THE WEB CAN BE A BETTER PLACE TO SURF AND DO BUSINESS !
Last Updated: October 30, 2004
[May 31, 2003]
Alex Wright (Boxes and Arrows): The Sociobiology of Information Architecture - "To approach information architecture from a purely anthrocentric perspective, however, is to overlook the lessons of billions of years' worth of evolutionary history. We are by no means the first species to grapple with the basic problems of what we now call information architecture: how to acquire knowledge in social groups, how to get the right information to the right party at the right time, how to distill meaning from raw data."
[May 30, 2003]
Wired News: Big Changes for Search Engines - "Ben Shneiderman, professor of computer science at the University of Maryland in College Park, is convinced that most people are better at communicating with their computers when they can see data, rather than reading or writing it. He demonstrated several visual search tools, including the TimeSearcher, which allows seekers to see graphics illustrating search result data. TimeSearcher allows users to define search terms on a graph, clicking and dragging to specify that results should, for example, be confined to data created or changed on specific dates. Any information that is tied to time can be searched with TimeSearcher."
Oh Yeon-Ho, OhmyNews: "A reporter is the one who has the news and who is trying to inform others."
Jakob Nielsen: Convincing Clients to Pay for Usability - "[...] usability serves the same role as debugging, building codes, or editing serve in other fields."
[May 24, 2003]
Dan Pouliot (via Usable Help): OS Shootout: Mac OS X vs. Windows XP - "This shootout is narrowly focused on usability for creative professionals, so its conclusions may not be true in other work environments. For instance, corporate employees have very different requirements for what makes a useful computer than web or video designers. Furthermore, this shootout only considers preinstalled and free (by the manufacturer) applications, and I think it's fair to say that everybody loads up their computer with commercial, shareware and freeware apps that extend the computers basic functionality. [...] The more you enjoy using your computer, the longer you will be willing to sit in front of it and get your work done. If your computer is simply functional, you'll get your work done, but you'll burn out more quickly. And OS X surely gets my vote for the coolest OS."
Kynn Bartlett: Maccessibility - "Recent News on Macs, Accessibility, and Mac Accessibility"
[May 23, 2003]
Neil McIntosh (Guardian Online): The row over whether webloggers are distorting Google search results is a storm in a teacup.
Jeffrey Zeldman: Designing for Web Standards - "Standards aren't about leaving users behind or adhering to inflexible rules. Standards are about building sophisticated, beautiful sites that will work as well tomorrow as they do today." (via amazon.com)
Gordon R. Meyer (Usable Help): Gallery of Onscreen Help
[May 20, 2003]
NewsFactor.com: The Web Browser's Unfinished Basement - "No browser has the kind of failsafe architecture that characterizes many operating systems and database software packages. That's a problem, because browsers and other Web-based technology are fast becoming the centerpiece of modern business applications. If the future of corporate computing is going to compute at all, a kind of Marshall Plan is necessary to make browsers truly reliable, starting now."
[May 16, 2003]
Simon Egenfeldt-Nielsen (Game Research): Mapping online gaming: Genres, characteristics and revenue models - "This article tries to outline some of the basics of online gaming and sketch some difference in revenue models between the genres so it is possible to discuss online gaming within the same frame. To discuss online games you need to make a distinction between 4 online game genres (plus two hybrids) and clarify what online games are not. Furthermore, the goal is to operate with as few genres as possible and differentiate between games with different objectives and skills needed."
Andrew B. King (Digital Web Magazine): "Slow Web sites are perceived to be of lower quality, less trustworthy, and less credible."
Paul Graham: Taste for Makers - "Mathematicians call good work 'beautiful,' and so, either now or in the past, have scientists, engineers, musicians, architects, designers, writers, and painters. Is it just a coincidence that they used the same word, or is there some overlap in what they meant? If there is an overlap, can we use one field's discoveries about beauty to help us in another?"
[May 15, 2003]
ScienceDaily Magazine - "Computer science researchers at Stanford University have developed several new techniques that together may make it possible to calculate Web page rankings as used in the Google search engine up to five times faster. The speed-ups to Google's method may make it realistic to calculate page rankings personalized for an individual's interests or customized to a particular topic."
[May 13, 2003]
Lev Dymchenko (X-bit labs): Chess Championship: Humans vs. Computer - "During the last 10 years computers penetrated into various spheres of human life. In the today's article we will try to find out how well computers can play chess and if it would be correct to say that artificial intelligence is superior to human mind."
Chess Links - Up-to-date guide to chess on the web.
John von Neumann (1903-1957) - "Science, as well as technology, will in the near and in the farther future increasingly turn from problems of intensity, substance, and energy, to problems of structure, organization, information, and control."
