Last night my sister, a friend and I went to a club in the tenderloin. The friend drove, and we parked on 6th, across from tu lan-- a heavily trafficked street. Heavily trafficked by drug addicts, street people and society's underprivileged. We came out two hours later to find the window broken into. They'd hurriedly gotten into the trunk, grabbing my sister and her friend's two bags.
I didn't carry a bag, and my jacket was untouched, but my sister had been apartment hunting lately, and almost everything she valued, including many artifacts of her identity, was in her bag. She spent 2-3 a.m. last night and 8 a.m. this morning trying to protect her identity, as well as canceling cards, disabling her phone, freezing her checks etc. She's an office manager for an university, underpaid and will be unable to replace her birthday/christmas gift, or the fruits of her tax refund. She lives a precarious life, making enough to live and a little bit more. Which means when something bad happens, there isn't much to do except cry a bit and move on. It's frustrating, to work hard and finally get ahead, and then just have it gone.
I've been robbed twice, and the worst thing is the personal items the thieves will discard-- they mean nothing to the thieves and everything to you and it's still taken away. In seattle my bag was stolen from my sister's van, and my sister and I walked down the nearby alleys to see if we could find anything. We were lucky-- we found my sketchbook, a trail of origami paper, the novel I was reading and other personal items scattered every few feet as if the theif had been emptying the bag as s/he ran. In Europe I wasn't as lucky. My bag was stolen and the item I still mourn was a sketchbook with about 30 drawings of Paris in it. I'm sure it ended up sitting in a trash can somewhere in Avignon.
Another friend told me a story about how she was in the lower haight, some years ago, and was jacked by three girl drug addicts. She was beaten with one of those sticks that are used to hold up sapling trees. This particular stick had a couple nails that ripped up her skin. She told me she would fall, and then get up and didn't know why she kept getting up, because the girls would beat her again. Her mind had stopped working. When she told me this story, as we drove through the now-gentrified lower haight I had a chill-- how easily she could have died, how easily I could have been cheated out of meeting one of the dearest people in my life.
San Francisco has always been startlingly beautiful and now it is so cleaned up and gentrified I think we've started considering it our personal Disneyland. Safe and clean and full of adult games, like "live in the heart of the mission" or "clubbing in dangerland". My sister and I started to walk down an alley to see if the thieves had thrown her bag in a trashbin or a corner, and we did see a pile of discarded purses (though not hers.) Then I looked up, saw several men in black parkas, and encouraged my sister to quickly return to the main street where we hailed a cop.
When I got home -- after my sister talked to several remarkably unhelpful institutions -- I called my husband. I just wanted to hear his voice, hear him tell me about his ordinary day at his Dijon university. In five days I'll know if he can come here for good, if the INS will allow us to finally live in one country as man and wife. At that moment I felt a strong urge to just see that he still existed. I was checking to see if my valuables were safe.
Why I am telling you this, why am connecting these events? I guess I'm warning you to remember that this world we live in is always dangerous, is never a themepark. Know what matters to you. Keep your valuables close at hand.
What is most precious to you?
On peterme.com, Peter contemplates evil VC and Evil Jargon.
Let's play a little game: match the jargon to the company.
Richard I. Anderson -- Addressing Obstacles to User-Centered Design
"Why do many organizations resist or use poor excuses for user-centered design methodologies (while sometimes claiming to be user-centered)? "
She's loking for poor unemployed dot-commas who will do anything to make their next SUV payment.
Pose Nude with my Sock Monkeys
Usability Analysis of Useit.com
This report is an analysis of factors affecting usability for the UseIt.com, a web usability site authored by Jakob Nielsen, renowned web usability curmudgeon.
The Arion Press Catalogue:"The Physiology of Taste"
A book on food, written by the king of explaining, translated by the queen of the lucious desctiption, illustrated by Wayne Theibaud! My hero! Sigh..... I'm starting a penny jar now.
I own a beaten-up paperback of Physiology of Taste, it will have to do for now.
Stalk Your User (Web Techniques, June 2001)
"After all, sitting down with users and watching them try to accomplish tasks with the product can be incredibly valuable. However, usability testing assumes that there's something to test%u2014either a prototype or final version of a product that's on the path to being launched. But how do you know what to build in the first place?
Architecture Week 2001 Official Site
Architecture Week brings architects, writers, dancers, filmmakers and others together for a nationwide celebration of contemporary architecture. You have the opportunity to get involved with events which include building previews and tours, lectures, exhibitions and installations.
from 1964's First Things First Manifesto
"Many of us have grown increasingly uncomfortable with this view of design. Designers who devote their efforts primarily to advertising, marketing and brand development are supporting, and implicitly endorsing, a mental environment so saturated with commercial messages that it is changing the very way citizen consumers speak, think, feel, respond and interact. To some extent we are all helping draft a reductive and immeasurably harmful code of public discourse."
That a set of individuals-- any individuals-- owned up to being partially to blame for creating a world in which we are "citizen-consumers" makes me tingle with excitement... responsibility! Ownership! Willingess to clean up after your own mess!
but I am sad to read the addendum, created when the manifesto-- worthy manifesto-- was signed by recent designers...
"22 visual communicators signed the original call for our skills to be put to worthwhile use."
"Put our skills to worthwhile use"? What are you waiting for? Put your own goddamn skills to worthwhile use. Control your fate. Make a difference, don't make a difference, make your own trouble... too good for advertising? Make advertising better. Too good for product design? Make the products better.
Make the world better one toothbrush at a time.
(no, I am not kidding)
in other news
I can't remember the last time the news moved me to tears. A blog has never moved me to tears. But Mike's recent blog entry on a news article-- a news article I might have read and just shrugged at, helpless again at the horror of the world-- Mike allowed me to feel the horror of the news and cry. Maybe that is the job of art sometimes, to make us feel again.
I wasn't going to glean today; I've got so much work to do BUT the universe has sent me some interesting stuff, so I share with you!
I'm mad about Ada, btw...
Ada Lovelace, Countess of Controversy
"Augusta Ada Byron King, Countess of Lovelace, is something of a giant in the world of technology. The daughter of celebrated poet Lord Byron, Lovelace was a Victorian society hostess, the mother of three, and a mathematician widely credited as being the world's first computer programmer."
Was Ada Really the First Programmer?
"In the notes, which ended up being three times longer than the original Menabrea paper, Ada outlined how the Analytical Engine might have worked had it ever been built. She explained how the Bernoulli numbers, a complex numerical system first described by 18th century Swiss mathematician Jakob Bernoulli, might be broken down into simple formulas that could be coded as instructions for the machine. Perhaps more importantly, her poetic prowess endowed Babbage's dry technical details with grandeur. "
I've been reading the book on her, "The Bride of Science: Romance, Reason, and Byron's Daughter" and highly recommend it.
Blurb Gallery (via webword.com)
"Surveying the variety of ways we display introductions to longer articles...
I keep finding myself working on sites that have news or portal-like layouts, and each time I start from scratch thinking about how to display the headlines and summaries. No more, I started this gallery to capture the many ways it's done, and perhaps I'll eventually map these to the audience and business goals."
Designing Help Text (also via webword.com)
"Some users will have difficulty no matter how effectively and thoughtfully an interface is built. Others will need assistance whilst learning how to use a complex and extensive application that contains a number of features.
Given that help text might be required, how is it best implemented? As mentioned above, it is preferable to include as much assistance as possible permanently on-screen. " I so agree to this. An ounce of "tip" is worth a pound of "support documentation"
The Open Directory Project has a robust IA section
Grow Your Site, Keep Your Users Computerworld News & Features Story
sites of eBay's size and growth rate always have special usability concerns
dot-dot-dot, graphic design - visual culture magazine
Gray's Anatomy online!! Now that is fodder for art and design....
Gray, Henry. 1918. Anatomy of the Human Body
2001.DESIGNERSITE.CHKLST.
tee hee
The New Yorker Shouts and Murmurs
"The sound bite, that form of speech we encounter in the media every day, seems a unique contribution of our technological age."
