October 2008
13 posts
Infocamp Summary
Well, I’ve had a month to reflect on my two days at Infocamp, and here are my various and random conclusions.
Unconferences work! I really enjoyed the controlled chaotic brain-dump atmosphere that Infocamp fostered. I noticed that a lot of people who might not have been comfortable presenting in a typical conference atmosphere were more willing to participate in the more casual...
User Generated Content- Fair Use Discussion with...
I found Brian Rowe to be a very interesting gentleman. Brian has a BA in Informatics from the University of Washington and is currently pursuing his juris doctorate at Seattle University’s School of Law. He is a Creative Commons activist and is also the founder of Freedom for IP, “a grass roots organization dedicated to exploring the interaction of Intellectual Property Legislation...
Using Video to Enhance and Advertise for Library...
My friend and former classmate Sam Wallin from Fort Vancouver Public Library System (see Computer Training for Non-Users entry from Saturday) gave a presentation that he’s working on for the next Oregon Library Association conference. Sam is the brainchild behind the One Minute Critic, which is a program that he started with a digital camera and internet access. The premise: book reviews...
Geoinformatics: Why You Need the Science, Why the...
This was a general discussion about how to make scientific information, specifically geodata, useful to as many people as possible. There is a great deal of publicly accessible information available online and in print concerning water, air, vegetation, fish and wildlife, and environmental hazards that isn’t getting the use it deserves because of faulty website design, competitive attitudes...
Sunday Morning with Tamara Adlin!
Tamara Adlin from FellSwoop, LLC and Adlin, Inc. started Sunday morning off with a bang. Tamara is a customer experience consultant. Previously, Tamara created the Customer Experience Services team for Amazon Services and has worked in user experience for a variety of companies including the Army Research Laboratory. She is also the co-author of The Persona Lifecycle: Keeping People in Mind...
Going Neon: Dutch Libraries
University of Washington MLIS/MPA student Cadi Russell-Sauve took us on a tour of Dutch libraries through photographs. Most of her images can be found here. Again, because my notes were so random, I’m going to go with a bulleted list format. The two libraries that Cady talked the most about were the Rotterdam and Delft libraries.
First stop: Rotterdam Library
This 25 year old library...
On-the-fly Low Budget Usability session
This session was presented by Colleen Brazil, Content Access Manager for the Sno-Isle Library system. Colleen helps to design the Sno-Isle website, and she gave an overview of the process she used to help redesign the teen page so that it’s relevant and useful for Sno-Isle’s teen patrons.
The first thing Colleen did was to identify the persona (audience) that she wanted to design...
Computer Training for Non-Users- discussion
My colleague Sam Wallin (blogs here and here) and I co-facilitated a discussion group about ways to teach computer non-users/novices through innovative training techniques. Sam is a reference librarian with the Fort Vancouver Regional Library system who teaches computer classes. He is also the brainchild behind the One Minute Critic project, which I’ll talk about more later. We got a...
Information Professionals Don't Care About...
2. Asking for consent and offering choices for participation.
Nika talked about the difference between getting informed consent before submitting personal information as opposed to making users wallow through a privacy statement written in legalese that nobody wants to read. A second stage of user consent should occur before transferring any personal information or making it available to...
Information Professionals Don't Care About Privacy
This was a really thought provoking presentation and discussion facilitated by Nika Smith, user experience consultant for Blink Interactive. Nika’s presentation slides can be accessed on slideshare. Nika gave an overview of privacy and security concerns regarding the information industry, her conclusion being that most information professionals in these days of social software and web 2.0...
September 2008
4 posts
More Wobbrock
This was SO INTERESTING. It made me want to run away and do accessibility research.
Wobbrock and his AIM & DUB students have done lots of research with user, screen, stylus combinations. They noticed that people with disabilities frequently used the edge of the screen as a leverage point. Now that stylus technology is being replaced by touch screen technology, how will blind people use...
I'm here...
I got to Infocamp late after walking up and down 2nd avenue for about a half hour looking for the bus stop for the 120 or 125 bus. I finally gave up and hailed a cab. Checked in, got a tshirt, now I’m listening to Jason O. Wobbrock talk about accessibility. He compares accessibility and disability- accessibility is usability for all. Mr. Wobbrock is a faculty at the UW ischool who...
Hey now
I’ll be blogging from infocamp 2008, held on Saturday and Sunday, September 27th and 28th at the Youngstown Cultural Center in Seattle.
Infocamp site: http://infocamp.info/
Infocamp blog: http://www.infocamp.info/blog/
Infocamp wiki: http://infocampseattle2008.pbwiki.com/
Infocamp on Twitter: http://twitter.com/infocamp/
More tomorrow!