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Category: usability
An Ivy League Education, For Free, Right Now
I hadn’t heard much about this, but it is sort of blowing my mind: major universities are putting their courses online for anyone, anywhere, to access… for free. Here are two: MIT’s OpenCourseWare They now have over 1,800 courses online. Open Yale Courses They just launched with 7 courses, and are looking to expand to… Continue reading An Ivy League Education, For Free, Right Now
Unplugging the Web Increases Productivity
Darren Rowse explains how spending more time offline has made him a more productive blogger. Instead of constantly checking email, stats, IM, and other blogs, he has time to focus on: Writing Strategic thinking Family I see this trend more and more – as we are given a constant array of options to use our… Continue reading Unplugging the Web Increases Productivity
The Rise of Simplicity in Product Design and Customer Relationships
Daniel Eran Dilger posted a review of why Microsoft’s Zune music player has failed, and will continue to fail. In his piece, he had one nugget that speaks to the new relationship between producers and consumers: “Microsoft doesn’t seem to understand the engineering art of leaving things out. Instead of making tough choices, the company… Continue reading The Rise of Simplicity in Product Design and Customer Relationships
Ugly? Optimizing Your Website for Search Engines
John Battelle takes a snarky look at a what-if: What if Google had to design their website to be optimized for search engines. The result is a crowded web page that is suddently much less useful. Many sites look like this, as they try to constantly catch up to catch as many eye-balls as possible,… Continue reading Ugly? Optimizing Your Website for Search Engines
How to Create Community Online
Online Journalism Review shares tips on “How to manage an online community.” Be part of a community before you start one Stay informed about your publishing software You’re running the board to learn, not to show off Set the rules, then explain them up front
Moving B2B Websites Forward: Content vs. Functionality
RBI CEO Tad Smith comments on his vision for how to move B2B websites forward, in terms of the balance between content vs. functionality & performance: “To me, a dollar today spent on site engineering is better than one spent on building editorial content. This may seem counterintuitive, but there’s too much focus on content.… Continue reading Moving B2B Websites Forward: Content vs. Functionality
TV Without Schedules
With the rise of digital content, the TV schedule is becoming irrelevant. “As channel choices and technological options have expanded, fewer of us are watching the same shows at the same time on the same day. And it’s increasingly affecting the national conversation.” “The rules are, everyone gets a three-day window,” says Greg Wilson, 39,… Continue reading TV Without Schedules
NY Times Stops Charging for Content; Gives up $10 million in Subscription Revenue
The New York Times has stopped charging for most sections of its website, including its TimeSelect content, and a large chunk of their archives. The reason for the change: “What changed, The Times said, was that many more readers started coming to the site from search engines and links on other sites instead of coming… Continue reading NY Times Stops Charging for Content; Gives up $10 million in Subscription Revenue
Readers: So Much to Read, So Little Time
A small piece of feedback to the Washington Post makes a really good point about the scare time of readers, compared to the vast amount of media and information they are confronted with: “If the average paper has about 200 stories and the average reader has about 20 minutes to read it, he can spend… Continue reading Readers: So Much to Read, So Little Time