October 2003

  • Andrew Dillon’s work on digital genres, the web, and the shape of information is some of the most exciting research I’ve come across in the field of navigation. He has investigated how we can use our familiarity with genres to navigate, how navigation of information is different than navigation in physical space, and that creating…

  • New Books

    A new IA book, which isn’t so rare anymore, by Alan Gilchrist and crew: Information Architecture: Designing Information Environments for Purpose. Also, What is Web Design? by Nico McDonald. Never met him, but he seems like a smart guy. That title manages to stay short, on topic, and also target a audience with a certain…

  • Documentation

  • Liz pens a great piece on simplifying wireframes. Doing so definitely requires an understanding of your audience, knowing what your audience assumes and what has to be explicitly recorded. Physical architects had settled on conventions before leaving for CAD, and we will too. Riffing from there, Christina asks if we still need wireframes, and gets…

  • If I were to edit a historical collection of essays on information architecture, it would have to include George Furnas‘ Effective View Navigation (PDF). Published in 1997 and borrowing from earlier work that harks back to ’95, it is not to be read for new methods of navigation. It does however provide serious analysis of…

  • Move Upstream

    Bill Seitz reports on a talk by Tom Peters…White Collar jobs are going to disappear over the next decade to the same degree that Blue Collar jobs did. It’s just a matter of who gets you: cheap labor from India, or a silicon wafer. I keep joking to friends that I’m going to work half-time…

  • We usual IA suspects don’t write much about email and web integration (or streaming video, or some other neglected topics) but it’d be helpful. This is just a reminder to myself to see who has written about it. Some basic delivery options: Text/RTF/HTML in email Enclosure Link to website Some basic criteria for deciding on…

  • Can I just say how much I like the name Plan B for the morning after pill? ‘Morning after‘ carries weird associations, and I respect the company for choosing a name that 1) reinforces that this is not a Plan A method of contraception, and 2) is not some abstract, invented, psuedo-Latin word. Nice work…

  • I received my IDEO Method Cards, and they’re big, twice as big as your usual playing cards. The writing is good; short and sweet with funky photos on the reverse. The content isn’t earth shattering – each features a user research technique – but the format is quite handy and sure to stir up some…

  • One of those whoa things I find in search results and must go back and read later: Information on the Assembly Line: A Review of Information Design and Its Implications for Technical Communicators a master’s thesis by Jason Nichols. See, for example, chapter 8 where he compares info design schools of thought (Wurman vs. Redish).…

  • Make Your Own Bush Speech is a hilarious and well-executed piece of Flash.

  • Open House New York is a city-wide celebration of New York City’s greatest architecture and design. New York City’s most intriguing buildings and sites will be open at scheduled times throughout our October 11-12 weekend event. Each site will offer different experiences, including self-guided and guided tours, informal talks and conversations with the designers…

  • The Parisian waitress at Le Gamin says, ‘I love Paris, and I love New York. If I had to choose, I think I would want Paris, but in America.‘ Not likely. But isn’t that sweet?

  • Walking down 87th St this morning I passed some construction workers hanging out on the sidewalk, as if they’re waiting for someone to pick them up for a job. This makes me think about new media workers…is there a reason we haven’t moved to a project-based model of employment like the movie industry uses, employing…

  • Ulrike Lechert

    Ulrike Lechert