June 2004

Restoring Confidence in Usability Results

"Adding confidence intervals to completion rates in usability tests will temper both excessive skepticism and overstated usability findings. Confidence intervals make testing more efficient by quickly revealing unusable tasks with very small samples. Examples are detailed and downloadable calculators are available." (Jeff Sauro - Measuring Usability)

Posted by PJB on June 29, 2004 | Classification: Usability | Comments (0) | Permalink

Why visual form matters for information architecture

"(...) the full version was recognized more than the content only version, recognized more than the form only version. The interesting finding is that when the form version was recognized, it happened twice as fast as for the other versions. (...) this is because the cognitive processing of visual information happens faster than that for verbal information. While there is some truth to that, let's play detective and identify what cognitive mechanism is the culprit here." (Rashmi Sinh) - courtesy of victor lombardi

Posted by PJB on June 28, 2004 | Classification: Information architecture | Comments (0) | Permalink

It's time to get serious about metadata

"When it comes to the Web, there is nothing more misunderstood than metadata. Technical people search vainly for a way to automate its creation. Many editors and writers want nothing to do with it. And yet without quality metadata a website cannot properly achieve its objectives. It’s time to get serious about metada." (Gerry McGovern)

Posted by PJB on June 27, 2004 | Classification: Metadata | Comments (0) | Permalink

Out with the New! The IA Summit at Five Years

"It's been five years, the Summit is pretty much a regular event now and writing a column about it has become a normal assignment for me too. Can we stop calling ourselves a new field now?" (Andrew Dillon - ASTS&T Bulletin 30.5)

Posted by PJB on June 25, 2004 | Classification: Information architecture | Comments (0) | Permalink

10 Accessibility Blunders of the Big Players

"Web accessibility is about making your Website accessible to all Internet users (both disabled and non-disabled), regardless of what browsing technology they're using. More and more countries have passed laws stating that Websites must be accessible to blind and disabled people. With this kind of legal pressure, and the many benefits of accessibility, the big players on the Web must surely have accessible Websites, right?" (Trenton Moss - sitepoint) - courtesy of deswozhere

Posted by PJB on June 25, 2004 | Classification: Accessibility | Comments (0) | Permalink

Papers from the Thirteenth International World Wide Web Conference

New York May 17-22, 2004 (WWW 2004) - courtesy of elearningpost

Posted by PJB on June 24, 2004 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink

Victor Lombardi: The InfoDesign profile

"Victor Lombardi is actively participating in the fields of information architecture and interaction design. He co-founded and served on the board of the Asilomar Institute for Information Architecture. He slaved away as designer for a number of companies, most notably four years at Razorfish. All this while teaching at the Parsons School of Design. He also led the information architecture practice at a global financial services company. Noise Between Stations is Victor's personal website." (InfoDesign: Understanding by Design)

Posted by PJB on June 23, 2004 | Classification: Special | Comments (0) | Permalink

Voting and Usability: Top 10 Things to Read

"This is a large field, and there is a lot of material to read. If you are just learning about voting, it can e a bit overwhelming. To help out, we've assembled a short list of the most critical readings on voting and usability." (UPA)

Posted by PJB on June 23, 2004 | Classification: Usability | Comments (0) | Permalink

UXnet Soft Launch

"User Experience (UX) is an emerging field concerned with improving the design of anything people experience: a web site, a toy, or a museum. UX is inherently interdisciplinary, synthesizing methods, techniques, and wisdom from many fields, ranging from brand design to ethnography to library science to architecture and more. (...) UXnet is dedicated to exploring opportunities for cooperation and collaboration among UX-related organizations and individuals." (UXnet Mission)

Posted by PJB on June 23, 2004 | Classification: User experience | Comments (0) | Permalink

Making Knowledge Management Work on your Intranet

"In the information economy, the longevity of an organization is based as much on the sophistication of its knowledge management practices as it is on traditional differentiators such as the strength of its products, the talent of its employees, and its marketplace reputation and partner relationships. Simply speaking, as actionable and insightful information becomes the currency of an organization, there are few other ways to tap into any latent potential lost in the office corridors." (Shiv Singh - Boxes and Arrows)

Posted by PJB on June 22, 2004 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink

User Experience Honeycomb

"For me, user experience design is a big hive: a dynamic, multi-dimensional space where there's still plenty of room to build new boxes and draw new arrows, at least for the next ten years." (Peter Morville - Semantic Studios)

