From: Gleanings
To: fellow travellers
Subject: Gleanings: On the Road to Morocco
OPENING THANG
Well, folks I'm off to Morocco this afternoon for a two week vacation with my handsome husband. Normally this would mean you'd go gleanless, but NO! I won't let you suffer!
My fabulous partner Noel will be stepping in to keep you happy and gleaned during my absence. Noel is an email junkie like myself, and won't have any trouble keeping you regaled with the same sort of tasty tidbits that have kept http://www.gap-toothed.com, http://www.kickballusa.com, http://www.1minute.org and the ever fabulous http://www.carboniq.com alive and kicking up their collective heels.
gleanings-comments@eleganthack.com will be pointing at him, so be sure to send your intriguing links and insightful feedback there.
Any questions? Great, I'm off! (did I remember to turn off the coffeepot?)
IA MATTERS
Luminant white paper on IA by J. Vodvarka
Designing the User Experience
http://www.luminant.com/whitepapers.htm
Cool paper on why people buy, and what causes those irrational moments we all know and love.
I was very impressed with this, and suspect there may be some important repurcussions for IA.
http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20010211mag-econ.html
Macromedia has released the Wireframing Extension for
Dreamweaver, that allows you to build site prototypes for usability testing
in a few hours.
It can be downloaded at http://www.macromedia.com/exchange/dreamweaver/
Search for 'wireframing'.
Information Anxiety 2
By Richard Saul Wurman
The wild man of TED is back, with a sequel to his 1990 bestseller.
http://www.thestandard.com/subject/book/display/0,4294,204,00.html
I'm reading it, and it's a mess. But an entertaining mess.
Presentations from the Summit are up.
http://www.asis.org/Conferences/SUMMITFINAL/
USABILITY MATTERS
Color Deficient Vision
http://www.visibone.com/colorblind/
Safe web colours for colour-deficient vision
http://innovate.bt.com/people/rigdence/colours/
• Donald Norman on learner-centered design
“The traditional course is run by a professor, an instructor, who organizes the course material in some logical method and gives lecture materials and assigns readings. This is an approach that we can call either 'teacher-centric,' or maybe, 'content-centric.' And it fails to take into account the way people learn. The first step in learner-centric is to understand how learning takes place. Much modern research in cognitive science shows that people learn by doing. So it is very important that people learn not by reading a book, and not by listening to a lecture, but by doing tasks that can engage the mind.”
http://www.elearningpost.com/elthemes/norman.asp
NEWS & COMMENTARY
Congress and Cookies
A new bill working its way through Congress could change the way you track
your customers as they surf the Web. The legislation would, among other
things, mandate that Web sites obtain consumer consent before using
third-party services to track visitors' online journeys with cookies.
http://www.newmedia.com/default.asp?articleID=2494
Nasdaq Plunges at Open
Greater-than-expected inflation and worse-than-expected earnings for Nortel are combining to send tech stocks much lower.
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,21392,00.html
Don't Return to Sender, Please
Most people leave forwarding addresses when they move in the "real" world.
But when it comes to cyber moves, less than one-third of Internet users
notify Web sites and e-mail newsletters of new e-mail addresses. This
means that millions of e-mails are missing their mark--and their audience.
http://www.newmedia.com/default.asp?articleID=2488
EVENTS- BAY AREA
"Legal Ins & Outs for Startups and Entrepreneurs"
Networking Event/ Educational Seminar/ Audience Round-table
You would normally pay $375 an hour to get advice from a lawyer.
Attend this event for $25 and network with fellow entrepreneurs,
enjoy food/beverages, listen to an educational seminar covering
legal issues for entrepreneurs and then participate in a round
table discussion about company formation, intellectual property
protection, non-disclosure agreements, raising venture capital...
what ever YOU want to talk about!
http://www.StartupUniversity.com/sfbay
Jacqueline Kessel, Founder of HiTech Law
Food/Beverages/Networking 7pm
Top 10 Legal Questions Presentation: 8pm
Audience Roundtable 830 - 930pm
Wednesday, February 21st
Fee: $25 Includes Food & Beverages!
http://www.StartupUniversity.com/sfbay
APROPOS OF NOTHING
because people hav a need to glue things together
http://www.thistothat.com/
I used to do a thing on the graphixgrrls list called site du jour. here a bunch of them....
pretty
http://www.webproductions.com/photo/
to me this is exquisite and amazing and exactly what the web is all about..
bizarre little human pages... the question is does it have *no* design at
all, or is it beautifully designed.
http://www.rhythm.com/~julius/
this is a extraordinary and beautiful use of the web to showcase an artist's
fine art work
http://www.photomontage.com/
beautiful tecnolicious
http://www.nike.com/idstart/
100 % dhtml. they boot anything that's not 4.x+.
Today's site du jour deserves a little time... it a collection of W.W.II letters
written to and from the designer's father while he was at war. The design in
ever way supports the story, and the little icons accompanying each letter
gives you a feeling for the writers.
http://www.private-art.com/
I posted this mini-rant in a recent gleanings.
Rant #215. Do usability testing at the beginning of a project, not just at the end. Too many redesigns break what was already working.People would rather keep using something broken they've already learned how to cope with than have to learn something completely new. In a Jupiter Consumer Survey, 44 percent of respondents indicated that they react negatively to changes in site layout, functionality, and look-and-feel, with 24 percent of total respondents exploring alternative sites as a direct result of the relaunch. Do you really want to lose 24% of your customer base? Do you?
and david responded
While I wholeheartedly agree with you about the need for testing throughout the life cycle of a project, I think your rant is a little too definitive. It could be inferred from your comments that we have only one chance to get it right with a website and that, if we blow it, that's too bad because we can't change it for fear of losing that 24%. Of course, the reality is that if we do redesign, and we do it correctly, we may lose that 24%, but gain enough new users to more than compensate for that loss. Not to mention enhancing the goodwill and strengthening the loyalty of those who choose to stay after a redesign.I have seen too many examples from projects that I have worked on where the increase in users has gone through the roof after a competent redesign. And I'm not just talking about curious users who want to see what's new. In several cases, I have seen conversion rates double and even triple. In addition to usability testing, that post-launch tracking and analysis is crucial. The company I work for has finally realized the value of being able to hold up concrete figures that say things like "we redesigned the site for Company X and their sales increased 500%".
I think that a lot of people fall into the "homo neophobe" category, even those who use the Internet.
