Melvin Dewey introduced to the world, the Dewey Decimal System (1876) for categorising books into 10 broad subjects then sub-categorising those, so on and so forth.

Today, for the Internet, we use a method which was first dubbed by Thomas Vander Wal (an information architect and web developer) ‘folksonomy’. It begins with tagging, first widely used by people on the FlickR network where users could label pictures with short descriptive text.

Folksonomy is a bottom-up user generated categorisation system, a method where you’re not required to have a degree in library science to participate.

Yes it reduces an almost perfect mathematical system for categorisation to words, but it means searching for images or blogs or any information on the internet much more effective and simple for the average user. Better still, with so much information out there in cyberspace, some of it being crap (excuse my French) we are able to categorise the useful data as folksonomists.

Recommending good articles in your social network has become alot easier by the work of folksonomists, so please use this privililege wisely and remember to tag relevantly.

Amazon and other digital library catalogues have now established a folksonomic approach to categorising books, Melvin Dewey will not be amused! But I love it! Helps me find the information I need in the most effective way.

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/4e05a0ac

We have a really exciting opportunity for a recent graduate to work in a broadcasting and media business. We are looking for a good communicator with ambition to be a successful user experience practitioner. You will have some information architecture and user experience skills, and be keen to learn under the direction of an established team. You will be mentored and guided through some flagship projects and this will be great exposure to information architecture and usability testing using eye tracking and video software.

Starting asap on a monthly rolling contract, this role is paying c£140-200 per day depending on experience and is based in West London.

Gill Arnold

0207 420 3538

gill@wearefutureheads.co.uk

The BBC has launched a new online questionnaire as part of their on-going Child of Our Time experiment.

What’s most interesting about this test is the results; rather than leaving you with paragraphs of dry analysis to read, the BBC site actually explains your results via a sequence of personalised videos.

It’s a really engaging way to relate interesting information that typically ends up relegated to a big stream of boring text.

My client is a well known brand in the digital arena, the product suite is centred around a high volume of transaction. I am looking for an interim director of user experience to help lead the team across innovation, usability, information architecture, search and design until the right hire has been made. I am looking for someone with experience of managing large teams and drive and inspire them on a day to day basis. You will also be a hands-on user experience practitioner and be prepared to get your hands dirty and sleeves rolled up for senior level stakeholder engagement. You need to have at least 10 years of working in a business to consumer (B2C) environment and a thorough understanding of user research, user experience, creative design, and client-side development. This product is driven by multiple users and information that allows people to make decisions quickly. Please get in touch for more information – this role doesn’t have a ceiling on the rate, as this role will only suit very senior practitioners and leaders working for a big consumer brand for many years.

This role is to start asap.

Be Kaler Blake

0207 420 3539

be@wearefutureheads.co.uk

or Gill Arnold

0207 4203538

gill@wearefutureheads.co.uk

This is a short term User Experience Architecture project starting 25th/26th November for 5-7 days work. Working with a prestigious design agency in central London, you will design the UX architecture on interactive projects for a large trade show. Experience of UX design for kiosks, LCD screens, motion work etc would be beneficial as well as web projects. Outputs include wireframes, sitemaps, user journeys.

Rate up to £280 per day.

Please send CV and relevant interactive work samples asap.

Gill Arnold

0207 420 3538

gill@wearefutureheads.co.uk

I wouldn’t normally put job ads here, but this one’s urgent. If you’re interested drop me a line asap.

Role: Senior UX Consultant / Interaction Designer

Duties to include:
1. User research & analysis (interviewing users, preparing protocols, analyzing results, etc.)
2. Concept ideation (storyboarding, brainstorming, sketching design ideas and screen flows, etc.)
3. Wireframing (detailed interaction design and prototyping, ideally using Axure)

Skills & Experience:
• 5+ years in user experience consulting / interaction design
• Extensive experience in interaction design and wireframing (ideally using Axure)
• Skilled and knowledgeable in concept ideation and human-centred design
• Understanding and competence in user research, analysis and modelling
• Advanced degree or equivalent in information architecture, interaction design, HCI, Human Factors, or related field
• Ideally experience or knowledge of designing for search and information discovery applications

Location of work: Richmond (London), with occasional field work or travel to client site

Rate: Good

Start Date: early December (before Dec 7)

End Date: TBD, likely end of Jan

Please send CVs asap to trose AT endeca.com.

