Confusability

Rosenfeld Media get sorted

The second publication from Rosenfeld Media has hit the shelves:

Web Forms: Filling in the Blanks

Luke Wroblewski's book will provide everything you wanted to know and more about designing effective and engaging Web forms that optimize these key customer interactions. Rosenfeld Media, 2008. Read More >

I ordered the book from the RM web site and manged to complete my order in about 60 seconds because I had set up an account when I bought Mental Models last month. The re-ordering process is very well designed but I got a bit confused when I reviewed my orders.

My order for Menta Models in April showed as having a status of "Pending Shipment". I actually received the book a few days after I ordered it (very quick for a trans-atlantic order). If Rosenfeld Media thought that my order was "Pending Shipment" I would have expected them to chase the order by now. I expect that RM either ignore this status or it is incorrectly shown on the web site. Either way it would be helpful if the correct status was shown.

After I ordered Web Forms Design  I  looked at my digital purchase screen to find the link to my electronic version and was surprised to see both of my book purchases appearing under "Recent Digital Purchases" and "Historical Digital Purchases". However when I got the screenshot the next day the books only appeared in "Historical Digital Purchases". I suggest that RM drop the Recent/Historical sections and just show my digital purchases sorted with most recent at the top. It just doesn't feel right to see my most recent purchase at the bottom of my list.

However, as this is only the second book that RM have published they have got plenty of time to improve their "bookshelf" functionality as it won't really start to annoy me until I have bought my 5th or 6th RM book.

Anyway, that's enough of my complaining. I will wait for the postman to deliver my paper copy of the "soon to be definitive" book on web forms design.

"Luke Wroblewski has done the entire world a great favor by writing this book. Online forms are ubiquitous and ubiquitously annoying but they don't have to be. Wroblewski shows Web designers how to present forms that gather necessary information without unnecessarily badgering and annoying visitors. With deft explanations and clear examples, he presents a clear case for better Web forms and how to achieve them. This book will help you every day."
—Alan Cooper, Chairman, Cooper; author, The Inmates are Running the Asylum

Imaginary Futures - From Thinking Machines to the Global Village

Guardian Unlimited - 7th June 2007

Barbrook, a senior lecturer in politics at the University of Westminster, has been researching this topic for more than four years. What he wants is to show how ideology is used to warp time. "In other words," he says, "how we're told that the importance of a new technology lies not in what it can do in the here and now, but what the more advanced models might be able to do one day." He is particularly interested in exposing the "nonsense of technological determinism", which he describes as "the theory that someone builds a machine, the machine sprouts legs and runs around the world changing it".

Dust or Magic : Creative work in the digital age

A Message from Bob Hughes :

++ THIS IS A MESSAGE TO PEOPLE who said kind things
about my book, Dust or Magic, which first appeared at
the end of 1999, or whose MA I supervised at Oxford
Brookes University, or who came to one of our Dust or
Magic conferences in Oxford in 2003 and 2004. If I'm
mistaken, please let me know: bob@dustormagic.net ++

===============================

DUST OR MAGIC REISSUED BY BOSKO BOOKS
• New, student and pauper-friendly price: £15.95/€16.95/$19.95
• Punchy new preface
• Totally re-engineered subtitle: "creative work in the digital age"*

===============================

DUST OR MAGIC, the creative worker's guide to new media, is available again at last, from Bosko Books, Bristol. It's the same text, with the same Alex Mayhew cover as the original Addison-Wesley edition of 2000, but it has the subtitle I originally wanted, some overdue acknowledgements, a new preface, and a MUCH better price: £15.95 (or €16.95 or $19.95). The original price was quite a stretch for the students and young designers for whom I mainly wrote it. Amazon has the new edition now:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dust-Magic-Creative-Work-Digital/dp/0954723953/
http://www.amazon.com/Dust-Magic-Creative-Work-Digital/dp/0954723953/
http://www.amazon.de/Dust-Magic-Creative-Work-Digital /dp/0954723953/ ... etc

Dust or Magic's main purpose was to point out that the computer-medium has a history. One which, moreover, wasn't made by corporations, but by people, who work in ways that utterly belie corporate wisdom.

