Kolja Sam Pluemer

Blog

23.07.2024

Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Entry Points

An overview of ITS
27.05.2024

When building a learning game, you only control part of the problem space

Algebrawl, and math being mean
12.05.2024

Perfectionism as a driver out of the comfort zone

A Mini-Essay
29.03.2024

'Spam in a can' and Spaced Repetition Software

A Mini-Essay
21.03.2024

The Unique Dynamics of a Rapid Spaced Repetition, Binary-Choice, Perceptual Learning App

Building a Bird-Watch Trainer — Pre-Preliminary Findings
16.03.2024

Self-experimentation with using the Picture Superiority Effect for vocabulary study — Part 1

Building tooling and running tests with image-based Egyptian word practice
07.11.2023

Disconnected thoughts on why my concordances tool is not fun to use

Thoughts about game loops based on the corpus-based, data-driven learning game I'm building
19.10.2023

What makes a time-pressure game fun?

Lessons learned from designing an SR-based timed web game learning system for Egyptian Arabic sentences.
23.09.2023

A Spaced Repetition Algorithm to learn Arabic Numbers

Lessons learned from designing a custom Intra-Session Spaced Reptition learning system for Arabic numbers.
12.08.2023

Implementing an intra-session Spaced Repetition algorithm in my world map practice game

A summary of my implementation of a rapid Pimsleur-style Spaced Repetition algorithm with second-long intervals for a geography tutor web game
01.04.2023

Is everyone using SuperMemo2?

Comparison of the SR algorithms of all prominent flash card software
26.03.2023

Redundant Habits

Short guide on how to design multiple habits for one goal with the example of running
04.02.2023

Forcing serendipity: How I build interesting connections between my notes

Case study of developing a User Interface to connect personal notes in kaado.io PKM with the Zettelkasten approach
21.01.2023

In search of a better Spaced Repetition algorithm #1

My analysis of what the best SR algorithm may be and how many new learning items should be introduced every day
19.01.2023

Dead simple authentication with Django: Global password, one user, custom usernames

A guide on how to protect a Django webapp with a password while allowing custom user names
02.01.2023

An opinionated guide on building habits that stick

A step-by-step tutorial on successful habit-building, using principles like Minimal Valuable Prototype, The Slight Edge, Atomic Habits, The One Thing and SMART Goals.
29.10.2022

Can you simulate your users?

Discusses the possibilities, advantages and disadvantages of simulating user behavior. Draws on ideas from the paper 'BFIRES-II: A Behavior Based Computer Simulation of Emergency Egress During Fires'
29.10.2022

Really old UX research #3: A new look at a forty year old case study (another one for Gould & Lewis, 1985)

Summary, discussion and key facts for the classic User Experience research paper 'Designing for Usability: Key Principles and What Designers Think', Part 3. Discusses the advantages of quick and fundamental prototype iteration.
17.10.2022

Quick reminder that the long-term/short-term memory model is not so black and white (Ericsson & Kintsch, 1995)

Summary of the psychology paper 'Long-Term Working Memory'. Extends the LTM/STM model to include newer research findings.
16.10.2022

Really old UX research #2: A model for usability focused development (Gould & Lewis, 1985)

Summary, discussion and key facts for the classic User Experience research paper 'Designing for Usability: Key Principles and What Designers Think', Part 2. Discusses a project management approach for software projects.
07.10.2022

Understanding Great Signage #3: Surprising rules for you-are-here maps (Levine, 1982)

Summary of the UX-related research paper 'You-Are-Here Maps: Psychological Considerations'. Describes how to easily design excellent YAH-maps to help people orient themselves and navigate buildings and areas successfully
03.10.2022

The cybernetic self-attention feedback loop (Carver & Scheier, 1981)

Summary of the research paper 'The Self-Attention-Induced Feedback Loop and Social Facilitation'. Discusses how human behavior in social contexts is controlled by two behavior loops.
02.10.2022

A foundational model of work motivation and satisfaction (Locke & Latham, 1990)

Summary of the research paper 'WORK MOTIVATION AND SATISFACTION: Light at the End of the Tunnel'. Offers a model of how motivation and satisfaction at the workplace are related.
02.10.2022

A foundational model of work motivation and satisfaction (Locke & Latham, 1990)

Summary of the research paper 'WORK MOTIVATION AND SATISFACTION: Light at the End of the Tunnel'. Offers a model of how motivation and satisfaction at the workplace are related.
27.09.2022

Understanding Great Signage #2: A word on architectural legibility (Weisman, 1981)

Summary of the research paper 'Evaluating Architectural Legibility - Way-Finding in the Build Environment'. Strategies to ensure error-free and quick wayfinding for visitors in buildings.
21.09.2022

Where expertise comes from (Ericsson & Charness, 1994)

Summary of the research paper 'Expert performance: Its structure and acquisition'. Argues that expert performance is influenced mostly by Deliberate Practice, not talent.
20.09.2022

