November 2003

Understanding brand experience: The future of communication

"Brand Experience is a holistic approach to the design of a strong brand. It requires cross-organizational strategy and the well-planned integration of many different disciplines, from visual design to marketing to writing to information architecture to usability and beyond." (Dirk Knemeyer - AIGA Houston Dec. 4, 2003)

Posted by PJB on November 27, 2003 | Classification: Events | Comments (0) | Permalink

The connectivity sonar: Detecting site functionality by structural patterns

"(...) this research argues that sites of similar role exhibit similar structural patterns, as the functionality of a site naturally induces a typical hyperlinked structure and typical connectivity patterns to and from the rest of the Web." (Einat Amitay et al. - Journal of Digital Information/Theme: Hypermedia systems)

Posted by PJB on November 26, 2003 | Classification: Patterns | Comments (0) | Permalink

The connectivity sonar: Detecting site functionality by structural patterns

"(...) this research argues that sites of similar role exhibit similar structural patterns, as the functionality of a site naturally induces a typical hyperlinked structure and typical connectivity patterns to and from the rest of the Web." (Einat Amitay et al. - Journal of Digital Information/Theme: Hypermedia systems)

Posted by PJB on November 26, 2003 | Classification: Patterns | Comments (0) | Permalink

The importance of documentation: Discover what's missing in today's documentation efforts, and why it's gone

"As documentation decreases in quality, users stop turning to it. As users stop turning to it, companies stop trying to maintain it - why bother, if the users won't read it? This line of reasoning is dooming the future of documentation to failure. Documentation is important and needs to be taken seriously." (Peter Seebach - IBM developerWorks) - courtesy of lawrence lee

Posted by PJB on November 25, 2003 | Classification: TechCom | Comments (0) | Permalink

2003 Dublin Core conference: Supporting communities of discourse and practice - Metadata research & applications

"Overall the conference showed lots of enthusiasm in the use of standardized metadata for future inter-operability between institutions such as libraries, government agencies, and corporations. It was interesting to hear various DC people acknowledge that they needed more awareness of how DC was being used in non-traditional settings and ways, such as in corporations, with hardware, and in conjunction with other standards. It will be exciting to see how Dublin Core metadata and other metadata standards start to share a common ground with the information architecture community." (Madonnalisa Gonzales-Chan and Sarah Rice - Boxes and Arrows)

Posted by PJB on November 25, 2003 | Classification: Metadata | Comments (0) | Permalink

Executive dashboards

"An executive dashboard is an intranet for a select group of users. These users tend to be executives—VPs and above, the people who are the main decision-makers in the company." (Alex Kirtland - Boxes and Arrows)

Posted by PJB on November 25, 2003 | Classification: UCD | Comments (0) | Permalink

The CAA: A wicked good design technique

"Card sorting, which involves writing the content on index cards and asking users to sort them into logical piles, with the piles becoming the architecture of the site, tells us how to organize content. CAA is similar, except there aren't any cards." (Jared Spool - UIE Roadshow)

Posted by PJB on November 25, 2003 | Classification: Information architecture | Comments (0) | Permalink

Two sigma: Usability and six sigma quality assurance

"On average across many test tasks, users fail 35% of the time when using websites. This is 100,000 times worse than six sigma's requirement, but Web usability can still benefit from a six sigma quality approach." (Jakob Nielsen - Alertbox)

Posted by PJB on November 24, 2003 | Classification: Usability | Comments (0) | Permalink

Rapid navigation in online documents

"(...) to make electronically delivered documents far easier and more practical and faster to work with, by expanding beyond the "help topics" design paradigm. This site covers information structuring; rapid navigation; and designing Help, Web pages, and documents." (About hypertext navigation) - courtesy of victor lombardi

Posted by PJB on November 24, 2003 | Classification: Navigation | Comments (0) | Permalink

