March 2006

The New Shape of Knowledge: From Trees to Piles of Leaves

"The digital revolution is enabling knowledge to slip the bonds of the physical which had, silently, shaped it. Now we get to see its 'natural' shape. What does it look like? How big are topics when they aren't determined by the economics of paper? Who gets to organize it? What are the new principles we're using to organize it? David Weinberger proposes that in the digital world, the most 'natural', efficient and responsive way to manage knowledge is to create huge, distributed piles of leaves, each tagged with as much metadata as possible - including treating the content as metadata - and postponing until the last minute the taxonomizing of the information. What will be the social effects as we move from trees to piles of leaves?" (David Weinberger - Oxford Internet Institute Webcasts)

Posted by PJB on March 31, 2006 | Classification: Metadata | Permalink

The Future of the Web

"The development of Web technology has been an exciting ride, a series of socially motivated technical innovations some languishing, others catching on in a viral way. As each development has suggested many new ones, and much of the original vision is still unfulfilled, there is a lot to do. This talk will discuss new challenges and hopes for weblike systems on the net." (Tim Berners-Lee - Oxford Internet Institute Webcasts) - courtesy of boingboing

Posted by PJB on March 31, 2006 | Classification: Technology | Permalink

IA Summit 2006 Presentations and Papers

"(...) this will keep you going for a while." (ASIS&T 2006 Information Architecture Summit) - Thanks Donna.

Posted by PJB on March 31, 2006 | Classification: Information architecture | Permalink

Social information architecture, sorting, and tagging

"Here are my raw notes from Rashmi Sinha's talk at the IA Summit, 'Sorting, Tagging and Social Information Architecture' or The Missing Chapter in the Polar Bear Book." (Christian Crumlish - You're It!)

Posted by PJB on March 31, 2006 | Classification: Information architecture | Permalink

The Next Web?

"It sometimes seems like widely popular web-standards innovation halted around 2000, and the last few years have been a period of very slow catch-up. Various visions of a new Web, a better Web, have come and gone, leaving behind useful parts but not yet transforming the Web. Are we on the edge of the next big thing? It may make sense to look at the last few big things, comparing their visions with what's happening today." (Simon St. Laurent - XML.com) - courtesy of thinkingandmaking

Posted by PJB on March 30, 2006 | Classification: Technology | Permalink

IA Summit 2006 Closing Plenary

"Giving a closing plenary is a nerve-wracking experience. I realized I had a hard time relaxing and enjoying myself at the summit, because in the back of my mind, I was continually tweaking my talk." (Peter Merholz) - congrats!

Posted by PJB on March 29, 2006 | Classification: Information architecture | Permalink

We Are Not Alone: IA's Role in Optimal Design Teams

"By studying several dozen design teams, the UIE research team has spent the last few years looking at how different compositions lead to the most effective results. How do you build a team to produce the best possible designs?" (Jared Spool - UIE Brain Sparks)

Posted by PJB on March 29, 2006 | Classification: Information architecture | Permalink

Stone Age Information Architecture

"(...) my talk explored the question of how pre-literate cultures manage their collective intellectual capital. In particular, I focused on the use of folk taxonomies (not to be confused with 'folksonomies'), visual symbol systems, and the cultural effects of the transition from oral to literate cultures. Finally, I tried to probe the relevance of these systems to present-day problems in information architecture." (Alex Wright)

Posted by PJB on March 28, 2006 | Classification: Information architecture | Permalink

Information Architecture Research Agenda

"Here is an overview of my points, with links to background information I compiled in prepration for the panel, as well as some of my notes." (Keith Instone)

Posted by PJB on March 27, 2006 | Classification: Information architecture | Permalink

The Information Architecture Institute: Annual Report 2004-2005

"This, our third eventful year, was marked by significantly increased visibility in the community and a more focused range of initiatives and services. Between 1 September 2004 and 31 August 2005 our membership grew 51%; as of 31 August 2005, the Institute had 845 members from over 55 countries. Our cash flow is positive, our volunteer rate is up, and our administrative activities have been streamlined. And clearly, the economic recovery experienced over the past year is having a positive effect on our industry." (IAinstitute)

Posted by PJB on March 26, 2006 | Classification: Information architecture | Permalink

What Are Personomies?

