June 2006

History of the button

"Tracing the history of interaction design, software/web design and the future of environmental design through the humble button." (About HotB)

Posted by PJB on June 30, 2006 | Classification: HCI | Permalink

Ambidextrous Blog

A blog accompanying the magazine - "Ambidextrous is a forum for the cross-disciplinary, cross-market community of people with an academic, professional and personal interest in design. The magazine is geared toward high subscriber participation and interaction. It is expressly designed to be informal, irreverent, and fun to read." (Ambidextrous)

Posted by PJB on June 30, 2006 | Classification: Weblogs | Permalink

Definition of User Experience Revisited

"(...) I like the tight coupling between user experience and the organization (the sender, the product). But then, it's not really a tangible, easy-to-use definition. I want something that everybody can understand. Users, web developers, designers, business analysts, clients must all be able to agree on the same definition and understand the definition in the same way. In my opinion this tends toward being too philosophical." (Jesper Rønn-Jensen - justaddwater.dk)

Posted by PJB on June 28, 2006 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

Where Visual Design Meets Usability: An Interview with Luke Wroblewski (Part II)

"Visual designers with experience in or an understanding of business, engineering, usability, or information architecture can better account for those considerations within a product design. This point is especially important when you consider the visual design of a product is the voice of the interaction design, information architecture, and the business." (Joshua Porter - User Interface Engineering)

Posted by PJB on June 28, 2006 | Classification: Visual design | Permalink

TEDTalks

"Each year, TED hosts some of the world's most fascinating people: Trusted voices and convention-breaking mavericks, icons and geniuses. The talks they deliver have had had such a great impact, we thought they deserved a wider audience. So now, for the first time, we're sharing them with the world at large. Each week, we'll release a new talk to inspire, intrigue and awaken the imagination. For best effect, plan to listen to at least three, start to finish." (Technology Entertainment Design)

Posted by PJB on June 27, 2006 | Classification: Podcasts | Permalink

Conversation with Michael Bierut - Part II

"One of the hard lessons I had to learn as a designer starting out was that good design is not a self-evident imperative for most people. I tell students that they are spending time and money in design school acquiring an abnormal sensitivity to design that most regular people should not be expected to share." (Peter Merholz - Adaptive Path)

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

Senior managers: you can't keep ignoring the Web

"The Web deserves professional management because the Web is central to the future of the organization." (Gerry McGovern)

Posted by PJB on June 26, 2006 | Classification: Information design | Permalink

Free Download: Part I of Found and Lost

Search is a conversation, a marketplace, mostly friction, and not discrete. - "A 'video' by John S. Rhodes revealing the future of search, why failure drives success for Google and Yahoo, and how search ultimately molds the way we act, feel and think. You can download Part I of Found and Lost, 15 minutes long, absolutely free." (John Rhodes - UX Reports)

Posted by PJB on June 26, 2006 | Classification: Search | Permalink

Understanding XForms: Components

"Big complex data models look really imposing and impressive, but at the end of the day, XForms got their start largely because the existing HTML forms just weren't expressive enough. Consider some of the more vexing problems associated with typical web forms. Suppose that you wished to..." (Kurt Cagle - O'Reilly XML Blog)

Posted by PJB on June 26, 2006 | Classification: Technology | Permalink

Quantitative Studies: How Many Users to Test?

"When collecting usability metrics, testing 20 users typically offers a reasonably tight confidence interval." (Jakob Nielsen - Alertbox)

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

Magic Words: How Language Augments Human Computation

"Public language is a cognition-enhancing tool -- it is a species of external artifact whose current adaptive value is partially constituted by its role in re-shaping the kinds of computational space that our biological brains must negotiate in order to solve certain types of problems, or to carry out certain complex projects. This computational role of language has been somewhat neglected (not un-noticed, but not rigorously pursued either) in recent cognitive science, due perhaps to a (quite proper) fascination with and concentration upon, that other obvious dimension: the role of language as an instrument of interpersonal communication. In this chapter, I try to display the broad shape of the alternative orientation. I discuss the views of some recent (and not-so-recent) authors, who recognize in various ways, the potential role of language and text in transforming, reshaping and simplifying the computational tasks that confront the biological brain. I then pursue this idea through a series of examples involving planning, concept learning, the construction of complex thoughts and the capacity to refelect on our own cognitive profiles." (Andy Clark)

Posted by PJB on June 25, 2006 | Classification: Writing | Permalink

Where Visual Design Meets Usability: An Interview with Luke Wroblewski, Part I

"When properly applied, visual design is all about communication. The better at communicating we are, the easier it is for our users to use and appreciate the web sites we design." (Joshua Porter - User Interface Engineering)

