IFTTT

I think If This Then That is a great, both in terms of conceptualization and in terms of realization. I have long wished for something which, when I upload my photography to deviantArt will automatically update my Facebook page and my WordPress site, or which would amalgamate all the messages I receive from various social media sites into one clean interface. I envisioned eventually coding something like this myself, perhaps as a commercial project, but condone IFTTT largely because I do not believe I could have ever created something so beautifully designed and intuitive for the first-time user by myself. It was therefore interesting to see the differences between the various APIs mentioned in Jack Burnham’s article: the API created for the specific purpose of art is beautifully designed. Those created quickly in an hour are effective, but not beautifully. I believe these embody computer programming on its own, and computer programming with art thrown in. My main interest thus far in the BCSA program is in combining these two to create something both functional and beautiful: something accessible not only to programmers, but to the average computer user. This is where Jim Campbell’s animated diagram comes in. Human Computer Interaction is one of the average user’s largest expectations, who expect all computers will one day automatically run software like Dragon, or come embedded with a LeapMotion controller (which HP is apparently working on as we speak).

The recipe I created on IFTTT is extremely simple. It sends me an email every Mon Tue Wed Thu Sun -day at 22h30 to tell me to get off the computer and wind down before going to bed. Nevertheless, I feel this will be beneficial as the computer is my main source of distraction late at night. It was so simple to create, I am sure I will get round to more complicated recipes in the future — perhaps linking my wordpress and facebook photography pages.