Bioinformatics
Jun 27th
A couple of articles came out recently regarding the quality of good UI design and since this is an area that I’m relatively passionate about, I couldn’t resist adding my voice to the mix.
Last year I did a presentation for a course I was taking on the state of user interface design in the realm of scientific software. My study was based on two papers:
Nielsen, J. and Landauer, T. K. 1993. A mathematical model of the finding of usability problems.1 Javahery, H., Seffah, A., and Radhakrishnan, T. 2004. Beyond power: making bioinformatics tools user-centered.2
To start out I asked those present to look at the user interface of a relatively popular and extremely powerful piece of software used for molecular docking. (which shall remain nameless). Those in attendance were relatively familiar with the subject matter that this software dealt with, and at least one was an expert in the field. I asked them how they would go about performing a few relatively simple tasks. No one could figure it out. The controls were non-intuitive and the interface didn’t adhere to any standard UI design principles.
I then showed them the interface to a relatively popular photo management program:
I then asked them how they would go More >
Jul 29th
I recently read an article in the May 18, 2006 issue of Nature called the “Top Five in Physics” it outlined what the hottest areas of physics research are, based on a ranking algorithm developed by a German physicist.
Before I got my undergraduate in Computer Science, I was a Physics major for one semester. I was quickly disappointed to learn that Physics != Star Trek. I was hoping to work on warp drive technology, but was stuck calculating the friction of balls rolling down ramps. After such an obvious let down, I switched to computer science.
I do however still have quite a bit of interest in physics, however when I see these “Hot” research areas, (carbon nanotubes, nano wires, quantum dots, fullerenes, and giant magnetoresistance) I must admit I still feel a pang of disappointment. Here is what I wish the top 5 research areas in physics were:
- Warp Drive – I guess one could argue we are moving in the right direction with things like the X Prize Foundation However I have yet to see any entrants that used anything other than conventional propulsion
- Sliding Technology – When I was a kid I really wanted one of those gizmos from Sliders
- Phasers – Once More >
Mar 18th
Those of you who have been long time subscribers (both of you), will notice a number of changes to this site. In particular, I have changed the name of the site from [[leeFalin alloc] init] (a cocoa programming reference) to Non-Coding region (a bioinformatics reference).
This is to reflect the fact that in January I started attending graduate school full time in Virginia Tech’s GBCB program. (Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology). In order to clear up any concern about the future content of this blog, and in particular my long term plans for Polarian and Screen Mimic, I have put together the following FAQ:
- Are you getting out of Macintosh programming?
- Then do you plan to continue working on Screen Mimic?
- So why bioinformatics?
No, I am still working hard developing Cocoa apps.
Yes! I am still working hard on Screen Mimic 2.0 (the much awaited release that will include audio support).
Some time ago, I was reading What Color Is Your Parachute? trying to figure out what to do with my life. In the book there is a test (called the flower diagram) that helps you to identify what areas you are most interested in. The nice thing is that it doesn’t tell you what you should do, More >