My client is looking for an information architect to start asap for a few weeks. If functional complexity in an AJAX environment is what you like and you have experience of working within the travel industry, please get in touch. You will work alongside another information architect and need to be confident collaborating with tech and creative teams to optimise detailed user journeys and booking process documentation.

Drop me a line if you are interested – be@wearefutureheads.co.uk

As a child I loved Lego. I could let my imagination run riot, design and build cars, space stations, castles and airplanes.

My brother didn’t like Lego, instead preferring to play with Action Men and toy cars. These sorts of toys did nothing for me, and from the perspective of an adult I can understand why. I couldn’t modify them, I couldn’t create anything new. Perhaps I didn’t have a good enough imagination because I needed to make my ideas real. I wanted to build things, I still do.

Then the most exciting thing happened. My dad bought a BBC micro.

Obviously computers such as the BBC Micro were in many, many ways different from today’s Macs and if you must PCs. Obviously they were several orders of magnitude less powerful than today’s computers but, and importantly, they were designed to be programmed by the user, you were encouraged to do so. It was expected that that’s what you would do. So from a certain perspective they were more powerful.

BBC Micro’s didn’t come preloaded with word processors, spreadsheets and graphics editors and they certainly weren’t WIMPs.

What they did come with was BBC BASIC and Assembly Language.

They also came with two thick manuals. One telling you how to set the computer up; the other how to programme it.

This was all very exciting, I suddenly had something with which I could build incredibly complex things. I could, in theory at least, build something that was more complex than the planes, spaceships and cars which I modelled with Lego a few years before.

Like so many children of my age I cut my computing teeth on the BBC Micro. Learnt to programme computers, and played a lot of games!

Unfortunately all was not well. You see I wasn’t very good at programming my BBC micro. I could never actually build the things I had pictured in my mind’s eye, I just wasn’t talented enough.

You see Lego hit a sweet spot which those early computers on the one hand and Action Man on the other missed.

What Lego provided was reusable bits.

When Christmas or my birthdays came around I would start off by building everything suggested by the sets I was given. But I would then dismantle the models and reuse those bricks to build something new, whatever was in my head. By reusing bricks from lots of different sets I could build different models. The more sets I got given, the more things I could build.

Action men simply didn’t offer any of those opportunities, I couldn’t create anything new.

Early computers where certainly very capable of providing a creative platform; but they lacked the reusable bricks, it was more like being given an infinite supply of clay. And clay is harder to reuse than bricks.

Today, with the online world we are in a similar place but with digital bits and bytes rather than moulded plastic bits and bricks.

The Web allows people to create their own stories – it allows people to follow their nose to create threads through the information about the things that interest them, commenting, and discussing it on the way. But the Web also allows developers to reuse previously published information within new, different context to tell new stories.

But only if we build it right.

Most Lego bricks are designed to allow you to stick one brick to another. But not all bricks can be stuck to all others. Some can only be put at the top – these are the tiles and pointy bricks to build your spires, turrets and roofs. These bricks are important, but they can only be used at the end because you can’t build on top of them.

The same is true of the Web – we need to start by building the reusable bits, then the walls and only then the towers and spires and twiddly bits.

But this can be difficult – the shinny towers are seductive and the draw to start with the shiny towers can be strong; only to find out that you then need to knock it down and start again when you want to reuse the bits inside.

We often don’t give ourselves the best opportunity to womble with what we’ve got – to reuse what others make, to reuse what we make ourselves. Or to let others outside our organisations build with our stuff. If you want to take these opportunities then publish your data the webby way.

My client is a user centred design agency that have won some significant projects. They involve rich interaction design for business applications. This is initially a 90 day project but it is realistic that project will become permanent within that 3 month period. You need to work as an interaction designer with an Experience Lead but also absorb some of the research function. They have a few projects lined up – one is for an international banking tool, the second is for a management tool that requires complex interaction, search and navigation and the third is a browser based tool. You will work with the team in the UK and internationally and you will have solid design skills which will be used for sketches, product maps, aesthetics, layouts and classic information architectures. Start immediately.

