#problem projectproblem research

[sibbiedxp412]

Case Study 1

Case Study 1:

Google+

Overview:

Google+ is a social network and social layer for Google services that is owned and operated by Google Inc. Google+ launched in June 2011 as a social network. Features included the ability to post photos and status updates to the stream or interest based communities, group different types of relationships (rather than simply "friends") into Circles, a multi-person instant messaging, text and video chat called Hangouts, events, location tagging, and the ability to edit and upload photos to private cloud-based albums. Approximately 540 million monthly active users make use of the social layer by interacting with Google+'s enhanced properties and 300 million monthly active users participate in the social network, interacting with the Google+ social networking stream.

 The design challenge:

The average time that user spent on the site was a small fraction of that on comparable social media services although the number of active users on Google+ grew significantly between 2011 and 2012. After that, Google+ growth stats are difficult to evaluate because Google first defined the service as a social network, then later as "a social layer across all of Google's services", allowing them to share a user's identity and interests. It is worth noting that The Google+ iPhone app became the most popular free application in the Apple App Store in July 2011.

  Technology and tools:

Google+ is a typical Google web application: it uses Java Servest for the server code and JavaScript for the browser-side of the UI, largely built with Google's Closure framework, including the JavaScript compiler and the template system. They use the HTML5 History API to maintain good-looking URLs in modern browsers despite the AJAX app. To achieve fast response times Google often renders the Closure templates on the server side before any JavaScript is loaded; then the JavaScript finds the right DOM nodes, hooks up event handlers, etc. The back ends are built mostly on top of BigTable and Colossus/GFS, and other common Google technologies.

 Interface Designs:

l  +1 Button

Google+ has a "+1 button" to allow people to recommend sites and parts of sites, similar in use to Facebook's Like button

l  Google+ Pages

Google+ Pages to all users. It allows entities that are not individuals (such as organizations, companies, and publications) to set up profiles, or "pages", for the posting and syndication of posts. It is similar to Facebook Pages.

l  Google+ Badges

Google+ Badges are sidebar widgets that embed “Add to Circles” buttons and drop-down lists into off-site websites and blogs, similar to Facebook's Like Box widgets.

l  Google+ Communities

Google+ Communities can also be created and managed under Google+ Page accounts.

l  Google+ Events

Google+ Events allows users to add events, invite people, and then share photos and media in real-time from the event. The program is integrated with Google Calendar, and is posed as a direct competitor to similar features offered by Facebook.

l  "What's hot" Stream

It is a stream showing what Google+ users have commented, shared and interacted with the most. It is similar to "Trending Topics" On Twitter.

l  Huddle

Huddle is a feature available to Android, iPhone, and SMS devices for communicating through instant messaging within Circles. Additionally, users can share photos in Messenger between their Circles.

 User Engagement:

Approximately 540 million monthly active users make use of the social layer by interacting with Google+'s enhanced properties. However, user engagement has been relatively low, averaging around 7 minutes per user per month. However, user engagement did not keep pace. ComScore estimated that users averaged just 3.3 minutes on the site in January 2012, versus 7.5 hours for Facebook. The New York Times described Google+ as a ghost town, citing Google stats of 540 million "monthly active users", but noting that almost half don't visit the site. The company replied that the significance of Google+ was less as a Facebook competitor than as a means of gathering and connecting user information from Google's various services.

 User Engagement

Date

Time spent/mouth

January 2012

3.3 minutes

March 2013

6.8 minutes

 User review:

Advantages:

1.       Better Privacy

Google+ uses a diaspora -like way of sharing content with users by utilizing circles. In fact, this format is very appealing to many users who are working to balance their professional and personal life.  Moreover, Google+ makes it much easier to target content to your individual circles. It can be tricky because the proper circles must be added for each message. Facebook is often critiqued for their dubious privacy changes, and Google seems to be catering to those unhappy users with easy to use privacy options in one location. Besides, deleting an account is straightforward, so is deleting social features. This may appeal to some disgruntled Facebookers, drawing them to use Google+.

2.       About Huddle

Google+ ‘Huddle’ is a non-SMS group chat application for mobile phones. This competes directly with other downloadable apps like Beluga,TextPlus, Kik, and GroupMe. There has not been any run away app in this space, but a Google product like Huddles should help boost it to the forefront.

