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


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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


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*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


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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


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*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


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*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


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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


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*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>


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*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


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*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>


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*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


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

*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*


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

*May 3, 2010:  Design Challenge: get UX books to UX events*

(Bloug permalink:  http://is.gd/bShiu)

Every type of business has a thorn in its side. For the restauranteur, it's
the health inspector. For the playwright, it's the critic. For the farmer,
it's the rancher (or is it the other way around?).

For the publisher, it's the conference bookseller. Granted, there's little
money in it for the bookseller, and that's probably why you've noticed fewer
and fewer of them at the conferences you regularly attend.

But still, I hate'em: they demand a 40% discount from the publisher, sell on
consignment, communicate poorly, and are notoriously slow at paying (if they
pay at all) and at returning unsold books. They know little if anything
about the books, the event, or its attendees. Worse for the publisher, they
work differently enough at each event to totally confound the publisher who
hopes to do things the same way for all events.

Cut out the middleman, then! But how?

Well, that's where you design thinkers come in. Your challenge, should you
accept it, is to design a way to get single copies of, say, a few dozen UX
books from a variety of publishers to a bunch of different UX events. Let
people thumb through the books, then process their orders on the spot. Make
the setup mobile, so the books could go to where the people (and authors)
are, rather than sitting still inside an exhibition hall (this would be
especially important at spread-out events like SXSW). The process should
easily repeatable for each event, and obviously a human would have to be
there to supervise the whole process.

I've been talking informally with other publishers who are similarly
frustrated by the situation. We've come up with an initial stab at what
might work, but I'm sure you'll have much better ideas:

    - *Where are the books displayed?* How about a bookmobile? A portable
    rack, maybe even set up on a little red wagon, could go where it's needed.
    However, there are some logistical challenges to getting the hardware to the
    person handling a particular event. And what sort of hardware? This is
    perhaps the biggest challenge.
    - *How do customers pay?* Could use a cool credit card device that
    attaches to an iPhone like this
one<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/29/technology/29cashless.html>.
    Or give people a discount code and either have them make the purchase on
    their own device, or supply an iPhone or iPad to handle sales on the spot.
    - *Who handles this?* Could be a couple of volunteers who take turns
    handling the bookmobile in return for free passes to the conference and/or
    the collection of books (which will be too thumbed-over to sell). Or they
    could take a cut of the sales. They have to be trustworthy, as we'd be
    having them handle lots of books, possibly loaning them an iPad, and giving
    them a pass to the event. Not sure how to handle this risk.
    - *How will this be publicized?* Between an event's social networking
    tool and Twitter, we'd probably be able to publicize a bookmobile's
    existence fairly effectively, even at a larger event. We could also make the
    poor person handling sales wear an excruciatingly funny and
    impossible-not-to-notice hat. ("Look for the guy wearing the giant pink
    sombrero with the flashing 'UX BOOK' sign on it!") Dragging a bunch of books
    on a little red wagon would also be hard to miss.
    - *And then what?* Hopefully, the nice helpers, dignity intact, send back
    our wagon, rack, iPad, and whatever else we loaned them. And they can keep
    the incredible collection of books, as noted before.

There are plenty of holes in this attempt to design a solution, but it's a
start. I'm hoping you might have some better ideas for getting your favorite
UX books to whatever conferences and events you'll be attending in the
future. And maybe some of us publishers could (ahem) cough up some free
books to whoever designs the best solution.

Thanks!

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


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

June 9, 2010:  Globalizing an information architecture  (http://is.gd/cJzxZ)

I'm working with a large client who is about to jump with both feet into
that twilight zone of information architecture: designing for an audience
that is geographically, culturally, and linguistically global. It's a huge
challenge, as anyone who's worked on such a project will attest.

I grappled with this issue six years ago while consulting for another
multinational client, blogging about it
here<http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000246.html>
, here <http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000249.html>,
andhere<http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000280.html>
(these
posts are especially notable for the incredibly wise comments).
Unfortunately, I've not had much opportunity to work in this space since
then. In the interim, I was hoping that some brilliant cosmopolitan
information architect (*Peter van Dijck*? *Livia Labate*? *Jorge Arango*?)
would have figured this space out, but those folks are wicked busy. After
some limited searching, I'm not sure we're that much further along than we
were in 2004.

