Web User Today

Learn When (Not) to Use Email

2011-03-11T01:37:00.004+08:00

Many us start our day with coffee and emails! We sort, read, reply, forward, write and send emails.

Imagine your day if no single email is 'dropped' into your inbox. Isn't it more surprising than receiving more than a hundred emails in less than 12 hours?

Indeed, email is one of the most beautiful creation in IT. We can rely email in getting our messages understood regardless of how far and how many our recipients are. But should we fully depend on emails?

No. There are instances when you should learn not to fully depend on emails. Even you mark an email as high priority or request for a receipt, it is not a guarantee that your get the immediate action of the recipient.

There was a case shared by a fellow who is a Technical Writer based in the Philippines. A week earlier, she sent some questions and clarifications to a subject matter expert who was based in North America.

She waited but three days had passed, she hadn't heard anything. So, she sent follow up. Another two days had passed and there was no reply. She was worried because the User Guide she is working on was due in two days.

With her another followup email already sent, she was exhausted with ways anymore. One last option was phone call. She did it and her resource person asked her to resend her request. In the next 12 hours, she got the information, finished her document and hit her target!

There are many available options that we can use aside from email. Aside from phone calls we have Instant Messenger (IM). Are you using IM to communicate fellows in the company?

Ideally, when an important communication does not get immediate reply within reasonable time, you need to take a move.

It is very good if your organization adopt these good practices in responding to communications. For example, all emails marked as important or high priority should get a reply within an hour. Reply could mean an acknowledgement. (Example: I got your mail and currently checking the details. I will get back to you with my thoughts ASAP.) Normal priority emails needs to get replies within 12 hours.

So if you don't get replies at reasonable time? You may send a follow up and copy the recipient's manager. If it doesn't work, check what option you can do other than email.

The rule of the thumb is: rely but never depend everything to email.

Quick Guide to Email Etiquette

2011-01-20T01:29:00.004+08:00

Email, as an important tool in communication, is sometimes abused and misused.

This is the the concern of one of my friend who often get irritated with the emails she received. I compile here some good guidelines for email etiquette.

Here are some suggestions for using email tactfully, gracefully, effectively, and safely from Indiana University University Information Technology Services:

Don't send confidential or secret information (such as credit card information, Social Security numbers, or passwords) through non-secured email. Email messages are more like postcards than sealed letters; they pass through many computers to get to their destination.

Never use email to harass others or otherwise use it in such a way that it will bother people. Limit the number of email messages you send and save.

Don't send email to large groups of people who might not be interested in your message. Never send spam mail, and remember that any form of chain mail is illegal.

If you do legitimately need to send email to a large number of people, you should place all but one of the addresses in the blind carbon copy ("Bcc:") field of the message. If the addresses are on the "Bcc:" field rather than the "To:" or "Cc:" fields, a reply to the message will go only to the original sender, not to the entire list of addressees. When replies do go to all of the original addressees, each reply is also considered a mass mailing.

Pause before you send an email message you might later regret. Avoid personal attacks (in Internet parlance, flames) on others. A good rule of thumb is: If you wouldn't say it to a person's face, don't send it.

Identify yourself in the body of your message, especially if your username is something like joe29. Using a signature is one way to do this.

Include information in the subject line of your message to help recipients decide when (and whether) to read your message.

When you reply to a message, include an excerpt from that message. Your reply will make more sense. However, if the message is long, don't excerpt the entire text, especially if all you are posting is a short response.

Body language and tone of voice don't come across in email. Be more careful than you are in conversation. Don't type in all capital letters; YOUR MESSAGE WILL LOOK LIKE YOU'RE SHOUTING! Some people make use of smilies to better convey emotion.

Don't send messages you wouldn't want forwarded (at least not without a "For your eyes only" notation).

Think before you forward! Do you have the sender's permission?

Learn the difference between replying to a whole group of users and replying to just the author of a message. Does everyone in the group need to read your response?

Facebook: This Too Shall Pass

2011-01-13T01:23:00.001+08:00

Facebook (FB) soon ends, some FB friends told me. Why and how, I asked in silence. Hearsay - just another blah blah blah in Facebook - I felt it would not give justice to my time.