Be Kaler Blake

0207 420 3539

be@wearefutureheads.co.uk

My client, a travel company in Kingston is looking for people with up to 4 years experience within digital commerce.  Ideally you will have a background as a visual designer or front end developer  with an interest and a couple of years of exposure to user experience design. You will work with a small team managing 3 main brands online. You will influence the strategy, user research, testing and the user experience design and prototyping.  You will either be a highly competent designer, an expert in converting layouts in PhotoShop or Fireworks using accessible XHTML, CSS and JavaScript. You will be knowledgeable in the world of APIs and AJAX type technologies. This role encompasses the project life cycle from project planning and budgeting stage through to design, UX and testing.

Be Kaler Blake

0207 420 3539

be@wearefutureheads.co.uk

My client is an international user centred design agency, seeing growth with new clients in the UK team. I am looking for a usability tester next week for my client, they are looking to test the comparison of two phones over a 7 day period. You will be running the test, writing the report and making recommendations for change. Experience of usability testing for mobile phones is essential, working knowledge of French language would be a distinct advantage.

Be Kaler Blake

0207 420 3539

be@wearefutureheads.co.uk

Originally published on the LTU Web Design blog, April 24, 2008:

I decided to give myself three simple parameters in choosing my list of all-time web design faves:

1. The web site must be timely, informative, inspirational and well-written, as well as provide excellent learning examples for both novices and experts alike.
2. It goes without staying that the design of the site itself must be creative, simple and elegant.
3. Were the site ever to stale or cease to exist, I would cry my eyes out, stomp my feet, quit my job and open a hot dog stand.

What I decided not to do was subjectively rank them in any way.  At the very least, I grouped them into a few basic categories. In alphabetical order:

Comprehensive web design sites
Soup-to-nuts coverage of XHTML, CSS, scripting, visual design, usability, information architecture, server administration, web standards, accessibility, search engine optimization, social media and so forth…

• A List Apart
• Digital Web
• SitePoint
• W3Schools
• Web Page Design for Designers (back from the dead!)

Speciality web design sites
Particular emphasis on best practices in (typically) one area of web design…

• 24 ways
• Alertbox (by Jakob Nielsen, usability guru and self-admitted non-designer)
• Boxes and Arrows
• Google Webmaster Central and blog
• MaxDesign (home of the Listamatic, Listutorial, Floatutorial and Selectutorial)
• Microformats
• Quirksmode
• ReadWriteWeb
• Stylegala
• UX Magazine
• Vitamin
• Westciv
• Yahoo! Developer Center, including the Design Pattern Library and User Interface Library

Web designers whom I sincerely respect
Well-known experts in the field that I would hire or wish would hire me, either way…

• Dan Benjamin
• Mark Boulton
• Dan Cederholm
• Jesse James Garrett
• Shaun Inman
• Roger Johansson
• Andy King
• Dan Shea
• Steve Smith
• Jeffrey Veen
• Jeffrey Zeldman

I’m missing many a name, truth be told. Molly Holzschlag, Dean Edwards, Eric Meyer (a fellow Clevelander, no less!), Tantek Çelik, Steve Champeon and countless others. Mention any more and I’d just be name-dropping. I fancy myself a trail guide, but these folks are the real trailblazers.

Not to mention other sites likes BrainJar, Web Developer’s Virtual Library, HTML Help, HTMLSource, HTML Dog, Evolt and The Web Standards Project—all sites I came to rely on over the years but fell out of favor for a variety of reasons. Again, your results may vary.

In fact, I’d love to hear from you. How about your “best of the web” sites? Which bookmarks wouldn’t you trade for water if lost on a desert island? And who or what did I sorely miss?

Not quite two years ago, but an eternity in web years.  And since this blog post first appear, Webmonkey rose from the dead.  Which web sites about web sites would you add?

Microsoft has done quite some research on capturing high volumes of event data, the idea is that in many cases it is not viable or even possible to build a DW to analyse data streams and also real-time analysis might be needed. Example applications could be click-stream analysis in real-time or analysis of all calls in a phone-netowrk, events generated in a manufacturing plant. The analysis can also be done on historical data, which means that this approach overlaps with traditional DataWarehouses.
The technology is called StreamInsight and can be tested right now, it will be publically available in first half of 2010 as an addition to SQL Server 2008 R2.