[May 12, 2003]
Thomas Myer (IBM): Grid computing: Conceptual flyover for developers - "If you get the impression that Grid computing is where the Web was in 1993, then you're right. A tremendous amount of territory is being mapped right now. Some solid implementation foundations are being laid down. However, much of Grid computing is undiscovered country, and many groups are turning their attention to the emerging open standards. In many ways, the discussions about Grid services parallel those around Internet and XML standards in the mid-1990s."
[May 11, 2003]
Jessica Helfand (via Paul Ortchanian) - "Interaction design is not only information design. It demands, instead, more comprehensive thinking that involves cognitive, spatial and ergonomic consideration". ("Screen-Essays on Graphic Design, New Media, and Culture", ISBN: 1-56898-310-7)
[May 10, 2003]
Howard Schmidt (The New Atlantis): "Part of the reason that a 'digital Pearl Harbor' hasn't occurred is because we've been talking about cybersecurity."
Bob Regan: Describing an Entire Flash Movie - "One of the limitations of Flash is that there is no way for the screen reader to pass on any information about the structure of a movie to the user. [...] it is important that Flash files contain a root level description to help screen reader users get oriented to the content of the movie quickly and easily. For simple movies, a root level description will do. For longer movies, a site info button may be needed."
Paul Rand - "Art is a product and design is a process. Design is the foundation of all the arts."
[May 09, 2003]
Louis Rosenfeld: UX Bumpage - "User experience (UX) is too young to be clearly defined as a field, a movement, a community, a methodology, or a goal. But whatever it is, there is definitely a there there."
Nick Usborne: "What if you did a few small things to show that your business is more than just a cold room, filled with servers? What if you showed that the heart of your business is about people, and not technology?"
[May 08, 2003]
Elizabeth Millard (NewsFactor): The Bottom Line of the New Browser Wars - "As more browsers are built for desktop and wireless platforms, modifications and new features have the potential to put a bit more oomph into the browsing experience. With a bright new browser world ahead, can it be long before Microsoft's seemingly mature IE gets a makeover as well? Perhaps the new wars have already begun."
Scott Berkun: Notes for job seekers in UI Design
"The hottest policing tool since lie detectors and squad cars: the Internet."
[May 07, 2003]
![[ Flag of Israel ]](../../lucdesk/flag.gif){kind=small}
Israel's 55th Anniversary
Speaker of the 16th Knesset, MK Reuven Rivlin - This raising of our flag expresses hope and determination, optimism and power, pride and even a small amount of protest against the whole world: "Look and see: We are here! This is our place, and here we will stay!"
Maggie Shiels (BBC): "The computer games industry is missing out on huge potential sales because it fails to produce games which appeal to the female market."
Jeff Luther (GamesFirst!): What's in a Game? The Linguistic History of "Videogame"
[May 06, 2003]
Remembrance Day for Israel's Fallen Soldiers and the victims of Arab terrorism. Since 1948, 21,540 men and women have given their lives in the defense of the country, including 254 who were killed in the last year.
Cultivate Interactive (via Stephen Downes): RSS - Sharing Online Content Metadata - "Imagine you could create a Web site that keeps your users informed of the latest news, jobs and resources available in a given subject area in addition to any content you wish to provide. A site that is updated automatically so that once you have set it up, it looks after itself, with minimal maintenance from you. Sounds like so much fiction? A little idealistic perhaps, but it is this sort of thing that a technology like RSS aims to provide. This article explores what RSS is, how it may be used, and finally summarises some of the tools you may use to make the job easier."
Using white space in web page design and layout - "Treat white space as more than just a background. Treat it as an integral part to your page design. You'll find it increases your layout's appeal with less visual 'noise,' while augmenting the visual power of your message." (via Holovaty)
[May 05, 2003]
Webmonkey: Digital Photography for the Web
Gerry McGovern: "Write to be found when people are searching. That means using the words your target readership is using."
InfoVis.net - "Thinking about the visual language can help us to convey our messages in a more effective way."
Edwin Schlossberg - "The skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think."
[May 03, 2003]
San Francisco Chronicle: Virus pushes schools to go virtual - "After the deadly SARS outbreak, Hong Kong schools were ordered shut last month. But Macromedia Inc. and First Virtual Communications Inc. have helped thousands of those students keep up with their studies via virtual classrooms conducted over the Internet, using web cams."
Tim Bishop: SARS Watch Org - "following Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome around the globe"
DMNews.com: Consumers Dislike Spam, But Some Buy From It
[May 01, 2003]
John S. Rhodes: A Proposal for Evaluating Usability Testing Methods: The Practical Review System (PRS) - "The purpose of this article is to explain the Practical Review System (PRS). The PRS is an outline of 28 characteristics that can be used to understand any usability method, thereby allowing any individual to decide between methods. This solves many of the problems associated with understanding and explaining usability methods."
Michael Friendly (via Library Techlog): Gallery of Data Visualization - "The Best and Worst of Statistical Graphics"
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