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Thursday, September 13, 2001

OPENING THANG

Good morning all of you dear readers. This has been a horrific few days. Yesterday I tried to go to work yesterday and realized I couldn't be that far from my husband. I ended up going home so that I could get up from the computer every hour and hug him. I feel deeply for those who have been stranded far from their loved ones, the source of comfort. Lane is one such individual. If anyone can offer Lane a ride back to Austin from San Francisco to be reunited with his love Courtney, let me know and I'll pass on that info to them.

Philippe and I turned off all the media for a couple of hours yesterday at midday to cook and consume a big lunch. I think a lesson for me is that we must take the time to value our ordinary life activities. The TV only circles around, rarely offering new news and mostly offering scenes to terrible for us to comprehend, repeated endlessly. I was treated to watching the plane slice through the WTC tower like a knife through butter forwards, backwards and in slow-mo as Peter Jennings tried to think of something to say "The same technology that allows us to watch sports plays in a multiple ways allows us to... see...this..."

When the media went off, and the only sounds in the house was the wind at the windows and the frying pan sizzling, I felt a bit more human, a bit more able to process this impossible event. Take a walk, cook an egg, ride a bike, see a movie-- give yourself permission to rest.

Please consider giving blood, but wait a couple more days. The blood banks are flooded with people caught up in emotion and willing to give. But I fear in a few days we'll be back to our shortages. Write yourself a note on your calendar, or put it in your pilot-- unless you have O-, wait a bit, but do give.

Amazon is showing real class but setting up a place to donate money to the Red Cross. One click makes it very easy to help out.

A surprise class-act comes from X10, the inventers/utilizers of the pop-under, who have replaced those with direction on how to help in this time of disaster

All the newsletters I receive, and all the mailing lists have changed in the last few days. I'm on lists for writers, usability specialists, web developers, IA's and suddenly they all look the same. Stories form New Yorkers expressing relief for their lives and anguish for those who weren't lucky. Prayers and love sent to all. Whispers of fear for the future.
Robert Scoble said it best, I think "Today, we're human again."

Anyhow, I wanted to reach out to you all. I've written a ton on the blog, and there are even links to ordinary web stuff there.

and if anyone has heard from Andi Lewis, please tell me. I'm sure she's fine, but I'd like to know for certain.

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Posted by christina on Thursday, 09/13/01 09:07 AM CST

Monday, September 10, 2001

OPENING THANG

I had fun at Web '01 last week, and I promise insights or at least photos this week. But for now-- one of the discussions that sprang up several times was generalists vs. specialists. There is a great article on the benefits of geeneralists in WebTchniques. Check it out.

Heather's photos from the show are here
Vanderwal is running a travel blog on his observations

I'm extremely bummed I missed Stewart Brand, but you can check out a highlight of his thoughts here.

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Posted by christina on Monday, 09/10/01 03:31 PM CST

USABILITY MATTERS

Evaluation Methods in Usability Testing
Or, how to tell that you have a usability problem before it gets to the field.

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Posted by christina on Monday, 09/10/01 03:30 PM CST

IA MATTERS

Interesting article on user experience from Vertebrae, who has quite a few interesting articles

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Posted by christina on Monday, 09/10/01 03:29 PM CST

APROPOS OF NOTHING

A gay character in the comic "For Better and Worse" caused some hubbub, so the creator has been providing alternative text for those of delicate sensibilities (nobody say Iowa!)
examp 1
examp 2

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Posted by christina on Monday, 09/10/01 03:28 PM CST