Web Directions » wdn08 http://www.webdirections.org Just another WordPress weblog Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:02:10 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Anil Dash — Serious business: Putting social media to workhttp://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-anil-dash/ http://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-anil-dash/#comments Wed, 13 Feb 2008 04:56:10 +0000 jessie http://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-anil-dash/ A presentation given at Web Directions North, Vancouver Canada, January 31 2008.

Anil Dash Portrait

You know what blogs and wikis are, and you know your YouTube from your Facebook. But do you know how to make a compelling business case for these technologies? Social media and social networking tools are poised to have as much of an impact on business as they’ve had on the way we communicate with our friends and family online.

Anil Dash, a blogger since 1999 who’s helped thousands of businesses make use of social media through his work at Six Apart, shares real-world examples of how companies are using social media to build their business. Six Apart is the world’s biggest blogging company, behind such platforms as Movable Type, LiveJournal, Vox, and TypePad.

And even more important than where technology has been is where it’s going: Learn about cutting-edge technological initiatives like OpenID and OpenSocial, and how these aren’t just about new ways to poke your Facebook friends — they’re business opportunities.

Finally, no change this big happens without thinking about the social and political realities of the business world. What works in convincing your company, your coworkers, or your boss to spend their time and money trying new things? This session will lead a conversation to find out.

]]> A presentation given at Web Directions North, Vancouver Canada, January 31 2008.

Session description

You know what blogs and wikis are, and you know your YouTube from your Facebook. But do you know how to make a compelling business case for these technologies? Social media and social networking tools are poised to have as much of an impact on business as they’ve had on the way we communicate with our friends and family online.

Anil Dash, a blogger since 1999 who’s helped thousands of businesses make use of social media through his work at Six Apart, shares real-world examples of how companies are using social media to build their business. Six Apart is the world’s biggest blogging company, behind such platforms as Movable Type, LiveJournal, Vox, and TypePad.

And even more important than where technology has been is where it’s going: Learn about cutting-edge technological initiatives like OpenID and OpenSocial, and how these aren’t just about new ways to poke your Facebook friends — they’re business opportunities.

Finally, no change this big happens without thinking about the social and political realities of the business world. What works in convincing your company, your coworkers, or your boss to spend their time and money trying new things? This session will lead a conversation to find out.

About Anil Dash

Anil Dash Portrait

Anil Dash is Chief Evangelist at Six Apart, Ltd, the world’s leading independent blogging company. Dash is a recognized expert on blogs and web technology, having founded one of the earliest and most popular weblogs on the Internet, and been named as one of MSNBC’s Best of Blogs. A frequent keynote speaker, Dash has given presentations around the world about the future of social communication online, the relationship between blogs and traditional media, and business blogging.

Dash’s work has been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Wired, MSNBC, CNN, ABC News, and on television, radio, print and blogs around the world. He has also had his work showcased in museums including the New Museum of Contemporary Art, and lectured at universities including UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Columbia University’s School of Journalism, and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Prior to joining Six Apart as its first employee, Dash worked in online communications and technology development for the publishing and music industries. When he’s not traveling, Dash lives in New York City with his favorite dog, cat, and human.

]]> http://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-anil-dash/feed/ 0 Kimberly Elam — Five Essential Composition Tools for Web Typographyhttp://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-kimberley-elam/ http://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-kimberley-elam/#comments Wed, 13 Feb 2008 04:54:57 +0000 jessie http://www.webdirections.org/resources/kimberly-elam-five-essential-composition-tools-for-web-typography/ A presentation given at Web Directions North, Vancouver Canada, January 30 2008.

Kimberley Elam PortraitHave you ever seen a web site so clear, logical, and exquisitely composed it made you stop in your tracks? Have you wondered how the designer achieved such a stunning and cohesive design?

In this presentation, Kimberly Elam, designer and author of the best-selling “Geometry of Design” and “Typographic Systems” will reveal the mysterious relationships between proportion, visual systems, composition and aesthetics.