Posted by PJB on June 22, 2006 | Classification: Interviews | Permalink

On the architecture and design of information environments

"Though it's common practice, thinking of information retrieval exclusively as 'search' is an arbitrarily narrow way of framing an area of capability with strong impact on overall perceptions of user experience quality and effectiveness. In the long term, it limits opportunities to offer customers more effective solutions to broader and more fully understood needs that involve information retrieval, but are motivated by other goals. This narrow view is especially limiting for the user experience architect, as it implies an immediate focus on the search aspects of information environments." (Joe Lamantia) - courtesy of donnamaurer

Posted by PJB on June 22, 2006 | Classification: Information architecture | Permalink

Ted Nelson's Computer Paradigm, Expressed as One-Liners

"The purpose of computers is human freedom." (Theodor Holm Nelson)

Posted by PJB on June 22, 2006 | Classification: Classics | Permalink

The Confluence of Research and Practice in Information Architecture

"Of course there is a great deal of relevant research, as can be said of any area. However, this relevant research is scattered across many disciplines and over numerous journals, using various names and taking multiple forms. Seldom does it establish an explicit connection to IA, let alone describe itself as IA research." (Karl Fast - ASIS&T Bulletin June 2006)

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

UXnet incorporates

"(...) we are honored and motivated to be providing the leadership for UXnet in these formative years." (UXnet) - congrats to dirk et al.

Posted by PJB on June 21, 2006 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

Fine Typography for the Web

"Typography is the craft of endowing human language with a durable visual form, and thus with an independent existence. Its heartwood is calligraphy - the dance, on a tiny stage, of the living, speaking hand - and its roots reach into living soil, though its branches may be hung each year with new machines." (Dave Shea)

Posted by PJB on June 21, 2006 | Classification: Typography | Permalink

The Usability of Ajax: A Primer for Usability Professionals and First Hand Account

"You can't just ask Dreamweaver for the code - it's currently a hand coding exercise." (John Whalen - HFI)

Posted by PJB on June 20, 2006 | Classification: Technology | Permalink

2006 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science

"(...) awarded to Donald Norman for the development of the field of user-centered design, which utilizes our understanding of how people think to develop technologies designed to be easily usable." (The Franklin Institute)

Posted by PJB on June 19, 2006 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

Peter Morville at the Enterprise Search Summit

"In a world where people have so little attention to give, we must help people find what they want when they want it—when they are interested. We must shift from push to pull so people can pull things when we want it." (Mike Moran - Biznology) - courtesy of keithinstone

Posted by PJB on June 19, 2006 | Classification: Search | Permalink

How values get embedded in technology

The vloggercon keynote by information architect and user experience consultant Peter Van Dijck - "The technology and the culture of videoblogging co-evolve. So the practices and believes that you have are shaped in part by the technology that's available to you, and the technology that's being created like crazy these days is shaped by the practices and believes you hold." (Peter Van Dijck - poorbuthappy)

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

UPA 2006:  Usability Through Storytelling

"Post-conference page with links to speaker slides and resources." (The Usability Professionals' Association)

Posted by PJB on June 19, 2006 | Classification: Usability | Permalink

Webstock Web Conference Recordings

"Webstock is a four-day web experience: two days of intensive workshops, followed by a two-day conference. The aim: to improve how websites are built through inspiration, education, insightful analysis and practical application." (Webstock) - courtesy of elearningpost

Posted by PJB on June 19, 2006 | Classification: Podcasts | Permalink

Minimalism: The Minimalist Model applied to documentation and training

"The Minimalist theory of J.M. Carroll is a framework for the design of instruction, especially training materials for computer users. The theory suggests that (1) all learning tasks should be meaningful and self-contained activities, (2) learners should be given realistic projects as quickly as possible, (3) instruction should permit self-directed reasoning and improvising by increasing the number of active learning activities, (4) training materials and activities should provide for error recognition and recovery and, (5) there should be a close linkage between the training and actual system." (Martin Ryder)

Posted by PJB on June 18, 2006 | Classification: TechCom | Permalink

Top Designer Says World Cup Design 'Just Embarrassing'

"They are over-organized; there are too many messages; and nobody wants to take on responsibility. In fact, it is a perfect mirror of German society right now. It is very much akin to the governing grand coalition -- two big parties that are basically canceling each other out because no one can make any decisions. Everyone is trying to be nice, everyone knows we have to do something, change society, change behavior, and economy, but no one wants to take the first step because we're so comfortable. We're still wrapped up in our nice security blanket. We know it's cold outside, but we just stay inside and huddle. This sort of World Cup design is very much communal huddling -- trying to please everyone but never even putting a finger outside of that security blanket." (says Erik Spiekermann - Deutsche Welle) - courtesy of dirkknemeyer

