(The following post is for a Blog it! Competition in the office…read on)
The term ‘Usability’ was one that I encountered very recently, perhaps the day I started working with Kern. I had heard of ‘User Friendly’, but not of ‘Usability’. I am still trying to figure out the exact difference between the two terms. I suppose the difference is really in the attitude that each of these terms carry with them. ‘User Friendly’, sounds like an add-on, an extra aspect of a gadget or an interface, apart from its functionality. Therefore, a product is not necessarily a bad one if it serves the purpose for which it has been made. It’s a very good product if it not only serves the purpose for which it was made, but can also be easily used. Usability experts, on the other hand, believe that a product is a bad if the user cannot almost automatically figure out the nuances of its usage. A case in point is the Microsoft Excel based, story board tool that the Learning Solutions team has been using for the current project. The tool is great in that it oversees all aspects of story boarding, including the content, graphics, the interactions etc. It gives a certain structure to our work. After nearly a week, we’ve even sort of ‘got the hang’ of it. A usability expert, however, may not quite agree. The point I am trying to make, is that the attitude makes all the difference. And this is an important aspect to keep in mind while you read the rest of this piece.
Back in college, as a part of a course in video production, a team of girls from my class shot a documentary. The project was titled ‘Inclusion’, and the documentary tried to capture the different ways in which we as a society exclude physically and mentally handicapped people. This is an area that has enough scoop for several three hour feature films. Amir Khan’s Tare Zammen Par, is an ideal case in point. However, a documentary, as a genre had certain limitations, in terms of the narrative style and as a result, the time span. In other words, a documentary, unless it is being shown to a group of extremely motivated individuals, can be boring if it exceeds 15 to 20 minutes. The general public, being our target audience, certainly didn’t fall in this category. Therefore, we chose to deal only with infrastructural difficulties that public buildings, public facilities and public transport pose to users who are physically or mentally challenged.
The research phase of this project brought up some disturbing revelations. The complete ignorance of the general public apart, people simply didn’t see the need to make public amenities more accessible to the physically challenged. NGOs and activists, I realized, are still struggling to get ramps, wider lifts, do away with fancy swivel gates and spiraling stair cases which make libraries, schools and even public toilets a distant dream for many. The directors of one of the NGOs we approached had a very interesting take. She said that buildings that have a ramp or a large door to their lift seem so proud when they put up the disability friendly board outside their buildings. It seems like an added service that the organization housed in those buildings provide. Their needs to be a change in the general attitude of people. Until we reach a stage where only disability friendly buildings are made, we have a very long way to go. Providing a ramp or a larger lift is a right, not a favor to tout.
I think the point I am trying to make, lies in her statement. Most ‘disability friendly’ gadgets are made specifically for the disabled. How many mobiles phones and user interfaces have the concept of disability friendly inbuilt into them? It was mind boggling for me to realize that we actually ran a UT only for women with long nails using phones. I mean, it was remarkable to think that cell phone companies think so much into the Usability of their phones. But perhaps a small section of all that research and keenness to make a phone more usable can be spent in a different direction?
It’s the not that we have to make a change. Let’s face it, a more usable phone is really the least of a blind man’s concerns. In a week’s time, he’d get the ‘hang of it’, and he’s perfectly happy to use a computer with software he’s told is specifically made for HIS convenience. The point is something else, somewhat similar to the difference between ‘User friendly’ and ‘Usability’. I guess the point really is in the attitude.
Showing posts with label Life at Kern. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Life at Kern. Show all posts
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Kerning at Kohlad (part 2)
(Nari Lajja Vastran…..Sneha keeps her shorts on!)
River crossing was the one activity that eluded us from the start. It was supposed to be the first activity and the easiest, to get us warmed up to the idea of water sports. Day 1 was wet and soggy, and the water currents were too strong for us to cross the river using a rope, that too while moving against the current. Day 2 was packed with other activities and the currents were still quite strong because of the torrential rains of the earlier day. This left us with Day 3, by which time a lot of us were too pooped out. The idea of crossing a river with aching arms and burning bruises didn’t appeal to everyone. Our troop, which had by now dwindled in number, made its way to the narrowest part of the river, across at least three slushy puddles of water. By this time, smelly wet clothes, slush, and grime didn’t bother us so much. There’s little you can do to fight it. You dry up after a dip in the river, you get wet in the rain; you scrub your feet clean and you’re back in the mud in no time at all. I guess it struck us all that the best way to deal with it was to do nothing about it.
