UsabilityNoRocketSci

Usability without Rocket Science

Day 3, Session 2 (10:15 to 11:15), Meeting Location H

Participants

• Dennis Hamilton

• Tim Freeman

• Richard M. Conlan

• Bob Frankson

• Charles Andres

• Kenik Hassel

• Pamela Dingle

Chronological notes (Charles Andres)

[as we free-associated ourselves through the session, Charles recorded the notions that were tossed in as they where lofted onto the white board and around the table.]

• RP= Relying Party - consumer of ID services

• user interaction with an RP

• 'voucher' without knowing your true Identity

• at the edge of technology

• have people aware of what is happening, and there are verifiable ceremonies

• popular use

• wanting to make it as friction free as possible

• ceremony (quality of)
  • illusion
  • theatre

• conceptual dissonance

• Con Games
  • Nigerian Scam
  • Complex financial labyrinths that people can't fathom, will be fooled

• TSA
  • security theatre

• every-day experience

• Usability is key, but lots of tool makers are not thinking about users

Why Are We in This Room

Pamela Dingle

runs an RP project

• Rp is the face of infor cards
• diverse set of user interfaces
• need to define a set of expectations for peopple
• make it easy for people to adopt best practices
• make info cards real

• The Pamela Project
  • open php frameworks, media wiki, expand to Drupal,
  • components that are easy to use from both admin and user perspective
  • what does it mean to see an information card (not cart)
  • how to make it easy to be invited into new paradigm

Kenik Hassel

Microsoft emerging businesses

• prior usability
• last 2 days -- what's happening
• the tech savvy people are having problems getting this
• tech has to be ready for joe sixpack

Charles Andres

Parity

• make user-centric identity principles usable to everyone;

• make the internet a much more rich experience designed for people, not plumbers, (or only faucet designers)

Bob Frankston

Bob Frankston

• Multics

• The more you reveal, the easier it is to be scammed

• if you think you have a workable solution, you don't.

• microsoft is a mechanism not an app solutions

• spreadsheets are great ways to fool people

Rich Conlan

Google

• Human computer i/f,
• security,
• better passwords
• made a password selector with smiley face feedback mapped to happier:more secure
  • it did result in people choosing more-secure password forms

• issues:
  • firewalls that prompt
  • bad SSL search

Tim Freeman

MedicAlert

• usability and access management

• 10-50K members access accts on-line; elderly, sick, alzheimers -- can't remember a username.

• people in distress

Dennis Hamilton

• Find a layer above diversity of protocols
• reliable implementations
• Doc Searls has the best sound bites to communicate the issues and where we need to go.

Noodling

• Mistakes will be made

• Card like interfaces couldn't happen too soon.

• Can cards allow 'agents' to work on your behalf without you?

• liability

• unintended irreversable consequences

Reviewing the Ceremonial Stages

• Registration - how to use a card

• Authentication - how to subsequently use it efficiently

• Condition handling -- geeky error messages - "Your certificate has expired"

• quality of the info - actionable for the actor/reader

• Choreography -- your dance must be in sync with your partner

• mapping claim data - is data in the card relevant to the RP

• trust is not transitive

• faux authoritative -- please don't bug me that my address has changed just because I use 2 different cards that point at 2 different addresses.

• What is the pragmatic aspect
  • social contexts
    • neighbors
    • nepotism -- more trustworthy (or the devil you know)

• don't confuse intractable social problems with what can be solved with technology

• Trust no one
• Trust but verify

• adhoc community effort -- work to influence everyone to get a common experience

• consistent i/f as a differentiator

• branding is often used to ensure standards and confidence

• get together for specific protocols
  • write the info messages
  • notifications that can be sent to a user
  • similar messages from sites within a similar context
  • cultural issues

• should the browser be the interpretive sum of the messages?
• 404 - 'this is 'don't bother your pretty little head problem'

• Read Allen Cooper "About Face" - how to write actionable messages designed for the user and the context.

• GE: 'make the error message as obtruse as possible to protect security"

• When you sign up for a site, and the site tells you 'this name is in use' may tell who is on the site.

• Last 4 digits of the phone number

• feeding into popular (mis)conceptions generate fear -- it's the user's fault.

• attention into property
• knowledge into property
• identity into property
• distinction needed between hijack and a breach
• need to tell people how to be smart

• dif rules for who is responsible for fraudulant credit card changes
  • US: bank has responsibility
  • not worldwide
  • leads to different responses and responsibilities

• why an RP has to store all info to recreate the transaction to audit that a transaction happened. This could be abstracted if there is a trusted party.