Too often excellent conceptual ideas suffer during the process of realization, in large part because the designer did not understand the essential visual principles. This presentation explores these elements and how they work by examining how the use of visual principles informs, even creates, beauty in typographic design, but, more importantly, how you can use these techniques to create cohesiveness in your own design. The wide range of visual examples are both informative and insightful, and any designer can benefit from learning or revisiting the rules governing the basics of typographic design.

]]> A presentation given at Web Directions North, Vancouver Canada, January 30 2008.

Session description

Have you ever seen a web site so clear, logical, and exquisitely composed it made you stop in your tracks? Have you wondered how the designer achieved such a stunning and cohesive design?

In this presentation, Kimberly Elam, designer and author of the best-selling “Geometry of Design” and “Typographic Systems” will reveal the mysterious relationships between proportion, visual systems, composition and aesthetics.

Too often excellent conceptual ideas suffer during the process of realization, in large part because the designer did not understand the essential visual principles. This presentation explores these elements and how they work by examining how the use of visual principles informs, even creates, beauty in typographic design, but, more importantly, how you can use these techniques to create cohesiveness in your own design. The wide range of visual examples are both informative and insightful, and any designer can benefit from learning or revisiting the rules governing the basics of typographic design.

About Kimberly Elam

Kimberly Elam Portrait

Kimberly Elam is a writer, educator, and graphic designer. She is currently the Chair of the Graphic & Interactive Communication Department at the Ringling College of Art + Design, Sarasota, Florida, where she has developed an academic minor in the Business of Art and Design.

Her first book, Expressive Typography — Word as Image, identifies and analyzes methods by which words can transcend didactic meaning and become images. Geometry of Design — Studies in Proportion and Composition, visually illustrates the connection between classic proportioning systems and modern graphic design, industrial design, illustration, and architecture. Grid Systems — Principles of Organizing Type puts forth a clear methodology for understanding and learning the grid system of composition. Her most recent book, Typographic Systems — Rules for Organizing Type presents an innovative series of nontraditional, rule-based, visual language systems for typographic composition.

Her current work focuses on the development of a series of innovative ebooks and print-on-demand books for design education on her website, StudioResourceInc.com.

]]> http://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-kimberley-elam/feed/ 1 Josh Williams — Bedroom to Boardroomhttp://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-josh-williams/ http://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-josh-williams/#comments Wed, 13 Feb 2008 04:53:44 +0000 jessie http://www.webdirections.org/resources/josh-williams-bedroom-to-boardroom/ A presentation given at Web Directions North, Vancouver Canada, January 30 2008.

Josh Williams PortraitWhat happens when a designer decides to quit his day job, hang his shingle, and wakes up seven years later nowhere remotely close to where he imagined he would be? This frank, semi-informal discussion on the pros, cons, and potential progressions of a designer’s career
will explore the following:

  • Niching your design services
  • Crafting a salable product
  • The Web Designer of Tomorrow
]]> A presentation given at Web Directions North, Vancouver Canada, January 30 2008.

Presentation slides

Session description

What happens when a designer decides to quit his day job, hang his shingle, and wakes up seven years later nowhere remotely close to where he imagined he would be? This frank, semi-informal discussion on the pros, cons, and potential progressions of a designer’s career
will explore the following:

  • Niching your design services
  • Crafting a salable product
  • The Web Designer of Tomorrow

About Josh Williams

Josh Williams Portrait

A serial designer-entrepreneur, Josh Williams is the founder and CEO of several well known web related companies and communities including Firewheel Design, Blinksale, and IconBuffet. He is an authority on visual design techniques for rich web applications and an expert iconographer. Recently Josh has served as the design director for Project Agape (Causes on Facebook) and currently he in the process of launching another secretive iconic web company.