Some guilty FB friends continue to spam me and one even warned that FB will shut down in a week or month. I cannot verify this, so I tag the information as zero value.

Wait, natural laws remind us the everyone and everything comes and goes. Something appears and then something ends. Someone gets life then someone dies. Deep in my mind (while sipping my dark coffee), this truth gets up.

Will Facebook stays forever young? I wonder.

I stumble another interesting question from my inbox.

Is Facebook bound by the same laws of Physics as everyone else?

Compelling question, isn't it? Facebook can be or will never be an exemption.

Is Facebook bound by the same laws of Physics [...]? Joshua Porter left this question to readers of 52 Weeks of UX as his final line of his article Is Facebook Temporary?

Yes. Facebook is temporary, Joshua Porter thinks so as he agrees with Douglas Rushkoff's argument that Facebook is not forever. I joined these men and I would say that it might not that very soon as what some FB friends are spreading. As we are bound to many changes, Facebook too will soon change and then completes its lifecycle.

Douglas Rushkoff fearlessly wrote, Facebook hype will fade. (Published online in CNN Opinion, January 07, 2011).

Rushkoff's intriguing line (somewhat unbelievable to others) came as the world's eyes feast on Facebook's awesome success - the hit movie about it; its founder, Mark Zuckerberg being the Time's Man of the Year; and the recent announcement of Goldman Sachs' deal to FB worth billions of dollars!

With that huge amount, how could Facebook goes down in the future?

The hype was with MySpace, that was before Facebook.

So let's take MySpace's case, Facebook's competitor. As noted by Rushkoff, MySpace was bought for $580 million in 2005 at the time the site was so popular. Now, MySpace is tightening it's belt.

Of course I am not claiming that soon Facebook will tight it's belt, too. I am saying (echoing Rushkoff) that Facebook's hype will fade. Facebook too will pass.

But Rushkoff reminds us that:

it’s not that MySpace lost and Facebook won. It’s that MySpace won first, and Facebook won next. They’ll go down in the same order.

It makes sense. A simple explanation comes from Joshua Porter as he reasoned why he agreed to Douglas Rushkoff.

Facebook has a lifecycle just like everything else.

So Facebook cannot stay forever. Of course not as what some spammed individuals have imagined - the sudden shutdown.

And as to when Facebook completes it's lifecycle, we don't know.

In Is Facebook Temporary?, Joshua Porter identified some factors that can contribute in the decline of Facebook.

What gets me up is the natural cycle of interests of social beings. He wrote:

[..]there also comes a point when we’ve connected with so many people in one spot that that spot loses its exclusivity…it’s not special to be there anymore. This is the point that Rushkoff is making…equating social networks with social hotspots like gyms or clubs, whose popularity ebbs and flows with some sort of cool factor. This is a natural change that will inevitably occur…it already feels like Facebook is not cool anymore.

Well, Friendster was once very cool to me. I used to visit my profile everyday. I uploaded many pictures and added many friends. I had a feeling that my Friendster would go with me for decades. Yet, I notice later that I shifted my eyes and get busy clicking Facebook's buttons. Three months ago, I removed my account - no regrets.

One major factor why there is shift of interest to Facebook is my connection's interests to Facebook; and influenced by the IN factor!

You can relate, I suspect. I mean, I believe this sounds familiar to you.

No worries my FB friends. I am pretty sure we can still update our status and can still read nourishing status updates of our circle. Just for today, I am pretty sure Facebook is alive. How about living it's life to the fullest?

Ways to effectively communicate online

2011-01-10T01:18:00.008+08:00

No one can claim of not being misunderstood. Whether we communicate face-to-face, or to print and broadcast media, or online (some call it new media), we face the risk of mis-communication.

It came as surprise when the status I posted in Facebook drew different reactions. I wrote: "[...] sweet romance with my new small tool".

Some friends thought I was referring to my sex organ and "flagged" my status message as "green".

Actually, I was referring to my new netbook. Perhaps the word "romance" was too close to sex, thus the word "tool" was connected to it. With this, the minds of some friends sketched "sex organ".

It was funny but the experience reminded me once again to take extra care and read my words from different point of view when I communicate online.

