not the Unified Modeling Language

not the Unified Modeling Language
Originally uploaded by freddie boy.

My coworker Mikael Muresu produced this wonderful sketch while we were designing the implementation of a use case. Ok - it may be a bit chaotic but it was exactly what we needed to grok what we were supposed to produce. Problem now is to get it into UML notation and the not so good modeling tool IBM Rational Rose. Maybe not a problem but a bit boring to be stuck with class and sequence diagrams. Free form modeling makes it possible to say much more.

The other day I attended an analysis modeling session for some really trivial functionality. We ended up discussing notation rather than the problem at hand. It is a shame when the tools we are using gets in the way for some true and real creativity.

Coffee table touchscreen computer

This is really cool. A video showing a new touchscreen computer placed in a coffe table top. Unlike the mouse based interaction schemes we are used to this one can register several input points at once making it easy to enlarge things and drag things around with more than one finger. The table is also aware of wireless devices placed on its surface so pictures taken with a digital camera automatically appears under it. A not so bold guess is that there will be several years before this kind of screen technology is available for the consumer market. Nevertheless - it is the first step towards the human-computer interaction revolution that is bound to happen sooner or later.

Microsoft is behind this news item which I first saw as a bad thing. (My default reaction whenever Microsoft is mentioned....) But after a bit thinking I decided that this device will come within my reach sooner if Microsoft is driving it.

Jungian Personality Type Test

Hi there,

Fredrik wrote earlier today about the 'Online community map' and I got somehow inspired. The map reminded me about a little test I took a while ago. Please don't ask where exactly the connection is, I actually don't know. Nevertheless, I dug the link out again - here it is.

It's a personality test for programmers ;-) Check it out. The test is based on the Myers-Brigss Type Indicator.

Needless to say that I am a JSTJ like many other of my programming friends :)

--Hardy

Online community map

Nancy Boyd of the excellent online fandom blog posted a map of online communities. Rather interesting. It is organized around Practicals-Intellectuals on the North-South axis and around Real life-Web on the West-East axis. Second Life has its own island next to the role playing island of WoW and other MMORPGs. In the icy north is Yahoo and Windows Live behind the mountains of Web 1.0 and next to the kingdom of AOL. South of the icy north is the noob sea. Not too far away from WoW and Yahoo! Games.

This non-standard way of describing things is truly refreshing.

Gartner on virtual worlds

It is always fun to read Gartner press releases - they always have a more definite way of stating the obvious. Listen to this: By the end of 2011, 80 percent of active Internet users (and Fortune 500 enterprises) will have a “second life”, but not necessarily in Second Life. How do they know that it will be 80 percent and not 95? Or just 60? And is there anyone out there that thinks that Second Life will have the whole market then. Is it really likely that there will be several virtual worlds 4 years from now? Maybe. But somewhere not that far away virtual worlds will be another way to browse the web. Standards will make it possible to integrate virtual worlds so that they will appear as one world. Just as there is one Internet - not many.

Then the press release reveals 5 laws for companies that dare venture into virtual worlds. I don't think any of these will become history. (1) Virtual worlds are not games, but neither are they a parallel universe (yet). Ok... ehhh... hrmmm.... yep. I agree.... Not games and not parallell universe.... (2) Behind every avatar is a real person. But don't forget that there is not an avatar behind every real person... yet... (3) Be relevant and add value. I like this one. I wonder how this is different from real worlds? When is it wise to not be relevant and add value? Maybe if you think that the world is a game.... (4) Understand and contain the downside. This is about the fact that adult activities are over represented in virtual worlds. This is not different from the early Internet. The anonymity makes it easier to engage in stuff that wouldn't normally be on the agenda. So this law means that companies should stay away from the dirt. Just the same as in real life one might assume.... (5) This is a long haul. Wait and see - there will be other players in this area in a few years. Do not invest too much early. Invest to learn but not to make money. This law makes more sense than the other 4. (At least to me.)

Anyway - a big thank you to Gartner for another piece of unmissable entertainment and to Business Communicators of Second Life® for pointing me this way.