InfoDesign: Hand-picked since 1997

All posts from

January 2004

Five ways to identify intranet usability issue

Added on 13 January 2004 Peter Bogaards

“Many intranets are under-used. Intranet managers lament the low use and discuss how to get staff to ‘use the intranet more’, resulting in marketing and promotions activities to increase use.” (Donna Maurer – Step Two Designs)

Usability

Audio Interfaces for Online Environments

Added on 13 January 2004 Peter Bogaards

“Sound is one of our most sophisticated senses, from the time we are babies our entire world is filled with sounds designed to stimulate our behavior. We grow to expect pleasure or annoyance as were are introduced to surprising new sounds as well as established ones. Sound has a variety of forms – voice, music, effects, nature, or other communication forms – and these can be incredible rich, complex, and subtle.” (Clark MacLeod – Kelake)

Personalization is not Technology: Using Web Personalization to Promote your Business Goal

Added on 13 January 2004 Peter Bogaards

“Web personalization is a strategy, a marketing tool, and an art. Personalization requires implicitly or explicitly collecting visitor information and leveraging that knowledge in your content delivery framework to manipulate what information you present to your users and how you present it.” (Christian Ricci – Boxes and Arrows)

User experience

Designing for Limited Resources

Added on 13 January 2004 Peter Bogaards

“Good online experience design must accommodate real-world limitations.” (Laura S. Quinn – Boxes and Arrows)

Information design

From Brick to Click – Bridging the Divide 2/7: Effective Virtual Salespeople

Added on 12 January 2004 Peter Bogaards

“(…) it really comes back to the human touch. Making the interaction as personal and attentive as possible. Creating and locating content in a way that questions and concerns are answered even before they are asked, to simulate the value that an in-store salesperson brings.” (Dirk Knemeyer – Thread Inc.)

Information design

From Brick to Click – Bridging the Divide 1/7: Understanding eCommerce

Added on 12 January 2004 Peter Bogaards

“We have only barely begun to take advantage of the opportunity presented by eCommerce. This is despite the power of broadband connection and the seemingly ubiquitous presence of personal web-enabled devices. Despite visionary and innovative eCommerce companies. Despite the best efforts of traditional companies to best leverage and even transition over to an eCommerce-centered model.” (Dirk Knemeyer – Thread Inc.)

Information design

Web content management predictions for 2004

Added on 12 January 2004 Peter Bogaards

“This is the year when web content comes of age. Organizations will slowly stop viewing content as some cost that needs to be managed. Instead, they will begin to see content as an asset that can drive profits and productivity. A new role will emerge within many organizations: the publisher/editor.” (Gerry McGovern)

Information design

Information Design of Community-Building

Added on 10 January 2004 Peter Bogaards

“This article will speak to the issue that there are certain design considerations which are critical for successful, long-lasting community building on the web that may have no importance or may have lesser importance in a non-community-oriented web site.” (Sandra Maddox – Lazarus)

Information design

Where/What Vision Systems and Visual Design

Added on 9 January 2004 Peter Bogaards

“You can increase the effectiveness of your visual web designs and graphics by getting a little understanding of two human vision systems researched and written about by Margaret Livingston (a neurobiologist).” (Heather Quinn – evolt.org)

Visual design

An Introduction to Information Architecture

Added on 9 January 2004 Peter Bogaards

“The aim of the seminar, which will probably be one of the first information architecture seminars in the UK, is to exchange ideas, visions, and practical experience about information architecture, and explore the potential roles of AIFIA and CILIP in developing a greater awareness of information architecture principles and good practice in the UK.” (March 3rd, 2004 London UK – UKOLUG)

Events

On the economy of Web links: Simulating the exchange process

Added on 8 January 2004 Peter Bogaards

“In the modern Web economy, hyperlinks have already attained monetary value as incoming links to a Web site can increase its visibility on major search engines. Thus links can be viewed as investment instruments that can be the subject of an exchange process. In this study we build a simple model performed by rational agents, whereby links can be bought and sold. Through simulation we achieve consistent economic behaviour of the artificial Web community and provide analysis of its micro– and macro–level parameters. In our simulations we take the link economy to its extreme, where a significant number of links are exchanged, concluding that it will lead to a winner take all situation.” (Boris Galitsky and Mark Levene – First Monday 9.1)

Information design

What is Web Design?

Added on 8 January 2004 Peter Bogaards

“A compilation of issues, process and practice in design for connected interactive experiences.” (Review by Shelley Evenson – ACM Ubiquity)

Information design

Seven Resolutions for 2004

Added on 8 January 2004 Peter Bogaards

“In those inevitable moments when my enthusiasm wanes, I’ll remember how much I love this field of work—that it’s important, and meaningful, and fun.” (Adaptive Path)

User experience

Content Management for Information Architects

Added on 8 January 2004 Peter Bogaards

“This full-day workshop (sponsored by AIfIA) focuses on the link between information architecture and content management. Presentations by the industry’s leading experts and relevant case studies will provide attendees with well-grounded knowledge and numerous opportunities to participate. Special emphasis will be placed on the integration of IA knowledge and deliverables into the CM process.” (IA Summit 2004) – courtesy of louis rosenfeld

Events

Grammar, Punctuation, and Capitalization: A Handbook for Technical Writers and Editors

Added on 7 January 2004 Peter Bogaards

“This publication is directed toward professional writers, editors, and proofreaders. Those whose profession lies in other areas (for example, research or management), but who have occasion to write or review others’ writing will also find this information useful. By carefully studying the examples and revisions to these examples, you can discern most of the techniques in my editing ‘bag of tricks’; I hope that you editors will find these of particular interest.” (Mary K. McCaskill – NASA Langley Research Center) – courtesy of lucdesk

Technical communication

Design by Fire

Added on 7 January 2004 Peter Bogaards

“Welcome to the personal web site of Andrei Herasimchuk and Donna Driscoll, dedicated to their interface design work and various other personal interests.” (Andrei Herasimchuk & Donna Driscoll) – courtesy of dirk knemeyer

Weblogs

Don Norman on PowerPoint Usability

Added on 7 January 2004 Peter Bogaards

“PowerPoint is NOT the problem. The problem is bad talks, and in part, this comes about because of so many pointless meetings, where people with – or without – a point to make – have to give pointless talks. The problem is that it is difficult work to give a good talk, and to do so, the presenter has to have learned how to give talks, has to have practiced, and has had to have good feedback about the quality of the talks – the better to improve them.” (Cliff Atkinson – Sociable Media) – courtesy of xblog

Interviews

History of the Tube Map

Added on 6 January 2004 Peter Bogaards

“The striking symbol that is recognised across the globe was the brainchild of Underground electrical draughtsman, Harry Beck, who produced this imaginative yet stunningly simple design back in 1933.” (London Underground)

Design Differences: VUIs versus GUIs

Added on 6 January 2004 Peter Bogaards

“Voice User Interfaces (VUIs) are a new concept to many who now have the task of doing everything it takes to develop a VoiceXML application. This article describes the difference between the VUI and the long-familiar GUI.” (Rick Beasley et al. – informIT) – courtesy of nooface

Ten Steps for Cleaning Up Information Pollution

Added on 5 January 2004 Peter Bogaards

“Better prioritization, fewer interruptions, and concentrated information that’s easy to find and manage helps people become more productive and stop wasting their colleagues’ time.” (Jakob Nielsen – Alertbox)

Usability