iTunes University revisited

Ich hatte fast genau vor einem Jahr schon mal über das iTunes U genannte Angebot auf iTunes geblogt: Fernstudium an der iTunes University. Heute bin ich über folgenden Blog-Post wieder auf das Angebot aufmerksam gemacht worden: HPI Vorlesungen auf iTunesU.

Seit gestern (Montag, 13.1.2009) bieten neben dem Hasso-Plattner-Institut der Universität Potsdam auch die Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, die RWTH Aachen und die LMU München Vorlesungsaufzeichnungen und Lehrangebote via iTunesU als Video/Audio-Podcasts an.

iTunesU ist wirklich klasse und ein großartiger Ort um so lange herumzustöbern, bis man absolut keine Zeit mehr hat, sich auch nur ein einziges Video anzuschauen. Also schauts euch mal an :-)

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it

Auf getelastic.com ist neulich folgender netter Beitrag erschienen: AB Testing Case Study: The Dangers of Overreacting.

When economic times are tough, even the most level-headed of us sometimes make the mistake of changing our websites just for the sake of change. If the money’s not coming in, something must be broken, right? Maybe, but without knowing why it’s broken, you’ve got a good a chance of breaking it even more. Consider this post a parable in the dangers of overreacting.

Der Artikel beschäftigt sich nicht damit, wie A/B-Testing gemacht wird, sondern erzählt eine kurze Geschichte aus dem Leben. Ist wirklich ganz nett und die Kommentare sind teilweise sehr lustig.

Ergonomics for IxDs

Hier ist wirklich noch was lesenswertes zum Feierabend: Ergonomics for Interaction Designers: Part 1.

The continuing convergence of digital interfaces with physical products is putting interaction designers in a position where knowledge of anthropometrics, kinesthetics, and other non-cognitive human capabilities is valuable for creating effective design solutions. [...] What all of these trends have in common is a growing need to accommodate human physical characteristics and constraints in the design of digital interfaces. For the most part, this skill set is not part of the experience of interaction designers. Consequently, I'm posting this first in a series of explorations on the topic of Ergonomics for Interaction Designers.

Sehr interessanter Beitrag. Und das ist offenbar erst der erste Teil...

On Wireframes

Das hier ist eine gute Seite zu Wireframes: Wireframes - Because every IA cas something funky up their sleeves.

Share your stuff. Oh come on don't be shy. Do you have something to show off while documenting rich interaction, dynamic content, user flows, and web 2.0 wireframes? Please send me a sample and I will put it up.

Eine tolle Quelle der Inspiration... und hey: gibt es da draußen jemanden der Prototyping Tools baut? Könnte mir vorstellen, dass man leicht auf der Seite Erwähnung findet, wenn man ein paar Beispiele der eigenen Anwendung hinschickt ;-).

Via PJBs InfoDesign.

Service Design Design Patterns

Victor Lombardi (Blog), Keynote Speaker der 2007er deutschen IA Konferenz hat ein Wiki zum Thema Design Patterns ins Leben gerufen: Service Design Design Patterns.

This is a wiki for capturing design patterns about service design. There are other places to learn about design process and methods; these patterns try to describe aspects of the service itself. [...] This wiki was started to help the service design community share our knowledge of how to design great services. I hope this will become a valuable public resource, freely available to all.

Ein schönes Projekt, welches noch am Anfang seiner Entstehung steht.

Übrigens: Victor produziert zusammen mit Lou Rosenfeld die Future Practice User Experience Webinars... und Lou ist der Keynote Speaker der diesjährigen deutschen IA Konferenz. So schließt sich der Kreis wieder.

ISO 9241 2.0

Auf userfocus ist eine gute Übersicht zu aktuellsten Entwicklungen im ISO Standard 9241 erschienen: New standards in usability.

2008 saw the release of several international usability standards, many within the influential ISO 9241 series. Two of these standards focus on accessibility and another provides guidelines for usable web sites. This article explains why usability standards are important and summarises the 13 new parts of ISO 9241.

Die Auflistung ist kurz und übersichtlich.

Bad Usability Calendar 2009

Ah, endlich. Der Bad Usability Calendar 2009 ist da.

The (in)famous Bad Usability Calendar has featured 48 classic design mistakes in 13 different languages since 2005. Get it while it´s hot!