Posted by PJB on June 16, 2006 | Classification: Interviews | Permalink

The value of openness in an attention economy

FM10 'Openness: Code, Science, and Content': Selected Papers from the First Monday Conference, 15–17 May 2006 - "A theory of how we pay attention to other humans suggests why receiving it is both desirable and difficult. Humans can absorb as much attention as can be obtained, which differentiates it from other sorts of scarce goods. The theory also suggests a typology of openness, permitting an analysis of the different forms addressed in this Conference, along with others, both existing and potential. In this context, it seems reasonable to speculate on how attention–economic activity manifested through openness may help lead to further dominance of this type of economy. Groupings based on and espousing openness eventually may come increasingly to replace profit–making firms and even non–profit institutions such as universities, while making the pursuit of money largely irrelevant." (Michael Goldhaber - First Monday 11.6)

Posted by PJB on June 14, 2006 | Classification: Information design | Permalink

Web Patterns: Q&A with John Allsopp

"Q: So what's the right way to address this lack of semantic definition present in HTML? Microformats? Shared CLASS and ID conventions? A user interface markup language like XUL? A: Yes, Yes and Yes." (LukeW - Functioning Form)

Posted by PJB on June 13, 2006 | Classification: Patterns | Permalink

Guiding Principles for Providing 'Remember Me' Personalization

"(...) choosing to be 'remembered' means different things on different sites. At one end of the spectrum, it's like an automatic sign in, enabling full access to account/personal information. The other end involves little more than a username pre-fill, allowing for quicker sign in." (Meg Peters - Boxes and Arrows)

Posted by PJB on June 12, 2006 | Classification: Information architecture | Permalink

Succeeding at IA in the Enterprise

"As information architects, the core of our profession rests on the analysis of information, the identification of structure, the creation of taxonomies and site maps, and the development of wireframes and user interfaces. These skills are well-honed, and we play a significant role in the design and creation of many systems, from websites to web 2.0." (James Robertson - Boxes and Arrows)

Posted by PJB on June 12, 2006 | Classification: Information architecture | Permalink

Email Newsletters: Surviving Inbox Congestion

"Newsletter usability has increased since our last study, but the competition for users' attention has also grown with the ever-increasing glut of information." (Jakob Nielsen - Alertbox)

Posted by PJB on June 12, 2006 | Classification: Usability | Permalink

Mosh Pit as Innovation Model

"Our success is not about what we think up, but rather who we think about." (Kathy Sierra - Creating Passionate Users)

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

Words Matter. Talk About People: Not Customers, Not Consumers, Not Users

"Words matter. Psychologists depersonalize the people they study by calling them 'subjects'. We depersonalize the people we study by calling them 'users'. Both terms are derogatory. They take us away from our primary mission: to help people. Power to the people, I say, to repurpose an old phrase. People. Human Beings. That's what our discipline is really about." (Donald Norman)

Posted by PJB on June 12, 2006 | Classification: UCD | Permalink

Beautiful Evidence: Book production

"Stop it!" (Ask Edward Tufte)

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

Partial Bibliography of Magic in User Experience Design

"Magic as an alternative UI metaphor has appeared a number of times in HCI writing in the last 20 years, talked-about by many of the greats in the field. Now we can actually implement some of it, I figured it may be useful to go back and see what has been written about it in the past. Here is a list of publications that have talked about magic or enchantment in HCI contexts." (Mike Kuniavsky - Orange Cone) - courtesy of boingboing

Posted by PJB on June 09, 2006 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

Experience Economy Download Area

Free registration required - "This area of our web site offers many articles, video's and presentations for downloading for personal, non-commercial use. We hope the material will be of inspiration to you!" (European Centre for the Experience Economy)

Posted by PJB on June 09, 2006 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

Proceedings of WWW 2005

The CD Version of the Fourteenth International World Wide Web Conference held at Makuhari Messe on May 10-14, 2005, in Chiba, Japan (WWW2005) - courtesy of stevenpemberton

Posted by PJB on June 09, 2006 | Classification: Technology | Permalink

Conversation with Michael Bierut - Part I

"I've come to believe strongly that one of the roles of design is to bring humanity, intelligence and beauty to the world of business, and indeed to everyday life." (Peter Merholz - Adaptive Path)

Posted by PJB on June 09, 2006 | Classification: Interviews | Permalink

The Importance of a Customer-Centric Design Approach: An Interview with Gerry McGovern

"The number one skill that every web team should have is the ability and desire to relentlessly focus on the needs of the customer. Web teams must enjoy being around the customer, they must be stimulated by thinking of the customer. You have those skills and everything else fits into place." (Christine Perfetti - User Interface Engineering)

