April 2006

Search engine optimization: Beyond search keywords

"The words people type into a search box are not always the words they like to read when they click on the search result." (Gerry McGovern)

Posted by PJB on April 30, 2006 | Classification: Search | Permalink

Designing for Everyware: An interview with Adam Greenfield

"'Everyware' is information processing that has been removed from the context of the personal computer and distributed everywhere in the built environment." (Liz Danzico - Voice AIGA Journal of Design)

Posted by PJB on April 30, 2006 | Classification: | Permalink

Does information need architects?

"(...) the dividing line among information architects is real. One group tends more toward control and using expertise to create a structure that should work the same way for every user. The other tends more toward flexibility and enabling user interaction to determine the structure of the site and the content of the answers. (...) I would think it's a good time to proudly state 'I am an information architect, dammit!'" (David Weinberger - KMWorld)

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

UXD: User eXperience Design

A weblog from Pathfinder: "(...) a hybrid shop, expert in both User Experience Design and Applications Development." (About UXD)

Posted by PJB on April 28, 2006 | Classification: Weblogs | Permalink

Defining the Problem with Tom Chi

"(...) designers are often able to reframe business 'problems' to better communicate existing and potential relationships (and outcomes) between the market, customer goals, and product ecosystems. To further illustrate this point, I've asked a few seasoned designers that have successfully defined or re-defined business strategies to share their experiences defining problems." (Luke Wroblewski - Functioning Form)

Posted by PJB on April 27, 2006 | Classification: Interviews | Permalink

Dimensions of Usability: Defining the Conversation, Driving the Process

"Have you ever wondered if your colleagues or clients really understand usability? Too often, standards or guidelines substitute for really engaging our business, technical and design colleagues in a discussion of what usability means. By looking at usability from five dimensions, we can create a consensus around usability goals and use that definition to provide the basis for planning user centered design activities." (Whitney Quesenbery - uigarden)

Posted by PJB on April 26, 2006 | Classification: Usability | Permalink

How Much Effort Does It Take to Create a Great User Experience?

"The purpose of this article is to provide you with a way to measure the level of effort required to successfully complete a project in respect to user experience. This is a powerful merging of project management, user experience, requirements and best practices. And, it is simple enough for a little monkey to use. More accurately, it is simple enough for me to use." (John Rhodes - Apogee)

Posted by PJB on April 25, 2006 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

Opening Plenary of CHI2006: Scott Cook (Intuit)

"This plenary is the story of why customer connectivity is hugely important - Cook insists this means not doing surveys which can reinforce the company's existing mindset, but to get out into the customer's actual space - to get out the old ideas and let new ideas come in." (CHI 2006)

Posted by PJB on April 24, 2006 | Classification: HCI | Permalink

Moving up the wisdom hierarchy

"And fortunately, even those focused on information architecture and information design often consider knowledge and understanding as well as information." (Kathy Sierra - Creating Passionate Users)

Posted by PJB on April 24, 2006 | Classification: Information design | Permalink

Corporate Usability Maturity: Stages 1-4

"As their usability approach matures, organizations typically progress through the same sequence of stages, from initial hostility to widespread reliance on user research." (Jakob Nielsen - Alertbox)

Posted by PJB on April 24, 2006 | Classification: Usability | Permalink

Transliterature: A Humanist Format for Re-Usable Documents and Media

"This work derives from a simple question we asked long ago: 'How can computer documents - shown interactively on screens, stored on disk, transmitted electronically - improve on paper?' Our answer was: 'Keep every quotation connected to its original source.' We are still fighting for this idea, and the great powers it will give authors and readers. (Others would later ask a very different question: 'How can computers SIMULATE paper?' - the wrong question, we believe, whose mistaken pursuit has brought us to the present grim document world.)" (Theodor Holm Nelson)

Posted by PJB on April 23, 2006 | Classification: Information design | Permalink

Defining 'Taxonomy'

