bovacon - Designing Business Interaction



		This page shows the current news and events we are involved in.

		30. May 2008
		Real Virtualization
			Cloud computing runs outsourcing of computing (speed, storage, memory, and network access) to a web of scalable resources. It allows users to work with data and applications beyond their local machine. While Amazon already offers access to their compute cloud as a service, German Zimory will now go one step further. Instead of just renting data center capacities they create a marketplace for seekers and vendors. Its matchmaking platform allows individuals and data centres to trade capacity to cover short term capacity demand on virtual machines on the one hand, and to utilize idle running resources on the other. The Zimory marketplace is the heart of this adaptive infrastructure. Developing the user interface of the marketplace we participate in the specification of Zimorys service offering - and recommend you to check it out!

		20. April 2008
		Free-Viewpoint Television
			Henning conducted his third technology radar tour to excellent centers for research and development in Japan. This time we visited laboratories at Tsukuba University , Keio University, Kyoto University, Nagoya University, the Tokyo Institute of Technology, and KDDI Laboratories, and focused our discussions on innovations relating to Free-Viewpoint Television. Computing data from an array of cameras it will allow your kids to navigate their viewpoint in real time through 3D scenes of remote live events.

		30. March 2008
		Mobile Barcodes Research
			Two-dimensional barcodes make targeted information related to the users situation available via mobile phones linking the physical to the online world. Reading various codes with a mobile phone camera users may sign up for programs, buy tickets or retrieve further information e.g. on the organic farm that grew the food they think about buying. Though these barcodes are an indispensable and omnipresent aspect of mobile phone culture in Japan (with complete magazines full of barcodes) our client faced difficulties in trying to obtain business relevant data. Engaging native speakers we conducted market research and telefone interviews with major players from our asian network and compiled business cases, use case, and market data associated to experiences and future prospects of asian barcode business.

		30. January 2008
		Pecha Kucha Night
			Henning engaged in what has been called Powerpoint-Karaoke, presenting selected works from our research and consulting activities in Europe and Japan at the original Pecha Kucha Night in Super Deluxe, Tokyo, Japan. Check the Pecha-Kucha Website for details on the event and Pecha Kucha in general.

		24. January 2008
		Mobile Systems for Contextual Learning
			At the IEICE Conference for Educational Technologies in Fukuoka, and the IEICE Conference for Mobile Multimedia Communication in Hamamatsu, Japan, we present our latest contributions to the design of mobile systems for contextual learning. We reflect upon previous works on designing interaction with educational technologies for formal and informal settings (involving interactive whiteboards and pen-tablets in the classrooms and learning activities with PDAs “in the wild”). Mobile learning is learning across various context and embedded in the learners' situation. We present a mobile system for learning about design patterns and present two scenarios for travelers learning about language and culture with embedded and mobile devices.

		10. December 2007
		Disaster Prevention
			We are participating in an international project to set up an early warning system for natural disasters. Information from various resources and geographically distributed sensors is brought together and visualised in a complex decision support system. Applying expert evaluations and eye-tracking studies our first job was the evaluation and improvement of the preliminary interfaces for the decision maker. The goal was to increase situation awareness and allow for a flexible and efficient interaction with critical data. Developing interfaces that help to saves lives remains a great challenge for us.

		30. November 2007
		Website Migration with Users
			We delivered a concept how to inform users about the new features and content on the website of a big German broadcasting network. Like everywhere in the online world we are moving towards enhanced user participation and media formats like streaming media, podcasts and "pechakucha". The concept covers essential information about the relaunch, portraits of new content domains, a quick reference card for printout and structured ways to obtain and analyse user feedback. We are curious about the results.

		22. November 2007
		Japanese Telecommunications Research and Development
			As the local hub of the Technology Radar of Deutsche Telekom Laboratories we prepared and conducted our second travel to leading institutions in Japanese IT Research and Development. This time we visited large companies like KDDI, NTT DoCoMo, Sony, NEC, Waseda University, NICT and Bridgestone. We thank our hosts for presenting such innovative topics like fingerbone conduction, powder-based flexible displays, 3D displays, sonic data transmission, free-viewpoint television and many more. Japanese kindness and readiness for anything new and thrilling is without comparison.

		1. November 2007
		Pattern Workshops
			We prepared and conducted a series of workshops "How to work with Interaction Design Patterns". The idea was to not only explain the advantages and potential workflows for the interaction design pattern approach in large companies, but to provide the participants (interaction designer, product manager) with hand-on experiences. Within the three hour workshops participants learned how to extract patterns from existing solutions and how to apply them in the context of service development.

