November 2005

Computing machinery and intelligence

"Propose to consider the question, 'Can machines think?' This should begin with definitions of the meaning of the terms 'machine 'and 'think'. The definitions might be framed so as to reflect so far as possible the normal use of the words, but this attitude is dangerous. If the meaning of the words 'machine' and 'think 'are to be found by examining how they are commonly used it is difficult to escape the conclusion that the meaning and the answer to the question, 'Can machines think?' is to be sought in a statistical survey such as a Gallup poll. But this is absurd. Instead of attempting such a definition I shall replace the question by another, which is closely related to it and is expressed in relatively unambiguous words." (Alan Turing, 1950)

Posted by PJB on November 29, 2005 | Classification: Classics | Comments (0) | Permalink

OzCHI Publication on Backpackers

"(...) a workshop paper and a short paper on backpackers and research methods for mobile groups." (Jeff Axup - Mobile Community Design)

Posted by PJB on November 29, 2005 | Classification: Mobile design | Comments (0) | Permalink

Human-Centered Intranet Design

"Just as physical ergonomics is important to the health of the body, cognitive ergonomics is important to the health of the mind. Developers need to have a deeper understanding that regardless of what technology allows them to do, the end product must conform to the natural way in which humans work." (Paul Chin - Intranet Journal) - courtesy of usernomics

Posted by PJB on November 29, 2005 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink

Visual Explanations and Information Graphics

"Infographics are traditionally viewed as visual elements such as charts, maps, or diagrams that aid comprehension of a given text-based content. However, visual representation of information can be more than just the manner in which we are able to record what has been discovered by other means. They have the potential to become the process by which we can discern new meaning and discover new knowledge." (acrStudio - Visual Organization and Information Design) - courtesy of venkatrajamanickam

Posted by PJB on November 28, 2005 | Classification: Information graphics | Comments (0) | Permalink

Corporate blogging and the future of corporate communications

Presentation from the Bloggforum 3 (November 19, 2005 Stockholm) - "A blog is a network of links (...) Forget your castle; Forget your sales pitch; Show yourself how you really are; Forget Powerpoint; Enter the conversation." (Loïc Le Meur - Six Apart) - courtesy of theotherblog

Posted by PJB on November 27, 2005 | Classification: Weblogs | Comments (0) | Permalink

Crossing Frontiers of Understanding

Lecture at the ICOGRADA/FRONTEIRAS congress, Sao Paulo, April 29th and 30th, 2004 - "Structure is an important way to start: structure information in ways that make it accessible to others: facilitating access is like giving out a passport: if designers help their users to cross frontiers of cultural knowledge and experience, and facilitate them to exchange and share information and experiences with others, then design has answered its first and most important brief: to build interfaces." (Max Bruinsma)

Posted by PJB on November 25, 2005 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink

Inaccessibility of CAPTCHA: Alternatives to Visual Turing Tests on the Web

"A common method of limiting access to services made available over the Web is visual verification of a bitmapped image. This presents a major problem to users who are blind, have low vision, or have a learning disability such as dyslexia. This document examines a number of potential solutions that allow systems to test for human users while preserving access by users with disabilities." (W3C) - courtesy of accessify

Posted by PJB on November 24, 2005 | Classification: Accessibility | Comments (0) | Permalink

Online International Journal of Usability Studies

"(...) a peer-reviewed, international, online publication dedicated to promote and enhance the practice, research, and education of usability engineering. Its aim is to provide usability practitioners and researchers with a forum to share: empirical findings, usability case studies (research case studies, not business case studies), opinions and experiences (regarding the practice and education of usability engineering), and reports of good practices in usability engineering." (The Usability Professionals' Association) - courtesy of markverderbeeken

Posted by PJB on November 23, 2005 | Classification: Usability | Comments (0) | Permalink

CMSAdvisor Podcasts

The first podcasts on content management systems: (1) Ann Rockley (Founding President, The Rockley Group) on Enterprise Content Management and (2) Bob Boiko (President, Metatorial Services Inc.) on 'WordSoup'. (Hosted by Lisa Welchman - About CMSAdvisor) - courtesy of columntwo

Posted by PJB on November 23, 2005 | Classification: Content management | Comments (0) | Permalink

Designing for Start-ups

"Because most start-ups run lean and mean, their employees tend to take on multiple roles to fill in gaps in expertise and role. Consultants working for a start-up are no different. A designer brought in to work on the visual design of an application is likely to do some coding, interaction design, or information architecture." (LukeW - Functioning Form)

Posted by PJB on November 23, 2005 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink

