May 8, 2008:  Book testing: how we did it


Joshua Kaufman of UXmatters interviewed [1] Liz Danzico and me about
Rosenfeld Media, specifically addressing how we determined book
features and tested our designs.  We describe a bit of the "show and
tell" approach we used for identifying features, and a bit about the
task analysis we did for the print and digital edition designs.  It's
a nice short read; Joshua and Pabini Gabriel-Petit, UXmatters'
editor-in-chief, did a great job.

Speaking of books, I think we'll have sold 1,000 copies of Luke
Wroblewski's Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks by tomorrow.
That's not bad, considering it launched Monday!  I wish I could take
credit as some sort of guru of book promo, but it ultimately comes
down to an excellent author and excellent content.  Unfortunately,
we're also experiencing all sorts of glitches with our shopping cart
that are keeping me up way too late, but when your systems are
suddenly hit by 20 times the normal activity, I guess stuff is bound
to happen.


PERMALINK
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2008/05/book_testing_how_we_did_it.\
html

LINKS
[1] http://uxmatters.com/MT/archives/000285.php
[2] http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/webforms/

CRASS AND COMMERCIAL
There are still some seats open for my last spring workshop, in
Chicago on May 15.  My new workshop is on using site search analytics
to diagnose and address problems with content, navigation, metadata,
and search performance.  It sounds like a narrow topic, but so far
attendees are telling me that 1) they were surprised at how useful it
is and 2) they'd wished it was two days long, rather than one.  More
here:  http://louisrosenfeld.com/ssa

May 13, 2008:  Come be happy


Steve Krug and I are in Chicago this week to teach our day-long
workshops [1] (me on Thursday, and Steve on Friday).  Roundarch [2]
has kindly agreed to sponsor and organize a happy hour in concert with
our visit. It takes place Thursday, May 15, from 6:00pm-8:00pm at the
Elephant & Castle Pub (185 N. Wabash Avenue).  Come by for drinks,
complementary pub grub, and socializing. RSVP to rwankovsky [at]
roundarch.com; hope to see you there!


PERMALINK
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2008/05/come_be_happy.html

LINKS
[1] http://louisrosenfeld.com/ssa
[2] http://roundarch.com/

May 27, 2008:  Questions for IA/IM vendors


Occasionally I help my clients find consulting firms for information
architecture and information management projects. Here's how I help:

    - Establish an overall hiring process
    - Develop RFPs
    - Assemble an initial list of potential vendors
    - Review proposals
    - Develop short list selection criteria
    - Come up with (and ask) questions for the interviews of short list
    candidates
    - Develop systems for evaluating proposals and presentations

Because I'm such a swell guy, *I've decided to share a general set of
interview questions below.* Hopefully some Bloug readers might find these
helpful to consider when hiring a vendor. Chime in with others you think
should be added...


  *Your company*

    - Please give us the "elevator pitch" for your company.
    - What makes your company different?
    - How long have you been in business?
    - How has your company evolved (e.g., staff, service offerings)?
    - Has your company used a different name in the past?
    - Where is your headquarters?
    - Where will the team assigned to us will be based?

*Your people*

    - How many consultants are employed by your company?
    - What is your likely team configuration for our project?
       - Team size
       - Mix of permanent versus contractors
       - Mix of full-time versus part-time
       - Job types/skill sets
    - Do you know who specifically will be assigned to our team? Can you
    share their biographies? If not, why not?
    - How long have they worked together?
    - Will you need to bring on additional staff for our project? Do you
    already have those staff identified? Have you worked with them before?

*Your past work*

    - Describe a project that the team has worked on that's similar to ours
    (in terms of industry, technologies, etc.).
    - What were the key take-aways from that project?
    - What would you have done differently?

*Our project*

    - What appeals to you about working with us?
    - What appeals to you about this project in particular?
    - Which aspects of this project will be the most challenging for you?
    - Which aspects of this project will be the most challenging for us?
    - What should we be doing now to prepare for this project?

*How will you tackle our project?*

    - Would you walk us through the methodology you're likely to use?
    - Which aspects of your methodology are particularly unique to your
    company?
    - If we had a much larger budget, what would you do differently in terms
    of methodology?

*What will the outcome be?*

    - What would the product/deliverables ultimately be?
    - Would it be possible to show us a sample?
    - At the end of the project, where will we be?
       - What would the likely next steps be?
       - Would you be the logical vendor to continue with? If not, what type
       of company would you recommend?
       - Do you have established relationships/partnerships with other
       companies? Which ones?

*How should your work be evaluated?*

    - What metrics should be used to evaluate this project's success?
    - Have we missed any important ones in our RFP?

*Working together*

    - Will your team have a single point of contact?
    - Who will be your team's project manager? How much of their job will be
    dedicated to managing our project?
    - Should one of our own people also allocate time to project management?
    - What is the best way to communicate with you (e.g., email, phone)?
    - What one thing makes for a successful client/consultant relationship?


BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMENTS
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2008/05/questions_for_iaim_vendors.\
html


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June 10, 2008:  One of these things is not...


McCain's web team must have since been shamed into fixing their site's
information architecture, because "Golf Gear" is no longer one of its
four main tabs. But there's a screen grab [1] over at Talking Points
Memo...


PERMALINK
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2008/06/one_of_these_things_is_not.\
html

LINKS
[1] http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/198945.php

July 15, 2008:  New RM book signing:  Kevin Cheng on comics


I'm quite excited about this one.  In the interests of efficiency, I'll just
steal the announcement from the Rosenfeld Media site:

Many in the user experience world are become quite familiar with *Kevin
Cheng's* wit and perspective through OK/Cancel <http://www.ok-cancel.com/>,
the brilliant comic strip he co-creates with *Tom Chi* (more about Kevin
here <http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/comics/author/biography/>.) Now
we'll get to delve further into Kevin's creative mind: he's agreed to write
*See What I Mean <http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/comics/>: How to Use
Comics to Communicate Ideas* for Rosenfeld
Media<http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/>.
Kevin and I have been bouncing around this book idea for years, and I'm
thrilled that we'll have an opportunity to work together.

Many recognize that comics are a powerful design tool, but assume they need
to be artists to create comics. Through his workshops Kevin has been
disproving that assumption for years, and now his book will do the same for
a wider audience. See What I Mean will teach anyone, regardless of drawing
ability, how to use comics to communicate design concepts effectively.

