All posts from
July 2009

What is Global and What is Local? PDF Logo

Added on 10 July 2009 Peter Bogaards
A Theoretical Discussion Around Globalization – “This article develops a new sociological understanding of the difference between global and local relating to the phenomena of globalization. Globalization itself is redefined as one of society’s self-description insofar as, following Niklas Luhmann’s theory, society is conceived as a cognitive system that can only handle information (about the world, about itself) only through its own specific operation (communication), so that globalization affects society solely when the later communicates about the former.” (Jean-Sébastien Guy – Parsons Journal of Information Mapping I.2)

History of Graphic Design

Added on 10 July 2009 Peter Bogaards
“This site was first launched in 1999 to accompany my lectures on the History of Graphic Design. I devised this unique format of presenting the information by topics because I saw that students were overwhelmed by the scope of the topic or most texts I also saw that they learned more when the discussions included direct links to what is happening in design today. It seems to work well for visual artists who are not interested in a degree in art history.” (Nancy Stock-Allen) – courtesy of AP

Service Design Tools

Added on 8 July 2009 Peter Bogaards
“An open collection of communication tools used in design processes that deal with complex systems. The tools are displayed according to the design activity they are used for, the kind of representation they produce, the recipients they are addressed to and the contents of the project they can convey.” (About SD Tools) – courtesy of tvtongeren

Service Modeling Language 1.1

Added on 8 July 2009 Peter Bogaards
“This specification defines the Service Modeling Language, Version 1.1 (SML) used to model complex services and systems, including their structure, constraints, policies, and best practices. SML uses XML Schema and Schematron. (…) The Service Modeling Language provides a rich set of constructs for creating models of complex services and systems. Depending on the application domain, these models may include information such as configuration, deployment, monitoring, policy, health, capacity planning, target operating range, service level agreements, and so on. Models provide value in several important ways.” (W3C)

Book: Search User Interfaces

Added on 8 July 2009 Peter Bogaards
“Search is an integral part of peoples’ online lives; people turn to search engines for help with a wide range of needs and desires, from satisfying idle curiousity to finding life-saving health remedies, from learning about medieval art history to finding video game solutions and pop music lyrics. Web search engines are now the second most frequently used online computer application, after email. Not long ago, most software applications did not contain a search module. Today, search is fully integrated into operating systems and is viewed as an essential part of most information systems.” (Marti A. Hearst)

A formal description of ZigZag-structures PDF Logo

Added on 8 July 2009 Peter Bogaards
“The focus of this paper is on particular and innovative structures for storing, linking and manipulating information: the ZigZag-structures. In the last years, we worked at the formalization of these structures, retaining that the description of the formal aspects can provide a better understanding of them, and can also stimulate new ideas, projects and research. This work presents our contribution for a deeper discussion on ZigZag-structures.” (XanaWorkshop 2009)

New media vs. old media: A portrait of the Drudge Report 2002–2008

Added on 7 July 2009 Peter Bogaards
“The Drudge Report is one of the founding flag bearers of ‘new media’: a U.S.–based news aggregator founded in the late 1990s that has developed a reputation for breaking tomorrow’s news today. The site has become a powerful force in the U.S. media sphere and its founder was named one of Time Magazine’s most influential people in 2006. In existence for more than a decade, the Drudge Report makes an ideal case study for examining the ‘new media versus old media’ argument. How dependent is such a ‘new media’ aggregator on the ‘old media’ it draws from, and how does it find its breaking stories? A cross–section of analytical techniques is used to demonstrate how to profile a news Web site, and finds that the Drudge Report relies heavily on wire services and obscure news outlets to find small stories that will break large tomorrow, making it highly dependent on mainstream “old media” sites.” (Kalev Leetaru – First Monday 14.7)

How to get a job in usability

Added on 7 July 2009 Peter Bogaards
“When you’re looking for work, it’s easy to get discouraged. You’ll find that many emails don’t get any answers, many applications go unacknowledged, contacts say they’ll do something but then forget or get distracted. That’s not because you’re a bad person, a failure, or doomed never to get a job. It’s just what happens. Another friend was looking for a job during one of the previous recessions. He had a year of complete discouragement, and then finally three great job offers appeared in the same week. Hang in there, keep positive (somehow) and eventually you’ll get the job you want.” (Caroline Jarrett – Usability News)

The Mystery of Filtering by Sorting

Added on 6 July 2009 Peter Bogaards
“(…) for most users of consumer-facing ecommerce applications, the difference between a sort and a filter presents a mystery they understand dimly, if at all. The distinction between sorting and filtering blurs, because of a phenomenon I’ve called filtering by sorting, which leads to all sorts of interesting search user interface implications.” (Greg Nudelman – UXmatters)