August 2003

Standards: Designing for the Future

"Here's where I begin to fly in the face of common consensus - it being that if you code to web standards, it makes for easier maintenance of your site to those joining a project later. My experience has, thus far, shown the opposite to be true. It pains me to admit this." (Ian Lloyd - Mezzoblue)

Posted by PJB on August 28, 2003 | Classification: Technology | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Synonym Rings and Authority Files

"Synonym rings and authority files are simple, common-sense ways to help users connect the various semantic concepts that are inherently intertwined with the term they choose. They are particularly good for large decentralized sites that are search dominant and have little centralized control over content." (Karl Fast, Fred Leise and Mike Steckel - Boxes and Arrows)

Posted by PJB on August 27, 2003 | Classification: Information architecture - Metadata | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

History Flow: Visualizing Dynamic, Evolving Documents and the Interactions of Multiple Collaborating Authors

"Most documents are the product of continual evolution. An essay may undergo dozens of revisions; source code for a computer program may undergo thousands. And as online collaboration becomes increasingly common, we see more and more ever-evolving group-authored texts. This site is a preliminary report on a simple visual technique, history flow, that provides a clear view of complex records of contributions and collaboration." (IBM Collaborative User Experience Research Group) - courtesy of vanderwal

Posted by PJB on August 27, 2003 | Classification: InfoViz | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

IIID Expert Forum, Financial Services 

April 1-2, 2002 NYC: Agenda, Participants, and Presentation Abstracts (IIID)

Posted by PJB on August 26, 2003 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

The New Frontier of Experience Innovation

Abstract: "The intent of experience innovation is not to improve a product or service, per se, but to enable the co-creation of an environment in which personalized, evolvable experiences are the goal, and products and services are a means to that end. Profitable company growth will then result from individual consumers co-creating their own unique value, supported by a network of companies and consumer communities." (C.K. Prahalad and Venkatram Ramaswamy - MIT Sloan Management Review) - courtesy of shiv singh

Posted by PJB on August 26, 2003 | Classification: User experience | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Toward the Evocation of Meaning

"From Greek and Roman times to the modern period, architecture has been created in a search of the answer to the question 'What is architecture?' Not only architecture but the epistemological question of what being is, of what the existence of the world is, has been the central issue of Western metaphysics from the time of Aristotle, through Plato, Descartes, Hegel, and the thinkers of the modern age. The presupposition of this epistemological search has been that there is a single and true notion of existence that can be fully described based in terms of logos, or reason. The epistemology of architecture has been that there is a sole, universal, true phenomenon 'architecture', which can be comprehended logically by people of every nationality and culture. This epistemology is identical with the epistemology of the Modern Architecture of the modern age." (Kisho Kurokawa) - courtesy of kelake

Posted by PJB on August 26, 2003 | Classification: Metadata | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Usability 101

"Usability is a quality attribute that assesses how easy user interfaces are to use. The word 'usability' also refers to methods for improving ease-of-use during the design process." (Jakob Nielsen - Alertbox)

Posted by PJB on August 25, 2003 | Classification: Usability | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

The Origin of Personas

"Personas, like all powerful tools, can be grasped in an instant but can take months or years to master." (Alan Cooper - Cooper)

Posted by PJB on August 24, 2003 | Classification: UCD | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Yuri Web: Explanatory Graphics, Information Visualization, New Media

"As soon as I have some time off from teaching, I'll build a website here. For the time being, here is just a short selection from my bookmarks (...)" (Yuri Engelhardt - Dept. of Media Studies, University of Amsterdam)

Posted by PJB on August 22, 2003 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

AIfIA Annual Report 2002-2003

"In March of 2002, Louis Rosenfeld and Christina Wodtke invited a group of people to discuss how to advance the field of information architecture (IA). One previous effort, ACIA, provided valuable information but was too closely paired to a commercial company to be sustainable. Another, Info-Arch.org, generated many grass-roots ideas but few concrete results. The new group was large enough to represent diverse opinions yet small enough to stay focused on the task. After eight months of online discussions, phone calls, and a meeting at the Asilomar Conference Grounds in California, the idea of the Asilomar Institute for Information Architecture (AIfIA) was born." (Asilomar Institute for Information Architecture)

Posted by PJB on August 22, 2003 | Classification: Information architecture | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Content? Or Dis-content? A Content Requirements Plan helps Web designers take a leadership role

"The most effective way to start researching and documenting your content design strategy is to begin with a solid Content Requirements Plan (CRP). This enables you to develop a content design strategy so that your Web design efforts are driven by content requirements and supported by your business leaders or clients. A CRP is a project management-style foundational document to guide every aspect of content, design, development, and measurement for Internet projects." (GA. Buchholz - Digital Web Magazine)

Posted by PJB on August 22, 2003 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Emergent Architecture

"This document itself has an emergent nature. There is no essay plan, there is no marking guide, there is no expectation of word count or of completion deadline. This process is already instructive: I noticed that I've planted a thousand seeds, which I already know not all will flower." (Eric Scheid - IAwiki)

Posted by PJB on August 22, 2003 | Classification: Information architecture | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Are You Looking in All the Wrong Places?