It is not unusual to companies with remote staff to encounter some conflict because an email was mis-read or a simple IM message was misunderstood. I have experienced this once and I almost lost a staff in less than 12 hours! And I have experienced feeling like in hot water as I try to mediate heated exchanges of words online.

Are there ways to effectively communicate online? For those whose work requires interaction and coordination with remote staff, these tips might help.

Read what you write. I would advise: read your lines before clicking "send". As you read, you might notice that some words are complex or some lines can be interpreted in many ways.
Reconsider replying online communication when you are upset. Remember that emails, social media status can be saved and can go far. You might regret what you have written in the future.
Know the cultural and professional background of the person you are communicating with.
Use nice words and write optimistically.
Suggest your ideas in a professional manner. You can insist your opinion but be careful not to insult others.
Be human. When you send an email, your goal is to communicate to human person. By being human means, you need to feel your feelings and feel other feelings as well.

Nobody escapes communication. We communicate as long as we breath. Computers and network of computers are just our tools to communicate effectively.

Can't we get out from Facebook's control?

2010-12-11T00:38:00.001+08:00

We have control over Facebook of course! But it seems to me that Facebook has too much control on me (as FB user).

Recently, Facebook rolled out another change that filled the excitement of some users while equally frustrated (read as upset) many users.

The new profile page of Facebook is believed (at least by people behind it) to be an "improvement" on design that make sharing and viewing of information "easier".

Not all of us would agree that the change improves user experience and make sharing and viewing of information easy. Personally, the new Facebook profile page gives me headache today.

A couple of hours ago, I wasted my time navigating on Facebook's interface to figure out how to control display of my personal information. I am referring to the information just below my name. Now, everyone who visits my profile page repeatedly see where I work, where I studied, my birthday, and all other stuff I put on our profile. And so I removed some stuff.

No, I am not trying to hide things about myself to my network. I want my information to be in the system but not highlight them as they are today. And it's FB's will, not my desire.

The reason behind this is explained in the Facebook Blog. It says:

[...] profile begins with a quick overview of basic information such as where you're from, where you went to school, and where you work—the kinds of conversation starters you share with people you've just met or exchange with old friends as you get reacquainted.

The observation of Facebook is true but in a social community, such social intercourse (as described) is not particularly applicable all the time and to all the people.

I am not alone who feel that showing basic information in most prominent area of the page is making sense. When my recently connected friends, new acquaintances, and others already know about my basic information, what makes it logical to show to them (my friends) the same information every time they visit my profile?

Facebook should realize that many FB users don't love the idea of trumpeting their basic information. I believe that basic information is less frequently accessed. And many, of course, love to see once's status updates.

If the basic information should be there, why should I'll be forced to have my information prominently displayed? I was looking for settings because I wish to have my status displayed below my name.

I dislike the row of pictures also displayed prominently. Those images are actually the pictures I was tagged in. I don't embrace the idea that showing tagged photos would tell my friends more about me. Tag feature is abused which means that being tagged to a photo may not always mean you're engaged on the story behind it. In fact, sometimes, you are tagged on senseless and offending images!

Why does Facebook choose what picture to get into that row of images? I love to suggest that FB users who love to show pictures about themselves should have the option to control what to show there.

Users are not the same. The web is not used the same way. These are the fact that we can't deny.

As FB users, we should have control over our account.

Blogger's Code of Ethics

2010-04-10T00:07:00.008+08:00

Bloggers earn respect and admiration. And bloggers also earn hatred and condemnation. Yet, blogging in the Philippines continue to grow (evolve is a good term to use) and become more and more influential.

In coffee talks with fellow members of Cebu Bloggers Society, we touched on the issues of unethical conduct among few bloggers. I should say, undesirable conduct (well just the same).

In most cases, the discussion went to the call for having a clear and well-defined "code of conduct or code of ethics" something similar to the Journalist's Code of Ethics. Yes, in many ways blogger and journalists have the same ethical views on plagiarism; on attribution of information sources; on acceptance of money - bribes; on the truthfulness and honesty. But many brilliant bloggers argue that we cannot use as is the journalist's long list of must and must not.

