Blog

500 Words of September

When I was researching Advice on Writing from Everybody, it was clear that one of the most valuable […]

Why You Should Speak

At conferences and meet-ups, I spend a lot of time with young practitioners. And every time I chat […]

Terms of Art for the Heart

A term of art is a word when used in a professional context has a very precise meaning. I’ve been reading a lot about game mechanics and theory, inspired by Amy Jo Kim’s terrific talk given recently at Linkedin. Right now I’m half-way through A Theory of Fun by Raph Kosterner. It’s an odd, rambling book, and most it is familiar to anyone who’s been doing interaction design for awhile. But I do notice that game designers talk about emotion much more than we do, and they are crafting new terms of art and taxonomies that could be useful to anyone doing interactive (and particularly social) design.

Designers and Doctors

Several years back, John Zapolski urged all the members of my design team to read Atul Gawnde’s essay […]

Anyone want to help me write a book?

First draft of a chapter for the second edition… love to get some help as I warm up.

Background: we’re trying to tighten up the book so it reads more quickly and can be accessible to more people. In doing so, we tried to collapse two chapters into one. I’m wondering if the section “those people” should just be axed. Yes, it’s useful information but is it really relevant to information architecture in particular and is it really necessary in this era in which there are so many good books on user research?

Please forgive dreadful formating madness… I exported pretty directly from Word, and we all know how well that works. But I’d rather spend time writing than formatting.

The News Business

Out of Print in The New Yorker

Three centuries after the appearance of Franklin’s Courant, it
no longer requires a dystopic imagination to wonder who will have the
dubious distinction of publishing America’s last genuine newspaper. Few
believe that newspapers in their current printed form will survive.
Newspaper companies are losing advertisers, readers, market value, and,
in some cases, their sense of mission at a pace that would have been
barely imaginable just four years ago. Bill Keller, the executive
editor of the Times, said recently in a speech in London, “At
places where editors and publishers gather, the mood these days is
funereal. Editors ask one another, ‘How are you?,’ in that sober tone
one employs with friends who have just emerged from rehab or a messy
divorce.” Keller’s speech appeared on the Web site of its sponsor, the Guardian, under the headline “NOT DEAD YET.”