"This close look at design firm IDEO can tell you how to uncover your hidden breakthrough assets and come up with great new ideas." (Andrew Hargadon - darwin) - courtesy of challis hodge

Posted by PJB on August 21, 2003 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Setting Expectation: Don't forget the little things

"There is a level of expectation that is set with most every interaction that we have. Brand interaction is no different. Whether with an established brand that has been a trusted friend throughout the years or an upstart concept that catches our interest, expectations are continually challenged and anchor our every interaction." (Stephen Bury - Thread Inc.)

Posted by PJB on August 21, 2003 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

A Thesaurus Interchange Format for the Semantic Web

"(...) the Thesaurus Interchange Format (TIF) enables the development, integration and deployment of thesauri on the semantic web. The TIF is an RDF schema, based on the concept-oriented thesaurus model." (SWAD-Europe)

Posted by PJB on August 21, 2003 | Classification: Metadata | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Hypertext '03 Conference List of Papers & Poster Presentations

The Fourteenth Conference on Hypertext and Hypermedia: August 26-30, 2003 - Nottingham, UK (ACM SIGWeb)

Posted by PJB on August 21, 2003 | Classification: Hypertext | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

The Language of Graphics: The Lecture

Summary by Rubén Hinojosa Chapel - "Designers make graphics for transmitting some kind of information, which is interpreted by another persons so, it is reasonable to think about the existence of a language behind those graphics. Graphic representations can be regarded as expressions of visual languages. Like any language, a particular visual language involves a particular visual vocabulary and a particular visual grammar. Certain common notational habits, such as the drawing of lines between entities that have some kind of relationship, the arrangement of entities on a time line, or the use of different colors in order to indicate categories of some kind, are shared by many of these visual languages." (Yuri Engelhardt) - courtesy of elearning

Posted by PJB on August 20, 2003 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

PowerPoint is Evil. Power Corrupts. PowerPoint Corrupts Absolutely

"Imagine a widely used and expensive prescription drug that promised to make us beautiful but didn't. Instead the drug had frequent, serious side effects: It induced stupidity, turned everyone into bores, wasted time, and degraded the quality and credibility of communication. These side effects would rightly lead to a worldwide product recall." (Edward Tufte - Wired) - courtesy of beth mazur

Posted by PJB on August 20, 2003 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

The Design of Sites: Patterns, Principles, and Processes for Crafting a Customer-Centered Web Experience

Douglas K. van Duyne, James A. Landay, and Jason I. Hong: "Design patterns are a way of communicating common design problems that web designers face, as well as solutions that work in practice." (Antonio Volpon - Evolt)

Posted by PJB on August 19, 2003 | Classification: Interviews | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Information Architecture for Designers: Structuring Websites for Business Success

"(...) low on theory, high on practice. It contains practical examples, how-toís, doís and doníts and ready-to-use templates, illustrating concepts, tools and deliverables that can be used immediately in real life by anyone responsible for designing web sites. Practical explanations and tips are illustrated with case studies from industry leaders like IBM and Microsoft, and clear explanations of the latest cutting-edge research from the academic world." (Peter van Dijck)

Posted by PJB on August 18, 2003 | Classification: Information architecture | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Explanatory & Instructional Graphics and Visual Information Literacy

"This workshop will bring together information designers who create explanatory graphics in various sectors of industry, media and public service - and teachers and others in higher education who teach visual communication or information studies, or who aspire to use explanatory graphics better in teaching their subjects." (Sept. 24, 2003 - London, UK)

Posted by PJB on August 18, 2003 | Classification: Events | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Mobile Devices: One Generation From Useful

"New mobile devices show a huge improvement over previous generations, but they're still not good enough to score a real win. To get there, we need both PC-integrated applications and specialized mobile services rather than repurposed website content." (Jakob Nielsen - Alertbox)

Posted by PJB on August 18, 2003 | Classification: Usability | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

The Myth of Discoverability

"Discoverability is often defined as the ability for a user of a design to locate something that they need, in order to complete a certain task. Itís common to hear programmers and designers utter the phrase 'that wonít be discoverable', while pointing to a specific command or link they believe users will fail to find. The trap, and the myth, of discoverability is that in any design, not everything can be discoverable." (Scott Berkun - uiweb.com) - courtesy of matt jones