"There are three basic characteristics of a taxonomy for knowledge management, and to be any good at its job, it needs to fulfil all three functions: 1. A taxonomy is a form of classification scheme. 2. Taxonomies are semantic. 3. A taxonomy is a kind of knowledge map." (Patrick Lambe - Green Chameleon) - courtesy of columntwo

Posted by PJB on April 23, 2006 | Classification: Metadata | Permalink

The Experience of... Experience

"Different traditions have different ways of categorizing experience. For the spiritual and the formally religious, it's the peregrinations of the soul. Professionals of a more scientific bent situate experience in the same realm as perception and cognition, physical and psychic processes built into human beings and other living things that are, even to the scientistis, frankly still a mystery. Then there are the opportunists who take experience for granted and forge ahead with the project of altering minds by tripping people out with 'new' and 'better' experiences (at least in their own estimation)." (Bob Jakobson - Total Experience)

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

Card Sorting: A book in progress

"Card sorting is a technique that is used to gather user input to design the information architecture of a site. The technique is easy to prepare and run, and great fun. But sometimes the results can be hard to interpret and it is not always clear how to use them to design the IA." (Donna Maurer - Rosenfeld Media)

Posted by PJB on April 21, 2006 | Classification: Information architecture | Permalink

The six species of Information Architect

"(...) before you all go berko and abuse me for sterotyping your 'species' I don't think that anyone who works as an IA for any period of time can actually remain strictly within the confines of their species. I think you're always coloured by it, but I think the more you do and the better you get, the more you respect the other species and what they bring to the collective table. And the more you tend to extend your skills and refine your approach to take in some of these traits and build them into your personal repertoire." (Leisa Reichelt - disambiguity) - courtesy of webword

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

Learning, Doing, Selling: 2006 IA Summit Wrapup

Overview and Pre-conference sessions, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday - "(...) IAs adore long conversations about ideas. Perhaps that's why the Summit continues to be one of the most intellectually challenging of the practitioners' conferences." (Boxes and Arrows)

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

swipr

"(...) a toolset that allows information architects to create an integrated and interactive deliverable from standard Visio files." (About swipr) - congrats jacco!

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

The First 100 Days: Observations of a Nouveau Blogger

"An expert who blogs is more interesting than a blogger who experts." (Guy Kawasaki - Signum sine tinnitu)

Posted by PJB on April 19, 2006 | Classification: Weblogs | Permalink

Visualising Time

"Visualising time or, best said, visualising the events that occur in time, is not so usual a topic. There aren't so many visual metaphors associated to it either. We take a look at them here." (Juan C. Dürsteler - Inf@Vis!)

Posted by PJB on April 18, 2006 | Classification: InfoViz | Permalink

F-Shaped Pattern For Reading Web Content

"Eyetracking visualizations show that users often read Web pages in an F-shaped pattern: two horizontal stripes followed by a vertical stripe." (Jakob Nielsen - Alertbox)

Posted by PJB on April 18, 2006 | Classification: Writing | Permalink

Information Architecture and Findability

"Peter Morville, co-author of Information Architecture for the World Wide Web with Lou Rosenfeld and author of Ambient Findability, presented a very informative day-long lecture on the subject of information architecture (IA). He discussed many basic concepts as well as best practices, so his presentation would appeal to both beginner and intermediate IAs." (Russell Wilson - UXmatters)

Posted by PJB on April 15, 2006 | Classification: Search | Permalink

Interaction Design (IxD) Symposium

"The IxD Symposium - an all-day pre-conference seminar - was presented by Dave Heller, Kim Goodwin, Luke Wroblewski, and Frank Ramirez of IxDA (Interaction Design Association). It was well worth the additional cost as each presenter gave practical advice based on real projects." (Russell Wilson - UXmatters)