		16. August 2007
		Technnology Radar
			Scouting for new developments in ICT in Japan we found more than four dozen and initiated first German-Japanese contacts for research and development in telecommunication. For the Technology Radar of the Deutsche Telekom-Laboratories we now delivered profiles for more than a dozen up technologies like mobile multiplayer games, domestic robotics, large screen interfaces, projected displays or wireless sensor networks for disaster management. And we keep on looking ...

		28. July 2007
		Japanese Cooperations
			During our last visits to Japan we initiated cooperations in research and development of new ICT and services with internationally acknowledged insitutions such as Waseda University in Tokyo, the National Institute of Information and Communication Technology, the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute and several others. In July Henning was invited to present our works on early phases of mobile interaction design at the headquarters of KDDI Research and Development Laboratories. This presentation is available upon request.

		25. May 2007
		Expert Evaluation for Berlinale
			KBB is introducing new management software for the Berlinale Berlinale. Databases and activities involved in organizing and celebrating Germany's most famous film festival are being transfered into a new graphical user environment. We conducted a heuristic evaluation of the prototype for the new, complex system developed by Interactive Tools . We identified current strengths and weaknesses and pointed out potentials for short-term and mid-term improvements. In a next step measures for collecting and analysing user feedback within the introductory phase may be defined in order to best support Berlinale users according to their needs and preferences.

11. April 2007

Interview with PingMag

The English / Japanese Design Magazine PingMag interviewed Henning in Tokyo and now published an article about his work there. Have a look and feel free to comment on PingMag . If you want join Henning learning Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji see the Japanese Version.

		2. February 2007
		Webscore Expert Analysis
			In cooperation with the Interaction Design Lab of the University for Applied Sciences Potsdam we conducted an expert evaluation of the prototype and alternative designs within the website redesign of the Investment Bank of Berlin . The WebSCORE Expert Screening, developed by Fraunhofer IAO, delivered fast, profound and comparable results with respect to content and functionality, navigation and interaction, and media design and presentation.

		25. - 26. January 2007
		Conference Presentations
			We presented at two Japanese conferences: 1) the Conference for Haptic Media and Multimodal Quality by the IEICE (The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers) Technical Committee on Multimedia and Virtual Environment (MVE) with Technical Committee on Communication Quality (CQ) in Kitakyushu, and 2) Conference for Open Source Software by the IEICE Technical Committee on Educational Technology in Tokyo. Both research projects have been conducted in cooperation with the Laboratory of Matsumoto sensei and Professor Baloian from the DCC at the University of Chile.

		20. October 2006 - 20. February 2007
		Research and Technology Scouting in Japan
			Henning is spending 4 months on a research fellowship at the Waseda University in Tokyo after having received an invitation and award from NICT, the National Institute of Information and Communication Technology, Japan. His research aims at creating an interaction design pattern language for formal and informal learning environments such as classrooms, museums, or cities. Together with his students he explores, develops and evaluates several software prototypes to support activities involving devices of different formats such as interactive whiteboards, pen tablets and PDAs. In addition to his research activities he supports the Technology Radar of Deutsche Telekom Laboratories with scouting for new developments in Japan and preparing potential cooperation with leading institutions for ICT research and development in Japan.

		30. October 2006
		Bogo presented at the Information Architecture Summit in Berlin
			The Information Architecture Summit in Berlin was the second summit in Europe. Bogo presented the results of the content adaptation study and the potential consequences on the information architecture and the profession of information architecture. The presentetation was enthusiastically received and has received great reviews on several websites and blogs. Contact us if you are interested in receiving the presentation.

		2. October 2006
		Migration Project
			Applying various methods like heuristic evaluations and contextual task analysis with workplace observation we accompany the transition of the online activities of a large public radio and television network. Migration of large websites is oftentimes seen from a technical point of view. In the case of a large portal with several brands it becomes an additional challenge to take along the users. Addressing the user-centred aspects of migration projects we collected essential issues, best practises and helpful templates, and conducted a workshop how to communicate the changes internally and externally (details available upon request). The project continues in cooperation with the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam.

		27. September 2006
		ICT Perspectives on our aging society
			We finished and presented the results of an in-depth study for German Telekom Laboratories. Almost ten years ago Henning published his diploma on imaginary models and styles of innovation in the development of information and communication technologies for our aging society. This time we conducted a literature study, expert interviews, user studies on the impact of the demographic change to the design and development of information and communication technologies. Results covered latest research initiatives and findings, prototypes and product evaluations as well as accessibility guidelines for developing technologies suitable for elderly users. While most efforts in research and development still focus on technologies for compensation of age-related deficits we encountered a focused generation with individual potentials and desires and discovered new approaches of their support.

