Confused by what Google Wave might be useful for?  Here is a nicely demonstrated scenario going through a business process modeling project.    I like the example of new members re-playing the Wave to catch up on the team’s progress — very efficient.  It seems to me that a workplace effort to encourage this type of Google Wave use would need some type of kick-off/introduction workshop.  Get a big group together, have some scripted collaborative tasks, and have them use wave to accomplish those tasks.  You’d teach the tool and also work on the general topic of effective collaboration/team work.

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I have held my tongue as far as comments on Apple’s iPad — there is more than enough other chatter from other quarters.  But a recent article in the New York Times, The Media Equation – To Deliver, iPad Needs Content Providers on Board – NYTimes.com caught my eye in a comment on book publisher’s response to the platform: Read the rest of this entry »

Keep Your Graphic Designer on a Short Leash in this month’s Website Magazine suggests that elements such as wild background colors, garish text, visual embellishments (eye candy) and animation/video distract website visitors from important content.  In a case study of a redesign of the CREDO website they found an 84% improvement with a simplified design.  The case study used a new service called AttentionWizard.com which uses computer algorithms to approximate eye tracking studies of a web site.  The idea is these will reveal what point on the page the visitor’s eye should land on.  If it is what you want them to see — like a buy now button — bingo, you are doing well.  If their eyes don’t land anywhere, or on the wrong things it is time to make some adjustments.  I thought it would be fun to compare the Yale and Harvard main websites using the service.

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I am still slowly working through the videos I shot during the WordCamp NYC 2009 event.  This was the very first presentation I attended that day entitled “Building Community with BuddyPress” by Lisa Sabin Wilson.  It is a great presentation and she nicely runs through all the major features of this powerful set of WordPress plug-ins.

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Here is another video from WordCamp NYC — BuddyPress Theming with John James Jacoby.

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Anyone else notice all the 40th anniversary celebrations lately?  The Internet, Sesame Street, Woodstock, People walking on the moon, and of course the premier of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  Funny, but as a nine year old I remember vividly the movie and the moon — Sesame street just seems like it has always been there, and I missed the Internet launch completely.

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