Posted by PJB on April 15, 2006 | Classification: Interaction design | Permalink

IA Summit 2006: Gathering of the Tribe

"During March 23-28, 2006, over 500 people gathered in Vancouver, Canada, for the seventh Information Architecture Summit sponsored by ASIS&T (American Society for Information Science and Technology). The delightfully diverse attendees included not just people with the job title information architect, but also librarians, Web developers, business analysts, user experience designers, and others." (Laurie Lamar - UXmatters)

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

My IA Summit 2006 Experience: Part 1/2/3

"The seventh annual ASIS&T Information Architecture Summit—IA Summit 2006 for short—was held at the Hyatt® Regency in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, shown in Figure 1, from March 23 through 27, 2006. Its theme was Learning • Doing • Selling. While I attended the IA Summit Redux in San Francisco at Adaptive Path last year, this was my first IA Summit." (Pabini Gabriel-Petit - UXmatters)

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

Mathemagenic

"Mathemagenic means 'giving birth to learning'. I use this site as my learning diary, so I think this name fits well. So far, this web-site includes only my blog, a reverse-order posting of insights, commentaries, links and a few longer stories. Later it may grow into bigger web-site, but I'm not in a hurry for that. Learning starts small. As a researcher I'm curious to see how blogs could be used for learning and knowledge sharing. So, my blog is an experiment as well. Most of my learning is around learning, e-learning and knowledge management (and weblogs of course)." (Lilia Efimova)

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

Emotionally-centered design

"We are moving from static pages with their clunky, slow repainting of the page to fluid, dynamic displays, where the movement is a major part of the charm. We are moving from behaviorally effective designs to ones that add emotional engagement." (Don Norman)

Posted by PJB on April 13, 2006 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

Talking about Tagging

"Seems that not a day goes by without one of my projects discussing tags. As a result, I’ve been keeping with up with the broader conversation about tagging. Here’s what I've heard discussed recently." (Luke Wroblewski - Functioning Form)

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

Videos in the CHI Video Retrospective Special Collection

"We've added 87 videos from the Assocation for Computing Machinery (ACM) annual Computer-Human Interaction (CHI) conference. These videos were digitized from the CHI conference VHS video proceedings for the years 1996 through 2002, with the exception of the video proceedings for the year 2000. We expect to add videos for the year 2000 and 2003 video proceedings soon." (The Open Video Project)

Posted by PJB on April 13, 2006 | Classification: HCI | Permalink

Information and Knowledge Management: What Technical Communication Can Learn From Library Science

"Technical communication and librarianship share a common foundation in mediating information. Technical communicators traditionally have been concerned with the production of information while librarians have focused on the organization and management of information. However, as information and communications technologies have broadened the definition of technical communication and librarianship, they have expanded opportunities and career choices for practitioners in both fields. Technical communicators may now be employed in such fields as information architecture, web site design and development, information design, instructional design, and many more. Increasingly, information and knowledge management have become concepts required for effective technical communication, requiring an understanding of effective organization, storage, and management of information." (Barbara J. D’Angelo - STC Information Design and Architecture SIG)

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

No boundaries: The challenge of ubiquitous design

"Sometimes a change in technology has implications that are so epochal that everyone must wrestle with them, accommodate them, or prepare for them. The revolution in information technologies known as 'ubiquitous computing' (or ubicomp) is the most recent such change, and it is beginning to impact the practice—and the business—of digital design." (Adam Greenfield - Adobe Design Center) - courtesy of annegalloway

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

BLOG CHI Live!

