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Education Commons

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Selected Works

Selected Works

Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research

Dr Elizabeth Hartnell-Young

Divergence

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Education

The Converged Appliance: "I Llove It…But I Hate It", John Murphy, Jesper Kjeldskov, Steve Howard, Graeme Shanks, Elizabeth Hartnell-Young Dec 2004

The Converged Appliance: "I Llove It…But I Hate It", John Murphy, Jesper Kjeldskov, Steve Howard, Graeme Shanks, Elizabeth Hartnell-Young

Dr Elizabeth Hartnell-Young

The last decade has seen convergence marketed as one response to the challenge of users having to juggle an increasingly wide array of digital services, technologies and media. Key to this view is the assumption that by converging computer devices, and digital media, the value of technology for end users can be maximised whilst the overheads involved in purchasing, maintaining and orchestrating a variety of different technology solutions can be minimised. In contrast however, some authors have argued that convergence creates weak-general solutions, and rather we should be aiming for strong-specific technology by means of the deliberate design of multiple …


When The Whole Is Less Than The Sum Of The Parts: Humanising Convergence In Iinteractive Systems Design, Steve Howard, Elizabeth Hartnell-Young, Graeme Shanks, John Murphy, Jennie Carroll Dec 2003

When The Whole Is Less Than The Sum Of The Parts: Humanising Convergence In Iinteractive Systems Design, Steve Howard, Elizabeth Hartnell-Young, Graeme Shanks, John Murphy, Jennie Carroll

Dr Elizabeth Hartnell-Young

Convergence, viewed as the union of disparate technical solutions, is frequently proposed as a way of maximising value for end users: reducing the number of distinct technologies users have to purchase, learn and use. Yet few empirical studies of use and convergent technology have been reported. Though convergence as a catchphrase has had currency for over a decade now, a tension remains between those who argue for strong-specific solutions, i.e. carefully targeted ‘information appliances’, and those who prefer weak-general approaches, the ICT equivalent of the Swiss army knife. We describe the dynamic nature of the trade-off between usability and functional …