’m curious about something. We had a nanny before my child entered into daycare and treated her well. She’s still a big part of our lives. Having a nanny really opened my eyes to the rights (or lack thereof) of domestic workers. When I was letting our nanny go we gave her a severance, secured a job for her and made sure she was well taken care of. It was at this time I began researching some of the legislature currently going through Albany (a good resource for this is Domestic Workers United, http://www.domesticworkersunited.org/ ) to find out what is a typical severance, vacation, insurance package for a nanny. I was surprised that when I asked around, very few employers gave severance or vacation days (!)

In any case, I’m wondering what you, other nannies and other employers think of the proposed Domestic Workers Bill of Rights (which I took the liberty to cut and paste from the “Campaigns” section on the site aforementioned).

Pay
Overtime pay
o Overtime pay of time-and-a-half of the worker’s regular rate of pay for every hour over 40 hours worked in a week.

Annual cost of living adjustment
o Domestic worker’s salary must be annually adjusted by the amount of the increase in the
Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation (averages about 3 to 4% a year).

Time Off
o One day of rest per week
o Paid time off for sick days, vacation, and holidays
o 5 sick days per year, 5 personal days per year.
o Vacation ranges from 2 to 5 weeks, depending on the number of years working for the family.
o Holidays, including New Year’s Day, MLK Jr. Day, President’s Day, Memorial Day,
Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Labor Day, Christmas Day, and one additional holiday of
the worker’s choosing.
o If the worker chooses to work on a holiday, she earns time-and-a-half (or double if it puts her
over 40 hours worked in the week).

Termination Standards
Advance notice of termination
o 21 days’ notice requirement.

Severance pay
o One week’s pay for each year she has worked for the employer.
Protection from Discrimination
Domestic workers will be included in New York’s employment discrimination law.

Health Care
Employers must provide domestic worker employees with either: (1) health benefits substantially equivalent to those provided by the Healthy New York plan, OR (2) an amount no less than the lowest cost of a Healthy New York plan.

Enforcement
Workers whose rights have been violated may sue their employers in court in order to collect the
money they are owed, and in some cases, extra money as punishment against the employer (punitive damages). The Commissioner of Labor and the Attorney General may also bring lawsuits on behalf of domestic workers.

Application
The domestic workers bill of rights only applies to the MTA region, which includes New York City and Dutchess, Nassau, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Suffolk, and Westchester counties.

I believe in protecting domestic workers rights, but fear nannies who do stand up for themselves will get overlooked by potential employers.

— antimony, NYC

Google maps caught a photo of my pop mowing the lawn during a Street View trek in Granville, Ohio. My mom always thought he spent a lot of time out there mowing the grass, guess it finally got documented! We determine they came by on July 9th, 2007- almost two full years before they released the images.

As a technologist, and electronics enthusiast, I’ve noticed a huge push in the DIY movement for arts and crafts. As a mom, and in the spirit of Ruth Handler, I know I want my daughter’s toys to be made for her needs. Spinning off the concept of personalization, I began recording my voice, my husband’s voice, and our family members who she knows and loves but does not see them as much as we’d like (we’re in NYC, my family is from Ohio).

The toy exists as a prototype; a box with yellow square, blue triangle, and red circle. When my daughter picks up the red circle, she hears her grandmother’s voice say “red circle”, and the blue triangle is her grandfather’s voice, and so on. There’s also a place beneath the circle or triangle for her grandparents pictures so she can make the audio visual connect. Everything is wooden (except the electronics), and all paints are non toxic. My daughter, who is 2 yrs old, loves it!

The big idea, and differentiator, behind this toy is the audio – it’s your voice your child hears, you’re the one teaching them even if you can’t be there all the time. And it’s a way to connect to family members who may not be near by. The child will still hear her family member’s voice and recognize the picture. What grandparent wouldn’t want that?

Many of the toys she plays with now (Leapfrog’s Learn and Groove in particular) showcase anonymous voices singing ABC’s or teaching colors. And for a while she would spend hours with these toys! I have been working with a child psychologist who has emphasized the need for a child to hear her mother and father’s voice for comfort, but little is known of this connection other than comfort. Seems to me, our loved one’s voices play a huge role in our development.

At this point the prototype is up and running and I’m working on a next iteration of the interface and would like it to be more “in the round” and to tell stories, as opposed to a box top with shapes (though Melissa and Doug seem to be doing just fine with this idea). I want to make it easy for parents to record their own audio, and fun so the child learns through play.

Yesterday during breakfast the mailman dropped off the Duplo Legos I had ordered from Amazon for my soon-to-be 2 year old daughter. We could both hardly stand finishing our eggs and peanut butter toast, because what we really wanted to do was open the box. Once I cleared the table and coaxed the box from Blue’s hands without her crying, we tore it open and dug into the candy colored pieces. This was the first time Blue had played with Legos, and I was surprised that she knew exactly what to do (one of the highest marks of good design).

She started putting a few pieces together, but got really excited when it clicked, that she could stack the pieces up as tall as she wanted. I sat by and just watched her build and build the four-nubbed Legos into a tower made from all the same pieces. It sparked a thought. This is what it’s like to discover building and architecture, and the primal impulse is to make it taller. “More, more more!” she wanted. I couldn’t help but think so many of us feel this way, and it takes rational thought the overcome it. The push for innovation shouldn’t just about building upward but about creating an experience for your audience, or consistency within a physical context, or for conceptual integrity, or simply for beauty.

I was reminded of Rem Koolhaas’s reasoning behind the Central Chinese Television (CCTV) building in Shanghai- instead of taller and more slender, he opted for a continuous loop to represent modernization. The locals call it “big underpants,” but he envisioned “a shared conceptual space in which all parts are housed permanently, aware of one another’s presence – a collective. Communication increases; paranoia decreases.” From what I hear, it was, at least temporarily, a hub of social activity and facilitated connectivity among the workers. I like that Koolhaas looked beyond the obvious next phase of skyscrapers (taller, skinnier), and strove for an experiential design.

I attached the manifesto in case you’re interested.
Koolhaas: Beijing manifesto

A quick Flash mockup of little project I’ve been working about the loop of belief; going from religious, atheist, to spiritual and back. Glass bulbs and lights will replace the 2D feel, just testing out the timing and animation of the lights.

why worry?why_worry

The blogger in me has won, so I’m in the process of streamlining all my sites into a Wordpress framework. Old and new stuff forthcoming.