sinéad's lifestream

The PermanentTSB website won a Golden Spider back in 2005 and since then hasn’t really changed it’s overall site design, infact, it has been virtually the same since 2002. A heuristic evalution of the site (undertaken in the Human Computer Interaction module of the MSc in Cyberpsychology) easily leads me to believe that it is in dire need of a redesign (yet their more recently launched “Yourmortgage.ie” is almost a replica of the main site). Out of a possible 23 heuristics, it only fully complied with 12 of them – meaning the site is littered with design inconsistencies, broken links, very clearly deviates from the current standard web practices (PDF files? really?) etc., etc.

It’s just another fine example of Irish web design firmly stuck in web 1.0. The .ie domain is virtually (no pun intended!) littered with them. I’m sure there are plenty more examples of badly designed Irish sites (not necessarily .ie) and would be thrilled to hear everyone’s own personal “favorites”.

Eircom.net is another firm favorite of mine for its sensational orange menu with white text, and dark grey text on a grey background for its sub-menu. Wonderful stuff.

I’m in the early stages of writing my second thesis. My first one, for my undergrad studies in Psychology Applied to I.T was based on online advertising, was only about 5,000+ words and I had about 80 participants in my experiments.

This one will be three times the size, it will weigh in at about 10,000 – 15,000 words and I’ll be needing about 1,000 volunteers to fill out multiple online surveys for me (this step won’t commence until at least September). So wish me luck! Below are some of the aims I have developed, they form the basis for my upcoming research.

Aims:

1. To investigate the immediate and initial factors that influence the perception of credibility and trust online, in regards to non-commercial websites and blogs.
2. To explore and evaluate cues of trustworthiness online.
3. To investigate trust-inducing interface design features and tools employed by non-commercial web designers, blogging platforms and blog writers, and examine their effectiveness.
4. To examine online trust formation from a user’s perspective, including brand awareness and social experiences.

Though there is a lot of research with regard to the topic of trustworthiness online, almost all of this research focuses solely on e-commerce (eBay, Amazon etc.,) and does not delve into information exchange. Recently Wikipedia and Blogging has come under scrutiny by the traditional media for an apparent misrepresentation for information. However, this has in no way effected the popularity of these mediums. What I want to know is – why? Why do people trust certain websites and blogs but not others?

The next stage is to develop sets of hypothesis, which I’ve begun to do and have quite a few so far. I’m very much looking forward to getting feedback on my initial ideas from the college, I may have to alter the above aims as time progresses. If anyone would like to contribute some feedback or direct me towards any existing research, articles etc., please do.

If anyone else, like myself, is currently in the process of doing research into existing literature, online, let me suggest a wonderful tool called Zotero. It’s a file management system that works in conjunction with Firefox to help you sort, tag, reference, etc., research papers from sites such as Google Scholar.

It’s been quite some time since I’ve posted anything, been very busy and nothing new in the world of gadgets/technology has taken my interest, expect perhaps Blackle. Been busy changing jobs – I’m now working in Admin/ICT for the Health Service Executive in their mental health section. It’s Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, or flexi-time if I need to come in late, or go home early – which suits me perfectly, especially so for college in October.

I’ve my interview for the M.Sc. in Cyberpsychology at the beginning of September, I’m feeling confident about it, I can’t see how they’d refuse me. I’m putting all my eggs in one basket – I know this – but I honestly couldn’t find a Masters program that suited me the way this one does, so even if I don’t get in, I’d rather that than do a course I wasn’t excited about.

Update: Induction is on the 22nd. I start formal lectures on the 29th. Goodbye Saturdays. Hello education.

Since my last post I have officially graduated from college, you can see all the embarrassing photos of myself and my classmates in our graduation gowns and caps over on my bebo page. I spent some time in cork working/training in the 3Store on Patrick’s Street, and other than that I’ve just been playing around with my new toy. I finally got my dream camera – the Fuji Finepix S5600 – it was a graduation gift from my parents, and by gift I mean they handed me money and said “We were afraid of getting you the wrong one.”

So far, I’ve yet to master the finer “complicated” functions of the camera, which is frustrating but also makes me realise that for once in my life I should probably read the manual. The camera takes fantastic photos and it’s really quick, making multiple shots very easy to take. The 10x zoom is incredible, it makes you feel like a spy. It’s a lot of fun. Getting clear close-up shots of small objects isn’t easy though, having tried to take shots of a bearded dragon at the weekend I’ve come to the conclusion that I must (yes, must!) purchase a fisheye lens and macro, for panoramic and close-up shots. I don’t have any other negative comments, I’m very happy with my purchase, I did have one small problem with it though.

After less than a week of it being in my possession there was one very annoying problem – the additional memory card I purchased with it was faulty. I lost all of the photos I took at the weekend. However, I was pleasantly surprised to come up against no hassle whatsoever in Pixels, where I purchased the camera. When I explained the situation, they simply gave me a new memory card, none of the usual arguments or “I’ll have to talk to the manager” bull that I’m used to from sales people.

