USID 2007 - hyderabad

I am back from hyderabad, after attending the USID 2007 conference. It was my first conference in usability/design. All I had to do was sit, listen and eat. My paper on 'Digital Identity' selected for publication got me a free entry into the conference. And the speakers who came from varied backgrounds have left me satisfied. First I'll jot down the points which I liked about the speakers I liked. And then what fun I had in hyderabad.

M.P.Ranjan: He is a professor in NID. And his concepts of design are so clear. This clarity becomes obvious when he asks questions which are so poignant while not being stumblers for the speaker. And he has got to a stage where he is more beneficial in macro design, that is pushing for design policies to the government, etc.

Ravi Krishna: I was not very excited about e-learning. But his talk was an eye opener. In most e-learning programs, there is the concept of an instructor, which we have incorporated just to translate our offline experience online. But is that really necesarry. For a different media the options could be different. He talked of formats taking the example of tv news programs. Of how news has changed from, news readers reading to us >> talking to us>>people to us>> people talking to people, etc.

Kentaro Toyomo: Works with microsoft, in enabling technology in rural india. He too has a sense of design which takes into account other factors like socio economics factors etc..into account. I learned a thing or two.

Lalitesh Katragadda: As google india head, gave us an insight into google. how things work there. Google india maps was launched his year while I was launched in US around 2 years around. The reason he gave was, ppl in the US navigate using road names, while in India most ppl use landmarks. This fundamental difference brought the question of which landmarks to include.

Also went around hyd a little. Saw Hussein sagar lake, smoked some hukkah in 'My cafe latte', and ate boti kabab roll under the charminar. (*thanks to gajju for the ride and being the perfect host :)

ATM woes

I hate it when people take forever inside an ATM booth. It would have even been forgivable if what inside that persons mind would have been this:
"pehle dekhen ki kitna bacha hai.
hummm.... babuji ke ilaaj mein lagega 3 go hajaar... fir bitiya ki sadi bhi toh hai...agar koi ladka mil jaaye achha toh bhala ho jaaye rampyari ka....haan agar parvati ka bachda ho jaaye toh thoda doodh voodh bhi bik jaayega.
etc..etc.."
But no here the person would be suited booted, but still would take 10 mins. First he would check the balance. Then try to play a video game on the touchscreen. Then probably if everything seems fine, he would decide on an amount to withdraw.
Oh i hate it when people take forever inside an ATM booth.

Flirt guruji

Delhi is a wonderfull place for arty films, theatre and the like. The two days movie marathon at Indian Habitat Center, where I saw 6 movies in two days. After each show going out, stretching all my muscles for the next show. Getting tired after watching a lot of movies is the second best kind of tired I know. First best would be after a long trek.

And i have started driving classes. And my teacher is 5 years younger to me and casanova number one. With him telling me about his conquests with a hollering of "accelerator chhodo" in between.

While I try to get my two wheeler experience translate into the four wheeler one. Narrowly avoiding rickshaws and such. He goes on,

"yaar mere jeevan mein pata nahi poonam hi poonam aati rehti hai. Ek saal pehle ki baat hai. Poonam ke papa ka phone aata hai. Kehte hain aao sunday ghar pe. Yaar ab mein bola kyon bula rahe hain ghar pe. Vo bolte hain aa jao chai pee ke jana. Ab mein gaya sunday unke ghar. Pahuncha toh poonam ki maa bolti hai, baitho vo toh naha rahi hai. Mein baith gaya. Unki mummy chai leke aayee. Mein aur uske papa chai peene lage. Itne mein vo aati hai. Taawal lapet ke."

F&*& i thought. What kind of stuff is he talking about. Is it really true?
He goes on,"Vo aati hai taawal lapet ke balon mein."
OHHo..I thought.
"Aur mere bajoo mein baith jaati hai.
Mera hava gul.
Samajh mein nahi aa raha thha kya chal raha hai.
Uske mummy papa, biskut namkeen lekar khila rahe hain. Beti mere baajoo mein baithee hui hai. Mainey toh pata nahi man hi man kya kya khvaab dekh dale."

Fir kya hua jee, i asked him.

"Fir uske papa chabi dete hain, aur bolte hain, Ja isey thoda sikha la."
Aur mein usey 2 ghante ghumaya, india gate, CP vagera."

Dost unhone tera bahut bada kaata hai. I told him, thoda chai vai pila ke fokat mein gadi chalani seekh gayi.

"Dost thoda katva ke zyada lene mein hi bhalai hai. Bhaisaab seekh jaao aap bhi."

Hmmm...