"Change is bad! I don't like Change!" I wonder, of those 44% who bitch (and the 24% who leave) how many end up preferring the new site? Another thing to consider: what if the it's not the act of redesigning that caused the negative reaction, but the actual redesign itself? I have stopped using news.com, for example.Although that decision was based partly in the ugly-ass redesign they just did, the largest factor in that decision was the introduction of those enormous ads that take up 45% or so of the content area. I used to go to the site for the articles. Now the articles have been obscured by ads, so I'm going to get my tech news elsewhere. I would love to see a more thorough study of the effects of a site redesign.
From: Gleanings
To: vday sufferers
Subject: Gleanings: IA and me
OPENING THANG
It's a light day in glean land, as we had a party last night and I'm feeling "delicate"
but my article got published!
feel free to write me and tell me how I got it wrong.
IA MATTERS
Peterme points at
"Designing for Information Foragers: A Behavioral Model for Information Seeking on the World Wide Web".
This paper explains and elaborates a behavioral model for understanding how people look for information on the Web. The first half briefly reviews a wide range key research to provide a broader context for understanding human information seeking behavior and a starting point for further exploration. The second part proposes a model for organizing design ideas based on this research.
NEWS AND COMMENTARY
Editor & Publisher: Yes, Interactivity Really Is Good for Your Site.
Steve Outing. New research offers some rationale for making your site more
interactive. Studies of the psychological aspects of new media suggest that
empowering online users can make them trust and feel better about content as
presented in online media.
Useit.Com: From January 24, 1999; Differences Between Print Design and Web
Design
NY Times: Fighting Free Music, Europeans Take Aim at Personal Computers.
While American music producers pursue their marathon court battle against
Napster, European composers and record companies are opening an entirely
different front in the war against unauthorized copying: the personal
computers that do the actual work.
APRPOS OF NOTHING
From: Gleanings
To: Small Twisted Things
Subject: Gleanings: rants, icons and fuzzy squished kittens
OPENING THANG
Rant #215. Do usability testing at the beginning of a project, not just at the end. Too many redesigns break what was already working. People would rather keep using something broken they've already learned how to cope with than have to learn something completely new. In a Jupiter Consumer Survey, 44 percent of respondents indicated that they react negatively to changes in site layout, functionality, and look-and-feel, with 24 percent of total respondents exploring alternative sites as a direct result of the relaunch. Do you really want to lose 24% of your customer base? Do you?
The Right Time for Research: The Beginning
http://www.clickz.com/article/cz.3290.html
"Now that the rush to be on the Web is ceding to a more reasoned,
disciplined approach, 'speed to market' is being replaced by 'Is there a market?' And smart companies are finding that there is no better way to find out what their customers and prospects might need than by asking
them."
BTW, my loooong blog on Peter's ASIS&T report has generated some interesting feedback, and I've been slapping it up on the blog when people say I may. check it out.
http://www.eleganthack.com/blog/index.html
USABILITY MATTERS
Justifying user centred design: Calculating cost benefits
http://www.usability.serco.com/trump/methods/integration/costbenefits.htm
Email is very important to a lot of people and companies. However, very little usability research has been done on email, specifically email subject lines. This article is a summary of a research report written by WebWord on the topic and contains several results. The basic finding from the research is that effective email subject lines are very short, very meaningful, and personal.
http://www.webword.com/moving/subjectlines.html
You resource for desiging usable useful and acessible web sites.
http://usability.gov/index.html
DESIGN MATTERS
The new face of European signage
http://www.aaae.com/depts/publications/airmags/am5693/signage.htm
"Schiphol uses about 100 pictogram symbols to back up its written messages -- for the benefit of travelers who know neither Dutch nor English. But the symbols themselves have their limitations. 'The problem with pictograms,' the Schiphol spokesman said, 'is that they are not always standardized internationally. You have to learn them, as you have to learn any other language. ...In comparison with the U.S., Europeans have always relied heavily on symbols to get messages across. One theory is that, while the Europeans have had to meet the different linguistic needs of a variety of nations living on a relatively small continent, the U.S. has sought to use the English language as a means of assimilating immigrants."
http://swissposters.library.cmu.edu/Swiss/
Ahhh... posters! "The Swiss Poster Collection at Carnegie Mellon University is a critical selection of more than 300 works representing the Swiss Posters of the Year competition and other Swiss posters from 1971 to the present. The collection is for students, teachers, scholars, and thegeneral viewer to explore the art of the poster and its leading expression in Swiss graphic design." from xplane.com/xblog
COG-SCI MATTERS
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
http://www.connect.net/georgen/20maslow.htm
"In the late 1960s Abraham Maslow developed a hierarchical theory of human
needs. Maslow is a humanistic psychologist believing that people are not
controlled by mechanical forces (the stimuli and reinforcement forces of
behaviorism) or unconscious instinctual impulses of psychoanalysis. Maslow
focused on human potential, believing the humans strive to reach the
highest levels of their capabilities. People seek the frontiers of
creativity, and strive to reach the highest levels of consciousness and
wisdom."
NEWS & COMMENTARY
Salon: Napster: Hanging by a thread.
Napster is still alive -- but just barely. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
ruled for the recording industry on virtually every point of law at issue:
Napster users are infringing on recording industry copyrights, and a
preliminary injunction shutting down Napster is not just "warranted, but
required."
http://www.salon.com/tech/log/2001/02/12/napster/index.html
Mappa.Mundi Magazine: World Wide Wunderkammer.
In their new project, WonderWalker: A Global Online Wunderkammer, Walczak and
Wattenberg apply this old metaphor to the Internet. The results are
fascinating. WonderWalker is a visual map of icons. People create icons and
lay those icons in a place that is appropriate on the map.
http://mappa.mundi.net/reviews/wonderwalker/
Industry Standard: Just the Text, Ma'am.
So an impatient Wolff took it upon himself to do what Salon's staff couldn't
seem to: make the site quick and easy to use. In less than an hour, the
35-year-old New York Web developer wrote a program that strips out Salon's
tables, ads and graphics and leaves just the raw text.
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,22016,00.html
from tomalak.org
Newsbytes: Is B2C doomed to fail in Australia?
