In agile development methodologies, pair programming is considered a key practice. Pair programming involves two programmers (in any combination of novice and/or expert) working together to write code. Advocates of agile methodologies outline a range of advantages of pair programming, and I’ve always thought that, in theory and as a relative outsider to the code [...]

Dove Campaign for Real Beauty - Evolution (Movie)
a great illustration of the actual work involved in turning a ‘real’ girl into a ‘covergirl’. See… considering I spend about 10 mins on this kind of stuff before I leave the house, i reckon I turn out ok
(tags: gender dove)

The Bad Usability Calendar 2006 (PDF)
eh. [...]

Girly Geekdom Blog
Sarah Blow has started a new blog all about girly geek goodness (including girly geek dinners)
(tags: gender girlygeek)

Recording A Podcast
hrm… probably should have read this *before* this week!
(tags: podcasting)

Welcome to Scrybe
ok. now I get the odd email from people launching new products. This is the most exciting one EVER. I’ve only [...]

I’ve wondered this myself… so I thought I’d use the PodCastJam as a great excuse to get in touch with George Oates, an Australian (ex Adelaide) gal who’s been working with Flickr since before they were Flickr (remember Ludicorp?).
So, in my podcast interviewing debut (and… yes, I need more practice. Want to be interviewed?), I’ve [...]

“here be dragons” - Google Code Search
heh. hands up if you’ve gone back and cleaned up some code since Google released Code Search? be sure to try searches for gems such as ‘drunk’, and ’stupid user’.
(tags: google code search)

Orange Cone: iPod shuffle animism: Steven Levy’s experience
did you read this in the Guardian? How random *is* the iPod shuffle function? Does your iPod show an obsession with a particular artist or two? Or, is does the way your brain work just make it *seem* that way?! Curious.
(tags: iPod random shuffle cognitive)

While I was at the recent EuroIA conference I wrote a few notes on what I’d ask people to do if they wanted to ‘present’.
I was partly inspired by my recent experience of BarCamp London, and the fact that I was surrounded by smart and creative people at EuroIA, but that it didn’t feel like [...]

So, today I did my first ever podcast and shipped it off to Anne for the Office 2.0 Podcast Jam.
I’ve shied away from podcasting for as long as I’ve known about it for a few reasons.
Before this blog I had a few short lived experiments with websites and blogging, but none of them really stuck. [...]

So, as you know, I’ve been trying to recruit design and user experience types to participate in the Podcast Jam for Office 2.0. (hello! are you out there!). Something I’ve noticed is that your average designer on the street doesn’t necessarily know what Office 2.0 means, and what’s included.
If this sounds like you, can I [...]

The Office 2.0 Podcast Jam kicks off tomorrow - so be sure to go check it out and get involved. There’s some really interesting stuff happening from kick off including podcasts from Richard MacManus, Rosemary Stasek (talking about her experiences in Afghanistan, now that’s a perspective you don’t get at your average conference), and Eric [...]