December 2006

Review of 'Everyware: The dawning age of ubiquitous computing'

"Adam's thesis is that technology and our experience of it will change significantly in the very near future: computer processing will insinuate its way in into our daily lives deeply and invisibly, in a way that PCs haven't. It will move from our desktops and server rooms into our walls, our furniture, our clothing, and perhaps even into our bodies; everyware will literally be everywhere." (Andrew Otwell - heyblog)

Posted by PJB on December 27, 2006 | Classification: Information design | Permalink

2001 to 2006: Five Years of Information Architecture

"But I know an IA spirit when I see one. They have a passion for the complex combined with a desire to help out. They are the sort who, on discovering the library books pulled from their shelves, would relish sorting the mess out rather than bemoaning the terrible transgression." (Karen Loasby - Freeprint) - courtesy of elearningpost

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

Folksonomy as symbol

"I think folksonomies have excited us because of what they say. They are symbols. But of what?" (David Weinberger)

Posted by PJB on December 19, 2006 | Classification: Metadata | Permalink

Clash of the Titans: Agile and UCD

"Agile software development has become fairly popular in the last few years, leaving many UX professionals wondering how user-centered design (UCD) can fit into an extremely fast-paced development process that uses little documentation. User-centered design can involve a variety of techniques that provide insights into users’ wants, needs, and goals, including ethnography, contextual inquiry, contextual interviewing, usability testing, task analysis, and others. But all of these take time-time that an agile development process might not allow. There is hope, though. Agile and UCD methods are not completely at odds with each other-and in some cases, agile development can even enable a more user-centered approach. By taking the time to understand the differences and similarities between agile development and UCD, it's possible to devise a process that is both user-centered and agile." (Richard F. Cecil - UXmatters)

Posted by PJB on December 18, 2006 | Classification: UCD | Permalink

Seeing the World in Symbols: Icons and the Evolving Language of Digital Wayfinding

"Of all the objects that occupy our digital spaces, there are none that capture the imagination so much as icons. As symbols, icons can communicate powerfully, be delightful, add to the aesthetic value of software, engage people’s curiosity and playfulness, and encourage experimentation. These symbols are key components of a graphic user interface-mediators between our thoughts and actions, our intentions and accomplishments." (Jonathan Follett - UXmatters)

Posted by PJB on December 18, 2006 | Classification: Information design | Permalink

Usability in the Movies: Top 10 Bloopers

"User interfaces in film are more exciting than they are realistic, and heroes have far too easy a time using foreign systems." (Jakob Nielsen - Alertbox)

Posted by PJB on December 18, 2006 | Classification: Usability | Permalink

OLPC Human Interface Guidelines

"These guidelines are targeted primarily at developers who are building tools for the OLPC laptop. They provide an in-depth view of the various features of Sugar, the laptop user interface, and focus closely on the parts of the UI that pertain directly to software development and the ways in which applications, presented as 'activities', interact with the operating system. However, as these guidelines are intended to provide a comprehensive overview of the user interface, these pages should also be of general interest. Hopefully the descriptions of the various UI elements, particularly in the Laptop Experience section, will quench the thirst of all who want to better understand the project and its goals." (The OLPC Wiki) - courtesy of usernomics

Posted by PJB on December 15, 2006 | Classification: HCI | Permalink

The Bottom Line of Experience Design: Q&A with Nathan Shedroff

"The word design means many things, but to people who design for a living, their profession normally breaks down into specific categories like graphic design, industrial design, and information design. Nathan Shedroff is one of the pioneers in experience design, an approach that encompasses multiple senses, usually in a physical environment. As author of the book Experience Design and president of the Board of Directors for the AIGA Center for Brand Experience, Nathan has important insights for those who design experiences with PowerPoint." (Cliff Atkinson - sociable media)

Posted by PJB on December 14, 2006 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

Slideshare and the 'slideumentation' of presentations

"Don't get me wrong, there are some cool features in Slideshare. SlideShare does indeed make it easy to upload PowerPoint slides and it is quite cool that you can embed clickable slides into your blog or view them in good quality on a large screen. But without the possibility to include audio (or video and animation) with slides I just do not see what all the excitement is about (yet)." (Garr Reynolds - Presentation Zen)

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

Personas and Outrageous Software: An Interview with Alan Cooper

"I asked Alan Cooper (over a rather echoing connection) why he is outraged by bad software, and how he developed the concept of 'personas'. I was interested to hear the 'father of Visual Basic' say 'What I need is a computer that doesn't make me feel bad and a cellphone that doesn't make me feel stupid'." (UXpod)

Posted by PJB on December 14, 2006 | Classification: Personas | Permalink

W3C Semantic Web Activity

"The Semantic Web is a web of data. There is lots of data we all use every day, and its not part of the web. I can see my bank statements on the web, and my photographs, and I can see my appointments in a calendar. But can I see my photos in a calendar to see what I was doing when I took them? Can I see bank statement lines in a calendar? Why not? Because we don't have a web of data. Because data is controlled by applications, and each application keeps it to itself. The Semantic Web is about two things. It is about common formats for interchange of data, where on the original Web we only had interchange of documents. Also it is about language for recording how the data relates to real world objects. That allows a person, or a machine, to start off in one database, and then move through an unending set of databases which are connected not by wires but by being about the same thing." (W3C)