Like all Rosenfeld Media books, Kevin's begins with a book-in-progress
site<http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/comics/>where he'll share his
ideas as they develop, and where we hope you'll do the
same. We invite you to engage in Kevin's writing process; this is your
opportunity to shape what we believe will be a mainstay on every designer's
bookshelf for years to come. You can also keep up with the book's progress
by subscribing to its RSS
feed<http://feeds.rosenfeldmedia.com/comicstocommunicateideas/>
.
PERMALINK
http://tinyurl.com/5jvq8p


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July 29, 2008:  Another book signing:  Nathan Shedroff on sustainable design


I'll once again plagiarize my
announcement<http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/announcements/2008/07/new_book_signin\
g_nathan_shedro.php>over
at the Rosenfeld Media site. But first:
*Nathan Shedroff* is a truly outstanding person. And there's really no
design topic that's more important than sustainability. Wow. I. Am.
Thrilled.

OK, here's the announcement:

Four years ago, *Peter Morville* rolled out the user experience
honeycomb<http://semanticstudios.com/publications/semantics/000029.php>,
with its seven facets of UX. Since then, there's been something of a cottage
industry of suggesting new facets (all of which, unfortunately, throw off
the geometry of Peter's elegant hexagon).

Perhaps it's time to consider adding yet another facet:
*sustainability.*What and how we design has implications, especially
when our designs are
ultimately fabricated, transported, and physically consumed. In this time of
post-peak oil and environmental worries, designers have an even greater
responsibility to consider how our work impacts our planet.

That's why Rosenfeld Media will be publishing *Nathan Shedroff's* newest
book, *"Design is the
Problem<http://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/sustainable-design/>:
The Future of Design Must be Sustainable".* It's a bit of a departure for
us—this is not a practical UX "method" book—but if it helps all of us to
bake sustainability into our design processes, it might be the most
practical topic we could ever cover.

It's also an opportunity to work with Nathan, who continues to make amazing
contributions<http://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/sustainable-design/author/biograph\
y/>to
the field. His energy is boundless, and his passion for sustainability
is
humbling. We can't wait for his book to arrive!

Want to find out when the book is available (and receive a discount to
boot)? Sign up for a publication
notification<http://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/sustainable-design/info/publication\
_notification/>.
You can engage with Nathan and learn more about the topic at his
book-in-progress
site <http://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/sustainable-design/>, and keep up with
the book's progress by subscribing to the site's RSS
feed<http://feeds.rosenfeldmedia.com/sustainable-design/>
.

BLOUG PERMALINK:
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2008/07/another_book_signing_nathan\
_sh.html


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August 20, 2008:  Must... kill...


I've long advocated for banning the term
"redesign"<http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2008/04/the_redesign_mus\
t_die_talk.html>from
design discussions.  (Crazy me, but I just think it's a good idea to
keep clear of time-boxed projects that are ill-conceived and ultimately a
waste of effort and money.)  I think terms like "refine" and "tune" do a far
better job of describing what we should be doing: instituting ongoing
processes that help our sites evolve in response to a multitude of changing
variables.

I hate to sound like a fascist, but I think "build community" ought to be
the next one we throw on the pyre.  Dunno, maybe I've read too many RFPs of
late, but what the hell is it supposed to mean?  Is it truly achievable?  Is
it even a good idea?  How many organizations really want a community on
their hands to repeatedly feed, burp, and diaper?  I think what we mean is
that we want to "better engage with more people".  But until we find a
replacement term, can we just bite our tongues instead of using this
ridiculous, meaningless phrase?

PERMALINK
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2008/08/must_kill.html

CRASS AND COMMERCIAL
10% off Rosenfeld Media books with this discount code:  BLOUG.  Go to
http://rosenfeldmedia.com


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August 27, 2008:  Fall workshops in Chicago and Washington, DC


*Steve Krug* and I are at it again.  We'll be teaching our new workshops
this fall in Chicago (October 16/17) and Washington, DC (November 11/12).
We're offering discounts for early registration, for groups of three or
more, and for signing up for both days.  More info
here<http://louisrosenfeld.com/presentations/seminars/site_search_analytics/>
.

I must say, it's been fun to assemble an entirely new workshop (I just
started teaching this one in the spring).  When you teach the same class for
many years, like my old enterprise IA seminar, it tends to get overloaded
and difficult to squeeze into one day.  I centered the new one from the
start around hands-on exercises and discussion.  Of course, it's still hard
to squeeze into one day.  But so far the evaluations have been good.  Many
say it's one of those topics that they didn't realize they needed to know
about, and are now glad that they do.  Not that I'm biased...

Anyway, I hope to see you there this fall.

PERMALINK
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2008/08/fall_workshops_in_chicago_a\
nd.html


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

September 9, 2008:  Discount for An Event Apart


One of the nicest things about moving in New York has been getting to
know *Jeffrey
Zeldman* of *A List Apart <http://alistapart.com/>/Designing with Web
Standards<http://www.amazon.com/Designing-Web-Standards-Jeffrey-Zeldman/dp/03213\
85551/>
/*Happy Cog <http://happycog.com/> fame. I spoke at his conference, An Event
Apart ("the design conference for people who make websites"), a year or so
ago, and it was a wonderfully-produced event. AEA takes
place<http://aneventapart.com/events/2008/chicago>once more this year,
in Chicago October 13-14 (just before
*Steve Krug* and I do our
thing<http://louisrosenfeld.com/presentations/seminars/site_search_analytics/>th\
ere
on October 16-17).

Jeffrey's kindly offering a special discount to Friends of Steve and Lou;
just use the discount code AEASKLR when you register and you'll save $100
off the registration price. Thanks Jeffrey!

While we're on the subject of events: lookit all the wonderful
places<http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/events/>Rosenfeld Media authors
are speaking at during the next few months... You'll
see some more discounts listed there too.


PERMALINK

http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2008/09/discount_for_an_event_apart\
.html


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October 2, 2008:  Interviewed by E-consultancy


E-consultancy <http://www.e-consultancy.com/> just interviewed
me<http://www.e-consultancy.com/news-blog/366388/q-a-lou-rosenfeld-on-site-searc\
h-analytics.html>about
one of my favorite topics, site search analytics.   Many thanks to
*Richard Maven* for the excellent questions.   In my last answer, I let slip
some big news on the site search analytics
book<http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/searchanalytics/>front; more
on that soon...


PERMALINK

http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2008/10/interviewed_by_econsultantc\
y.html


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October 29, 2008:  Now publishing... webinars!


For a year or two—even before Rosenfeld Media
<http://rosenfeldmedia.com/>actually had published a book—I've been
wanting to extend our scope to
webinars. It seems like such a natural complement to book publishing. Books
alone are, well, books. Books and webinars? Now you're talking *content
ecosystem.* Authors who've assembled content for their books have at least
one webinar in them. Some topics don't merit book treatment, but definitely
make sense as webinars. And when we're not sure, we can test topics (and
people) out with the webinar format before committing to a book, which is
far more expensive to produce.

This ecosystem discussion is, not surprisingly, very publisher-centric. But
what do customers get out of webinars? That's still very much an open
question. And personally, I've had mixed reactions to webinars, both as a
customer and as a speaker.