Posted by PJB on June 22, 2004 | Classification: User experience | Comments (0) | Permalink

An Introduction to Information Architecture

"Information architecture (or IA) is the science -- some would insist art -- of defining the structure, organization, navigation, labeling and indexing of a Website. It is the role of the information architect to decide how a site should be structured, what kind of content it should host, and how to accommodate future growth. In short, information architecture defines the backbone of a Website." (Subha Subramanian - sitepoint) - courtesy of xblog

Posted by PJB on June 21, 2004 | Classification: Information architecture | Comments (0) | Permalink

Quality metadata makes for successful web content

"Metadata is a web writing skill. It helps your readers quickly find what they need. Metadata is an essential part of successful web sales and marketing efforts. It helps influence people to buy. In every sense, metadata can drive action. It can help you achieve your objectives." (Gerry McGovern)

Posted by PJB on June 21, 2004 | Classification: Metadata | Comments (0) | Permalink

Ten Best Government Intranets

"Redesigning an intranet for usability often more than doubled the use of these award-winning designs from ten public-sector organizations." (Jakob Nielsen - Alertbox)

Posted by PJB on June 20, 2004 | Classification: Usability | Comments (0) | Permalink

Managing Content with Automatic Document Classification

"News articles and Web directories represent some of the most popular and commonly accessed content on the Web. Information designers normally define categories that model these knowledge domains (i.e. news topics or Web categories) and domain experts assign documents to these categories. The paper describes how machine learning and automatic document classification techniques can be used for managing large numbers of news articles, or Web page descriptions, lightening the load on domain experts." (Rafael A. Calvo et al. - Journal of Digital Information Vol 5.2)

Posted by PJB on June 20, 2004 | Classification: Content management | Comments (0) | Permalink

Search Engine Optimization and Non-HTML Sites

"The mistake of building entire sites in Flash is not just an amateur's mistake - many leading Web designers, who are paid copious amounts of money, do the same thing. Sometimes the use of Flash is the only way to achieve a specific function (e.g. Web-based games), so you need Flash for that feature - but do you need it for the whole site?" (Alan K'necht - Digital Web Magazine)

Posted by PJB on June 17, 2004 | Classification: Search | Comments (0) | Permalink

Toward a Critical Practice in Design

"A critical practice challenges prevailing values through works based in some other set of values. This is a form of conscientiousness. In a world where technique has too often become an end in itself, a culturally critical attitude has become essential to meaningful design. How to seek and identify a problem is as important as how to solve a problem." (Usability News)

Posted by PJB on June 17, 2004 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink

90% of All Usability Testing is Useless

"When done right, usability testing will improve your Web site and your development process, but the current culture surrounding Web site usability testing is such that it rarely benefits the design. Worse, this misapplication can undermine the acceptance of this important technique throughout an organization." (Lane Becker - Adaptive Path)

Posted by PJB on June 16, 2004 | Classification: Usability | Comments (0) | Permalink

Web site usability quiz

"Test your knowledge of basic Web usability principles." (Human Factors International)

Posted by PJB on June 16, 2004 | Classification: Usability | Comments (0) | Permalink

How to get great content from people

"There is a need to connect the person who creates the content with the person who reads it. Content creation must be seen as an important and valuable task within the organization. When a piece of content delivers value, the person who created it should be praised and rewarded." (Gerry McGovern)

Posted by PJB on June 14, 2004 | Classification: Writing | Comments (0) | Permalink

What is Cognitive Ergonomics?

"Cognitive ergonomics is especially important in the design of complex, high-tech, or automated systems. A poorly designed cellular phone user-interface may not cause an accident, but it may well cause great frustration on the part of the consumer and result in a marketplace driven business failure. A poor interface design on industrial automated equipment, though, may result in decreased production and quality, or even a life threatening accident." (Ergonomics Today) - courtesy of lucdesk

Posted by PJB on June 14, 2004 | Classification: Usability | Comments (0) | Permalink

The real reason you should care about web standards

"Generally speaking, standards are a means to apply pressure on corporations to behave in a manner that is beneficial to everyone, not just the shareholders of the corporation." (Andrei Michael Herasimchuk - Design by Fire)

Posted by PJB on June 13, 2004 | Classification: Technology | Comments (0) | Permalink