]]> http://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-josh-williams/feed/ 1 Gina Trapani — Better Gmail: How Google Opened Gmail’s Web Interface to Any Developer Who Cares (And Why You Should)http://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-gina-trapani/ http://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-gina-trapani/#comments Wed, 13 Feb 2008 04:47:53 +0000 jessie http://www.webdirections.org/resources/gina-trapani-better-gmail-how-google-opened-gmail%e2%80%99s-web-interface-to-any-developer-who-cares-and-why-you-should/ A presentation given at Web Directions North, Vancouver Canada, January 30 2008.

Gina Trapani PortraitLast year, Google released an experimental Greasemonkey API for Gmail: coding hooks that let anyone add CSS and Javascript to Gmail that enhances how it looks and behaves. Why would you want to do this? Why wouldn’t you? Hear how Google’s using Greasemonkey to distribute Gmail development amongst independent web developers–and how those developers are integrating their own product into Gmail — resulting in a Better Gmail for everyone.

]]> A presentation given at Web Directions North, Vancouver Canada, January 30 2008.

Presentation slides

Session description

Last year, Google released an experimental Greasemonkey API for Gmail: coding hooks that let anyone add CSS and Javascript to Gmail that enhances how it looks and behaves. Why would you want to do this? Why wouldn’t you? Hear how Google’s using Greasemonkey to distribute Gmail development amongst independent web developers–and how those developers are integrating their own product into Gmail — resulting in a Better Gmail for everyone.

About Gina Trapani

Gina Trapani Portrait

Gina Trapani is a web developer and the founding editor of Lifehacker.com, the 2006 Wired Rave Award–winning daily weblog on software and productivity.

]]> http://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-gina-trapani/feed/ 0 Matt Webb — Movement (Web Directions North Closing Keynote)http://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-matt-webb/ http://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-matt-webb/#comments Wed, 13 Feb 2008 04:43:00 +0000 jessie http://www.webdirections.org/resources/matt-webb-the-web-directions-closing-keynote/ A presentation given at Web Directions North, Vancouver Canada, January 31 2008.

Matt Webb PortraitWe've always had metaphors to understand and design for the Web.

The original conception of the Web was as a library of documents. Our building blocks were derived from spatial ideas: "breadcrumbs," "visits" and "homepages" were used to understand the medium.

Website-as-application was a new and novel metaphor in the late 1990s. The spatial concept of navigation was replaced by concepts derived from tools: buttons performed actions on data.

These metaphors inspire separate but complementary models of the Web. But the Web in 2008 has some entirely new qualities: more than ever it's an ecology of separate but highly interconnected services. Its fiercely competitive, rapid development means differentiating innovations are quickly copied and spread. Attention from users is scarce. The fittest websites survive. In this world, what metaphors can be most successfully wielded?

Matt takes as a starting point interaction and product design, with ideas from cybernetics and Getting Things Done. He offers as a metaphor the concept of the Web as experience. That is, treating a website as a dynamic entity - a flowchart of motivations that both provides a continuously satisfying experience for the user… and helps the website grow.

From seeing what kind of websites this model provokes, we'll see whether it also helps illuminate some of the Web's coming design challenges: the blending of the Web with desktop software and physical devices; the particular concerns of small groups; and what the next movement might bring.

]]> A presentation given at Web Directions North, Vancouver Canada, January 31 2008.

Session description

We’ve always had metaphors to understand and design for the Web.

The original conception of the Web was as a library of documents. Our building blocks were derived from spatial ideas: “breadcrumbs,” “visits” and “homepages” were used to understand the medium.

Website-as-application was a new and novel metaphor in the late 1990s. The spatial concept of navigation was replaced by concepts derived from tools: buttons performed actions on data.

These metaphors inspire separate but complementary models of the Web. But the Web in 2008 has some entirely new qualities: more than ever it’s an ecology of separate but highly interconnected services. Its fiercely competitive, rapid development means differentiating innovations are quickly copied and spread. Attention from users is scarce. The fittest websites survive. In this world, what metaphors can be most successfully wielded?