But I'm optimistic. Not only is the technology becoming far better and
cheaper, but let's face it: travel is becoming prohibitively expensive.
Webinars may be the "poor man's conference," but these days there are a lot
of poor men (and women) out there who want to improve their design skills.

That's why Rosenfeld Media is collaborating with *Victor Lombardi's* Smart
Experience <http://smartexperience.org/> to produce a new series of UX
webinars. The Future Practice
series<http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/webinars/>will tackle the cutting
edge of modern UX practice.

Our first two webinars presenters just happen our first two authors;
following are the dates and their topics. Use code *LBRWBNR* for 20% off
your ticket when you register at the Rosenfeld Media
site<http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/webinars/>:


    - November 13 (1-2pm EST): *Modern Web Form Design* with Luke Wroblewski.
    [details
<http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/webinars/webforms/>/register<http://rosenfeldmedi\
a.com/checkout/?&ns=addcart&ccp0--prodaddtocart--ref=Web%20Form%20Design%20Webin\
ar>
    ]
    - December 11 (1-2pm EST): *Using Mental Models for Tactics and
Strategy*with Indi Young. [
    details
<http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/webinars/mental-models/>/register<http://rosenfel\
dmedia.com/checkout/?&ns=addcart&ccp0--prodaddtocart--ref=Mental%20Models%20Webi\
nar>
    ]

I'm really pleased to be working directly with Victor, my colleague, friend,
and neighbor here in Brooklyn. And hats off to *Jared Spool,* who's provided
both inspiration and advice. No one does virtual
seminars<http://www.uie.com/events/virtual_seminars/>better than UIE,
though we hope to come close.

Above I mentioned that the success of webinars has a lot to do with
technology costs coming down and travel costs going up. But I think there's
one more important factor: the user experience of attending a webinar is
improving, slowly but surely. Victor and I know that the webinar experience
can and should be better, and darn it, we're going to try our best. What
would you suggest we keep in mind as we develop our webinar series? We'd
love your advice!


PERMALINK

http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2008/10/now_publishing_webinars.htm\
l


CRASS AND COMMERCIAL

Lou's last workshop of the year:  *Site Search Analytics for a Better User
Experience* (November 11 in Washington, DC).  Details and registration:
http://louisrosenfeld.com/ssa/


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November 9, 2008:  Luke on the future of web form design

This past weekend I
interviewed<http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/announcements/2008/11/an_interview_wit\
h_luke_wroblew.php>
*Luke Wroblewski* about gradual engagement and other issues at the cutting
edge of web form design.  He'll be covering this topic in great detail
during his webinar
<http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/webinars/webforms/>(coming up this
Thursday, November 13).  Check out the
interview<http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/announcements/2008/11/an_interview_with_\
luke_wroblew.php>and
snag a 20% discount off the registration fee.

PERMALINK
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2008/11/luke_on_the_future_of_web_f\
orm.html


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

November 14, 2008:  Resolution for 2009: UX Book Salon tour


Even though the Christmas decorations are just starting to appear here in
Brooklyn, it's not too soon to make a New Year's Resolution.

When I started Rosenfeld Media <http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/>, I set up a
few brown bag lunches with groups of designers and researchers from a few
local UX firms.  I was looking to learn more about what our target audience
liked and didn't like about the design of the books they used for their
work. I asked them to bring their own books to the discussion.  The
resulting show and tell discussions were fantastically useful, and had a
significant impact on the designs of both our digital and paperback
editions.  (Notes on these discussions
here<http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/announcements/2006/03/more_on_what_makes_for_\
a_good_1.php>
.)

Just as important, these discussions provided an outlet for some intense,
passionate discussions about UX books, their designs, and their topics.  UX
pros' pent-up feelings clearly needed to be expressed, and it was
enlightening for everyone involved.

Unfortunately, once Rosenfeld Media started actually producing
books<http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/>,
I got side-tracked by details of promoting, selling, and distributing them.
Bad, Lou, bad.  A publisher should always be meeting with and talking with
his community.  And a UX publisher?  Only more so, obviously.

So, starting next year, *I resolve to organize informal UX Book Salons on a
monthly basis.*  The goal of these meetings will be to raise consciousness
about the books we use as UX professionals.  Books are products—information
systems, really—that we rarely look at critically.  We shouldn't take their
design—or their topics—for granted.  So this will be your opportunity to
sound off about what works for you and what doesn't, what topics you'd like
to know more about, and what authors really matter.  I'll even give away
some Rosenfeld Media books at each salon to sweeten the deal.

These salons will take place in two venues:   the conferences I'll be
attending (see the "Where I'll Be" list on my blog's main
page<http://louisrosenfeld.com/>)
and, during the months I get to stay home, at various New York City UX
firms.  For the latter, I'll plan these in advance and if they're open to
the public, I'll announce them here on Bloug and on the Rosenfeld
Media site<http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/>
.

At conferences, I'll be organizing the salons in a somewhat impromptu way,
using guerrilla techniques like Twitter to get the word out.  (This worked
extremely well earlier this year when we wanted to get a
conversation<http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2008/04/im_grateful.ht\
ml>going
about
*Kevin Cheng's* book topic <http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/comics/>.)
Follow me in Twitter (louisrosenfeld) to find out when and where.

I really think that this is the right thing to do. It'll certainly help me
as a publisher, but more importantly, it might help make us all better, more
critical consumers of the books that help us do our work.

I hope you'll join me in one of these discussions next year if you're in the
neighborhood.  Happy new year!


PERMALINK

http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2008/11/resolution_for_2009_ux_book\
_sa.html


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November 17, 2008:  More mental models


Just published *Victor Lombardi's*
interview<http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/announcements/2008/11/future_practice_in\
terview_indi.php>with
*Indi Young* on the cutting edge of mental models.   Obviously we're doing
this to crassly promote our upcoming
webinar<http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/webinars/mental-models/>with
Indi.   But hey, we did include a 20% discount on the page.

If you've already read Indi's
book<http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/mental-models/>,
you'll see from reading the interview that the webinar takes mental models
beyond what she covered in the book.  And if you haven't, well, the
registration fee includes a copy of the book—and you should have more than
enough time to read it before December 11.


PERMALINK

http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2008/11/more_mental_models.html


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

*November 20, 2008: Remote user research book*

**I'm pretty jazzed that Rosenfeld Media <http://rosenfeldmedia.com/> has
signed a new book: *Remote Research* by *Nate Bolt* and *Tony
Tulathimutte.*I'm convinced that more and more user research will be
done remotely in the
coming years, and we really need a book—*this book*—to guide us. Here's the
full announcement:

We've been working on getting Nate Bolt and Tony Tulathimutte to write a
book on remote user research for a couple years now. Through their work at Bolt
| Peters <http://boltpeters.com/>, purveyors of Ethnio <http://ethnio.com/>,
a remote research service, they've become experts at leveraging new
technologies to study users in their native habitats.