Herrlich. :-)

Videos: Xtopia 08

Wo ich hier gerade von Konferenzen rede. Letztes Jahr war ich ja auf der sehr guten Xtopia 08 Konferenz. Neulich habe ich gesehen, dass viele der gehaltenen Präsentationen nun online sind.

Im Berliner ICC kamen Mitte November 2008 anläßlich der Microsoft-Fachkonferenz „Xtopia 08“ Business-Entscheider, Web-Entwickler, UX-Professionals und Web/Interactive Designer zusammen, um über die Zukunft des Internet zu diskutieren

Schaut euch die Videos unbedingt mal an. Sind ein paar wirklich gute Beiträge dabei.

Call for Papers: IA Konferenz 2009

Der Call for Papers zur diesjährigen deutschsprachigen IA Konferenz endet am 15.01.2009. - also diesen Donnerstag.

Das hier ist die offizielle Call for Papers Webseite.

Der Schwerpunkt der Konferenz 2009 liegt auf Best-Practice-Beispielen, die den Arbeitsalltag von Informationsarchitekten im Dialog mit anderen Interessengruppen widerspiegeln und wirksame Methoden und kreative Lösungsansätze aufzeigen. Informationsarchitekten bewegen sich an der Schnittstelle zwischen Nutzerwünschen, fachlichen Anforderungen, Geschäftsinteressen, Technologie und Design. Wie können Informationsarchitekten ihr spezifisches Wissen wirkungsvoll einbringen und den Kommunikationsprozess sinnvoll steuern? Die Konferenz möchte den interdisziplinären Erfahrungsaustausch fördern und einen Beitrag zur Kultur gemeinsamen Lernens leisten.

Hier habe ich für euch noch mal alle wichtigen Call for Papers Daten zusammengetragen: Hier gibt es die auszufüllende Vorlage zum herunterladen: cfp_ia2009.doc (32kb) oder als cfp_ia2009.rtf (174kb). Das hier ist die E-Mail an die der CfP gehen soll: cfp@iakonferenz.org.

Wir haben schon einige wirklich sehr gute Einreichungen bekommen - aber ein paar mehr dürften es schon sein :-)... Übrigens: für den Call for Paper müsst ihr keine Romane schreiben. Einfach das obige Formular ausfüllen und ein paar Zeilen zu euerem möglichen Präsentationsthema formulieren. Wenn es akzeptiert wird, habt ihr immer noch drei Monate eine kick-ass Präsentation auszuarbeiten.

Wir haben für die Konferenz, neben Lou Rosenfeld, einem der Väter der Informationsarchitektur und Betreiber von Rosenfeld Media, auch noch ein paar weitere prominente Gäste gewinnen können. Aber das blogge ich ein anderes mal...

Die deutschsprachige Konferenz für Informationsarchitektur (aka IA Konferenz) find am 16. und 17. Mai (Samstag, Sonntag) im Empire Riverside Hotel in Hamburg statt.

Ach ja - one more thing... die Anmeldung zur Konferenz hat schon längst begonnen. Lasst euch den vergünstigten Early Bird Tarif nicht entgehen.

On Pagination

Hier ist ein ganz netter Beitrag zum Thema Paginierung (Seitennummerierung): Easy as 1,2,3?

Using 1,2,3 links is often a result of lazy web design. In many cases, it’s the web equivalent of asking your users to rake through bargain bins. They don’t know what’s in each bin, they have to rummage through them in order to find out.

Wie auch jemand in dem Kommentar zum Beitrag sagt, ist es ganz gut sich mal zu diesem Thema Gedanken zu machen - bevor man immer wieder die eine generische Lösung benuzt.

Eric Reiss on User Experience

Auf dem FatDUX Blog ist ein sehr guter Beitrag von Eric Reiss erschienen: A definition of “user experience”.

User experience (UX) represents the perception left in someone’s mind following a series of interactions between people, devices, and events – or any combination thereof. “Series” is the operative word. [...] A good user-experience designer needs to be able to see both the forest and the trees. That means user experience has implications that go far beyond usability, visual design, and physical affordances. As UX designers, we orchestrate a complex series of interactions.

Die Kommentare sind ebenfalls recht lesenswert.

Air Apps for UX Designers

To get you started, Download the latest version of Adobe AIR if you haven't done so already (Mac or PC).

Adobe Media Player

Get inspired by watching intresting stuff with the Adobe Media Player.