I went with BearShare, and have been very happy.
SF apartment ads. What scares me is that the second didn't seem like a parody.
I've decided to start collecting definations of IA. Feel free to add any you come across or heck, make one up!
From Addwise
"Information Architecture (IA) is the process of organizing and presenting data to the user in a meaningful, clear and intuitive manner. IA is the foundation of all great websites. All other design aspects - form, function, metaphor, navigation, interface, interaction, visual, and information systems - build upon the groundwork of information architecture. Initiating the IA process is the first thing you should do when designing a website."
webworld's interview with lou
"Information architecture involves the design of organization and navigation systems to help people find and manage information more successfully." "
Lou again, on O'reilly
Information architecture involves the design of organization, labeling, navigation, and searching systems to help people find and manage information more successfully.Organization systems are the ways content can be grouped. Labeling systems are essentially what you call those content groups. Navigation systems, like navigation bars and site maps, help you move around and browse through the content. Searching systems help you formulate queries that can be matched with relevant documents.
Jesse James Garrett in his "Elements of user Experience" says
Information Architecture: Stuctural design of the informaiton space to facilitate intuive access to content.
Stephen Downes gives a philosophical definition
Well - what is an information architect?
From my own experience, I would say that the practitioners are professionals, versed in every aspect of web design, adept communicators, and gifted visualizers - they are people who eat, sleep and dream web design and structure. But you can't put that on the job description.
Or - as I Sing the Body Electronic author Fred Moody observes: information architects are the sort of people who understand that the instructions on the shampoo bottle are just wrong: "Lather. Rinse. Repeat."
Squishy says
Information architecture is the science of figuring out what you want your site to do and then constructing a blueprint before you dive in and put the thing together.
Shel Kimen says
"What is information architecture?At its most basic, information architecture is the construction of a structure or the organization of information. In a library, for example, information architecture is a combination of the catalog system and the physical design of the building that holds the books. On the Web, information architecture is a combination of organizing a site's content into categories and creating an interface to support those categories. It stems from traditional architecture, which is made up of architectural programming and architectural planning. "
Somebody explained what an IA does to her mom like this
"You know when you're on a website and you see a bunch of navigation choices to click on? I'm the one who decided what the choices are, what they are called and where they take you when you click"thank god she added
Much like our real world namesakes, we design spaces for human beings to live work and play in. The big difference is the materials we work with: cement is replaced with thesauri, timber with hierarchies and steel with interaction flows.
information architecture - a whatis definition is based on technical writing....
"information architecture is the set of ideas about how all information in a given context should be treated philosophically and, in a general way, how it should be organized."
and finally (because I have got to get some work done today)
Information architecture, as the name implies, is basically about taking content and a structure to present that content to an audience. Whether the content is intended for a private audience on an intranet or for the public, it is the information architect's job to ensure that information is well-organized and presented in an easily accessible interface.MORE...
Busy, busy, busy.
When I joined Carbon IQ I had certain ideas about what I would do: I would do things my way. I would create schedules that made sense. I would do unstintingly quality work. I would speak honestly and openly with my coworkers, and politics and game-playing would not exist and above all I would remember that we are all human begins, and a business is there to support the humans who work for it, not the other way around.
Everything I thought about owning your own business is true-- you get to do the quality of work you want to do, you can take off at 2 p.m. on a Wednesday to catch a matinee and finish the work on a Sunday without people looking at your strangely for either, and you learn all the time. What I didn't know I'd do was all the support jobs, from office manager to bill collector. You pick up envelopes, you call a client to inform them they are three weeks late in payment, you scan news groups trying to figure out why they heck PDF's won't print.... The big advantage however, of a small business over freelancing is you aren't completely alone. I called the client because Noel didn't want to deal with it anymore, and Noel edited a proposal I was writing when I couldn't see straight anymore. Gabe coaxes the printer to print just when I'm willing to pour coke on it, and I tweak the JavaScript rollovers that are trying to make Gabe insane. We are all there for each other, in a pragmatic unsentimental and immensely comforting way. There are no politics, there are no games and the business is the human beings who work there. period.
A small company is the hardest work I have ever done in my life, and I have never learned so much either-- I have no question I'm a better IA for it, as I understand business issues viscerally. My empathy for a businesses need to survive is at an all time high...
I wouldn't trade this opportunity for anything in the world. It's been scary, frustrating and awakening. These have the best six months of my professional life. I look forward to the future. Thanks, Noel and Gabe!
"Why having access to a usability lab can be a hindrance. " (via
webword.com)
Interesting blog entry on a usability practioner's experience being forced
out of the lab and into the field, and what he learned there.
Kerning: The importance of space between letter pairs (via xblog.com)
http://www.coolhomepages.com/cda/kerning/
Starved for eyecandy? Lots of pretty links at designiskinky
Scott McCloud talks-- err-- illustrates aout micropayments
talk about it here
New feature suggested by Bill... we'll see how it goes. feedback welcome!
In my opinion, if you click on one blog this week, it's gotta be peter. He is the only one who doesn't seem to be suffering summer doldrums.
Victor redesigns! And it is nice...
http://www.noisebetweenstations.com/personal/weblogs/
Peterme is talking about comics again, and offers a funny quote from the new Yorker on yidishisms
Taylor is also talking about Scott McCloud's current "Don't make me think"
george is thinking about brand and UX
http://interactionbydesign.com/thoughts/thumbnails/index.html
whole lotta nothing has an analysis of trillian, an IM client
http://a.wholelottanothing.org/
Zeldman says teal gradient is the new gray
http://www.zeldman.com/coming.html
Storm pics on davezilla. I miss summer storms (SF doesn't have them)
Biggerhand continues to be 50% basketball, 50% funnny as hell... when is the season over?
LittleYellowDifferent bitch-slaps the webbys
http://www.littleyellowdifferent.com/
Brad curses in front of his mother (cracked me up)
http://www.bradlands.com/dailybrad/index.shtml
more and more I think drug companies are evil as tobacco, and rebecca's pocket isn't dissuading me
http://www.rebeccablood.net/index.html
Best news on the web, metablog du jour "plastic"
Thursday, June 21, 2001
7:00 PM
Informal Tools for Designing Anywhere,
Anytime, Anydevice User Interfaces
by James Landay
230 Bechtel, Sibley Auditorium
University of California, Berkeley
http://www.baychi.org/bof/events/east/e200106.html
For the easily amused
pirated sites revealed! Steal this design...
http://www.pirated-sites.com/index1.shtml
Pork, a love story
I've gotten really into a type of music made in the south of france and I made a radio station out of it to share. I may add some of the other cool french stuff I've found. What's playign there is a very cool synthesis of flamenco, accordian, rock, rap and I dont' know what... it's hard to describe. But I heart it.
http://www.live365.com/cgi-bin/directory.cgi?autostart=calientechao
In these days of lay-offs I get a lot of mail bounces.
They usually look like this (address changed to protect the innocent)
Your messagedid not reach the following recipient(s):
c=US;a= ;p=Breakaway; o=NYDataCenter;dda:SMTP=blurp@blurp.com; on Tue,19 Jun 2001 17:55:17 -0400
The recipient name is not recognized
The MTS-ID of the original message is: c=US;a=
;p=Breakaway;l=EXGATE-NY0106192155M8FTW93F
MSEXCH:IMS:Breakaway:NYDataCenter:EXGATE-NY 0 (000C05A6) Unknown
Recipient
This is the first one I've ever seen in English.
Hello,
Thank you for your message addressed to an Organic, Inc. address. The addressee is no longer working with Organic. Your message is being returned to you unopened and unread. We encourage you to reroute your message to another Organic employee.
http://www.organic.com/
No traceroute nonesense, no extraneous machine code...
Lou Rosenfeld has joined the ranks of the bloggers. What is unique about the "bloug" is that it comes with a special narcissim guarentee. You'll get no such thing from me (though perhaps I should consider the warning symbol...)
Lou Rosenfeld has joined the ranks of the bloggers. What is unique about the "bloug" is that it comes with a special narcissim guarentee. You'll get no such thing from me (though perhaps I should consider the warning symbol...)