		2. June 2006
		Interaction Design Patterns
			We participated in a large commercial research and development project on interaction design patterns. Design patterns are solutions to recurring problems in design. They may be improved individually and combined into so called pattern languages, which inform but not determine individual designs. Companies like Yahoo! and SAP have reported their experiences with introducing a design pattern approach into the organization. However our project is one of the first attempts to create a unified user experience across numerous applications, platforms and devices. We evaluated and modified the currently existing designs and solutions and contributed new interaction design patterns of various kinds: process-oriented and stage-based patterns, on detailed and general levels. The project is being conducted in cooperation with Interaction Design Lab at the University of Applied Sciences in Potsdam and the Fraunhofer IAO in Stuttgart.

		12. April 2006
		Eyetracking for ImmobilienScout
			We conducted an eyetracking-evaluation of different design approaches in the redesign of Immobilienscout24 website. The eyetracking system we used (TOBII 1750) allows a reliable analysis of fixation paths and visualisation of hotspots and yields objective data on the distribution of attention of users. To evaluate the design approaches we combined the analysis of eyetracking-data with results we gained from interviews, a semantic differential and a confrontation of participants with the videos of their eyetracking paths. This ways we could deliver not only statistical data and visual exploration and navigation patterns, but also analyse strengths and weaknesses of the different solutions and derive recommendations for redesign.

		31. March 2006
		Completed a large study of content adaptation solutions for mobile devices
			We successfully completed a large study where we evaluated several content adaptation solution with multiple devices in multiple usage scenarios. Content adaptation solutions try to modify websites so that they can be displayed on mobile browsers. In a summary: Although they manage to increase the probability that the page will be displayed and can be used, they generally do not provide adequate user experience. The winner was a client-server combination: Opera Mini Browser. At the same time we also evaluated several popular websites for their "mobile readiness". the results: most sites do not provide any or only limited support for a mobile user.

31. March 2006

Bogo was interviewed for the M.I.T. Technology Review Magazine

In an article by Niels Boeing, titled "Der Cyberspace im Bullauge", Bogo was interviewed about standards and practices in interaction design of websites and related technologies.

In an article by Jens Frantzen, titled "Erklärungsnot an der Ofentür" about technical documentation, Bogo talks about the challenges of relying on graphical instructions and the need to test it for usability. Bogo also talks about the need for technical documentation: "Everybody wants it just to have it, but nobody wants to read it". His vision: A well designed product doesn't need documentation. And if, then keep it minimal.

See www.technologyreview.de for more information.

		3. March 2006
		Design Concept for Flight Entertainment
			Together with Wunderman Germany we worked out a concept for an inflight entertainment system for a large airline. The goal was to enrich travelling experiences by providing a smooth and easy to use interaction involving backseat displays and handsets for different booking classes. Some of the lessons learned here we systematized and developed in an article on "Interaction Design for Flight Entertainment" (available on request).

		1. March 2006
		We just started a new project - qualitative and quantitative evaluation of content adaptation solutions for mobile devices
			Content adaptation solutions adapt normal websites to mobile devices with a goal to improve presentation, speed, navigation and visual design. Various techniques are used and, due to differences between devices themselves, they also have different effects on various devices. The study compares quantitative and qualitative performance of the most known solutions on various website types and various devices.

		1. February 2006
		We conducted a research and design study for a large mobile communications company
			In January we developed a complex prototype in Macromedia Flash for demonstration and testing purposes of an online composer for multi-media messages. User experience evaluation with representatives of three age groups and two levels of experience revealed, how users' mental model develops through acquired knowledge about the basic concepts of the application during the ongoing interaction (such as the concept of slides and intermedia file formats). Open and closed PDF-questionnaires (developed in cooperation with in-frage) gave us additional insights into user preferences and understanding for such intermedia applications. We identified misleading and missing clues and derived recommendations. Contact us directly for more information.

		15. December 2005
		Henning presented at the Technical University of Berlin
			At the Center for Human-Machine Interaction at the Technical University of Berlin (ZMMS) (www.zmms.tu-berlin.de/de/veranstaltungen/Kolloquium.php) we presented previous works together with the Interaction Design Lab (IDL) Potsdam (www.idl-potsdam.de). We asked: What do the disciplines of computer science and psychology, and especially of design contribute to the successful creation and development of engaging interactive systems. While the discipline of design has been traditionally reduced to front-end aesthetics we tried to work out its original potential in exploring new materials and principles of interaction. The presentation was part of the weekly colloquium at the ZMMS with internationally recognized researchers and scientists. Download the presentation (without the videos included) or contact us for further references

		15. December 2005
		We started working with the OpenUsability community
			We discovered the OpenUsability community almost by an accident surfing the web and liked the idea immediately. It is a forum where usability experts make their services available for open source projects. We decided to participate immediately and are now continuously working on 3-4 projects. For more information about the OpenUsability, see www.openusability.org.

