free scribbles

Google Lively: The Beginning of the 3D Web?

(cross-posted with relentlesspr) Yesterday, the most ubiquitous online property, Google, launched a world of its own entitled Lively.  Unlike Second Life, a destination, Lively rooms will live everywhere.  Anyone with a Google Account can construct their own avatar and wander the Internet, visiting rooms located at blogs, social networking sites, and if a company were to be inclined, the company website.

So what does all this mean?  This foray into virtual reality can be seen as a step into the 3D web, where user names gain a face and movement, mimicking reality.  It may only be in public beta now, but there is a chance for monetization as one would imagine, why else would they put two years of secret development into the project.

But it can also be seen as a bold move into the world of social networking, where the real time interactions can occur anywhere on the net.  Its too early to tell, but I'm certain that it will have implications across the internet and the marketing industry. Some may like it, others may not.

If you feel like trying it out, feel free to visit me or look for freescribbles

Book Review: Web Standards Solutions

I am not a web developer. 

But, in my approximately two years working at my current agency I have learned a fair amount about coding.  I think I have asked the right questions and admitted when I didn't know what the hell was being said.  It helped that I lived in developer land for almost a year (and I miss it now). 

For multiple reasons: the desire to understand websites completely, a recommendation from Brad Noble, interest in amateur coding, and my ultimate goal of developing into a smart information architect, I picked up Dan Cederholm's Wed Standards Solutions: The Markup and Style Handbook. 

Its not exactly a book for the general masses, but for anyone dealing with building websites, be it developers, information architects, and designers to project and account managers will take something away from it.  Cederholm's writes in an easily digestible format on a complicated topics. 

Chapters tackle one singular topic, starting with lists and headers and moving on to image replacement.   Each topic is explained through images, code examples, and explanatory copy.  Multiple methods of achieving the same visual display are laid out.  The pros and cons of each method are discussed and finally, he takes each topic further extending the applications and techniques in what he terms "extra credit."  This extra credit builds on the simple coding to change and enhance the final display or, better yet, makes things 508 compliant and accessible to all. 

Website builders will better understand what a web developer can do for a designer's vision or consider some of the challenges that a design may face when it comes time to build.  Some of the information may no longer be 100% relevant, like the Internet Explorer 5 hacks, but its still a good primer.  Project and Account Managers will get a better sense of the practicality and challenge of their expectations and be able to better understand and communicate with web developers provided they don't throw about fancy words willy nilly. 

Still not a web developer, but learning more every day.   

Book Review: Envisioning Information

Before I even cracked the spine, Envisioning Information impressed me.  The dust jacket conveyed quality with its hardy stock.  As I leafed through the first pages, the same quality in the paper was present.  This felt more like a coffee table art book than a book about quantitative data and its display.  As an avid reader, the very nature of the book's physical construction excited me beyond the written material itself.

Written in 1990 by Edward Tufte, "the da Vinci of Data," it takes a historical look at how information has been displayed, both the good and those that need improvement.  He breaks the various types of information into six chapters, Escaping Flatland, Micro/Macro Readings, Layering and Separation, Small Multiples, Color and Information, and Narratives of Space and Time.  All of them easily digestible.  Each good example is thoroughly broken down, showing why it has stood the test of time. 

This book is a fairly quick read, identify the key point and building the case behind it with vivid and colorful examples, all of which is a good sign for a book about relaying information effectively.  Cited by many information designers and statisticians, it is great read for anyone who builds presentations often, especially relating to quantitative results and designers looking to show something beyond their prowess with Photoshop or Flash.  Perhaps before that next powerpoint, you may want to gloss over some of the pages.

A great book and one that I am sure to pick up and read cover to cover again. Any book that still carries significant relevancy over  a quarter of a century despite the great changes in technology is worth a second look.

Links of the Week

I didn't miss last week, just didn't bookmark anything.

Demystifying Information Architecture @ WebDU at Pat’s Point of View

Google Result Offers You to "Skip Intro"

 

The Wheres and Whens of Users' Expectations

 

dack.com > web > web economy bullshit generator

 

15 Tools to Help You Develop Faster Web Pages - Six Revisions

 

 

Coding Horror: ASCII Pronunciation Rules for Programmers

 

IA TV

 

ifoh designs | » Why I DON’T skip Photoshop | Web Design That Is Neat.

 

Annals of Innovation: Dymaxion Man: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker

 

Wireframe Websites with ProtoShare: Build & Collaborate on Clickable Website ProtoTypes

 

What Everybody Ought to Know About Usability and Web Design | Creating a blog web design blog

 

plainview : software : the barbarian group

 

How to Build a Better Content Model for Your Site: Understanding News Consumption Patterns

Still working on the formatting of this post.  It never comes out the way I want.  Links are good though.

Links of the Week

1. iGraffletopia

2. SitePoint Blogs » Are You User Experienced?

3. 7 Principles of Prototyping | toddwarfel.com

4. Applying Divine Proportion To Your Web Designs | How-To | Smashing Magazine

5. 6 Ways To Subliminally Tell Users Don't Come Back

6. The Psychology of Web Performance - how slow response times affect user psychology

7. Project Cartoon: How Projects Really Work (version 2.0)

8. 43 Web Design Mistakes You Should Avoid | www.jamiesgalacticblog.com

9. Untitled Document about Breadcrumb Navigation

10. Labnotes » Web Architectures and HTTP Mediocrity

11. An A-Z Guide to Being an Architect

12. Economics of New Media: Pay to Play or Free?

13. On Twitter, architecture, and lying in the grass

14. uiGarden.net - Weaving Usability and Cultures: Is Universal Design Really Universal?