I have no idea what sport they are playing.
But I'd probably buy a t-shirt.
Flipping through the latest Industry Standard, I came across this article, The Great Pretenders
Companies that offer free magazine subscriptions in exchange for survey information are sitting on a landfill of garbage data, because in the questionnaire universe, everyone is a senior executive with the power to approve millions of dollars in hardware, software and consulting services. Cubicle workers may not have money, power or prestige, but they're getting the same junk mail as their bosses.
The article also records a syndrome endemic to focus groups: not only do people lie to get into the groups, they then lie to get the approval of the other focus group members-- flirty women adjusting their opinions to get the approval of the male members of the group and vice-versa. Their opinions just can't be trusted.
At Carbon IQ we've luckily seen a lot less of this, partially because we do far more usability testing than focus groups so we don't have to deal with the vagueries of group dynamics. We have come across the occasional "professional tester"; a person who lies aobut how often they participate in user research studies so they can do a lot more of them and make the nice little stipend. One fellow not only did that, but was savvy enough to say when filling out the screener that he was a student. He was a student-- part-time. We recognized him as a fulltime local web developer, a profession we were specifically trying to avoid.
Otherwise we've caught folks by listening closely-- often they become comfortable in the course of the test and say something like "At the other test..." Oddly enough they are often willing to confess at the test they are repeat testers, even though they have lied on the screener. Perhaps because they feel they are already going to get their money. We've long taken the precaution of testing two more than the minimum needed, as much to be able to discard those who provide us with useless data as to cover for no shows.
As budgets tighten, more and more folks are doing guerilla usability testing. However, areas with high concentrations of web and software companies (such as San Francisco) start to become a problem for finding suitable test subjects. Between the preponderance of designers and developers and the fact that almost everyone has been to a test or two, it's hard to find an "average" user. My first piece of advice would be to hire a seasoned usability specialist and recruiter, but if that is out of the question, try these tricks:
Also ask if someone has *ever* held one of these jobs-- we had a test subject once who was a market researcher-- except she had taken some time off to have a baby, and cheerfully filled out the survey question "Homemaker."
Good luck!
IS THE WORST YET TO COME FOR INTERNET SHOPS?
But the worst may be yet to come. By yearend, the number of i-shops may be halved, or worse, analysts say."Yes, companies are going to go bankrupt. Yes, companies are going to get bought," says Steven Birer, a managing director at investment bank Robertson Stephens who follows i-shop stocks. "The pyramid on which this whole thing had been built -- the constant inflow of funds -- dried up"
Althougth the last couple paragraphs are cheering, at least for me...
Still, one key to staying alive may be to specialize. Now, companies that once offered everything are rethinking that approach.
IS THE WORST YET TO COME FOR INTERNET SHOPS?
But the worst may be yet to come. By yearend, the number of i-shops may be halved, or worse, analysts say.
"Yes, companies are going to go bankrupt. Yes, companies are going to get bought," says Steven Birer, a managing director at investment bank Robertson Stephens who follows i-shop stocks. "The pyramid on which this whole thing had been built -- the constant inflow of funds -- dried up"
Althougth the last couple paragraphs are cheering, at least for me...
Still, one key to staying alive may be to specialize. Now, companies that once offered everything are rethinking that approach.
A friend forwards Catalyst Resources, a "user experience" consultancy. I couldn't help but be struck by their "problems viewing this site" link, which launched a javscript pop-up window that said:
This is is optimized for 4.0 browsers and above on a PC. You need to have Macromedia's Flash 4 player installed in order to correctly navigate the site.
No 4.0 browser or flash? You can just go away now, thanks.
Now that's user centered!
Another new UX consultancy draftsix, however, is as low-fi as it comes, and I'm sure they load lickty split... though some of the copy sounds oddly familar...
I should watch it; last time I insulted a small consultancy I ended up working there...
Anyhow, UX companies are springing up left and right, and Carbon IQ is about to be 1 1/2-- still kicking!
I can only consider this proponderance of UX companies a very good sign. If they are getting work in this thin market, it suggests that companies are putting more emphasis on customer satisfaction. Perhaps yesterday's rant will soon be a thing of the past.
Why do we have to fight so hard to convince clients (and that can include bosses and/or coworkers) that we should think about the problem before we start designing the solution? And that we should test out solution while it's still in a cheap and easy-to-change form (say, paper prototypes) before spending a ton of time and money building the wrong thing?
Reading through Jeff Rubin's terrific Conceptual Design: Cornerstone of Usability I kept going, "Well, of course. Well, yes, of course." Sometimes because I've been doing user-centered design for a while now and I'm familiar with the techniques, but too often because he was
saying one needs to fight for the right to research the problem, sketch out a few solutions, test a prototype and then start building the product.
Is this a shocking protocol?
1. Study the problem, including the competitors' solutions.
2. Sketch out a couple of different solutions.
3. Test a rough protype of your solutions with the people who will use the product to see if you have a good solution.
4. Revise the solution based on what you learned.
5. Build a prototype that is close to the finished thing.
6. Test with the people who will use it.
7. Make fixes based on what you learned.
8. Ship the product. Include a feedback devise so you can make the next version even better.
Can anyone read that and find it a revelation? Do we really need to proselytize common sense?
Don't answer that...
My husband sent me a series of links to GIS systems. Why do you care? There may be inspiration here in a way to visualize data in a meanful way. I'm exploring it...
Geographic Information Systems
Some freeware and an image gallery.
Esri, the company that makes Arcview and Arcinfo, two of the big GIS software programs.
It's foggy and cold again. While the rest of the northern hemisphere puts on shorts I get the pleasure of wearing a turtleneck. Thank you for letting me have my whine-- for cheese to go with it, scroll down to Apropos of Nothing, where new of the weird seems to have taken over.
This is one of the most beautiful sites I have come across.
Old thread on the 800x600 pixel war (found because I was catching up on the kaycee thing and no I won't bring it here, don't panic). The thread is as interesting because of the arrogance of the factions --both geek and design-- as it is for the discussion of the problem.
IASlash redesigned while I was away and looks 10000x better (IMHO). They do seem to be suffering from the summer news lull everyone else is, though. even kottke is full of his travel pictures...
Yes, I will read anything lance (glassdog) arthur does. No, the world does not need another community discussion site. And yet.... you gotta dig a place where it's not only okay but required to be mean.
http://www.glassdog.com/unhip/
(mostly via nua.ie)
Nando Times: Turkish authorities clamp down on Net
"The Associated Press reports that Turkey has passed a law making websites subject to the same censorship as print media."
~~~
Van Dusseldorp & Partners: European broadband access set to surge
"Over 21 percent of European households will have broadband Internet
access by 2003, up from the current figure of 1.79 percent."
~~~
Reuters: US loss may be India's gain
"The downturn in the US economy could prove a boon for technology
workers in India, according to a report from Reuters."
San Francisco hires 500 goats to eat weeds, trash
"Until they were driven out by rising land prices, goats were a common sight in the more bucolic parts of the city, particularly on the grassy slopes of Potrero Hill and in odd corners of the Glen Park district."
It is a damn shame when the rent gets too high for goats to afford to be able to raise their kids in the city.
~~~
Hoax warning tricks some into deleting AOL
metafiler giggles over it
~~~
OSLO, Norway (AP) - "What the new bouncer at a Norwegian pub lacks in
brawn, she more than makes up in experience: She's a 91-year-old
great-grandmother. "
~~~
Titanium PowerBook causes bomb scare
Transparent New York is lovely and amazing. (via Lesbarkeit von Strukturen)
Can we do this with site mapping? Should we?
addendum
After playing with it for awhile, I grew used to its tremendous beauty and because frustrated with it for its lack of information. To be beautiful (I suspect) some data was removed that would make it easier to understand. In particular, Animated Manhattan frustrated me-- I felt there was knowledge just out of reach of my comprehension, and a tiny bit more explanation of what I was looking at, a referencing grid perhaps, would make all the difference.