Adobe® Media Player software provides control and flexibility to view what you want, when you want — whether online or offline. You can queue up and download your favorite Internet TV content, track and download new episodes automatically, and manage your personal video library for viewing at your convenience.

Agile Agenda

Get agile with Agile Agenda.

This is a demo/trial version of Agile Agenda. Agile Agenda is a project scheduling utility focused on allowing project managers to enter data about tasks. The software is capable of dynamically adjusting to changing conditions that occur during a project life cycle. Agile Agenda supports the sharing of data through XML, PDF, and a web based view. It has a slimmed down "developer's client" giving anyone working on a project a simple view of their assigned tasks.

Balsamiq Mockups

Quick and easy prototyping with Balsamic Mockup.

Product managers, designers, developers and even clients can now work together in the same tool to quickly iterate over software mockups, before writing code. Mockups feels like you are drawing, but it's digital, so you can tweak and rearrange controls easily, and the end result is much cleaner. Teams can come up with a design and iterate over it in real-time in the course of a meeting. Mockups is tightly integrated with Atlassian Confluence, Atlassian JIRA and XWiki. We even have a desktop version for when you are offline. Mockups for Desktop starts at $79 per user, with volume discounts available. You can download a free demo at the link above.

Doppelganger

Grab a link and download videos from YouTube with Doppelganger.

Doppelganger is a lightweight, drag and drop download manager for online videos. Unlike most video download extensions, Doppelganger allows you to download a video without visiting its page first. Anywhere there's a link to the video's page, simply drag the link to Doppelganger and the download will begin. At the moment, Doppelganger only supports YouTube videos, but will accommodate more sites in future releases.

Google Analytics Reporting Suite

Get your analytics with the Google Analytics Reporting Suite.

The Google Analytics Reporting Suite brings Google Analytics to the desktop, with a host of features that help you understand how your website is performing and where you can improve. From tracking your visitors, referrals and campaigns to viewing your AdWords ROI metrics, the Google Analytics Reporting suite is a must-have for every web business.

Klok

Personal time tracking with Klok

Klok is a personal time tracking application that makes it easy for anyone working on multiple clients, projects or tasks to keep track of their hours. In contrast to many time entry applications, Klok is meant for those of us who want to press a button when we start working and another when we stop. Klok keeps track of the rest. Klok allows entry of time spent in the past as well and also allows for editing time entries. The application features drag and drop, excel export, archive and a collapsed view that stays our of your way.

Kronos

Track the time you spend working on projects with Kronos.

Kronos lets you track the time you spend working on your projects. The application also shows you the money you earn, live. Flexible, Kronos can run multiple timers at the same time. You could for example track the work of a whole team if you wanted to.

Kuler

Get color inspiration and many beautiful themes with kuler desktop.

Import kuler themes directly into Creative Suite 3 Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop. Select Save Theme menu to learn more. * Color inspiration. Browse and search color themes from kuler (kuler.adobe.com), an online application to create and share color harmonies. View RSS feeds of Highest Rated, Most Popular, Newest, and Randomly Selected themes. Drag and drop themes as transparent "tear offs," to scale and view over any application. Download themes as ASE (Adobe Swatch Exchange) files to your desktop, or quickly copy as hex values to your clipboard. Access your own themes and favorites from your Mykuler area.

Mindomo Desktop

Work on the same mind maps online and offline with Mindomo Desktop.

Mindomo Desktop is a mind mapping application which can be deployed to your desktop and run across operating systems. It allows you to work on your mind maps offline or when your internet connection is not available.

MiniTask

Plan your tasks with MiniTask.

MiniTask is a fast and easy-to-use task management application that helps you with organizing your daily todos more efficiently. It supports features like drag 'n' drop reorder, alarm timers, printing of pretty task sheets, copying tasks from and to other applications etc.

Ora Time and Expense

Track the time you work on a project with Ora Time and Expense.

Ora Time and Expense is a small easy-to-use application for tracking and generating timesheets, expense reports, and invoices. Winner of Adobe AIR Developer Derby Best Business HTML Application.

pixDIF

Compare your design and the developers work with pixDIF.

pixDIF is a utility for designers and developers to help them see and measure differences between design comps and design implementations.

Pixus

Measure objects with Pixus.

You can not only measure the screen object size with easy. With browser skins, overlay mode and screen size presets, you can also preview how your design will look in the real environment. - No switching to low-res again. - Tested on Mac OS X and Windows. - Ideal for web and interface designers.

