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The personal web log of Mike Lee, a web information architect, and teacher working in New York City "I surf as much as I eat." curiouslee in...   Hiptop Nation Mirror Project Google Images The City Paper UMBC TechPort email me past monthly... 2000:10.11.12 2001:01.02.03.04.05.06 07.08. 09.10.11.12 2002:01.02.03.04.05.06 07.08.09.10.11.12
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Thursday, November 30, 2000
Gutenberg's bibles arrive on the web on his 600th birthday  Two web sites have released detailed scans of Gutenberg Bibles to celebrate the 600th birthday of Johann Gutenberg, the inventor of movable type and the first mass-produced books. Gutenberg is widely acknowledged as the "Man of the Millenium." Most recently, The British Library collaborated with Tokyo's Keio University, and the giant Japanese telecom firm NTT to publish high-resolution images of their two complete Gutenberg Bibles. The other site was produced by the Göttingen State- and University Library in Germany. Of the two, the Göttingen site has more extensive background information and displays the unique "model book" used as reference for the illumination of the Göttingen Bibles. The British Library site is more sparse but offers higher resolution images of its books. I've set up a framed page that loads a page from each site so you can do a simple comparison. Launching the page will target a new window on top of this one. Beware that I've linked to almost 2 megabytes of images. Looking at the close-up image above, which is the first page of the King's Bible at The British Library, I was a little amazed to see the library stamp plastered in the column gutter. Here in the states, The Louisville Free Library just opened a show this month of individual bible pages, and they're displaying a working replica of Gutenberg's press. Ofcourse there's an online store that is selling facsimilies of bible pages. Wednesday, November 29, 2000
The number one frontier The Census Bureau of the U.S. Commerce Department says that e-commerce sales jumped 15% from the second to third quarters this year, but they caution that e-commerce accounts for less than one percent of overall consumer spending ( .78% percent to be exact ). So next time you hear breathy announcements of huge growth ( or potential growth ) in e-commerce, this number will help you keep the news in perspective. We've got a little ways to go before we cross the one percent ceiling. The Internet will eventually be wherever there's light at night  Another way to understand the global diffusion of computer and Internet technology is to look at this new composite image of the Earth at night from NASA. The Internet isn't everywhere there's light, but we're headed that way quickly. Even with the increasing use of wireless technologies, it will be many years before the Internet reaches the dark areas of the map. And I'm not even touching on political and social restrictions on the use of the Internet. I consider the points of light an illustration of the general limits of where the Internet will eventually be available. Click on the large image (534k) for a very detailed view. Tuesday, November 28, 2000
Content labors Contending with Content: The Five Labors that Deliver Compelling E-Business Experiences is a new article up at The Patricia Seybold Group (custmers.com) web site. Dan Bricklin analyzes the Sony eMarker Dan examines eMarker, a keychain-sized device that allows you to "bookmark" songs you hear on the radio for later purchase on the web. He says it's a good example of the appropriate use of technology to solve a problem of capturing information from the real-world and later matching it to web data. The eMarker is on sale at Amazon for $19.95. Also take a look at the competing iTag that recently ceased operations. Monday, November 27, 2000
An amusing flow chart Slorp has posted a scan of a flow chart entitled How to Get to Work in the Morning from the 1959 edition of Programming Business Computers. I had to laugh when I got to the "Give her $10" box. First look at Loop  The AIGA has released Loop, its journal on interaction design education. The first issue has interviews with interaction designers, and a great gallery of student projects on conceptualizing interaction design. I know what I'll be reading at lunch time today... Sunday, November 26, 2000
An encounter with storytelling and links to think A couple weeks ago, I had the chance to share an enchanting evening with traditional storyteller Dr. Laura Boldrick. We talked about the need for storytelling in web sites, experienced several of her story performances, and exchanged promises to continue thinking about storytelling in the digital realm. Next time we meet with Laura, I promise to post more details. Meantime, here's an excellent page of digital storytelling resources. Saturday, November 25, 2000
