Fitts' Law (correct spelling = +bonus points)

A + B log(1 + D/W)...and the heavens trembled. 

Fitts' Law is basically about how long it takes a user to use a device. So Fitts came up with this crazy equation that we still use today that helps us to design effective programs and devices that cause minimal time to the user.  Yay!

Usability considered Harmful (some of the time)

This paper is basically about the thought that usability evaluation is harmful because it can give meaningless or trivial results that can hamper the design direction. And they say the evaluation methodology should be appropriate for the actual problem. 

This paper seems like it has good advice for the purposes of making things that conquer a problem. But it seems strange that no one thought of this before because it seems like a real no-brainer to have a design that is appropriate for the problem.

Human centered design considered harmful

Another Don Norman foray into design principles...This paper is about how he thinks that design works better when there is activity involved with it and how people adapt to technology.  But overall he thinks that when design focusing on the activity involved will bring about the most benefits.

I think this is probalbly true. And my example of course is going to be the Wii. The Wii involves more activity than any of the other video game consoles and as such seems to be selling more than all the other consoles combined. People seem to like this idea of actually doing something with their body that reflects on the television screnn more than just pressing a button and it happening. This especially seems to affect people who were never reall into video games and it brings in a new market of users.

Ethnography considered harmful

This paper is about how these guys think ethnographies are this angelic gift that should not be tainted by trying to do them in a new way. They want it to be kept to traditional practices. 

As far as this paper talking about how how ethnographies need to be done the way they have always been done, sure...okay. But the people who wrote this paper need to stop writing papers or get someone who knows how to write papers to write one for them because they suck at it. Maybe then it will actually seem like it is written in english.