One of my favorite technical words is “noodling”. I have my students noodle around with code to see how it works – have them break it and than fix it again to get control.
I often noodle around with code when working on a project, trying to stretch things a little more, trying to find out “What happens if I do this?”. This is especially useful when working with CSS and a new web site design.
At South by Southwest I heard Jared Spool from User Interface Engineering talk about design and user interfaces. I’m on their mailing list now and today he introduced me to another technical term: hunkering.
Here’s a excerpt from his article:
The behavior of hunkering was the same [for all types of people]:
- They lay out whatever physical pieces they have — raw materials,
sketches, and images they’d collected.
- They work to put things close to where they’d be in their final
form, relative to the other pieces.
- Then they step back and ponder it for a while.
- In some cases, they walk around to view it from a different
angle, to see what it looked like from another perspective.
- Then they start back up to work.
This can be done in any type of business from web designer, to programmer, to cabinet maker, to dress designer.
Hunkering also ties in with a book I’m reading,
A Whole New Mind, by Daniel Pink. Daniel talks about using both sides of the brain, both the analytic left side as well as the more artistic, free-flowing right-side in order to deal with challenges we face in today’s world. No longer can we just be analytical thinkers working a problem in a straight line. Instead, we have to become more artistic thinkers, looking at things as a whole and getting ideas from other disciplines. Jared’s term “hunkering” describes how to do this process in a very real manner.
So, next time you are starting a project, before you start writing code or hammering nails, do some noodling around and hunkering to kick your right brain into gear.
Here’s Jared’s article: Hunkering: Putting Disorientation in the Design Process.
On Monday, February 23rd I’ll be presenting at the Marketplace for Entrepreneurs, a free conference being held at the civic center in Mankato, Minnesota.
I’ll be talking about using the Web as a Marketing tool and will be discussing:
- Obtaining a domain name and hosting service
- How to use the web to check on your competitors
- Tips ‘n tricks on getting your website developed
- Things every web site must have
- How to improve your SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
- Google Analytics and AdWords
There are over 20 speakers presenting on three different tracks throughout the day. So, if you are in the Minneapolis/St. Paul, Mankato area you should check this out.
Typing Tutor Demo View
Turn yourself into a typing hero!
A fast typing speed is essential for everyone working on computers, especially programmers. Here’s a site that one of my students told me about that will allow you to increase your typing speed. http://www.typing-lessons.org.
This is an excellent use of Flash technology, giving you immediate feedback with a voice saying “bad” each time you hit the wrong key.
Use Cognitive Science to Help You Learn – Over the years cognitive scientists have discovered some important techniques that help you learn more effectively with less work. As athletes know, people have brain memory as well as muscle memory. You put these muscle memories to work each time you do a typing exercise such as this.
To make your practice more effective, type no more than 10 minutes every morning when you first get up. But, during those 10 minutes really focus on what you are doing. Limit your input to your fingers and the screen. (No music, kids, TV, videos, instant messaging, or emails.) Just you and the typing.
Then, right before you go to bed, do another concentrated 10 minute practice. Your brain will continue to process as you sleep. Then, when you wake up in the morning and start typing again, you will be sending a clear message to your brain, “Hey, this is important! Pay attention.” The reinforcement will continue to increase as you do this every morning and every night, day in and day out.
Earlier I posted a link to TuxType which is a free typing game you can download and play to increase your skills.