Solar storms tonight and tomorrow  This image is a recent, awe-inspiring example of the current peak in the 11 year cycle of solar activity. Tonight and tomorrow, a series of five strong energy bursts will hit the Earth with the strongest about mid-day tomorrow. Some of these and others during this peak could disrupt satellite and cell phone communications for up to an hour at a time, but more exciting is the possibility of northern light shows. Too bad it's raining here in Baltimore tonight. For updates, visit NOAA's Space Weather Now page. Friday, November 24, 2000
Web scripting languages and databases Buzz has a good comparative overview of web scripting languages. There's some good coverage on various development platforms and database issues. This is necessary background information especially if you're grappling with choosing or developing a content management system for your web site. The five crappiest tech jobs ...according to Forbes ASAP. Number three made me wince, and the last example is out of business. Thursday, November 23, 2000
Wednesday, November 22, 2000
Free cab rides supported by e-commerce This is a cool idea: in San Francisco, Yahoo is running a one-day promotion where taxi rides are free if you shop with Motorola Web-enabled mobile phones and the Sprint PCS Wireless Web. The promotion is to celebrate the launch of the launch of Yahoo! Shopping on Web-enabled phones. I wonder if they could work the economics and technology out one day to make bus and cab rides free (or discounted) if you shop while you ride. If you can carry more, you buy more The Museum of Useful Things web site features an online exhibit with a brief history of the shopping basket. The home page also links to a nice catalog of simple, functional home and office products. Wacky reference cards for the wired A new installment in a series of funny reference cards on digital lifestyle is up at Digital Living Today. The latest one is Psychological Conditions of the Wired World. Hanging out online for fun and nonprofit The Benton Foundation offers an excellent sub-site on Building Online Communities. There are several articles, a sample book chapter, and resource links. (Thanks Ann!) Difficult clients? Digital Web Magazine has a useful article about how to deal with difficult clients. It also describes a sales process and the documents you need to gradually engage a prospective client. A sample memorandum of understanding, proposal, and contract are provided for downloading. The information is great for designers just starting out in the web design business, but as with most of these types of articles, the piece falls short in addressing the true technical complexity of many web site development projects. If you're a good visual designer, but don't have technical development capability, you'll have to partner with other specialists or vendors, and that will take you to a higher level of contractual detail. And when you start to involve outside entities, having dedicated project managers becomes critical, and further expands the scope of the project. The sample documents provided are adequate to manage a small to medium-sized static web site with minimal custom application development. No mention is made of the practice of exchanging non-disclosure agreements to protect intellectual property rights before a project begins, even though intellectual property disputes are more common. The author wisely emphasizes that you should have a lawyer review the sample documents before using them. Tuesday, November 21, 2000
Only high party officials get equipment like this ...  The heat's blown in the old silverware factory where our company is temporarily located. So I'm enjoying the satisfying roar and glow of this propane heater three feet from my desk (provided by our landlord while they're working on repairs). We're counting the days to the new digs we'll have in March '01. Monday, November 20, 2000
Electronics heaven Jeffrey Harrow and Dan Bricklin both have detailed reports on the Comdex Show. This year's theme seems to be wireless mobility with miniaturization. I savored these pages (OK, I drooled), but realized our house has become a mini-Comdex Show... More coverage: CNN, CNET, PC World, and MSNBC. Sunday, November 19, 2000
