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Work, work, work
Feb. 8th, 2006 01:09 pmIt's not something that you hear used to describe a computer science module often, but the double lesson of Human Computer Interaction was immensely entertaining. Thanks to the lecturer's teaching technique (getting the students to argue with each other), we were debating about how to best implement the controls for an oven for at least an hour. It's just as well we've only got one particularly outspoken member of the class there, otherwise we'd have been there for the rest of the afternoon.
We were also pointed to the Interface Hall of Shame, a site that exhibits the worst sighted elements of human computer interfaces. It hasn't been updated in years, and I don't agree with all of it (it's particularly ironic that the Word 97 hover buttons that it detests so much have now become a standard part of Windows XP), but the class were clustered round a computer laughing uproariously at it yesterday. Admittedly, this might be just us.
I am now getting on with the PSAC essay, and have elected to write about online privacy and communication monitoring. As expected, it's clear even this early that it's going to be worse than my previous epic work on "The Use of Formal Methods in Software and Hardware Design, Implementation and Manufacture", because I always have the same low opinion of all my significant essays. This one happens to be quickly turning into a law paper due to the number of terms, conditions and acts that I'm citing.
Research is sometimes rewarding, though - it's just emerged from the back of the room that the cryptographer Claude Shannon also invented a rocket-powered pogo stick and a flamethrowing trumpet. Not a lot of people know that.
We were also pointed to the Interface Hall of Shame, a site that exhibits the worst sighted elements of human computer interfaces. It hasn't been updated in years, and I don't agree with all of it (it's particularly ironic that the Word 97 hover buttons that it detests so much have now become a standard part of Windows XP), but the class were clustered round a computer laughing uproariously at it yesterday. Admittedly, this might be just us.
I am now getting on with the PSAC essay, and have elected to write about online privacy and communication monitoring. As expected, it's clear even this early that it's going to be worse than my previous epic work on "The Use of Formal Methods in Software and Hardware Design, Implementation and Manufacture", because I always have the same low opinion of all my significant essays. This one happens to be quickly turning into a law paper due to the number of terms, conditions and acts that I'm citing.
Research is sometimes rewarding, though - it's just emerged from the back of the room that the cryptographer Claude Shannon also invented a rocket-powered pogo stick and a flamethrowing trumpet. Not a lot of people know that.