Well, we've finally succeeded, and *Remote Research* is now officially a
Rosenfeld Media book-in-progress site! We're quite excited by their
proposal; you can get a taste of what they'll cover from its full
description<http://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/remote-research/info/description/>an\
d
tentative table
of
contents<http://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/remote-research/info/table_of_contents/\
>
.

Aside from visiting the site<http://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/remote-research/>,
you can also keep up with their progress by subscribing to their site's RSS
feed <http://feeds.rosenfeldmedia.com/remote_research>. Or if you prefer,
you can just sign up to be
notified<http://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/remote-research/info/publication_notifi\
cation/>when
the book goes on sale.

PERMALINK

http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2008/11/remote_user_research_book.h\
tml


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*December 1, 2008:  Noodling (socially)...*

...with creating Rosenfeld Media <http://rosenfeldmedia.com/> groups for
both
Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Rosenfeld-Media-books-and-webin\
ars/38066698559?ref=nf>and
LinkedIn<http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=1404987&trk=anet_ug_grppro>
.

Now don't get me wrong. Apples and oranges. I really love both services. And
*Christina <http://www.eleganthack.com/>,* who's now at LinkedIn. They'd
better be paying her really, really well.

But it's definitely easier to get going virally in Facebook. About 70 fans
in about four hours, and a few helpful comments. In fact, the process of
figuring out how to get it set up was aided quite a bit by a few of my 200
plus Facebook friends.

In LinkedIn, I have about 500 contacts. But, um, they're not *friends.* At
least they don't feel that way. Sure, it's a business network, but I don't
feel like there's anyone I can turn to for help. And it's far, far harder to
invite those contacts to join.

Both services have their respective benefits. Sometimes a tighter, more
restrictive network has its purposes. And it's far too early to make a
judgment here. But I figured out how to get things going pretty quickly with
the Facebook group. I'm still grappling with the LinkedIn group.

Some help here?

If you want to kick the tires on either or both, here you go: RM
LinkedIn<http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=1404987&trk=anet_ug_grppro>,
RM
Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Rosenfeld-Media-books-and-webin\
ars/38066698559?ref=nf>
.

*PERMALINK*

http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2008/12/noodling_socially.html


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*January 15, 2009:  UX webinars galore*

We've just announced five new Future Practice user experience
webinars<http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/announcements/2009/01/five_new_future_pra\
ctice_webin.php>("we"
being Smart
Experience <http://smartexperience.org/> and Rosenfeld
Media<http://rosenfeldmedia.com/>).
Great practical topics, great presenters (*Christian Rohrer, Bill Scott,
Kristina Halvorson, Ginny Redish, *and *John Ferrara*).  More coming; this
will be a monthly thing.  Check them out and register
here<http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/webinars/>
.


PERMALINK

http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/announcements/2009/01/five_new_future_practice_web\
in.php


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

January 20, 2009:  IA Summit program now available

And then there were ten:  check out the fantastic
program<http://iasummit.org/2009/program/>assembled for the 2009 IA
Summit (yes, our tenth!).  It takes place in
Memphis (home to Elvis and ancient Greeks), March 20-22;
pre-conferences<http://iasummit.org/2009/program/pre-con/>are March
18-19.   See you there.


PERMALINK:  http://tinyurl.com/8eyhhv


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

*February 10, 2009:  Engagement and stakeholding. And steak.*

Yesterday morning I was lugging a suitcase homeward, still bleary from a
red-eye flight from Vancouver, where I'd attended the
interaction'09<http://interaction09.ixda.org/>conference. Although I
felt like hell, clearly I looked like a giant of
industry, or at least a man of reasonable means, as I was approached by a
fellow who asked me, "Hey, chief, want to buy some steaks?"

Raw steak. On Seventh Avenue. In the morning. Oh well, you've gotta admire
the entrepreneurial instinct, however misplaced.

But the funny thing was that I'd just been thinking about steaks. Well, to
be honest, stakes, as in stakeholding. At the conference, I'd been
explaining the Rosenfeld Media <http://rosenfeldmedia.com/> publishing model
to a dozen or so prospective authors. I kept returning to the words
"engagement" and "stakeholding". I explained that one of our major goals is
to engage with all sorts of people—practitioners, influencers, subject
matter experts, and more—so that they'd have a stake in each book. More
engagement from more stakeholders during the creation of the product leads
to a better product.

That our goal, but isn't it yours too?

Whatever type of work we're doing, and whatever terms we use to describe it,
when it comes to our hoped-for outcomes, aren't we all trying to get beyond
experience, interaction, and design? Aren't we trying to create artifacts
that ultimately engage? Isn't that the secret sauce?

For example, at the conference, I was talking with a couple of the
interaction design field's strongest advocates. I think they're doing
wonderful things, and the conference was fantastic. But the term
interaction: well, interactions happen, one way or another. And they can be
good, or not so good. But it's a dry term, almost too objective.

But engagement seems to have a much higher degree of implicit value. People
don't typically engage with things the don't like. When they engage, they've
acquired a sense of stake in whatever they're using, and there's a true
dialogue between user and system and the people behind the system.
Engagement means blurring the lines between user and provider, as the
implicit dialogue leads to all players enjoying a stake in a shared system
(or experience).

Thinking in terms of engagement, rather than experience, architecture, or
interactions, has opened all sorts of doors for me, whether I'm consulting,
publishing, or whatever. I look at every potential relationship between
people involved in an experience, and ask "How we engage better?" and "How
can they have a stake in what we're doing?" To me, that's much richer than
asking how we can help users interact better, or help them find better, or
entertain them better, or anything else.

So please pardon me if, during our next conversation, I keep repeating the
terms "engagement" and "stakeholding". It just feels right. Moreso than any
other term, even "user experience".

What do you think?


PS To all you vegetarians out there, please pardon the red meat reference;
it's just difficult not to share some of the odd occurrences that happen
along Brooklyn's Seventh Avenue.


PERMALINK:
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2009/02/engagement_and_stakeholding\
_an.html


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

*April 15, 2009:  Visiting London and Hamburg in May
*

I have a pretty insane travel schedule next month. I'll be in Hamburg May
15-19, and London from May 19-21.
MJ<http://www.flickr.com/photos/louisrosenfeld/2879362960/>won't talk
to me,
Iris<http://www.flickr.com/photos/louisrosenfeld/3443578700/in/photostream/>pout\
s,
and little
Nate<http://www.flickr.com/photos/louisrosenfeld/3246515698/in/set-7215760572246\
3660/>spits
up on me whenever the subject comes up. Plus I'll be working hard all
day on my birthday (May 20). So, EuroUXers, please make it worth my while by
showing up at one of my talks. I thank you, my family thanks you.

