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In this two-part article series, I will be covering the lifecycle methods of class components in ReactJS. Almost everything in this world follows some sort of cycle. Take for instance trees, they are born, grow, and then die. React’s components are no different. They are created – mounted on the DOM, grow by updating, and then cease to exist – unmount on DOM. This is called a component’s lifecycle. Depending on the phase of a component’s life there are different lifecycle methods that React provides. Lifecycle methods are special methods that automatically get called as our component achieves certain milestones. I liken these methods to special event handlers, like the ones you have when listening to load events on an HTML page. The lifecycle is broken down into four core stages: Initialization, Mounting, Updating, and Unmounting. In this first article, I will be covering Initialization and Mounting.     

         Over 68 million people are now using Augmented Reality (AR) technology every month thanks to increased accessibility via mobile devices (eMarketer, 2019). AR as a form of emerging technology, is unique in its ability to overlay digital information such as images, text, and sounds onto the real world. More than 90% of companies with annual revenues of $100 million have started using AR mobile marketing to increase customer engagement by creating new and exciting ways to interact with a product (Deloitte, 2019). While many of us remain at home in the face of Covid-19, AR technology provides innovative solutions in its ability to create virtual “try-before-you-buy” experiences. Moreover, AR offers several advantages over more traditional marketing methods providing companies, who do it right, a competitive edge.

     In this article, I will try to explain the main four principles of Object-Oriented-Programming (OOP). Object-Oriented-Programing allows programmers to think of software development as if they are working with real-life entities. In your everyday life, people have the knowledge and can-do various works/tasks. In OOP, objects have fields to store knowledge/state/data and can-do various methods.

         In 2018, research reports from the ACLU emerged indicating that Amazon’s facial recognition technology had reportedly “confused” the faces of 28 congressmen with the faces of known criminals. Let’s unpack that statement. First, Amazon has been developing facial recognition technology, called Rekognition, which can provide “highly accurate facial analysis and facial recognition on images and video.” In 2018, Amazon was actively making movements towards selling this technological tool to law enforcement. The ACLU, among other organizations and individuals, were concerned with the implications of utilizing such technology.  In turn, the ACLU conducted its own study employing Rekognition facial technology. Their research uncovered that Rekognition technology was not as accurate of a facial recognition tool as had been perceived, and resulted in a large number of mismatched faces. Most importantly, the ACLU reported that Rekognition disproportionately misidentified faces of people of color- as highlighted by the 28 faces of congressmen that were misidentified as being the faces of known criminals. While Amazon and the ACLU debated over these results, the findings published by the ACLU point towards a bigger issue- in what ways are racial biases manifesting themselves in facial recognition technology and how can this cause harm to communities of color?

   The theme of this years’ World Usability Day: “Design for the Future We Want”. The theme is inspired by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.  Design can help solve some of the world’s most challenging problems. Design has the opportunity to create a better world for all by creating products that cause no harm, make the world a better place to live and support our humanity: For example, design could persuade people to consume more sustainably or it could potentially help prevent the spread of fake news.

       In September, Key Lime Interactive presented a user testing study (N=12) on the post-match statistics screen of PUBG mobile at the Games UX Summit in Vancouver, hosted by EA. During our presentation, we provided design considerations and opportunities for improvement for the post-match screen, drawing best practices from other games from mobile and PC platforms. For example, comparing to PUBG mobile, Warships Blitz (iOS, Android) provides a more detailed and accessible post-match screen, organized so that it serves players of different types.