Retail ecommerce may never succeed in Australia because of its
geographical isolation and the limited size of the local market.
http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905356433&rel=true
APROPOS OF NOTHING
This works. it blows my mind, and makes me vaguely anxious, but it works.
http://mail2web.com/
Who has not been stricken with the expressive grace of Japanese Bonsai? Though once the sole province of Bonsai masters within Japan, Bonsai plants have been available to fortunate consumers throughout the world for some time. With this in mind, we are proud to now offer to you the animal complement of this art form; the Bonsai Kitten.
http://www.bonsaikitten.com/
SpamMotel
"Now you can stop junk e-mail, a.k.a. spam, from cluttering up your inbox. SpamMotel's unique patent-pending technology lets you know exactly where the sender got your e-mail address, and lets you block all e-mail from that sender with just a click of your mouse. It also blocks e-mail from anyone the sender gave, or more likely sold, your e-mail address to." http://www.spammotel.com/
from xplane.com/xblog
Christina,
I was surprised to see this on your weblog today:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2. "It's the content, stupid" Duh on an epic level. Why do people come to a website? Because there is something there for them. Most often that something is that mysterious thing called content. ...
The most beautiful hand-crafted raku ceramic cup in the world is useless if it leaks. ...
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I thought people were cluing in to the idea that people don't visit a site just for its content. If they did, we wouldn't need graphic designers, illustrators, interaction designers, and writers - who all give a site its particular look and editorial slant. Given all the choices, why do I read your weblog, but not eightface.com? Yours looks good. It has a personality. Even if every usability blog had the same content, presentation matters. I believe, though I don't expect everyone else to believe it, that presentation actually matters more than what you say.
Your poor leaky raku cup certainly does has a purpose; why else do you keep it? (Why else would people keep making raku cups? Raku isn't really suited for use as liquid containers.) Its purpose may not be to deliver coffee to your mouth, but it brings you pleasure in other ways, right? If you want coffee, you pick another cup. If you want beauty, nostalgia, warmth of feeling, you pick up the beautiful one.
So content isn't king, as we used to say in the 90s. It's one member of a committee, maybe: depending on the committee's purpose, it might be the chair or it might be the one they keep asking to go fetch donuts.
Best,
ken=====
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ken mohnkern http://www.geocities.com/kem/
"do what you're doing."
Request: "I was wondering if there is anyone out there looking to mentor another Information Architect. While I believe I have the basics down, regularly assume leadership responsibilities in defining the Information Architecture process & methodology at my current & past employers, and have in fact mentored junior IA's, I'm looking for someone to help me extend my expertise and focus my professional development. Because there are so few of us who focus on Information Architecture & the User Experience, I have actually been offered V-level & directorship positions. Frankly, I'm afraid. Of course I'm flattered and anxious to build my resume, but I don't want to extend too far beyond my level of proficiency."
Response: "I was in your same shoes a while ago. I was looking and looking for a mentor, but there was no one-- no one who knew more than me and who also had the time/inclination to mentor. I decided to become my own mentor. I read books, surfed the lists, gave myself goals, had lunch or breakfast with anyone and everyone I could, joined other IA's in their work, and learned from the people I was mentoring (everyone in the world can teach you something).
It sounds like to me the world is telling you you don't need a mentor. maybe it's time to take a big scary chance and step up to the plate and take that VP job. Perhaps instead of one mentor, you can create a kind of "board of advisors" of senior people you can call on for advise when things get hairy. I have one of those, it includes a couple creative directors, a few senior IA's, an engineer, a woman who owns her own company and a couple book authors on web subjects. These folks are there when I'm perplexed, or need a hand with advice/references/etc.
I think we as women are particularly susceptible to not taking risks like men do, and are often afraid to go for jobs when we aren't a perfect match for the job description. I've seen guys fake it through interviews, then madly read up on the job they went for and teach themselves on the job. Worse yet, I've seen guys fake it to get the job, and fake it through the job. I think this everytime I am faced with a challenge I'm scared of. And then I get mad, and I go for it. It's usually very hard when I take these big steps, and I get horribly stressed, I get insomnia, I cry-- and then I've done it, I figure it out and I have one more thing under my belt and I'm another rung up the ladder.
Anytime you're really scared, go for it. Every time you beat that fear, you get tougher."
From: Gleanings
To: Big Brains
Subject: Gleanings: merely academic
OPENING THANG
***Peter wrote up some of his thoughts set off by the ASIS&T conference.
http://peterme.com/asis/2001summit_intro.html
which, when I read them, got my poor little brain a popping
(see "reflection and responses")
http://www.eleganthack.com/blog/2001_02_01_pastblog.html#2319523
which set off victor
http://www.noisebetweenstations.com/personal/weblogs/
and then Andrés wrote and I posted that....
http://www.eleganthack.com/blog/2001_02_01_pastblog.html#2319523
and peter linked back to me.
busy little weekend. you can tell when it's rainy, can't you....
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE MATTERS
***User Modeling & Cognitive Analysis
Why do user/operator modeling or cognitive task analysis?
Terminology: Cognitive task analysis refers both to the process of analyzing
human performance from a cognitive point of view and the resulting product
of the analysis (e.g., a GOMS model).
http://tortie.me.uiuc.edu/IE342/2.modeling.html
***On applying Don Norman's The Seven Stages of Action
http://www.it.bton.ac.uk/staff/lp22/CS133/models.html
***Good overview of GOMS
GOMS is a family of techniques proposed by Card, Moran, and Newell (1983),
for modeling and describing human task performance. GOMS is an acronym that
stands for Goals, Operators, Methods, and Selection Rules, the components of
which are used as the building blocks for a GOMS model.
http://www.usabilityfirst.com/goms/
NEWS & COMMENTARY
***Web Informant: How to make money with an online news web site.
Robin Miller, editor-in-chief of OSDN.com. The best way to make money with an
online news site is to use a revenue model closer to those used by free
alternative newspapers than to those used by large-circulation dailies. This
is not a bad thing, since many small weekly papers produce excellent
journalism.
http://strom.com/awards/237.html
***AtNewYork: The Myths and Realities of Peer-to-Peer Networking.
Although helped by the wild popularity of consumer file-sharing programs such
as Napster and Instant Messenger, P2P has different uses in the corporate
world but is similarly ushering in social transformations of how people
communicate and build networks.
http://www.atnewyork.com/news/article/0,1471,8471_580941,00.html
IDEA CORNER
***goofy idea
http://www.realuser.com/cgi-bin/ru.exe/_/homepages/users/passface.htm
and why it may not work
http://www.choisser.com/faceblind/
variation
http://www.passlogix.com/
***and not so goofy. napster gets a little brother.
www.flycode.com
***and this guy has a ton of amazing ideas
Michael Dertouzos, director, MIT Laboratory for Computer Science. If you think the astonishing wave of change you've been living through has run its course, think again, says this digital guru.
http://www.accenture.com/xd/xd.asp?it=enWeb&xd=ideas/outlook/6.2000/dert.xml
APROPOS OF NOTHING
***Tracy sent me this link some time ago. it's pretty amazing.
http://www.360degrees.org/
***from the people who brought you CPU's with a cigarette lighter built in
http://europe.cnn.com/2001/TRAVEL/NEWS/02/06/airlines.russia.reut/index.html
Today's Media Nugget featured this:
Repo Man 1984
"Bullshit! You're a white suburban punk. Just like me."
