Intuitect

So I'm evaluating Intuitect. - a UX visio tool.
Unfortunately it crashes visio quite frequently. Flashbacks from times where your computer would freeze and crash as a matter of course ensue.
Intuitect has got some very cool features though - especially automatic updates to align sitemap changes with wireframes and navigation.
I so do not like their pricing strategy though - $800 and some for a years subscription for the pro version.
Until the application gets a bit more solid and the price drops to half at what they are demanding now I'll drop it or stick with the basic version... I'll just give it another try now.

The core of the experience!

Sweet sketchcast by Peter Van Dijck.

Oz IA 2007

It was my first Australian Industry do. Trying to catch up with everything now.
Random nugget of wisdom:
(For Sam!) Tableless web pages are like gold. With gold 24 karat is considered too soft, you want some impurities to make it stronger - so you need a few tables for stability. (Thanks James)
Ah and how I loved the 'Pinking shears' pattern talk from Sharon.
Here's the man! himself btw.

and this is for Eric to answer his apparel related survey question:

Parental warning - do not read this book!

'The naming of Tishkin Silk' is a most beautifully written and so sad and touching children story. I was really struggling reading it to Marla. In fact I was sobbing through the last two chapters. I was dreading bedtime, because Marla demanded we finish the book - quite rightly. She was helping out reading the paragraphs where I totally packed up. It was downright surreal.
So, go on then, read it
- I dare you not to cry.

Ways to be more frugal

This telegraph article made me laugh - lots. Check out the comments.
'Dead snakes make excellent and very economical disposal containers for used neon light tubes.'

Indigenous state of emergency

Good posting on Larvatus Prodeo about developments since Howard announced his NT 'plan'. It contains good links amongst them to the National Indigenous Times.

UX - IA - User Centred Design - What's in a Name?

Just listened to Jared Folkmann's pod cast on a 'Customer Experience Framework' he has developed as head of User Experience at gt.
His speech is very insightful for where I am at right now.

Jared has got a good point (amongst plenty others) when calling his area of expertise 'Customer Experience'. It is a more precise term for what he is doing whilst working primarily with retail clients. It makes business understand his role instantaneously and how he'll bring value to their business.

Having settled into Noosa with family, buying a house and getting it into shape I have also found my professional bearings. Using my IA skills designing 'User Experiences' for the Australian market I am focusing on eCommerce - I guess that could become 'Customer Experiences'.

other goodies to remember:

- ongoing 'rinse and repeat' cycles make for a great customer experience
- hire a smart analytics company
- 3 components of the 'Customer Experience Framework':

• Who's visiting? (Segments)
• Why are people visiting? (Intentions)
• What are they doing? (Behaviours)

Thanks for sharing, Jared, and all the best.

Step by step: Peter Singer 'A Fair Deal on Climate Change

from Project Syndicate

1. Establish the total amount of greenhouse gases that we can allow to be emitted without causing the earth’s average temperature to rise more than two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), the point beyond which climate change could become extremely dangerous.
2. Divide that total by the world’s population, thus calculating what each person’s share of the total is.
3. Allocate to each country a greenhouse gas emissions quota equal to the country’s population, multiplied by the per person share.
4. Finally, allow countries that need a higher quota to buy it from those that emit less than their quota.

Seems perfectly reasonable to me.

Am I going to drown?

Having an after school cup of tea with Hillary yesterday she told me about an article she read saying the polar ice caps are supposed to be gone, finished, kaputt by 2020.
So having bought a new house I wondered if we'll still be dry.
I found this nifty google maps app showing projected sea level rise incrementally on google maps.
Seems we'll be dry, but awfully crowded.

Love Miles

..."But one idea in Heat that will gain momentum is that of ‘love miles’, analogous to the ‘food miles’ that are already part of the language. These are the miles we travel to be with far-flung friends and family, so feeding the aviation industry which is the world’s fastest-growing source of greenhouse gases. Monbiot offers no solutions: “long-distance travel, high speed and the curtailment of climate change are not compatible. If you fly, you destroy other people’s lives.” Now where are you off to this summer?"...
Oliver Tickle, Resurgence
oh-oh!