Matt takes as a starting point interaction and product design, with ideas from cybernetics and Getting Things Done. He offers as a metaphor the concept of the Web as experience. That is, treating a website as a dynamic entity — a flowchart of motivations that both provides a continuously satisfying experience for the user… and helps the website grow.

From seeing what kind of websites this model provokes, we’ll see whether it also helps illuminate some of the Web’s coming design challenges: the blending of the Web with desktop software and physical devices; the particular concerns of small groups; and what the next movement might bring.

About Matt Webb

Matt Webb Portrait

Matt Webb is a principal of the creative design consultancy Schulze & Webb where his work has included material prototypes for Nokia, Web strategy for the BBC, and exploration into the future uses of RFID. S&W works in near-term product R&D and, as embodied in the USB puppet Availabot, has a special focus on the social life of stuff. Matt speaks on interaction design and technology, is co-author of Mind Hacks, cognitive psychology for a general audience, and builds polite social software and Web toys. He can be found at Interconnected and in London.

]]> http://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-matt-webb/feed/ 1 Eric Rodenbeck — Information visualization as a mediumhttp://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-eric-rodenbeck/ http://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-eric-rodenbeck/#comments Wed, 13 Feb 2008 04:38:06 +0000 jessie http://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-eric-rodenbeck/ A presentation given at Web Directions North, Vancouver Canada, January 31 2008.

Eric Rodenbeck Portrait

Information visualization is becoming more than a set of tools and technologies and techniques to understand large data sets. It is emerging as a medium in its own right, with a wide range of expressive potential.

Stamen’s work in visualization and mapping is among the most high profile online today, with the live dynamic displays at Digg Labs and Cabspotting being just two of many examples. The studio’s approach is deeply pragmatic, always starting with real data and aiming to work with graphics on screen as soon as possible. Though all analysis is a work in progress, a project is usually finished when it shows something nobody has seen before, or builds a vocabulary for describing a system, or offers more questions than answers. And then the process begins again.

]]> A presentation given at Web Directions North, Vancouver Canada, January 31 2008.

Session description

Information visualization is becoming more than a set of tools and technologies and techniques to understand large data sets. It is emerging as a medium in its own right, with a wide range of expressive potential.

Stamen’s work in visualization and mapping is among the most high profile online today, with the live dynamic displays at Digg Labs and Cabspotting being just two of many examples. The studio’s approach is deeply pragmatic, always starting with real data and aiming to work with graphics on screen as soon as possible. Though all analysis is a work in progress, a project is usually finished when it shows something nobody has seen before, or builds a vocabulary for describing a system, or offers more questions than answers. And then the process begins again.

Rodenbeck will provide an overview of the studio’s recent projects, and insight into the studio’s working process.

About Eric Rodenbeck

Eric Rodenbeck Portrait

Eric Rodenbeck is founder and creative director of Stamen Design. He is a 10-year veteran of the interactive design field, and has spent this time working to extend the boundaries of online media and live information visualization.

Eric led the interactive storytelling and data-driven narrative effort at Quokka Sports, illustrated and designed at Wired and Wired Books, and was a co-founder of the design collective Umwow. He has lectured and spoken at Yale University, the University of Southern California, numerous O’Reilly technology conferences, Esther Dyson’s PC Forum, and South by Southwest, among others. Eric studied architecture at Cooper Union in New York City and received a B.A. in the History and Philosophy of Technology from The New School for Social Research.

]]> http://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-eric-rodenbeck/feed/ 2 Tara Hunt — Government 2.0: Architecting for collaborationhttp://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-tara-hunt/ http://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-tara-hunt/#comments Wed, 13 Feb 2008 04:35:15 +0000 jessie http://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-tara-hunt/ A presentation given at Web Directions North, Vancouver Canada, January 30 2008.