It takes that history up to the end of the "seedy-rom" slump of the late 1990s. It doesn't cover the much bigger bloodletting of 2001 (the "dot bomb" slump) or subsequent events - but these are to some extent history repeating itself, and there are now some great sources on this later period, for example Andrew Ross's "No Collar: the humane workplace and its hidden costs" (Temple University Press, 2004):

http://www.amazon.com/No-Collar-Humane-Workplace-Hidden-Costs/dp/1592131506/

... and the articles (including one by me) in "The Spark in the Engine: creative workers in a global economy" (ed. Ursula Huws; Merlin Press 2006):

http://www.merlinpress.co.uk/acatalog/THE_SPARK_IN_THE_ENGINE.html

===============================

THE BIG ISSUE that follows on from Dust or Magic, is the global pandemic of insecure work that's accompanied the rise of the "new economy". It's not just new-media workers who are insecure. Precarious work is the name of the game all the way down the food-chain from the head-offices in Silicon Valley, to the millions of young, non-white, non-unionised, predominantly female people in southern China, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Mexico ... who make the machines that make the medium possible, for wages so low that one wonders how long computerdom would last in its present form without world poverty. What would happen to technology if poverty were abolished? Going further: what if inequality were abolished? I made a first pass at outlining the issues in a fairly outspoken conference paper (Aarhus, 2005) called "From useful idiocy to activism":

http://www.dustormagic.net/Papers/Idiocy.html

===============================

WILL THERE BE ANOTHER Dust or Magic conference? I hope so. I'd like to run one bringing together educationists and global-justice activists: two groups who are solidly focused on needs rather than profits. Does that appeal? Let me know.

With best wishes,

Bob Hughes
Oxford, 1 May 2007

===============================

From the dustjacket of Dust or Magic:

DUST OR MAGIC WAS primarily written for the young, talented people whose creative instincts are kindled by computers and live to create 'good stuff', but who are systematically betrayed by the managerial types in suits who hire them, set them absurd tasks, and sack them when their half-baked schemes go belly-up. It is also for people who simply want to know how human creativity fares in the digital age.

Originally published by Addison-Wesley (under the title 'Dust or Magic, Secrets of successful multimedia design') this book is, in part, a 'secret history' of computers: a history told from the vantage point of the people who did the work. We have insiders' accounts of a range of influential products and projects, many of which were in danger of being forgotten. The scene is illuminated by recent insights into creativity and well-being from the fields of psychology and neuroscience, as well as tried-and-tested, practical strategies for workplace survival from other industries.

The author, Bob Hughes, has been a 'creative' for most of his working life: first a calligrapher, then an advertising artist and copywriter before discovering computers in the mid-1980s. He now teaches at Oxford Brookes University on the MA in Interactive Media Publishing, and researches and writes about the wider impact of electronics and computers in workplaces world-wide. He also campaigns on behalf of migrants, refugees and all precarious workers.


    "I am really enjoying Dust or Magic for the second
  time - having finally sold the children to buy my own
  copy."

      - Catharine Arakelian, Oxford


    "What you are doing is stripping away the corporate
  bullshit from this 'revolution' - its ours not theirs.
  Reclaim the pixels!"

      - Chris McEvoy (Creator of 'Usability Must Die'
        http://www.usabilitymustdie.com).


    "There are many books explaining why software
  projects go sour; this one breaks the mold by showing
  how they come good."

      - Malcolm Cook (Senior Lecturer in Human Factors,
        University of Abertay)


    "It's bloody brilliant!"

      - Brendan Dawes (Author of Drag, Slide, Fade:
        http://www.brendandawes.com)


    "It was incredibly engrossing. I expected to skim
  through it, and found myself reading it avidly, putting
  aside all the other work I should have been doing...It
  rang so true about so many things about the process of
  creating the virtual world we spend so much time in
  that I'm dying to share it with others who also create
  for it, or want to."

