Showing posts with label usability. Show all posts
Showing posts with label usability. Show all posts

Keeping Found Things Found: The Study and Practice of Personal Information Management (Interactive Technologies) Review

Keeping Found Things Found: The Study and Practice of Personal Information Management (Interactive Technologies)
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Keeping Found Things Found: The Study and Practice of Personal Information Management (Interactive Technologies) ReviewAs someone who lives in fear of losing everything on my computer, this book and its eye opening discussions on personal information management (PIM) left me empowered to take more control over my own personal information for ease of future retrieval and storage, but also to control who else will have access to it.
The book gave me a new perspective on PIM and on the information that(constantly) flows into and out of my life. My information - email, digital docs, photos, music, bookmarks, whatever - has a life of its own and a life cycle. Information comes in. Sometimes it's useful. Sometimes it's not. Sometimes (too often!) it just gets in the way. But I never really thought of my information as something to be actively managed. And not just to avoid bad things like identity theft or data loss. But also for good things like working smarter and in ways that better leverage my time. Many people already have a PIM system or tool that works for them and their specific needs, but one of the real assets of this book is in helping you deconstruct the constant flow of information even before you start making determinations of what info to keep, what to chuck, who can have access to it, and where it should permanently reside. Jones describes some really useful tools and practices to help become savvier about what information comes at you and what information you send back out and all with a focus on helping you manage your time, energy, and personal information better and smarter.
I especially liked the books metaphors. I certainly feel as if sometimes I'm in a "sea" of personal information. How much of this I can control remains to be seen. I also liked the idea that PIM is about "weaving together" my personal information or building a structure in which the various kinds of information can be integrated into a coherent whole. I went into reading this book with many questions about my own PIM tactics and techniques and the book certainly did a great job of answering them through anecdotes, scenarios, current processes, and the "what next" sections that take the extra step to show what is up and coming in the future to address my problems and concerns.
This book is written to speak to me, as well as a much more seasoned manager of information. You get the full spectrum of PIM, from the history and theoretical background to the current gadgets and fun, new tools that are changing the face of PIM. I would have never imagined that one day I might be wearing jewelry that was really a complete telecommunications system or that all my daily transactions, communications, scheduling, and information keeping could be done on a single, handheld computer or PDA. It is that full spectrum, from past to present to future, that makes this book both jam-packed full of pertinent and useful information while also being fun and exciting to read.
Keeping Found Things Found: The Study and Practice of Personal Information Management (Interactive Technologies) OverviewWE ARE ADRIFT IN A SEA OF INFORMATION. We need information to make good decisions, to get things done, to learn, and to gain better mastery of the world around us. But we do not always have good control of our information - not even in the "home waters" of an office or on the hard drive of a computer. Instead, information may be controlling us - keeping us from doing the things we need to do, getting us to waste money and precious time. The growth of available information, plus the technologies for its creation, storage, retrieval, distribution and use, is astonishing and sometimes bewildering. Can there be a similar growth in our understanding for how best to manage information and informational tools?This book provides a comprehensive overview of personal information management (PIM) as both a study and a practice of the activities people do and need to be doing so that information can work for them in their daily lives.Introductory chapters of Keeping Found Things Found: The Study and Practice of Personal Information Management provide an overview of PIM and a sense for its many facets. The next chapters look more closely at the essential challenges of PIM, including finding, keeping, organizing, maintaining, managing privacy, and managing information flow. The book also contains chapters on search, email, mobile PIM, web-based support, and other technologies relevant to PIM.*For more information and author blog visit http://www.keepingthingsfound.com/.* Focuses exclusively on one of the most interesting and challenging problems in today's world* Explores what good and better PIM looks like, and how to measure improvements* Presents key questions to consider when evaluating any new PIM informational tools or systems

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Web Application Design Handbook: Best Practices for Web-Based Software (Interactive Technologies) Review

