An interesting article by Stuart Jeffries from Sunday’s Guardian poses these questions and more:

How the web lost its way – and its founding principles

[At] a recent Ted talk, Berners-Lee [Sir Tim, inventor of the Internet] cited as evidence of the help the web can be to humanity the case of GeoEye, a company that shortly after Haiti’s 2010 earthquake released satellite imagery of the devastated areas, with a licence that allowed people to use it. Quickly, relief workers zoomed into it – and added to OpenStreetMap details about the devastated area – to build up a picture of which roads were blocked, which buildings damaged, where refugee camps were growing and when medical ships were reaching port. “The site rapidly became the map to use on the ground if you were doing relief work,” said Berners-Lee.

This sort of thing was what he hoped would be made possible after the birth of the world wide web at Cern in Geneva in December 1990. “It consisted of one web site and one browser, which happened to be on the same computer,” he recalls. The simple setup demonstrated a profound concept: that any person could share information with anyone else, anywhere. In this spirit, the web spread quickly from the grassroots up.

“The web evolved into a powerful, ubiquitous tool because it was built on egalitarian principles and because thousands of individuals, universities and companies have worked, both independently and together as part of the World Wide Web Consortium [established by Berners-Lee so that stakeholders could work together in open groups to build a better web than any company could build by itself], to expand its capabilities based on those principles.”

But, in spreading from the grassroots up, his invention has arguably lost many of the egalitarian principles Berners-Lee hoped for. It has become less straightforwardly a force for good. Earlier this month, Charles Leadbeater, former policy adviser to the Labour government and a champion of the web’s potential to give power to hitherto deprived groups, published a report called A Better Web for the Nominet Trust pointing to the pervasive misogyny of the web as an example of how the democratising potential of the internet has not been fulfilled. Read the full article here…

What the UK government can learn from Google autocomplete

Inspired by this amusing blogpost from Canadian thinktank the Mowat Centre, I decided to do a version for the UK public sector. Here’s what policymakers – and government communicators – can learn from the most popular questions typed into Google.

Much of it revolves around money; lots of people want to know what they can get out of the government, be it maternity leave, sick pay or funerals.

Google also reveals some of our wackier concerns, including what the plan is for when zombies attack. Or aliens. And when will the government start cloning us? Read the full article here.

This is an excellent example of “quick and dirty” or “guerilla” user testing. Just because you don’t have access to a fully-featured UX lab (or the money to buy in people that do) doesn’t mean you can’t find innovative ways to get an insight into what your users or potential users are thinking.

Of course, you do need to apply at least a bit of critical thinking, to work out what biases may have crept into the results. But it’s great to hear about imaginative ways of finding out about user behaviour – if you’ve got any good examples, leave us a comment.

While most people will spend Boxing Day with their feet up in front of the fire snacking on left-overs, he will be in Cromer, Norfolk, taking part in the town’s infamous Boxing Day Dip.

Sponsor him here

The 45-year-old from Hitchin is hoping to raise £200 for the Henry Surtees Foundation, a charity set up following the 18-year-old’s death in a freak accident during a Formula 2 race in 2009.

The foundation was created by Henry’s father, multiple world champion John Surtees OBE, to assist people injured in accidents return to community living, and also to use motorsport to improve young people’s education, training and skills in areas such as technology, engineering, fitness and the media.

Mr Surtees is supporting Andy’s efforts, saying: “Most people would be dreaming of dipping into a warm sea on a Caribbean Island at Christmas. Andy’s choice of dashing into the North Sea on Boxing Day on behalf of the Henry Surtees Foundation is very welcome and appreciated. But it makes me shiver just to think about it! Good luck Andy and thank you.”

His words were echoed by Formula One test and reserve driver Sam Bird, who has worked with the Foundation in the past and was recently presented with the Graham Hill Trophy by Mr Surtees.