Repo Man entered the pop-culture consciousness as a defining artifact of the Reagan '80s: a punk anthem showcasing societal alienation in America. The bastard child of Dr. Strangelove and Easy Rider, this apocalyptic treat revolves around the disaffected Otto (perhaps Emilio Estevez' finest performance), who joins a team of repo men tracking down a Chevy Malibu with mysteriously glowing cargo in its trunk. With rapier dialog, surprisingly beautiful cinematography, and a perfect-pitch soundtrack, Repo Man rewards repeated viewing.
"The more you drive, the less intelligent you are."
-- Peter Merholz
If you haven't seen it, see it. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6305971048/medianuggeofthedA/107-1728894-9266936
You also *need* the soundtrack. A prefect punk primer.
"I think there is a overall generalization that the US is ahead of other countries in regards to the Internet. It is true to some extent, but is usually gets carried over to all aspects of it. Now, granted that the US has been "at it" at a large scale longer, but most of the problems persist and countries elsewhere have been able to catch-up. Most of the IA's that I know have evolved from other fields, but I can say that I've been doing IA related work for the past 3 years or so. Hell, I followed PM and LR's book on "IA for the web" when redesigning an Intranet for a Spanish bank back in '98.I've talked quite a bit with some of my colleagues in Europe saying that "yea, ASIS&T is great, but we need something in Europe too."
Have we outgrown ASIS&T? Perhaps. I still think we have a lot to benefit from it, however, some people say the SIGIA is too "librarian-centric". I think there needs to be a more consolidated IA organization. Maybe an International IA organization with chapters all over the world."
I quite agree. I'd love to see a more international look at Web Design in general, and Information Architecture in specific. The HCI folks had their summit in Amsterdamn last year-- perhaps we should follow their lead.
Meanwhile, is it time for ISIS&T?
1. "The word "modularity" recurs in people's discussions" Peter notes. Noticed this too, and the only thing about that that surprised me was that it took so long for folks to jump on the modularity bandwagon. One of the main goals of the rational rose process is achieving modularity and reusable pieces. The rational process was sweeping the web development community, what a year and a half ago? longer? Information Architects need to get better at stealing and adapting. Software developers are frequently solving the same sort of problems we are: speedy scalable solutions to complex unique problems. While it may be true that "if you ask a engineer a question you'll get code for an answer," I think its time for us to look at their solutions and see how many can be adapted to our problems.
2. "It's the content, stupid" Duh on an epic level. Why do people come to a website? Because there is something there for them. Most often that something is that mysterious thing called content. Our jobs as IA's are to find the best way to get people to that thing they are seeking. We may get excited about adaptive architectures, bottom-up hierarchies or limited vocabularies-- but these are nothing but systems to connect point A (user) with point B (thing user wants.) It's that simple. I can't figure out why people are continually surprised that content is important.
The most beautiful hand-crafted raku ceramic cup in the world is useless if it leaks. It's an object of beauty, people may pay a large sum for it but then it sits on the shelf. A simple porcelain coffee cup will be held every day if it holds a good amount of coffee, keeps it warm, is comfortable in the hand and most importantly, deliver the coffee to the user's mouth. However, that cup is not used if there is no coffee in the house. You can make a beautiful site, you can make a highly usable site, but if there is no content there, it has no purpose.
No coffee in cup=cup is paperweight.
No content in site=site is useless.
(there are obviously exceptions for certain types of web applications)
3. "We're seeing the beginnings of a movement in the importance of developing conceptual models in design."
I remember Peter asking the CHI-WEB list about them the same time I was trying to develop one for a project I was working on at Hot. His post saved me. I agree 100% with Mr. Me's insight that they are invaluable to creating a usable system. When you have a clear idea of how you are going to express the workings of a system to the user, you know better what elements of the architecture to surface. I think a conceptual model should be a key deliverable of any architecture. Be sure to read Don Norman's post on conceptual models.
4. "Working With Clients, Not At Them" Well, I wish this was a duh. But too many agencies treat their clients as if they were misguided fools whose first coherent thought was being smart enough to hire the agency.
It ain't so.
They know the business better than you do. You can try to catch up by reading all their materials and books on the field your client works in-- but what project gives you time to do that? better to listen to your client educate you on their area of expertise. Sure, as an outsider you may come up with something they haven't thought of. You may also come up with something they have thought of, and discarded as impractical. By collaborating with the client, you can figure out which are which before you go down the long path of creating a presentation to sell something they knew wouldn't work six months ago.
Collaborating with the client insures a higher chance of your ideas gaining acceptance and getting implemented. I've heard too many agency folks say "Gosh, we created a great design for them, I wonder why it never went live." Perhaps if they had worked with their clients, they might know what worked and what didn't. At the least, they'd feel comfortable enough to call up and ask what happened...
Victor over at Noise Between Stations offers some advice on how to collaborate with clients effectively.
Trends Peter Missed
1. It's a Small World. IA is not only no longer a Californian profession, it is no longer an American profession. We were graced with European representatives at the conference, and I've been lucky enough to get emails from IAs in France, Italy, Spain and Germany. Perhaps it's time for an international professional organization? Or at least a conference abroad, to bring together our fellows?
2. Open Source IA. More and more IAs are clamoring to see each other's diagrams and deliverables. What I find interesting is that we can finally see some examples of documentation online-- because the market has gone sour and IA's have to put their portfolios online. Well, wrong reasons, right results.
There is also a growing frustration in the multiplicity of terms for the same things. How long can we keep calling our page architectures wireframes and schematics and page requirements? Until we can talk to each other, this profession can't go anywhere. Please read the glossary and unless you simply cannot stand a term, adopt it.
3. IA is getting into bed with HCI. Keith Instone's joining Argus and the influx of IA's onto the CHI-WEB list were the early signs. User-centered design has become such a byword in our profession Peter Morville referred to it as jargon in his talk. Companies from Inverse Ratio to Carbon IQ are so convinced of the connection they specialize in it (disclosure moment: I am part of CIQ.) Jared Spool, usability guru, was the keynote speaker at the ASIS&T conference. It's all coming together.
