May 27th, 2010
Application Development, Social Networking, Usability
NavigationArts sponsored the Web Content Maven’s Web to Mobile event last night, which will be the first in a series of talks on the topic. With the proliferation of smart phones and the invention and success of the ipad, mobile is on the top of everyone’s minds right now. But are we thinking about it in the right way?
Caroline Mullen
May 26th, 2010
Jeremiah Owyang, the highly reputable Web strategist with Altimeter Group was a keynote speaker at the Gilbane Conference in San Francisco last week. The focus of his presentation was how companies can make their corporate Web sites relevant by leveraging and integrating social networks.
Meredith Casey
May 25th, 2010
Technology, Usability, User Experience Design, User Research, Visual Design
User Experience Design (UXD) considers interaction flows, user research, usability, efficiency, visual design, navigation and technology. It incorporates aspects of human performance factors and usability and focuses on the interaction between people and computer systems and the design that makes this interaction effective, optimal and valuable.
At NavigationArts,
UXD = IA + Visual Design + Technology (more…)
Erica Milkovich-Padilla
May 20th, 2010
Internet Strategy, User Experience Design
This morning I came across an excellent summary of the value proposition for effective positioning of products to customers. Selling experiences instead of products is a way to provided added value, and in turn achieve increased margins.
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Douglas Brashear
May 18th, 2010
As Leo Mullen has been known to say, “In the online world today, user experience is truly the only sustainable competitive advantage.” I often think about this statement when my team is working on providing Web solutions for our clients. So much business is conducted on the Web and many consumers of information, products and services rely on the “e-home” of most corporations.
What is an “e-home,” you ask? It’s a term I use to think about Web sites. Basically, I see it as the electronic home of the business (or individual) that is providing information, products, services or any combination of these. If I were in the market for a home, previously constructed, newly developed or even architecting and designing a custom build, I would spend time to consider the following (to name but a few): (more…)
Erica Milkovich-Padilla
May 14th, 2010
Information Architecture, Interaction Design, User Experience Design, Visual Design
Below : “A Sampling of Chinglish” courtesy of The New York Times.
On The Media is a favorite radio program of mine. Its hosts frequently present interesting takes on “new media” and recently, they had a fascinating segment on translation issues on the Internet. With only 27% of Internet users using English, it’s becoming unreasonable to expect English to be the default Internet language. To avoid the siloing that could occur along linguistic lines, innovative Web sites with an international or multilingual audience are experimenting with machine and human translation. (The importance of getting translation right should not be underestimated, as the images in a recent New York Times slideshow demonstrate.) Ethan Zuckerman, cofounder of the multilingual blog network, Global Voices, tells On The Media, “Translation is going to go from esoteric, rare, and expensive to becoming fairly commonplace, participatory, and expected.”
Eloise Marszalek
May 12th, 2010
Social Networking, Technology, Web Content Management
I recently blogged about “Web Experience Management” tools being offered by Fatwire’s new CMS feature sets and wanted to extend the concept to the Web as a whole. It seems that Fatwire is keeping up with the industries latest trend, Web Engagement Management (WEM). (more…)
Dustin Collis
May 11th, 2010
Social Networking, Technology, User Research
Two years ago I attended the IIT Institute of Design’s Design Research Conference and I had such a great experience learning from and meeting fellow researchers that I had to come back and see what new research methods are in the mix now.
I just finished up a workshop this afternoon with Martha Cotton of gravitytank called Self-documentation 2.0. Technology is now becoming more portable, smaller and an even bigger part of our everyday lives (especially with social networking sites). So how do we utilize these tools to gather data from participants in conducting our research? (more…)
Toral Contractor
May 5th, 2010
Application Development, Social Networking, Technology, Web Content Management
Having worked heavily with the Open Market’s Content Server at another organization (prior and during its transition to FatWire), I was a bit dismayed to hear FatWire rushing to be at the head of the Social stampede. Often this type of feature set is designed to be able to check off a box on an evaluators checklist, but that doesn’t seem to be the case in this instance. I’ve yet to play with it first hand, but the offering seems to be a one-stop-shop should your site need an integrated social solution. (more…)
Dustin Collis
May 3rd, 2010
Information Architecture, Insight Article, Internet Strategy, Social Networking, Technology, Usability, Web Content Management
When I pose the question “What’s keeping you up at night?” anywhere in the C-Suite these days, the conversation inevitably turns to issues of measuring and managing their extended Web enterprise. In all sectors of business, not-for-profit organizations, and government agencies, the Web has rapidly and thoroughly become the undisputed platform for communications, commerce, and community building. But while many execs celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit that has blossomed in their respective organizations around the Web, the proliferation of sites, applications, microsites, tools, widgets, and social media connections has confounded many user segments and placed growing strain on the ability of organizations to manage this distended organism. Of course, it has also greatly complicated the challenge of extracting meaningful performance metrics from this platform which could indicate how cost effectively (or not) the organization’s business needs are being supported online.
As we dive into the depths of some of these large enterprises, we see symptoms of unplanned and unconstrained organic growth. The benefits of time-to-market advantage are obvious, but the risks less so. I’m reminded of a comment made to me by Dr. Max Coppes, Head of Oncology at Children’s National Medical Center; he said, “Growth for the sake of growth is the philosophy of a cancer cell.” That’s hardly the analog we’d hope for when inventorying a business Web enterprise. But in many offices the idea still prevails that “If I can build it, I should build it.” So as we watch organizations innovate, add new product lines, and expand their global markets, we see their technologies and business processes proliferate, and any vestiges of coherent discipline seem to vanish in that euphoria of growth. (more…)
Leo Mullen