"Personomies are digital manifestations of an individual. Personomies combine identity (who you are), activity (what you do) and sociality (who you know). They include emails, contacts, blog posts, comments, purchases, page views, forms filled, bookmarks, ads clicked, chats, feeds subscribed and more. All these bits of data that can be tracked back to me belong in my personomy." (Pierre Guillaume Wielezynski - Personomies) - courtesy of boingboing

Posted by PJB on March 26, 2006 | Classification: Metadata | Permalink

IA Summit 2006 Blog

"Everyone who attends the 2006 IA Summit can write for the weblog", so everyone who cannot attend the 2006 IA Summit can read it. (ASIS&T IA Summit 2006)

Posted by PJB on March 24, 2006 | Classification: Weblogs | Permalink

User experience work offshore/offshoring

"Offshore, and the offshoring of, user experience work is a reality that will increasingly affect us all." (riander)

Posted by PJB on March 23, 2006 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

G/localization: When Global Information and Local Interaction Collide

"I want to talk about what it means to connect the global and local together in technology and how this affects the design process. I want to talk about why social software must address glocalization in order to succeed. This means thinking about all sorts of squishy stuff like language, economics, policy, culture, social relations, and values. These are not just issues for marketing or business; they directly affect how people use your technologies and, thus, how you must design them." (Danah Boyd) - courtesy of gunnarlangemark

Posted by PJB on March 21, 2006 | Classification: Information design | Permalink

SDForum Search SIG

The Search for Search - "The purpose of the SDForum Silicon Valley Search SIG is to offer a communication and collaboration platform to the Search ecosystem: search engines, marketers/advertisers, users and developers. Through a series of monthly events, the SIG will cover a large diversity of topics: from the latest developments in search to the needs of brands and advertisers, through the issues and key learnings of starting, funding, building, and exiting a search company." (About the Search SIG)

Posted by PJB on March 21, 2006 | Classification: Search | Permalink

Open Sesame! Selling UX Services

"For some UX professionals, selling consulting services is as difficult as opening a magic door without a secret password. There is no simple password that can magically open prospective customers’ minds so they can see what you can do for them. However, there are a few strategies you can use when opening a dialogue with new customers that will lead to your sales success." (Maura Schreier-Fleming and Janet M. Six - UXmatters)

Posted by PJB on March 20, 2006 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

More Alike Than We Think

"Would we be able to create one site for all enquirers, or would we have to create specialized sites to meet the needs of different user groups? What happens when a site has to appeal to a wide range of people? How do you sort out their different usability requirements? Will they conflict, and if so, how do you prioritize them?" (Whitney Quesenbery - UXmatters)

Posted by PJB on March 20, 2006 | Classification: Usability | Permalink

Design Vision Complete

"In the later half of January 2006, a group of designers with nearly 50 cumulative years of experience designing products for companies like Adobe, Apple, eBay, Macromedia, Nike, Palm, and Yahoo got together to talk about design vision. It was a concept for which we all had a personal definition -forged by our unique experiences and insights. Yet we all recognized the important role design vision played in our lives as designers so we took the first step toward a public discussion about what it can do for you, your organization, and your products." (LukeW - Functioning Form)

Posted by PJB on March 20, 2006 | Classification: Information design | Permalink

Growing a Business Website: Fix the Basics First

"Offering clear content, simple navigation, and answers to customer questions have the biggest impact on business value. Advanced technology matters much less." (Jakob Nielsen - Alertbox)

Posted by PJB on March 20, 2006 | Classification: Usability | Permalink

Euro IA Summit 2005 Proceedings 

Building Our Community - Document as handed out to all participants. October 15-16, 2005 - Brussels Belgium (Eric Reiss) - The Euro IA Summit 2006 will be in Berlin.