Web Application Design Handbook: Best Practices for Web-Based Software (Interactive Technologies)
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Web Application Design Handbook: Best Practices for Web-Based Software (Interactive Technologies) ReviewI bought this book because Krug's book (Don't Make Me Think) recommended it and because my main concern was web-based business applications not public web sites.
I was extremely disappointed by Web Application Design Handbook:
1) It doesn't say much more than what any Windows developer has known
for the past 10 years
2) It is full of discussions about software DEVELOPMENT but it is
supposed to be a DESIGN book
3) It is supposed to be a book about WEB design but half of it is
about reports, graphs, diagrams, and maps
The first half of the book concentrates on what was advertised: design/usability of web-based applications. But it doesn't offer many new ideas. Most of the recommendations are well-known to Windows developers. It doesn't give enough attention to what's different about web-based applications.
The amount of useful, thought-provoking information in this book that could help a Windows developer create better web-based applications is no more than 50 pages. Not very good for a book of 600 pages.
The book does not inspire confidence that the recommendations are based on real usability testing. There's a lot of conventional wisdom followed by a lot of suggestions to figure it out yourself with your own usability tests.
The book has a maddening tendency to slip into development issues. Why on earth are there JavaScript code examples in a design book???!!! Why are there discussions about the impact of client vs server-side code on network bandwidth? Not only are these discussions distracting, they are also full of half-truths, oversimplifications, obsolete information, and some outright mistakes.
Almost 2/3 of the book is about topics that are beyond the scope of web application design (ok they're at least straining the limits): reports, graphs, diagrams, maps. That material would be handled better in a separate book, dedicated to those topics. As it is, most of the book is irrelevant to my needs.
If you are concerned with usability/GUI design of web sites or web applications forget this book and get Krug's Don't Make Me Think instead.
Web Application Design Handbook: Best Practices for Web-Based Software (Interactive Technologies) Overview

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Beyond the Usability Lab: Conducting Large-scale Online User Experience Studies Review

Beyond the Usability Lab: Conducting Large-scale Online User Experience Studies
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Beyond the Usability Lab: Conducting Large-scale Online User Experience Studies ReviewLarge-scale usability testing is not new, but it's definitely become bigger and more important now than ever before. The reasons why it's becoming such a popular research method are many and are relatively clear: Cost-effectiveness, statistical significance, geographic coverage, etc. There are powerful tools being used by leading UX teams from top global brands using this method. However, still today many UX Pros are used to testing mostly in the Lab environment and in many cases are either intimidated by statistics or simply don't feel comfortable outside of the Lab or if they don't see the participant's face. In my humble opinion, this must change for the good of the UX industry.
Beyond the Usability Lab is both simple and amazing. What the authors have done is prove how powerful online usability studies truly are. It's an eye-opener for an industry (UX) in need for more accountability and credibility. UX Pros must back up their findings and conclusions with both qualitative and quantitative data, not just rely on what 5 users have to say about an interface.
Don't get me wrong: I think testing in the Lab is GREAT and I'm 100% sure that the authors think the same. But today's highly competitive marketplace requires UX Pros to go BEYOND THE LAB and have a versatile usability toolkit to truly understand and measure UX.
I've got to thank the authors (highly experienced UX Pros themselves) for their vision and the effort to push this research method. Much like it was with tools for Web analytics, online surveys or even Lab studies back in the 1990s (first rejected and then slowly being adopted by everyone), I'm quite certain that large-scale Online Usability Studies will become mainstream pretty soon.Beyond the Usability Lab: Conducting Large-scale Online User Experience Studies Overview
Usability testing and user experience research typically take place in a controlled lab with small groups. While this type of testing is essential to user experience design, more companies are also looking to test large sample sizes to be able compare data according to specific user populations and see how their experiences differ across user groups. But few usability professionals have experience in setting up these studies, analyzing the data, and presenting it in effective ways. Online usability testing offers the solution by allowing testers to elicit feedback simultaneously from 1,000s of users. Beyond the Usability Lab offers tried and tested methodologies for conducting online usability studies. It gives practitioners the guidance they need to collect a wealth of data through cost-effective, efficient, and reliable practices. The reader will develop a solid understanding of the capabilities of online usability testing, when it's appropriate to use and not use, and will learn about the various types of online usability testing techniques.