The SIGCHI Bulletin Web Site is here

"Welcome to an exciting new development in our organization: an interactive Bulletin Web Site. You not only can read about the latest developments at SIGCHI you can participate in those developments via discussions, letters to the editor, and your own articles. Likewise, articles can be read on line, printed out or sent via e-mail." (ACM SIGCHI)

Posted by PJB on June 13, 2004 | Classification: HCI | Comments (0) | Permalink

Apples and Oranges

"Designers and user researchers need to communicate effectively, with mutual appreciation, in order to achieve an optimal outcome. In my opinion, as expressed earlier, user researchers need to have an understanding of fundamental design principles such as typography, emphasis, style, layout, composition, color, perspective, space, placement and size." (Didier P. Hilhorst - Digital Web Magazine)

Posted by PJB on June 10, 2004 | Classification: Usability | Comments (0) | Permalink

Understanding the Personal Info Cloud: Using the Model of Attraction

"This presentation of the Model of Attraction and Personal InfoCloud was given to the User Interaction with Information Systems class (INFM 702) in the University of Maryland, Master of Information Management program on June 8, 2004." (Thomas Vander Wal)

Posted by PJB on June 09, 2004 | Classification: UCD | Comments (0) | Permalink

The mentality Of Homo interneticus: Some Ongian postulates

"Because typical experiences will differ, the mentality of the typical Internet user, or Homo interneticus, is likely to be significantly different from that of the typical reader of printed works or of writing or of the typical member of purely oral cultures. These differences include deep assumptions about time and space, authority, property, gender, causality and community." (Michael H. Goldhaber - First Monday 9.6)

Posted by PJB on June 09, 2004 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink

Escher Staircases on the World Wide Web

"It is shown that Escher Staircases, i.e. cycles of four nodes in a graph with reciprocal links, form a basic structural element on the World Wide Web." (Ronald Rousseau and Mike Thelwall - First Monday 9.6)

Posted by PJB on June 09, 2004 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink

7 Things to Know about Building a User Experience Team

"1 - Make sure each team member clearly understands the underlying business case for the user experience, and the measures of success. 2 - Executives and managers should set the standard for "customer-centric" behavior. 3 - Hire only team members who are driven to develop the best customer experience - for the customer. 4 - Make ongoing conversation about user experience a part of the company culture. 5 - Be fluent in the analysis of customer experience data. 6 - Understand the impact of integration - or lack thereof - on the user experience. 7 - Encourage team members to continually learn about new techniques, practices and technologies to enhance their skills in developing better customer experiences." (Karen Donoghue in Built for Use) - courtesy of elegant hack

Posted by PJB on June 08, 2004 | Classification: User experience | Comments (0) | Permalink

Adam Greenfield: The InfoDesign profile

"Adam Greenfield is an internationally recognized information architect and user experience consultant. His practice is focused on making complex artifacts easy to understand and use, without sacrificing thoroughness or depth. Adam was the lead information architect for the Tokyo office of well-known web consultancy Razorfish; (...) He now works as a Happy Cog principal with Jeffrey Zeldman. His award-winning personal site can be found at www.v-2.org." (InfoDesign: Understanding by Design)

Posted by PJB on June 07, 2004 | Classification: Special | Comments (0) | Permalink

Interaction Design and Children Conference

A conversation with Alan Kay, Marvin Minsky, Seymour Papert and Allison Druin - "We are behaving like a society that had just invented writing and let each child have a pencil for an hour a day." (Washington Post)

Posted by PJB on June 07, 2004 | Classification: Interaction design | Comments (0) | Permalink

Masters of Design

"No matter what you do for a living, design matters. Meet and learn from 20 visionary men and women who are using design to create not just new products, but new ways of working, leading, and seeing." (Bill Breen - Fast Company Issue 83) - courtesy of elearningpost

Posted by PJB on June 07, 2004 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink

Remote Control Anarchy

"The six remote controls required for a simple home theater illustrate the problems caused by complexity and inconsistency in user interfaces." (Jakob Nielsen - Alertbox)

Posted by PJB on June 07, 2004 | Classification: Usability | Comments (0) | Permalink

If you're on the Web, you're in sales

"Everybody on the Web is in the business of sales. It doesn’t matter whether you’re managing an intranet, a government or university website. You’re still selling something; still trying to get someone to do something. What do you want people to do? How are you going to convince them to do it?" (Gerry McGovern)