DUX2005 Impressions: One Person's Journey and Another Perspective

"People from the UX community came together at DUX2005. I had eagerly awaited this second Conference on Designing for User eXperience, which was held November 2–5 at Fort Mason, in San Francisco, especially since I’d had miss the first DUX Conference in 2003. The conference lived up to my high expectations, providing fun and insight in equal measure. The surprising blue skies and sparkling vistas of the Golden Gate bridge didn’t hurt the experience either." - "The DUX Conference attracts just the right mix of people, representing the diversity of UX professionals. With a format that encourages interaction and dialogue among attendees, DUX provides a great opportunity for meeting professional colleagues and online acquaintances face to face. Kudos to the organizers of DUX for the many things they’re doing well." (Elizabeth Bacon / Pabini Gabriel-Petit - UXmatters)

Posted by PJB on November 22, 2005 | Classification: User experience | Comments (0) | Permalink

The Enterprise User Experience - Bridging the IT/Marketing Divide

"User experience is a deliberately broader concept than GUI. It may take some time for it to fully penetrate the product design and development world. But it’s the right term to help create an approach to product design and development that incorporates the way people really perceive design, use products, and make decisions." (Bob Goodman - UXmatters)

Posted by PJB on November 22, 2005 | Classification: User experience | Comments (0) | Permalink

Web accessibility: The basics and benefits

"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. In addition to complying with the law, an accessible website can reap huge benefits on to your website and your business." (Trenton Moss - uiGarden.net)

Posted by PJB on November 22, 2005 | Classification: Accessibility | Comments (0) | Permalink

The 'Microsoft Method' of presentations

"Shibumi is a principle that can be applied to many aspects of life. Concerning visual communication and graphic design, shibumi represents elegant simplicity and articulate brevity, an understated elegance." (Garr Reynolds - Presentationzen)

Posted by PJB on November 21, 2005 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tools for Thought

"(...) an exercise in retrospective futurism; that is, I wrote it in the early 1980s, attempting to look at what the mid 1990s would be like. My odyssey started when I discovered Xerox PARC and Doug Engelbart and realized that all the journalists who had descended upon Silicon Valley were missing the real story." (Howard Rheingold) - courtesy of victor lombardi

Posted by PJB on November 21, 2005 | Classification: Classics | Comments (0) | Permalink

Ambient Findability Bibliography

"Livia Labate has created a de.licio.us ambient findability bibliography which guides readers to all sorts of sources of inspiration." (Peter Morville - findability.org)

Posted by PJB on November 21, 2005 | Classification: Hypertext | Comments (0) | Permalink

Accessibility Is Not Enough

"A strict focus on accessibility as a scorecard item doesn't help users with disabilities. To help these users accomplish critical tasks, you must adopt a usability perspective." (Jakob Nielsen - Alertbox)

Posted by PJB on November 20, 2005 | Classification: Accessibility | Comments (0) | Permalink

Find out what your customers really need from your website

"If there is one reason - more than any other - why a website fails, it is because it doesn’t understand its customers." (Gerry McGovern)

Posted by PJB on November 20, 2005 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink

UFOs: Ubiquitous Findable Objects

"The term ambient findability describes a world at the crossroads of ubiquitous computing and the internet, in which we can find anyone or anything from anywhere at any time. It's not necessarily a goal, and we'll never achieve perfect findability, but we're surely headed in the right direction. A clear sign of progress is the emergence of ubiquitous findable objects. GPS, RFID, UWB, and cellular triangulation enable us, for the first time in history, to tag and track products, possessions, pets, and people as they wander through space and time." - (Peter Morville - O'Reilly Network)

Posted by PJB on November 18, 2005 | Classification: Search | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tagging gives Web a human meaning

"If you've been to a technology event recently, especially one with a high concentration of digerati, you may have seen someone stand up and tell everyone what the event's Flickr tag is." - (Daniel Terdiman - C|Net)

Posted by PJB on November 18, 2005 | Classification: Metadata | Comments (0) | Permalink

Enterprise IA Seminar Slides

"I'm not sure why, but enough people have now asked me to make my Enterprise IA seminar slides available. All 251. Fine, it's here." - (Louis Rosenfeld - bloug)

Posted by PJB on November 17, 2005 | Classification: Information architecture | Comments (0) | Permalink

The Principles of Universal Design

"The authors, a working group of architects, product designers, engineers and environmental design researchers, collaborated to establish the following Principles of Universal Design to guide a wide range of design disciplines including environments, products, and communications. These seven principles may be applied to evaluate existing designs, guide the design process and educate both designers and consumers about the characteristics of more usable products and environments." - (Center for Universal Design - uiGarden.net)

Posted by PJB on November 16, 2005 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink

Design Engaged 2005

Presentations, photos, links, notes, and general impressions - (Design Engaged 2005)