The intranet gets serious: Making knowledge sharing work - Part 2/4

"The intranet is beginning to restructure the organization in more ways than one. Content is now an asset, and the people who manage it need to treat it as such. Managing editors, and their team, understand how technology can facilitate effective publishing, collaboration and self-service focused application development." (Gerry McGovern)

Posted by PJB on November 23, 2003 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink

2003 about, with and for speakers

"For easy reference, we have posted notes from every 2003 About, With and For speaker session." (about, with and for - Institute of Design) - courtesy of peter merholz

Posted by PJB on November 23, 2003 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink

A presentation architecture for individualized content

"A current trend in the WWW is the generation of individualized web pages. Individualization as meant as in this article covers the complete range from inserting small pieces of text (such as the user's name) to composing the complete text of a page depending on properties of the user." (Alberto Gonzáles Palomo et al. - AH2003 Proceedings)

Posted by PJB on November 21, 2003 | Classification: Adaptation | Comments (0) | Permalink

Live help systems: An approach to intelligent help for web information systems 

"Since the creation of the World-Wide Web we have seen a great growth in the complexity of Web sites. There has also been a large expansion in number of Web sites and in amount of usage. As a consequence, more and more Web site users are having problems accomplishing their tasks, and it is increasingly important to provide them with support." (Johan Aberg - Adaptive Hypertext & Hypermedia)

Posted by PJB on November 21, 2003 | Classification: TechCom | Comments (0) | Permalink

Eliciting and describing users' models of computer systems

"The topic of this thesis is users' models: the representations users may form of the computer system which they are interacting with. It has been proposed that user interfaces which support the construction of appropriate users' models facilitate learning and use of computer systems." (Angela Sasse) - courtesy of iawiki

Posted by PJB on November 21, 2003 | Classification: UCD | Comments (0) | Permalink

EIDC newsletter

"The European Information Development Conference is the first European high quality event for professionals dealing with multilingual product information such as technical writers, web designers, documentation and information managers, translators, vendors. It provides an excellent platform for information and knowledge exchange between experts from the industry, researchers, education experts, service providers and free-lancers." (TCeurope)

Posted by PJB on November 18, 2003 | Classification: TechCom | Comments (0) | Permalink

uzCardSort

"Card Sorting is a methodology for assessing mental/conceptual models by asking users to categorize a list of terms. uzCardSort is open source (...)" (Andy Edmonds - mozdev) - courtesy of louis rosenfeld

Posted by PJB on November 18, 2003 | Classification: UCD | Comments (0) | Permalink

WordprocessingML schemas from Microsoft published

"(...) the xml schemas for Microsoft Office Word 2003 (WordprocessingML) along with documentation." (Infostructurebase) - courtesy of langemark

Posted by PJB on November 18, 2003 | Classification: Technology | Comments (0) | Permalink

Ethnography: A wiki

"Ethnography isÝa fascinating technique toÝdo research onÝhuman behaviour." (Peter Van Dijck) - courtesy of column two

Posted by PJB on November 18, 2003 | Classification: UCD | Comments (0) | Permalink

The intranet gets serious: part 1/4

"Finally, organizations are getting serious about how they manage their intranets. The intranet is now moving out of an evolutionary, experimental phase into a more systematic, managed phase. It is being seen as an asset, a driver of productivity. However, return on investment measurement for the intranet still requires a lot of work." (Gerry McGovern)

Posted by PJB on November 17, 2003 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink

The expert user is dead

"The expert user is dead, not because we no longer need sophisticated tools to find informationóemphatically we doóbut because we can no longer get away with designing for expert users only." (Leo Klein - Library Journal)

Posted by PJB on November 17, 2003 | Classification: UCD | Comments (0) | Permalink

User experience accountability: Assessing your impact on business results

"So often, user-experience designers are held accountable for process objectives. A successful project is one that meets budgets, deadlines, and specifications." (Scott Hirsch - Adaptive Path)

Posted by PJB on November 16, 2003 | Classification: User experience | Comments (0) | Permalink

Design by or for the people?