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

The Best Tool to Discover User Needs

"The most valuable asset of a successful design team is the information they have about their users. When teams have the right information, the job of designing a powerful, intuitive, easy-to-use interface becomes tremendously easier. When they don't, every little design decision becomes a struggle." (Jared Spool - User Interface Engineering)

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

XForms Essentials

"(...) XForms, a combination of two of the most successful experiments ever performed on the Web: XML and forms." (Micah Dubinko)

Posted by PJB on August 14, 2003 | Classification: Technology | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Lou Rosenfeld uses Entreprise to employ the Best of Librarianship

"Returning to the challenges of managing data, he singles out two problems common to many IA situations: a failure to keep up with information explosion (...); and the other side of the coin, stuff that is good at present but won't be within six months. 'We now use a term a client gave us: rot ñ redundant, outdated and trivial ñ and if you leave content alone it turns to rot. Itís a great acronym.'" (Ann Light - Usability News)

Posted by PJB on August 14, 2003 | Classification: Information architecture | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Breadcrumb Navigation: Further Investigation of Usage

"Breadcrumb users were found to use the Back button less often than users who did not use the breadcrumb; however, no differences were found in the efficiency measures of total pages visited, navigation bar clicks, embedded link clicks, or time to complete the search tasks." (Bonnie Lida Rogers and Barbara Chaparro - SURL 5.2) - courtesy of webword

Posted by PJB on August 14, 2003 | Classification: Navigation | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

What is Adaptation?

"Many interface designers seeking to build adaptive UIs donít have a good understanding of adaptation. By starting from a more general theory, perhaps the resulting applications will provide richer interaction." (Carson Reynolds - Do You Know Where You Are?)

Posted by PJB on August 12, 2003 | Classification: Adaptation | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Cognitive Psychology & IA: From Theory to Practice

"(...) having a background in cognitive psychology supports the practice of information architecture, and it is precisely those interconnections and support that will be explored." (Jason Withrow - Boxes and Arrows)

Posted by PJB on August 12, 2003 | Classification: Information architecture | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

(Not) Defining The Damn Thing

"Labels and definitions inevitably vary from context to context. But is it unethical to consciously provide different answers to the same questions? No, but it is a bit two-faced and can sometimes make one feel a bit uncomfortable. Just remember: we're always speaking different languages in different contexts. Itís simply a requirement for effective communication." (Louis Rosenfeld - Boxes and Arrows)

Posted by PJB on August 12, 2003 | Classification: Information architecture | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Automating the Design of Visual Instructions

"Visual instructions are a common part of our daily lives. Maps, training manuals, textbooks, architectural plans, scientific papers, and street signs all use visual diagrams to communicate instructions. Yet, even the simplest visualizations typically take hours or days to design by hand, and therefore it is not currently possible to adapt and personalize instructions to the task, person, and situation for which they are eventually used. In contrast, while current computer-generated visualizations can be generated very quickly, these systems disregard many of the cognitive design principles that guide human designers. As a result current computer-generated visualizations can be very difficult to use." (Maneesh Agrawala) - courtesy of yuri engelhardt

Posted by PJB on August 11, 2003 | Classification: Information graphics | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Information Pollution

"Excessive word count and worthless details are making it harder for people to extract useful information. The more you say, the more people tune out your message." (Jakob Nielsen - Alertbox)

Posted by PJB on August 11, 2003 | Classification: Usability | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

The Evolution of Large Websites

"If you're part of a large organization, your website will probably have been started by a small group of evangelists. It will have grown in a very ad hoc manner. Gradually, senior management will have become more involved. Finally, the website will have been viewed as just another business tool, and managed as such." (Gerry McGovern)

Posted by PJB on August 11, 2003 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Lessons of Three Dimensions for the Web

"A two dimensional system is hard pressed to provide the kind of spatial cues that make path finding comfortable and memorable. Perhaps this is why after nearly eight years of Web site design, users still complain about getting lost within interactions and information." (Luke Wroblewski)

Posted by PJB on August 11, 2003 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Usability Professionals Must Disappear

"(...) a good user experience practitioner is a facilitator - someone who quietly (having disappeared) guides the process, allowing knowledge to emerge, from users and the company alike. Instead of coming in with the answers, or the framework, or (my personal favorite) 'the 200 rules of user experience design', they should come in with their auditory organs turned up to eleven." (Mark Hurst - Good Experience)

Posted by PJB on August 08, 2003 | Classification: Usability | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Review: A Pattern Language for Web Usability

"The notion of 'patterns', and of a 'pattern language', comes from the work of Christopher Alexander, a contemporary architect who proposed the use of collections of architectural patterns to address deficiencies in modern building design. In later works, Alexander expanded the scope of his rather fascinating concept of patterns to a broader design context. In the early 90s, computer scientists began to apply Alexander's work to software development. The Web usability pattern language described in this book resulted from the collaborative efforts of attendees at a workshop hosted by the author in 1994." (Carl Bedingfield - ACM Ubiquity)

Posted by PJB on August 08, 2003 | Classification: Patterns - Usability | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Business Is About People

"It is really pretty simple: you must understand people to design and brand a successful product. You must understand people to create a healthy organization that inspires loyalty and productivity. In order to create revenue you must understand people. In order to operate an effective organization with low costs you must understand people. People are the common denominator." (Dirk Knemeyer - Thread)

Posted by PJB on August 07, 2003 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Differentiate Your Message. Deliver Your Information. Tell Your Story.