It's foggy, and I'm going to trek downtown to register my MG midget. So a light gleanings before I go try to find winter clothes so I can drive a convertible in San Francisco in June... did Mark Twain really say "The coldest winter I ever experienced was a summer in San Francisco"?
New Jakob and this time I have to agree. PDF's make me crazy.
Useit.Com: Avoid PDF for On-Screen Reading.
"Forcing users to browse PDF documents can reduce your website's usability by about 300% relative to HTML pages. This is my rough estimate, based on watching users perform similar tasks on a variety of sites that used either PDF or regular Web pages."
Now read "Why is user centered design so important" and you'll both learn and experience the problems with PDF's.
I have a strange passion for intentionally horizontally scrolling sites. However, I feel something is missing on this one. oh, I know. a scrollbar.
http://www.commando.se/
Massachusetts
The Information Design certificate program and Bentley’s Design and Usability center are pleased to offer the Usability Boot Camp, an intensive five-day experience with leading authorities on usability and user experience, July 9 through 13, 2001. Reserve the dates as registration is limited. Check back for details.
also check out their information design program
~~~
Seattle
Don't go to WebDesign World to see Zeldman, Veen or Spool! Go to see me yap yap yap about user-centered design processes. (okay, you can catch them talking too...)
"It's a dirty job, but somebody's gotta do it: Jacobson studies "adult" sites to see what they can tell us about the future of web content. His conclusions are not pretty."
~~~
Easing Access to Your Homebound PC
"Hooking into your home or office PC from a remote location got a lot easier last month with the opening of GoToMyPC, an ingenious Web site created by ExpertCity that lets you channel the spirit of your computer at home onto the screen of any Internet-connected machine in the world. "
davezilla has started the bloggers who are calling it quits
~~~
This is a poem made up entirely of actual quotes from
George W. Bush. The quotes have been arranged only for
aesthetic purposes, by Washington Post writer Richard
Thompson. Too good not to share, especially during
National Poetry Month...
MAKE THE PIE HIGHER
by George W. Bush
I think we all agree, the past is over.
This is still a dangerous world.
It's a world of madmen and uncertainty and potential mental losses.
Rarely is the question asked
Is our children learning?
Will the highways of the internet become more few?
How many hands have I shaked?
They misunderestimate me.
I am a pitbull on the pantleg of opportunity.
I know that the human being and the fish can coexist.
Families is where our nation finds hope, where our wings take dream.
Put food on your family!
Knock down the tollbooth!
Vulcanize Society!
Make the pie higher! Make the pie higher!
George told me I had been mentioned on FuckedWeblog. Well, I didn't find an entry on my little blog, but the idea made me cross my eyes a couple times--
I leave the country fairly often, I always come back, and sometimes I even blog from France. It comes from having a French husband who hasn't immigrated yet. And having a highly developed sense of wanderlust. Plus I'm part of a small company during a struggling time, and starting to do the conference circuit and contemplating doing some writing that is longer than a paragraph... but that doesn't mean the blog is dead.
Oh no! Sometimes I am consumed with the desire to say very little, and where better to publish thoughtlets but on a blog?. That won't stop! But write everyday? What am I? The SF Chronical? (look the quality of that rag...) I'll write when I can, as well as I can manage, and hopefully someone out there will be entertained or informed. That's the nature of Bloginess.
Anyhow, for the remarkably long list of retiring blogs out there I give you all the very fine advice Peter gave me when I started up the elegantblog: "You don't have to write every day."
Voila, you're free! Write when you feel like it.
I know I gleaned it but this article is so on the money I have to give it an extra call out. Ask Tog: How to Deliver a Report Without Getting Lynched
"The finest set of recommendations will be rejected if the form in which they are received is seen as hostile or belligerent. I recently received a copy of an unsolicited report sent to a firm that seemed unimpressed with the writer's efforts. The reasons why are instructive to us all."
Good morning (or afternoon, or evening) I'm back in America. Not much jetlag, just a tendency to be cranky after 8 p.m. and see more sunrises than usual, including a fairly impressive one right now that is rising out of china basin.
Oh, I just put up all the guest gleans in the archive. May their fabulous work live on for eternity!
Today's "Word of the Day" was Argus, so that may be why this issue of gleanings is so IA heavy-- fate!
argus (AHR-guhs) noun
An alert and observant person; a watchful guardian.
[From Greek mythology. After Argus, a giant with 100 eyes who was sent to
watch over Io. He was later killed by Hermes and after his death his eyes
transformed into spots on the peacock's tail.]
On the argus site (perhaps you've seen it) an interesting interview with Vivian Bliss
"People: An Interview with Vivian Bliss
A librarian with a JD, Vivian discusses the trials and successes of designing and maintaining an enterprise-wide information architecture within Microsoft's intranet environment. "
http://argus-acia.com/people/bliss_profile.html
~~~
New software designed for IA's to let them design
http://www.silverboots.com/index.html
their white paper is a bit-- well, you read it and let me know what you think.
http://www.silverboots.com/whitepapers.html
~~~
PLAY (Via http://www.giantant.com/antenna/)
"Play is a Swedish HCI research studio which "investigates and invents the future of human-computer interaction." They've published a bunch of interesting papers, on interface topics from Baby Faces to Hierarchical Flip Zooming to Designing Everyday Computational Things to Pirates!. "
http://www.viktoria.informatik.gu.se/groups/play/
~~~
Steven Johnson is always readable. His interview with Cory Doctorow is no exception. Anyone interested in collaborative filtering or new browse methods should check it out.
http://www.feedmag.com/templates/default.php3?a_id=1703
~~~
The Joys of Prototyping (via xblog.com)
"At the heart of any good user-centered design process is the practice of
prototyping. By creating and testing interfaces in rough format, designers
are able to feed through improvements and feedback from users quickly and
easily. This in turn helps to ensure a final product that is an evolved
solution, in the sense that it has been through a number of iterations and
emerged as fit for the job in question."
http://infocentre.frontend.com/servlet/Infocentre?page=article&id=154
How to Deliver a Usability Report
"The finest set of recommendations will be rejected if the form in which
they are received is seen as hostile or belligerent. I recently received a
copy of an unsolicited report sent to a firm that seemed unimpressed with
the writer's efforts. The reasons why are instructive to us all."
http://www.asktog.com/columns/047HowToWriteAReport.html
Internet World: Deconstructing Maytag.com. (via tomalak.org)
"Terry Swack and John Shiple. Few sites have such a strong online brand and
identity. Browsing products is a sweet experience. The well-structured,
cleanly designed site makes finding products very easy, and the tons of
information available is clearly presented, which makes ordering simple."
http://www.internetworld.com/060101/06.01.01decon.jsp
The Four Horsemen of Usability --
"As of June 2001, four web
properties control more than 50% of all the time spent online by U.S.
surfers. This means that you can throw away your usability guidelines and
follow these companies. They spend millions on usability testing and they
are driving standards by sheer market force. You have no choice but to
follow their lead."
http://webword.com/moving/fourhorsemen.html
Hackers: Not Always Bad And Not Just a Man's Club
"There are women who hack, and many learn their skills where they are outnumbered by men: in the rough-and-tumble online enclaves that hackers frequent or at hacker conventions. "
http://www.iht.com/articles/22243.html
MIT Technology Review: The Myth of "Internet Time". (via tomalak.org)
"Andrew Odlyzko. Internet time appeared to give special power to the
first-mover advantage. A company that could quickly establish itself as a pets
portal, for example, might be able to gain a high enough market share to
discourage competition."
http://www.technologyreview.com/magazine/apr01/reviews.asp
The Best Designs :: the ultimate DESIGNER'S resource (via xblog.com)
"The Best Designs was created as a resource for designers to view the best
designs on the net, to read articles written by other designers, and to be
guided to the most helpful web design resources on the Internet."
http://www.thebestdesigns.com/
Informal Tools for Designing Anywhere, Anytime, Anydevice User Interfaces
James Landay
230 Bechtel, Sibley Auditorium
University of California, Berkeley
Thursday, June 21st @ 7.00 p.m.