He said: “When I heard about Andy’s plan, my first thought was ‘rather him than me’. But the Henry Surtees Foundation is supported across the whole of motorsport and I’m very happy to back him in what he’s doing. When Andy hits the water on Boxing Day I, and a lot of other drivers, will be cheering him on – from a safe distance!”

Andy, who teaches journalism in addition to his work in motorsport, said: “No-one involved in racing will ever forget the awful day Henry died. My students are mostly the age he was, and this motivates me even more to support the foundation.

“I’m nervous about the event as I’m no great fan of the cold, but I’m hoping the mad rush of everyone across the beach will carry me in before I have time to lose my nerve!”

Andy can be sponsored at Virgin Money Giving. Fundraising will remain open until the end of January.

Last year we built the National Libraries Day website – and this year we’re back on board to make sure everything runs smoothly until the event on Saturday February 9 2013.

National Libraries Day 2013 will be the culmination of a week’s worth of celebrations in school, college, university, workplace and public libraries across the UK.

In 2012 over 400 events took place in libraries across the country, including author visits, live music performances, book clubs, family history days, stand up comedy and behind the scenes tours. Thousands of people took part.

CILIP points out that, every day across the UK, librarians and information professionals are improving literacy rates, encouraging learning and promoting reading for pleasure. They connect people with the information they need and contribute to a fair and prosperous society.

It says National Libraries Day 2013 is a chance to say a big thank you to these unsung heroes, to shine a spotlight on all the great work they do and to show decision-makers just why librarians and information professionals are so loved and so vital to our communities.

Other organisations involved in the event include the Reading Agency, the School Library Association and the Society of Chief Librarians.

CILIP President, Phil Bradley said, “In these times of austerity is clear that libraries are needed and valued more than ever. Librarians in conjunction with their members are working hard to protect and improve their communities, to increase literacy levels, and to provide training and support in many areas, from learning about the internet through to researching for a new job.

“National Libraries Day is an opportunity to celebrate everyone who works in a library, everyone who visits libraries, and to highlight to people who don’t visit them exactly what they’re missing out on.”

As always, we are very proud to be playing a part in this campaign.

The front page of Daniel’s new site

Daniel, a talented former junior footballer who has been racing successfully in some of Europe’s top championships, has recently completed his first season in Formula 2, where he finished ninth overall.

The site features imaginative use of race photography, a number of simple ways for fans to follow Daniel’s racing progress, a news feed and an attractive platform for marketing and sponsorship.

We’re also delighted that Daniel’s car has been carrying Onlineability’s branding this summer as he toured Europe’s iconic racetracks – including Monza, Spa-Francorchamps and Silverstone.

To learn more about our work in motorsport, visit this page of the site.

CILIP’s Shoutabout website

Last year we created a site to mark the first UK-wide National Libraries Day. This year, during the autumn, we have been working once again with CILIP to help promote its Shoutabout campaign by designing and building its new website.

Shoutabout aims to raise awareness of the value of school libraries at primary and secondary school level. It seeks to do this by persuading key stakeholders including government, head teachers, school governors and parents. An effective web presence is a key part of a campaign like this and we are very pleased and proud to have been involved in creating it.

Launched by CILIP in partnership with the School Libraries Association (SLA) and Association of Senior Children’s and Librarians (ASCEL), Shoutabout was born of the belief that here’s never been a more important time to promote the importance of school libraries, librarians and support services.

It reflects the fight to ensure children and young people across the country have access to proper library resources whether on-site, as part of a cluster of schools or through local authorities’ school library services.

The campaign leaders are stressing how school librarians and Schools Library Services expertise are essential in helping children navigate the digital world and improve information literacy skills. They ask what use is a classroom of PCs connected to the internet if children don’t know how to use them effectively?

Shoutabout is also campaigning for the inclusion of secondary school libraries in England in Ofsted inspections and wants to expand the coverage of local authority school library services that support individual schools, their staff and pupils.

On Monday October 29, authors, teachers, librarians, parents and students from across the country marched on parliament to lobby their MPs in support of school libraries – and more events are planned.