So we make our way to a small clearing, where our trainers were tying a rope across the river. Now as hip as that sounds, the distance we were crossing couldn’t have been more 1/8th of a kilometer. Rash was the most excited amongst us and kept speculating about what would be our likely course of action. “It doesn’t look so tough ya, you just need to grab the rope and walk across.” I have to admit that I for one felt more at ease with Rash’s simple logic of it all. She further adds “It was supposed to be the first activity; it’s got to be easy. And besides we’re wearing life jackets, nothing will happen to us.” Obviously, she had in mind our rafting experience, which turned out to be more of a ‘let’s jump in and float on our backs’ experience.
Once the scene is set for us, we are divided into two groups. All the guys go into the first group. Since Sneha is the only swimmer amongst us women, we suggest that some of the guys swap places with a few of us. The trainer looks quite amused by this. His expression says it all. Even the best swimmer in a pool can do little to save a drowning man in an angry river.
Sushant aka Sallu Bhai was the first to take the lead. Oh by the way, he was christened Sallu Bhai at this exact point in time, as he kept getting his shirt off. He claims that his intentions were to keep his one dry shirt in a wearable condition for the journey back. We, however, think that he had other motives ;).
Sallu Bhai makes his way across with remarkable ease. All the iron he’s pumping sure did him good. Yatin and Ripul follow. Yatin walks across as if it was a stroll in the park (not quite…but compared to the rest of us sputtering, fumbling shorties with water in our eyes and mouth, he sure seemed to have literally walked across). Rash on the bank is eagerly waiting for Anand to make his way. “This is something to look out for. If he can make his way then I think we should also manage”. Lol….Any case, Anand does make his way across, that too with a fair degree of ease.
Our group is now ready to take the plunge. Rash goes in first, enthusiastic and energetic as ever. Half way across, which is where the current really picks up, she’s unable to hold on to the rope, she lets go and all of us get to see the first rescue mission. Damn, I knew Baywatch was fake and flawed. But reality always bites. An hour later, on dry ground, she tells me “I was more worried about getting to the other side; I would have had to make my way back!” Hmm..smart thinking, I’d say. Getting back is really the tougher deal. You know exactly what you’re in for and you’re none the better for being wiser. You’re just more tired and very scared…scared about letting go and loosing you life. Well, at least that’s what most of us were scared of losing. Sneha’s fears were of course of a different dimension ;)
Half way across the river, where the currents are very strong, all of us are trying to hang on to the rope. But what do we hear from Sneha??? “Ah my shorts, it’s getting pulled away with the current.” That really had the rest of us in splits, Ripul yelling “Try and worry about holding on to your life, you can worry about your shorts a little later.”
I remember overhearing a conversation between Sathya and Sneha, the first week into work. I don’t quite remember the context but Sathya was making fun of Sneha’s dupatta and Sneha, in her attempt to fend him off called the dupatta the ‘naari lajja vastran’. The river crossing experience should have definitely redefined the term for her!
So that was river crossing folks, a story of how we all managed to keep our lives and our shorts!
River crossing was the one activity that eluded us from the start. It was supposed to be the first activity and the easiest, to get us warmed up to the idea of water sports. Day 1 was wet and soggy, and the water currents were too strong for us to cross the river using a rope, that too while moving against the current. Day 2 was packed with other activities and the currents were still quite strong because of the torrential rains of the earlier day. This left us with Day 3, by which time a lot of us were too pooped out. The idea of crossing a river with aching arms and burning bruises didn’t appeal to everyone. Our troop, which had by now dwindled in number, made its way to the narrowest part of the river, across at least three slushy puddles of water. By this time, smelly wet clothes, slush, and grime didn’t bother us so much. There’s little you can do to fight it. You dry up after a dip in the river, you get wet in the rain; you scrub your feet clean and you’re back in the mud in no time at all. I guess it struck us all that the best way to deal with it was to do nothing about it.