      - Aleen Stein (co-founder of the Voyager Company
        and CEO of Organa inc. http://www.organa.com)

===============================

  Bob Hughes
  bob@dustormagic.net
  http://www.dustormagic.net

The History of Interaction Design

"This will be the book--the book that summarizes how the technology of interaction came into being and prescribes how it will advance in the future. Written by the designer who was there, who helped make it happen, who pioneered the digital revolution. Essential, exciting, and a delight for both eyes and mind."

Don Norman

I was rather disappointed when I realised that the History of Interaction Design had already been set in stone. I thought that there was still plenty of room for innovation in the field, but it seems that the DNA of Interaction Design has been fully discovered.

If you want to see where you fit into the scheme of things then could can study this diagram of disciplines:

The diagram shows four quadrants, with the horizontal axis dividing human and subjective qualities from those that are technical and objective, and the vertical axis separating physical design contexts from those in the digital realm.We can position the development disciplines in four columns: the design disciplines, human sciences, engineering disciplines, and technical sciences.We see the need for interaction design as a discipline that can create solutions with human and subjective qualities in a digital context.

Chapter 10 - People and Prototypes

I have just ordered my copy after scanning the contents of the book at the companion website.

LukeW mentioned that "Moggridge releasing is a PDF of his book each week for the next 12 weeks on the companion Website", but I was disappointed to see that the download page was already on to chapter three and I had missed my chance to view the first two chapters. After some basic URL hacking I found that the previous chapters were still available online. After that it didn't take a Design Hero to work out that the next seven chapters were also available without having to wait for Bill to publish the link.

I don't know if this content has been published intentionally, but it seems that whoever designed the "free chapter download over 12 weeks" interaction needs to be sent back to school.

Foreword Gillian Crampton Smith answers the question, “What is Interaction Design."
Introduction The author explains the origin of the book, illustrated by two personal stories
1 The Mouse and the Desktop Interviews with Doug Engelbart, Stu Card, Tim Mott and Larry Tesler
2 My PC Interviews with Bill Atkinson, Paul Bradley, Bill Verplank and Cordell Ratzlaff
3 From the Desk to the Palm Interviews with John Ellenby, Jeff Hawkins, Bert Keely, Rob Haitani and Dennis Boyle
4 Adopting Technology Interviews with David Liddle, Mat Hunter, Rikako Sakai, David Kelley and Paul Mercer
5 Play Interviews with Bing Gordon, Brendan Boyle, Brenda Laurel and Will Wright
6 Services Interviews with Live|Work, Fran Samalionis and Takeshi Natsuno
7 The Internet Interviews with Terry Winograd, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Steve Rogers and Mark Podlaseck
8 Multisensory and Multimedia Interviews with Hiroshi Ishii, Durrell Bishop, Joy Mountford and Bill Gaver
9 Futures and Alternative Nows Interviews with Dunne and Raby, John Maeda and Jun Rekimoto
10 People and Prototypes The author’s view of designing interactions, with help from Jane Fulton Suri and Duane Bray

I recommend that you buy your own hardcopy as well as viewing the online version.
amazon.com | amazon.co.uk

Digital Landmarks

I can still remember feeling the Christmas Morning excitement of a young child, when the anticipation of opening long-awaited gifts was one of the highlights of the year.

The Christmas Experience (CX) is a lot different as an adult. There are presents to buy. People to be nice to. Drink and food to consume in excess.

Hoewever, there is one event that bring back those heart jumping moments of anticiation. It's called Amazon Day (AD). I order quite a few books from Amazon and most of the boring worky books are delivered directly to my office, whilst the more personal ones are delivered to my home. When I get back from work and see the brown cardboard marked with the Amazon logos my heart sometimes skips a beat.

This week I came home to find two long awaited packages. I now look forward to enjoying these digital landmarks over the coming day, weeks, months and years.

A well matched couple, don't you think?

Everyware by Adam Greenfield

The Complete New Yorker

Sweet.

Bookrank additions

Just added a few new books to Bookrank.