4. IAs want out of their little box. Andrea Gallagher gave a talk on connected devices, pointing out the need for information architecture in varied devices from cell phones to exercise machines. I heard more than one voice expressing the desire to attack product design, from chairs to airplane interiors. One IA waxed rhapsodical over voicemail systems and longed to design call centers. More and more IAs are working on software, wireless and wayfinding systems. The web is a nice big sandbox, but I think most IA's will only be satisfied with the whole Sahara.
5. We are tired of talking about what an Information Architect is. We aren't tired of talking about what an Information Architect does. Andrew Dillon and Andrea Gallagher both admitted they are no longer concerned where to draw the line between IA, interaction design, information design and the like. That they used to worry over the definition of the role, and now those concerns have vanished. I guess we are IAs and we know IA when we see it. Nice to see we are getting over our adolescent identity crises.
From: Gleanings
To: Damp Ones
Subject: Gleanings: anyone got an umbrella?
OPENING THANG
short one today. it's moving day for Carbon IQ, and I gotta go schlep boxes in the rain....
http://www.carboniq.com/space/new_space/space_collage.jpg
***Get well rounded
http://www.computerhistory.org/
NEWS
***Wired News: Follow Your E-Mail Everywhere.
Both scenarios are possible, thanks to services that track when and where
e-mail messages are read without the recipient's knowledge. The technology has
long been used by online marketers to determine who reads their spam; now it's
available to consumers as well.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,41686,00.html
***InfoWorld: The next generation of Web site interfaces.
Q&A with Nick Gould, CEO of Catalyst Design Group. As the medium matures,
you're going to have fewer sites serving more people, as well as serving more
user groups, and [the sites are] going to need to learn how to more
effectively target their product offering to those groups based on what [the
customers] really want and need.
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/01/02/02/010202hngould.xml
from tomalak.org
***A hole in macy's balloon: When Macy's issued online coupons last
month, the company gave away more than it bargained for. When
customers started broadcasting that errors in the system would allow
people to combine offers, Macy's was stuck selling merchandise for as
much as 50 percent off. While its faulty coupon system is to blame for
the problems, customers discovered that orders made with
"unauthorized" coupons would not filled. Other major online retailers
have experienced similar problems recently, complications that should
result in a more careful review of online coupons as a viable
marketing tactic.
http://www.dmnews.com/articles/2001-01-22/12808.html
MARKETING MATTERS
***Poorer media? Although the arguments behind the wider adoption of rich
media ads are well known - better experience for the user, more
revenue for the industry, greater creative flexibility - barriers
still remain. The lack of industry standards for rich-media placements
means that each campaign must be created anew, complete with ramp up
costs and people hours. And while the brand experience available
through rich-media ads is arguably superior, the CPM for rich-media
impressions can be more than twice that of traditional banners. An
alliance headed by Macromedia looks to solve some of these problems.
http://adage.com/interactive/articles/20010205/article1.html
***Spamford and Sons: So-called Spam King Sanford Wallace is at it again.
The dethroned king of unsolicited e-mail and former president of spa
firm Cyber Promotions has found a new way to force his clients' wares
upon irritated users. Borrowing a page from the Internet porn
industry, Wallace has created two sites that launch as many as three
new browser windows when users try to exit - forcing his message upon
users again and again. While such questionable marketing tactics are
nothing new from Spamford, they may find wider acceptance as more
mainstream sites become increasingly desperate for users.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-201-4687442-0.html?tag=tp_pr
http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2001feb/gee20010205004153.htm
from thestandard.com
APROPOS OF NOTHING
***please help
***don't you wish *your* CPU had a cigarette lighter (see photos)
http://www.atrus.ru/mpl/face?id=1462
***happy machine
................................................................
Sick of me? Go to www.eleganthack.com and unsubscribe.
Can't get enough of me? Go there and read my 'blog.
Talk to me: gleanings-comments@eleganthack.com.
Hire: http://www.carboniq.com
From: Gleanigns
To: bloggers
Subject: Gleanings: from pyra to email wiretaps...
OPENING THANG
I'm still facinated by the blogger and pyra adventure.
http://www.haughey.com/pyra.html
"Thousands of young and old alike, beginner and expert started using their website to communicate their voice, build a brand, feed an ego, and spread their ideas through weblogs. At the center of it all, was Blogger.com, and it showed no signs of stopping.
But backstage, things were falling apart..." from matt haughey.
Loving his new site design, btw
http://a.wholelottanothing.org/
but then, anyone who quotes Tibor is okay with me. Wish I had time to redesign eleganthack.com. or at least the front page. sigh.
IA MATTERS
Designing a normalized database structure is the first step when building a database that is meant to last. Normalization is a simple, commonsense, process that leads to flexible, efficient, maintainable database structures. We'll examine the major principles and objectives of normalization and denormalization, then take a look at some powerful optimization techniques that can break the rules of normalization.
Normalization Is a Nice Theory
http://www.4dcompanion.com/downloads/papers/normalization.html
as a 732K PDF:
http://www.4dcompanion.com/downloads/papers/normalization.pdf
USABILITY MATTERS
Q&A: Vanessa Donnelly (Part II)
We caught up with IBM's usability guru Vanessa Donnelly. In Part 2 of an
interview, we talked about the availability of online usability courses.
She also gives her Top 10 list of usability do's and don'ts.
http://www.newmedia.com/default.asp?articleID=2474
NEWS & COMMENTARY
First Monday: Content is Not King.
Andrew Odlyzko. For the wired Internet, the secondary role of content will
likely mean that the dangers of balkanization are smaller than is often
feared. Further, symmetrical links to the house are likely to be in greater
demand than is usually realized.
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue6_2/odlyzko/
SJ Mercury: Big business and government stretch the boundaries of privacy yet
again.
Dan Gillmor. Trusting businesses to protect privacy is always a risk, because
personal data is a valuable commodity. That's why I'm hesitant to take at face
value a new Amazon service that looks quite useful -- and which, at least for
now, is sensitive to privacy concerns...
http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/columns/gillmor/docs/dg020701.htm
Forbes: Linking Like Minds.
There is no shortage of people willing to freely give their time to their
favorite sites, and certainly, companies are quick to reap the benefits.
Mindful of the legal pitfalls, executives are hiring consultants to show them
new ways to involve volunteers online without incurring liability.
http://www.forbes.com/asap/2001/0219/078.html
all from tomalak.org. read more news there....