Here's the schedule:

    - *May 16:* I'll be keynoting the Deutsche IA
Konferenz<http://www.iakonferenz.org/de/2009/splash2009.html>.
    I'm looking forward to catching up with the other speakers, including *Peter
    Van Dijck*, *Peter Bogaards*, and *Andrea Resmini*.
    - *May 18:* I teach my day-long Enterprise Information Architecture
    Seminar <http://louisrosenfeld.com/eia/> for the first time in Europe
    since 2003. *Jim Kalbach* will be teaching two very interesting workshops
    on ethnography and personas the next two days; we'll both be hosted
by *Karen
    Lindemann* of Netflow <http://netflow-lindemann.de/>, one of the hubs of
    user experience in Germany. Registration details are
here<http://www.uxworkshops.com/>;
    the early bird deadline is April 30.
    - *May 20:* I teach my day-long Site Search Analytics
Workshop<http://louisrosenfeld.com/ssa/>for the first time in Europe.
(Yes, the
    book <http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/searchanalytics/> really
*is*coming along).
    *Steve Krug* teaches his Discount Usability Workshop the next day. Steve
    and I will be hosted by the absolutely wonderful people at
Etre<http://etre.com/>,
    and teach at the ICA, which I hear is quite a nice venue. Registration and
    more information is
here<http://events.etre.com/events/2009/etre-get-together/>.
    And the early registration deadline is coming up very soon: April 20.

My warmed-over corpse will then try to make it to its first UPA in early
June.


BLOUG PERMALINK:
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2009/04/visiting_london_and_hamburg\
_in.html


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi Bloug-listers, you've not heard much from me for most of the past year.
Why?  It's not that I haven't been blogging; go here and you'll see that
I've been busy enough.  No, I've not sent out postings to this list
because... well, I kinda forgot.  No good reason, really.  I just got out of
the habit, and have been relying on RSS and Twitter (@louisrosenfeld) to get
out the word.

D'uh.  Not too smart.  A few of you have asked me, in kinder terms, WTF?

And so, starting today, I'll start emailing my blog postings once more.
Thanks for sticking with me.  And happy September y'all!

---
*
September 13, 2009:  Disaster Planning for the IA Community *(
http://clop.in/Ps8XGB)*

*It's been a year since the financial meltdown. And it's got me wondering:
how hard have information architects been hit?

I have plenty of anecdotal information, but really, I don't feel confident
in saying that this has or hasn't been a disaster for the IA community. But
it's clearly been a disaster for the many, many individual information
architects and fellow travelers that have lost their sources of income.
Which gets me thinking: *how might we work as a community to blunt, if not
avert, professional disasters large and small?*

Some ill-formed ideas follow; while you have a look, consider what you might
need if and when you lose your job or consulting work. I know you'll come up
with better ideas than these:

    - *Misery loves company.* We need to know that we're not alone in our
    situations, especially if it's one of those "large disasters". Facebook,
    LinkedIn and other social networks provide us with venues where we can
    inform people we know and trust about our situations. But they're not
    IA-specific; would it be useful to have such a venue? Would it be reasonable
    and practical to share the news and ask for help on the IAI-members list? If
    so, we'd probably need a "what happens on this list stays on this list"
    policy a la UTEST. Or maybe we'd need a separate "SOS Forum" altogether?
    - *How bad it is it out there?* To scope the extent of the effects of an
    economic downturn, it might be useful for someone—say, the IAI—to take the
    pulse of the community on a regular basis. Perhaps a repeatable survey
    driven by metrics for successful employment would do the trick. Of course,
    these results will need to be shared and compared longitudinally. (BTW,
    given that IAI board members are usually pretty senior, they might be
    otherwise somewhat insulated from what's happening in the trenches, so such
    a survey might be helpful to them as well.)
    - *Send a care package* Getting a job or finding contracting gigs is
    never simple, nor is it exactly rocket science. But when you've just had the
    rug pulled out from under you, it's all too easy to feel overwhelmed. To
    help, it might not be too hard for groups like the IAI to assemble a "care
    package" of useful resources in one handy place that can be zipped to those
    in need. It could include:
       - Links to job boards, mentoring programs, and volunteering
       opportunities (volunteering is one of the best things you can do when you
       have time on your hands).
       - Information on how to polish your resume and portfolio, and tips on
       how to sell IA/UX/whatever (and, by extension, yourself).
       - Links to relevant groups and networking opportunities in LinkedIn,
       FaceBook, as well as where and when local groups meet.
       - Reminders to remember to shower regularly, shave occasionally, and
       turn off the tube generally.
    - *Keeping the lights on.* I've always been skeptical of having
    associations like the IAI offer health insurance. And, believe it or not,
    here in the US we're actually allowed to continue funding our own health
    plans for some time after being laid off. But perhaps group insurance and
    other programs and services that help us maintain such basics as good health
    are worth reconsidering? Or heck, perhaps microloans a la Kiva?

This is just a start, and though I call out the IAI, this is obviously
relevant to other UXers and more. In any case, what would you need if a
professional disaster befell you?

PERMALINK/COMMENTS:  http://clop.in/Ps8XGB


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

*September 30, 2009:  Early regi deadlines for my fall workshops*

Howdy; just a reminder that the early registration deadline for the *Seattle
* edition of my workshop on site search
analytics<http://louisrosenfeld.com/ssa>is this Friday, October 2. The
workshop takes place on Thursday October 29;
*Steve Krug's* new workshop on do-it-yourself usability
testing<http://www.sensible.com/workshops.html>follows on the very
next day.

Steve and I will also tag team in *Washington, DC*, November 9-10; the early
registration deadline is October 9.

If you'd like to get a taste of what I'll cover, check out my
slides<http://clop.in/9nc8nE>on SlideShare or read my contribution to
the recent special
issue <http://www.alistapart.com/issues/292> of *A List Apart,* which was
devoted to site search analytics.

One more note worth mentioning: my workshops have been described as
"wonderfully intimate". I've always assumed that's how workshops ought to
be, but apparently that's not always the case. So, like it or not, you'll
get a healthy dose of contact with moi if you attend.

OK, what are you waiting for; go and register<http://louisrosenfeld.com/ssa>!
Hope to see you in Seattle or DC!