Talk Abstract
We are now entering the era of pervasive computing, an era where people
will access information and services anywhere, anytime, and from a wide
variety of devices. The challenge for researchers and practitioners is how
to support the design of user interfaces that will empower people to
engage in these interactions easily and efficiently. Our work has been in
creating design tool that support the best practices of user-centered
design. Such practices include the informal techniques used during the
early stages of design, such as sketching and "faking" interactions using
Wizard of Oz techniques to test early designs.
http://www.baychi.org/bof/east/
I returned from France to hear about the (excuse me) ridiculous tale of Kaycee. The real victim though is Henry, whose existence was apparently thrown into doubt!
http://www.biggerhand.com/
Believe me, I've had my eardrums shattered by an excited caterwaul, and I've heard him list off 50 pokeman while eating an equal number of tortilla chips... he's real. Daddy Mike was driven to put up references for Henry which are also utterly true.
http://biggerhand.com/abouthenry.shtml
Henry's always entertaining and 100% real diary
http://www.biggerhand.com/henry/2001/henry052801.html
~~~
While cleaning out old memos from my palm, I found this lovely and useless Belgium "bande desinee" site.
~~~
Despite the lack of site, the FC newsletter suggests that this is a fine multi-city party announcement list.
www.bernardoslist.com No personal recommendation one way or the other.
~~~
game whose name says it all
~~~
my sister sends me the sequel to the bigcat story
"Fat Cat
You probably have received a picture of a man in a den or living room holding what appears to be the largest house cat ever known to exist on the planet. The picture is very impressive, and the man holding the cat looks very proud. The man, according to the email, is Roger Degagne who lives on the shores of the Ottawa River. According to the story, the cat is the product of two cats named Lost and Found who was discovered near an "abandoned" power plant called AECL (Atomic Energy of Canada Limited) 15 years prior to the photograph. The cat pictured in the photograph is supposedly 89 pounds and 69 inches long.
According to AECL (they are still in business, by the way) they have no record of a Roger Degagne ever working for them at any time, nor do they remember ever having two cats at the property. As far as the picture, it seems odd that such a heavy cat can be so easily lifted by a man who obviously is somewhat out of shape. According to the Guinness records (www.guinnessworldrecords.com), the largest cat is Snobie and weighs a whopping 98 pounds, but is just over 40 inches long.
The picture is probably some kind of farce (fake cat, overlaid images, etc.) and has actually been circulating on the Internet since about 2000 and it has only been recently that a story has accompanied the big kitty.
- Michael Vincent "
From Emazing.com
OPENING THANG
Hey kiddos-- Still in France, and will be until June 6th, after which expect the usual 4 a.m. postings to EH and Gleanings, as jetlag sets in. I'm ensconced deep in French farmcountry, as Noel said earlier, and don't have much connectivity to speak of, which is pleasent and weird both. I simply hike up to the main house to download my mail. It's proving to be a productive time, and though I miss my meanders online I've replaced them with meanders into the local village.
http://www.nothing-new.com/travel/France/may01/chaumejean
I just wanted to send a petite bonjour to the readers, and thank the guest gleaners-- they've done a terific job! I really enjoy the world through other's eyes and voices. Speaking of voices, Noel's writing up a storm on the Carbon Log; be sure to swing by. http://www.carboniq.com/log
and gleanings is completely built from email, so no guarentees on the
quality of my linkage...
IA MATTERS
Peter Metholtz has written a long "thoughtwander" on the futility of new
interfaces and the map as interface. It's chock full of tasty links that I only wish I could follow...
Which reminds me to say again if you are an IA, you need to get "Mapping
Websites: Digital Media Design" by Paul Kahn and Krzysztof Lenk. It offers many ways to create "website planning documents" as they call them, and well as some interesting insights
intot he relationship of realworld maps to web maps. I don't have the link available (working offline), but I've got it on my blog
http://www.eleganthack.com/blog
which inspired Paul to post this yummy link to a course on maps!
http://www.dynamicdiagrams.com/seminars/mapping/maptoc.htm
>From the SIGIA list
Navigation resources
http://www.sitenavigation.net/snguide.html
http://usableweb.com/topics/000689-0-0.html
USABILITY MATTERS
Talking to Computers (Scientific America) -- "Any notion that we can
replace keyboards with pen-based computing is wildly misguided. The
fastest you can go with a pen is about a third the speed that you can
type. It's a single channel output compared to multiple channel outputs
when you type, and that's the same limitation you have with voice as well.
Those technologies just have a basic fundamental human limitation that
usually gets overlooked." via webword.com
>> http://sciam.com/explorations/2001/052101compu/
NEWS & COMENTARY
As a travel junkie and a web junkie, I can't help but be intrigued by
orbitz...
Groups Seek To Block Orbitz Launch
http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20010525S0004
Analysts: Orbitz (Kind of) Rocks
http://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/article/0,,4_772531,00.html
NUA's take on the recent hoaxes
"In the past two weeks, two deaths have shocked parts of the Internet
community. The deaths, both of young women who had a host of online
friends, became all the more shocking when it was discovered in both
cases that neither of the women had ever actually existed in the
'real' world.
http://www.nua.ie/surveys/analysis/weekly_editorial.html "
Cahners In-Stat Group: Web appliances to be hugely popular (via nua.ie)
"Consumer demand for Internet-enabled appliances is set to grow by a
compound rate of 101 percent annually until 2005, according to Cahners
In-Stat."
http://www.nua.ie/surveys/?f=VS&art_id=905356799&rel=true
The Industry Standard: European firms remain optimistic (via nua.ie)
"A new survey of senior company executives in Europe has found that
93 percent of large European companies intend to maintain or
increase their IT spending in the next year. Sixty percent of those
polled said they were confident about the medium term future of the
European economy."
http://www.nua.ie/surveys/?f=VS&art_id=905356796&rel=true
How Amazon Is Beating the Costs of Shipping
"The e-retailing giant has quietly established its Worldwide Digital
Group, which offers music, e-book and software downloads."
http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,26715,00.html?nl=dnt
APROPOS OF NOTHING
>From creativegood.com,
"Interior Desecrators shows the horrors of 1970s interior decorating. One of
the more entertaining sites I've seen recently. "
http://www.lileks.com/institute/interiors/bhg/index.html
Who's got real problems, and who's just pissing and moaning?
The Stress Test
http://www.thespark.com/stresstest/
cool FAQ's
http://www.voght.com/cgi-bin/pywiki?KmFaq
via stylewithsubstance.com
"funny new use for the palm"
http://www.zdnet.com/downloads/stories/info/0,,40964,.html
"A Date Which Will Live in Falsity"
How on earth will Disney market "Pearl Harbor" to Japan's moviegoers?
With a poster like this one:
http://www.modernhumorist.com/mh/0105/pearl/
this type of humor is always much funnier when I'm abroad...
"The Foreigner's Guide to America: Chapter Two"
http://www.modernhumorist.com/mh/0105/guide02/
and if you missed the first...
http://www.modernhumorist.com/mh/0105/guide/
Finally thanks Lane, for making me a trusted friend!
Has anyone writen up ettiquette to deal with Amazon's friends and family
circles yet? Do I write a thank you note, or simply send flowers?
originally sent 6/4/01
Is one Gleanings ever enough? Live from the Days Inn in Rochester, New York (home of the white hot dog) it's the fifth installment of the guest-culled Gleanings. Today's a double-dose; we hear from Paul Natress and Chad Thorton. Enjoy their work. Enjoy your weekend. -- Noel
+ + + + PAUL'S GLEAN
OPENING THANG
I was just thinking about what makes the Web so great. I thought long and hard about it and was going to say that the free (and freely available) information on the Web is what makes it great. While this is true to a certain extent, this information is useless if nobody reads it. To find good information about your particular topic of interest is hard - I know, I've tried to find good solid information about creative writing, web design, IA, usability etc. The best source for this information is from the communities which have built up on the Web - groups of professionals and amateurs alike, each with their own web sites linking to each other, commenting on each
others articles, thoughts and opinions.