Web menu mania Jakob Nielsen has a good analysis of the current use of drop-down menus in web pages. Not surprisingly, he advises restraint in their application. Lighthouse's Attack of the flying menus specifically describes the problems with Dynamic HTML fly-out menus, of which the worst is the cascading variety. The most extreme example of the cascading type of fly-out is seen at JCPenney.com (see these screenshots of the initial home page and the most extreme cascade). Not only is this mess difficult to navigate with a mouse or trackball, it places a pretty heavy cognitive load on users. Navigating this JCPenny.com menu is like trying to make it through one of those electric loop mazes where you have to move a wire loop through a convoluted wire path without contacting the two and triggering a buzzer. Amazon's solution to navigational complexity was to simplify in redesigning their tabbed navigation menus. Saturday, November 18, 2000
The galactic 'hood  This map of the local galactic neighborhood around the sun caught my eye in the Astronomy Picture of the Day archive. What's interesting is that it depicts more of the "stuff" of space than the typical dots on a star chart. And it shows the Sun is on a journey that is taking us into a dense cloud of interstellar gas in about 50,000 years that could affect the Earth's atmosphere. It's humbling to see 1500 light years of space reduced to the size of a wallet card. Here's a closer view of the above, back out some, and the whole enchilada. Robot Zoo  We visited National Geographic today to catch the travelling Robot Zoo exhibit. The exhibit has been circulating for the last two years and is at Explorer's Hall in Washington, D.C. until January 7th, 2001. My favorite part of the exhibit is the Chameleon made up of video screens (pictured above) that are driven by a computer paint program. I also liked the fly's head. Geek Coma "The state into which a gadget geek falls after acquiring a new techno-toy. Days seem to go by while he or she fiddles with said gadget and raves to others about how groundbreaking it is." — Wired Jargon Watch, December 2000 Friday, November 17, 2000
Interview with the Google guys The MIT Technology Review interviews the creators of my favorite search engine. According to the interview, they get 15 million queries a day, are growing by 20% a month, and use 6,000 computers to operate their system. It was also nice to hear their philosophy of interface simplicity. Thursday, November 16, 2000
New toys for typesetters Some people are talking about some new punctuation symbols. Are you ready for the quomma and the exclomma? Who will decide on the adoption of the punctuation? Maybe there's an ISO committee for this. Acela-dipity I was just getting off the local MARC commuter train in DC today and walked into the official launch of the Acela high-speed train at Union Station. Here's a photo of the train pulling away from the station:  The nose of the train is just under the hanging white sign. Here's a clear rendering of the train from Amtrak:  The train left at precisely 9:54am Eastern and I read later that it arrived in New York City in a record 2 hours 26 minutes. The "event" was kind of disappointing even with the spacey fanfare music and high-tech lighting. The train pulled away too fast. I was expecting something more like the maiden voyage of the new U.S.S. Enterprise in the first Star Trek movie. Here's an official press release, a Washington Post article, and AP coverage on the train's arrival in NYC. Senator Frank Lautenberg has a site on The High Speed Rail Investment Act that has a nice photo gallery (absent from the Acela's site). The AP story says Michael Dukakis was on the train ... remember him? Wednesday, November 15, 2000
AOL Mobile Communicator In continuing with their AOL Anywhere strategy, they've licensed the RIM Blackberry to offer always on Instant Messaging. The IBM Systems Journal special double-issue on The MIT Media Lab is out The current issue of The IBM Systems Journal is a special on the last 4 years of work at The MIT Media Lab. No doubt this is part of the PR juggernaut commemorating their 15th anniversary (and continuing need for funding). The articles represent out-of-the-box thinking on topics such as information design, product development, electronic learning, and mobile computing. The magazine isn't on newsstands yet (some B&N stores carry it), nor is it in their online store, but all the articles are in HTML, ASCII, and PDF format for free on the web site. This kills my weekend reading ... Oh, it's just text CreativePro has a piece titled The Myth of Plain Text that challenges the common assumption that you can ignore the proper treatment of body text on web pages. Tuesday, November 14, 2000
