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Wednesday, May 30, 2001

If you are an IA

You need this book
Mapping Websites: Digital Media Design

where am i

It has nothing to do with IA, but for those of you who care...chaumejean.

noel's on fire

shoot on over to the Carbon Log. Noel's on fire these days...

Tuesday, May 29, 2001

in france

not really connected; i basically carry my laptop up from the small cottage where there is no phone to the mainhouse to upload/download. so more when I return, on the sixth!

good design in chicago 2

Pictures from the good design show are up. Enjoy, and please tell me-- what makes design "good"??

Wednesday, May 16, 2001

3G a-list in-crowd maddness

Ready for some incentuous link-love that we've all come to expect from the bloglife? Well, this time it's 100% worth it. Chad Thorton has put up a brand spanking new usability blog, and it's already chock-full of content goodness. Plus it's got a great name: Brightly Colored Food

good design in chicago

I saw an exhibit of the 2000 Good Design Awards and pictures will follow shortly. The big question for me was what made these items winners? What is the essence of good design? More after I've slept on it...

Sunday, May 13, 2001

Google Provides Serendipity

A quick Google Search on drake hotel, chicago turned up the links I wanted, and one I didn't know I wanted... an elegant historical hotel. This is the first link I've clicked through in months. Just because it was relevent to me. (click on the picture to see full screenshot)

What's wrong: Sadly doesn't mention that it is in Chicago, which is something I can't assume since I get so many irrelevent suggestions from search engines.

And also what could "See your message here..." mean? "Advertisers: See your message here..." would have been more effective, perhaps.

a tool for (real) architects

While poking about preparing for my trip, I can across GreatBuildings.com, a very interesting site of information on the most renowed architectures of the world. Then that led me to Artifice DesignWorkshop Lite - Free 3D home design, walkthrough, and rendering software. I wonder how horrible it would be to try to model websites in 3-D, or if there is even a point. I know when I design the architecture of a website in my head, it is always 3-D.

Friday, May 11, 2001

Found it!

been looking for this for awhile: WebReview.com: Site Usability Evaluation
A poxy on webreview for breaking all the links to their fabulous articles; on the other hand a thanks to them for not taking them down...

Wednesday, May 9, 2001

My latest favorite metaphor

If you want to know why IA is needed, think of any huge organically evolved website, then go visit the Winchester Mystery House. Much like Sarah L. Winchester, many companies seem to feel that the "building must never stop." Sarah was afraid of ghosts who were held at arms length by the sound of hammers; companies are frightened by the market. And their websites have the equivalent of stairs that lead to nowhere (404) and doors opening to two story drops (fatal error)...

"Mrs. Winchester never had a master set of blueprints, but did sketch out individual rooms on paper and even tablecloths!"

Eerily enough I was just chatting with a fellow IA who told me about a client who sketched out the IA on a cocktail napkin, and off it went to production! It's true!!! Tours at 3, 5 and 7. Children under 12 admitted half-price.

Tuesday, May 8, 2001

anil dash explains it all

aka "The a-list part II"

Started up a correspondance with anil dash, and he was kind enough to tell me the story of the a-list and let me share it with you...

Well, story was perhaps overstating it. The fact is, no one's ever canonized an a-list, because no one knows who's on it. Except that Kottke surely would be. And, by extension, Meg. Even more curiously, there are people who are friends with all the a-listers, read by all of them, but *aren't* on the list. Judith's calamondin.com comes to mind.

That site that you saw at a-list.blogspot.com that was quickly abandoned was the work of Joe Clark, who also wrote a screed at
http://www.fawny.org/decon-blog.html

His whining there was prompted by the New Yorker's article on Blogger (well, it really focused on Meg & Jason's relationship) which the article's author has posted on her personal site at:http://www.rebeccamead.com/2000_11_13_art_blog.htm

It was at that point when people really started to pile on, through a
combination of opportunism and jealousy. This can be seen at MetaFilter
at http://www.metafilter.com/comments.mefi/4387

Then the topic clearly burned itself out and people got annoyed by any
mention of it. To me, that's when the fun started: http://www.metafilter.com/comments.mefi/4334

After that, any mention of Pyra or Blogger or any of the people who worked there inciting bitching about the whole thing, with the only common thread being (1) jealousy on the part of the whiners, mostly because their sites get fewer hits and (2) accusations of elitism. Which I consider largely crap (I'm guess I might be biased) because not one of the people who's ever been labeled as an a-lister has ever been anything other than cordial to me, either in person or via email or phone.

Here, then, is my stab at an A-List. There's many more that *might* be listed, but I've erred on the side of exclusion. Which seems appropriate, given the subject matter.

Kottke. This one's a given.
Megnut. See above.
Evhead. I think, by dint of him being the only one who stayed at Pyra.
Haughey. Because of the one-two punch of former Pyra employee status and
MetaFilter
Powazek. He's former Pyra and the {Fray}. That probably counts.

