From: Gleanings
To: jokers
Subject: Gleanings: still fixated on the ballot

OPENING THANG

I'm always amazed at the swiftness of satirists.

http://www.taterbrains.com/images/Floridaballot.jpg

http://www.pixelspill.com/floridaballots.html

and a reader submission! woo hoo!
http://eleganthack.com/blog/2000_11_01_pastblog.html#1325297

here a bonus
http://www.colonize.com/warp/index.html

And of course the CHI-WEB list on usability is having a field day discussing the ballot
http://www.acm.org/archives/wa.cgi?A1=ind0011b&L=chi-web#25

Highlight:

Statistical analysis including a regression test on the results of Palm
Beach vs. the rest of Florida
http://madison.hss.cmu.edu/

Interactive (java-based) plot of data
http://cuwu.editthispage.com/2000/11/08

Dan Bricklin (inventor of Visicalc) taking a usability perspective on the
issue:
http://www.bricklin.com/log/ballotusability.htm

GENERAL WEB HOO-HAH

This morning's webmonkey:
"Speaking of five-finger-discount sites, what a perfect time to take a
peeksee at some articles that cover the rights (and wrongs) of online
intellectual property owners:

Legislating Property of the Mind
http://go.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,39110,00.html/eg20001109
(or listen to it here:
http://go.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,39247,00.html/eg20001109)

How to Steal JavaScript
http://go.hotwired.com/webmonkey/99/30/index1a.html/eg20001109

Are You Stealing Fonts?
http://go.hotwired.com/webmonkey/97/36/index0a.html/eg20001109 "

from Tomalak

NY Times: Computer Controls? Save Your Breath.
Instead of using artificial interfaces like keyboards, we would simply talk to
our computers and they would talk back, vastly simplifying those interactions.
But speech has not become the universal interface for desktop computers, and
some experts say that it is unlikely to do so any time soon.
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/02/technology/02NEXT.html

IBM DeveloperWorks: From October 1999; Will voice interfaces replace screens?
Jakob Nielsen.
http://www.developer.ibm.com/library/articles/nielsen1.html

digitalMASS: Opting out of the online-buying labyrinth.
When I log in to my Etrade account, all I want to see is the amount of money
in each mutual fund I own and my money market. There is one screen that
presents all this data. But I'll be damned if I can remember which screen it
is, and I've had the account for six months.
http://digitalmass.boston.com/columns/ecommerce/1109.html
posted by Christina Wodtke 11/10/2000 8:01:38 AM

From: Gleanings
To: voters
Subject: Gleanings: one story, but what a story

THE STORY

it's a story Tufte would love: due to a badly designed ballot, voters in Palm Beach Claim they accidently voted for the wrong man, and are suing the goverment for a revote.

http://www.salon.com/politics/feature/2000/11/09/florida_vote/index.html
http://cnews.tribune.com/news/image/0,1119,sunsentinel-nation-82373,00.html

more
http://www.bushwatch.com/
http://www.gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/epaper/editions/today/news_2.html
http://www.tcpalm.com/_special/pres_returns.shtml
http://www.msnbc.com/news/466882.asp

both http://www.biggerhand.com and http://www.eleganthack.com/blog have pictures of the dodgy ballot, as do the majority of these news stories.
posted by Christina Wodtke 11/9/2000 6:05:53 AM

From: Gleanings
To: voters
Subject: Gleanings: no president but lots of usability

OPENING THANG

dang, this is the closest presidential election I've ever seen. at 6 a.m. this morning, it was still a tie, waiting for Florida to chose the next president.
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/results/

News.Com: Web sites run with early election results.
In a one-paragraph brief, Inside acknowledged that the latest presidential
election results remain wildly sketchy, but the online magazine nonetheless
posted the information based on reports given to it by several journalists who
saw the coveted data, which is collected by Voter News Service.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-3424618.html

USABILITY AND DESIGN MATTERS

everybody's talking about it:
"usability is dead"
http://www.adobe.com/web/gallery/valcasey/main.html

and I assume everyone has already read this while I was away?
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20001029.html
Flash: 99% Bad

here are the responses on CHI-WEB
http://www.acm.org/archives/wa.cgi?A1=ind0011a&L=chi-web#11
http://www.acm.org/archives/wa.cgi?A1=ind0011b&L=chi-web#2
and the posts where someone called for a "good use of flash anyone?"
http://www.acm.org/archives/wa.cgi?A1=ind0011a&L=chi-web#19

NEWS

Interactive Week: Microsoft Betting On The Tablet PC.
Tablet PC is the working title of a new concept from Microsoft -- and a pet
project of chairman and chief technology officer Bill Gates -- that, according
to sources, will be powered by processors from upstart chip maker Transmeta
Corp.
http://www.zdnet.com/intweek/stories/news/0,4164,2650823,00.html

NY Times: Publisher Sets Policy on E-Books.
Although the demand for books to be read on a screen remains largely
theoretical, agents for authors and publishers have already begun arguing over
how much of the proceeds from electronic book sales to bookstores and
middlemen should belong to writers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/07/technology/07BOOK.html
posted by Christina Wodtke 11/8/2000 7:11:37 AM

From: Gleanings
To: voters
Subject: Gleanings: election day

AMERICANS: DON'T FORGET TO VOTE

OPENING THANG

back from holland. ha. The pickled herring did not kill me. This one's short though, still playing catch-up.

Today's first gleaning was sent by Andi, and it's a hoot!

http://www.faxwerk.org/usabilitysucks/magritte.html

IA MATTERS

Great conference in La Jolla! Readup on the many presentations...
http://argus-acia.com/strange_connections/strange007.html

NEWS

Are we all thinking "acessibility"
Blind customers want to touch club lapdancers
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/etac=001851641145319&rtmo=lnk7bFlt&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/00/9/26/nlap26.html

SF Examiner: Quantifying the Internet.
If you ask Hal Varian of UC-Berkeley, he'll tell you the Net consists of 2.5
billion documents, growing at a healthy clip of 7.3 million pages a day.
Across the Bay, Net archivist Brewster Kahle simply points to the basement of
his Presidio office space. The whole Internet fits in there.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/archive/2000/11/05/BUSINESS8112.dtl

USA Today: Panel: Yahoo! can block access to Nazi items.
Yahoo! has the technical means to prevent French Internet users from accessing
its U.S. auction sites that trade Nazi-era items, a panel of experts including
Vinton Cerf, the man widely regarded as the ''father'' of the Internet, told a
Paris court.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/cti771.htm

Wired News: From May 22, 2000; France Gags Yahoo on Nazi Bids
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,36504,00.html

NY Times: V.C. Forsaking the Internet.
Indeed, for hundreds, maybe thousands of Internet companies founded with big
ambitions, it is becoming time to go home. The trickle of failures that has
steadily accompanied the growth of the Internet is now turning into a
flood.
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/06/technology/06DOT.html

Inside: Drudge Vows No Surrender on Posting Exit-Poll Results.
During primary season this past winter, three Web sites broke ranks with their
media peers by revealing exit-poll winners before the voting booths had
closed. But come next Tuesday, only Matt Drudge will risk the wrath of the
journalistic establishment and possibly of the courts...
http://www.inside.com/story/Story_Cached/0,2770,13878_13_1_1,00.html
posted by Christina Wodtke 11/7/2000 7:21:24 AM

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