Posted by PJB on November 16, 2005 | Classification: Events | Comments (0) | Permalink

Putting Perfect Participants in Every Session

"When putting together a design study, whether it is usability testing, field research, or focus group activity, it turns out that the most critical activity is recruiting the right participants." - (Jared Spool - OK/Cancel)

Posted by PJB on November 15, 2005 | Classification: UCD | Comments (0) | Permalink

The Web 2.0 Experience Continuum

"So what will the next ten years feel like? Disorienting at first, but normal eventually. It will take time for users to acclimate to the semi-structured experiences available on the Web, and even longer to accept the unstructured experiences. We’ll shed some of the metaphors — sites, bookmarks, pages, and so on - that we've used to orient ourselves on the Web, in the same way that cars stopped having running boards and television has stopped broadcasting stage plays." - (Dan Saffer - Adaptive Path)

Posted by PJB on November 15, 2005 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink

Sandbox Book Review: Ambient Findability

"It's a rollercoaster of concepts. - (...) I'm not sure who coined the term 'findability', but I am sure it wasn't me." - (Peter Merholz - Designing for the Sandbox)

Posted by PJB on November 13, 2005 | Classification: Search | Comments (0) | Permalink

Ryanair success has strong web lessons

"Despite record fuel prices, Ryanair makes record profits. Its no-frills website has helped this no-frills airline achieve such phenomenal success." - (Gerry McGovern)

Posted by PJB on November 13, 2005 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink

The Search: How Google and its rivals rewrote the rules of business and transformed our culture

Wilson, T.D. (2005). Review of: Battelle, J. The search: How Google and its rivals rewrote the rules of business and transformed our culture. Boston, MA, London: Nicholas Brearley Publishing, 2005. Information Research, 11 (1) - "Perfect search - every single possible bit of information at our fingertips, perfectly contexualised, perfectly personalized - may never be realized. But the journey to find out if it just might be is certainly going to be fun." - (Information Research 11.1)

Posted by PJB on November 11, 2005 | Classification: Search | Comments (0) | Permalink

Design Leads & Wireframes

"By popular request and with permission, Functioning Form is publishing some of Jim Leftwich's writings on design." - (Luke Wroblewski - Functioning Form)

Posted by PJB on November 11, 2005 | Classification: Information architecture | Comments (0) | Permalink

Infographic 

"Think of the expression of an idea as a map to its meaning." - (Alessandro Segalini)

Posted by PJB on November 11, 2005 | Classification: Information graphics | Comments (0) | Permalink

Planning for User Research Success

"Planning is crucial if you want your user research efforts to be effective. You need to think about what information you need to gather, and why, before embarking on any research. Good planning, well communicated to the client or project, and followed by careful implementation will ensure your research is effective." - (Daniel Szuc and Gerry Gaffney - Apogee)

Posted by PJB on November 11, 2005 | Classification: UCD | Comments (0) | Permalink

Introduction to Web Accessibility

"Most people today can hardly conceive of life without the Internet. It provides access to information, news, email, shopping, and entertainment. The Internet, with its ability to serve out information at any hour of the day or night about practically any topic conceivable, has become a way of life for an impatient, information-hungry generation. Some have argued that no other single invention has been more revolutionary since that of Gutenberg's original printing press in the mid 1400s. Now, at the click of a mouse, the world can be 'at your fingertips' – that is, if you can use a mouse... and if you can see the screen... and if you can hear the audio – in other words, if you don't have a disability of any kind." - (Paul Bohman - uiGarden.net)

Posted by PJB on November 10, 2005 | Classification: Accessibility | Comments (0) | Permalink

Edification and Commutation: Canons for Experience Design

"Experience design is a transactive process. Commutation leads to edification, and edification makes possible commutation." - (Bob Jakobson - Corante Total Experience)

Posted by PJB on November 09, 2005 | Classification: User experience | Comments (0) | Permalink

Findability is ambient: Interview with Peter Morville

"Intelligence is moving to the edges, flowing through wireless devices, empowering individuals and distributed teams. Ideas spread like wildfire, and information is in the air, literally. And yet with this wealth of instantly accessible information, we still experience disorientation. We still wander off the map." - (Liz Danzico - AIGA Voice)

Posted by PJB on November 09, 2005 | Classification: Interviews | Comments (0) | Permalink

Migrating from HTML to XHTML and XML

"This is the first part of a two-part article describing a detailed methodology for migrating HTML files to the structure and flexibility of XHTML and/or XML. By using XHTML to add structure and separate content from presentation, you'll be better positioned for a move to XML. Even if you never move to XML, your XHTML files will be easier to create and maintain, and will be more accessible." - (Char James-Tanny - WinWriterUA)