15. November 2005

tekom conference in Wiesbaden

Bogo presented two sessions at the tekom conference in Wiesbaden in November. Although the conference focus is not primarily on usability, but on technical communication, there is also a usability track. The sessions focused on organizational issues in usability: "A roadmap to usability" and "Von technischen Redakteur zum Usability-Engineur". Both sessions created lots of resonance and received great feedback. To download the presentations, simply click on the title.

See also our take on the "Capability Maturity Model for Usability".

Thanks to all the participants!

For more info about the conference, see www.tekom.de.

15. October 2005

2. Potsdamer Multimedia Conference

Photo Bogo and Henning at the conference in Potsdam

On October 13, 2005, we participated with two contributions at the 2. Potsdamer Multimedia Conference of the University of Potsdam at the Hasso-Plattner Institute for Software Systems Technology.

Henning hold a presentation on interface design for interactive whiteboards and we presented a poster on "Usability - from optimizing products to designing corporate processes."

		5. October 2005
		Keynote at the ISTC conference in England
			Bogo gave a keynote presentation on the trends in technical communication at the ISTC conference, September 23, 2005 in Coventry, England. You can find more info about the conference under: www.istc.org.uk/pages/conference2005.php You can download the presentation here (1.3MB). It was great to see some old friends and make some new ones!

		5. October 2005
		Invited presentations at the TCANZ conference in New Zealand.
			Bogo was invited to give several presentations at the TCANZ information developers conference in Christchurch, New Zealand. For more info about the conference and the TCANZ organization, see www.tcanz.org.nz. This was my first time in New Zealand - thanks to Margery Watson and the organizing committee!

Coming Events

July 2008
Henning will present his latest research on interactive environments for contextual learning at the ED-Media World Conference of Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications in Vienna and the IEEE ICALT Conference in Santander, Spain.

March 2008
Bogo is an invited speaker at the WinWriters conference. Bogo will talk about benefiting from Web2.0 practices for corporate communication and user assistance, present an essential toolkit for information architects, and participate at the pundit panel.

December 2007
IEICE Conference in Kyushu, Japan
We present our latest paper on mobile systems for contextual learning and the IEICE conference for Educational Technologies in Fukuoka, Kyushu, the southern island of Japan. We focus on the question how mobile technologies can be applied to support learning activities in location, time and user-releated contexts.

September 2007
CEDI 2007, Spain
Our first Spanish paper contribution was accepted to the Congreso Espagnol de Informatica (CEDI) 2007 in Zaragoza, Spain. We present new mobile applications for PDAs to integrate formal and informal learning environments and provide a unique interface for learner across a variety of devices.

July 2007
HCI International 2007, China
At HCI 2007 Henning will present his recent works on an interaction design pattern language for educational technologies. We differ between the hierarchical levels of didactics, curricula, activities, actions and operations and match insights from learning psychology and activity theory to interaction patterns for implementation.

18.-20. July 2007
ICALT Conference, Japan
At this IEEE conference we will present two recent works on a concept and prototypes for educational technologies. Our software for PDAs allows to perform and documenting activities in the wild and bringing them into more formal classroom or meeting settings. Gesture-based interaction for whiteboards and synchronous access for multiple pen-tablets have been implemented.

May 2007
STC Summit, USA
Bogo will present several sessions on information architecture and design at the international STC summit. For more information, see the STC website

16. September 2006
STC eLearning conference in Boise, USA
During his US tour, Bogo will present two sessions on best practices and lessons learned in designing training curricula using blended learning and elearning. In addition, interviews with local media are planed. For more information see: http://www.stc-src.org/elearning2006/index.htm/

18. September 2006
Keynote at the CIDM Best Practices Conference
During his US tour, Bogo will give a keynote at the Best Practices conference of The Center for Information-Development Management in San Diego, California. This year's Best Practices conference focuses on collaboration and globalization within our organizations. The keynote will explore the necessiry of publication professionals to increase their value to the corporation. For more information see: www.infomanagementcenter.com

30. September 2006
European Information Architecture Summit 2006 (EuroIA 2006) in Berlin
Bogo will present the results of the content adaptation study at the European Information Architecture Summit in Berlin. The event is a must for all European Information Architecture professionals. For more information see: www.euroia.or

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