Some bloggers I know want to establish that creating a formal code of ethics is needed because bloggers know about the basics: plagiarism, bribes, dishonesty, et cetera.

I think otherwise. We need to put our ethical standards to remind or to educate the newcomer.

Code of Ethics for Bloggers

CyberJournalist.net modified the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics to create a model Bloggers' Code of Ethics.

Here is the outcome. Note that everything is copied as is. The content below belongs to CyberJournalist.net.

Blogger's Code of Ethics

Be Honest and Fair

Bloggers should be honest and fair in gathering, reporting and interpreting information. Bloggers should:

- Never plagiarize.
- Identify and link to sources whenever feasible. The public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources' reliability.
- Make certain that Weblog entries, quotations, headlines, photos and all other content do not misrepresent. They should not oversimplify or highlight incidents out of context.
- Never distort the content of photos without disclosing what has been changed. Image enhancement is only acceptable for for technical clarity. Label montages and photo illustrations.
- Never publish information they know is inaccurate -- and if publishing questionable information, make it clear it's in doubt.
- Distinguish between advocacy, commentary and factual information. Even advocacy writing and commentary should not misrepresent fact or context.
- Distinguish factual information and commentary from advertising and shun hybrids that blur the lines between the two.

Minimize Harm

Ethical bloggers treat sources and subjects as human beings deserving of respect. Bloggers should:

- Show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by Weblog content. Use special sensitivity when dealing with children and inexperienced sources or subjects.
- Be sensitive when seeking or using interviews or photographs of those affected by tragedy or grief.
- Recognize that gathering and reporting information may cause harm or discomfort. Pursuit of information is not a license for arrogance.
- Recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves than do public officials and others who seek power, influence or attention. Only an overriding public need can justify intrusion into anyone's privacy.
- Show good taste. Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity.
- Be cautious about identifying juvenile suspects, victims of sex crimes and criminal suspects before the formal filing of charges.

Be Accountable

Bloggers should:

- Admit mistakes and correct them promptly.
- Explain each Weblog's mission and invite dialogue with the public over its content and the bloggers' conduct.
- Disclose conflicts of interest, affiliations, activities and personal agendas.
- Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence content. When exceptions are made, disclose them fully to readers.
- Be wary of sources offering information for favors. When accepting such information, disclose the favors.
- Expose unethical practices of other bloggers.
- Abide by the same high standards to which they hold others.

Detailed and straightforward. There are only three key points but when expanded, it turns to cover a big area. I believe this is a very useful framework for the creation of Filipino Blogger's Code of Ethics.

Blogging communities like the Cebu Bloggers Society, Davao Bloggers among others can start putting this on the discussion table. Well, I am confident this is already eyed upon.

Learn Social Media Marketing

2010-04-07T05:57:00.002+08:00

Social media has become inevitable. In this age of internet, no one and nobody can escape social media. By the way, I assume you are maintaining a social media profile or been using social media. Aren't you?

Perhaps, you have profiles in Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube; what else? I have Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter. I remember I have MySpace and Multiply profiles but I left them because I don't have time to maintain them. How many social media profiles do you maintain?

In my post, Internet Access and Use of Filipino Schoolchildren, I cited a study that revealed that social networking sites (a form of social media) are among the most popular sites visited by Filipino children.

Social media fascinates me that slice my time to read and learn about it.

Recently, I joined the webinar, 8 Hot Social Media Marketing Tips You Need to Know. It was a fruitful webinar because it gave me insights on how social media really works. Of course I learn about social media marketing. This motivates me to apply them in practice.

The speakers are experts in the industry: Mari Smith, author of the book Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day; Chris Garrett, co-author of the bestselling book Problogger; Denise Wakeman, an online marketing advisor and the co-founder of The Blog Squad; Michael Stelzner, founder of Social Media Examiner and author of the book Writing White Papers: How to Capture Readers and Keep Them Engaged and the Social Media Marketing Industry Report.

Did I mention that the webinar was free? Yes, it was. That's the beauty of social media because it allows you to expand your horizon and by expanding your networks, you will learn many things.