1. Take a single book from Amazon as a root
2. Take the recommended books for that book
3. Repeat until you have reached a distance of 20 from the original book
4. Add up the number of recommendations for each book
5. Calculate the BookRank from the Distance, Recommendations and SalesRank
6. Display the 250 books with the highest BookRank.

>>> Everyware : The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing by Adam Greenfield

>>> Ambient Findability by Peter Morville

>>> War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America's Campaign to Create a Master Race by Edwin Black

>>> Indigo Children by Lee Carroll

>>> The Great War for Civilisation : The Conquest of the Middle East by Robert Fisk

Update: Mentioned on findability.org

iPod, Therefore I Am

I know you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but that's good advice when it comes to "iPod, Therefore I Am - A Personal Journey Through Music" by Dylan Jones.

I have just read the first 100 pages and there are only another 150 page to go, or 320 if you count the 70 page appendix where he lists the contents of the playlists on his iPod.

I don't know if I will be reading any more.

It proves that the iPod is hot stuff when such a poorly written, ill conceived piece of twaddle can take up valuable shelf space in Waterstones.

The books is a mish-mash of technical mis-understandings presented as history and musings on music disguised as self revelation.

Here is an example of the author's excellent grasp of Apple history:

Chapter 1, Page 8

"Apple II's breakthrough was an application called VisiCale, the first proper spreadsheet. released in 1979, when Jobs was twenty-four."

What the hell is "VisiCale"? If it was the first "proper spreadsheet" what was the first "improper spreadsheet"? What this book proof-read by his cat?

When I read the following page in the book I was surprised that Tom Chi and Kevin Cheng hadn't been credited anywhere in the book when this was obviously a description of one of their creations. Doesn't Dylan know that a picture is worth a thousand words (or 142 in his case).

Chapter 5, Page 47

"It's only a small, three-panel cartoon, yet it speaks volumes about its subject.

Panel one is captioned 'The Road to Cupertino' and features two spiky-haired religious devotees, dressed appropriately in Buddhist-like garb, trudging through the forest. 'We're almost there, mate!' says the first. Almost where Ivan? You said we were going to a conference.'

In the second panel our two compadres are sitting in a crowd of similarly dressed geeks listening to an address from a fellow disciple. 'We're going to do way more than that!' says our first friend. 'We've come to pay homage to "The One"...and I would appreciate it if you referred to me as iVan with a small i from now on.' 'The One?' replies his friend.

Panel three is captioned 'The One they call Ive' and features a picture of the designer sitting in the lotus position, arms folded, dressed only in a robe, levitating over one of his creations."

I wonder if Tom and Kev got a free copy of the book, because their fantastic comics didn't get a mention from Mr Jones.

I just wish I had read this review before I handed over my hard earned cash.

The truth is, Jones does not have anything much to say; he even quotes his wife at one point, which is always a bit of a give-away. His book flips between dull business and technical stuff about Apple and a record-buying hop through his life. This takes the form of a series of essays on passions from punk to lounge, Van Morrison to the Beatles. All of these have been far better analysed elsewhere, however. Jones brings nothing new to the turntable, beyond informing us that Bryan Ferry once admired his trousers.

As for the way the iPod has affected the way we listen to and consume music, well, he is too enslaved to probe. "The iPod is to music what penicillin was to medicine," says U2's manager, Paul McGuinness. Rather than hold this statement up to scrutiny, Jones quotes it meekly, unquestioningly. He would rather get back to his appendices: a whopping 78 pages of playlists. Because, in spite of its pretensions, this is really only a book of lists in disguise. It is so ironic: a tiny oblong of glowing, white plastic can hold 10,000 songs, yet a big, fat hardback like this is able to strike only one, wobbly note.

Review by Rachel Cooke in the New Statesman

PS. I have been offline for almost a month because of my incompetent brodaband provider Telewest (there's a story I need to get off my chest sometime!). I have just started on my e-mail mountain so I apologise to anyone I haven't mailed to recently.