15. 7 Essential Web Design Principles to Earn Trust. And 4 Things to Avoid! » 10e20 Blog

16. 15+ Tools For The Best Golf Season Ever

17. Otaku, Cedric's weblog: 140 characters should be enough for everybody

The Latest on Bisphenol A

Over the past month significant coverage has been devoted to the latest news about bisphenol A and its effects on humans.  Numerous studies have been conducted in the past and advocacy groups have taken stand on one side or the other.  The debate therefore ending with an inconclusive stalemate.  And while I'm late to write on the topic, better late than never.  It has been an issue that I've followed closely over the last couple of year as studies refute studies on a bimonthly basis and written on several times. 

Nalgene, the ubiquitous water bottle manufacturer, has seen the bulk of mentions due to its stance of continued manufacturing until conclusive evidence forced them to rethink there position.  Well, apparently that time has come as the company announced that they will begin a retailer recall of their product, looking to replace the polycarbonate line with a BPA free alternative. 

Two significant actions led to this recall, Health Canada declared that BPA was harmful to humans and further publication validating that BPA had been directly linked to breast cancer and early onset puberty in girls coming from the National Institutes of Health.   

The bottomline on this issue seems to be that of concession as Nalgene decided to go with the times and eliminate products with BPA materials.   It will be interesting to see if Sigg's profits increase in the upcoming months or if Nalgene will be able to get their alternatives in to market quicker than expected.   

While they are the most popular brand for water bottles, they are not alone in using polycarbonate, be cautious when using other plastic containers, especially if you have a baby.  We've just begun phasing away from polycarbonate bottles as my wife as been picking up new ones made of polyethylene bases, which are devoid of the harmful materials.

2008 Tenney Mountain Cardboard Box Derby

This is a long overdue post, March 15th was one of my favorite events of the year, the Annual Tenney Mountain Cardboard Box Derby. 

For the last five years and four competitions, last year the mountain was closed, we have dug deep to produce what we would call a kick-ass feat of engineering.  The rules are simple, design a racer made of cardboard, duct tape, and paint.  No waxed cardboard, lubricants, and a minimum of two racers. 

The team of participants have changed over the years, this year we added Kacey and Gus (I will say that neither really contributed, but they're both super cute.  Gus is a dog and you all know Kacey).  The Gagnons joined us once again, putting a third notch on their belts. 

Typically, we've had Friday night and all day Saturday to build, paint, and fine tune, unfortunately, they moved the race up a day and we were limited in our ambitions.  Despite the truncation in time, we were able to build a reasonable facsimile of a Fairchild 22, "The Barnstorming Eagle."   Our original plan was to build a Sopwith Camel (I love Snoopy), but as a one seater, it wasn't a possibility, so we we started by building an Avro 504k. I don't want to be bitter, but we did not take the first place trophy this year, robbed by some gibronis in Captain Crunch costumes.  (I'm keeping an eye out for pictures to allow you the readers to be the judge. Tenney is ashamed of their biased determination of most creative and is avoiding posting.)

Okay, so I'm a little bitter...

I've posted all the pictures in the gallery from that day.

Past Galleries:
2006 Race (First Place - Most Creative: The Jolly Eagle. Scourge of Tenney Mountain.)
2005 Race (First Place - Most Creative: Tenney Mountain Trucking; First Place - Best Crash: The Eagle Racer)
2004 Race (Second Place - Most Creative: The Bombardier) 

Sustainable Experience Design

I racked my brains on what I could add beyond a link to this interesting post at the Adaptive Path regarding designers thinking about sustainability.  And I can't think of anything...

The bottomline of all design, both physical and electronic, comes from making products appealing in the short-term and worthwhile for the long-term, therefore, becoming a sustained product. 

Wired: Life Cycle of a Blog Post

A co-worker pointed out an article of interest in this month's Wired regarding the backend happenings of an individual blog post.  It laid out all the moving parts that happen from search engine spiders, aggregators, and data miners, to readers and social bookmarking.

I've included the flowchart here, but to get the full effect (and read the text) visit their interactive flowchart and brief article. 

With the advances in artificial intelligence and algorithms on the internet, even the smallest phrase published can reach millions of people.  This sort of one click publishing is built upon countless hours devoted by developers building these tools which allow those of us who as Matthew Hurst is cited (and I've paraphrased) in the article, "...know how to type."

And the readers never even see any of this!

Green Apple: Good Air

In case you missed it, the big news of the day was Apple CEO Steve Jobs' keynote and what came out of it... the Macbook Air, an ultra-sexy, sleek laptop. 

But for the environmentally conscious, EcoGeek points out that it is also the greenest Apple to date. 

The casing is made out of aluminum and recyclable.   Like its big brother, the Macbook Pro, the monitor contains no mercury, utilizes LED (Light-emitting diode), and is protected by arsenic-free glass.  Even better, the insides are smaller  (including no optical drive), consuming less power.  And the circuitboards are bromide and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) free. 

With the number of harmful chemicals reduced and the fact that it can run for 5 hours on its lithium battery, the Macbook Air meets Energy Star 4.0 standards.  It has also achieved a Silver EPEAT (Elctronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) rating.  What this means is that it meets all 23 requirements of the tool as well as 50% of the optional criteria.  For more information on those criteria, visit the EPEAT website.

Bottomline: This machine is one of the greenest computers on the market and is the best performing computer in the "environmentally-friendly" marker.   It's got a steep price tag, but it is looks so good and given the fact that it will still be commercially successful, we should expect the PC manufacturers to follow suit with their own greener machines.