This is what makes the Web great.
Gleanings is a part of our global IA community. Christina - thanks for making our Web great.
GETTING TESTY
<http://www.aptest.com/resources.html>
While nothing beats a good, live testing team it's useful to have some testing software around, especially for the more mundane tasks such as checking for alt tags.
Why does "access all areas" usually apply to an elite minority?
Macromedia offers an accessibility starter pack which includes some testing tools -
The check page for accessibility extension is very useful for finding images with no alt tags. British IAs - take note of the US accessibility legislation - who knows when we will adopt it.
Create Online accessibility debate -
<http://www.createonline.co.uk/magazine/bigissue.asp>
Listen to Julie - she's from the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) and they do their homework - <http://www.rnib.org.uk/digital/hints.htm>
Writing for the Web (or should we call this screenwriting?)
Peter links to a good site with info about style guides -
<http://www.edit-work.com/index.html>
WEBBY NEWS
Earlier in May Oxford University announced they were opening a new Institute to study the effects of the Internet on society -
<http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/po/010504.htm>
and the BBC story at -
Oh, what we could learn...)
Sun Microsystems staff are banned from the Internet in the run up to their annual reports...
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/7/19277.html>
A worrying sign - how many of us Glean whilst at work?
APROPOS OF SOMETHING
About 99% of Flash on the Web is bad (or so it seems) so it's very rare to find someone like Andy Foulds who uses it to create the most elegant and
wonderful interfaces I've seen. This is the 1% which we should be taking notice of.
<http://www.foulds2000.freeserve.co.uk/port_index.htm>
Finally - take a look at Vincent's "interface for a news publishing application" and give him some feedback. Gonna have a play myself in the next few days... <http://www.mersault.com/thinking/interface/newsintro.htm>
Did I say finally? Sorry, forgot the gratuitous plug -
<http://www.ia-uk.co.uk>. My pointless ramblings...
+ + + + CHAD'S GLEAN
OPENING THANG
Greetings from San Francisco. I was fully prepared to say that it's always 60 and foggy here, but we've hit a heat wave and it's 95 and I'm in shorts. I'm Chad, proprietor of Brightly Colored Food. Please, stop by, check it out, make yourself at home, drop me a line, we,ll have drinks, it'll be great
DESIGN MATTERS
GUI and Web Standards and Guidelines
It's mostly UI standards, but it's a nice list for a quick little refresher. Quick -- when is it appropriate to use radio buttons? How about check boxes? What about drop-down combo list boxes?
<http://www.weinschenk.com/guidelinesdemo/default.html>
IA/UX MATTERS
Patterns of Hypertext
While we worry about wayfinding and orientation, others make an art of it. I dig Mark Bernstein of Eastgate Systems, and I'd go to eNarrative 3 (http://www.enarrative.org/) in a second if only the boss-man would foot the bill. For those of us who can't go, we'll just have to read this.
<http://www.eastgate.com/patterns/Print.html>
CHI2001 Notes
For those of us who couldn't go to this, either.
<http://joel.westside.com/wsContentPublisher/story.view?RowId=11>
The Hypermedia Design Patterns Repository
"HPR is an initiative of ACM-SIGWEB in collaboration with the University of Italian Switzerland.
Its goal is to allow a larger community to reuse design experience gathered by other designers of hypermedia and Web applications and systems, by providing useful Design Patterns.?
Victor linked to information on Christopher Alexander's new opus, so I had to follow up with this.
<http://www.designpattern.lu.unisi.ch/index.htm>
USABILITY MATTERS
The IBM EZ Sort Card Sorting and Cluster Analysis program is a great example of such a tool.
<http://www-3.ibm.com/ibm/easy/eou_ext.nsf/publish/1876>
I'm working on a flash-based frontend for the cluster analysis part of EZ Sort, with the goal of running card sorts remotely (the current setup doesn't allow this). I'd love a hand, especially if you're good with ActionScripting. The hope is to extend the existing tool and release the flash code to the ux community-at-large. Drop me a line~chad_thornton@intuit.com/soapbox
Speaking of tools, usability testing tools will become increasingly important as user experience folk figure out which data is really worth analyzing. Here are some relevant links:
Mining Web Logs to Improve Website Organization
Given that links are so opaque, I continually test link names, location, and grouping. This tool supposedly aids in identifying which pages are visited but aren't useful ("not useful? is inferred by browsing behavior: use of the back button ^ a decent metric, though definitely not infallible).
<http://www10.org/cdrom/papers/345/index.html>
WebQuilt: A Framework for Capturing and Visualizing the Web Experience
<http://www10.org/cdrom/papers/602/index.html>
Information Scent as a Driver of Web Behavior Graphs: Results of a Protocol Analysis Method for Web Usability [.pdf file]
Tape Measures For Site Usability
We can't be everywhere all the time. Hearing about automated and/or remote approaches to usability both fills my heart with dread and gives me a bit of hope. This article is an overview of a couple of tools for usability analysis.
<http://www.PlanetIT.com/docs/PIT20010222S0006>
WRITING MATTERS
Blogging as a Form of Journalism
Unlike the spate of generic "what is weblogging?? articles, this one does a good job of covering how some professionals actually make use of blogging as part of their work.
<http://ojr.usc.edu/content/story.cfm?request=585>
A nice companion article to the one above:
"A knowledge worker is someone whose job entails having really interesting conversations at work?
<http://www.contenu.nu/article.htm?id=1152>
COMMUNITY MATTERS
Social Translucence: An Approach to Designing Systems that Support Social Processes
"We are interested in designing systems that support communication and collaboration among large groups of people over computer networks. We begin by asking what properties of the physical world support graceful human-human communication in face to face situations, and argue that it is possible to design digital systems that support coherent behavior by making participants and their activities visible to one another. We call such systems "socially translucent systems" and suggest that they have three characteristics -- visibility, awareness, and accountability -- which enable people to draw upon their social experience and expertise to structure their interactions with one another
<http://www.pliant.org/personal/Tom_Erickson/st_TOCHI.html>
ART MATTERS
MONO*crafts 3.0. Yugo Nakamura rocks the snow-filled glass globe of my existence.
NEWS & COMMENTARY
What If Napster Were Based in China?
Might this be the end of proprietary intellectual property as we know it?
If you're a fan of cyberpunk, you already know that Bruce Sterling covered this beat years ago (well, 1998) in his novel Distraction. It,s worth a read for those who get sick of the usual P2P pundits carrying on about the same old stuff..
APROPOS OF NOTHING
I was trying to make some misguided point about artists and craftsman and thankfully it totally fell apart, but I did find this page. It's nice to see a community other than our own struggling with its identity.
Thanks for listening, hope to see you soon.
So Chrisina splits the country...could her sister be the next best thing? You make the call. Alyssa sits in the Gleanings Chair for this episode, which I'm again serving up from vacation in Rochester, New York (where the most notable user experience is a trip to Wegmans, the Bellagio Las Vegas of grocery stores). Email her at alyssa@stylewithsubstance.com with your fan mail. -- Noel
INTRO
I'm Alyssa, Christina's sister and one of the people she asked to do a gleanings while she's gone. Christina and I share an apartment, at least until her hubby makes it through the INS process. It's kind of nice to rattle around here alone, though it gets a little creepy sometimes. I try not to hear footsteps in the attic or imagine noises at the back door. Mostly I sit at C's computer for hours at a time, mentally blocking out the dishes and laundry that need to be done.
Since she left I've spent much of my free time dismantling the smoke alarms. One of them started beeping and there are so many damned smoke alarms in this long apartment and the sound is so weird in here, I haven't been able to figure out which one is beeping. Admittedly, it took me about 4 or 5 days to bother to drag the ladder out to deal with the problem. Every time I think I've gotten the right smoke detector, I hear another beep. I've dismantled every smoke detector in the house and still I hear beeping. I'm beginning to wonder if it's some strange form of tinnitus.
