Twitter as Usability Tool

Recently, columnist David Pogue of the New York Times, asked his Twitter followers what new gadgets they would like to see on the market (http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/your-favorite-uninvented-gadget/).  And he got some interesting responses.  Someone asked for self charing batteries, waterproof cell phones, wireless power for laptops (somebody beat you to it:  http://www.ted.com/talks/eric_giler_demos_wireless_electricity.html), solar panels for lap tops and so on. 

But the significance to technical communication has to do with usability studies.  People have been using the web for feedback on products since the internet BA (the internet before amazon).  The fact is consumers have been involved in the marketing process since social media went Google.  However, product design has largely been in the hands of the companies not the consumer.  Now, good companies did usability testing and read consumer reviews before then.  But with social media, consumers are voicing the problems that prevent them from completing necessary tasks on large forum like Twitter and Facebook.  And these users are coalescing.  Groups of users rambling their discontent on the wonderfully democratic internet.  Users are moving from being simply discontent about how their products are designed to demanding a more user-centered process of production.  And the forums on which they can shout are free and many.        

I am under the impression that Memex machine looks like Orville's time machine.  Both are from the same desire for omniscience in having all knowledge packaged adnd recallable before your finger tips.  A network of documents is created leaving behind an evolution of meaning.  It is a roadmap of how we got where we are. 

Today, we have digital tools such as the internet that allows memory to be stored and recalled in digital form drawing a clear connection between memory and invention.

The recent article "Distributing Memory:  Rhetorical Work in Digital Environments" attempts to to show that connection.  Derek Van Ittersum takes this to the next level by memorizing literate practices.  He analyzes the graduate students ability to integrate the use of One Note into their note taking and recording practices.  Some of these students are in the process of writing their thesis.  He looked at the One Note as a digital memory devices that also work as invention tools.  

The main question:  Is the labor required in learning the new practice worth the overall benefit.  This questions builds a interesting and complex relationship between literacy and memory.  

How should we quantify effort vs. effect in examining the usability of these tools? 

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