3.       About Gmail Notification

It is also worth noting that Notifications can be some of the most annoying and confusing elements of social sites, but if people are using Google+ and Gmail, it won’t be. Profile pictures are seamlessly tied in and you almost feel you are on a website instead of in your inbox.

4.       Compared with before

Google+ looks great in comparison to previous Google products. Google+ is very slick and has a ton of visual eye candy inside. Images look awesome when posted. The black ‘Google One Bar’ is very appealing, and some of the JavaScript elements are jaw dropping.

Disadvantages:

1.     About Complexity

As soon as you log-in, you can tell that some brilliant people created this site. However, the UI is too complicated for the average social user.  There are too many options and different features for someone who is trying to simply post up information. This is something that Facebook and Twitter excel at – making hard things simple. To make a post a user must find connections to add to circles, add suggestions and friends to circles, and update content to specific people by choosing circles (which can include ‘your circles,’ or ‘extended circles’). Actually, there are just a lot of options for people and it will take a good deal of getting used to for the non tech-savvy user.

2.     About designed product Name & element Name

The name Google+ is not great. The naming convention inside the service isn’t much better either.  Instead of a ‘like’, users give a post a +1.  The number of +1’s is listed with each post in the form of +#. The users feel confused sometimes. Other element names are also confusing. Google talk is shown under the chat on the left navigation, but ‘hangouts’ aren’t near the chat section of the navigation – and ‘huddles’ is nowhere to be found on the web.

[sibbiedxp412]