Made by Many

In a parallel life I think I would be an information architect.  Alas I was not equipped with enough patience in this one but like any good digital gal worth her salt, I love good UX.  And so my eye was drawn to this post on wireframes on the Made by Many website. Very interesting thoughts about the evolution of the wireframe away from full blueprints to something more visually useful that allows you to understand the different layers of the user journey and brings together all stakeholders in the creation of the site. The Made by Many site is now firmly bookmarked  in my ‘browsing inbox’. Thanks to James for yet again another internet gem.

My client is a top digital design and branding agency based in London and they are looking for a Research Manager to work across their very high profile clients for 6-12 months (This role is likely to become permanent) You will work with a really sociable team based in West London. You will be responsible for a range of primary and secondary research, stakeholder engagement and planning activities. This is a client facing role and requires a strong and confident communicator. The role is required to both support the delivery of digital projects to our clients, and input into the strategic direction of the business through research and analysis. You will have 3-5 years of running similar research within a digital or user centred design agency – focusing on digital projects

Be Kaler Blake

0207 420 3539

be@wearefutureheads.co.uk

Life’s a beach!

My client, a big agency based in Dorset are looking to grow the user experience team further. You will work closely with the head of User Experience and the design and technology teams to ensure that existing client needs are met and fulfilled and also offer new and innovative solutions to new clients. This is a great opportunity for someone who is looking to carry our all aspects of user research – stakeholder and client workshops, user research – planning the strategy and budget for this. You will work on all aspects of documentation across a variety of clients in broadcast, government, finance and retail. You will have a relevant degree and have some exposure to a digital or user centred design agency running projects and presenting new ideas. This agency go home at 6pm – and you can head to the beach for fish and chips at lunchtime if you like. They also have good benefits and a great team to work with.

Contact me if you would be interested in this opportunity.

Be Kaler Blake

0207 420 3539

be@wearefutureheads.co.uk

Experience Architects, London and Gloucester – £30 to 40K

Client is a business consulting firm based in Central London, you will work with large scale projects and ensure that a business and user centred design process is adopted throughout the production process. You need to be an excellent communicator and you will often be asked to work on client site so you can absorb the requirements gathering process and ensure that you can be the guardian of these through design and development phase. Its essential that you have demonstrable skills in development of information architectures, wireframes, usability testing, competitor benchmarking, accessibility compliance, user profiling and user research. My client would love to meet someone who has additional skills in search, social media, mobile and content audits.

Be Kaler Blake

0207 420 3539

be@wearefutureheads.co.uk

User Experience and Web Designer – £45K to work in an exciting client side environment.

Do you have really strong interface design skills with an appreciation for form, structure and rich content? Are you an evangelist for the implementation of best practise user experience? This company is buzzing with excitement and success to date, and is looking for an additional member to help take this product and new streams of work to the next level. You will be a creative designer with Photoshop, Illustrator and be able to produce lo-fi sketches, wireframes and full blown designs and assets. You will be excited to help shape brand values and work as a design consultant to external agencies where necessary.

This is a cool product suite – B2B but mainly B2C, you will largely work with retailers improving customer engagement. I loved the company, they are honest, friendly, smart and fun. I need you to have a few years experience working in the digital arena for a web company or agency, producing large content driven websites. I want you to demonstrate that you can turn complex information into beautiful and usable design.

Holler me at my new business, or check out the embryonic stages of our website at www.wearefutureheads.co.uk – your feedback would be welcome.

Be Kaler Blake

0207 420 3539

be@wearefutureheads.co.uk

My client is a well known and respected user centred design agency based in central London. I am looking for a user experience consultant to work on web and mobile projects. You need to be a self starter and have full and rich experience of the of research and testing methodologies including running focus groups, 1-2-1s and workshops. You need to be able to take direction from a formal process that has been put in place by this agency. You will be a client facing candidate with good attention to detail and communication style when making recommendations for change. You will work for a leading UCD agency for two months with a break over the festive season.

Please apply with your CV and folio.

Be Kaler Blake

0207 420 3539

be@wearefutureheads.co.uk