MARKETING MATTERS
Unleashing The Ideavirus, by Seth Godin
free download
http://www.ideavirus.com
review:
http://www.personalization.com/soapbox/columns/norlin-1.asp
Coming Clean on "Real-Time" Marketing
Real-time optimization, real-time tracking and real-time trafficking need
to be key elements of your online marketing campaigns. Monitoring and
fine-tuning campaigns in real-time is the key to improving click rates,
conversion rates, cost per acquisition and sales. And when we say
"real-time", we mean real-time--not taking days, weeks or months.
http://www.newmedia.com/default.asp?articleID=2476
APROPOS OF NOTHING
"you can have my aeron when you pry it off my cold dead ass."
http://www.fuckedcompany.com/merch/
bible action figures
HTTP://www.jesuschristsuperstore.net/Action%20figures/Action%20figures.html
A FRIEND WRITES
passed on from muffy
WASHINGTON (AP) - Imagine a large corporation wants to acquire a
small Web company. The corporation sends an e-mail with a price
proposal to the target - and includes a few lines of invisible
computer code. As the target's executives pass the message around,
the corporation gets a copy each time it's forwarded - with all the
supposedly private comments attached. On Monday, a privacy group
started demonstrating this new method to listen in on e-mail that
works on the most popular programs. Called an e-mail wiretap, it
could be used to note off-color remarks from governmental officials,
by a spamming company to gather e-mail addresses, or by a boss to
find out what you're saying about him. "You really would never know
that this is occurring, unless you could view the source code and
know what it meant," said Stephen Keating, executive director of the
Privacy Foundation. The foundation, associated with the University
of Denver, and its chief technology officer Richard Smith, found out
about the situation from computer engineer Carl Voth, who discovered
it in 1998. Though Voth posted an explanation on his Web site, he
kept quiet about it otherwise until contacting the Privacy
Foundation recently. Smith said e-mail wiretaps may become even more
common than viruses
From: Gleanings
To: clickyclicky
Subject: Gleanings: linkylinky
OPENING THANG
off to user testing, no time for chit chat. enjoy your links!
(a bunch are from the ever-delightful xplane.com/xblog)
USABILITY MATTERS
Empowering users through user-centered web design
"In theory, the web is the ultimate user-empowering environment. In
practice, the very opposite is often the case. Many web sites fail to
empower users and in fact frustrate and confuse them because although they
offer the promise of information, services or goods at the mere click of a
mouse button, they are difficult for people to use. Problems associated
with the use of web interfaces are too often wrongly attributed to user
incompetence, when in fact it is poor design that is to blame."
Computerworld: The Interface Revolutionary.
Q&A with Jef Raskin. It's a human issue. I have yet to meet a computer user
who is happy with the way computers treat them. And most of their pain is
caused by bad interface design. That includes overcomplex software,
nonexistent manuals and help systems that themselves need help.
http://www.computerworld.com/cwi/story/0,1199,NAV47_STO57255,00.html
group usability testing
http://www.cs.hut.fi/~sri/Riihiaho_thesis.pdf
DESIGN MATTERS
"With the increase of usage of the Internet many questions have been
proposed and many suggestions offered on how to design a webpage for
optimal readability. Unfortunately, the majority of "guidelines" or
"rules" for designing webpages have proven to be subjective and
inconsistent. "
IA MATTERS
Looking for Metadata in All the Wrong Places
"Andy King, editor of this fine newsletter, contacted me [Louis Rosenfeld]
recently with what he thought was a reasonable question. Knowing me as an
information architect with librarian roots, he wondered if I could help
him find a basic vocabulary of Internet and technology-related terms. He
was hoping to use these terms to better organize and label WebReference's
content. Andy had looked at both Library of Congress and Dewey Decimal
subject headings (remember them from your library's card catalogs?) and
found them wanting for his purposes. So he asked me if I could recommend a
quick-and-dirty alternative. What happens when you ask an information
architect a simple question? You get a long and complicated answer."
ADVERTISING MATTERS
Sanford Wallace, once the "spam king" of the 'Net, is now backing an
advertising service which spawns windows when uses attempt to exit affected
sites:
Kathleen Anderson wants pop-up advertisements gone from the Net.
As chair of a Connecticut government committee, Anderson is charged with
ensuring state-run Web sites become accessible to people with disabilities.
She reviles the use of pop-up ads on mainstream Web sites such as AOL.com
and Netscape because the disruptive ads--which appear on Web pages
spontaneously--often confuse a blind person, for example, who relies on a
screen reader to hear content rather than see it on Web sites.... "Web
masters can find other ways of getting their message across, the advertising
or marketing, rather than taking control of your desktop, which is what they
do," she said.
NEWS
Adweek: The Peacock Portal.
But is that enough to keep them coming back? Neither his critics nor analysts
are convinced that his portal is a peacock and not a turkey. For all its
changes, NBCi's biggest battles are still ahead of it. Its image, its revenue
stream, even its relevance are still in question.
http://www.adweek.com/iqinteractive/012901iq_01.asp
Internet World: Deconstructing NBCi.com.
Peter Merholz and Jennifer Fleming. Fox focuses on its prime-time programs.
Warner Brothers serves up entertainment. How can NBC differentiate itself in
this crowd of network players? The plain-vanilla portal available at NBCi.com
is not likely to be the winning strategy.
http://www.internetworld.com/020101/02.01.01decon.jsp
APROPOS OF NOTHING
recipes: information architectecture in it's most practical application.
Chai-Spiced Creme Caramels with Raspberries and Pistachio Phyllo Crisps, Gourmet
http://food.epicurious.com/ego/pistachiocrisps
Coffee Dacquoise Hearts, Gourmet
http://food.epicurious.com/ego/dacquoisehearts
Honeyed Panna Cotta with Dried Figs and Sauternes, Bon Appetit
http://food.epicurious.com/ego/pannacotta
Individual Chocolate and Peanut Butter Bundt Cakes, Gourmet
http://food.epicurious.com/ego/bundtcakes
From: Gleanings
To: pop-up readers
Subject: Gleanings: marketing and me
OPENING THANG
***Well, ask for a rebuttal, and ye shall receive. Adam GreeNfeild writes
"Reasons why Lovemarks is *not* insanely silly:
1. Don't you see? Kevin is - I doubt he'd use this term, but - talking about
branding from a user-centered perspective! Get meta with me here! He's in
effect asking the whole marketing world the same sorts of questions
responsible interface designers have always asked each other.
What does this brand do for the user? Why would someone choose your
product over Brand X? How is this intense sense of loyalty evoked? Which
leads me to my second reason...
2. Brands very rarely get to be "lovemarks" without a superior product.
(We'll see, for example, if Apple is able to retain this status post-OS X.)
I should clarify what I mean by "superior": a product that so speaks to the
intangible needs of its user base that usability is in effect irrelevant.