Harry Potter is gay

Even though I have never read a Harry Potter book I have absorbed quite a lot of information by seeing film clips, reading news stories and an endless stream of articles about the Potter phenomenon.

I know that the Chief Exorcist of Rome has suggested that Satan is behind the books. I understand that some people are so excited about Harry Potter that they have tried to steal the latest book before it was published. And I saw that one bloke has even tried to get JK Rowling nominated for a Nobel prize. I have also heard China Meivelle describe the writing as about the books as "drab and pedestrianly written, and deeply unoriginal".

Even Jakob Nielsen has written an article about Harry where he compares Muggles to normal users.

In the past I have suggested that Harry is a chalet school girl. But how did I miss the fact that Harry is gay?

There’s something about Harry (Michael Bronski)
If Harry Potter presents children — and the rest of us — with a tantalizing vision of Misrule and the world turned upside down, let’s try to understand why we don’t like parts of the world in which we live now. If we don’t want to be Muggles — at least not all the time — maybe being queer, in the broadest sense, might be a lot more fun. This means, on a very basic level, reconceiving the very structures of what we call society, civilization, and freedom.

Is Harry Potter gay? (emu Nugent)
Of course Harry is gay. He grew up in a closet under the stairs; only allowed out to be useful around the house, and certainly never when visitors came. Poor orphaned Harry was destined to go to Stonewall High until an invitation from Hogwarts School of Wizardry allowed him to realise his true self — to practice pooffery (or magic then, if you like) — every suburban gay boy’s dream; dispense with your parents I mean,  and then run away with the fairies. At school Harry learns to fly, and meets the lovely red-headed Ron Weasley; fairy-boy and tight companion.Harry seems doomed to court the clever if manipulative Hermione, but don’t be fooled, his true love is for Ron.

Is Harry Potter gay? (Johann Hari)
My favourite chat-room exchange about Harry went simply, “He’s not gay, he’s British.” To which somebody replied, “Is there a difference?” (If only there really was no difference, then Jude Law would be gay and the world would be perfect). There has been much debate about quite how gay Hogwarts – the magicians’ school Harry attends - is. The school is entirely modelled on the English private education system with its archaic ‘house’ system, ritual abuse of small students by large, strict ageing spinsters, malevolent science teachers and incomprehensible sport. While it might be unpleasant to guess that Harry, Ron et al play the biscuit game, it’s a fair bet that cramming adolescents together and sealing them off from civilisation would produce a fair amount of experimental sodomy. Ask Etonians.

A Title of Amazonian Proportions

I know that things are supposed to be bigger in the United States, but this is ridiculous!

Buy from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

This book is made up of aprtiles that Joel has published online over the past few years.

If you don't want to wait for six weeks for Amazon.co.uk to get hold of some copies then you can find links to almost all of the articles on UsabilityViews in the JOS Section, where you can see what date the articles were published, and which are the most popular ones.

BookRank 0.9

Well, it only took a few days for my BookRank to be the number one result on google and it hasn't even found bookrank.net yet.

I have been playing around with the BookRank algorithm on a few source books:

BookRank
1) Take a single book from Amazon as a root.
2) Take the recommended books for that book.
3) Repeat until you have reached a distance of 20 from the original book.
4) Add up the number of recommendations for each book.
5) Calculate the BookRank from the Distance, Recommendations and SalesRank
6) Display the 50 (or less) books with the highest BookRank.

Usability
The mighty Jakob heads this list that spans subjects ranginf from Design to Dreamweaver to XML.

Baseball
Is it really Rounders by another name?

Edward Tufte
Visualise that.

Stupid White Men
Politics through satire.

Game Design
Chris Crawfors wrote the definitive book, but what are the other distinctive game design books?

Mythical Man Month
How did that project get to be 5 years late?

Chariot of the Gods
Conspiracy theories and cover ups litter this list.

War Of The Worlds
Classic adventure and much, much more.

If anyone wants to donate a BookRank logo I would be eternally grateful as I am an inept graphic designer.

See what I mean?