In Memory of Vince

August 7, 2011 | Human-Computer Interaction Lab

"No dislikes"

The Human-Computer Interaction Lab of the University of Maryland had the pleasure of collaborating with Vince and his crew for over 8 years.  Yes, for over 8 years, we learned and laughed about many things with Vince.  Now, we'd like to take a moment to share just a few of the special things that we learned together with him.

For over 8 years, Vince came to work with us in our Kidsteam lab. In his typical low-key and cheerful way, he listened attentively – and seriously – to the design recommendations from our best technology critics and partners: 7 to 11 year old children.  And you know what?  No request or critique was too menial for Vince; he listened and responded to every one as best he could.  Vince understood – innately – the importance of listening to his most precious and vocal user base: the children for whom these technologies were intended.

For over 8 years, Vince grew with us, along with several generations of Kidsteam children, as we collaborated to make meaningful interactive technologies for children.  Vince, along with his d'Vinci crew of developers, our friends from the National Park Service, and our team of designers at Kidsteam, created interactive technologies that have helped thousands of children learn to appreciate the environmental and historic resources of our country.

Interestingly enough, although we met, collaborated, and storyboarded with him on countless occasions, we had a heck of a time finding Vince in any of our design session photos.  This is despite the fact that, as researchers, we save the memories of our design sessions in countless pictures and video.  Yet, we know, through our design notes, and especially, through the evolution of final products that he and his D'Vincians developed, that Vince was always there, in the background, listening attentively, quietly, but resolutely pushing those designs to align with what the children said was important to them.

Among the many collaborative design techniques that we participate in with Kidsteam, "Sticky Notes" was just one that Vince was intimately familiar with.  During a Sticky Notes session, we would evaluate a website or particular technology, by capturing "Likes," "Dislikes," and "Design Ideas" for improving it.  Each post-it, or "sticky" note, reflects some element of design that our Kidsteam members like or dislike, as well as an idea that they might have for enhancing the technology. We can fondly say that for over 8 years, we could find "No Dislikes" for our friend and collaborator, Vince Hellane.

(From Allison Druin and everyone at The Human-Computer Interaction Lab of the University of Maryland)