Category Archives: Design

Radiology Workflow Shortcuts

Modern radiology practice is one of high-volume, high-precision visual inspection. Our moment-to-moment visual attention is our singularly essential sensory resource, and we should design our workflow to conserve it. Visual distractions, no matter how brief, should be minimized. Push notifications, invocations of popup menus, glances down at the keyboard, saccades up to a toolbar, and even visually localizing the text cursor in a report all should be avoided.

Example: we have to switch our primary click tool constantly, say from a selection cursor to a 3D-localizing homing tool. I’ve witnessed one of our venerable attendings accomplish this by the following: right click to invoke the tool palette, pause, mouse toward the tool palette expansion command, click, pause, mouse toward the 3D localizer tool, click, mouse toward the X button to close the tool palette, click; then left click to actually use the 3D localizer; and then once again right click, pause, click on the default tool, then click on the X. A tedious and distracting six-second side quest that could be executed with keyboard shortcuts in a near-instantaneous sequence of keystroke, click, keystroke.

Continue reading Radiology Workflow Shortcuts

CS50 and the Computer Science Mindset

CS50, Harvard’s introductory computer science course, is the most influential class I’ve ever taken. CS50 spurred my interest in computer science – which I nearly pursued as my career – and the methodologies of computer science continue to inform my understanding of the world and guide my decisions to this day.

The Cult of CS50

I was reminded of this because the New Yorker recently published a profile on David Malan, CS50’s charismatic and innovative professor (and my boss at one point!). Even though much of the interview focuses on Malan’s pioneering work in digital-friendly education with high production value, the article also captures some of Malan’s quirks, like his antiquated speaking habits (he says “lest” a lot) and his Jobs-esque wardrobe, and it took me back to my time at Harvard. When I took it in 2009, CS50 was more cult than ordinary Harvard course, garnering a class size approaching 700, meaning nearly half of Harvard undergrads take it. It held enormous events like an overnight hackathon and a project exhibition fair, replete with corporate sponsors such as Google, Facebook, and Dropbox. CS50 even has its own branding and swag! I still wear my “I took CS50” t-shirt and CS50 hoodie; in fact, a Harvard alum wearing a crimson H hat commented on my CS50 shirt in Trader Joe’s the other day.

Continue reading CS50 and the Computer Science Mindset

Custom Keyboard, Ten Years Later

At home, I type in a strange custom keyboard layout that’s almost certainly unique (see above). The alphanumeric layout is Dvorak, but I’ve remapped most of the symbols and modifiers. Notably, CapsLock is Backspace, Backspace is Tab, Tab is Delete, and Delete was CapsLock. Punctuation is moved so ? and ! are with . and ,. Many changes are optimized for coding, such as moving brackets, braces, and the logical operands & and | to more accessible spots. I designed the layout in 2011 (and stopped coding in 2013, lol), but since then I’ve typed on it from memory on a normal Qwerty keyboard. I just finally bought a custom-printed keyboard to reflect my own layout, but not after strongly considering fully switching back to Qwerty. Let’s review the results of my protracted keyboard design experiment.

Continue reading Custom Keyboard, Ten Years Later

How to Use Toilet Paper

As coronavirus (COVID-19) and its hysteria is sweeping through New York City and the US at large, people are panicking and hoarding supplies like pantry food, disinfecting wipes, face masks, and – for some reason – a whole buttload of toilet paper. I know discussing toilet paper is socially unsavory, but if you want to preserve your stash while maintaining anal hygiene, you should ensure that use your toilet paper effectively and efficiently. Continue reading How to Use Toilet Paper

How to Train Your Rads AI

In DreamWorks’ 2010 animated fantasy film How to Train Your Dragon, Hiccup, the young un-viking-like viking prince protagonist, learns to cooperate with dragons through his compassion and engineering know-how. With his dragon Toothless by his side, Hiccup protects his village more than the traditional vikings before him could have ever imagined.

Now, I haven’t shot down my own artificial intelligence out of the sky, but I do have rudimentary cross-disciplinary know-how. Let me try to describe how we might unite computer science and radiology to usher in the future of automated radiology. Continue reading How to Train Your Rads AI