So we make our way to a small clearing, where our trainers were tying a rope across the river. Now as hip as that sounds, the distance we were crossing couldn’t have been more 1/8th of a kilometer. Rash was the most excited amongst us and kept speculating about what would be our likely course of action. “It doesn’t look so tough ya, you just need to grab the rope and walk across.” I have to admit that I for one felt more at ease with Rash’s simple logic of it all. She further adds “It was supposed to be the first activity; it’s got to be easy. And besides we’re wearing life jackets, nothing will happen to us.” Obviously, she had in mind our rafting experience, which turned out to be more of a ‘let’s jump in and float on our backs’ experience.
Once the scene is set for us, we are divided into two groups. All the guys go into the first group. Since Sneha is the only swimmer amongst us women, we suggest that some of the guys swap places with a few of us. The trainer looks quite amused by this. His expression says it all. Even the best swimmer in a pool can do little to save a drowning man in an angry river.
Sushant aka Sallu Bhai was the first to take the lead. Oh by the way, he was christened Sallu Bhai at this exact point in time, as he kept getting his shirt off. He claims that his intentions were to keep his one dry shirt in a wearable condition for the journey back. We, however, think that he had other motives ;).
Sallu Bhai makes his way across with remarkable ease. All the iron he’s pumping sure did him good. Yatin and Ripul follow. Yatin walks across as if it was a stroll in the park (not quite…but compared to the rest of us sputtering, fumbling shorties with water in our eyes and mouth, he sure seemed to have literally walked across). Rash on the bank is eagerly waiting for Anand to make his way. “This is something to look out for. If he can make his way then I think we should also manage”. Lol….Any case, Anand does make his way across, that too with a fair degree of ease.
Our group is now ready to take the plunge. Rash goes in first, enthusiastic and energetic as ever. Half way across, which is where the current really picks up, she’s unable to hold on to the rope, she lets go and all of us get to see the first rescue mission. Damn, I knew Baywatch was fake and flawed. But reality always bites. An hour later, on dry ground, she tells me “I was more worried about getting to the other side; I would have had to make my way back!” Hmm..smart thinking, I’d say. Getting back is really the tougher deal. You know exactly what you’re in for and you’re none the better for being wiser. You’re just more tired and very scared…scared about letting go and loosing you life. Well, at least that’s what most of us were scared of losing. Sneha’s fears were of course of a different dimension ;)
Half way across the river, where the currents are very strong, all of us are trying to hang on to the rope. But what do we hear from Sneha??? “Ah my shorts, it’s getting pulled away with the current.” That really had the rest of us in splits, Ripul yelling “Try and worry about holding on to your life, you can worry about your shorts a little later.”
I remember overhearing a conversation between Sathya and Sneha, the first week into work. I don’t quite remember the context but Sathya was making fun of Sneha’s dupatta and Sneha, in her attempt to fend him off called the dupatta the ‘naari lajja vastran’. The river crossing experience should have definitely redefined the term for her!
So that was river crossing folks, a story of how we all managed to keep our lives and our shorts!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Kerning at Kohlad
Kerning at Kohlad (part 1)
It’s been a few days since we returned from our trip to Kohlad and most of us at Kern are just about recovering from body ache, muscle pulls, bruises and rashes. I suppose all of us have carried a bit of River Kundalika and the River Trail camp with us!
The last couple of days have been a rush to capture our memories on the World Wide Web, make it permanent through photographs, emails and blogs, so friends and family can partake in our weekend adventure. I suppose my attempt is no different. But the deal with writing a few days later is that you don’t have to capsule the entire trip in one blog post. The need to narrate everything is satiated and there’s time for reflection. Besides, memory is fragmented. We don’t remember in sequence, and neither do we remember everything. My posts about the trip are going to be short sprints, covering only certain aspects of the trip, as and when they occur to me. So here goes….
