Keep The Noise Down

'Real' Running Tips

As someone who is new to the running game, going from couch potato to a diehard runner has taught me these valuable and ‘real’ running tips:

Thinking time 

Mental performance improves when you’re active, and running is a fantastic time to generate oodles of ideas. The risk is that once you’ve warmed down and enjoyed a relaxing shower, those ideas will have escaped.  Therefore scribble those ideas down as soon as you’re run is over otherwise you’ll soon forget them.  I keep pen and paper by the door so as soon as I’m done running I scribble any thoughts down.  I’m still on the look for a voice recording mind mapping device of sorts to capture any ideas as I have while on the go.

Location, location, location

Running in the forest rocks, but if you’re dodgy at finding your way along those forest paths then have some GVS device to hand otherwise a 5 mile run soon becomes a 10 mile one.  If you get lost, a device such as the Garmin 405CX will help you find you way home.

Pacing yourself

GPS tools help you keep track of pace, but music is a fantastic means to maintain a target pace.  Pick your music carefully – different genres and tempos for different runs. I plod to hip hop (90 bpm), canter to tech house (around 130 bpm), and do my best interval training to punk!

Don’t be distracted

It’s common to pick up the pace as you run past attractive passer-by’s so  a run that’s rich in pretties can cause you to run out of juice by picking up a pace you can’t sustain.  So let your ego go and don’t get distracted.

Do your research

Running partners are vital for inspiration and motivation when your energy runs low. Do your research before selecting a running partner.  Some folk boast they’re fast but turn out to be plodders, and other are modest and say they’re ‘OK’ but then you find yourself killing yourself to keep up with them.

Don’t stop running when Summer is over

Running cross-country is the most fun. However, the rain brings several lessons:

• There’s an art to looking proud when  you slip over in the mud - I haven’t mastered that yet.
• Your new trainers will get trashed at some point, so don’t be precious about getting them dirty.

 Don’t go running without your common sense!

• Running with a backpack is good training.  I use it when camping in the countryside to run to the local village and pick up the morning breakfast.  However, load your backpack carefully with items that can survive a pounding.  You may think you glide smoothly when you run but the nectarines will say otherwise!
• If you nip for a pee behind a tree then check all directions. If your chosen tree backs on to a cycle path then be prepared for whoops and holla’s when a cycle school rides past.
• Not everyone is pleased to see you.  Don’t wave at Hells Angels! It’s not cool for them to wave back, especially not at people engaging in sporting activities

All I want for Christmas is…

All I want for Christmas is a decent Christmas Number One single.

The X Factor has a festive stranglehold over the charts with Simon Cowell’s manufactured mob bagging the last 4 Christmas Number One’s.  Yet this year sees a protest against the dominance of such manufactured music.  Hosted on the social networking site, Facebook, a group titled Rage Against the Machine for Christmas No.1  is campaigning to take the Christmas spot away from the eventual X Factor winner. 

Last year saw similar groups rally for Leonard Cohen and Jeff Buckley's version of Hallejuah to beat Alexandra Burke's version to number one spot.  These were spirited campaigns but in the end the manufactured pop princess held on to take the coveted Christmas No.1 spot by some margin; Alexandra Burke sold 576,000 and Jeff Buckley just 80,000.

But the past 12 months has seen Twitter continue its staggering growth and this might just be the tipping point as a growing army of people who want to celebrate authentic & genuine musical talent now have greater reach. 

More people will be exposed to this campaign. More people will tell their friends.  More people will buy the Rage Against the Machine single.  And hopefully more people will have a better Christmas.

 

Pledge your support to 'Rage Against the Machine for Christmas No.1'

If you want to support this protest against manufactured music then become a fan of the Facebook group Rage Against the Machine for Christmas No.1 and purchase a copy of Rage Against the Machine's ‘Killing In The Name’ between Sunday Dec 13^th & Saturday Dec 19^th.

ONLY buy the track from 7Digital, iTunes or Play.com between .

At the time of writing over 163,000 have joined the Facebook Group & pledged their support for this campaign.

And here’s the interesting bit ...

William Hill’s Odds for Christmas Number One are as follows:  1/10 X Factor Winner, 16/1 Susan Boyle, 16/1 Leona Lewis, 16/1 Rage Against The Machine, 20/1 Vera Lynn, 25/1 Boyzone, 25/1 Cheryl Cole, 25/1 The Soildiers, 33/1 Michael Jackson, 33/1 Peter Kay …

So here are 3 simple steps for a better Christmas:

1: Put a £10 bet on at William Hill for Rage Against the Machine to be Christmas Number One.

2: Wait until Sunday Dec 13^th  then go to  7Digital, iTunes or Play.com and buy your copy of 'Killing In The Name' by Rage Against the Machine. 

3: Tweet, Facebook, email, WOM or whatever….just go tell everyone you know to do the same. 

Make yourself a little Christmas earner, with the added knowledge that you’ve done your bit for decent music.  Remember piracy isn’t killing the industry, crap manufactured music is.

The reading level of the Conchango blog is Junior High School

It is official - the reading level of the Conchango blog is Junior High School.  There may be sniggers from the academics among us but this readability rating should be applauded. 

 

For a fun tool with an important message head over to the Blog Readability Test to find out “what level of education is required to read your blog?” 