So, to make sure it was working perfectly with the replacement card, I took some shots of my dog Ben, who is definitely no stranger to the camera, in fact he is quite the little poser as you can see below.

Yesterday, I turned 22. And I felt as though I’d come to a dramatic junction in my life, where things could either go downhill very quickly, or slowly continue upwards.

Within the last year, a major change occured in my life. I met the woman of my dreams, which encouraged me to finally wake-up and realise that I really wanted to progress academically, in order to fullfill my desire to be successful professionally, to move out, settle down and eventually start a family of my own.

Love is a powerful thing.

Over the last year, I worked harder than I have ever before. When I look back upon my Leaving Certificate, I realise how foolish I was. In the end I was very lucky to gain a place in a college course that has given me the opportunity to combine my two favourite subjects: humanity and technology. In 1st year I was enthusiastic and did very well in my exams, but circumstances led me to neglect my stuides, and take my place in college for granted. During 2nd and 3rd year I did not push myself hard enough, which in the end has made my final year a difficult one. I had to work harder this year, to make sure my overall degree mark was sufficient enough to allow me to one day continue my studies and eventually get my Ph.D.

Today, I recieved my college exam results. I was so shocked by them that I had to call my course co-ordinator to confirm the words sitting in Firefox. I got a GPA of 3.19 for my final year, and added with my 3rd year marks, I have been awarded a Second Class Honours Grade 1 (2.1). I am now the proud owner of a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Psychology Applied To Information Technology.

A 2.1 was important for me to achieve, as it gives me the ability to persue a masters degree course in almost any area of Psychology that I desire. Currently, I have my eye on a sweet little number that is actually more Computer Science based: A Master of Science in Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing at Trinity.

Now all I have to do is save or borrow €4000. I’m planning on using this year to save, so far it’s not exactly going to plan, but once I get myself a new job I should be well on my way to getting myself into a nice masters course, and then someday perhaps I will lecture… or maybe, get a lovely job at somewhere like Google.

So, in conclusion… the “dramatic junction” I’m standing at right now is steep, but I’m very much looking forward to the climb ahead of me. Knowing I’ll have a woman like Jen by my side, and such wonderful friends and family, gives me confidence that I can succeed in this weird and wonderful life.

Yes, I know that IS a long subject line… it’s the title of my research which has been printed and hard-bound, and handed into the college, and I’ve presented it at the PSI Student Congress. It’s all finally over and done with. So, if anyone is interested in what I’ve been doing for the last 6 months…. read on.

The Memory Recall Of Pop-Up Advertisements Amongst Experienced Internet Users:

The aim of my study was to examine the relationship between Internet experience and memory retention of pop-up advertisements. Participants completed an online survey about their Internet experience, during which a pop-up advertisement appeared. Participants then completed a paper-pencil test examining their recall of the pop-up. This study found no relationship between experience and memory retention, online. However, low memory recall rates of the pop-up advertisement were found. This study also found that the more experienced a user becomes online the more likely they are to use pop-up blocking software. Implications of this research suggest Internet users learn to actively attempt to remove pop-ups from their surfing experience, that pop-ups are ineffective forms of advertising online, and that online advertisers should focus on alternative forms of advertising.

For the completed dissertation you can download a PDF version here or view the online version here.

There’s a couple of things I wish I could have done this year: use the eye-tracker on my participants, test the stress levels of participants using the net with pop-up blocking software and then without. But alas, doing either of those things would have required twice as much work by myself, and I just didn’t have the time or equipment. Maybe for post-grad.

I was doing some reading today on current trends in Ubiquitous Computing a.k.a. Ubicomp – which integrates computation into the environment, rather than having computers which are actual objects.

“The promoters of ubicomp hope that embedding computation into the environment would enable people to move around and interact with computers more naturally. One of the goals of ubiquitous computing is to enable devices to sense changes in their environment and to automatically adapt and act based on these changes based on user needs and preferences. Some simple examples of this type of behavior include GPS-equipped automobiles that give interactive driving directions.” Source: www.wikipedia.org

Well, after reading a few more journal articles on ubicomp, many of which were stating the benefits of using PDA type technologies in learning environments etc., I started thinking about my own environment. The first thing that came to mind was how much I would love a Remote Control Kettle. To be honest though, I really wouldn’t want a kettle that would “decide” when to boil, a life of its own really (scarey!)… but that’s not really the point of ubicomp… it’s not to give technology a life of it’s own, it is to make technology more accessible to us, work harder for us, and interact continuously with it’s technological counterparts.

So, my Remote Control Kettle idea… when I really thought about it I realised what I wanted was a Kettle that would boil if you sent a text message to a sim-card inside the kettle. I doubt this would be a very difficult product to manufacture, and with the lowering costs in mobile phone technologies, it wouldn’t be that expensive either.

I know what you’re thinking… but yes, I googled “remote control kettle” but, none exist. But dear god I wish it did.