Communications
Usability (and organizational) Problems with the 2010 US Census
The US Census Bureau is getting ready to conduct the 2010 Census, the population count that will be used to calculate congressional districts and funding. The trouble is, they have usability problems with the handheld computers they were planning to use, in addition to the organizational communication issues you may expect from a government [...]
Focus, Focus, Focus
Here is a well written article on “focus”… well, that’s the point of it, but it’s about Microsoft’s lack of it.
In many ways I agree with the point of the article, Microsoft is a bit fragmented. While I also think that some of the efforts he describes as tangental, actually work out quite well. [...]
Wow, Austin IS wired…
Interesting that Austin is very much into the blogosphere.
A report released Wednesday by Scarborough Research reveals that Austin, Texas has the highest percentage of residents who read or write blogs. In Austin, 15% of adults had read or contributed to a blog in the past 30 days, while #2 Portland followed with 14% [...]
QWERTY vs Dvorak: Settled?
Turns out that the oft-quoted “market choosing an inferior technology” and “training trumping usability” story of the QWERTY keyboard versus the Dvorak keyboard layouts may not be as clear cut as some (including me) have thought.
This article points out some of the background research and it’s flaws… I guess it still isn’t clear which [...]
Google News brings national clicks to local news
Google News is one of my favorite ways to get a quick overview of what’s going on with the world. However, once in a while, I click on a news article that’s interesting, but goes to a local news site… I think mostly local tv station websites. Since these sites were created to serve [...]
Only 12 Kinds of Ads
A really interesting Slate article on Donald Gunn’s categorization of (mostly tv) ads. Click the popup on that page, for a run through of all of them and video examples.
In 1978, Donald Gunn was a creative director for the advertising agency Leo Burnett. Though his position implied expertise, Gunn felt he was often [...]
Packaging
I just found Shoutlet.com, a company that looks like they have packaged “web 2.o” and sell it as a package. Now, many of my friends chuckle at that concept, (I did too) but it is an interesting way to manage perception.
Senior company management see the buzz around web 2.o and [...]