Here are the 8 hot social media marketing tips discussed: online video; drive more traffic with Twitter; discover Google Buzz; Facebook fan pages (compelling); create social media hub; syndicate video; broadcast live video; grow your Facebook fan base.

It's different when you hear the tips from experts. Do you want to learn more about social media marketing.

Internet innovations make institutions better in the future

2010-04-02T01:04:00.007+08:00

With very active online interaction among citizens and goverment; customers and businesses; individuals and social groups; readers and news and information providers, can you imagine how the internet affects individuals and institutions 10 years from now?

I imagine a very easy access to information; more engaging interaction and collaboration; more efficient government, businesses, and institutions.

Specifically, I imagined that there would be a big change on the way information are created, delivered, and consumed. For example, do you think news provider will be using Twitter, Facebook, and social media forms more than they do now? Many of my friends are believer of information shared through Facebook than those published by major online news provider. This makes me wonder.

The Internet and American Life Project of Pew Research Center recently released the Future of Internet Report. It's the fourth in the series with the title, The Impact of the Internet on Institutions in the Future.

The results of the study are very interesting. For example, majority of the technology experts and the participants of the study say:

By 2020, innovative forms of online cooperation will result in significantly more efficient and responsive governments, business, non-profits, and other mainstream institutions.

Only few believe (only 26 percent) that:

By 2020, governments, businesses, non-profits and other mainstream institutions will primarily retain familiar 20th century models for conduct of relationships with citizens and consumers online and offline.

What does this mean? Most of use believe that the the internet will gain momentum and would drastically change our ways and means - the way we interact, the way we socialize, the way we communicate, and many other things.

One of my friend told me that very soon, the internet would become the biggest workplace. Well, he did not present his stats but I am persuaded with his statement. Of course you might have heard about outsourcing, and telecommuting. We are now in an era where physical distance is no longer a barrier. Even your secretary don't need to work close to you. I mean, physically. Your office might be in Sydney but your secretary can be in the Cebu.

I believe that the way we learn and they way we deliver education will also drastically change. I could see that more and more learning content would be delivered online.

I want to take a closer look on how our government interact to us (citizens) in the future.

Will the Philippine government continue to innovate and allow an increased online interactions and transactions?

I am a believer of internet as the best tool to speed up governement services and slow down if not eradicate the red tapes and corruption. I also believe that the efficient use of internet would significantly improve the trust and confidence of the people and would bring great savings.

You can read or download the report in the link I put in the citation below.

Citations:
Anderson, Janna and Rainie, Lee. The Impact of the Internet on Institutions in the Future. Pew Internet and American Life Project, May 31, 2010, http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Impact-of-the-Internet-on-Institutions-in-the-Future.aspx, accessed on April 2, 2010.

Image used in this post is from www.freefoto.com licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0.

Internet Access and Use of Filipino Schoolchildren

2010-03-10T10:29:00.008+08:00

I'm on vacation and because in our province we don't have internet connection. I am using my cellphone as modem to access the internet, it's slow and quite expensive. So I am writing this offline to save my internet minutes.

Indeed, we need to have a government that adopt the Universal Internet Access Policy so that there is easy, and affordable access to information goods and services via internet.

As much as I want to teach my nephews and nieces to 'smartly' use the internet (at least during my break), I can't do it all because of connection problems. I'm literaly saving internet 'minutes' for checking and responding to emails and uploading this post.

While I'm on vacation (and while writing this), the Tsinelas Foundation and Cebu Bloggers Society are preparing for a computer literacy workshop to select high school students in Pinamungajan town in Cebu. Those students need to level off to their counterparts in urban Luzon and Visayas.

Last year, the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication (www.aijc.com.ph) released findings on Survey on Internet Access and Use by Filipino Schoolchildren. [PDF Copy]

The survey was commissioned by the UNICEF and respondents were grade school pupils 10-12 years old and high school students 13-17 years old.

The result was interesting: 74 percent of Filipino schoolchildren surveyed nationwide are computer literate and with access to the Internet, 45 percent aged 13-15 years and most are enrolled in private schools.

Internet cafe is still playing big role as 84 percent of the respondent access the Internet at Internet cafes.