"User-centered design is now widely accepted, but the emphasis on its usability component under-estimates peopleís abilities and limits innovation." (Nico Macdonald | Spy) - courtesy of oskar van rijswijk

Posted by PJB on November 14, 2003 | Classification: UCD | Comments (0) | Permalink

Sorting things out: Classification and its consequences

"What sorts of things order these piles, locations, and implicit labels? We have certain knowledge of these intimate spaces, classifications that seem to live partly in our hands - definitely not just in the head or in any formal algorithm. The knowledge about which thing will be useful at any given moment is embodied in a flow of mundane tasks and practices and many varied social roles (...)" (Geoffrey C. Bowker and Susan Leigh Star) - courtesy of fabio sergio

Posted by PJB on November 14, 2003 | Classification: Metadata | Comments (0) | Permalink

Technology and trust: The evolution of e-commerce

"For every Amazon.com that gets things right (...), there are various other companies that struggle to provide a successful solution." (Dirk Knemeyer - Thread Inc.)

Posted by PJB on November 14, 2003 | Classification: User experience | Comments (0) | Permalink

Designing for decisions

"One of the greatest misconceptions about web sites is that they should be designed for selling.Users now come to web sites with the intent of exploring their options to make a decision. By making it easier for users to make decisions, we can create a much more compelling experience than a sales-oriented site." (Andrew Chak - UIE Roadshow)

Posted by PJB on November 13, 2003 | Classification: UCD | Comments (0) | Permalink

2004 Presidential homepage shootout targets speed and accessibility

"As candidates turn to web sites to help pump up support, the difference between winning and losing in a tight race could come down to satisfying donors and voters online. Fast page displays and easy accessibility are two measurable prerequisites to user satisfaction. To see how well the candidates fare online, we analyzed the ten presidential homepages for speed and accessibility, and compared these results to existing guidelines. So how did the candidate sites measure up? In a word, poorly." (Optimization Week Magazine) - courtesy of andy king

Posted by PJB on November 13, 2003 | Classification: Accessibility | Comments (0) | Permalink

User interface design for web applications: It is a different world from web site design

"The first lesson I learned was that each design decision is dictated by the focus of the project. The focus of my previous Web site projects was content; the focus of the application's user interface was task-based user entry forms." (Jean Tillman - Digital Web Magazine)

Posted by PJB on November 13, 2003 | Classification: HCI | Comments (0) | Permalink

The Hub: Intersections of interaction design

"(...) a blog and resource site created by the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea to explore interaction design. Interaction design takes place at the connection of technology and personal interaction with products, environments, spaces, platforms, services, social networks. The Hub offers a place for discussion and reflection about the state of interaction design today." (Interaction Design Institute Ivrea)

Posted by PJB on November 13, 2003 | Classification: Interaction design | Comments (0) | Permalink

The rhetoric of the Challenger disaster: A case study for technical and professional communication

"This Web site responds to the need for practical application of rhetorical principles in science and organizational communication. The site offers instructors of technical and professional communication a tool that allows them to bring concrete examples that illustrate rhetorical principles into the classroom. Using the Challenger disaster as the case study and theme, the site provides the social, political, and technical context of the disaster to help develop understanding of the background and exigence of the situation." (Association of Teachers of Technical Writing)

Posted by PJB on November 12, 2003 | Classification: TechCom | Comments (0) | Permalink

A short history of structured flowcharts

"The fascinating history and evolution of structured flowcharts (usually called Nassi-Shneiderman Diagrams or structograms) goes back to 1972. As a graduate student, I got the idea while attending an ACM organized talk in New York by Michael Jackson on structured programming. If GOTOs were to be avoided, then shouldn't the lines in old flowcharts be avoided as well. Fifteen minutes of sketching led to the first ideas of sequence, conditionals and iteration." (Ben Shneiderman)

Posted by PJB on November 12, 2003 | Classification: Classics | Comments (0) | Permalink