How many times in the history of VW Beetles has one broken down, been
cursed for its utter inability to accelerate to highway speeds, been
stiflingly hot or bonechillingly freezing? And you *try* to find me a more
loyal user community! Hell, they're so loyal they managed to talk VW into
considering a reintroduction of the product, and look what the bottom-line
and visibility results have been.
Answering the question of how a brand becomes a lovemark has a lot to do
with understanding what the user's real needs from a product are, rather
than what they say their needs are. If people by and large did IA as well as
a few brilliant (lucky?) designers and marketers did their job, our
prospects wouldn't be nearly as rosy.
OK, that's my thinking on the subject. As someone I know once said,
dissenting opinions are, as always, welcome..."
I do love a well thought out rebuttal!
I will say that if their language wasn't so overblown I might have found the ideas more digestible. Is it time to point at cluetrain again? http://www.cluetrain.com/
Anyhow, decide for yourself.
***more on the brand theme
Got Brand?
You know you need it. You know it's gotta be strong. You kind of have an
idea of what it should be, but it's a fairly fuzzy notion. So what is it?
It's you -- what you do and who you are. It's just that simple -- and just
that nebulous.
http://clickz.com/article/cz.3254.html
USABILITY MATTERS
***Useit.Com: Are Users Stupid?
Summary:
Opponents of the usability movement claim that it focuses on stupid users and that most users can easily overcome complexity. In reality, even smart users prefer pursuing their own goals to navigating idiosyncratic designs. As Web use grows, the price of ignoring usability will only increase.
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20010204.html
***Fairfax IT: From February 15, 2000; The myth of the stupid users
http://www.it.fairfax.com.au/software/20000215/A17561-2000Feb14.html
from tomalak.org
***Top 10 Reasons Why the Apple Dock Sucks
http://www.asktog.com/columns/044top10docksucks.html
Apple has replaced user-centered design with ego-centered design in its new OS X. Continuing protest over their amateurish meddlings have forced them to change some things, but the centerpiece of their "hot demo" of an operating system, the Dock, remains.
ADVERTISING MATTERS
***Upside: Will super-sized ads protect CNET from slowdown?
When Jai Singh, editor in chief of CNET's News.com site, showed his reporters
a prototype of the new oversized ad format he was introducing, they were more
than a little shocked. "Their reaction was like anyone else's reaction: 'God,
this is pretty big,'" said Singh.
http://www.upside.com/texis/mvm/digitalMedia/story?id=3a7b489a5
***Adweek: CNET Combats Banner Blight With New Ad Units.
After months of research and creative work, San Francisco-based CNET Networks
today introduced three new online ad units designed to change the way
marketers and users approach Internet advertising. Several blue-chip
advertisers have already signed on for the ad program...
http://www.adweek.com/iqinteractive/020501iq_02.asp
***Online Advertising Steps Aside for Digital Marketing
As companies begin to see Internet advertising and promotions as part of
the bigger marketing picture, traditional US firms will spend $63 billion
annually on so-called "digital marketing," according to a report by
Forrester Research.
http://www.newmedia.com/default.asp?articleID=2463
***Online Ads End Year on a High Note
December of 2000 was the best month to date for Internet advertising in
terms of the number of impressions, according to AdRelevance. Meanwhile,
marketing budgets got a vote of confidence from a Getzler & Co. study that
said profitability is more easily found by cutting operating expenses, not
marketing costs.
http://www.newmedia.com/default.asp?articleID=2470
***To Pop or Not?
Pop-up windows--when used sparingly-- can fulfill a number of needs, both
for the customer and the Web site owner.
http://www.newmedia.com/default.asp?articleID=2466
ha!
APROPOS OF NOTHING
***found on the lists
"A friend of mine observes that this picture
http://www.apple.com/hardware/images/hardwarephoto201082001.jpg
simply needs a Philishave logo on it, and people would be convinced
it's an electric razor."
From: Gleanings
To: viewers
Subject: Gleanings: caught a big one this morning.
OPENING THANG
***Be sure to visit http://www.jath.com today, and see what my partner Noel does when he's not at Carbon IQ. Noel's sequence will only be up today, but I'll squirrel it away somewhere to embarrass him with later, I'm sure.
***Yes, the conference was terrific. Adam wrote a good "pre" conference essay
http://www.v-2.org/practicingIA.html
I'm working on getting some post-thoughts down in the blog
http://eleganthack.com/blog/index.html Check it out!
***Finally, I view this as PROOF YOU CAN SELL MARKETING ANYTHING
http://lovemarks.com/
"A Lovemark is a challenge that will be taken up by many and achieved by few. It may be a great experience, a person, a product, a stunning event or a profound belief. It is a state of grace that emerges from a
commitment to mystery, sensuality and love. It irrevocably binds you with the desires and aspirations of your customers, your members, your
believers. It's the emotional connection that lets you go out and conquer the world."
Who's been sniffing the whiteboard markers?
Of course, feel free to disagree: christinayrsowrong@eleganthack.com
(thanks, xplane.com/xblog for the pointer)
DESIGN MATTERS
***Mike Monteiro put up his design book list. TASTE-E
http://www.biggerhand.com/designbooks.html
***undesign: A Plan for All Seasons.
Unfortunately, the potential of the Web as it stands right now is being sorely underutilized, not just by the current scapegoat, dot-coms, but by creatives and designers as well. The opportunities to help realize its full potential, and in the process raising the bar on our personal work...
http://www.undesign.org/
***watching logo trends
http://www.haughey.com/?2000_12_01_archive.html#1677511
http://www.splorp.com/blog/archive/2000_12_01_archive.html#1706266
***I'll nestle this link between usability matters and design matters, as Zeldman brings the two together in his article
http://www.adobe.com/web/columns/zeldman/20000821/main.html
USABILITY MATTERS
***Guideline dogma
http://www.system-concepts.com/articles/smartypants.html
"Nobody would deny that usability guidelines, applied in context by a
usability professional, are extremely valuable in guiding a website
evaluation. The problem occurs when non-professionals apply these
guidelines out of context. This can result in an unimaginative site that
looks bland and homogenous. To design usable sites that truly engage
customers we need to replace simple guidelines with a customer-centred
design process."
***Rolf Molich's Comparative Usability Evaluation (CUE) research.
In Rolf's study 9 usability evaluation teams [7 industry & 2 grad student
teams] found over 300 problems all testing hotmail.com, and there was very
little overlap
http://www.dialogdesign.dk/cue.html
***Don't Make Me Think! A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
http://argus-acia.com/content/current_content.html
Chris Farnum explains why you should buy this Web Usability book for your boss.