To add your voice to the campaign, visit the website here.

Daniel McKenzie at Silverstone in the F2 car

Daniel is competing this year in the Formula Two championship, a single-seater series that visits some of Europe’s top racing venues as well as offering its most successful drivers tests in Formula One and GP2 machinery.

His website currently contains an interesting and comprehensive archive of race reports and photo galleries, and he has commissioned Onlineability to refresh its appearance and design an architecture to make the information easier to access.

A promising schoolboy footballer, Daniel switched to motorsport after a career-ending injury forced a re-assessment of his future. After cutting his teeth in karting, Formula BMW UK and Formula Renault 2.0, he graduated to the National class of British Formula Three, where he was champion in 2009.

Daniel McKenzie with the British F3 National Class trophy in 2009

He moved up to British F3’s International class for 2010, when he scored two victories and was the only member of the field to finish all 30 races that season, before competing in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series for 2011 – speaking to Onlineability’s motorsport website Brits on Pole before the season began.

Daniel said: “A motorsport lifestyle is pretty busy and the media side of it is very important, so it’s good to have confidence that the online and social media sides of my career are under control.

“It’s good to be working with a business you can have a personal relationship with – Onlineability is a smart little British business and I feel like I’m being looked after by them.”

Onlineability director Andy Darley said: “Motorsport is particularly close to our hearts and we are very pleased to be working with Daniel and assisting him with race reports and his website during his 2012 Formula 2 season.

“Racing drivers operate as small businesses and it’s essential they get the basics, such as publicity, communicating with fans and a consistent message to sponsors, sorted out as early in their careers as possible. This means that a well-run website is an essential.

“We are very much looking forward to working with Daniel and we wish him all the best for the rest of the year.”

Every year the Chartered Institute for Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), which is the professional body for library and information workers, organises a day for those in their first five years in the profession.

This New Professionals’ Day (#cilipnpd12 on Twitter) is always heavily oversubscribed and very popular.

This year Lisa teamed up with CILIP website manager Richard Hawkins to talk about the kinds of jobs available to information professionals keen to work with the web and social media, and to discuss the way such work is organised.

This can include being a contractor, a freelance or setting up your own company, just as we did with Onlineability!

The workshop also covered the kinds of work we do and what we don’t do, important concepts such as accessibility, usability and user-centred design, the kind of job titles to look for and what skills candidates need.

We also explored the parallels between working in a library and managing a website – and concluded that they had a great deal in common since both involve assisting users to find the information they need as quickly and easily as possible.

You can view the whole presentation here:

The Hitchin-based web consultancy provides website support for both drivers – you can visit Sam’s site here and Duncan’s here.

In 2012 Sam will continue his work as a development driver with the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One team. In this role he does considerable simulator work to help develop the car with which Nico Rosberg won his first Grand Prix in China this weekend.

He also attends races in case a reserve driver is needed and is keeping his open-wheel skills sharp by racing in the Formula Renault 3.5 series.

Meanwhile Duncan is driving a McLaren MP4-12C for ART Grand Prix alongside Frenchman Grégoire Demoustier in the Blancpain Endurance Series, an international GT series organised in parallel with the FIA GT3 European Championship and the GT4 European Cup.

The series boasts a Europe-wide calendar on circuits including Silverstone, Monza and the Nurburgring, and its signature event is the 24 Hours of Spa endurance race.

We wish both of them the very best for the 2012 season. To keep up with the careers of other British drivers competing in open-wheel motorsport, please visit our site Brits on Pole.

The Takeover Panel front page

After several years of successful collaboration, it was judged to be time for an overhaul and a new look for the Takeover Panel website.

Onlineability began by carrying out detailed research and data analysis to find out how users engaged with the site.

We then created a new, more modern look, reviewed its information structure and added some improvements to improve its usability.

The result is a clean, modern and intuitive site that continues to perform in the way the that the organisation needs – and which remains flexible enough to respond to future demands.