Understanding Great Signage #1: Floor plans, choice points and research validity ( O'Neill, 1991)

Summary of the research paper 'Effects of Signage and Floor Plan Configuration on Wayfinding Accuracy'. Discusses basic theoretical principles of designing signage for wayfinding.
12.09.2022

Really old UX research #1: Designing for Usability ( Gould & Lewis, 1985)

Summary, discussion and key facts of the classic User Experience research paper 'Designing for Usability: Key Principles and What Designers Think', Part 1.
09.09.2022

Understanding Accumulative Advantage (Broughton & Mills, 1980)

The Matthew Effect in context of the research article 'Resource Inequality and Accumulative Advantage: Stratification in the Ministry'
08.09.2022

What a coach can teach a teacher can teach us (Gallimore & Tharp, 2004)

Summary and key facts from the psychology paper 'What a Coach Can Teach a Teacher, 1975-2004: Reflections and Reanalysis of John Wooden’s Teaching Practices'
07.09.2022

What volleyball serves can tell us about becoming an expert (Kitsantas & Zimmerman, 2002)

Summary and key facts from the research paper 'Comparing Self-Regulatory Processes Among Novice, Non-Expert, and Expert Volleyball Players: A Microanalytic Study'
05.09.2022

Some takeaways from old school social media research (Taddicken, 2013)

Summary and key facts from the academical paper 'The ‘Privacy Paradox’ in the Social Web: The Impact of Privacy Concerns, Individual Characteristics, and the Perceived Social Relevance on Different Forms of Self-Disclosure'
01.09.2022

A simple and powerful model of motivation (Dweck, 1986)

Summary and key points of the psychology research paper 'Motivational Processes Affecting Learning'. Describes how your success with a tasks is decided by your confidence and your mental models
10.08.2022

Beware designer/user preference differences (Bonnardel, Piolat & Le Bigot, 2010)

Summary and key points of the design research paper 'The impact of colour on Website appeal and users’ cognitive processes'
09.08.2022

How much time do people spend looking at masterpieces of art? (Smith & Smith, 2001)

My takeaways and learnings from the research paper 'Spending Time on Art'. Discusses how long people stop to look at art in museums and implications
06.08.2022

My 30 year old microwave has near perfect UX

Why old microwave interfaces excel from a user experience standpoint. Advantages of physical interfaces. Complexity and emotional design.
03.07.2022

The ideal position for your shopping cart, and other outdated advice (Roth, 2010)

My takeaways and learnings from the research paper 'Mental models for web objects: Where do users expect to find the most frequent objects in online shops, news portals, and company web pages?'
29.06.2022

Website's color research in the 2000's (Hall and Hanna, 2004)

My takeaways and learnings from the paper 'The impact of web page text-background colour combinations on readability, retention, aesthetics and behavioural intention'
27.06.2022

Leder's model of aesthetic appreciation in short (Leder, Belke, Oeberst & Augustin, 2004)

My takeaways and learnings from the academic paper 'A model of aesthetic appreciation and aesthetic judgments'
26.06.2022

Paper summary - complexity in webpages (Harper, Michailidou & Stevens, 2009)

Summary, takeaways and learnings of the academical UX paper Toward a definition of visual complexity as an implicit measure of cognitive load
20.06.2022

Paper Summary - Colors, Complexity, Prototypicality and Beauty in the Web (Hanchar, 2012)

Summary and learnings of the academical UX paper Simple Beauty: The impact of visual complexity, prototypicality and color typicality on aesthetic perception in initial impression of websites.
24.04.2022

When Automating User Interaction, Think Processes, Think Muscle Memory

Ideas and best practices on how to organize side projects and personal files, and how that connects to UX principles.
17.04.2022

Only The Doing Matters - What To Do Apps Get Wrong

Lessons Learned from building And testing many To-Do apps — Why the "doing" of tasks is the most important factor when choosing a personal productivity app.
09.03.2022

Why To-Do Lists Don't Work Very Well

Problems, pitfalls and disadvantages of to-do lists for personal productivity.
09.02.2022

Mental Models For Queues In User Interfaces

Lessons from Spotify, YouTube, and my projects — Deep-dive on how the mental model of queues works from a UX perspective
26.11.2021

Building the World’s Ugliest DIY CO2 Monitor

Lessons Learned — Raspberry Pi DIY project — trying to build a CO2 sensor for personal/living room usage.
25.11.2021

Lessons Learned From Building My Own Note Taking System

Chaoskasten — The story on how I wrote a system for note taking and organization, and what I learned.
28.08.2021

I made a thing and wrote about it!

Summer Of Math 2021 — My experience building a small software project and publishing it.
27.08.2021

Building a Carousel in Jekyll without JS

Tutorial on how to build a card carousel without javascript with the static blog generator Jekyll.
14.08.2021

Writing Is Hard

My experience in starting this blog, what the struggles were and how I successfully started.