"We're looking for bloggers who will be coming to CHI to, well, blog CHI. We're interested in seeing if adding this virtual layer to the physical presence of CHI will help make CHI a better experience for the community - especially since CHI is a broader conference beast this year, including many new community areas." (CHI2006: Interact.Inform.Inspire)

Posted by PJB on April 10, 2006 | Classification: Weblogs | Permalink

Show Prices for Common Scenarios

"B2B sites often have overly complex pricing structures or can't show prices at all. To help prospects with early research, list representative cases and their prices." (Jakob Nielsen - Alertbox)

Posted by PJB on April 10, 2006 | Classification: Usability | Permalink

Emanuel Goldberg, Electronic Document Retrieval, And Vannevar Bush's Memex

"Vannevar Bush's famous paper 'As We May Think' (1945) described an imaginary information retrieval machine, the Memex. The Memex is usually viewed, unhistorically, in relation to subsequent developments using digital computers. This paper attempts to reconstruct the little-known background of information retrieval in and before 1939 when 'As We May Think' was originally written. The Memex was based on Bush's work during 1938-1940 developing an improved photoelectric microfilm selector, an electronic retrieval technology pioneered by Emanuel Goldberg of Zeiss Ikon, Dresden, in the 1920s. Visionary statements by Paul Otlet (1934) and Walter Schuermeyer (1935) and the development of electronic document retrieval technology before Bush are examined." (Michael K. Buckland)

Posted by PJB on April 10, 2006 | Classification: Classics | Permalink

The Concept of Information

"The concept of information as we use it in everyday English in the sense knowledge communicated plays a central role in today's society. The concept became particularly predominant since end of World War II with the widespread use of computer networks. The rise of information science in the middle fifties is a testimony of this. For a science like information science (IS) it is of course important how its fundamental terms are defined, and in IS as in other fields the problem of how to define information is often raised. This review is an attempt to overview the present status of the information concept in IS with a view also to interdisciplinary trends." (Rafael Capurro and Birger Hjørland)

Posted by PJB on April 09, 2006 | Classification: Information design | Permalink

The Universe of Information: The Work of Paul Otlet for Documentation and International Organization 

by W. Boyd Rayward - University of Chicago, Published for International Federation for Documentation (IFID) by All-Union Institute for Scientific and technical Information (VINITY) Moscow 1975 - (courtesy of Michael Buckland)

Posted by PJB on April 09, 2006 | Classification: Classics | Permalink

Document Engineering and Information Architecture

"Document Engineering helps us specify, design, and implement these documents and the processes that create and consume them. It synthesizes complementary ideas from information and systems analysis, electronic publishing, business process analysis, and business informatics to ensure that the documents and processes make sense to the people and applications that need them. A document-centric philosophy unifies these different analysis and modeling perspectives." (Robert J. Glushko - Document Engineering)

Posted by PJB on April 06, 2006 | Classification: Information architecture | Permalink

Designing Interfaces: Patterns for Effective Interaction Design

"(...) an intermediate-level book about interface and interaction design, structured as a pattern language. It features real-live examples from desktop applications, web sites, web applications, mobile devices, and everything in between." (Jenifer Tidwell) - courtesy of guuui

Posted by PJB on April 06, 2006 | Classification: Patterns | Permalink

The 'Come To Me' Web

"Structured content, micro-formats, ambient findability, the model of attraction, and feeds let me (more closely) do what I want, when I want, how I want. They let me manage how I fulfill my desires; how I accomplish my goals." - Conversation with the people involved included. (Austin Govella - Thinking and Making) - courtesy of iaslash

Posted by PJB on April 06, 2006 | Classification: Metadata | Permalink

In Google we trust: Information integrity in the digital age

"This paper considers information safety and accuracy in the digital age using Google as an entry point. In doing so, it explores the role media play in shaping the relationship of information, privacy, and trust between Google and the public. This inquiry is undertaken using framing theory to guide a content analysis of the way Google is presented in New York Times articles from a two–year period ending in November, 2005. Analysis of the extensive coverage of Google’s share price and earnings reports leads to the conclusion that trust in Google is fostered in part simply by reports of its fiscal success. To the extent that this is true, meaningful public debate about information policies is inhibited." (Lee Shaker- First Monday 11.4)

