The online office suite and interaction and visual interface design

Yes! My teacher marked my test-thesis with an A! She found it “well-founded”, “good to read” with a “good structure”. Good, I’m ready for the real thing: my bachelor’s thesis that I have to finish somewhere in June next year and will be about e-learning and interaction design (sounds still a little vague, but I still have to refine this subject). Here’s the translated conclusion of my test-thesis (it was written in dutch).

Conclusion; my answer on the research question “to what extent is interaction and visual interface design(ivid) a factor in the commercial battle fot the online office suite?”
Computers, and the applications running on it, are a huge factor in our daily life. Because of the rise of Internet you can get in contact with everyone in the world, and from every spot have acces to the same data. Through the rise of web 2.0 techniques and ideas, there is at the moment a change going on from offline to to rich online applications.

To determine to what extent visual interface and interaction design is a factor in the battle for the online office, it is good first to determine what other factors could be.
First and most important factor when putting a product on the market is to create value for the customer. That seems very logical, but often a lack of value the reason why products bite the dust after a while. The office already proved to have value, since the applications are used by many people worldwide. It seems a logical step, now that the Internet through the web 2.0 ideas has more opportunities, to move these applications online. Still you see that it is not that simple, that companies like Google and Microsoft realize that office applications require a whole new design, that it has to be build up from the ground. That they are waiting so long before the release a complete online suite could be because of that; It is important to determine how the online service will create value for the users, more then the offline variant.

Other factors, so also ivid, are “just” ways to produce the concept. If the web 2.0 ideas are the other factors, the use of the AJAX technoligy to make rich user experiences possible is the idea that has most to do with ivid. I think the other ideas, like offering services in stead of products, users as co-developers and the web as a platform are, together with the rich user experience, links in a web 2.0 chain. Web 2.0 ideas are succesfull and will be taken in account by the office-releaser in producing the concept of the service.
The released service is as strong as its weakest link, so interaction and visual interface design are a huge factor in the battle for the online office suite:
Without a well thought-out design of the now possible rich user experience, the service will only irritate the user. It will be to slow and visual unattractive. There is a chance that users will revert to their good old offline office or change over to a competitor who’s service works more efficient and user-friendly.

If all of the above-mentioned works, succes is still not garranteed. “Old” marketing elements, like branding, corporate identity and a good introduction of your service also have to be right. And: Who introduces a right working office the first. So with which user interface, file format storage possabilities will users get used to so they won’t change-over to a similar, maybe a little better service.

A lot of factors that are included in the battle that, without all the big players admitting, is going on. In a few years we will know which company is truly the winner, and what has become of it’s service concerning interaction and visual interface design.

About studioroosegaarde.net and other exciting things

I finished my thesis!
Wow! it’s already two weeks ago since I wrote my last post. I’ve been really busy with writing a test thesis. I should have been turned in last July, but I was to busy with I don’t remember what so chose to do it this study-year. Because of that I had to write more words but that’s no problem for me because I always tend to be a little long-winded with writing papers. Anyway, good news because I hand it in last Thursday, so I’m more relaxed now and things can excite me again…

Studioroosegaarde.net is online!
More exciting stuff, because last night the new www.studioroosegaarde.net went online!! After spending four months thinking of the right concept a site for an artist who’s work lies between art and architecture, (interaction) designing, actionscript programming etc, finally the first version is ready to be seen by a bigger public than Daan Roosegaarde, Theo Lagendijk and me. So take a look and don’t hesitate to say what you think about it. Like a self-respecting website in a web 2.0 era should, it’s first online performance is in a beta version, to hear from others and to see for ourselves how to improve things like navigation and graphics. There’s more to come so stay tuned.

Doing offline business web 2.0-style
There are a few more thing I really want to write something about.
Last two weeks I experienced so many thing that are worth blogging about. I already noticed the web 2.0 era. I became conscious of its existence in analogue live, a sort of “doing business 2.0″, or in my case, the 1.0 version. I was at a little exhibition, where a talented acquaintance of mine, Michiel Dronkers, had a first exposure of his artwork, which are abstract tribal paintings. I was there with Theo, we were interested in his work and of course his plans to maybe have a nice website to show his work online. I a situation like that it’s normal to give a business card, but the exhibition arranger didn’t allow him to! This probably because the arranger, a small gallery only want people to do business with artists who use their exhibition space, through them. In that way the company won’t miss out part of the money the artists gets when they sell some of their artwork.
I immediatly had a negative feeling about this, I thought it was an awkward way of doing business with people. Theo pointed out that and that it’s better for the artists and for the gallery to serve more as a platform for artists and interested parties. In that way artists have more chance for exposure, can arrange more deals, get more income, etc. The company becomes a service (you see the web 2.0 similarity?) and will also have more exposure, because they connect interested people with artists and the other way around. As a platform for several parties, the company will generate more income. And: visitors won’t have a negative taste in their mouth.

Print-media as part of a cross-media platform
Another thing I really want to spout is about an interesting guest-speaker last Friday at my school. Theme for the module “Trends & Developments” this term is “Media Shifts”. A writer, journalist and editor in chief of magazine “Nieuw Rotterdam” Nico Haasbroek, told the fourth year students about the shifts in printed media. In his opinion (and also in my opinion) the print-media is about to stay. The way to communicate an distribute it will be different though. Papers and magazines will be more like reference works with (news)backgrounds and deepening, part of a cross-media platform. Another speaker during this meeting there was Nancy Ubert (link to Dutch website), who could tell some interesting things about how this works in practice. More than a year ago, she started a local newspaper, which is published three times a week. There is also an online version (link to Dutch website) of the paper, where news is published every day. The paper is very popular, and according to Ubert, this is because of the local character of the paper, popular content like a “girl of the week“(link to Dutch website)  item, and the arise of a community: The journalists and other employees of the paper are working in a store where everyone can walk in and take a cup of coffee. Sometimes people come in and ask if they can fax a letter. This is allowed, but only if that person tells the journalists what the fax is about. The community also organizes (playfull) charity activities. This way, the paper collect real local news, instead of publishing press reports. This is a really short summary of the meeting, but I really wanted to write down something about this interesting and creative developments.

Will a 22 year paralysed arm work again?
One more thing: Last friday morning I was in the metro, going to my work. I spoke with an acquaintance, that hadn’t seen for a while, maybe like three or four years. She was on her way to the hospital, and was very excited. Since she was born, her left-arm has been paralysed. Now, 22 years later, the medical science and techniques are so far that there is a chance that she can use her arm again!
She was on her way to a whole day full of all kinds of tests to see for example which nerves in her arm are still working and if the new technique is working for her. I’m not sure which technique exactly will be used to make her arm “work” again, therefore the time we spent together in the metro was to short. But nevertheless: Because of things like this I think it’s great to live in the 21st century!