3 Things Astronauts Need to Survive in Space

Space Shuttle Endeavor and the International Space Station. Image by NASA.For one year in college I had the job of my dreams—working as an intern at the NASA Ames Research Center. Even though my day was full of grunt work like scheduling appointments, running experiments, and maintaining a database of research participants, I was honored to part of an organization that I believed in so deeply. Interning at NASA felt like the closest I would get to the final frontier and I savored it till the end. NASA Ames Cognition Lab Interns, 2002-2003 The Space Shuttle Enterprise, Udvar-Hazy Center, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, 2006 Seeing the launch of Space Shuttle STS-125 in 2009 fulfilled a lifelong dream of mine. NASA Kennedy Space Center, 2009 I spent 2 hours photographing every inch of the abandoned NASA Saturn V rocket on display at the Kennedy Space Center, 2009 Selfie with a model of the NASA Mars Curiosity Rover, at American Museum of Natural History, 2012 I can never resist space ice cream, at the California Academy of Sciences, 2013 The view of our galaxy from my point and shoot camera in Hawaii, 2013. The coolest part of the internship was getting to learn about the psychology of space exploration. While my team was responsible for human-machine interfaces (like the redesigned Space Shuttle glass cockpit ), they also taught me what it takes to keep astronauts alive in space (beyond the obvious stuff like oxygen and radiation shields). Since we’re all eagerly awaiting Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity, a film about survival in space, I thought this would be a great time to revisit NASA’s lessons about space travel—build an effective team, create Earth-like conditions, and develop rapid brain and behavioral feedback. 1) Build An Effective Team The multinational crew of the Columbia STS-107 tragedy was one of the most diverse in NASA's history. Image by NASA.  After overcoming Earth's gravity and the vacuum of space, the next biggest challenge astronauts face is being part of an effective team. Imagine being stuck in a cramped area with a small group of people for a long period of time without any privacy or escape. No, it's not prison—this is what space exploration feels like. Astronauts work in suffocatingly small spaces, have very stressful schedules, and rely on each other to get their jobs done. Small conflicts between the crew can quickly escalate into serious life threatening problems. Living and working well together, despite differences in personalities and perspectives, isn’t a lofty goal – it’s critical to survival in space.  NASA takes team building very seriously. Much of the research from NASA’s  National Space Biomedical Research Institute has focused on team cohesion. We now know that mixed gender crews work better than all male or female crews (at least in remote research facilities, the military, and NASA). When it comes to multinational crews, the biggest barrier to cohesion is working with machines and procedures that are unfamiliar. This can be easily overcome if different nations work together when designing machines, developing procedures, and training their crew. Based on these findings, NASA created a comprehensive team training program . Using classes, simulations, and virtual reality, NASA trains astronauts to effectively communicate with one another, work across cultures, make decisions, take care of each other, lead and follow, manage conflict, and deal with unexpected situations in space. Probably the most important part of the training is the subtle stuff that comes along the way—the crews get a chance to spend time together before missions, get to know each other, create a common language, and develop trust for one another. Space agencies have done a pretty good job of building effective teams for Apollo, Space Shuttle, Mir, and International Space Station missions. But these missions have had the benefit of regular communication with Earth, support from ground crews, and shorter durations. The real challenge will be sending a team to Mars where communication with Earth will be delayed and the flight there and back could take years. 2) Create Earth-like Conditions There's not much room for sunlight in the ISS. Image by NASA.  Our biology developed to survive within Earth's atmosphere and gravity. That's why spaceships have ample supplies of oxygen and why astronauts spend so much of their day exercising. The same is true of our psychology—it developed to function on Earth, not in the vacuum of space. This becomes a major problem for our internal clock—the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). The SCN regulates circadian rhythms, which wake us up in the morning and make us sleepy at night. Because the SCN is located right next to the optic nerve, sunlight has a big impact on it. The more sunlight gets into your eyes, the more alert you feel. As the sun sets and our surroundings become dark, the SCN gets your body ready for bed. The problem with space exploration is astronauts don’t get the same exposure to sunlight and darkness that they’re used to on Earth. Take the International Space Station—it orbits the Earth every 90 minutes with varying exposure to sunlight. The SCN isn’t built for a 90-minute orbit; it's used to a 24-hour cycle. Being on the International Space Station is kinda like having perpetual jet lag. Combine that with the loud sounds of machinery and it’s no wonder so many astronauts suffer from insomnia and chronic drowsiness during simulations and space missions. Insomnia and drowsiness is a huge problem for anyone operating machinery. Driving a car while drowsy is just as bad as driving drunk. You can imagine how much of a problem this would cause astronauts working with multimillion-dollar equipment in life-threatening situations. The solution is replicating as many Earth-like conditions as possible. NASA plans to replace the International Space Station’s fluorescent lights with a new LED system that creates blue, white, and red light. A combination of these colors creates light that’s similar to what we get on Earth during mornings, afternoons, and evenings. Then, mission control will time the lighting to correspond with a 24-hour cycle. It’s a similar solution to  light boxes which are used to treat seasonal depression.   3) Develop Rapid Brain and Behavioral Feedback Sensors, like those in this space suit, will one day include brain and behavioral measures. Image by NASA. We get a lot of feedback from the people we interact with every day. Coming home from a rough day at work, our loved ones might ask us how we’re doing and give us an opportunity to vent about whatever happened that day. This type of feedback helps us maintain good mental health. Improving awareness of our thoughts and feelings is also a major goal of all effective psychotherapies. This type of feedback is rare in space. Sure, the crew might notice some changes in your mood, but what if they are also experiencing the same problems as you? They could also be the source of your frustration, leading you to isolate yourself. Some of the sleep research I discussed earlier has already shown that astronauts think they feel better than mission control's data indicates.  This is why NASA is developing remote brain and behavioral feedback systems to augment the current monitoring of an astronaut’s physiology. The goal is for ground crews to intervene with problems in space before they impact mission goals or compromise team cohesion. A group of psychologists are  developing tools to measure interpersonal behaviors between crew members. Heart-rate, speech, and distance between crew members will be monitored using a badge. Ground teams will be alerted if there are altercations between the crew or if anyone is isolating themselves. Psychologists have also developed a psychomotor vigilance test that measures mood and depression. Saliva tests and facial recognition software can also be used to measure an astronaut’s stress and mood. All of this information will one day be integrated with computer software that can provide remote therapy to help astronauts get back on track.  NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy taking a photo from the ISS's cupola viewport. Image by NASA. Building team cohesion, creating Earth-like conditions, and rapid feedback systems are important to survival in space. But it’s not enough to just survive. Space exploration is a deeply moving experience for many astronauts. They spend most of their free time in awe of the Earth (just look at these beautiful photographs from astronaut Chris Hadfield or watch his heartfelt goodbye to the International Space Station). Some astronauts return to Earth completely changed by what they saw in space. I wonder what would happen if we could all experience space flight and see our pale blue dot from the vastness of space? This is why I love NASA. It represents the most optimistic branch of our government—an organization solely dedicated to exploration, science, and helping humans thrive in the most impossible situations. I hope Gravity  will increase our appreciation for the resiliency of astronauts and the awesome enterprise that is human space exploration. I’ve barely scratched the surface of space psychology. For much more check out NASA’s free ebook, The Psychology of Space Exploration: Contemporary Research in Historical Perspective.