News from March 2008
Memories and articles from back in the day
Want to preserve your emails for posterity?
I read in smh this morning that The Powerhouse Museum is creating Australia’s first public email archive in an attempt to preserve a collection of present day communications for future generations.
Anyone can contribute by going to the Email Australia site and submitting emails which are funny, sad, … Read more »
Reputation HQ
Sometimes I find it hard to tell the difference between a good idea badly executed and a plain old bad idea. This is one of those times.
Reputation HQ is a “socialprise web application that bridges the gap between Social Media and enterprise ORM”.
Yes, I had to look up ORM … Read more »
Lisa Herrod — Usability: more than skin deep
A presentation given at at Web Directions Government, Old Parliament House, Canberra, May 19 2008.
Web Usability is far more complex than user testing and interaction design alone. And while interface design is an important consideration, there’s more to a usable site than what’s on the surface.
We all know the importance of accessibility and web standards, so let’s take that knowledge one step further and into the realm of usability. In this session Lisa Herrod will redefine the common definition of usability by introducing a greater focus on accessibility and web standards. By taking a more holistic approach you will soon see why usability is more than skin deep.
See the slides and hear the podcast »
Best tool for discussing the survey results?
I decided to go with the forms feature of Google Spreadsheets for our Have Your Say in the Web Directions South 2008 Program survey. Only 24 hours in I’m largely happy with the choice, apart from
- I’d love to be able to limit which cells of the spreadsheet I share (so … Read more »
David Hayward — Mapping
A presentation given at Web Directions Government, Old Parliament House, Canberra, May 19 2008.
Government has huge amounts of information but how can this be effectively managed and delivered through the web? This session will ‘lift the lid’ on web mapping technology and identify some of the key issues that must be addressed to achieve a successful outcome.The NSW government SIX Viewer web mapping portal will be used as a case study to demonstrate how terabytes of data can be integrated and delivered via the Internet.
See the slides and hear the podcast »
Integrating stories and geography
I liked this, which I saw the other day (Hat Tip: Virginia Murdoch). It’s a story in the “hard-boiled” genre, told in bite sized chunks with each chunk connected to its location on Google Maps. As I said, I liked it, but it didn’t really hold my attention … Read more »
Have your say in the Web Directions South 2008 program
Every year the Web Directions conference brings together a group of expert speakers who have been working on interesting projects and finding ingenious and practical solutions to those same challenges the attendees face in their own work.
This year we’d love your help with finding out who those experts are.
If you … Read more »
Get ready for the crowdsourced conference
John and I have been thinking about ways of drawing on the great ideas for speakers and topics from the people who come to the conference ever since the closing keynote of Web Directions South 2007. Who better to tell you about what content should be there than the … Read more »
Very useful Henry Jenkins quote
I always find it the most tiresome of conversation stoppers whenever anyone says “Twitter/Facebook/MySpace/Flickr/[insert name of social networking application here] is stupid. I don’t care what you had for breakfast. I don’t want to find out what my friends are up to over the web etc etc etc.” Boring!
In a … Read more »
Free event: Sebastian Chan on “New web technologies and museums”
Sydneysiders free around lunch time tomorrow should swing by the Powerhouse Museum and catch Sebastian Chan, who gave a much loved presentation at Web Directions South last year.
As part of the Talks After Noon series, Sebastian will be speaking on the future of museums online and looking … Read more »
Aussie Barcamps galore in April
By now, I suspect all of our readers will be familiar with the idea of a barcamp — “unconferences” which have no agenda, no invited speakers, little or no cost, and which encourage everyone who turns up to participate.
Australia has seen a number of these events in … Read more »
Shall we click bracelets?
OK, off the cuff I’m troubled by all the references to girls and fairies in this interview with Chris Heatherly, Disney’s VP of Technology and Innovation, but there is mention of an innovative solution to a real problem. That problem being risks to personal security of children brought … Read more »
Vale Arthur C. Clarke
Like many a young, science focussed geek growing up, science fiction as well as science fact became a very important part of my teenage years. Towering above the great names of mid century SciFi like Asimov and Robert A Henlien to my mind at least was Arthur C. … Read more »
Donald Norman takes on 37Signals
Or should that be 37Signals takes on Donald Norman?
