This morning's Wall Street Journal
(
here, subscription required)
echoes the sentiments expressed here
(by
Kurt Hanson,
here,
with follow-up "
RAIN Reader Feedback" by Mike Okuda
here)
and elsewhere, that the design issues that may have played a role
in the final presidential vote count in the state of Florida hold
a valuable lesson for those of us responsible for conveying information
and/or holding an audience by way of a website.
From the article: "More and more people are information
workers, and increasingly we view the world through the two-dimensional
window of a Web page. In an information economy, the ability to
convey facts and ideas clearly may be the most valuable skill of
all...
"But technology somehow has a way of fueling bad design.
Been to a website lately with a snazzy front
page complete with a rotating corportate logo? These grandiose displays
often come with a button labeled 'skip,' because they take so long
to load. Think about that: a widely used design that's so bad it
needs a skip button..."
Former Apple executive Don
Norman says "'When we are in love with technology, we forget
the people, the reason we're doing it.'"
"As for that Palm Beach ballot, (Yale) Prof. (Edward)
Tufte gets angry when he hears voters criticized for apparently
failing to follow the instructions. 'The user is never wrong, and
the user is never stupid,' he says. 'In information design, only
designs are wrong and stupid.'"
The entire article is in the "Marketplace" section
of the
Wall Street Journal
(subscription required for Internet version).
From the New York Times: "Still, with the major recording
companies having delivered little yet to satisfy users (in online
music)...it is almost certain that industry can dawdle no more...The
industry has witnessed the first signs of its own Berlin Wall
being dismantled, a powerful symbol that the cold war between
the recording companies and Internet renegades is thawing. The
question now is, in which digital direction — or directions —
will the recording industry move?...
"Hilary Rosen (seen here with RAIN editor and
publisher Kurt Hanson), president
of the (RIAA), says what needs to be sorted out is how recording
companies can continue to collect royalties and still allow consumers
to have
a Napster-like experience. 'Napster will soon learn that it is
harder to build a system than offer it to consumers the way it
was,' Ms. Rosen said. 'Now it's not the will. It's the way.'
"So
the industry's next moves are crucial. The settlement between
Universal and MP3.com suggests that recording
companies and online distributors understand they need one another.
The point, in Ms. Rosen's view, is to encourage legitimate partnerships.
She said that the
recording industry has a window of opportunity
that could slam shut if the record companies succeed
in closing down Napster without a viable alternative in place...
"Rob Reid, chief executive officer of the online distributor
Listen.com, says 'If
record companies are not ready with an experience that mirrors
Napster, there will be an unintended, unorganized alliance between
40 million users and 250 million hackers. Napster fans will be
scattered in 15 different ways, and it will be difficult to get
them back. Just think how hard it will be to shut down a service
in Bulgaria or Iraq.'"
Read the entire article here.
From Interep press release: "Interep
has released a new primer on on-line advertising, offering a concise
summary
of the lingo, audience metrics, delivery modes and research companies
associated with Internet advertising.
"The primer is directed toward traditional media sellers,
especially radio sellers, who are increasingly being asked to
participate in the sale of their company-owned websites or related
streaming ventures...
"The 28-page guide includes definitions of commonly
used termonology and a listing of websites useful to media professionals.
In addition, it includes explanations of the most commonly used
on-line research metrics, including unique visitors, ad views
or impressions, coverage, composition and average usage estimates.
The major research companies measuring on-line media and their
methodologies are also covered.
"Non-Interep clients may purchase A
Radio Seller’s Guide to On-line Advertising at www.researchstore.com."
Read the press release (as an Adobe .pdf file) here.
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