Louis Rosenfeld :: http://louisrosenfeld.com :: @louisrosenfeld
Rosenfeld Media :: http://rosenfeldmedia.com :: @rosenfeldmedia


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

*November 16, 2009:  Updates on new books and workshops*


So much going on right now—good stuff, really—but not much time to tend to
Bloug. So just a few notes for now:

    - Rosenfeld Media just published its fifth book: *Todd Zaki Warfel's* *
    Prototyping <http://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/prototyping/>: A
    Practitioner's Guide.* I'm thrilled with Todd's work; this is a hugely
    practical take on a hugely practical topic, and Todd will show you how to
    prototype from low-tech approaches (e.g., paper) to high-tech (e.g., Axure).
    And it's on sale now <http://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/prototyping/>!
    - Our sixth title is just around the corner, and it could be a real
    game-changer for the user research community. I've read the draft of *Nate
    Bolt* and *Tony Tulathimutte's* *Remote
Research<http://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/remote-research/>:
    Real Users, Real Time, Real Research,* and it's amazing. Sign up
here<http://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/remote-research/info/publication_notificati\
on/>to
receive early notice of its availability for purchase (as well as a
    discount).
    - In March I'll be returning to old Ann Arbor (outside Detroit, Michigan)
    for something of a homecoming: the Merit Network
<http://www.merit.edu/>will have me teach both of my workshops,
Enterprise
    Information Architecture <http://louisrosenfeld.com/eia/> (March
30) and Search
    Analytics for a Better User Experience
<http://louisrosenfeld.com/ssa/>(March 31). Please sign
    up now <http://www.merit.edu/events/archive/specialevents/rosenfeld/> and
    help get the word out; these are my only North American workshops scheduled
    for the first half of 2010 (*Steve Krug* and I are planning to return to
    London; details TBA).

Lots of other good things happening; I hope to be better about blogging
here. But man, I've been going nuts posting in Twitterspace; you wouldn't
know it from this posting, but I guess I just like the 140 character maximum
thing. @louisrosenfeld <http://twitter.com/louisrosenfeld> and
@rosenfeldmedia <http://twitter.com/rosenfeldmedia>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

*December 7, 2009:  A Union Index?*


I've been kicking around an odd idea ever since starting Rosenfeld
Media<http://rosenfeldmedia.com/>—the
idea of a union index, a compilation of all of our books' indices. Now that
we've actually got a few books out (#6 is due in about six weeks), it's time
to revisit the idea and consider the indices' collective potential.

Want to help me figure it out?

First, imagine a single, combined index—possibly a single page—that'd
reference whichever books where an index entry occurred. Then picture the
ability to filter that index by individual title. Now we're ready for some
questions:

*Does it make sense to put an individual book index on the web?* Each
Rosenfeld Media book has its own web
site<http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/>,
and we already make each book's tables of contents, FAQs, and other
materials available. Would there be additional utility in viewing a book's
index? Coming from a background in librarianship, I know that there are a
few index fetishists among us who might judge a book by its index (a
character in *Kurt Vonnegut's* Cat's Cradle goes further, judging the
indexer's personality). I imagine one might indeed get a sense of a book's
scope, but unless there is a link to a webified (and, likely, free) version
of the book, there'd be no navigational value. (Given that we're a
for-profit, we'd likely link to a way to quickly purchase the relevant
title.)

*Does it make sense to put a collective index of many books on the web?* If
the term "remote testing" or "Axure" occurred in multiple books, that might
be an interesting factoid. Even more interesting—a report of the most
frequently-occurring terms (hmmm, this is starting to sound suspiciously
like site search
analytics<http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/searchanalytics/>).
Of course, a union index would say something about the collective scope of
Rosenfeld Media books, but I'm not sure who—aside from me—would find that
useful. So the jury's still out.

*Does it make sense to create individual pages for each index term?* On the
surface, this may seem like the least useful idea yet. But what if each page
could provide these things for an index term:

    - Link to a glossary definition (if available).
    - Retrieve the term's results from Google (duh).
    - Retrieve the term's results from UX Zeitgeist
<http://uxzeitgeist.com/>(yes, we're still working on it, and it's
going to improve radically).

That's still likely not much value to users. But to Rosenfeld Media? Could
be quite promising:

    - If we SEO these pages reasonably well, the more specific terms might
    bring in a decent amount of essentially free traffic. (After all, who else
    is going to do this?)
    - We can promote our own books on those pages.
    - We can insert some Google advertisements on those pages, which, while
    not bringing in retirement money, might fund some future Rosenfeld Media
    holiday party.

This is my first pass at fleshing the idea out, and frankly, my own reaction
is lukewarm. Then again, these pages wouldn't be hard to create, nor would
they get in the way of other, more critical aspects of the
rosenfeldmedia.com user experience. So I'm tempted to go for it.

Still, it seems like I'm missing something. Any suggestions? Good ideas are
always worth a free book, according to this publisher.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

*January 19, 2010:  Site search best
practices<http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2010/01/site_search_best_\
practices.html>
*
A client recently asked me to help come up with a list of "world-class"
implementations of site search. "World-class" is always a red flag term for
me, because it's a crutch term that suggests that there isn't a clear idea
of what constitutes actual quality. (Ergo, it should be banned, like "
redesign <http://www.slideshare.net/lrosenfeld/redesign-must-die-381947>"
and "building community".)

So, being the annoying consultant that I am, I gently scolded them, saying
that there wasn't one ideal or even optimal local search implementation. But
there were some principles worth considering. Here's my first stab; will
likely add more:

    1. Keep the initial query entry UI simple
    2. Make sure it's persistent in location on pages, and that it's on all
    pages
    3. Support query refinement (and avoid "advanced search" UIs)
    4. Repeat a query back in the refinement UI and display # of search
    results
    5. Provide refinement options that fit the need (e.g., don't provide
    options that narrow result sets when 0 results have been retrieved)
    6. Show just enough information--and the right information--per search
    result to enable users to get the information they need (either on the
    results page or by clicking through to a result page)
    7. If you're searching multiple content areas, see if it pays to expose
    these differentiations; if so, what order should results be presented in?
    (federated search)
    8. Support result sorting (e.g., chronological)--if it helps
    9. Teach your search engine to recognize regularly occurring queries for
    specific types of information (e.g., names of people, products, unique IDs)
    and configure search results accordingly
    10. Ask for feedback on search results pages--both quantitative and
    qualitative (e.g., "rate you satisfaction with what you found; if not
    satisfied, what would you have liked to find?")
    11. Learn what your most frequent queries are; then test their
    performance regularly
    12. Learn what queries fail most frequently, and fix them
    13. Manually create recommended search results for the most common
    queries

Does this list stick against your wall? Anything obvious that I'm missing?
If I can, I'll assemble good examples of each (and feel free to suggest some
yourself).


Bloug permalink and
comments<http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2010/01/site_search_best_p\
ractices.html>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

*January 20, 2010:  London, a word
please<http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2010/01/london_a_word_please\
.html>
*

The early bird registration deadline is coming up (*January 31*) for the Etre
workshops <http://events.etre.com/events/2010/etre-get-together/> that Steve
Krug and I will be teaching in London at the ICA (*March 1 and 2*).