*The first guide for conducting large-scale user experience research using the internet *Presents how-to conduct online tests with 1000s of participants - from start to finish *Outlines essential tips for online studies to ensure cost-efficient and reliable results



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Things That Make Us Smart: Defending Human Attributes In The Age Of The Machine Review

Things That Make Us Smart: Defending Human Attributes In The Age Of The Machine
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Things That Make Us Smart: Defending Human Attributes In The Age Of The Machine ReviewThis book is easy to read - and should open most peoples eyes a bit more...
It describes how we (mankind) uses external representations to assist our brains - from writing, to diagrams, to maps, to the way we build our offices.
If you want a deeper psychological understanding with which you can do your own reasoning on different types of external representation - get this book. If you want clear-cut guidelines - get another book.
If you like this book - try Normans: The Design of Everydaythings as well. You might like Donald Schöns The Reflective Practitioner also.
Last word: Norman seems to prefer easy reading to structure - which means the book is best read end-to-end.Things That Make Us Smart: Defending Human Attributes In The Age Of The Machine Overview

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Complete Web Monitoring: Watching Your Visitors, Performance, Communities, and Competitors Review

Complete Web Monitoring: Watching Your Visitors, Performance, Communities, and Competitors
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Complete Web Monitoring: Watching Your Visitors, Performance, Communities, and Competitors ReviewThis book will change the way you think about your online business. From page performance, to conversions, to user experience, to social media, "Complete Web Monitoring" covers the gamut of tools, techniques, and services that exist today to help you truly optimize the success of your online business.
The book breaks down all online business into four categories: Media, Transaction, Collaboration, and SaaS. Throughout the book, as you learn about the various flavors of analytics, usability, surveys, page performance, monitoring, online community management, collaboration...and how all of this fits together...you are given specific, direct, and actionable steps to take that apply to your specific business model. For example, "Transaction" businesses must focus on conversions, uptime of the checkout process, and what customers are saying about their products. "SaaS" companies should focus on the performance of their most common paths through the application, popularity of specific features, and the user experience of the holistic product.
The amount of data and the number of tools at your disposal are overwhelming. At times this book is rather overwhelming. Choosing between an analytics provider, a monitoring service, or a social media tracking service could keep you from actually accomplishing real work. Sometimes too much choice and too much data is a very dangerous thing. It's important to remember to step back, remember the goals behind your measurements, and focus on solving the problems of your customers. With that in mind, the lessons learned in this book will help you zero in on optimizing those end goals.
"Complete Web Monitoring" is valuable for the same reason it is difficult to categorize. The various tools and services that you learn about are generally used by many different departments across an organization, all for very different reasons, generally without any sort of collaboration. What you realize reading this book is that there is a lot more to the success of your business than the limited visibility you get from using these tools independently. To truly understand how your business is doing, and how you can improve not only revenue but also how you build your business, you need a holistic picture that includes data from numerous sources. "Complete Web Monitoring" gives you more then anything I've come across previously in giving you the tools, pointing you to the techniques, and teaching you to focus on what is most important.Complete Web Monitoring: Watching Your Visitors, Performance, Communities, and Competitors Overview
Do you really understand your online presence? Are you confident that visitors can use your website? Do you know their motivations? How do online communities perceive your company? To innovate and adapt your business quickly, you must know the answers to these questions.Complete Web Monitoring demonstrates how to measure every aspect of your web presence -- including analytics, backend performance, usability, communities, customer feedback, and competitive analysis -- whether you're running an e-commerce site, a community, a media property, or a Software-as-a-Service company. This book's concrete examples, clear explanations, and practical recommendations make it essential for anyone who runs a website. With this book you will:



Discover how visitors use and interact with your site through web analytics, segmentation, conversions, and user interaction analysis
Find out your market's motivations with voice-of-the-customer research
Measure the health and availability of your website with synthetic testing and real-user monitoring
Track communities related to your online presence, including social networks, forums, blogs, microblogs, wikis, and social news aggregators
Understand how to assemble this data into clear reports tailored to your organization and audience

You can't fix what you don't measure. Complete Web Monitoring shows you how to transform missed opportunities, frustrated users, and spiraling costs into online success. "This is a very comprehensive view of just about everything one needs to know about how websites work and what one needs to know about them. I'd like to make this book required reading for every employee at Gomez." -- Imad Mouline, CTO of Gomez


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