Posted by PJB on November 08, 2005 | Classification: Technology | Comments (0) | Permalink

Rethinking Application Design

"(...) with more than a year of experience working in Silicon Valley and seeing inside various leading technology companies - both as a consultant/designer and through my speaking and networking activities - I've realized that the basic corporate design model for Web and application design is broken. This article will share some of the conclusions I've drawn and propose some better approaches for designing successful applications." - (Dirk Knemeyer - Digital Web Magazine)

Posted by PJB on November 08, 2005 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink

Enterprise Usability

"Usability goes beyond the level of individual users interacting with screens. It's also a question of how easy or cumbersome it is for the entire organization to use a system." - (Jakob Nielsen - Alertbox)

Posted by PJB on November 07, 2005 | Classification: Usability | Comments (0) | Permalink

Gates, Jobs, & the Zen aesthetic

"(...) two contrasting visual approaches employed by Gates and Jobs in their presentations while keeping key aesthetic concepts found in Zen in mind. I believe we can use many of the concepts in Zen and Zen aesthetics to help us compare their presentation visuals as well as help us improve our own visuals. My point in comparing Jobs and Gates is not to poke fun but to learn." - (Garr Reynolds - Presentation Zen)

Posted by PJB on November 07, 2005 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink

Usability doesn't have to be ugly

"There is a balance that needs to be struck between a website that is truly functional and one that is elegant and stylish." - (Gerry McGovern)

Posted by PJB on November 06, 2005 | Classification: Usability | Comments (0) | Permalink

UXmatters: Insights and inspiration for the user experience community

"We are very pleased to welcome you to UXmatters - a Web magazine created by and for UX professionals. Together we can create the premiere source of information and inspiration for UX professionals. (...) If you're a business person who wants to learn what user experience professionals can do for your company or a consumer who wants to know how to choose products that are both useful and usable, we hope you'll both enjoy and benefit from reading UXmatters." - (Pabini Gabriel-Petit et al. - About UXmatters) - Congrats to all who made this possible.

Posted by PJB on November 04, 2005 | Classification: User experience | Comments (0) | Permalink

The Memetic Web

"The memetic web uses meme IDs from a set of memespace taxonomies to tag web page content. Meme tags greatly improve the precision and recall of search engines. The memography wiki establishes a new social classification system. It provides taxonomies and pages that describe what each meme is about. Anyone can tag pages with memes from memography, or follow rules to create non-conflicting memes for corporate and personal use. Memelinks to aboutness pages are URIs that can be used as RDF properties for the semantic web." - courtesy of petermorville

Posted by PJB on November 04, 2005 | Classification: Metadata | Comments (0) | Permalink

Folksonomy Definition and Wikipedia

"(...) I love Wikis and they are incredible tools, but one has to understand the boundaries. Wikis are emergent information tools and they are social tools. They are one of the best collaboration tools around, they even work very well for personal uses. But, like anything else it takes understanding on how to use them and use the information in them." (Thomas Vander Wal)

Posted by PJB on November 04, 2005 | Classification: Metadata | Comments (0) | Permalink

The secret of making things work

"Consumers forever grumble about products and services making their life difficult, but there are some shining examples leading the way. As World Usability Day approaches, what are the best doing right?" (Max Gadney - BBC)

Posted by PJB on November 04, 2005 | Classification: Usability | Comments (0) | Permalink

The Games People Play: A more intimate way to understand users 

A presentation from About, With & For (Oct. 29, 2005) - "Games provide memorable and transcendent experiences, are changing the way people think and behave, and represent the future of education." (Dirk Knemeyer)

Posted by PJB on November 04, 2005 | Classification: User experience | Comments (0) | Permalink

Ambient Findability: Talking with Peter Morville

"Findability takes us beyond usability and information architecture into the realms of design, engineering and marketing. And it encompasses wayfinding and retrieval in physical and digital environments." (Liz Danzico - Boxes and Arrows)

Posted by PJB on November 01, 2005 | Classification: Interviews | Comments (0) | Permalink

Louis Rosenfeld interviews Tony Byrne

"Content management, meet user-centered design. I'm glad to see this beginning to happen." (Digital Web Magazine)

Posted by PJB on November 01, 2005 | Classification: Interviews | Comments (0) | Permalink

Why People Don't Read Online and What to do About It

"It's been proven that two things people will look at on the screen are bullet points and numbered lists. Knowing that, use them. It's called content chunking, and, as you can see from many of our own pieces, it's an effective way to pull the eye." (Michelle Cameron - ACM Ubiquity)

Posted by PJB on November 01, 2005 | Classification: Writing | Comments (0) | Permalink