If you don't mind, a word:

There are a lot of great opportunities to take good UX-related workshops in
and around London. Why come to these?

Well, *Steve Krug* is simply fantastic. What can I say? We've been on the
road for seven years, and every time I pop into his
workshop<http://events.etre.com/events/2010/etre-get-together/workshops/steve-kr\
ug/>,
people are absolutely engaged: talking, interacting with each other and with
Steve. (He's nice enough to say similar things about my
workshop<http://events.etre.com/events/2010/etre-get-together/workshops/lou-rose\
nfeld/>
.)

Did you think I was going to say rapt? Worshipful? Well, they are, which is
what you'd expect with one of the Three Gods of Usability. And they're
entertained as well: Steve is even funnier in person. (Added bonus: Steve's
new workshop matches his new
book<http://www.amazon.com/Rocket-Surgery-Made-Easy-Yourself/dp/0321657292/>
.)

What you might not realize is that Steve and I both teach our workshops to
small groups (usually a couple dozen) and over the course of the day we work
with you very closely. We often learn everyone's name. Steve may critique
your site, and I'll likely sit down with you and we'll look at the query
data together. Honestly, Steve and I are usually a bit surprised when
attendees' evaluations emphasize the intimacy of our workshops; why would we
(or you) want it any other way?

I'll never be as entertaining as Steve, but my attendees seem to enjoy
themselves. I'm certainly very earnest (just check this
photo<http://events.etre.com/events/2010/etre-get-together/workshops/lou-rosenfe\
ld/>and
you'll see). I'll not just help you through the analytics (see my
workshop
slides<http://www.slideshare.net/lrosenfeld/site-search-analytics-workshop-prese\
ntation>):
I'll also make a strong case for why UXers need to learn analytics in
general, and suggest a framework for doing so (see this
presentation<http://www.slideshare.net/lrosenfeld/marrying-web-analytics-and-use\
r-experience>for
some of my ideas along these lines).

If you were wavering on attending, I hope this helps. So take advantage of
the early
registration<http://events.etre.com/events/2010/etre-get-together/>deadline
(again, it's January 31) and I hope we'll see you in March!

PS I'm hoping to take along my six-year old,
*Iris<http://www.flickr.com/photos/louisrosenfeld/sets/107823/>
,* who's fallen in love with geography and is absolutely desperate to cross
an international border (any will do). Will be trolling for to-dos at some
point here on Bloug; I don't think that the London Eye will keep her
occupied for three days...

*Bloug permalink and
comments*<http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2010/01/london_a_word_ple\
ase.html>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

*January 28, 2010: No use case
necessary<http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2010/01/no_use_case_neces\
sary.html>
*

Given that it's now the official national craze, I too will ruminate on the
iPad...

I don't think that there's a clear use case for something that's small but
not as small as a phone, and useful but not as useful as a laptop. (Best
effort <http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?990> in a weak field to define the
use case so far comes from *Luke Wroblewski*: "a digital version of your
leisure time activities".)

But that doesn't matter.

It's relatively easy for Apple to create a new platform. There are already
plenty of apps out there that will run on it, and the developer community
will soon provide us with many, many more. It's what they do. And although
only a small subset of those apps will provide any compelling value, only a
small subset of those eventual thousands of apps *needs* to work. All Apple
has to do is provide the platform, and make sure that it works well enough
to support all those apps.

They're essentially leaving it to the developer community to figure out a
mind-blowingly large number of micro use cases. There will be enough to make
the iPad attractive to enough consumers for the venture to be profitable for
Apple. Apple can ignore the traditional keystone requirement for product
design—the need for a broad use case—and simply deliver a well-designed and
sufficiently open platform.

*PS* As a publisher, I am very happy that Apple's ebooks will use EPUB, the
open ebook format that we've invested ourselves in at Rosenfeld
Media<http://rosenfeldmedia.com/>.
I'm hopeful that those EPUBs will also be DRM-free, though considering
Apple's past record here, I'm pessimistic. Does anyone know if they will be?
*Bloug permalink and comments:  *http://is.gd/7dGd2


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

*February 9, 2010:  Three quick
things<http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2010/02/three_quick_things.h\
tml>
*

    1. Apparently I'm now a movie star. *Jennifer Anniston*, a dinosaur
    family, lots of clay and Lego, and *Jesse James Garrett* and me somehow
    add up to what's something like Flickr's top video of the past few
days<http://www.flickr.com/photos/boltron/4329185089/>.
    Added bonus: information architecture gets defined. Sort of. Anyway, many
    thanks to *Nate Bolt* and *Tony Tulathimutte* for shining their bright
    lights on me.
    2. Speaking of whom, the cat's out of the
bag<http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/remote-research/>.
    Formal publication announcement later this week, but we've already sold
    close to a hundred today. Yes, I'm biased, but yes, it's really quite good.
    3. Finally, Etre has created an easy-to-enter contest. The prize: a free
    ticket to attend *Steve Krug's* and my London workshops (March 1
and 2). Enter
   
now<http://www.etre.com/blog/2010/02/competition_win_a_ticket_to_etre_get_togeth\
er_2010/>;
    it expires on Sunday.

Bloug
permalink<http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2010/02/three_quick_thing\
s.html>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

*March 25, 2010: See you in Old Ann Arbor?*

Sorry so little blogging of late. Busy as hell pontificating and such over
at Twitter (both @louisrosenfeld <http://twitter.com/louisrosenfeld> and
@rosenfeldmedia <http://twitter.com/rosenfeldmedia>; I guess I was meant to
communicate in 140 or fewer characters. (I'll admit, it is quite
liberating!) In general, I'm busy as hell, and many things are falling off
the plate.

Tweeting aside, I still do have a day job or three. One is teaching my
full-day workshops. I've got two coming up next week in my old, wonderful
hometown of Ann Arbor, Michigan, sponsored by the Merit
Network<http://www.merit.edu/>.
On Tuesday March 30, I'm bringing back (by popular demand! I've always
wanted to say that) my "Enterprise Information
Architecture<http://louisrosenfeld.com/presentations/seminars/eia/>:
Because users don't care about your org chart" seminar. I think I retired it
prematurely; it seems more relevant today than ever. And on Wednesday, March
31, I'll teach my "Site Search
Analytics<http://louisrosenfeld.com/presentations/seminars/site_search_analytics\
/>for
a Better User Experience" workshop, with fresh stuff as we inch toward
finishing the book <http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/searchanalytics/> on
the same topic. A few spaces are still open for both days; register
here<http://merit.edu/events/archive/specialevents/rosenfeld/>
.

And on Tuesday night, Michigan UPA <http://miupa.org/> is sponsoring a happy
hour in my honor from 7-9 at the Corner Brewery in Ypsilanti. Please
RSVP<http://guestlistapp.com/events/17796>please, if you please.