So in the interest of resurrecting a six-year old conversation, here are
some questions. I plan to use these to get my client to think strategically
about the challenge of developing a multi-lingual, multi-cultural, and
multi-regional information architecture. Being the information architect
that I am, naturally I categorized them. Please chime in with your own
suggestions...
Language

    - When a user visits an organization's web site, should he expect to
    access content in his native language?
    - Which languages are most common to users?
    - Does that organization operate in its own "master" language?
    - Which languages have the greatest strategic value to the organization?
    Which would simply be nice to support? Which aren't a priority at all?
    - Does the information architecture's native language (e.g., label
    lengths might be quite different, or might not translate at all) translate
    well into other important languages? Are there other semantic issues to
    consider?

Geography

    - Are there geographic regions (e.g., countries, states/provinces,
    municipalities) that are important to users? Do they self-identify by any
    sort of geographic region when they use the organization's site, or does it
    matter at all to them?
    - Are there geographic regions (e.g., countries, states/provinces,
    municipalities, sales territories) that are important to the organization?
    - Why are these important (e.g., legal issues, tax collections, sales
    territories)?
    - What geopolitical disputes (e.g., China and Taiwan) might impact the
    information architecture?

Culture

    - Are there cultural issues that impact how users interact with online
    content in general?
    - Are there cultural issues that impact how users prefer to interact with
    this specific type of organization or industry in particular?
    - Does the existing information architecture's structure work well in
    other cultures (e.g., one culture might value hierarchical breadth over
    hierarchical depth)?

Confluence

    - Are there intersections of any of geography, language, and culture that
    stand out and merit special attention (e.g., Quebecois, Malay-speaking
    Singaporeans)?
    - How does the organization define the objects where these issues
    intersect? As "locales"?
    - Conversely, how does it define "locale" (the standard term for such an
    object; typically a pairing of language and country)?

The organization

    - How is comprehension of the organization impacted by
    language/geography/culture?
    - How about its products? Its services?
    - What resources is it currently devoting to i18n and
l10n<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I18n>?
    And where have these efforts begun (e.g., with content management)?
    - Is there an emphasis on i18n rather than l10n, or vice versa?
    - Does the organization consider a locale the same as a market? How are
    the latter defined today the organization?

The organization's content and information architecture

    - Are there specific products, services, and/or content areas that merit
    l10n? Put differently, are there certain products and services that are
    especially relevant for specific locales? Or not?
    - How might these be prioritized?
    - How do users find their way to an appropriate locale (or how should
    they)?
    - Where should they find their way to an appropriate locale (e.g., main
    page, landing pages, critical pages deep in the site)?
    - Are there other areas of the site that should make clear that different
    language/culture/geographic options are available, and provide those
    navigational "switching" options?

*Bloug permalink:*  http://is.gd/cJzxZ


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June 15, 2010:  Site Search Analytics virtual seminar (June
23)<http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2010/06/site_search_analytics_v\
irtual.html>

The fine folks at UIE have invited me to present one of their virtual
seminars on *June 23 at 1:30-3pm ET* (GMT-5). The topic is (surprise!) site
search analytics <http://www.uie.com/events/virtual_seminars/lr_analytics/>,
and working with *Jared Spool* and *Adam Churchill* (and having a deadline)
has whipped me into shape to pull together content not only for the seminar,
but for our erstwhile book on the same topic.

You can learn about the workshop by reading the UIE's
description<http://www.uie.com/events/virtual_seminars/lr_analytics/>
and
by watching the three minute
preview<http://www.slideshare.net/UIEpreviews/your-site-search-analytics-june-23\
>(via
SlideShare)
.

The regular price is $129, but *use code LOU to take $40 and get lifetime
access to the recording.* Of course, the price includes the live version,
when you can to get all your pals into a room to listen, watch, ask
questions, and generally harass me during the discussion section.

*Bloug
permalink<http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2010/06/site_search_analy\
tics_virtual.html>
*


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June 24, 2010: Go work for PayPal

I've been consulting for the past year for PayPal <http://paypal.com>. So
now you know that I'm a paid shill when I encourage you (or good people that
you know) to apply for their open information architect
position<http://iainstitute.org/jobboard/jobs/job.php?id=5677>
.

That said, despite some initial skepticism I am very impressed by the
company. Although I'm not familiar with the salary and benefits package
they're offering, I'm sure it's reasonably good, as they've managed to
attract some really smart and highly motivated people.

And PayPal is beginning to tackle some really *meaty IA challenges* that
include:

    - Centering their design efforts on a *comprehensive user mental
model* (hooray
    for mental models <http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/mental-models/>!)
    - Figuring out and operationalizing the *measurement of their site's
    findability and comprehension*
    - Grappling with developing an *information architecture for a truly
    global audience*
    - Moving to a *new content management platform* (that alone should keep
    an army of information architects busy)

There's lots more going on there; I can imagine no shortage of interesting
IA work in PayPal's future.

