September 07, 2006

Card Sorting from the Bottom Up (and the Top Down)

If you're in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, check out this UPA Minnesota Chapter event on Card Sorting on September 14th.

September 05, 2006

Hear the Croc Speak...Froggy Style in Podcastese

I recently participated in a new panel podcast with a great group of folks put together by Jared Spool. The sessions have been coined "Spoolcasts", and I think the first one turned out pretty good.

During the first podcast, we talked about the new Brown University web site, what it means to be usable, MySpace, Craigslist, the importance of home page design (Jared thinks home pages are the least important page on a site...everyone else agrees that he's out of his mind), the UPA Body of Knowledge project, and conferences.

I should add that my voice was not (and still isn't) "normal" for the recording session. I had severe laryngitis for over three weeks and somehow my voice recovered enough that I could participate that day. It's still not 100%, but hopefully on the mend. So, as you listen to the podcast, keep in mind that the voice you're hearing is a bit more "froggy" sounding than my normal voice. I also had to pause a bit more between words to keep my vocal chords from cracking up.

(The real trick has been trying to be a consultant all day...talking on the phone, giving presentations, and leading a project team...with no voice to speak of...or with. A day or two was no problem...after that it got pretty stressful. Thankfully, it seems like it's on the upswing now.)

Oh, the podcast is also available on iTunes under UIE Brain Sparks or the RSS feed is available at http://www.uie.com/podcast.

A few quotes from the first podcast:
- "You know the VP-based navigation scheme has not left us yet." - Me

- "We tell clients that their home page is the least important page on their site." - Jared

- "It's funny that a university site would be too academic." - Me

- "Trying to do charades through the Internet is really hard." - Jared

- "If you're going to see “Snake on a Plane”, seeing it with 25 sixteen year olds is probably the best way to see it." - Jared

- "I was just thinking it’s lucky their name is not Chartreuse University." - Me

For those of you not familiar with podcasts yet, think of them as being similar to college radio shows...without the college or the radio.