Month: December 2002

academic working paper on the usability of open source software

via Slashdot
The article uses examples mostly from developer-oriented projects like Linux and Gnome.
Some of their premises seem obsolete. There are new generations of open source software being designed for humans, not just arch-geeks. Examples include weblog software: MovableType; and email/PIM software: Spaces, OSAF. These projects deliberately consider usability.
On the other hand, some of their suggestions are interesting, such as:
* providing tools for users to report usability issues
* creating packaged remote usability tests for users
* enabling bug-tracking systems to incorporate graphical and video
content (apparently Bugzilla discussions of interface issues require
creating ASCII art
* being more welcome to HCI practitioners
The discussion is very academic in tone. The article would be more compelling if the authors had actually tried to, say, contact the core Mozilla team and offered to implement their ideas.

Washington Post: Ashcroft urges justice department to ignore Freedom of Information Act

via Dan Gillmor
One 36-year-old U.S. law can be broken, it seems. Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, who is sworn to enforce all laws, has told federal employees that they can bend — perhaps even break — one law, and he will even defend their actions in court. That law is known as the Freedom of Information Act.

Swiss Re won’t insure against global warming liability lawsuits

CERES: Company executives could find themselves losing protection against climate change-related liability claims brought by shareholders. SwissRe, the world’s second-largest reinsurer, has announced it will withdraw coverage of such claims for senior executives of companies that fail to adopt adequate climate change policies. In the November issue of Environmental Finance, Roger Wenger of SwissRe said, “As an insurer, we only give coverage to ‘fortuitous events.’ If it is predictable that a liability would arise, we would have to exclude that cover from the policy.”
more seriously, from Gil Friend’s weblog

New theory about origins of life

via Google news
A pair of biologists propose that tiny honeycombs within minerals may have served as the first cells, incubating the first self-replicating life forms.
This proposal contrasts with theories that life started with the emergence of self-replicating chemicals, and cellular boundaries evolved later.

Microfame

Why would someone build a model of the starship Enterprise in legos?
Because of micro-fame, says Tom Coates. On the internet, everyone can find the 15 other people who are interested in the same obscure hobby.
“There’s now an audience for the strangest and smallest little projects. All the disconnected people around the world who might find a Lego Enterprise cool are suddenly connected up. It’s worth making that tiny little thing you thought would be quite cool once, it’s worth writing the dumb ideas down that you thought no one would ever listen to. Because the odds of finding people who will care about them, will gel and relate to you, will celebrate your idea or project and make you famous (tiny-fame, micro-idol), is radically improved. The future will be full of dumb projects, tiny ideas, silly concepts – each celebrated by their own bespoke fan-base… And human creativity will have taken a massive leap forward…

girlism continued

… in which doc asks for more credit for acknowledging the contributions of feminism.
Requested and granted 🙂
Especially since Doc regularly cites the girls in the gang as a matter of course. That’s why I was surprised and disappointed to see such apparent misreading of history. Halley doesn’t get off so easy because of the historical errors and propaganda-swallowing, as Sheila anwered so well.
… and asks for positive contributions building on Halley’s insight…
There is a point here. I agree thoroughly with Ruth that there’s a continuing need for a political movement to improve the status of women in society.
But for those of us who are lucky enough not have to fight for women to be allowed to go to school, or hold a job; or own property, or vote… those of use who take for granted women’s full participation in society… the rhetoric of the last generations’ battles may be less helpful on a day-to-day basis in building identity and politics.
… back to Doc, then, to clarify what he found insightful about Halley’s comments, what struck a nerve.

The “rules girl” goes to the office

Lotta response to Halley’s Girlism blog entries, which bug the heck out of me.
Basically, Halley is in favor of using one’s feminine wiles to get ahead in the workplace. “Women want to be sexy girls and use all the tricks girls use. Crying, flirting, begging, winking, stomping their feet when they don’t get their way, general trotting around showing off their long legs and whatever else they decide to show off thereby distracting and derailing men.” And she has a stereotype of feminism as the exclusive property of butch dykes, right out of Rush Limbaugh.
Doc finds Halley’s flirtatious approach appealing and charming; he and his wife both agree that feminism is boring. I’m glad that Doc and his wife have had so little experience with sexism that they can’t remember why feminism was ever relevant in the first place.
My grandmother wasn’t allowed to finish high school. My aunts had to fight to go to college. Early in my career, I worked in a place that had big gender disparities in pay (and had a male mentor who researched the subject and got me a big raise). I’ve seen women who flirt with the boss, sleep with the boss, and get their cute butt canned when things go sour.
I’m really not persuaded that the best response to injustice is to giggle and flirt.
Via doc, Sheila Lennon responds to Halley with a testament on the last wave of the women’s movement, about equal pay for equal work, being respected as a woman instead of dismissed as a girl, legal birth control, and first-hand reports on the sexual revolution.
Doc finds feminine style attractive in women; and that’s peachy.
But the point isn’t to make all women chop their long flowing tresses and wear blue jeans. The point is that people are different from each other. Some of these differences line up by gender averages, and some of them don’t. I have straight guy friends who wear more nail polish than I do. I have lesbian friends who own more make-up than I do. I have many male friends who love to cook and are dedicated parents. I have short hair, like books, hate shopping, like cooking, and find violent first-person shooter games really boring.
These things don’t line up in neat little rows by gender stereotypes, and that’s part of the lesson of feminism for me.