Understanding Do make me think Posted: Monday, February 9 2009 Even with the rise of widescreen monitors, increase of screen resolutions and portal formatted/widgetized websites, most of the content a website holds remains ‘out of sight’ at first glance. Of course, a well-devised structure and appropriate labelling will lead the user to and on the right trail, but the key ‘battle’ for the user’s attention is made at the point of entry (be it the homepage or any other landing page). This issue is present for offline media as well. The book cover has to convince you of the value of its contents and the billboard or movie trailer has to lure you into the (movie) theatre. Even though these offline media have far greater limitations (no interactivity, very low refresh rates, long lead times), they seemed to get by fairly well and are still going strong. The years of consumer experience of their producers are the reason for this, and there still is a great deal to be learned for online use. And most of their knowledge leads back to understanding human behaviour and more recently human neurology. Let’s first look at the book again. The saying goes “Don’t judge a book by its cover”, but that’s exactly what you do when you pick one up. Involuntarily, your brain makes a marker of the literal look and feel of the book before processing any other (conscious) information. The cover becomes a reference point for the book, even if the cover’s ‘sales value’ becomes obsolete. Publishers are well aware of this and go to great extent to make the cover memorable. Remarkably, this memory doesn’t have to have any obvious relation with the subject matter. Another implication of this is the fact that most book covers lack a lot of textual information. Compared to most websites they are virtually empty and the additional information the publisher does deem necessary (next to the title and author) is usually reserved for the back cover (which means it doesn’t obscure the front cover!). When moving on to the contents of the book another key element becomes apparent, namely that of storytelling; presenting the elements in such a way that the reader becomes engaged and actually experiences the information that is conveyed. Since reading off of a screen is still inconvenient (because of several human factors) a better reference in this case are comic books. There, both visual and textual information is presented in a truly engaging way without the luxury of hyperlinking, pop-ups, sidebars and help buttons. Even movies, that do have sound added as a means of communication, stick to a minutely stipulated script and extremely well thought of scenes and sceneries for the shots that will be shown to the viewer. Movie directors know that if they don’t build up to a very specific feeling for the viewer to experience, no celebrity or special effect will make up for it.   Finally, product design (and marketing in general) goes to great lengths to stimulate the human senses in order to enhance the experience. Take for example the Philips Ambilight/Aurea televisions. They not only reproduce the media (broadcasts, video’s) in the most accurate possible way, but actually add visual information by projecting related colours around the screen. The key message is that user attention and therefore usability is a complex thing; making things ‘easier’ might not always be the better solution; let them use their brains to the fullest extent! Invitation Only? Posted: Thursday, February 21 2008 Social Networks are happening; you can connect to virtually anybody and have anything 'out in the open', if you like. Wouldn't it be nice though if it all could be a little bit more exclusive. Just as one could have an exclusive house designed by an architect or interior decorator, one should be able to have an exclusive personal site designed, where visitors can be shown around. Uptil now the possibilities to do such a thing were limited. For different friends and acquaintences it is possible to join different social network sites and those pages can be personalized to a certain extent. Next to this, it is of course possible to make your own sites and open up certain parts to specific persons. This, however, feels like inviting visitors, giving them the key and say "have a look around" (while you yourself go on and do something different). With the new initiative by Google named 'OpenSocial' this might change. It is their intention to simplify the exchange of information between social networks. Among others, Netvibes joins in by allowing you to share certain information with predetermined friends, while using it yourself. VIRVIE's idea is to bring the same technology to personal sites, by which means specific friends and acquaintences could be invited to specific parts and functions of your site: so a 'private party' on your own website! The same principal of course can be translated to corporate sites, which would make the interaction there both more personal and more social. Network Effects Posted: Tuesday, July 17 2007 The transition of the Internet towards Web 2.0 is coming full circle. Through the rise of social networks and personal homepages almost everyone and everything is connected in a distributed network. Getting connected is no longer the issue: there are infinite 'ways to Rome' now. The key to getting the most out of it is keeping a flow of information through the network. The messages you send don't have to be directional (see weblogs and micro/nanoblogs), but the option for conversation (bidirectional messaging) should always be there. The interaction through conversation between hubs, i.e. actual persons or services, determines how the message is directed over the network. The delivery of the message to anyone who is interested is ensured because of the existence of the connection; the speed and intensity is dependent on how and often to whom (see Alpha-user theory) you are connected. What is interesting to see is that this new reality brings about effects and issues on a cultural and personal level (instead of technical or functional). On the one hand there is the (re)emergence of the gift culture, which develops from peer-2-peer into consumer-2-consumer; creating value by adding something before you pass it on and thus inclining someone to do something in return. On the other hand this stresses a persons need to feel a sense of 'belonging'. The fact that one is connected to a virtual network is bringing about very real need to participate and being involved in its flow of information. C2B, CMI or Upstream? Posted: Friday, May 5 2006, Updated: Tuesday, July 17 2007 The Customer-2-Business, or Customer Managed Interaction, or Upstream Marketing trend is a result of the functionality known as Web 2.0. The key is that customers can build up and manage profiles of themselves and distribute these to multiple suppliers. They in turn can match their offering with this profile and thus try to win the business. There is even the option of a Trusted Third Party that manages this new kind of interaction. Although the developments in this area are still minor, good examples can be seen at Netvibes Universes and OpenID providers like Sxipper.