Beyond that, it gets a bit fuzzy. Peterme is considered one, although pretty much none of the others links to him anymore, except out of habit.

Nominees for inclusion would be Zeldman, although he's east coast like me and travels in very different circles. Possibly PB's Onfocus.com, as a former key Pyra guy. But he's very quiet and so's his site, so people tend to overlook him a bit. I think a strong case could be made for Heather's "Harrumph" but no one ever says anything bad about her because everyone likes her. So her a-list status would be pointless.

Judith's Calamondin has been referred to as a-list, which is again strange because, while many of the others in those circles read her site, she's pretty low-profile overall.

I'd probably personally include Brad Graham's Bradlands, as everyone
knows and loves Brad. By the same token, RCB's Rebecca's Pocket. But again, the whole point of the a-list is to bash its members, so neither of them fits the bill because you'd have to be a right bastard to find anything nasty to say about either.

I guess I'd throw in Zannah's /usr/bin/girl/ but she also seems to not engender a lot of antipathy, so she gets omitted, too.

Okay, my brain is empty now, and I can't think of anymore. This concludes my exhaustive study of the subject. Feel free to use this information as you wish. :)

a later note said

Even better, and more simple, check this out: Fan-faves. Ignore the first 2 or 3, and you're set.

First, how many diaries can one read on a regular basis?

Second, I can't imagine a list without lance .

But I didn't even know there was an a-list, so I can't be trusted.

relanguafication

On Language: Fulminations

William Safire contemplates misuses and reuses of words, include our fave, Information Architecture

"Word thievery in engineering has become especially acute," Tim Groninger, a project engineer seethes, "due to the ever-growing hunger for words in the world of computers. I can no longer use the word architecture in the traditional sense. The word now implies the design and construction of computer networks, not buildings."

Monday, May 7, 2001

seeking the a-list

Clearly there is something wrong with me. I became obsessed with discovering who the "a-list" is. I'm sure this is very old hat for most of you, so feel free to skip this post, since it has nothing to do with IA and everything to do with bizarre web subcultures. However, if you --like me-- rather enjoy bizarre web subcultures, hop on.

It all started with the ALA article on flaming the famous, which caused me to become obsessed with figuring out who the maligned four were.
"four writer-designers received praise for pioneering the personal storytelling site"
"the four had somehow "sold out.""
"Two of the four were so distressed by these accusations that they drastically curtailed their creative output"

Tease! So I read the forum in search of the four. That led me to Metafilter (I'd visited it before, but never gotten involved). MeFi led me to Shuffleboard where I briefly became a guru-groupie and flirted with jakob neilson (kinkier than becoming a furry).

I wandered back to MeFi where they had given me four names. I did a seach on "derek" and "powazek" hoping to track down the war that started it all. I finally did find it (or one of the wars, anyhow) on metatalk by searching on "webby" and following a link.

It was a pretty funny "flamewar"-- the worst the thread had to offer was a suggestion that {fray} was past it's prime (along the line of saying it's "so five minutes ago" and patently untrue). I did enjoy meg saying her grandmother was past her prime and she still loved her... woo, I thought I had a penchant for puttting my foot in my mouth. I never did find the insulted other three, but by that time I no longer cared.

Having now surfed MeFi and MeTa so much, I was amazed how often people referred to this "a-list" as if it were something written up somewhere. I did a quick search on it, and found no originating thread or official list. Shuffleboard soon convinced me that the a-list was a group hallucination held by heavy bloggers.

I was pleased to find metatalk, but almost immediately insulted matt (see comment regarding foot above). Sigh.

Continuing my inane streak. Woo hoo! No wiser, and never did figure out who the a-list consists of beyond meg, ev, cam(maybe), matt, powazek and kottke. But deeply amused trying so very hard to unravel something "everybody" knows.

Sunday, May 6, 2001

same question, new answer

Peter's come up with some Further Reflections on Information Architecture

"Intro
A bit back, attending the ASIS Summit on information architecture spurred me to write some reflections and projections on the field. This past week I attended Intranets2001, during which the subject came up, but this time among non-practitioners. Their perspectives lead to further reflection.
Discussed here:
What is IA?
Information Architecture != Architecture
Who Develops the Information Architecture?
Stop Whining About Marketing--Become Marketing!"

I have no opinion on this at this time. Heck, let me check.. yeah, I think I've actually run out of opinions. I've got to go lay down....

Saturday, May 5, 2001

360 degrees

Normally I don't like 3d/360/etc but Expedia.com 360° Tours: In the company of Mona Lisa is pretty cool. Something about 360-- you feel yourself to be in the space in a way a photo doesn't give you.

I got a new elph recently and enjoyed making a 360 degree view of my workspace. I zipped it btw, it's kinda big.

hate mail

I got my first bit of hate-email today, telling me I seem to have an opinion on everything and they are all inane. I suppose I'll be getting more of these as my site gets more traffic and as I broadcast my opinions and questions into the world. So how do I protect my ego from this. I immediately wanted to say "Hey, sorry how did I offend you? I'll change." Weird! I know I won't, for one thing, and I can't imagine peter writing such a mail.