Responding to a Wired Magazine article in which he was quoted as saying that the kind of simplicity embodied in the products of organisations like 37Signals was overrated, Donald Norman blogs
Now, I have always admired 37signals. Nice website, intelligent articles. … Read more »
Andy Budd — first time downunder
It’s a fair bet that Andy Budd, author, web designer and developer, renowned blogger, and organiser of the d.construct conferences among many other things will be known to most people in the web industry. We are really excited to have him as our opening keynote speaker, as … Read more »
Two new one day Web Directions Conferences in May — Melbourne and Canberra
Along with our brand new site, we are even more excited to announce two brand new, one day conferences for Canberra and Melbourne in May — in addition of course to Web Directions South, set down for September 23 – 25 in Sydney again at the Convention Centre.
First up, … Read more »
A new web site for Web Directions (well three actually)
If you are reading this via RSS, you probably won’t notice that there have been some big changes to the site. Firstly, we’ve got a brand new, very streamlined look, and overhauled information architecture, courtesy of Ben Webster at Conversant. Their philosophy is “sophisticated simplicity” which is precisely what … Read more »
Scott Gledhill — Real world web standards
A presentation given at at Web Directions Government, Old Parliament House, Canberra, May 19 2008.
Those initial stages of converting your company to web standards are much like trying to score that first kiss with the princess. You seduce them with the business benefits of web-standards development, and the rest of the arguments we have all read, written, and preached to anyone who will listen. But getting corporate web standards in place is just a sign that the real relationship is about to begin. The honeymoon is over, and now it’s time to figure out what has gone wrong and why the prince and princess now seem to be constantly bickering — when they were meant to live happily ever after.Scott draws on his experiences leading the development of eight large media web sites for News Digital Media to examine the ideals of web standards and how they translate within a large organisation. Learn how to make web standards work for you, when rules must be broken and how to deliver a final product that meets deadlines and still keeps project teams happy.
See the slides and hear the podcast »
Robert Hoekman Jr — The essential elements of great web applications
A presentation given at at Web Directions User Experience, Melbourne Town Hall, May 16 2008, and Web Direction Government, Old Parliament House, Canberra, May 19 2008.
Most great web applications have a few key things in common. But can you name them? Better yet — can you achieve them consistently in your own projects?In this closing keynote, Robert Hoekman, Jr., author of the Amazon bestseller Designing the Obvious (New Riders) describes the seven qualities of great web-based software and how to achieve each and every one of them by learning to communicate through design. See why it’s important to build only what’s absolutely essential, apply instructive design, create error-proof interactions, surface commonly-used features, and more in this informative session that will change the way you work and enable your users to walk away from your software feeling productive, respected, and smart.
See the slides and hear the podcast »
Ralph Douglas — GovDex: Collaborating online in a secure environment
A presentation given at at Web Directions Government, Old Parliament House, Canberra, May 19 2008.
This session will look at the government collaborative tool Govdex, how it is currently used by agencies, what it provides, and how you can use it for your projects. GovDex is a resource developed by the Department of Finance and Deregulation to facilitate business process collaboration across policy portfolios and jurisdictions.GovDex, managed by the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) in the Department of Finance & Deregulation, promotes effective and efficient information sharing, which is core to achieving collaboration. It provides governance, tools, methods and re-usable technical components that agencies can use to assemble and deploy information services on their different technology platforms. GovDex is a key enabler to a whole of government approach to IT service development and deployment.
See the slides and hear the podcast »
Patrick Lee — One paper clip, a box of matches, and some JavaScript
A presentation given at at Web Directions Government, Old Parliament House, Canberra, May 19 2008.
Whoever you are, if you’re writing JavaScript, there’s some aspect of your development that you would love to change if you had the chance. But the reality is you’ll never find yourself working in this ideal environment: dealing with legacy browsers, platforms and content management systems will be your constant as a developer. Patrick Lee is going to show you some tools and techniques that will help you make your peace with this fact.This session will explore how you can find ways to do the cool stuff you really want to do with JavaScript whilst working in the real world. And you won’t even have to sell your soul in the process.
See the slides and hear the podcast »
Oliver Weidlich — The mobile web user experience — we’re starting to get it right!