"(...) white papers on information architecture and visual explanation: 'Why Your Web Site Needs Information Architecture' & 'Why Your Ideas Need Visual Explanation'" (Dynamic Diagrams)

Posted by PJB on August 07, 2003 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

The Feel Factor

"If IDEO is the yang of the design industry, then Sony is the yin as the two companies ideologies are diametrically opposed." (Simon Tsang - The Age) - courtesy of fabio sergio

Posted by PJB on August 07, 2003 | Classification: UCD | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Designing with Web Standards

"It takes the same amount of work and money to design for one browser as it does to design for all browsers and devices." (Jeffrey Zeldman)

Posted by PJB on August 06, 2003 | Classification: Technology | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Colours on the Web

"My hope with this site is that some of you that happen to stumble upon it will more realize the importance of colours - to learn that there is more to colours than you used to think. This will be a step in the right direction for colours on the Web." (Donald Johansson - Web Whirlers) - courtesy of lucdesk

Posted by PJB on August 06, 2003 | Classification: Visual design | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Basic IA Articles

"Simple, well written articles suitable for someone structuring their first site" (Donna Maurer - IAwiki)

Posted by PJB on August 06, 2003 | Classification: Information architecture | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Using XHTML/CSS for an Effective SEO Campaign

"If youíre reading this article in the hopes of learning how to get an adult site listed in the 'school supplies' category on Google, we kindly suggest you fall off the face of the earth. Any hate mail regarding this can be directed to sally@morekinky.net. It's due time to pay her back for all those 'petting zoo pictures' that manage to bypass my spam filtering system." (Brandon Olejniczak - A List Apart)

Posted by PJB on August 05, 2003 | Classification: Search - Technology | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Visual Symbols Library

"Hand picked by digital design pioneer Clement Mok, these high-quality images are drawn from the best of his acclaimed image collection (...). All we require for registration is your name and email address." (About the Visual Symbols Library) - courtesy of antenna

Posted by PJB on August 05, 2003 | Classification: Visual design | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Yahoo! Groups: Interaction Architects

"Started by Tog to discuss, settle upon, and promote a single, universal name for the practice of human computer interaction design/architecture" (Yahoo!)

Posted by PJB on August 05, 2003 | Classification: HCI | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Open Content and Value Creation

"In this paper, I consider open content as an important development track in the media landscape of tomorrow. I define open content as content possible for others to improve and redistribute and/or content that is produced without any consideration of immediate financial reward - often collectively within a virtual community. The open content phenomenon can to some extent be compared to the phenomenon of open source. Production within a virtual community is one possible source of open content. Another possible source is content in the public domain. This could be sound, pictures, movies or texts that have no copyright, in legal terms." (Magnus Cedegen - First Monday 8.8)

Posted by PJB on August 04, 2003 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Why We Get No Respect, and What We Can Do About It

"It's time interface designers, or whatever we're calling ourselves, get some respect. After 25 years of wining about it, I've finally realized we have only ourselves to blame." (Bruce Tognazzini - AskTog) - courtesy of webword

Posted by PJB on August 04, 2003 | Classification: HCI | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Quality Publishing Is About Saying No

"Are the people who have least to say in your organization publishing most on your intranet or public website? Are the people who have most to say publishing least? You're not alone. Organizations are slowly realizing that managing a website is as much about what you don't publish as what you do." (Gerry McGovern)

Posted by PJB on August 04, 2003 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

Selling User Research to the Reluctant

"Researching the users of your product is extremely important in making it more popular, more profitable, and more compelling. But companies make products, not user research teams. A company needs more than data about its users; it needs to be able to take that knowledge and act on it. Unless the benefits and techniques of user-centered design and research are ingrained in the processes, tools, and mind-set of the company, knowledge will do little to prevent problems." (Mike Kuniavsky - Usability News)

Posted by PJB on August 04, 2003 | Classification: UCD | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack

The Real Underground

"In 1933, Harry Beck designed the London Underground Map. But ... Was Design's gain Geography's loss?" (London's Transport Museum) - courtesy of dirk knemeyer

Posted by PJB on August 04, 2003 | Classification: Information graphics | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack