Re: [webmin-l] [OT] Free Stanford web-based seminar on user interfaces for Admins

[Paul C. <pcu...@op...>]

Barry wrote:

>
> Hi All -
>
> Given the recent uptick in support by Open Country for webmin, and 
> Paul Cubbage's recent call for ideas into what the future Webmin might 
> look like, I thought this is on topic...
>
> Paul - I am not sure if you are in the Bay Area or not, but if you 
> are, these seminars are generally open to attend in person...there 
> might be a wealth of info for OC's own products there too.
>
> Best,
>
> Barry

Barry,
Thanks much!  Yes, OC is in the Bay Area (Belmont, a stones throw from 
Oracle) and I commute from Boulder Creek.

Rob Barret of IBM Research spoke at a Chi event at Stanford on "Systems 
Administrators Are Users Too!" and covered similar ground.  I got him 
scheduled to speak at SVLUG later.

>
> *************************************************************
> Stanford Seminar on People, Computers, and Design (CS547)
>                  http://hci.stanford.edu/seminar
> Gates B01 (HP Classroom) and SITN, 12:30-2:00pm PDT (UTC 19:30)
> Video: http://scpd.stanford.edu/scpd/students/courseList.asp CS547
> *************************************************************
> Friday, October 7, 2005
>
> Luke Kowalski, Oracle
>     v12...@ya...
>
> TITLE: Administrators Anonymous - UCD, TCO, LCM, and other interventions
>
> ABSTRACT:
> The lack of focus on administrative interfaces often comes from 
> management's mandates to prioritize end user facing screens ahead of 
> anything else. The number of "eyeballs" is greater for the end user 
> screens than admin screens. It is also easier for all stakeholders, 
> including interaction designers to understand the domain of an e-mail 
> application than it is to grasp things like complex system monitoring, 
> visualization of clickstream data, or the tools needed to bridge 
> interdependent systems. However in more complex software, this initial 
> emphasis on the end user turns out to be a short lived priority. The 
> more significant costs of running software are often associated with 
> installation, configuration, deployment, maintenance, and upgrade. 
> Often, this is referred to as LCM, or Lifecycle Change Management. 
> Industry estimates state that the budget for LCM can be 2-4 times as 
> large as the initial license cost of enterprise software. More 
> information is needed about how administrators work to manage these 
> systems and what business and integration problems they are trying to 
> solve. UCD, or user centered design can help answer these questions.
>
> The administrator is often a misunderstood user type. Experts have 
> recently started to shed light on this subject. As reported in this 
> forum by Rob Barrett of IBM Almaden, administrators cling to their 
> shells, scripts, and other command line utilities. We create GUI tools 
> for them, but is that what they really need to lower the Total Cost of 
> Ownership (TCO) of software, or to be more efficient when 
> communicating with each other? What are the real frustrations in a 
> given admin's day and how can Human Computer Interaction practitioners 
> help them?
>
> This talk will focus on better understanding administrators and what 
> design solutions and techniques work. I will present more information 
> about the latest user classifications I found in mid-to large scale 
> companies. Their user profiles vary in terms of technical skill, 
> breadth, and responsibility. I will also talk about a study of only 
> DBAs, where my team saw a large difference between self reported and 
> observed data concerning their real tasks.
>
> Practical case studies of software ecosystems that these admins 
> inhabit will be showcased throughout this talk. While sometimes 
> unexpected, the tools and techniques that an HCI practitioner, or any 
> software designer, can deploy will decrease the frustration, 
> complexity, and cost associated with enterprise software deployment. 
> The bridging of technical and organizational silos will often be 
> required, and designers will need to extend their role in order to 
> bring about any significant change and make life (and command line 
> withdrawal) easier for Administrators Anonymous.
>
> **********************************************************
> Luke Kowalski is the Corporate UI Architect at Oracle Corp. His role 
> serves to bridge the user interface design groups at Oracle and he 
> works as an evangelist for effective UI technology, on legal aspects 
> of user interfaces, business context, and cross-divisional information 
> architecture integration. Prior work includes begging for money at 
> startups as director of UI and Web, a longish stint at Netscape's 
> Server User Interface Group, as well as other odd HCI jobs to fill out 
> the 15 years in practice. He holds several UI patents, a CPE 
> Certification, and two Masters Degrees, one from Pratt Institute, and 
> another from Columbia University. His PhD in Divinity cost him $5 from 
> http://www.ulc.org/ and allows him to park in the minister spot in 
> front of hospitals. He has also published book chapters and articles 
> and spoke at the Nielsen Norman Group conference in Sydney in 2002.
>
> **************************************************************
> NEXT WEEK: October 14, 2005 - Jeffrey Heer, UC Berkeley Computer Science
>     he...@cs...
>    Presiding Over Accidents: Techniques for Designing Directive 
> Interfaces
>     http://hci/seminar/abstracts/05-06/051014-heer.html
>
> **************************************************************
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