from Inf@Vis! Magazine

"The variability of human perception, the multiplicity of factors that play a part in a test with real users and the diversity of styles and web sites makes it advisable to weigh up any "rule of thumb" with extreme caution. The construction of a scientific theory about Usability is still years away."

Reading Louis Rosenfeld's Bloug

"Now there must be some sort of counter-counter-movement afoot: people who've experimented with classification schemes, and were disappointed to find that, yet again, there was no silver bullet to be found, just as with search engines."

Reality just keeps letting people down.

I read the original post that set Lou off, and they both have some merits. Doug is talking about bloggers using metadata, and I have to say, that's like writing the names of the people on in the photo on the back of your snapshots-- good idea observed in the exception rather than the practice.

Although making a shared vocabulary in the form of a catagory base might be interesting (in blog tools that use categories, such as MT), especially if this vocabulary was shared across some sort of site network.... with a thesuarus to catch stragglers?

Maybe a solution is a hybrid?

information design - a searchCRM definition

"Information design is the detailed planning of specific information that is to be provided to a particular audience to meet specific objectives."

this article is one of the few that talks about the relationship of IA, ID and interaction design...

I've been thinking a lot about interaction design as a part of good information architecture design, and also as an art in itself. Why is it such a quiet practice? Where is the noisy community, where is its Jared Spools and Lou Rosenfelds... of course there is always Cooper but that is so mingled in with his methodology of personas, one can hardly think of him as a proponent of the craft in itself.

Anyhow, all this prompted a search on google, which led me to The Interaction Design Patterns Home Page

So You Want To Be An Interaction Designer

and not a lot more...yet....

Task-Centered User Interface Design

"The central goal of this book is to teach the reader how to design user interfaces that will enable people to learn computer systems quickly and use them effectively, efficiently, and comfortably. The interface issues addressed are primarily cognitive, that is, having to do with mental activities such as perception, memory, learning, and problem solving. Physical ergonomic issues such as keyboard height or display contrast are covered only briefly."

STAMP - Secure, Template-Aware Mail Processor keeps spammers from harvesting your emal addresses.

The book page is now in MT, and that means comments! Go and give your opinion on the books!