council ban ‘jargon’ words

the story has been simmering in various press releases ok i get this, use plain English make it easier for the gerneral public to understand what our councils are doing. but as you look into the story it gets better.

The BBC and Computing magazine both report the story with slightly different lists but looking in to the LGA site proves interesting

Looking at what’s on this list and their alternatives taken from the LGA  site (http://www.lga.gov.uk/lga/core/page.do?pageId=1716341)

we get some ‘interesting’ ideas

initiative – idea  ok so this works kinda i think

Capabilities -  (no alternative) so they don’t have the capability to complete this?

Champion – best poresumably no one acted as a champion for this study

Coterminosity – all singing from the same hymn sheet  wait what…we have to sing?

Coterminous – all singing from the same hymn sheet er what? and doesn’t this have more to do with coverage not singing?

Initiative – idea not the process of having ieas then?

Interface – talking to each other right, to no user interface then

LAAs - Why use at all? local area agreements  that why (http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=1174195)

Outcomes – results ok
Outcomes – focused ok…wait what ? which is it

Paradigm - Why use at all? well its a word used since the 15th century so i guess it has a basis in the english language

Proactive - Why use at all? indeed why be proactive

Single Point of Contact – everything under one roof  i suppose if  i have a single point of contact then they always under on roof…yes?

Social exclusion – poverty really so social exclusion is always basd on wealth not race, religion, geography…?

Sustainable – long term yep fair enough
Sustainable communities – environmentally friendly, um not putting an enforced environmental slant on this but how can Sustainable mean one thing and Sustainable communities be something totally different?

Taxonomy - Why use at all? helps if your talking about…ooh i dunno taxonomies?

Welcome – necessary and needed/step in the right direction what? I’m sorry did i miss somethign here?

finally however one that makes total sense

Process driven – shouldn’t everything be people driven?  finally one that makes sense…

Simple IA - Users, visitors and audience types

In a recent discussion / interview with a member of the Eduserv research group (previously known as (Eduserv foundation) which focused on a study soon to be proposed into CSM and HEI, I was asked to define the ‘user requirements’ for content management system project.

Users.., what are ‘users’ when discussing CMS requirements, and are they the same as website users?

In a traditional sense users are often regarded as the ‘users’ of a website, UX professionals talk about user testing and user centered design processes, but when it comes to CMS the user can be seen as the ‘site; user or the CMS user, each with very different needs and thus differing impacts on your requirements exercise. It’s important therefore to make sure that you are talking about the same ‘audience’ and that you accurately address their needs.

Site users, (visitors) need to be able to find information quickly and need navigation accessible content, they may ‘use’ the functions of the site in the process of finding content but referring to them as users (in the CMS context) clutters the message. Navigation, clarity, language findability structure and design make for the site visitors experience.

The needs of the CMS user however is concerned with editing interfaces, categorization and linking, they need workflow and accessibility checkers, they need to know who did what when and how, the kind of stuff that CMS (WCMS) should do well.

Most of the time the description of the feature needed will be itself explanatory. However you should never allow ambiguity and assumption into your requirements study. (Similarly words such as ‘solution’ ‘system’ and ‘service’ should also be avoided in this context.

For example

“The solution should be accessible to users with disability”…means what exactly?

Then we get to audiences, now these are different again. An audience, in this instance, could be defined as category or group of users (or visitors) who share characteristics, interests or experience levels.

Parents, teaches and students are all audience types, as a parent I am a visitor to my boys school website. The teacher’s who create the site with their CMS is a CMS User,

Users, visitors and Audiences are therefore interlinked, but have differing views of the solution you are defining, if you are going to meet these needs you need to make sure that you and your project sponsor / customer have a shared understanding of these differences and needs to avoid the ambiguities and, even worse assumptions that add risk to your project.

Simple IA – Information groups

 

Many websites will go to significant lengths to mage sure that their navigation is put grouped in a meaningful and logical way, (not always logical to the user but logical none the less)

Others however just don’t get it.

Amazon, a huge success story and still my favourite online retailer, is on my opinion guilty of two major no no’s.