ColorMatch remix

"This colorpicker is (...) more compatible - it now works in Mozilla, and should also work in Opera, since I'm using a much better slider control. I've also added 3 more colors, bringing the total auto-generated colors to 9, and the ability to export your colors to a Photoshop color table." (twysted methyd) - courtesy of nathan steiner

Posted by PJB on November 12, 2003 | Classification: Visual design | Comments (0) | Permalink

Information architecture references

"Overviews, tutorials, methods, affinity diagrams, card sorting, free listing, prototyping, wireframes, comprehensive sites, articles, and related links." (University of Minnesota Duluth)

Posted by PJB on November 11, 2003 | Classification: Information architecture | Comments (0) | Permalink

We are all connected: The path from architecture to information architecture

"The physical world is a network where everything touches everything else and everyone touches everyone else. The connection can be physical, financial, emotional or spiritual, but itís there. This is even more the case in the virtual world. As its name suggests, the web is a system of connected networks. In our quest for information, we are linked from one site to another and another; there is no beginning or end." (Fu-Tien Chiou - Boxes and Arrows)

Posted by PJB on November 11, 2003 | Classification: Information architecture | Comments (0) | Permalink

Designing customer-centered organizations

"Organizations increasingly view usability and user-centered design to be a key ingredient in creating high quality products. Designing for ease of use is a well-accepted goal, even if many organizations have far to go to create user-centered products. Even with the present downturn in the economy, more companies, from new media to established banks, have larger usability and design teams than ever before." (John Zapolski and Jared Braiterman - Boxes and Arrows)

Posted by PJB on November 11, 2003 | Classification: UCD | Comments (0) | Permalink

Patterns for personalÝwebÝsites

"There are many personal Web sites. The vast majority are mediocre. Some are bad. Fewer are good. An extremely small number are excellent. (...) These patterns for creating personal Web sites have been distilled over the last few years from the most interesting personal Web sites I've found." (Mark L. Irons) - courtesy of elegant hack

Posted by PJB on November 11, 2003 | Classification: Patterns | Comments (0) | Permalink

Adopting user-centered design within an agile process: a conversation 

"eXtreme Programming and other Agile processes provide a middle ground between chaos and over-elaborate processes sometimes referred to as 'death by documentation'. A particular attrtactive aspect of the Agile approach for many teams is its willingness to accomodate change no matter how advanced development might be. However, this very flexibility can cause user interface design issues and ensuing usability problems. Adopting a user-centered approach to user interface design can address these issues, as I hope the following simulated conversation between a user-centered design consultant and an XP team leader will explain." (William Hudson - Syntagm) - courtesy of beth mazur

Posted by PJB on November 10, 2003 | Classification: UCD | Comments (0) | Permalink

Merging metadata and content-based retrieval

"Educational digital libraries employ resource discovery systems that are aimed at providing educators and learners with curriculum materials to support learning in both formal and informal settings. The article describes a 'hybrid' educational resource discovery system, which combines metadata and content-based retrieval methods. This hybrid system was implemented and evaluated in the context of the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE). A pilot study was conducted to compare this hybrid system with an existing metadata-based system, with the aim of finding out if the hybrid system helps educators locate relevant resources with less effort. The results of the study suggest that the hybrid system decreased the variability in the number of user actions required to locate learning resources. The hybrid system interface featured embedded links, pointing to inner pages within a larger compound learning resource; study participants made use of these embedded links to locate individual learning objects." (Dave Deniman et al. - Journal of Digital Information 4.3)

Posted by PJB on November 10, 2003 | Classification: Metadata | Comments (0) | Permalink

The ten most violated homepage design guidelines

"There are ten usability mistakes that about two-thirds of corporate websites make. The prevalence of these errors alone warrants attention, especially since they appear on sites with significant investment in usable design." (Jakob Nielsen - Alertbox)

Posted by PJB on November 10, 2003 | Classification: Usability | Comments (0) | Permalink