Tara Hunt Portrait

What does Web 2.0 mean and, specifically, what does it mean for the future of governments? Tara Hunt has been speaking all over the world, talking to government audiences on this subject. She believes that Web 2.0 has very little to do with the technology and everything to do with people. Her talk will cover the main tenets of Web 2.0: openness, collaboration and community and what it means for government.

]]> A presentation given at Web Directions North, Vancouver Canada, January 30 2008.

Presentation slides

Session description

What does Web 2.0 mean and, specifically, what does it mean for the future of governments? Tara Hunt has been speaking all over the world, talking to government audiences on this subject. She believes that Web 2.0 has very little to do with the technology and everything to do with people. Her talk will cover the main tenets of Web 2.0: openness, collaboration and community and what it means for government.

About Tara Hunt

Tara Hunt Portrait

“Miss Rogue” defines herself as a customer first, marketer second. In 2005, Tara became the marketing director at Riya, where her community marketing theories resulted in huge gains, such as national news mentions before launch and over one million photos uploaded within 24 hours of launch. She doesn’t believe in PR, only in the power of building relationships with a community. She co-founded Citizen Agency in 2006 with the mission of teaching her clients how to work more effectively with the communities they serve. Tara has over seven years experience in non-traditional marketing planning. She maintains a successful blog over at HorsePigCow.

Speaking of community, Tara is a community-based movement evangelist, spending all of her free time on Barcamp, Coworking and Winecamp. She is also a supporter of the Open Source movement, the EFF, Creative Commons and the Intelligrid.

]]> http://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-tara-hunt/feed/ 0 Brian Fling — Mobile web design and developmenthttp://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-brian-fling/ http://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-brian-fling/#comments Wed, 13 Feb 2008 04:26:13 +0000 jessie http://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-brian-fling/ A presentation given at Web Directions North, Vancouver Canada, January 31 2008.

Brian Fling Portrait

Mobile technology is poised to revolutionize how we gather information. By 2010 half the population of the planet will have access to the internet through a mobile device, making the mobile web an essential part of our lives. Yet the mobile industry has few if any resources to help would-be mobile developers from diving in other than applied experience from within the industry.

Brian Fling dicusses the mobile ecosystem in Canada and abroad, how you go about developing an integrated mobile web strategy, mobile design and development principles and best practices, and most importantly, practical techniques and information to start creating mobile websites today.

]]> A presentation given at Web Directions North, Vancouver Canada, January 31 2008.

Presentation slides

Session description

Mobile technology is poised to revolutionize how we gather information. By 2010 half the population of the planet will have access to the internet through a mobile device, making the mobile web an essential part of our lives. Yet the mobile industry has few if any resources to help would-be mobile developers from diving in other than applied experience from within the industry.

Brian Fling dicusses the mobile ecosystem in Canada and abroad, how you go about developing an integrated mobile web strategy, mobile design and development principles and best practices, and most importantly, practical techniques and information to start creating mobile websites today.

About Brian Fling

Brian Fling Portrait

Brian Fling is a leader in interactive strategy and both the web and mobile fields. He has worked with several Fortune 500 companies to help design and develop their web and mobile experiences. Brian is a frequent speaker and author on the issues on mobile design, the mobile web and mobile user experience.

He has authored the dotMobi Mobile Web Developers Guide, the first free publication to cover mobile web design and development from start to finish. Brian also runs one of the largest online communities focused on mobile design.

When he isn’t discussing mobile, Brian serves as co-founder and Director of Strategy of Blue Flavor, an interactive agency based in Seattle USA.

]]> http://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-brian-fling/feed/ 2 Douglas Crockford — Ajax securityhttp://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-douglas-crockford/ http://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-douglas-crockford/#comments Wed, 13 Feb 2008 04:23:40 +0000 jessie http://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-douglas-crockford/ A presentation given at Web Directions North, Vancouver Canada, January 31 2008.

Security design is an important, but often neglected, component of system design. In this session, Douglas Crockford, creator of Javascript Object Notation, will outline the security issues that must be considered in the architecture of Ajax applications.