Firstly the criminal use of massively over complicated Captcha images and secondly information grouping.

Where you place links and how you arrange them is extremely important if you are to avoid the ‘oops’ factor, the accidental clicking on a web link that does the exact opposite to the action the user intended

Take for example the illustration below

the links view your wish list and delete your wish list couldn’t be closer, true a simple are you sure message can help avoid the accidentally deletion of a users data, but why add the risk at all?

The way these links are grouped asks for trouble a user in a rush will see wish list, users don’t read but scan pages so there is a high possibility that they will click the wrong list

click the link (yes I tried, nervously) and you are asked to login, odd as I already logged in to view my wish list, no mention of the action you are about to undergo..(I stopped there, yes chicken)

The logical structure of the links is also odd with delete your wedding list in a complete separate screen area to the view your wedding list,  

This make more sense separating ‘delete’ actions from ‘view’ actions but it lacks consistency.

The grouping of these links adds to the potential for user error,

 

Be aware how you group links, group them order or importance and use, user are more likely to want to view their data than delete they whole lot, so why put them together?

actions shoudl complient each other

Clicks on the won link here and you off the site rather than viewing the security notice, only a minor issue but not what the user expects.

Be consistent; make sure that if you follow a logical group for one area of the site, you continue to use the same logic,

If an action for a link may cause user distress, make sure that it’s clear that this link will delete your profile /data

Finally check, then check again “are you sure?” and “An email will be sent to your profile email address to confirm this action”

 

Technorati Tags: amazon,Information architecture,links,information groups,user expectations

Taking a bite out of Apple.

The twittervers has, over the past few days, been brimming with feverish talk about  the latest Mac offerings, cheaper, faster, stronger and able to leap tall buildings, they latest Mac’s are the solution to all your issues, credit crunch men/

Trouble is, I don’t get it, not that you care but,,,hey

Now ill grant you Macs look nice, but then so do Dells XPS laptops,  (for instance) yes Apple’s are shiny they're pretty and the new 15 inch offering seems very 'nice', and yes the air is ridiculously slim and …ill admit it a beautiful piece of kit but is it worth the over inflated price tag?

They are, admittedly well spec'd but not to the degree that you can justify the additional spend?

What exactly do you get for your added moola?

I did a highly unscientific twitter request for information the summary of which is;

Ease of use

Really, ok I get the OSX is a nice interface but are we not confusing the operating system with the hardware here, you may not like $ but windows isn’t exactly hard to use.

Whilst usability is designed and the Mac is very well designed, familiarity is key to its use, if I where to try to sue a Mac now, I guarantee it would neither be intuitive or easy,

Dislike of Microsoft

Again confusing the issue, besides, ever heard of Linux?

And why anti Microsoft, if it’s restrictive practices and actions against competitive values buy an iPhone

I’m sorry but if you want to talk restricted practices then you can't really use this argument, sure Microsoft get nailed a lot or the way they do business but Apple are at least as bed.

Tools available that are not available on PC

Really is there really tasks you simply have to have a mc for because you can’t do the same on a PC?

Consistency

Better fro web dev

Again don’t get this, how is using an Apple better, what are the advantages?

Elegance

Shiny

Looks nice

AH! the crux, I’m fast coming to the conclusion that Apples are seen as ‘cool’ you have to be seen to be using one, the latest one and it has to be shiny, and it your doing something ‘web .20’ ish on it then that’s really cool, the Mac is web 2.0.. In a box.

Its not that they are significantly better, but if you have one, then you are in ‘the club’ your in the club its a Mac and that means your savvy, it used to mean your a creative, kooky free thinker, and it still does, you just do other stuff, snowboarding and paragliding..Maybe...

And this is the thing, Apple and packages the whole ‘owning and apple’ experience into a lifestyle statement, and that’s what Steve Jobs set out to do, create a product range that made people want to belong to the club enough to pay for it.

Yes the products are good but that’s not whey you but them, it’s because you want to belong to the club, (cult ?) PC’s don’t and can’t do that

It’s just like the apple app that cost $1000 and did nothing aside from show an icon on your iPhone saying you could afford this app, it’s not that it does anything exceptional, its just, well cool to own?