A privacy breach more insidious than the Internet I was thinking about mundane activities that fall under the eye of computer databases and arrived at grocery shopping. It's something that virtually everyone does regularly without any awareness of the possibility of electronic snooping. The equivalent to the cookie or web profile is the shopping club card. Once you register for the privilege of check cashing, the store can associate your identity with the contents of your shopping cart as they scan the bar codes. Ofcourse they would never dip into that data. Right. Well there is information out there and a watchdog organization on the case. Palm chick For some reason I couldn't convince my spouse to give me the setup shown yesterday and switch to this version of the Palm even with the added glamor of this carrying case. User comments on the new Photoshop 6 Macintouch has some reader comments and first impressions on Photoshop 6. There's discussion on difficulties running the upgrade, and a bunch of snippiness about Fireworks 3 not importing native Photoshop files, along with difficulties with Freehand files. Staff from both Adobe and Macromedia respond. Dreamweaver 4 announced Macromedia's Dreamweaver 4 was just announced and will ship in December. Details are on the software's web site. Monday, November 13, 2000
My wife is a geek  I came home tonight to find her giddy about a new Omnisky wireless modem on her Palm Vx. The photo is of us surfing the web from under a tree on the JHU campus. Here we're logged in to Mapblast. Things will seriously get out of hand the day I get one for my Visor which is not soon, since I'm always near a high-speed connection at home, school, and work. Brand is dead! Marketing is dead! Business 2.0 is running a short interview with Silicon Valley marketing godfather Regis McKenna. McKenna declares that choice and price are preferred by customers over brand, and CEOs and CIOs have co-opted marketing. Many of his comments ring true, but I let out an "aha" when I saw mention of his forthcoming book on this topic. Looks like 2001 will be the year Regis kills branding and marketing while selling a lot of books and speaking engagements along the way. Sunday, November 12, 2000
The Media Lab at 15 Walter Bender has taken over the helm of The MIT Media Lab on its 15th anniversary. An article at The New York Times outlines the challenges he and the lab face in balancing the need to maintain corporate sponsorships and allowing lab researchers to form profit-making ventures of their own. Saturday, November 11, 2000
Friday, November 10, 2000
Codercake I think this woman was manufactured by Adobe Systems to torture male web geeks. She's a powerful 28. Pictures within pictures It continues to amaze me that Rob Silvers' Photomosaics are still popular. It's essentially a one-trick effect that is somewhat more interesting than the Magic Eye posters you see at cheezy gift shops. There's even a $99 software utility that let's you make your own, and a free program too. Another site provides background information and some history on the effect. Anyway, I just got an email from Silvers saying his new book of Photomosaic portraits is out just in time for Christmas. Cha-ching. Thursday, November 09, 2000
Usability a deciding factor in the vote? Dan Bricklin has a great article and analysis of the badly designed Florida voting booth ballots. Web designers would be shot if they did this on a web form! Wednesday, November 08, 2000
The pixel  Alone a pixel is powerless. It is a character that only has value when seen as part of a large crowd. -- Maeda@Media p.75 Understanding USA I just found my notes on Richard Saul Wurman's book Understanding USA. They're kind of timely actually while we're waiting to find out who will be our next president. Almost the entire book is on the companion site for browsing, and I was surprised to find that all of the original digital pages are downloadable in PDF format from a small link at the bottom of each web site chapter page. You can print them out to use as mini-posters or open them in Adobe Illustrator or Macromedia Freehand to study the detailed vector artwork. The introduction speaks loftily about Information Architects: We are at an amazing moment of a Gutenberg-level event, with electronic wings able to fly through understandable information of our own choosing. With Velcro claws we collect all the data that warm & answer our inherent curiosity & questions. Here's an index of the files with direct download links:
Also order the book from Amazon ... it's only $20! Tuesday, November 07, 2000