The dangers of publishing your website in another language

"Publishing your website in another language is like managing a brand new website. It demands people who are expert in writing and editing in that language. The standard of English on the Web, for example, is often poor, even for those whose native language it is. It can be embarrassingly bad for websites publishing English as a foreign language." (Gerry McGovern)

Posted by PJB on November 09, 2003 | Classification: Writing | Comments (0) | Permalink

Executive dashboards: An information design approach

"(...) the most difficult part is often not the decision making itself but identifying what data and information are relevant and having easy access and appropriate presentation of it." (Dirk Knemeyer - Thread Inc.)

Posted by PJB on November 09, 2003 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink

Schema theory: A basis for domain information design

"Schema theory explains interrial conditions of learning, which can be applied in instructional design in various ways. In this paper, schematic interpretation of human cognition is first related to human capabilities, for which instruction is designed. Then, instructional implication of the schema theory will be discussed for integration of learning outcome domains. Finally, Procedures for the design of instruction will be suggested emphasizing integration of various outcome domains." (Katsuaki Suzuki (1987) - Department of Educational Research - Florida State University)

Posted by PJB on November 08, 2003 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink

Visitor experience design

"This model moves away from the solely content or task-oriented approach as this tends to lead to system-centric designs. What is important here is that this model supports the content and task-oriented perspectives, as well as integrating research and immersion. The inclusion of a research perspective provides insights leading to the understanding of motivations and emotions of visitors." (Clifton Evans - infostyling.com) - courtesy of iawiki

Posted by PJB on November 07, 2003 | Classification: User experience | Comments (0) | Permalink

The document triangle: The interdependence of the structure, information and presentation dimensions

"Every paper and digital document shares three basic dimensions: structure, information and presentation. Although these dimensions are always interwoven, some people in the digital world mostly focus on document structures (e.g. information architects), some on the information they contain (e.g. marketers and writers/editors) while others specialize in the (interactive) presentation aspects (e.g. visual designers and Flash developers). The mutual dependence and interaction of these dimensions is the next level of design and does not regularly get the proper attention." (Peter J. Bogaards - BogieLand)

Posted by PJB on November 06, 2003 | Classification: Special | Comments (0) | Permalink

Symposium on foundations of interaction design

"On 12 and 13 November, Interaction Design Institute Ivrea organises an international symposium to promote and initiate a discussion on the theoretical foundations of interaction design." (Interaction Design Institute Ivrea) - courtesy of ben hyde

Posted by PJB on November 06, 2003 | Classification: Events | Comments (0) | Permalink

The dispassionate statistician

"The only difference is, Byrne is as serious about his attraction to Powerpoint as Tufte is in his denigration of it. Both Byrne and Tufte are self-proclaimed experts." (Jessica Helfand) - courtesy of beth mazur

Posted by PJB on November 06, 2003 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink

Information design: a journey from print to personal messaging 

"What is information design? Fundamentally, it is about presenting information in ways that help readers understand." (Boag Associates) - courtesy of city of sound

Posted by PJB on November 06, 2003 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink

Metadata and search

"Metadata is fundamental to persons, organizations, machines, and an array of enterprises that are increasingly turning to the Web and electronic communication for disseminating and accessing information." (Dublin Core Metadata Initiative)

Posted by PJB on November 06, 2003 | Classification: Search | Comments (0) | Permalink

The art of usability benchmarking

"One common concern raised by managers and engineers alike is this: how usable is enough? This question, and the absence of an easy answer, is often the first defense people offer against investing in usability and ease of use. The smart usability engineer or designer has at least one response: the usability benchmark. By capturing the current level of ease of use of the current product or website, a reference point is created that can be measured against in the future. It doesn't answer the question of how usable is enough, but if the benchmark is done properly, it does enable someone to set goals and expectations around ease of use for the future." (Scott Berkun - uiweb) - courtesy of lawrence lee

Posted by PJB on November 05, 2003 | Classification: Usability | Comments (0) | Permalink