I should probably point out that I’m not anti Apple, far from it, what they have done is nothing short or genius and far as product development, marketing and branding is concerned.

They have created the Mac not as a piece of tech, but a lifestyle choice and it’s brilliant.

I love to see well thought out design, and the Apple is a well designed piece of kit. All of it, I love my little IPod and use it daily, it’s an excellent piece of kit made better when I dumped iTunes and use winamp instead (far superior)

But not one person who I asked could give (IMO)a valid reason why the apple is worth the extra money,  all praise to apple they have created the ultimate product suite and with it a sense of belonging, but you pay for it and not the tech, anyone who believes different is kidding themselves,

Of course there is no way for me to test this theory, I have no Mac to test the theory, nor will) and no doubt those that belong to the Mac fan club will be quick to point out how superior the Mac is, fine, no problem.

Enjoy

To see the new apple offering go the (UK) Apple store

more Gmail security NOT

since my post discussing Gmail security, or the lack of, Google have done, well, nothing to address the situation.

Actually that’s not entirely true they have posted this article stating that users cannot register addresses similar to yours, but with a dot in it

therefore, according to Google

another@gmail.com also regsiters a.n.other@gmail.com

at least that’s what they say…today i received the full details of a purchase someone with a similar but subtly different email address  (add a dot) made, with enough information to easily acquire their identity. I have since delete this email and told the intended recipient (assuming Gmail doesn’t just send it back to me).

 

this seems to be an intermittent fault, I cant believe that uses would continue to use a Gmail account that never received email and I only seem to get partial threads but Google really need to sort this out,

not good enough

 

post script

it gets better, looking into this a little further it is possible for me to access this persons account and credit details for this purchase by simply using the forgot password link and emailing the password to their email address…which goes into my account!!!

/shakes head

 

Technorati Tags: google,security

Higher Education and Content Management

 

We at Eduserv are conducting some research into the needs of Higher education (to be followed by  cultural and government) and their demands for Content Management. 

We’re not so much looking the solutions that institutions use, what we really a interested in the features, functions and future needs of the institutions and what they look for when they are considering a CMS, and indeed what comprises they are forced to make when choosing.

We’re considering the usual needs for a CMS, ease of editing, compliance, migration, workflow, DM and KM integration. But also thinking about interoperability, VLE's and MLE's and course management, what is needed to support students, staff and partners when using HE facilities.

Content management should be a great enabler but only when it meets the needs of the institution *and* the needs of the users, are HE’s getting what they need, or even need what they are asking for?

what is security

I’ve read with interest the goings on with various government agencies ‘losing’ discs with tens of thousands records on them whilst quaffing a cheeky pims and lemonade.

I have also blogged my ongoing concerns over Google and thus by definition other cloud solutions’ security.

but my partners 11 year old boy has recently started to get interested in the whole internet thing, he wants a facebook account and has signed up for several other social sites despite my attempts to get him to check first. suddenly the whole ‘s the net a safe place has landed in my home, and I’m not so sure anymore.

now I have no problem with SN sites, far from it I have many accounts (too many) and have been in the SN area before the term ‘web 2.0’ even existed. it’s for this reason that I know that there is a lot of content on these site that even 13 year olds should not have access to. (I’m not going into the whole personal security issue here)

who has the responsibility to make sure our kids are safe and not accessing content they shouldn’t, as parents we have a duty to monitor their access sure, I have installed family safe on the boys machine and I get to see his activities and monitor his contacts on MSN.

but he has access outside of the home and that’s where the problem lies, (or does it)

take bebo, social site for children, has a standard terms and conditions that say no one under 13 may join. But does no checking to make sure this is the case, you can add a date of birth which clearly puts you under that limit and there is no problem.

another site asks that the child to enter their parents email address to check the parent is happy for them to join (if they are underage), but does not check to make sure the child doesn’t enter their own email address as the parents,  (though to their credit this was fixed after a short email)

footnote

facebook to its credit does stop you from registering if you are under age, but there is nothing stopping you adding a fake birthdates?