Posted by PJB on June 09, 2006 | Classification: Interviews | Permalink

Search Analytics for your Site

"Any organization that has a searchable web site or intranet is sitting on top of hugely valuable and usually under-exploited data: logs that capture what users searching for, how often each query was searched, and how many results each query retrieved. Search queries are gold: they are real data that show us exactly what users are searching for in their own words. This book shows you how to use search analytics to carry on a conversation with your customers: listen to and understand their needs, and improve your content, navigation and search performance to meet those needs." (Rosenfeld Media)

Posted by PJB on June 09, 2006 | Classification: Search | Permalink

SIGCHI.nl 2006 conference

"(...) every 'new' Web 2.0 aspect was already thought of much earlier, but that at that time, the concepts weren't recognized as being very distinguished." (Ferry den Dopper - Tam Tam)

Posted by PJB on June 09, 2006 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

Journeying Through CHI 2006

"When I signed up to attend CHI 2006, for the very first time in my seven-year career, I didn't expect that I'd spend most of the event helping to staff our company's exhibit space and drive hiring for the St. Jude Medical Human Factors Engineering team. In 2001, a paper I'd co-authored with Robert Reimann was accepted for CHI, but I was unable to attend due to conflicting project duties. Over the years, events always seemed to conspire against my attending CHI, although I've had the pleasure of attending other conferences such as DIS and DUX. At CHI 2006, I hoped to educate myself about leading research and fresh trends in the field of computer human interaction, as well as network with folks I've worked and communicated with, especially through the Interaction Design Association (IxDA). In the end, though, working the St. Jude Medical booth consumed the bulk of my time." (Elizabeth Bacon - UXmatters)

Posted by PJB on June 05, 2006 | Classification: HCI | Permalink

Returning to CHI: Different Experience, Same Rush

"In April of 2001, a small dotcom sent a young Webmaster to a conference called CHI in Seattle. That was my first CHI experience. I had been forced to read The Design of Everyday Things, the author of which was some guy the owner knew from when he was working on his PhD at the University of California, San Diego—that'd be Don Norman. I'd never been to Seattle, never been on a business trip before, knew hopelessly little about the concept of usability—except that I was grateful when somebody blamed her problems with doors on the designers of the doors and not her inability to intuit in which direction a door will open—and was chaperoned by most of the dotcom's management team." (Jessyca Frederick - UXmatters)

Posted by PJB on June 05, 2006 | Classification: HCI | Permalink

The Reboot8 Conference Podcasts

"People coming to reboot - as long as they don't fall into the mainstream definition - are about challenges and achieving something; not for themselves but for all of us. It is not so much about the money but about the rest around it." (bloxpert) - courtesy of langemarkcafe

Posted by PJB on June 05, 2006 | Classification: Podcasts | Permalink

NussbaumOnDesign: Inside the business of innovation and design

A weblog from Bruce Nussbaum - editor of Business Week. It's what business people read on Design. (Business Week Online Innovation)

Posted by PJB on June 05, 2006 | Classification: Weblogs | Permalink

Innovation Through Design Thinking

"(...) a 'design thinker' must not only be intensely collaborative, but 'empathic, as well as have a craft to making things real in the world.' Since design flavors virtually all of our experiences, from products to services to spaces, a design thinker must explore a 'landscape of innovation' that has to do with people, their needs, technology and business. Timothy Brown (CEO of IDEO) dips into three central 'buckets' in the process of creating a new design: inspiration, ideation and implementation. " (MIT World) - courtesy of elearningpost

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

Microformats gets a push, or is it a pull?

"(...) we need more metadata. Metadata lets us surf the information tsunami. Microformats are highly useful, but they won't be adopted unless there are apps that make use of them." (David Weinberger - Joho The Blog)

Posted by PJB on June 02, 2006 | Classification: Metadata | Permalink

User Experience & Cognitive Pleasures

"User experience and usability are two different things. And usability does not always imply a system or interface that does not require any learning, or any enquiry, or any challenge on the part of the user." (Leisa Reichelt - disambiguity)

Posted by PJB on June 02, 2006 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

USer Interface eXtensible Markup Language

"(...) a XML-compliant markup language that describes the UI for multiple contexts of use such as Character User Interfaces (CUIs), Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs), Auditory User Interfaces, and Multimodal User Interfaces. In other words, interactive applications with different types of interaction techniques, modalities of use, and computing platforms can be described in a way that preserves the design independently from peculiar characteristics of physical computing platform." (UsiXML.org)

Posted by PJB on June 01, 2006 | Classification: HCI | Permalink

Tagging 2.0 panel at SXSW2006

"The Tagging 2.0 panel I organized at South by SouthWest 2006 in March is now a Tagging 2.0 podcast among the many SXSW 2006 podcasts you can download. The Tagging 2.0 panel was one of the 'highly-rated panels' this year, tied for first place with a number of other entertaining and informative panels too so check out their podcasts as they become available as well." (Tagsonomy)

Posted by PJB on June 01, 2006 | Classification: Podcasts | Permalink