John Battelle has posted ‘a brief interview’ with Michael Wesch, the guy who created the Web 2.0 video that all the kids are talking about (I linked to it last week). What’s interesting to me is that Professor Wesch is a cultural anthropologist. A trained observer, an ethnographer, as they say. And one with the [...]

Michael Wesch, a professor at Kansas State University, posted this video on youtube. It’s a good introduction to what’s different about web 2.0.

In 1990, Jakob Nielsen and Rolf Molich adapted a psychological principle, called Heuristics, to user-interface design. Nielsen, in particular, has promoted his ten recommended heuristics as a part of heuristic evaluation. But what is heuristic evaluation? According to Nielsen, “Heuristic evaluation is a discount usability engineering method for quick, cheap, and easy evaluation of a [...]

It’s a challenge for all organizations, but socially engaged non-profit organizations are always looking for ways to build awareness and communicate with potential donors and volunteers. I’ve had the chance to work with Heifer International in the past, and they very effective in how they get the message out to the public. If Web 1.0 [...]

The truth is that I usually get pretty bored with business books. Even books that offer helpful ideas (for instance, Good to Great and The Experience Economy) get tedious pretty quickly. I read the first chapter voraciously and then struggle to make it the rest of the way through. Maybe it’s just my own impatience, [...]

One of my obsessions is non-linear storytelling. I enjoy the apparent contradictions contained in the idea. Stories have a beginning, middle, and end. They are built on plot, theme, and character. All put together more or less carefully by the author. Non-linear storytelling pulls the rug out from under this idea. Or at least it [...]