Author: moleitau

Flickr’s fruit at the bottom

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A few new features at Flickr, including the highly-useful-but-not-immediately-obvious inline editing of picture titles (hover over the title of one of you pictures and click to rename, just like on your dekstop, very handy) but the one that caught my eye was the introduction of a task-oriented, mini sitemap on the bottom of every page.

Flickrbottom_1

This is something that I tried to get done while at the BBC, as an unobtrusive wayfinding strategy for the entire http://www.bbc.co.uk site. We (Gee-Kay, Byju and myself) got as far as paper-prototyping and user-testing the idea before hitting the wall of unavailability of resources and internal politics that often stops such things in such places.

The idea continued in a limited form in the iCan project, where we (Priya, Helen, Julie, Andy and myself) used the bottom-of-the-page reference design for a ‘cycling’ pattern of recent visited links and common tasks.

The bottom-of-the-page wayfinding idea was one that I first came across from Peter at PoorButHappy, and was struck by how simple and effective it was.

For what it’s worth, here’s a presentation that I used to try and sell the idea internally in the BBC, including user-test results.

» Download locatedness.ppt [2.3mb powerpoint]

I shared it with Stewart at the time (as we were arguing about spatial metaphors in navigation and wayfinding*) and he told me this week he remembered reading it while waiting for his car to get fixed in SF. Hopefully it contributed, and I’ll be receiving my Flickr options shortly… ;-p

The Ludicorp team continue to astound with their rate of innovation and invention. Well done all there!

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Bonus link… while excavating BBJ for wayfinding links, found this reference to a Sylloge post from 2001… more evidence of Flickr’s RNA?

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UPDATE: Peter’s entry on the same topic.

Neal loves Bees

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Also from the Slashdot interview of Neal Stephenson, looks like he’s been following the axons:

As _Snow Crash_ was originally designed as an interactive game, and such landmarks as _Myst_ have regenerated as (usually bad) novels, do you see the arrival of a truly multimedia story, delivered simultaneously in multiple media, anytime soon? By whom, specifically or generally?

Neal:

It has already happened in the form of the I Love Bees alternate reality game, which, as many of you must know, is a promotional campaign for Halo 2. I know the people who did it, but I have lost track of what I promised not to reveal publicly, and so will shut up for now.

Still no axons gone hot in Helsinki, AFAIK…

The battle of evermorefunny

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I know the Stephenson interview is being linked to hell, but this passage is priceless; especially with Sterling now taking up residency as Emeritus Professor of Spimes at Art Center, Pasadena:

Before long my sword arm hung useless at my side. One of my psi blasts kicked up a large divot of earth and rubble, uncovering a silver metallic object, hitherto buried, that seemed to have been crafted by an industrial designer. It was a nitro-veridian device that had been buried there by Sterling. We were able to fly clear before it detonated. The blast caused a seismic rupture that split off a sizable part of Canada and created what we now know as Vancouver Island. This was the last fight between me and Gibson. For both of us, by studying certain ancient prophecies, had independently arrived at the same conclusion, namely that Sterling’s professed interest in industrial design was a mere cover for work in superweapons. Gibson and I formed a pact to fight Sterling. So far we have made little headway in seeking out his lair of brushed steel and white LEDs, because I had a dentist appointment and Gibson had to attend a writers’ conference, but keep an eye on Slashdot for any further developments.

» Slashdot: interview with Neal Stephenson

Mobile TV: Never say never

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Mobile TV: Watching TV at work!
Originally uploaded by blackbeltjones.

While at the BBC, and for that matter, consulting for 3; I was a “Doubting-Thomas” when it came to mobile video / TV.

However smooth the picture, or compelling the content, other than a few niches, I didn’t think it was a flyer in the same way as we know that mobile music is, just because of the very human limitations of attention in a mobile context that would prevent you from being engrossed in mobile video in the same way you can be in mobile music.

Today I picked up internal trial hardware (the s90-powered 7700 that won’t be getting a commercial release, but Nokia uses as an experimental platform for new services) for mobile DVB-H digital TV broadcast, and it has immediately made me doubt my doubts.

It’s certainly got immediate wow factor (in a non-scientific survey of me and Chris, and the picture is smooth, a decentish-size (book of postage stamps, rather than postage stamp) and sound crisp over the headset.

Luckily there’s also a fair bit of english-language TV available on Finnish TV for me to understand. I have the handset for a month, so it will be interesting to see how mobile TV fits into my life over that time.

While I can’t go into too many details, the guys at the trial program have said it’s fine to blog general observations, so I will try to do so here.

So Logo event, Cass Business School

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So Logo event
Originally uploaded by blackbeltjones.

I went to one of the events that the Cass Business School in London run which look at the business side of the ‘creative industries’. It got a little sidetracked into geopolitics (inevitably?) but it was interesting nonetheless.
Some interesting factoidquotes that the panelists dropped (unverified)

  • The “intangible assets” of FTSE100 companies make up 70% part of market cap of the FTSE100.
  • In 19 out of 22 product categories, the brand that lead that category in 1920s is still in the lead.

Rough notes below…

Read More »

Secular saint of the future

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Deliad

Tron (I kid you not) theatre company are staging a play about Delia Derbyshire [official site, Wikipedia] the co-composer / performer of the Dr. Who theme, amongst her other pioneering works at the Radiophonic Workshop [BBC, Wikipedia]

In their words:

“But there is much more to Delia’s story then one totemic piece of music. Through Delia, her creativity and personal life, the show will explore the imaginative landscape of post-war Britain, the advent of the space race and of psychedelia, the impact of mass broadcast media and of new technology on the creation of music, and above all what it was that made so many people in the 1960s look to the future for their inspiration”

Don’t know about you, but that’s a lot of my buttons pushed. I doubt they will tour Helsinki, however.

I love the picture of her* (above) that they have used for the promotional material for the play. Defiant stare, hugging the tech of her trade. A devotional image for disciples of futures past.

Our lady Delia of the tape-loop.

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* I assume, perhaps it’s the actress that plays her in the production

Life imitates Grant Morrison

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Via Foe’s del.icio.us, Wired News report on findings by Imperial College:

” Most of the cells in your body are not your own, nor are they even human. They are bacterial. From the invisible strands of fungi waiting to sprout between our toes, to the kilogram of bacterial matter in our guts, we are best viewed as walking “superorganisms,” highly complex conglomerations of human, fungal, bacterial and viral cells.”

I find this kind of awe-inspiring and lovely. We’re all just the filth.