Posted by PJB on December 12, 2006 | Classification: Metadata | Permalink

Communicating Web 2.0 Through Design

"(...) how to educate your visitors about the features of contemporary sites and web apps through instructive design." (Robert Hoekman - Vitamin)

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

Simplicity

"Devotees of simplicity will bring up 37signals and the Apple iPod as anecdotal proof that Simple Sells. I would argue that in both these cases, success is a result of a combination of things: building an audience, evangelism, clean and spare design, emotional appeal, aesthetics, fast response time, direct and instant user feedback, program models which correspond to the user model resulting in high usability, and putting the user in control, all of which are features of one sort, in the sense that they are benefits that customers like and pay for, but none of which can really be described as 'simplicity'." (Joel Spolsky)

Posted by PJB on December 11, 2006 | Classification: Complexity | Permalink

We need theories of experience design

"(...) it's pretty difficult to state a theory of experience design. Theories are rare in every design discipline, but in those where theories exist -- like the theory of taxonomical structure in information design or wayfinding theory in environmental design -- they're reliable guides to practice." (Bob Jakobson - Total Experience)

Posted by PJB on December 10, 2006 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

Democratic folksonomy: in response to 'Beneath the Metadata'

"Metadata systems retain their integrity through control over what terms are used to describe the things that they refer to. It wouldn't help anyone if what was generally accepted as a car is referred to as an 'angular-wheely-thing' just because one person chooses to call it this, freely adding it to the folksonomy." (Kevin Shoesmith - Venn Communications Systems)

Posted by PJB on December 08, 2006 | Classification: Metadata | Permalink

What is Customer-Centric Content Management?

"Customer-centric content management addresses customer needs at every touchpoint, while driving down content costs and improving processes. This article identifies why we need to move to a customer-centric content management focus and provides an outline of its components." (Ann Rockley - The Rockley Report Dec. 2006) - courtesy of thomhaller

Posted by PJB on December 07, 2006 | Classification: Content management | Permalink

Web Browsing on Mobile Phones - Characteristics of User Experience

"Browsing the Web with a small mobile phone may sound absurd at first. The increasing importance of the Internet means, however, that a person should be able to access Web services even when not sitting in front of a computer. Since there are approximately three times more mobile phones than computers in the world, a mobile phone may provide the only way to access the Web for many people. Technically, it has been possible to access the Internet on a mobile phone for several years already, but the mobile browsing experience has often been cumbersome for ordinary people. Understanding the user needs in different use contexts is the key to improving the user experience and thereby popularizing device independent access to Internet. In her dissertation research, Virpi Roto has interviewed users of mobile browsers in several countries, and identified characteristics that help improve the mobile browsing user experience if taken into consideration. In addition to user and use context, all the system components should be taken into account: device, browser, network infrastructure, and web site." (Virpi Roto - Nokia Research Center) - courtesy of vuccosic

Posted by PJB on December 07, 2006 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

What is holding User Experience back or propelling User Experience forward where you work?

"Why bother with the speed boats and the anchors and the propellers? There are several reasons, but one of the most interesting, in my view, is how they appear to help tap what participants actually 'experience' in their workplace." (Richard Anderson - Riander)

Posted by PJB on December 06, 2006 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

Information Design redux

"The importance of information design (ID) as a discipline with much to loan other design disciplines -- especially those that deal with human-human and human-system communication -- was brought home to me by two events." (Bob Jakobson - Total Experience)

Posted by PJB on December 06, 2006 | Classification: Information design | Permalink

INFODESIGN: brazilian journal of information design

"In this opening edition of InfoDesign, the articles – all with differing approaches and themes - deal with 'information design of inclusion', in which the information readers/users must steer their way through decisions taken during the design process in order to achieve successful communication." (SBDI)

Posted by PJB on December 06, 2006 | Classification: Information design | Permalink

The Complexity of Simplicity

"Though many business strategies and publications continue to trumpet the power of simplicity in the design of digital products, for lots of companies and product teams, simplicity doesn’t come easy." (Luke Wroblewski - UXmatters)

Posted by PJB on December 04, 2006 | Classification: Complexity | Permalink

Applied Empathy: A Design Framework for Meeting Human Needs and Desires

"Typically, we design products for a specific end state. For example, someone has an idea that a large beanbag can function as a chair. Or someone imagines how improving a paperless payment system can work more effectively than a manual system that is currently in use. Or customer feedback leads to the optimization of a Web site workflow that helps people complete their tasks more quickly. But in each of these examples, the focus is on things other than the essence of the actual people who will use the products—whether that focus is on the application of a particular material, on using technology to make a process easier, or responding to customers’ feedback to keep them satisfied. As I previously described in Part One of this series, the intentional attempt to satisfy people’s internal needs and desires simply isn’t there." (Dirk Knemeyer - UXmatters)

Posted by PJB on December 04, 2006 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

Progressive Disclosure

"Progressive disclosure defers advanced or rarely used features to a secondary screen, making applications easier to learn and less error-prone." (Jakob Nielsen - Alertbox)

Posted by PJB on December 04, 2006 | Classification: Usability | Permalink