Posted by PJB on March 20, 2006 | Classification: Information architecture | Permalink

The trouble with personalization

"Personalization has rarely been implemented well. Its failure is usually because of a lack of understanding of customer behavior." (Gerry McGovern)

Posted by PJB on March 19, 2006 | Classification: Information design | Permalink

Web 2.0, Reframing Web 1.0

"By framing the web with a particular metaphor, certain concepts are established as the main unit of currency, so to speak. Those concepts, in turn, force us to think about structure in a particular way." (Dan Brown Greenonions)

Posted by PJB on March 19, 2006 | Classification: Information architecture | Permalink

Peter Morville Presentation: Ambient Findability

Also, including a conversation with Peter Morville at SXSW 2006 Studio SX - "At the crossroads of ubiquitous computing and the Internet, the user experience is out of control, and findability is the real story. Access changes the game. We can select our sources and choose our news. We can find who and what we need, when and where we want. As society shifts from push to pull, findability shapes who we trust, how we learn, and where we go. In this thought-provoking talk, best-selling author Peter Morville explores the future present in mobile and embedded devices, GPS and RFID technologies, search algorithms, findable objects, evolutionary psychology, and the long tail of the sociosemantic web." (SXSW 2006 Interactive)

Posted by PJB on March 17, 2006 | Classification: Search | Permalink

SXSW 2006 Interactive Panels Podcasts

"Please enjoy our recordings of this year's Interactive Programming. Including Bruce Sterling, Craig Newmark, and Jason Kottke." (SXSW 2006 Interactive)

Posted by PJB on March 17, 2006 | Classification: Podcasts | Permalink

Six degrees of reputation: The use and abuse of online review and recommendation systems

"This paper reports initial findings from a study that used quantitative and qualitative research methods and custom–built software to investigate online economies of reputation and user practices in online product reviews at several leading e–commerce sites (primarily Amazon.com). We explore several cases in which book and CD reviews were copied whole or in part from one item to another and show that hundreds of product reviews on Amazon.com might be copies of one another. We further explain the strategies involved in these suspect product reviews, and the ways in which the collapse of the barriers between authors and readers affect the ways in which these information goods are being produced and exchanged. We report on techniques that are employed by authors, artists, editors, and readers to ensure they promote their agendas while they build their identities as experts. We suggest a framework for discussing the changes of the categories of authorship, creativity, expertise, and reputation that are being re–negotiated in this multi–tier reputation economy." (Shay David and Trevor Pinch - First Monday 11.3)

Posted by PJB on March 17, 2006 | Classification: Information design | Permalink

Presentational Visualization 

Towards an Imagery-based Approach of Computer-generated Presentation Visuals - "Computer projection is certainly the worst thing to happen to presentation skills since the invention of the overhead projector." (Till Voswinckel) - courtesy of alessandrosegalini

Posted by PJB on March 16, 2006 | Classification: Information graphics | Permalink

Change Architecture: Bringing IA to the Business Domain

"Using the paradigm of change architecture, IAs can become more aware of the idea that when we step onto the business stage of a project, we will first need to unfreeze aspects of the situation and the environment, and ultimately make the path from recommendation to action visible to the participants. " (Bob Goodman - Boxes and Arrows)

Posted by PJB on March 15, 2006 | Classification: Information architecture | Permalink

Four Modes of Seeking Information and How to Design for Them

"The most important issue is not whether you notice a mode of seeking information that fits into one of these categories, but that a range of modes exist. Observe how your users approach information, consider what it means, and design to allow them to achieve what they need." (Donna Maurer - Boxes and Arrows)

Posted by PJB on March 15, 2006 | Classification: Information architecture | Permalink

When you need to localize and categorize

"The creation of a localization taxonomy can become a significant piece of an entire CMS implementation project, particularly when your regional offices are in control of their local taxonomies and want to serve local customers in the best way. As you have seen, the concepts available for simple application localization are insufficient for the localization of complex international content. To get it right, you must be prepared for a substantial amount of analysis and the price tag that comes with it." (CMS Watch) - courtesy of columntwo

Posted by PJB on March 15, 2006 | Classification: Content management | Permalink

Library Clips

"This blog is a space for me to share some ideas, thoughts, and feedback from a librarian’s point of view. (...) Like most people I'm interested in blogs, rss, social bookmarks, wiki's, etc. so I'll use this site to ask questions and discuss ideas about these topics and wishlist features." (John Tropea)

Posted by PJB on March 14, 2006 | Classification: Weblogs | Permalink

Apple Style Guide: 2006 version 

"The Apple Publication Style guide provides editorial guidelines for text in instructional publications, technical documentation, reference information, training programs, and the software user interface." (Apple Developers Connection) - courtesy of usablehelp

Posted by PJB on March 14, 2006 | Classification: TechCom | Permalink

And The Winners Are...