As the newest kid on the block, I was quite excited about the trip to Kohlad. Not everybody gets to go for a trip to an exotic location, less than a month into work, fewer get entrusted with the role of playing Paparazzi, to unleash ‘deep dark secrets’ as Geeta would put it. It was already a couple of days into the trip and Nishana and I had done little to carry out the secret mission that Geeta had entrusted us with. We were running out of time and Hot Seat, a game I played back in college seemed like the only way to get mission ‘deep dark secrets’ underway. The game was explained, the ‘rules’, remade and we were all set for our rather, let’s face it, voyeuristic endeavor. I mean, deep, dark secrets for the harmless and ordinary go little beyond matters of lust.
A good scientist always finds himself (or herself) the guinea pig and this, shall we say social experiment, was no different. Off I went to face the hot seat, a rather unmemorable stint, since I had few deep, dark secrets. Besides, people were just about getting warmed up and were still learning about the tool they had just been offered. I mean think of the potential of being allowed to ask your colleagues five questions (any kind of questions)!! Anyways, read on to find out some of the really interesting questions and equally dark answers.
Mini was among the earliest to face the hot seat and she was asked as to what the hottest thing about Ashish was. Mini, in her cute sincere style launches into this long speech about how well behaved a guy Ashish is and as to how (and here comes the clincher) amongst all the guys who have ever asked her out he’s the most trustworthy and respectful guy. Ripul, catches on to this real quick and asks her as to how many guys have actually asked her out. It’s not the fact that it was a sizable number that sent the rest of us into splits, it’s the fact that she took two whole minutes to count on her fingers that really got us.
Meghna was another very memorable victim, a willing victim at that. Since Ashim couldn’t join us this time (he’s off to S.Africa), Meghna had to first answer a bunch of five questions as Ashim and then answer five of her own questions. Ashim’s stint was boring, courtesy Sathyajit who couldn’t quit asking boring questions about choosing design over girl friend, money etc . He was obviously on his trip of proving that Ashim was above this world of moh and maya. Sathya, we get the point, move on buddy, you’re still made for the lowest rung on Maslow’s pyramid. Meghna, by then bored out her skull decides to ask herself the questions. So each time we were racking our brains, she’d tell us what to ask! Here’s the one that took the cake “Ask me what we did in the water tank at NID?” LOL…What followed was a delightful adventure of how the two managed to get themselves locked in a water tank that was out of bounds and narrowly missed getting suspended thanks to friends who conducted a fake contextual enquiry with the security guard!
Sushant (aka Baba, aka Sallu bhai): As the only single bachelor in the office, everyone was out to clobber him. Firstly, he refuses to give his take on the hottest woman in the office. Finally when pushed to the corner (even Sallu bhai can’t resist the attack of a pack of wolves), he settles on Archie, who he’s not met so far! But here comes the best part, Baba actually had a girl friend when he was studying abroad. And she was nothing lesser than a hot Columbian whose name was revealed after much fuss and threats of getting beaten up if ever contacted. Ripul of course pulled out his fancy technology and Googled for her name right away!
Ripul was an absolute pro at tackling the questions. I thought he displayed the poise of a celebrity in Karan Johar’s hot seat. Among other interesting ones was his side to the ‘airport story' which was news even to Rashmi. But what really laid the icing on the cake was Ruby’s persistent questions about Ripul’s marital status vis a vis Geeta. And this was post the long romantic story of how they met at the airport. Rumor has it that she’s still confused..lol..
Those were some deep dark secrets of some Kernites. Oh I completely forgot to mention Nishana and Ruby who couldn’t stop talking about their supportive husbands. Ruby still had things to say about Rahul ten minutes after she was off the hot seat (lol…that was really cute)
So that’s the scoop from Kern’s Paparazzi, look out for more posts on Kerning at Kohlad…
It’s been a few days since we returned from our trip to Kohlad and most of us at Kern are just about recovering from body ache, muscle pulls, bruises and rashes. I suppose all of us have carried a bit of River Kundalika and the River Trail camp with us!