Posted by PJB on April 04, 2006 | Classification: Search | Permalink

Designing the Next Generation of Web Apps

"I had a great time moderating a panel at SXSW this year. The subject was web applications -- specifically the changes we've seen recently in the new technologies, design directions, and economic factors of building stuff online. So I asked some really smart people to join me to discuss what's been happening and what they've been thinking about. Thanks again to George Oates from Flickr, Mena Trott from SixApart, Eric Rodenbeck from Stamen Design, and Evan Williams from Odeo. Here are the notes I prepared before the panel. We didn't get through it all; we could have kept going all afternoon." (Jeffrey Veen)

Posted by PJB on April 04, 2006 | Classification: Podcasts | Permalink

The Name Game

"Tagging offers a potentially powerful way for a company to organize information by making fresh content immediately searchable, letting users designate terms that make sense to them and providing users with a sense of ownership. This ability for tags to provide so much content-describing power for ordinary folks has given rise to the term 'folksonomy', as opposed to the more restrictive sounding 'taxonomy'." (Michael Fitzgerald - CIO Magazine) - courtesy of keithinstone

Posted by PJB on April 04, 2006 | Classification: Metadata | Permalink

Rethinking EIA: Becoming Information Ecologists

"This post attempts to rethink EIA and argues that information architecture need not be constrained to designing structures and managing content as it relates to the Web or for any electronic system for that matter. Instead, I argue that an enterprise information architect might also be called, as Thomas Davenport coins it, an 'Information Ecologist'." (Rob Fay - Partial Recall) - courtesy of steptwodesign

Posted by PJB on April 04, 2006 | Classification: | Permalink

Information Architecture Success Story: The Development of www.plainlanguage.gov

"(...) the site has become an increasingly important resource for federal writers and managers. The concepts of clarity and structure in text that are outlined on the site have served as the foundation for federal writing guidelines – especially guidelines for crafting federal Web content." (Thomas Haller - ASIS&T Bulletin April 2006)

Posted by PJB on April 04, 2006 | Classification: Information architecture | Permalink

Everyware: The dawning age of ubiquitous computing

Chapter samples (and more to come soon) - "The age of ubiquitous computing is here: a computing without computers, where information processing has diffused into everyday life, and virtually disappeared from view. What does this mean to those of us who will be encountering it? How will it transform our lives? And how will we learn to make wise decisions about something so hard to see?" (Adam Greenfield - Studies and Observations) - courtesy of petermorville

Posted by PJB on April 03, 2006 | Classification: Information design | Permalink

The Workplace Blog

"The Workplace Blog is written by Shiv Singh, Ray Velez and the Enterprise Solutions Team at Avenue A | Razorfish. The blog covers news, trends, commentary, events and emerging technologies that are affecting the enterprise workplace. It also provides a unique perspective on what's happening in the enterprise market and how companies are retooling their intranets, extranets, portals and web applications to meet the needs of their business. The blog reflects the views of the individual authors and not necessarily the views of the company." (Avenue A | Razorfish ES) - Keep up the good work!

Posted by PJB on April 03, 2006 | Classification: Weblogs | Permalink

Hyped Web Stories Are Irrelevant

"The fads and big deals that get the press coverage are not important for running a workhorse website. To serve your customers, it's far better to emphasize simplicity and quality than to chase buzzwords." (Jakob Nielsen - Alertbox)

Posted by PJB on April 03, 2006 | Classification: Usability | Permalink

Web navigation is about moving forward

"The primary purpose of web navigation is to help people to move forward. It is not to tell them where they have been, or where they could have gone." (Gerry McGovern)

Posted by PJB on April 03, 2006 | Classification: Navigation | Permalink

5 Ways To Make Sure That Users Abandon Your Form

"This isn't just about form usability. You can have a very usable form and still violate me in any number of ways." (Eric Myers - ICE) - courtesy of henrikolsen

Posted by PJB on April 03, 2006 | Classification: Information design | Permalink