I can't design my way out of paperbag, so I'm guessing I won't reach this level of attention. Or suffer from the level of attacks zeldman is getting on MetaFilter That's just cold!

There *is* a real human they are crushing and deifying in turn....

Friday, May 4, 2001

selling us.

Victor posts his Notes from the NYIA meeting on "How do we justify, sell, and measure IA and usability?"

It's interesting to contrast this with the SF one.

Anyone figure it out yet?

I said this on the SIGIA list, I'll say it again....

Sometimes I wonder why we have to fight so much.

Buildings are not built without blueprints (well, the winchester mystery house was. Hey, it *does* remind me of many large websites). Nor cars. Nor toasters! Amazon is more complicated than a toaster, don't you think?

In college you learned your papers would be better if you wrote an outline first.

When we sew clothes we use patterns to assure it will fit the human who will wear it (we even measure the end user first to assure success.)

Our whole lives we are taught that we should carefully plan out any project that will take a lot of time or cost a lot of money. Yet websites are built again and again by somebody "throwing up some pages." Over and over again when the schedule is short, the part that is often tossed out is the planning, the blueprinting, the thing that will make the product coherent. The IA.

I don't get it.

dreaming of razorfishes

Razorfish Founders Quit Top Management Positions

"Mr. Maheu, who once oversaw North American operations and corporate development at Razorfish, called Mr. Dachis and Mr. Kanarick "industry pioneers and visionaries" and said the company's goal was to "return to profitable operations and positive cash flow while successfully serving the expectations of our clients, shareholders and employees."

and

"The culture at Razorfish's NoHo offices stood out in comparison with other consulting firms for its warm and creative environment, employees have said. The two men, both from middle-class backgrounds, helped foster that, the employees said."

So why do I care? A friend was in the CIQ offices the other day talking about the early days of Razorfish and how it was one of the most nurturing amazing creative environments he had ever seen. That stood in sharp contrast with other stories I'd heard from another friend, of Razorfish being hell on earth for its employees.

I had always admired Razorfish greatly in my early days, amazed at their wonderful playful Christmas give-aways. I spent mucho time surfing their job listings not because I was job hunting, but because I liked to luxuriate in the interface like a hot bath. I applied once, I think, only to hear nothing. Later I heard tales of shocking arrogance to their clients, and I swore not to follow that example...

but I've only seen Razorfish from the outside. I have no idea what's true and what's not. They are a myth to me.

And now we carbonites are trying to build a nurturing creative environment, and I wonder what lessons can be learned. Is it just impossible to grow a company and not have it eventually own you? Is it important to stay small? Maybe nothing can last, and the only thing to do is grow a small company, then sell and start another. Maybe companies are like kittens... only cute when they are small.

(Don't get me wrong, I love cats. Quite more than I love corporations)

Thursday, May 3, 2001

What's jared up to....

Another User Interface Engineering White Paper.

Mr. Spool quotes "When users successfully use the categories on an e-commerce site, they actually are 3 times more likely to make an impulse purchase on the site." and says to the SIGIA list "I've believed for a long time that IA is critical to the success of sites. I'm glad we've finally started to get some convincing
evidence to prove it.

Of course it's all about registering to download the paper, but heck, he can say IA is key to website sucess as much as he wants! Go Jared...

basically I just want to go to the party

Hey all-- I'd like to attend the webby awards party-- I managed to wrangle an invite to the second and third, and would like to make this one. I'm always looking for a chance to wear an evening gown. I promise if you bring me I will compliment your outfit a minimum of three times, say something stupid to at least one nominee, and dance like a crazed weasel. Who can beat that offer? Anyone got a ticket?

Or write me in for the people's choice, and maybe they'll send me a ticket... noel put me in the education category. Doubt I have much chance in personal (me vs. fray... yeah, right) but you never know!

The Webby Awards: People's Voice

Wednesday, May 2, 2001

another one bites the dust

Lance Arthur was one of the first bloggers, one of the first folks to get nekkid online-- in his case in his life serial, through the naked files and through his many beautiful stories. He closes his weblog, "Life Serial" today. Glassdog goes on however (thank GOD).

"Writing about oneself obsessively (as if there is any other kind) becomes boring and trivial after a while. You begin searching for things to write about. You begin trying to make uninteresting things interesting to varying degrees of success and you take everything you write and look at it more critically and decide, more and more often, that it's crap.

Thus, I come to the end, here, of writing about the truth of things"

Principia Tognazzinia

developerWorks : Usability : The usability world according to Tog

"Effective interfaces are visually apparent and forgiving, instilling in their users a sense of control. Users quickly see the breadth of their options, grasp how to achieve their goals, and do their work."

"Effective interfaces do not concern the user with the inner workings of the system. Work is carefully and continuously saved, with full option for the user to undo any activity at any time."

"Effective applications and services perform a maximum of work, while requiring a minimum of information from users."