Many thanks to *Andy Rosenzweig* of Merit and *Dave Mitropolous-Rundus* of
MiUPA for hosting me. I hope to see you somewhere in Washtenaw County next
week.

*
*

*PERMALINK:  *http://is.gd/aZbvp


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*April 14, 2010:  To-do list for next IA Summit  *(permalink:
http://is.gd/bsPIP)


So I'm the guy who raised concerns about the IA Summit's format. (Yes, this
one went to eleven <http://2010.iasummit.org/>!) First: don't take this
screed the wrong way—it was easily one of the best programs we've had yet.
But attendance numbers continue to lag, and I'd rather get in front of what
could become a much bigger problem. I'm very grateful to *Jenn, Abby, Dick,
Vanessa,* and everyone else who made 2010 happen; like them, I just want the
Summit to continue and thrive.

Using the all-powerful Twitter, I pulled together an informal flex track
discussion nicely
summarized<http://redmolly.tumblr.com/post/518378146/save-the-ia-summit-if-it-ne\
eds-saving>by
*Red Molly.* We ranged from format to content to the competition to an oldie
but goodie, the bizarre ASIS&T/IA Summit/IA Institute love/hate triangle
that I'm apparently the only person who understands (which isn't surprising
as I'm probably more to blame than anyone else). About thirty of us went at
it; as Red said, productive but not conclusive.

Here are a few thoughts that I liked. Not sure which are mine and which
aren't; I'll just claim credit for the good ones. ;-)

    - *The committee needs clearer responsibilities and a better
structure.*When you rely on volunteers, and there's little
documentation from
    year-to-year to serve as institutional memory, too much ends up in the hands
    of too few, and balls are going to get dropped (e.g., mention of the flex
    track, design of the program). Here's a way to fix that: *three
    conference chairs*—one for the program, one for operations, and one for
    engagement.
    - *That institutional memory thing.* At least two ways to handle this:
       1. *Each chair gets a lackey, er, co-chair.* Co-chair shadows,
       observes, and (hopefully) helps. The next year, they take over as main
       chairs of their respective areas of responsibility. During each
Summit, the
       co-chairs look for problems to fix and opportunities to address during
       *their* turn. Along those lines, co-chairs should convene a meeting
       like I did to find out what's working and what's not while it's fresh in
       people's minds.
       2. *Convene old farts who've run past conferences.* Especially
*this*conference. There's your institutional memory, you betcha. Some
of these
       folks (including yours truly) are already on the committee, but
again, this
       part of my screed is about clarifying roles and
responsibilities. So use old
       farts for old fart style tasks.
    - *Create an engaging format(s).* This was ostensibly my main concern. It
    does seem to be heading staleward, and there are lots of competitors out
    there. The shiny side of that coin is that there are lots of good models to
    rip off. Here are couple thoughts to consider:
       1. *Single track, a la original IA Summit.* Sure, it's nice to have
       everyone in one place. But (sorry *Peterme*) we've already got IDEA
       for that. Some of the "I can't be in three places at once" pressure *
       could* be relieved by making the event longer, and that's worth
       considering. In fact, I think it was *Jared* that suggested making the
       pre-confs—which earn much if not most of the event's revenue—included as
       part of the deal, and allow people to opt out of them if necessary. (Yes,
       calling them "*pre*-conference" really does make them seem like icing
       when they really could be cake).
       2. *Use case driven program.* There are people who are absolute
       newbies, wanting to learn wireframing (and we should be very
careful not to
       ignore them, as most of the organizers are anything but new to
the field).
       There are managers who want to send their teams (um, could we have team
       pricing then?) There are people who are there to get advanced
skills. There
       are people there to recruit and be recruited. There are people
there to sell
       stuff like (ahem) books. Why not identify the important use cases and
       implied relationships, and build the conference around them? The result
       might be single track, multi track, eight track for all I care.
Could be one
       day, could be forty days. Goddammit, we're information architects, and we
       should be able to structure such content, even if it is
complicated by the
       added dimension of time. This is plainly a solvable design problem.
    - *Engagement is more important than the event.* *Before* and *after* are
    as important as *during.* Before could seen as marketing and promo, but
    it's also concrete stuff like finding a roommate and figuring out what kind
    of topics people might want to hear presented. After is helping people take
    what they've learned—possibly in a physical form—and using it to educate and
    evangelize both the content they've acquired and the event itself. If we
    design for engagement, for the lifecycle of the people actually attending,
    the event becomes a snapshot of a longer, fuller process—perhaps the most
    important snapshot, but by no means not the only one. I suggest taking those
    use cases that I suggested identifying, and asking the basic question that
    never gets asked: "How can we engage with each of these groups?" Then take
    that question further: "How can we engage with them BEFORE the event?
    DURING? And AFTER?" This is why I'm suggesting an engagement chair, and I
    believe that engagement is more important than marketing and promo; the
    latter are almost a byproduct of a strong engagement plan.
    - *IA Summit as an exercise in design.* Need I say more? So let's have
    fun.
    - *ASIS&T WTF:* Define that role. Assuming ASIS&T continues in its
    current role, they should be involved in a way that plays to their strengths
    (e.g., finding a venue, collecting $$). Money is the critical issue, and I'd
    hate for ASIS&T to, for example, screw around with things like what the
    committee should pay for badge creation. ASIS&T should assign a budget, and
    if the chairs want to go over budget, they should as long as they find a
    source to cover the overage (e.g., a sponsor for something specific—like
    badges).
    - *Create financial incentives for chairs.* Base them on such goals as
    achieving a certain threshold of sponsor dollars, or registrations, or
    tweets, or whatever the hell would make sense. Really, it's not fair they
    way it works now. There's got to be a better incentive for chairs and other
    volunteers, especially if the current state requires them to take crap from
    the likes of me.
    - *Ditch Crowdvine. Now.* Start over with community-based functional
    requirements. Then find a new partner if necessary. We all bitch about
    Crowdvine and its shaky definitions of networking relationships. Like I
    said, we're a bunch of information architects, goddamit; let's find or
    create something better.
    - *Cut the crap on having presenters register.* Let's face it, ASIS&T
    ends up rolling this back when individuals complain enough (oops; you didn't
    hear it here). It's a legacy from academia (where ASIS&T originated), where
    institutions paid their faculty's conference costs. Given that about 1% of
    the IA Summit's attendees are academics, I think it's time to kill this one
    dead.

OK, that ought to do...

*PS* I originally sketched this, but the one thing *Dan
Roam<http://www.thebackofthenapkin.com/>
* didn't tell us was to purchase a scanner. So here's my text. Scanner
recommendations gratefully welcomed...


*Permalink:  http://is.gd/bsPIP*


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