Posted by PJB on June 06, 2004 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink

An Architect in the City of Bits

"The trial separation of bits and atoms is now over, says William J. Mitchell, head of Media Arts and Sciences at MIT. Computers are ubiquitous. Wireless links provide constant connectivity. Everything is media. Increasingly, we are living our lives at the points where electronic information flows, mobile bodies, and physical places intersect in particularly useful and engaging ways. These points are becoming the occasions for a characteristic new architecture of the twenty-first century." (David Pescovitz - TheFeature)

Posted by PJB on June 05, 2004 | Classification: Interviews | Comments (0) | Permalink

User-Centered Research: A status report

"During the past twenty years, user-centered research (UCR) has become an increasingly common and important part of contemporary product development. The origins of this approach to design and development actually stretch back to the beginning of industrial design in America. Starting in the 1940s and 1950s, Henry Dreyfuss, widely considered the father of industrial design in the United States, practiced a method of design that clearly focused on studying people's behaviors and attitudes as a first step in designing successful products. During the next forty to fifty years, Dreyfuss' example served as motivation for other highly successful and influential designers (e.g., Robert Probst, Jay Doblin, Niels Different and William Stumpf) to adopt a user-centered research and design approach." (design philosophy papers)

Posted by PJB on June 03, 2004 | Classification: UCD | Comments (0) | Permalink

Gurus v. Boggers: Round 2

"Playing for the Gurus this time around? We have Brenda Laurel, John Maeda, Christina Wodtke, Jesse James Garrett, Eric Meyer, and Nathan Shedroff. (...) For the Bloggers? We have Angie McKaig, Ben Fry, Veerle Pieters, Bob Baxley, Dave Shea, Shaun Inman, and Luke Wroblewski. Plus, I have a surprise twist of events that rivals the season finale shocker on Survivor that gave Rupert an extra cool million. You'll just have to read on to find out what happens." (Andrei Herasimchuk - Design by Fire)

Posted by PJB on June 03, 2004 | Classification: Weblogs | Comments (0) | Permalink

Personas: Theory and Practice 

"Personas is an interaction design technique with considerable potential for software product development. (...) Personas are more engaging than design based primarily on scenarios." (John Pruitt and Jonathan Grudin - Microsoft Research) - courtesy of henrik olsen

Posted by PJB on June 03, 2004 | Classification: Personas | Comments (0) | Permalink

300 images from 1800 sites

"The purpose of this document is not to copy the intellectual property of others, but rather as a jumping-off point for your own unique web graphic projects. It's for Brainstorming, if you will." (intersmash)

Posted by PJB on June 03, 2004 | Classification: Visual design | Comments (0) | Permalink

Sparklines: New revised draft from Beautiful Evidence

"The chapter is now 18 pages long and probably will require a high speed connection. Images that are blurry on the computer screen are crystal clear on paper. Stephen Malinowski, Brad Paley, and Bonnie Scranton helped with several important graphics. New examples or helpful comments much appreciated." (Edward Tufte) - courtesy of jason kottke

Posted by PJB on June 02, 2004 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink

Beth Mazur: The InfoDesign profile

"Beth Mazur is the founder of STC's Information Design SIG, which has over 1,800 members (the largest of STC's special interest groups). She spends much free time on her weblog, IDblog, and pays the bills by working on the web for AARP. She is co-editor, with Mike Albers, of Content and Complexity: Information Design in Technical Communication." (InfoDesign: Understanding by Design)

Posted by PJB on June 01, 2004 | Classification: Special | Comments (0) | Permalink

The Changing Face of Technical Communication: The Impact of Trends on How We Think about Our Work 

Presentation by Karen A. Schriver (KSA Document Design & Research, Inc.) on May 13, 2004 at the STIC symposium in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. (STIC)

Posted by PJB on June 01, 2004 | Classification: TechCom | Comments (0) | Permalink

Beyond Web usability: Web credibility

"Now that usable websites have become so commonplace, especially among the major web players, it's time to start looking to the future. Suddenly, a usable website isn't going to be enough to separate us from our competitors (apart from those using the developers who've been based on Mars). There is a solution. It's two words long. Enter our new best friend ... Web credibility." (WebDevTips) - courtesy of andrew fernandez

Posted by PJB on June 01, 2004 | Classification: User experience | Comments (0) | Permalink