User Behaviour & Psychology / Article 2. Feb. 2009, HCI Vistas Vol-V Author: Ganesh Bhutkar Introduction The domain of social networking is enhanced by efforts from entrepreneurs to capitalize on the social networking theory. Recent commercial interest has resulted in the emergence of multiple new websites dedicated to helping users capitalize on their social networks for dating, jobs, e-commerce, professional development etc. This article presents a comprehensive overview about ...

User Behavior & Psychology / Article 4. Aug. 2007, HCI Vistas Vol-III Author: Pankaj Sapkal Sensing of Meaning For the one that yearns to hear Even a pebble can sing a song. The human mind is geared to derive meaning out of what it perceives. And this attribute is so fundamental to it, that it may even be the most basic building block of human cognition. In our zest to ...

User Behavior & Psychology / Article 1. First Published in June 2007, HCI Vistas Vol-III Author: Dr. Dinesh Katre This article is in continuation of my series on "child's perception of the world". I have already written- A child's testimony to toy and game designers User's reality: The big truth of small things! Sample architectural maps (a small apartment and a bungalow) drawn by an 8.5 years old ...

User Behavior & Psychology / Article 17. First Published in Mar. 2007, HCI Vistas Vol-II Author: Dr. Dinesh Katre This is a common question one encounters during seminars and workshops on usability. The answer is structured in terms of the cognitive properties, stimulus hunger, attention hunger and power hunger of children. The psychological aspects stated here, are present in all human beings across all age groups, but ...

User Behavior & Psychology / Article 16. First Published in Mar. 2007, HCI Vistas Vol-II Author: Dr. Dinesh Katre This article is in continuation of my series on "child's perception of the world". I have already written- A child's testimony to toy and game designers User's reality: The big truth of small things! Like most psychologists have their favorite subjects who are familiar and easily accessible for observation; for me ...

 User Behavior & Psychology/ Article 12.    First Published in Dec. 2006, HCI Vistas Vol-II  Author: Dr. Dinesh Katre At the outset of my discussion in this article, let me mention that I do not wish to offend or ridicule the users of hands-free bluetooth headsets. I only wish to share my observations and some opinions with the designers.   Figure 1. The other day, at the traffic signal, I saw a person in another car- intensely ...

User Behavior & Psychology / Article 10. First Published in Nov. 2006, HCI Vistas Vol-II Author: Dr. Dinesh Katre Soft-garbage Try opening your yahoo or rediff e-mail account or even other kinds of web-portals. You find a lot of advertising banners around. The web advertisements encroach your privacy and look like unwanted guests. They will be animating at the top or on the right side of your browser. ...

User Behavior & Psychology / Article 8. First Published in Oct. 2006, HCI Vistas Vol-II Author: Dr. Dinesh Katre This article is in continuation with the earlier one titled as 'User's reality: The big truth of small things!'. It received a lot of appreciation and over 1000 hits in just one month. Photo 1. In the year 2003, during Diwali vacation, I went on a family tour to ...

User Behavior & Psychology / Article 7. First Published in Sept. 2006, HCI Vistas Vol-II Author: Dr. Dinesh Katre Our social behavior takes a very interesting form when we interact with the cyber-world. It is interesting to observe how people communicate through e-mail. But it is much more fascinating to see a lot of them discussing in e-groups. It reveals several facets of group dynamics, behavioral patterns, ...

User Behavior & Psychology / Article 5. First Published in Aug. 2006, HCI Vistas Vol-II Author: Dr. Dinesh Katre All of us know about how computer programs work. It is an organized list of instructions that, when executed, causes the computer to behave in a predetermined manner. Actually, the computer system and its programs are built quite similar to that of the human brain and its psychological ...