I suppose C asked me to write one of these because I do spend a lot of time surfing, mostly while doing twelve other things at work. Multi-tasking is my middle name. No, really, Alyssa Multi-tasking Wodtke--my parents were ahead of their time. Don't let anyone tell you kids don't live up to their names.
Anyway, here's some cool stuff I've seen lately:
APROPOS OF NOTHING
"New observations with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Paranal in northern Chile give weight to current computer models of the early universe: it is "spongy", with galaxies forming along filaments, like droplets along the strands of a spider's web." Although I love the thought of the universe as spongy (it reminds me of Pinky from Animaniacs saying he liked the word obsequious because it sounded "squishy"), even better is the fact that astronomers got together and couldn't think of a better name than "Very Large Telescope (VLT)."
<http://europe.cnn.com/TECH/space/specials/scenes/index.html>
I was not really a science fan in school. Now I devour every story I find. I never knew space was so entertaining...
"May 16 - In a feat that has scientists baffled, a hungry young star more than 2,000 light years away, appears to be belching perfectly spherical bubbles of gas and dust."
How cool is this--"May 30 - The recipient of the first successful larynx transplant three years ago now speaks - and sings - with a perfectly normal voice. His surgeon says he is ready to perform the operation again." I learned something new--the larynx affects taste and smell. The body is a weird thing.
<http://www.msnbc.com/news/580348.asp>
I love this site. I'm not sure why. It's not big on design, not high tech, but I think it's creative and fun. It makes me want to draw my food.
DESIGN MATTERS?
I know I shouldn't be plugging a superpower's website, but I visited the Sony Metreon's website for the first time today and thought it was nicely done. But what do I know, I'm just a movie junkie...
I wouldn't be me if I didn't throw in a shoe site. Anyone who knows me knows my deep affection bordering on dangerous obsession with Kenneth Cole's shoes. And I also think his site is really nice. It uses restrained colors and has a very laid back, respectable look. It's got a lot of movement, there's plenty of visual interest, and it's super easy to navigate. I'm no architect like sis but this site works for me.
And for another shoe site at the opposite end of the spectrum--Bruno Magli's site is an exercise in glorious excess. The rich colors, the disinterested models, and the unusual "curtain" design complement the designer's shoes perfectly. It's not as easy to use as Ken's site, but it's pretty to look at.
SHAMELESS PLUG
If you liked any of this, or if you're curious about me (I'm comfortable being a curiosity), you can check out my site at: <http://www.stylewithsubstance.com> I'm not a professional but I have a lot to say. Thanks.
Welcome George! Today's is the fourth in a series of guest-composed Gleanings. Christina returns in mid-June. -- Noel
OPENING THANG
Dude, welcome from Los Angeles where, yes as a matter of fact, it _is_
always 72 degrees and sunny -- and home to the ultimate designed user
experience: Disneyland. So get in the convertible, put the top down and
we'll cruise down Imperial Highway (big nasty redhead at our side), taking
in a tour of some user experience-related sights. Just remember, the
natives can be playful at the tourists' expense, so if the directions you
just got don't seem to be making sense, just keep heading southwest and
eventually you'll run into the beach -- which is probably more fun than
than where ever you were headed anyway.
And if you're ever actually in town, stop by to the IA/UI cocktail hour
<http://www.interactionbydesign.com/cocktailhour/>
BIG THOUGHTS MATTERS
"Digital Renaissance: Convergence? I Diverge."
<http://www.techreview.com/magazine/jun01/jenkins.asp> Henry Jenkins,
director of the Program in Comparative Media Studies at MIT, argues that
the confusion over digitial "convergence" is because there are actually
five trends at work.
Since the issue of certification seems to be raising its ugly head in the
IA field (just as it has in graphic design and software engineering) Tom
DeMarco (of the software-engineering-project-management-gurus Atlantic
Systems Guild) raises an interesting idea: the real issue is about who gets
_de-certified_.
<more>
Art Center over in Pasadena is currently hosting an exhibit exploring
artists' use of the global telecommunications network. An online exhibit is
at <http://telematic.walkerart.org> The physical show will be stopping
elsewhere in the U.S.
UX (user experience) MATTERS
As IAs move more and more into requirements development, wouldn't it be
nice if there was a comprehensive list of issues to make sure are covered?
There is. James and Suzanne Robertson of (more Atlantic Systems Guild-ians)
have come up with a comprehensive list that includes not only the usual
technical stuff but also thinks about things like corporate politics and
legal liabilities -- the Volare Requirements Specification Template The main
weakness is that the Robertsons come from the enterprise software
development world, so they don't deal with content issues. When you first
look at Volare it may be a little overwhelming because the Robertsons have
included lots of commentary about how to use it, but it can be stripped
down into a useful checklist. And definitely check out their "requirements
shell",
which is a nice way of collecting essential requirements info on a 3x5 card.
And while we're thinking about requirements, ran across two useful
resources for a related step: putting together functional specs
<http://joel.editthispage.com/stories/storyReader$212> and
<http://www.mojofat.com/tutorial/>.
>From functional specs, we move on to a nice concise overview to the joys of
prototyping
<http://infocentre.frontend.com/servlet/Infocentre?page=article&id=154> Not
a lot of depth, although there are links to related articles, but it's a
nicely done summary that's useful for the inevitable PowerPoint
presentation.
Ever needed a quick translation of IA/UI/UX jargon
<http://www.usabilityfirst.com/glossary/main.cgi?> has got 'em...
Always respected his opinions since the days of NeXTStep, Simson Garfinkel
wonders why humans should conform to the way online shopping carts work rather than vice versa. <http://www.techreview.com/magazine/jun01/garfinkel.asp> While it's
familiar ground, it's nice to hear it from a programmer who gets it.
DESIGN MATTERS
<http://www.coolhomepages.com/> is what it says it is. Interesting place to
hunt for experimental stuff.
<http://www.threeoh.com/> Digital Design Journal -- not much there yet, but
looks promising...
USABILITY MATTERS
OK, I hear you saying not another Jakob article.... Well yes, but I
included it because it's written for the larger business community and it's
useful to see how the user experience = usability argument is being seen
from the outside.
"User Advocate Or Enemy Of Creativity?: Jakob Nielsen defines the
boundaries of art and functionality in designing site"
<here>
BUSINESS MATTERS
The Havard Business Review <http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/hbr/> used to be dull academic papers. But no more. Apparently they overhauled it a year or
two ago and now it's a valuable collection of thoughtful and well-written
white papers. And interestingly, in the two issues I've seen so far, has
had articles touching on user experience. In the May issues (still may be
on newsstands), one article walks through how "customer scenarios" can
guide web and business strategies (sound familiar?). The April issue had a
fascinating article by a building architect who's been studying how
business can integrate their online and brick-and-mortar efforts. But aside
from user experience specific articles (even if they're not labeled as
such), HBR offers a good way to keep up on current trends in business
thinking (helpful if you've got to sell UX to managers or clients), as well
as a good way to learn more about management skills and general business
skills. No it's not cheap, but it's definitely worthwhile.
Thinking of Tom DeMarco (see above), I'm in the middle of reading his
excellent "Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork and the Myth of Total
Efficiency," The book asks a key question about our time: Why are we all so
damned busy? And it suggests that all this infernal busy-ness is not
entirely healthy, either for the organizations we work for or for their
beleaguered workers. It's especially relevant now that "internet time" has
been proven _not_ to be a good way to develop things. You can download a
preview [pdf file]
<here>
MARKETING MATTERS
Was going to mention Jim Sterne's excellent newsletter
<http://www.targeting.com/fullsterne.html>, but Ralph Brandi beat me to it.
So I'll just say, check it out.
Harry Beckwith's "Selling the Invisible"
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0446520942/> is essential reading for anyone who's got to market
_services_ rather than products -- such as IAs, UIs and UXs. While Beckwith
doesn't touch on it himself, reading his book made me realize that
interactive products (web sites, software, whatever) are really more like
services than products. That's to say, when it comes to user satisfaction,
_how_ something gets done is often as important (and sometimes more
important) than what gets done. It's the difference between the DMV and
Nordstroms.