Information Architecture Made As Simple As Possible - And No Simpler

"Web design has been through the evolutionary period - the period of experimentation. There was a time when nobody really understood how to design a website. It was new for all of us. But the Web is not so new anymore. So much has been learned and figured out about what works and what doesn't work. Your job can be so much easier by adapting best practices." (Gerry McGovern - UIE Roadshow)

Posted by PJB on November 04, 2003 | Classification: Information architecture | Comments (0) | Permalink

Acquiring Goods And Services Via The Internet: Consumer Shopping Perceptions

"(...) the largest number of items being purchased via the Internet is to fill love and affiliation needs, with physical needs being second. The Internet is also considered to be convenient and flexible, but less reliable and secure. Finally, the Internet is perceived to be least similar to purchasing from a store. These findings will help organizations conducting business via the Internet to better address the needs and wants of consumers, and system designers, marketers, managers, etc. can use these findings when assessing their organizationís Web transaction activity." (Lori N.K. Leonard - First Monday 8.11)

Posted by PJB on November 04, 2003 | Classification: User experience | Comments (0) | Permalink

Coding the Classroom: Technology and The Practice of Language

"The technology of the Information Age depends on programming languages for functionality. Because programming languages ultimately affect the production of language digitally, programming languages will inevitably demonstrate a lasting effect on the process of writing. Hence it is important to recognize the impact of programming languages on the production of language. It may well be the necessary first step in understanding technologyís reverberating presence in the classroom." (Claudia Herbst - First Monday 8.11)

Posted by PJB on November 04, 2003 | Classification: Writing | Comments (0) | Permalink

Can XML Drive Taxonomies and Categorization?

"Content management technology is almost de rigueur now in medium and large organizations, and along with it the problems of information overload. As a result, taxonomy development is now viewed as a core business issue." (Bill Trippe - EContent) - courtesy of column two

Posted by PJB on November 04, 2003 | Classification: Metadata | Comments (0) | Permalink

Role: Usability Specialist

Presentation by Eugene Chen (Aaron Marcus and Associates), Steve Krug (Advanced Common Sense), and Keith Instone (Usable Web) (AIGA Experience Design) - courtesy of croc o'lyle

Posted by PJB on November 04, 2003 | Classification: Usability | Comments (0) | Permalink

OK/Cancel: Interface Your Fears

"(...) a comic strip written for a very specific audience, but much of what we talk about is quite universal. Most everybody can relate to things in the world which don't work like they should -- and you needn't be a usability specialist, interaction designer, industrial designer or any sort of designer to appreciate that frustration. But if you ARE any of those aforementioned people or have had the pleasure and pain of working with one or more of this rare breed, this strip is for you. " (Kevin Cheng & Tom Chi)

Posted by PJB on November 04, 2003 | Classification: Usability | Comments (0) | Permalink

Content Management: Web Publishing Needs Real Discipline

"Too many organizations take an unprofessional approach to the content they publish on the Web. Many web managers still seem to believe that if they get the technology right the publishing will look after itself. Quality publishing requires skill and discipline. Unfortunately, discipline is something many web teams are lacking." (Gerry McGovern)

Posted by PJB on November 02, 2003 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink

Putting Facets on the Web: An Annotated Bibliography

"This is a classified, annotated bibliography about how to design faceted classification systems and make them usable on the World Wide Web." (William Denton - Faculty of Information Studies, University of Toronto) - courtesy of iaslash

Posted by PJB on November 01, 2003 | Classification: Metadata | Comments (0) | Permalink

Scenario-Based Design

All files on this site are PDFs. (MIT Virginia Tech)

Posted by PJB on November 01, 2003 | Classification: UCD | Comments (0) | Permalink

Research Based Web Design & Usability Guidelines

All files on this site are PDFs. (Usability.gov)

Posted by PJB on November 01, 2003 | Classification: Usability | Comments (0) | Permalink