 

Readability is defined as ‘reading ease’ - a measure of how easy it is to read and comprehend a passage of text.  Readability tests are mathematical formulas, most commonly based on word length, number of syllables in a word, and the number of words in a sentence.

 

The more readable a blog is, the easier it is for people to comprehend, remember and be engaged. 

 

Readability tests have been around for nearly 90 years.  There are dozens of them.  The more commonly used ones include Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, FOG, and the wonderfully titled SMOG (Simple Measure of Gobbledygook).

 

Most folk are not aware that Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level are included with Microsoft Word.  To enable them in MS Word select Spelling and Grammar, click ‘options’, and select the checkbox  ‘show usability statistics’.

 

The different tests do give varying results and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Levels can give flattering levels by showing a grade 2 to 3 levels below that of other readability formulas. I am not sure what algorithm the Blog Readability Test uses.

 

These readability formulas act as a predictor of difficulty and supporters of such algorithms say they give a reasonable indication of how readable your post is.  These are not precise diagnostic tools and a nonsensical paragraph of gobbledygook could achieve a misleading score.  The results from these algorithms make interesting reading but understandably they do have their critics (me included).  

 

“Nearly all of today's blockbuster writers write at the 7th-grade level, including John Grisham, Stephen King, J. K. Rowling, and Dan Brown”.  Authors of children’s books take readability very seriously and they repeatedly run their scripts through readability programs to check suitability for their audience.
 

As bloggers we should all be taking readability seriously.  In my opinion these readability algorithms should be taken with a pinch of salt as they do not take format, punctuation, spelling or content in to account, but if this tool simply makes us bloggers think about the readability of our posts then this can only be a good thing.

 
This fun tool serves as a reminder that typical readers might find your writings hard to comprehend.  An important rule of thumb is to write your post at a readability level pitched below that of your target audience.  This tool is light-hearted and not to be taken too seriously but it does raise some very important considerations about how you write your posts to make them more readable and accessible. 

 

A co-worker recently fired this readability test at our Conchango blog and it returned the grade Genius.  After my flurry of recent posts the reading level for the Conchango blog is Junior High School.  Should I be concerned?  :)

P.S. Conchango are recruiting! If any of my ramblings interest you and you are passionate about User Experience the  we'd like to hear from you.  Why not contact me and let's have a chat?

 

Listening to: Untrue by Burial

Product reviews by Dilbert?!

Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame) won't be breaking in to a sweat quite yet but a new web site, toonlet, offers non-designer folk the tools to create comic strips in a matter of minutes. 

 

This fun flash site has some interesting features such as  creating your own custom cartoon characters from a large range of exaggerated body parts and the ability to create & save a character with multiple moods (happy, mad, disgusted...).   But the killer feature is creating comic strips as comments in response to other persons comic strips.

 

Is there potential for comic strips to become a valuable addition to the existing user generated content players?  Could comic strips be a serious challenger to existing technologies for posting comments or product reviews?

   

What would express the pitiful customer service I received from Empire Direct or celebrate the pleasures of my new Panasonic flatscreen than a short succinct comic strip?

To test this out I set out to see how quickly I could create two new characters and a four panel comic strip in response to an article I read on ROI of User Research? 

I clocked in at an impressive 1min 47s.   OK,  I’m not the next Robert Crumb but I’ve taken less than two minutes to create my comic strip below. 

 

In response to the article my comic strip communicates a common frustration faced by user experience consultants. The post didn’t support comic strips comments but if it had then this would have been a fun, alternative and effective way to have my say.

Are comic strips the future of UGC? :)

P.S. Conchango are recruiting! If any of my ramblings interest you and you are passionate about User Experience the  we'd like to hear from you.  Why not contact me and let's have a chat?

 

Listening to: Comicopera by Robert Wyatt

Music-activated sex toy?!

Product design is extremely emotive and as displayed by the many disillusioned wannabe entrepreneurs who enter the Dragon’s Den, their misplaced belief in often laughable products can stamp out any common sense. Every now and then a product arrives and I’m mystified as to who the hell would buy it.  Bobbing dashboard animals! Who’d have thought the Nodding Dog would be so popular?

 

A problem can be that a product designer develops a product that they would like to use and not what their customers would like.  Success is dependent on putting your product under the scrutiny of the user. Did the chap who invented the coffee table with a built-in computer identify his audience? Did he determine the user’s needs and did the coffee table address their needs? Ultimately, was there a demand for his product?

 

I shouldn’t need to state the obvious but always develop your product with the audience in mind.  Test with your users during every design phase. Involving the user is crucial for gathering information and revealing design flaws or features that the user doesn’t need. Get your users to try it out…

 

With this in mind I’ve got to ask ‘Who would buy the iBuzz’.   The ipod generation are gadget greaks but does this market demand a music-activated sex toy?  a sex toy that plugs in to your mp3 player?

 

I’ve just seen this toy demonstrated on 'Friday Night with Jonathan Ross' and felt driven to ask Why? Who? How?

 

Lovelabs describe their product as ‘A super-fun sex toy that plugs into your iPod! The music-activated vibrating bullet stimulates you in time with your favourite music.’

 

Did Lovelabs analyse their audience, competitors and market?  Hopefully their business decisions were based on solid market research.  If they have applied the basic principles of user-centric design then their product should connect with their target audience and Xmas 2006 will see the iBuzz become a must have stocking filler.