WRITING MATTERS
The ever-snarky The Register holds the first annual Email Disclaimer Awards
2001. Judged in six categories: Longest Disclaimer, Most Incomprehensible
Disclaimer, Most PC Disclaimer, Best Bi-lingual Disclaimer, Best Spoof
Disclaimer, Special Award for Best WWW Disclaimer. I'm just glad they
didn't publish the acceptance speeches.
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/35/19057.html>
APROPOS OF NOTHING
Own a piece of dot-com history... I wasn't sure if I should laugh when I
looked at this:
<http://www.scripophily.net/dotcoms.html> although they probably should
work out a joint marketing deal with the Museum of E-Failure
<http://www.disobey.com/ghostsites/>, who's stated goal "is not to laugh at
the fallen, but to preserve their last image, before all traces of these
sites' existence are deleted from history's view." Yeah right....
You've probably seen "The Gettysburg PowerPoint Presentation," now hear the
inside story...
<http://www.norvig.com/Gettysburg/making.html>
"He-Mails, She-Mails: Where Sender Meets Gender"
[registration-required]
Ever wonder what it's really like living in Los Angeles? Steve Martin's
isn't a comedy, it's a training film... at least for some of us...
SHAMELESS SELF-PROMO MATTERS
Finally, just wanted to mention that I'm in the middle launching my own
site devote to thinking about user experience design:
thumbnails, which will feature yet
another UX blog, book reviews, links to resources and the occasional white
paper. I'm currently debugging the blog, which should up within a few days
at most, and the book reviews will follow shortly.
Ciao babe, have your people call my people and we'll do lunch....
Another sunny, warm Monday breaks loose in San Francisco. And is our Glean Queen Christina is around to enjoy it with us? Noo, she's off in France, "ensconced on Philippe's father's farm," and has left today's Gleanings in the capable hands of Victor Lombardi, he of Noise Between Stations. And Victor done good.
Today's is the third in a series of guest-composed Gleanings. Christina returns in Mid-May. -- Noel
+ + + +
Sing
Breaking the Sound Barrier: Designing Auditory Displays for Global Usability
Beatnik - Principles of Sonification Design. Some very rational and complete guidelines for using audio in the user interface
Reassure
'Trust and security in interactive spaces do not depend on technical security measures alone. Our limited research suggests that the feeling of security experienced by a user of an interactive system is determined by the user's feeling of control of the interactive system.'
Think
Overview of Christopher Alexander's new opus, "The Nature of Order" <http://www.patternlanguage.com/natureoforder/overview.htm>
Stretch
Principles of Graphic Design:
<http://www.mundidesign.com/presentation/index2.html>
Lurk
aiga-advance mailing list
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aiga-advance/messages/>
Exercise
<http://www.keepyourbrainalive.com/exercise.html>
Appreciate
+ + + +
More of what's going on inside Victor's head: <http://www.noisebetweenstations.com/personal/weblogs/>
Today the Ernie Kovacs-lovin' (God love 'em for it!) Ralph Brandi writes the second in a series of guest-created Gleanings. Happy surfing.
-- Noel
OPENING THANG
>From deep in the heart of Jersey (New Jersey, that is), it's the Gates
Brown memorial edition of Gleanings. In this edition, Gleanings is about the
nature of community on the net, prompted by the recent revelations of a
net.hoax, a marketeer who gets it, then a little levity (not on levity.com,
though), followed by some links about a personal hero of mine, and closing
with the usual unrelated but neat stuff.
Is it still Gleanings if I don't use the same headers as Christina?
COMMUNITY MATTERS
Erin Malone muses about the nature of community on the web and what makes a
site a community. A few of us pile on.
<emdezine>
When I read this, I was reminded of a paper that Teresa Roberts presented
at CHI 98 called "Are Newsgroups Virtual Communities?" She postulated that
communities have six defining characteristics:
* Cohesion
* Effectiveness
* Help
* Relationships
* Language
* Self-regulation
She concluded that newsgroups can indeed be communities.
<read it here> (1.1 MB PDF file)
Julian Dibble has a chapter from his book "My Tiny Life" that explores the consequences of severely anti-social behavior and deception online, specifically about one particular incident that took place in LambdaMOO, a MOO/MUD run by researchers at Xerox:
Katie Hafner's article about The Well from Wired back when it was still
marginally worth reading is an interesting exploration of function and
dysfunction in one of the earliest net.communities:
MARKETING MATTERS
I first saw Jim Sterne speak at Internet World in Boston some years back
(and they haven't held it in Boston in a long time, so it was quite a while
ago, probably around 1995 or 96). He's a marketing guy who really groks the
web. In his talk back then, he earned my everlasting admiration for ripping
apart the web site of my then-employer. I went up afterwards and thanked
him for giving me ammunition for my running battle with the artists I
worked with, who, incidentally, had designed the site he had spent 15
minutes dissecting.
Jim's Full Sterne Ahead newsletter comes out monthly and is filled with stories of marketers who get it and, more amusingly, marketers who don't.
USABILITY MATTERS
Usability!
<http://www.cybercandy.co.uk/ntk/>
(Thanks PeterMe)
ERNIE KOVACS
I've long felt that the web is just waiting for our very own Ernie Kovacs to finally show us how this all should be done. Who's Ernie Kovacs, you ask? Basically, he was the first person to make television as television, rather than as radio with pictures or plays in front of cameras. He was a comic genius, and invented much of the visual vocabulary of television that we take for granted today. His "Eugene", a half-hour completely without dialog, was absolutely amazing, and the sight gags he invented to take advantage of the medium are still being recycled to this day.
The best page I've found about Kovacs' mad inventiveness with the medium is a transcript of an interview he gave the Canadian Broadcasting Company in 1960.
That interview is part of a truly wonderful site, Kovacsville On-Line, about his whole career, from his entry into local Philadelphia television in 1950 until his untimely death in a car accident in 1962.
The Ernie Kovacs Site has a nice bio of Ernie and covers the basics.
The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia have a page devoted to Ernie and particularly his early, Philadelphia-based career, including a picture from a 1952 show, some great stories, and some insight into the tricks he used to get the effects he desired on virtually no budget. There's also a RealMedia clip of some 8 mm film footage from March, 1952, of Ernie and company clowning around in the studio.
The best photos of Kovacs (well, only two of them) are on the still-under-construction Ernie Kovacs - Nothing in Moderation site:
<http://www.erniekovacs.com/hey.htm>
Ernie also did some movies, but as he says in the CBC interview, his heart was really on the other side of the camera, and TV was his medium.
<http://us.imdb.com/Name?Kovacs,+Ernie>
I think about Ernie every time I'm faced with a problem when putting a web site together and am trying to come up with an innnovative solution. Kovacs was a visionary; I'm still waiting for one to show up on the web and provide the conventions that will seem blatantly obvious in retrospect.
"Television, a medium -- so called because it's neither rare nor well done."
--Ernie Kovacs
APROPOS OF NOTHING
The site for the movie "The Dish" is one of the few sites where I've
enjoyed the use of Flash. I think it's a clever interface, a little artsier
than I usually like, but entirely appropriate given the subject matter:
<http://thedishmovie.warnerbros.com/>
I really want to see this movie; I think anyone who grew up watching the
Apollo space program would want to. I remember going to my grandmother's
house to see the moonwalk because they had a color TV and we didn't. Of
course, the video feed from the moon was in black and white, but no matter.
I hope the movie eventually opens in a theater closer than an hour and a
half from my house....
And for good measure, here's the site with the original Australian trailer:
<http://www.workingdog.com/wdog.html>
(Ralph Brandi is a webmaster and user advocate for a really cool research
lab trapped in the body of a large telecommunications firm. He has been on
the net since 1987 and building web sites since 1993. He will rant about
the importance of the user for hours to anyone who provokes him. Gates
Brown was the best pinch hitter in the history of the American League, and
played for the Detroit Tigers for 13 years in the 1960s and 1970s. More
info on Gates at <http://www.nadiacomaneci.com/library/article135.htm>.
Really.)
--
Ralph Brandi write: glea