I haven't read it yet, but it's lying around here. I'll let you know when I do.
***What does Transcendental Mediation, Iowa and Usability have in common?
http://www.humanfactors.com/home/default.asp
http://www.mum.edu/hcid/
http://www.acm.org/sigchi/education/#PROGRAMS
NEWS
***quote from Mike Kuniavsky (usability cowboy of the early hotwired team)
"these ads are bigger than my head!"
Business 2.0: CNET Bans the Banner.
It may look like a traditional newspaper layout, with advertisements as the
major visual element. But the new look of News.com is anything but traditional
when it comes to the Web. News.com unveiled its new design and new ad strategy
last week, after six months of planning, feedback, and retooling.
http://www.business2.com/content/channels/marketing/2001/02/01/25674
***Darwin: Final Frontiers.
First, can we declare the Web frontier settled and secured in 2001? And
second, how can companies balance their sensible desire to integrate the Web
group with the rest of the company, giving it concrete goals and holding it
accountable, with the need to encourage continuous innovation?
http://www.darwinmag.com/read/020101/ecosys.html
APROPOS OF NOTHING
I just bought this. Let me know if you like it.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000C2MI/medianuggeofthedA/105-3556296-4501507
Manu Chao
Clandestino
1998
Manu Chao blends pop and folk music from Latin America, Africa, Europe, and the Caribbean into a rich travelogue of rhythm, politics, and found sound. Just as he did in his former band (Mano Negra), Chao sings here in Spanish, French, and English. Whereas Mano Negra's musical and cultural diversity couldn't conceal the roaring beat of its punk heart, the acoustic-based Clandestino is a more restrained affair. It is, however, no less engaging.
from http://www.medianugget.com/
Erik, IA at music bank, came up and said "I've found my tribe."
Apart from the general good feelings of a community get together, I will say this conference is different from the Boston conference a year ago. There is a general attitude of "let's quit fucking around here." They could have titled this "pragmatic information architecture" rather than "practicing information architecture" I think the market climate has given people an certain impatience with the theoretical and a desire to get down to brass tacks: how do you actually accomplish what you do, how do you help your client understand their business model, how do you work more quickly and effectively? What do deliverables look like, what do we call them? How do we sell IA? It's time to stop navel gazing, and get on with things.
Saturday night I facilitated for Jesse James Garrett's talk on "what do you do all day," a group discussion on our roles and responsibilities. It was educational. Even though our core responsibilities are pretty alike (site organization, content architecture and interaction design) our outlying skills were many: information design, project management, coding prototypes, user testing-- and sadly many of these things were being done by IA's because "otherwise they won't get done" or "I understand what has to be done better than anyone else so I do it." I don't have to say it do I? These are the wrong reasons, people. This is why we end up working 12 hour days. We are control freaks. We need to cut it out.
Jesse said it best "The less you do, the better you'll do it."
more to come.... I'm tired!
Was flipping throughThe Art & Science of Web Design again, and a couple things hit me. One: Jeff is so very right about things that I hold deeply true and have never been successful in convincing folks I work with, including the superiority of liquid design, the inevitability that pages will never look how you designed them, that speed is paramount and pages should be designed to load gradually and that text should be in html, pictures in graphics. Now I am just praying this becomes everyone's bible, and these debates I still have will stop happening.
Two. Jeff Veen is the last of the webmasters. The webmaster was the guy back in the beginning of the web who knew a little about everything and could put out a site site from design to writing of the copy to html and graphics crunching. Then the webmaster lost writing and design, then engineering took over the coding (which ended up being so much more than html) and pretty soon the webmaster had dissolved into other jobs. In many ways this is a good thing. The great loss is there is no person who really holds all these pieces in his/her head. Producers and information architects are two "generalists" who have stepped up into aspects of this role, though neither of them holds the geeky piece that no one seems to properly value. How can you create without understanding the nature of your medium? Jeff's book shows the value of understanding the big picture.
now in french, suitable for framing. ooh la la
From: Gleanings
To: blogites
Subject: Gleanings: blogtastic
OPENING THANG
Kevin writes
"And I still haven't a clue what the hell blog is or was--other than some
strange word you use in your Gleanings that I never hear anywhere else."
A blog is a web log-- a daily essay/journal, short or long kept online. Peter Merholz coined the term, and Peterme.com is still one of hte better known ones. The view some best blogs, check out the bloggies nomination page
http://www.fairvue.com/?feature=awards2001
Blogger is a terrific website that provide the service to make blogging easier. Even though I can handcode html without blinking, blogger is what allowed me to keep my journal of IA http://eleganthack.com/blog/index.html going on a regular basis painlessly. Mike's blog, http://www.biggerhand.com points out a way to keep blogger alive and healthy.
USABILITY MATTERS
*Rolf Molich's Comparative Usability Evaluation (CUE) research.
In Rolf's study 9 usability evaluation teams [7 industry & 2 grad student
teams] found over 300 problems all testing hotmail.com, and there was very
little overlap
http://www.dialogdesign.dk/cue.html
DESIGN MATTERS
watching logo trends
http://www.haughey.com/?2000_12_01_archive.html#1677511
http://www.splorp.com/blog/archive/2000_12_01_archive.html#1706266
NEWS
Forbes: A Net Uncertain.
This week, the world's leading figures in technology, business and politics
are meeting at the Davos conference in Davos, Switzerland to discuss the
future of the Internet. One question: How the hell would they know?
http://www.forbes.com/2001/02/01/0201malone.html
Discover: A Love Song For Napster.
Jaron Lanier. Whatever happens, the legal decisions surrounding Napster are
important for reasons that transcend the music business and extend to our
basic concepts of what it means to be free in a democracy. I believe the
anti-Napster forces have failed to foresee dangerous implications of their
course of action.
http://www.discover.com/feb_01/gthere.html?article=featnapster.html
more news on http://www.tomalak.org
You're fired. Now shut up.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-4688511.html
Amazon Backpedals on Trash-Talking Clause
APROPOS OF NOTHING
The original cartoon lampooning last year's infamous battle between Napster and Metallica
http://www.ifilm.com/ifilm/skeletons/film_detail/0,1263,845666,00.html
another time waster
religion test.
http://www.selectsmart.com/RELIGION/
It was bought for me on my birthday from amazon.com by the ever lovely peter merholz. Get on the ball guys, collaborative filtering doesn't work unless your systems are collaborating. At least they've stopped trying to sell me The Design of Everyday Things after I rated it five times.
amihotornot.com is a bizarre phenomon. once you start clicking, you can't stop.