A presentation given at at Web Directions User Experience, Melbourne Town Hall, May 16 2008.
Historically the mobile web has been a terrible experience, but things are starting to change. Really! We are now at the point that the mobile web is becoming easier to access, both on-deck & off-deck, there’s useful & tailored services out there, and killing some time on the train home doesn’t cost more than your weekly train ticket. We’ll check out the latest and greatest in the world of mobile web and what makes them different from the others. We will also cover the important things to keep in mind for making a better mobile web customer experience.See the slides and hear the podcast »
Matthew Hodgson — Social computing for knowledge management
A presentation given at Web Directions User Experience, Old Parliament House, Canberra, May 19 2008.
The world is abuzz with social computing: Facebook, My Space, YouTube, Flickr, Wikipedia, blogs, wikis and other spaces powered by Web 2.0 technology. It’s a social revolution, empowering individuals to communicate, share what they know online, and help others locate information that is important to them in both their private and working lives.Some see all this as a big waste of corporate time, but is it? Is there value in handing over control of collaboration and sharing knowledge to individuals, rather than hoarding it in records systems, knowledge systems, and thousands of network dive folders? Is there a way you can harness this social revolution to help improve our organisation’s knowledge management practices? Is there actually a solid business value proposition for social computing?
Matthew will look at knowledge management in modern organisations, and how you can benefit by learning from the principles of social computing and Web 2.0 technologies. Matthew will introduce two case studies in government that demonstrate successful and not-so-successful ways of employing social computing tools, the factors that contributed to their success, and the pitfalls to watch out for. In particular, he will look at the issues in relation to corporate culture by drawing on recent research in blogs and wikis based on work in organisational psychology by Hofstede.
See the slides and hear the podcast »
Mathew Patterson — Delivering user experience to the inbox: designing for email
A presentation given at at Web Directions User Experience, Melbourne Town Hall, May 16 2008.
So you’ve designed a fantastic website for your client, tested in all the major browsers and everything looks great. Now they want to send an email newsletter to all their customers, using the new design.No problem right? Just need to test in Outlook 07, and 06. Yahoo and Hotmail too, of course. Oh, and Gmail, Lotus Notes, AOL…Of course, the design may not work that well for an email anyway, and isn’t there some kind of anti-spam laws?
Like it or not, HTML email is here to stay and the responsibility for doing it right belongs to web designers. Learn how to plan, design and build an email newsletter that will provide a great user experience to the recipients, and great value to your clients.
See the slides and hear the podcast »
Lisa Herrod — User testing for the rest of us
A presentation given at at Web Directions User Experience, Melbourne Town Hall, May 16 2008.
Everyone knows they should be doing it, but like software testing, it’s one of those things we often don’t get round to. In this presentation, Lisa Herrod looks at some sure fire user testing techniques that produce proven results, don’t cost the earth, and are easy to implement. After this session you won’t have any more excuses for not doing solid user testing of any site or application you develop ever again.See the slides and hear the podcast »
José Manuel Alonso — Improving Government through better use of the Web
A presentation given at Web Directions User Experience, Old Parliament House, Canberra, May 19 2008.
It’s no secret that just as the web has revolutionised business, the media, and many other parts of our lives, it is also revolutionising how governments and citizens interact, and how government provide services.But how to do it well is still something of a black art.
In this keynote presentation, the lead of the W3C’s eGovernment initiative, José Manuel Alonso, looks at the opportunities the web provides governments, the challenges, old and new, the web poses, and the role of the W3C in helping to develop underlying, interoperable technologies with which to build these services.
José’s presentation will cover best practices and methodologies for providing eGovernment services, and look at case studies of how governments and communities are connecting via the web around the world.
See the slides and hear the podcast »
Jenny Telford — Opening up government data
A presentation given at Web Directions Government, Old Parliament House, Canberra, May 19 2008.
Mapping and other mashups have taken the web world by storm — driving innovation in business and government alike. While much of the focus has been on the actual mashup applications, without the data to mashup, we have no mashups. Government, from local to Federal level, collect and manage a significant amount of data, across a very broad range of areas. But giving access to this data to web application developers has technical, policy and legal challenges. In this presentation, Jenny Telford of the ABS looks at these issues from their experience of opening up data from the Australian Census.See the slides and hear the podcast »
Jason Ryan — Govt 2.0: the public management challenge
A presentation given at Web Directions User Experience, Old Parliament House, Canberra, May 19 2008.