Maxed out on innovation Michael Shrage investigates our current glut of innovation, and how the more innovations there are, the less valuable any given innovation is likely to be. The cult of innovation at all costs is backfiring. New thinking on interactive advertising Michigan State University has released the first issue of an e-journal, The Journal of Interactive Advertising. Their mission: The Journal of Interactive Advertising is published to contribute to the development of knowledge about advertising and commercial communication that is interactive in nature. Interactivity may be construed as "human-machine-human", "human-machine", "human-message", or "machine-machine" mode for the purposes of Journal of Interactive Advertising. Articles submitted to Journal of Interactive Advertising should make a contribution to knowledge in the field of interactive communication. No one discipline or no single methodology is viewed as inherently superior. Research based in any of the social sciences is welcome. I especially enjoyed the paper, Interactivity in the Context of Designed Experiences which examines the usage of the term "interaction" and charts its application across the continuum of electronic media. There's also a long section on the fundamental characteristics of interaction in communication technologies. Break a monopoly, make a monopoly Lawrence Lessig has an essay at The Industry Standard on how the government doesn't just break monopolies, but makes them as well. Monster computers An article at CNET on how IBM dominates supercomputer rankings reads like a monster truck competition: IBM displaced Intel to take the No. 1 spot in the latest version of the Top500 list, released Friday before the SC 2000 supercomputing conference in Dallas. The top machine, called ASCI White, has 8,192 CPUs, weighs 106 tons and takes up two basketball courts' worth of floor space. Yeah buddy! No matter how much miniaturization and ubiquity rules the computer hardware industry, there will always be competitions for who has the biggest and fastest supercomputer as long as boys are involved. Monday, November 06, 2000
Style guides for Interactive Television (ITV) interface design A german consultancy, GSM, has posted a comprehensive style guide on designing user interfaces for interactive television systems. Multimedia User Interfaces for Interactive Systems and TV is based on ISO standards and shows its teutonic precision in the extensive documentation. Unfortunately, the reference is chunked down in chapter subsections and not available as a single download. The AOL TV Design Guide is downloadable as a Microsoft Word document. It's still labelled "partners only" but you don't have to register for it. A large portion of the content is proprietary to AOL's system, but there are good general guidelines as well. Sunday, November 05, 2000
That funky keyboard guy  The Industry Standard GROK has a short profile on Bob Olodort of Think Outside, Inc. who turns out to be the creator of several things I own or have experienced. Bob is the inventor of the Stowaway keyboard, the Seiko envelope label printer, and the IMAX camera. I've got the first two products, and I was introduced to the IMAX system when I interned at The National Air and Space Museum in the late 70s. It's inspiring to learn about individuals who have endless curiosity and apply it in different conceptual domains. Tired of carrying around a PDA, cell phone, and other electronic tools, his current quest is to create the ultimate unified wireless device, no doubt incorporating his fold up keyboard. There's an interview at Wired that goes into some detail about the development of the Stowaway keyboard. Saturday, November 04, 2000
Your website might be insulting! A new article at Web Reference briefly covers some issues in designing culture-friendly web sites. Thanks Rosetta! Friday, November 03, 2000
Got my copy of Maeda@Media today I wasn't expecting a book almost 3 inches thick! Every page is chock full of algorithmic eye candy. I mentioned the book in a previous entry and have been looking forward to it.   Notice the bottom edge ... the brown stripe has graphics that bleed from the inside to form a message!  And that section opened up reveals that we are interpreting several different spacial dimensions of the book. Mona Lego Erich Harshbarger has done it again. The builder of the Lego Desk has now created Mona Lego! The work uses 30,000 bricks, and only the six standard block colors. The artwork was developed with his Pixelego software. Thursday, November 02, 2000
Fontmonster Fontmonster offers a fun collection of fonts free for the downloading. Both Mac and PC formats are available. Now I need to find a project to apply Dimestore Hooker or Plastic Tomato. Creating convergence The November 2000 issue of Scientific American takes a look at digital media convergence (a term pushed around heavily in the mid-90s), and how it might actually become a reality in the next few years. In a sidebar, they present a graphic of the technology components of the convegence. They conclude that there are still major technical hurdles to overcome, and the converged experience will still require several devices. Wednesday, November 01, 2000
Guess "It's important for us to explain to our nation that life is important. It's not only life of babies, but it's life of children living in, you know, the dark dungeons of the Internet."--Arlington Heights, Ill., Oct. 24, 2000 who.
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