Month: March 2002

Browsing and Berrypicking Techniques. Lou Rosenfeld points out that Marcia Bates' seminal information science article, “The Design of Browsing and Berrypicking Techniques for the Online Search Interface” is finally available on the Web. [ia/ – news for information architects]

Business intelligence software: Putting the brain on autopilot. I found this article on the topic of text mining software to be intriguing. SAS Institute Inc. will be releasing software that will be able to analyze word and grammer patterns in collections of data in order to analyze and intuit problems, write reports and suggest business… Continue reading Business intelligence software: Putting the brain on autopilot

KM Case Study at HP. A thorough, personable, honest account of how a person in an ia-like role at HP took on a straightforward task that turned into a daunting project, namely creating a knowledge-management system for the entire corporation. For the file to read all about it, go here: [PDF]. [ia/ – news for… Continue reading KM Case Study at HP

Immersed in Structure: The Meaning and Function of Taxonomies. Katherine C. Adams' article in Internetworking 3.2 (Aug. 2000) discusses taxonomies and their efficacy in supporting known-item searching and finding new information. Organizational structures within Web sites encourage emotional, fortuitous information-seeking behavior. Directories are value-laden tools of information organization that articulate a specific world-view. Because taxonomies… Continue reading Immersed in Structure: The Meaning and Function of Taxonomies

Easy Does It. Scott W. Ambler talks about simple tools like index cards and white boards for software development — when they are valuable, when not, and how to combine with formal tools. Appears in Software Development Magazine. Simple tools are inclusive—with them, even your project stakeholders can actively participate in your project. Simple tools… Continue reading Easy Does It

Cool Design Won't Save a Dud Product. Interesting article in Business 2.0 about industrial design. Discusses the flagrant use of design, post-iMac, to pretty up products that lack well-conceived design or to sell designy products that are inappropriate for a brand. No amount of fancy design work can save a product that has too many… Continue reading Cool Design Won't Save a Dud Product

Boxes and Arrows. B&A launches! Boxes and Arrows is the definitive source for the complex task of bringing architecture and design to the digital landscape. There are various titles and professions associated with this undertaking—information architecture, information design, interaction design, interface design—but when we looked at the work that we were actually doing, we found… Continue reading Boxes and Arrows

Microsoft re-architects Windows for Personal Knowledge Mgmt. [Article] Microsoft is gutting its OS to be more like a huge SQL database of data & documents, so eventually someone can (for example) search for all interactions with a client across email, receipts, timesheets and Word files, and get relevant results. Who said search is dead? (…… Continue reading Microsoft re-architects Windows for Personal Knowledge Mgmt

New York Times – Editorial Op-Ed: by Anthony Lewis free registration required Taking Our Liberties. The war against terrorism will go on indefinitely, President Bush has warned, seeking the enemy around the world. Already American forces are committed to the Philippines, Georgia and Yemen. Iraq may be next. Heavy fighting continues in Afghanistan. War without… Continue reading New York Times

Windows Installer for jabberd Server. The open-source jabberd server now has an installer for win32 systems. [JabberCentral]