Sixth Annual Weblog Awards - "It's now the sixth year of the world's most established weblog awards, the Bloggies. Personal Web publishing never stops growing, and that means this year the public will have more contenders than ever to select from when choosing the year's best weblogs. 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 have their champions; now it's time for you to do your part for 2006." - congrats to all.

Posted by PJB on March 13, 2006 | Classification: Weblogs | Permalink

Tagging 2.0 at South By

"It's more interesting to find a like mind than just a resource." (Christian Crumlish - tagsonomy)

Posted by PJB on March 13, 2006 | Classification: Metadata | Permalink

Websites reflect true face of an organization

"A website shows the true face of the organization as never before. A website is increasingly the place where customers get that vital first impression." (Gerry McGovern)

Posted by PJB on March 12, 2006 | Classification: Information design | Permalink

ETech Preview with Peter Morville

"Nicole Simon interviews him on different ways to think about findability, how Science Fictions inspires him, the internet of objects and what sense it makes when shuttle busses use GPS." (ETech 2006 podcasts - The Podcast Network)

Posted by PJB on March 12, 2006 | Classification: Podcasts | Permalink

Viridian Note 00459: Emerging Technology 2006

"A tech world that talked about ordinators, instead of Artificial Intelligence, probably would have produced Google in about 1980." (Bruce Sterling - Viridian) - courtesy of petermorville

Posted by PJB on March 12, 2006 | Classification: Information design | Permalink

The truth about Google's so-called 'simplicity'

"The truth about Google? It isn’t simple. (...) I am sick and tired of hearing people praise its clean, elegant look." (Donald A. Norman - uiGarden.net)

Posted by PJB on March 09, 2006 | Classification: Usability | Comments (0) | Permalink

NerdTV Archives

Interviews with Doug Engelbart, Dave Winer, Andy Herzfeld and other illuminaries - "NerdTV is a new weekly online TV show from PBS.org technology columnist Robert X. Cringely. NerdTV is essentially Charlie Rose for geeks - a one-hour interview show with a single guest from the world of technology." (Robert X. Cringely - NerdTV)

Posted by PJB on March 08, 2006 | Classification: Interviews | Comments (0) | Permalink

Visceral design: Do looks matter?

"A master chef labors to make the food delicious, but also takes great care to make the visual beautifully appealing. Norman argues in his book that the emotional aspects of a design may often be more important to the design's ultimate success than the practical elements." (Garr Reynolds - Presentation Zen)

Posted by PJB on March 08, 2006 | Classification: User experience | Comments (0) | Permalink

The Future of Interfaces is Multi-Touch

"This demonstration was simply amazing -- all running real-time off one laptop and all designed by grad students. I suggest that you take a look at their video that demonstrates the multi-touch interface." (Robert Kaye - O'Reilly ETech)

Posted by PJB on March 08, 2006 | Classification: HCI | Comments (0) | Permalink

Ambient Findability

"Findability is the quality of being locatable or navigable, and 'ambient' means surrounding, encircling, and enveloping." (Bruce Stewart - O'Reilly ETech)

Posted by PJB on March 08, 2006 | Classification: Search | Comments (0) | Permalink

What are microformats?

"The trick... is to make sure that each limited mechanical part of the Web, each application, is within itself composed of simple parts that will never get too powerful." - says Tim Berners-Lee (Tantek Çelik - Microformats)

Posted by PJB on March 08, 2006 | Classification: Technology | Comments (0) | Permalink

Breaking the Web Wide Open!