So why was I skeptical early on? Well, my initial experiences taking
payments via PayPal (for IAI <http://iainstitute.org> membership dues, many
years ago) were not so good. The UX has gotten much better, but there is
still obviously much room for improvement (I'm not sure who that wouldn't be
true of). But my latest round of first-hand experience makes me hopeful;
since setting it set up on Rosenfeld Media's site, about 25% of our
customers immediately started paying via PayPal.

Surprisingly, PayPal has made this progress despite its culture of
data-driven decision-making. PayPal's senior leadership comes from the
worlds of banking and financial services, and as you might guess, these
aren't the kinds of people who are typically comfortable with investing in
areas—like UX—with a hazy return on investment. Yet they've done just that;
in fact, I've never worked with a company that had staffed so many smart
people to tackle user research, web analytics, and market research. It's
really an impressive group.

They're also not a risk-averse company. X.com is PayPal's effort to operate
as a platform for developers. When millions of people are using your
services to move their money, it's, umm, unsettling to imagine opening
things up a bit to perfect strangers. Yet PayPal is doing just that, and the
impact could be revolutionary (imagine coding in ways to accept payments
within that next game UI you design).

In short, I like the people, I like the work they're tackling, and I like
the company's overall approach. So I hope you'll consider applying for the
job <http://iainstitute.org/jobboard/jobs/job.php?id=5677>, or encouraging
others to do so.


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*July 14, 2010:  Globalizing a small publishing house's site<http://is.gd/ds7jg>
*

I've blogged recently about helping my clients address how to globalize
their information
architectures<http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/2010/06/globalizing_a\
n_information_arc.html>.
You may know how much I like to eat my own dog
food<http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/about/>,
so I've been wondering how Rosenfeld Media <http://rosenfeldmedia.com/>, as
tiny as it is, could do a better job of engaging with UX practitioners
globally. (I should note that we're already trying very hard; about 25% of
our sales are outside the US, and last year we added a British fulfillment
center<http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/announcements/2009/12/hello_europe.php>to
better serve the European market.)

My current thinking came to me in a two minute stretch while showering
yesterday, so take it for what it's worth. (Man, it was a nice
shower<http://www.buttermilkspa.com/facilities.html>though!) But the
following concept seems pretty low-cost and, potentially,
useful in both symbolic and concrete ways. I'd love your feedback on it:

*How it'd work*

    - A "friend of Rosenfeld Media" who's a native speaker of a non-English
    language would volunteer to do the following:
       - Translate our tweets and post them to a language-specific RM account
       (e.g., "@RM_espanol").
       - Translate a page on the RM site (e.g.,
       http://rosenfeldmedia.com/espanol/") that includes our mission, a list
       of our products, and links to those products on the RM site and, if
       available, from publishers who've translated our books (currently many of
       our titles have our are being translated into Chinese and Korean). Even
       better, translate each product's brief description.
       - Facilitate communications between RM and non-English speakers by
       serving as a go-between/translator.
    - The generous friend would in turn receive:
       - Copies of all of our books and webinars.
       - Prominent mention on the page for that language.
       - Our undying gratitude.
       - The good feeling of helping connect their fellow language-speakers
       with more good UX content.

*Why to do it*

    - It's a low-cost and potentially high-impact way to connect and engage
    with UX practitioners with whom we have minimal contact with right now.
    We're a small company, but we do genuinely care about non-English speakers;
    this might be a nice way to show it.
    - It has SEO benefits--more non-English speakers will find our products.
    - It's nice for the publishers we currently partner with on translations,
    and may be a nice incentive for other publishers who are considering working
    with us to translate our titles in other languages.
    - We'll learn more about new markets through both direct engagement and
    analytics, and might learn that there are certain markets that we should be
    more involved in.

*Why not to do it*

    - Our books are written in English; will providing information about our
    books in other languages actually increase our sales? (BTW, we don't really
    make any money on the sales of our translated titles.)
    - A volunteer could be a poor translator or act maliciously in a language
    that we don't know; we would be pretty vulnerable.

What do you think?