Timeloc

If you charge time for money, then you need timeloc.

Timeloc is a desktop widget that keeps track of the time you have spent working on a job or project. It will no longer be a case of guess work as to how much you need to bill your clients or assign to a project. Timeloc is ideal for both internal and external billing.

Websnapshot

Take quick and easy snapshots with Websnapshot.

Enter the Url and Press Snap. Or Drag&Drop it from your browser. Click on the Thumbnails to Save. With Auto Save Checked, the thumbnails are immediately saved to your 'save' folder. Select the type of Snapshot you want to make: Thumbnail, Browser size, or Full Page. You can tailor the way the snapshots are take in the Preferences pane. Set the download folder as needed. By default the snapshots are saved to the Desktop.

Talking About Sketching About Interacting

A 16-minute talk about sketching for interaction design, with personal and professional examples. Sound quality is a little rough.

Web 2.0 and Information Literacy

Monitoring incoming Links

Ein guter Artikel zum Thema Qualitätssicherung eingehender Links (oder so :)... Monitoring Links for Linkbuilding.

One of the biggest problems that we see over and over again with organic linkbuilding and linkbaiting is that the links that you attract are often poorly formatted from an SEO perspective. Either they link to the wrong page or they link using poor anchor text. While these links are definitely worth having since they're strong organic links they would be even more effective with a little bit of tweaking.

Der Artikel hat ein paar wirklich gute Punkte und ... er verlinkt auch auf ein wichtiges Tool: den Reputation Monitoring.

Activity Streams

Auf readwriteweb.com ist ein kurzer Post erschienen: Google, Facebook, MySpace and More Meet to Talk Activity Streams.

What are activity streams all about? People are taking actions and publishing content on a wide variety of websites these days; pulling all that data together, with a variety of different permission levels for viewing and different types of data, is much easier said than done. Just like a standard size of railroad track helped the trains get across the US like they had never done before (thus opening a new era of commerce and communication) so to do all these social media signals need some common format standards to travel from one website to another.

Activity Stream ist ein guter Begriff und wirklich ein spannendes Thema. Ich denke, Steve Gillmor hat vor Jahren mit seiner GestureBank bereits einen vergleichbaren Gedanken gehabt.

UX Misconceptions

Das hier ist doch mal was nettes fürs Wochenende: 10 Most Common Misconceptions About User Experience Design. Sind ein paar gute Punkte dabei.

The term “user experience” or UX has been getting a lot of play, but many businesses are confused about what it actually is and how crucial it is to their success.

Der Artikel ist zwar auch ein wildes name-dropping aus der UX- und Infromationsarchitektur Szene - lesenswert ist er aber allemal.

Mobile User Experience Trends

Im AP Blog ist ein Artikel zu Mobile UIs erschienen: Three Mobile User Experience Trends to Watch in 2009.

2009 will be the year inspired mobile UI design goes mainstream. Customers at every price point will refuse to suffer the foolishness of the rational, lifeless mobile UIs from the past. They’ll see user interface design as important as the product design. Customers will demand to see live demos of phones in stores so they can interact with the devices.

Laut dem Artikel sollen GUIs vor allem hübscher, verständlicher und Kontext-sensitiver werden.

SEO and Information Architecture

Das hier ist ein wirklich interessanter Video-Beitrag zum Thema SEO und Informationsarchitektur: Ecommerce Know-How: Information Architecture to Improve SEO and Usability.

In this Ecommerce Know-How, I will briefly define search engine optimization (SEO) and information architecture (IA), describe one of the many places where these marketing specialties intersect, and explain how easy and natural thematic structure and linking really is. I've also included a video

Der Artikel in den das Video eingebettet ist, wiederholt im Prinzip das Video. Man kann sich also entscheiden, ob man lesen oder hören will.

In-House SEO

Hier ist ein netter Artikel zum Thema SEO - oder vielmehr in-house SEO: Considering In-House SEO? How To Ease Into In-House SEO Smoothly.

In-house SEO can be more cost efficient, but it can also be very costly because in-house SEO has many unique challenges. If you are planning to bring SEO in-house in the coming year, be smart. Most companies can’t actually be 100% in-house because there aren’t enough SEO Michael Jordans out there willing to go in-house. Even if you find one, they may not have the political savviness to pull it off.

Sind ein paar ganz brauchbare Tipps dabei. Der Artikel lässt sich gut überfliegen.