"Even the web giants like AOL, Google, MSN, and Yahoo need to observe these open standards, or they'll risk becoming the 'walled gardens' of the new web and be coolio no more." (Marc Canter - AlwaysOn) - courtesy of ruurdpriester

Posted by PJB on March 06, 2006 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink

Why UX Should Matter to Software Companies

"(...) user experience is a core competency within today's software companies, and an expert in UX strategy and design is an indispensable part of a software product team—just as the product manager and software architect are—particularly if a team is working on a new product." (Pabini Gabriel-Petit - UXmatters)

Posted by PJB on March 06, 2006 | Classification: User experience | Comments (0) | Permalink

InfoMatters

"This is the blog of Andrew Dillon, dean of the iSchool at UT. This is a series of occasional thoughts and comments about education and research in the broad information studies arena." (Andrew Dillon)

Posted by PJB on March 05, 2006 | Classification: Weblogs | Comments (0) | Permalink

On the Web at Home: Information Seeking and Web Searching in the Home Environment 

The 2005 John Wiley & Sons Best JASIST Paper Award Winner - "This paper reports on a study exploring the environmental factors that influence users' information seeking at home." (Soo Young Rieh)

Posted by PJB on March 05, 2006 | Classification: Search | Comments (0) | Permalink

It's the journey and the destination: Shape and the emergent property of genre in evaluating digital documents

"(...) this paper will extend the analysis of 'user navigation' to the evaluation of user behaviour in web environments. In so doing, the present authors will attempt to unify work in the area of structural representation of content with models of navigation based on physical movement." (Andrew Dillon and Misha W. Vaughan 1997) - courtesy of petermorville

Posted by PJB on March 04, 2006 | Classification: Classics | Comments (0) | Permalink

A Garden of Forking Paths

"As the Web becomes both interface and infrastructure for an Internet of objects we can barely imagine, what metaphors will shape our fate? Clearly, the sea level will rise, but our children need not drown nor suffer information anxiety. These are painful analogies born in the journey from past to present. They fail to anticipate the future." (Peter Morville - ASIS&T Bulletin Feb/Mar 2006)

Posted by PJB on March 03, 2006 | Classification: Information architecture | Comments (0) | Permalink

Developing a Participation Economy

"I think it'd be safe to say that the IAI has been successful. It has over 800 members in about 40 countries. It has provided the IA community with a few excellent services, like a mentoring program, a job board, and a high-quality moderated discussion list. And it's had a hand in a number of successful events around the planet." (Louis Rosenfeld - bloug)

Posted by PJB on March 03, 2006 | Classification: Information architecture | Comments (0) | Permalink

Wayshowing: A Guide to Environmental Signage Principles & Practices 

By Dr. Per Mollerup (Director of Mollerup Designlab) - "Thus wayshowing relates to wayfinding as writing relates to reading and as speaking relates to hearing. The purpose of wayshowing is to facilitate wayfinding. Wayshowing is the means. Wayfinding is the end. The introduction of the term wayshowing is an important contribution to information design." (Reviewed by Rune Pettersson)

Posted by PJB on March 02, 2006 | Classification: Information design | Comments (0) | Permalink

What is Documentation?

"Suzanne Briet ('Madame Documentation') was an important French Documentalist just before and following the Second World War. Though others preceded her, Briet was unique in so strongly attributing to documentation and to documentary signs a cultural origin and function. In this she followed the founder of European Documentation, Paul Otlet, but she differed from Otlet in that she understood 'science', 'culture', and thus documentation more in the context of military-industrial post-war capitalist economies and in terms of the global 'development' of the time than in terms of the harmonious world of global 'knowledge' that Otlet had envisioned. In this way, Briet stands between Otlet's information utopia (reminiscent of the world industrial exhibitions of the 19th and early 20th centuries) and information theory and cybernetics in the United States which saw human culture and language as troublesome mediums for successful communication and information transmission." (Translated by Ron Day and Laurent Martinet)

Posted by PJB on March 01, 2006 | Classification: Classics | Comments (0) | Permalink

Interface in Form: Paper and Product Prototyping for Feedback and Fun

"Sketching and modeling are integral features of the design process, critical for both the generation of ideas, and the communication of concepts to others for discussion and evaluation, particularly in the context of human-centered design. While these methods are a natural component of the designer’s education and professional tool kit, there is immense value in exposing other professions involved in the development of products and interfaces to at least a limited set of these same basic tools." (Bruce Hanington - uiGarden.net)

Posted by PJB on March 01, 2006 | Classification: HCI | Comments (0) | Permalink