The design of the browser did not anticipate the needs of multiparty applications. The browser’s security model frustrates useful activities and allows some very dangerous activities. This talk will look at the small set of options before us that will determine the future of the Web.

]]> A presentation given at Web Directions North, Vancouver Canada, January 31 2008.

Presentation slides

Session description

Security design is an important, but often neglected, component of system design. In this session, Douglas Crockford, creator of Javascript Object Notation, will outline the security issues that must be considered in the architecture of Ajax applications.

The design of the browser did not anticipate the needs of multiparty applications. The browser’s security model frustrates useful activities and allows some very dangerous activities. This talk will look at the small set of options before us that will determine the future of the Web.

During this session, attendees will:

  • Learn why effective security is an inherent feature of good design;
  • Experience a real-time demo of a Ajax client/server system based on sound security principles
  • See how to apply secure design to rich web applications.

About Douglas Crockford

Douglas Crockford is a product of the US public school system. A registered voter, he owns his own car. He has developed office automation systems. He did research in games and music at Atari. He was Director of Technology at Lucasfilm. He was Director of New Media at Paramount. He was the founder and CEO of Electric Communities/Communities.com. He was founder and CTO of State Software, where he discovered JSON. He is now an architect at Yahoo!. He is the world’s foremost living authority on JavaScript.

]]> http://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-douglas-crockford/feed/ 0 Daniel Burka — The why and how: UI case studieshttp://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-daniel-burka/ http://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-daniel-burka/#comments Wed, 13 Feb 2008 04:07:45 +0000 jessie http://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-daniel-burka/ A presentation given at Web Directions North, Vancouver Canada, January 31 2008.

Daniel Burka Portrait

User interface design is an iterative process - the design of Digg and Pownce have been a study in evolution and adaptation. This talk will inspect the why and how of these iterations by looking at specific case studies from the two projects as well as previous client work Daniel has tackled.

The case studies will examine specific user interface challenges that have arisen and will chop them up into their various bits. How do I identify a challenge? What is the best approach for getting started? How do I solve the problem conceptually and technically? How will I know if I solved the challenge successfully? Case studies have been selected that are especially pertinent outside of their specific contexts to help you in your everyday UI design.

The presentation will focus on design inspiration, decision-making processes, technical solutions, and learning from missteps as part of a designer’s iterative process.

]]> A presentation given at Web Directions North, Vancouver Canada, January 31 2008.

Presentation slides

Session description

User interface design is an iterative process — the design of Digg and Pownce have been a study in evolution and adaptation. This talk will inspect the why and how of these iterations by looking at specific case studies from the two projects as well as previous client work Daniel has tackled.

The case studies will examine specific user interface challenges that have arisen and will chop them up into their various bits. How do I identify a challenge? What is the best approach for getting started? How do I solve the problem conceptually and technically? How will I know if I solved the challenge successfully? Case studies have been selected that are especially pertinent outside of their specific contexts to help you in your everyday UI design.

The presentation will focus on design inspiration, decision-making processes, technical solutions, and learning from missteps as part of a designer’s iterative process.

About Daniel Burka

Daniel Burka Portrait

Daniel is the creative director at Digg, a founder of Pownce, and a founder of the Canadian web firm silverorange.

At silverorange, Daniel worked with a wide range of clients including Mozilla, Ning, Revision3, and Sloan. He’s since been lured to San Francisco after Kevin Rose dangled the prospect of In ‘N Out burgers and the opportunity to develop the user experience for the social news website Digg. As Digg’s creative director, Daniel has helped the site grow from a niche technology news site into one of the leading media services on the web with a massive and passionate community. Recently, along with Leah Culver and Kevin, Daniel helped found Pownce — a social network that lets you share files, events, messages, and links with your friends. Daniel works on feature development and the user interface of Pownce.

]]> http://www.webdirections.org/resources/wdn08-daniel-burka/feed/ 1