Technology changes present complex challenges and rich opportunities for senior public sector managers. Finding the balance between innovation and risk management is not easy in an environment where successful engagement depends upon relinquishing control. Using examples from New Zealand’s experience, Jason will share lessons and observations about the inevitable growing pains of public sector agencies as they evolve towards Govt 2.0.See the slides and hear the podcast »
Jackie Moyes — Converting research findings into business speak
A presentation given at Web Directions User Experience, Melbourne Town Hall, May 16 2008.
Getting your company to adopt a user-centred design approach can be an uphill struggle. The first stage typically is to get them to agree to incorporate usability testing in to the development process, at a stage early enough to actually implement any design recommendations. The second stage is to convince them to do more ethnographic style research to understand the larger context of the task that the site is trying to support. The biggest challenge comes last – how to help the business owners make the mental leap between the in-depth findings from the research and the implications and opportunities it presents to your core business strategy and product roadmap.This is the challenge that the User Experience team at News Digital Media have been addressing. In this presentation, Jackie will discuss this issue in more depth and present examples of ‘design tools’ the team have been experimenting with to try and bridge this gap and help the business develop more user-centric strategies.
See the slides and hear the podcast »
Donna Spencer — Getting content right
A presentation given at at Web Directions User Experience, Melbourne Town Hall, May 16 2008.
We all know that great content is a core part of the website user experience. So why is it so hard to find content that isn’t dull, lifeless and uninteresting — blah, blah, blah?Web content can be vibrant, interesting and fun. It can draw you in, fill your head and make you learn without having to think. And it’s not really hard to write. Three simple tricks can turn poor content into a great experience — remember that readers care more about themselves than you; write in real words with authentic voice; play show and tell.
This presentation will discuss these principles, with plenty of funny and not-so-funny examples. You’ll go away with practical steps to make your writing kick-ass. And you won’t even have to think.
See the slides and hear the podcast »
Andy Budd — Designing the experience curve
A presentation given at at Web Directions User Experience, Melbourne Town Hall, May 16 2008.
These days people expect more from a website than a handy set of tools and a pretty interface — they want an experience. From the moment somebody enters your site they’ll be judging you on everything from the way the site looks to the tone of your error messages. And they won’t just be judging you against other sites. They will be judging you on every customer experience they have ever had, from the rude man at the train station to the lovely hotel clerk that checked them in on holiday. So in order to compete, we need to up our game and look at experiences both on and off-line.In this session Andy Budd will look at the 9 key factors that go into designing the perfect customer experience. By taking examples from the world around us, Andy will discuss how we can turn utilitarian experiences into something wonderful.
See the slides and hear the podcast »
Andrew Kesper — ABC’s election site: making the most of dry data
A presentation given at at Web Directions User Experience, Melbourne Town Hall, May 16 2008, and Web Directions Government, Old Parliament House, Canberra, May 19 2008.
While elections can be exciting times, the underlying data — swings, booth counts, and the like is probably only riveting to psephological tragics. Yet the ABC’s election web site managed to take this raw data and make it attractive, compelling and interactive.In this session, the ABC’s Andrew Kesper takes us through the election site, looking at the design decisions, and uses of technology like Ajax, Flash, and interactive maps — tools which have wide applicability for government sites looking to present data in more user-friendly and attractive ways.
See the slides and hear the podcast »
Steve Baty — Analysing user research data
A presentation given at Web Directions User Experience, Melbourne Australia, May 16 2008.
In our efforts to better understand the end users of the sites & applications we design, we generate a great deal of data. That data is useless to us until it has been analyzing and interpreted. This presentation looks at some of the methods & techniques we can use to make sense of user research data in a meaningful & rigorous way. The presentation will look at some of the common types of quantitative data collected during user research, and the statistical analysis methods we can employ to make the most of our data-gathering efforts. The session covers practical examples such as task completion rates, time-to-completion, page view comparison, as well as some basic concepts in statistics.