(Discuss here:  http://is.gd/ds7jg )


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*September 13, 2010:  Workshops, books, and other updates
*

Summer is now officially over in this particular hemisphere; time for some
updates:

    - We have a book draft done. Yes, the search
analytics<http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/searchanalytics/>book
will finally come out this year!
    - *Steve Krug* and I are teaming up with the mother of usability, *Ginny
    Redish*, to teach day-long
workshops<http://louisrosenfeld.com/presentations/seminars/site_search_analytics\
/>.
    We're doing a set in Washington, DC October 20-22. More details later this
    week; early registration closes September 24.
    - Rosenfeld Media has signed the incomparable *Caroline Jarrett* to write
    a book on survey design<http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/survey-design/>.
    We're likely to announce at least two more book signings in the next month;
    very, very exciting stuff. We're also working on some other Rosenfeld Media
    projects that will go beyond books; more on this soon.
    - Still finding time to work with one or two clients at a time. Need a
    couple days of strategic information architecture
consulting<http://louisrosenfeld.com/consulting/>this fall? Talk to
me.
    - I've been interviewed a couple times recently; once by *Mari-Carmen
    Marcos* in *El Profesional de la Informacion* (in English, and on a whole
    bunch of
stuff<http://elprofesionaldelainformacion.metapress.com/app/home/journal.asp?ref\
errer=parent&backto=homemainpublications,1,1;>),
    and on search analytics by BoagWorld's *Paul Boag* (listen or
read<http://boagworld.com/usability/lou-rosenfeld>
    )
    - I'm now an official dad of a
second-grader<http://www.facebook.com/home.php#%21/photo.php?pid=6640213&id=7034\
98967&ref=fbx_album>.
    And of a little
boy<http://www.facebook.com/home.php#%21/photo.php?pid=6640213&id=703498967&ref=\
fbx_album>who's
starting to wield full sentences as deftly as he does dumptrucks.

Enough for now; thanks for reading!

*PERMALINK:*  *http://tinyurl.com/37ehgh4*


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*September 14, 2010:  Redish + Krug + Rosenfeld
*

*
*

*Steve Krug* and I will be back to DC next month to teach our workshops—our
only stop this season! Things will be similar to last year—I'll teach site
search
analytics<http://louisrosenfeld.com/presentations/seminars/site_search_analytics\
/>(much
updated now, as we finish the
book <http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/searchanalytics/>) and Steve will
teach Do-It-Yourself Usability Testing<http://www.sensible.com/workshops.html>,
as covered in his new book<http://www.sensible.com/rocketsurgery/index.html>
).

But the really big news is that *Ginny Redish*, author of *Letting Go of the
Words <http://www.redish.net/content/books/lettinggoofthewords.html>,* will
be teaching her workshop on writing web
content<http://www.redish.net/content/DCworkshop2010.html>.
If you've read Ginny's book, you know there's no one better at covering this
topic.

You can register for one, two, or all three workshops—the more you sign up
for, the better the deal. If you register three or more attendees at a time,
the deal gets even better. And of course there's an early registration
discount (the deadline is *September 24*). Dates and details follow; we hope
to see you in DC (and that you'll help spread the word)!

    - October 20: *Steve Krug* teaches Do-It-Yourself Usability Testing: The
    Workshop <http://www.sensible.com/workshops.html>
    - October 21: *Ginny Redish* teaches Letting Go of the Words—Writing Web
    Content that Works <http://www.redish.net/content/DCworkshop2010.html>
    - October 22: *Lou Rosenfeld* teaches Site Search Analytics for a Better
    User
Experience<http://louisrosenfeld.com/presentations/seminars/site_search_analytic\
s/>

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


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*September 28, 2010: Site search analytics hacks* (http://is.gd/fxLvX)
*
*I'm updating my site search analytics
workshop<http://louisrosenfeld.com/ssa/>slides to include some of the
new content from our upcoming book. These are
"hacks" that are specific to how site search analytics can help you improve
your content, navigation and metadata, and search performance. If you like
what you see, you should
register<https://louisrosenfeld.com/presentations/seminars/site_search_analytics\
/Registration_Fall10.html>for
the
*October 22 workshop in Washington DC* (only one I'll teach over the next
six months or so):

*Content hacks*

    - Determining which content is the most valuable
    - Determining which content you should get rid of
    - Plugging content gaps
    - Making relevant content even more relevant
    - Learning how users understand your content
    - Getting marketing to do the right thing
    - Getting content owners to do the right thing

*Navigation and Metadata hacks*

    - Improving contextual navigation for specific types of pages
    - Creating a better site index
    - Creating metadata values
    - Developing metadata attributes
    - Testing and tuning metadata values

*Search hacks*

    - Plugging gaps in your search engine's index
    - Making query entry easier by fixing "The Box"
    - Helping searchers auto-complete their queries
    - Accommodating strange query syntax
    - Improving a "no results found" page
    - Helping searchers revise their queries and get better results
    - Determining what your best bets should be
    - Designing individual search results
    - Designing search results around specialized query types

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


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