The last couple of days have been a rush to capture our memories on the World Wide Web, make it permanent through photographs, emails and blogs, so friends and family can partake in our weekend adventure. I suppose my attempt is no different. But the deal with writing a few days later is that you don’t have to capsule the entire trip in one blog post. The need to narrate everything is satiated and there’s time for reflection. Besides, memory is fragmented. We don’t remember in sequence, and neither do we remember everything. My posts about the trip are going to be short sprints, covering only certain aspects of the trip, as and when they occur to me. So here goes….
As the newest kid on the block, I was quite excited about the trip to Kohlad. Not everybody gets to go for a trip to an exotic location, less than a month into work, fewer get entrusted with the role of playing Paparazzi, to unleash ‘deep dark secrets’ as Geeta would put it. It was already a couple of days into the trip and Nishana and I had done little to carry out the secret mission that Geeta had entrusted us with. We were running out of time and Hot Seat, a game I played back in college seemed like the only way to get mission ‘deep dark secrets’ underway. The game was explained, the ‘rules’, remade and we were all set for our rather, let’s face it, voyeuristic endeavor. I mean, deep, dark secrets for the harmless and ordinary go little beyond matters of lust.
A good scientist always finds himself (or herself) the guinea pig and this, shall we say social experiment, was no different. Off I went to face the hot seat, a rather unmemorable stint, since I had few deep, dark secrets. Besides, people were just about getting warmed up and were still learning about the tool they had just been offered. I mean think of the potential of being allowed to ask your colleagues five questions (any kind of questions)!! Anyways, read on to find out some of the really interesting questions and equally dark answers.
Mini was among the earliest to face the hot seat and she was asked as to what the hottest thing about Ashish was. Mini, in her cute sincere style launches into this long speech about how well behaved a guy Ashish is and as to how (and here comes the clincher) amongst all the guys who have ever asked her out he’s the most trustworthy and respectful guy. Ripul, catches on to this real quick and asks her as to how many guys have actually asked her out. It’s not the fact that it was a sizable number that sent the rest of us into splits, it’s the fact that she took two whole minutes to count on her fingers that really got us.
Meghna was another very memorable victim, a willing victim at that. Since Ashim couldn’t join us this time (he’s off to S.Africa), Meghna had to first answer a bunch of five questions as Ashim and then answer five of her own questions. Ashim’s stint was boring, courtesy Sathyajit who couldn’t quit asking boring questions about choosing design over girl friend, money etc . He was obviously on his trip of proving that Ashim was above this world of moh and maya. Sathya, we get the point, move on buddy, you’re still made for the lowest rung on Maslow’s pyramid. Meghna, by then bored out her skull decides to ask herself the questions. So each time we were racking our brains, she’d tell us what to ask! Here’s the one that took the cake “Ask me what we did in the water tank at NID?” LOL…What followed was a delightful adventure of how the two managed to get themselves locked in a water tank that was out of bounds and narrowly missed getting suspended thanks to friends who conducted a fake contextual enquiry with the security guard!
Sushant (aka Baba, aka Sallu bhai): As the only single bachelor in the office, everyone was out to clobber him. Firstly, he refuses to give his take on the hottest woman in the office. Finally when pushed to the corner (even Sallu bhai can’t resist the attack of a pack of wolves), he settles on Archie, who he’s not met so far! But here comes the best part, Baba actually had a girl friend when he was studying abroad. And she was nothing lesser than a hot Columbian whose name was revealed after much fuss and threats of getting beaten up if ever contacted. Ripul of course pulled out his fancy technology and Googled for her name right away!
Ripul was an absolute pro at tackling the questions. I thought he displayed the poise of a celebrity in Karan Johar’s hot seat. Among other interesting ones was his side to the ‘airport story' which was news even to Rashmi. But what really laid the icing on the cake was Ruby’s persistent questions about Ripul’s marital status vis a vis Geeta. And this was post the long romantic story of how they met at the airport. Rumor has it that she’s still confused..lol..
Those were some deep dark secrets of some Kernites. Oh I completely forgot to mention Nishana and Ruby who couldn’t stop talking about their supportive husbands. Ruby still had things to say about Rahul ten minutes after she was off the hot seat (lol…that was really cute)
So that’s the scoop from Kern’s Paparazzi, look out for more posts on Kerning at Kohlad…
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