The study also noted:

Maintaining one’s social networking site (SNS) and visiting others’ social network sites are emerging as the Number 1 online activity of Filipino school children. (Friendster is the favorite among schoolchildren.)

Over one-third of those who own Friendster accounts are grade school pupils. Among the possible explanations are they lied about their age, older relatives and friends (e.g., siblings and possibly even parents) created the account for them.

Based on the results of the survey, the use of internet among schoolchildrem are not optimized. It is not used to optimize learning experiences.

If majority of Filipino schoolchildren, why don't we integrate e-learning to our public school curriculum? The Department of Education can create a social networking site suited for learners for example. Interactive games could become springboard of some lessons.

The use of internet are unlimited. The use of computers are boundless.

Image used in this post is from www.freefoto.com licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0.

Online News more popular than newspapers or radio

2010-03-08T07:00:00.001+08:00

The internet is now the third most-popular news platform in the US. Americans now prefer to get news from the internet than from newspapers or radio. And majority of the Americans use multiple platforms to get their daily news, a new study by Pew Research Center reveals.

Television remains the top source; national TV as first, and local TV comes second. The third is internet tailing behind the traditional source of news; newspaper and radio.

The same research noted that people use their social networks and social networking technology to filter, assess, and react to news. And they use traditional email and other tools to swap stories and comment on them.

It's not surprising. Even the study is conducted in the Philippines, I think the result would be closely similar.

When you read news online, you can jump from one source to another. If you wish to verify information, you'll have it in just few clicks. In few more clicks you share the information to your networks - Friendster, Facebook, Twitter, or Plurk. In few minutes, you'll get the comments and reactions from your friends.

With newspapers, we can't do that fast!

Is newspaper industry dying? I think it's not. Newspaper stakeholders, I think, must need to re-engineer their business outlook. Many still prefer to read printed copies, anyway.

Indeed, internet industry continue to emerge as the most influential innovation in our lives.

Opera 10.50 Released: Fastest browser for Windows?

2010-03-05T00:05:00.099+08:00

Opera 10.5 has been released which Opera claimed to be the fastest currently available web browser.

If I browse, I want it fast! (It stresses me to use slow browsers.) So the news is indeed exciting. I downloaded and tried it. Opera 10.5 adds to four other browsers installed in my computer.

You can now download the full version of Opera 10.5 for Windows from www.opera.com. For Mac and Linux users, just wait. Versions supporting the Mac and Linux platforms will come soon, according to Opera.

The screen I am showing to you contains thumbnails of my favorite websites. So every time I open a new tab, I am presented with these thumbnails and all I need is to click to open the site. The area that says, Click to Add a Web Page is used to add more favorite site. For Chrome users, this is familiar.

Opera's CEO, Lars Boilesen, said:

Opera 10.50 is the fastest browser in almost all speed tests [...] But, more important than any speed test is the real-world speed during use. We designed Opera 10.50 to be easy to use, while making our unique features stand out, so you can get more out of the Web.

It might be too early for me to say it's true but in my two hours of using it, I find it fast! Yes, faster than Chrome and Firefox; and pretty faster than Internet Explorer.

What makes it fast? It's because of JavaScript engine called Carakan, and a new graphics library called Vega. Yikes! What's that? Well, it simply means: no more waiting around for a site to load. Now that make's sense.

Actually you can configure your Opera browser to load faster if your network is slow through Opera Turbo. You can see the Opera Turbo icon on the left of the status bar at the bottom of the browser. It is disabled by default. See how it looks when I enabled it.

It seems very timely but the release coincide with the recent news that Microsoft is investigating on recently discovered security flaw in Internet Explorer.

As I said, it's too early to conclude this time. Opera might have passed in rigorous beta tests but as what Lars Boilesen said, real-world speed during use has the final say if Opera has really conquered Chrome and Firefox. Not yet time to say move over Chrome!

Bad Usability Calendar

2010-03-03T00:17:00.001+08:00

I got a gift! Last Monday's email from our director had gift for in the subject line. I was excited of course - what gift could that be?

I got a calendar! It's Bad Usability Calendar 2010. A big smile, please!

How could a Bad Usability Calendar becomes a nice gift? Because it is not a bad thing for web content managers. The calendar outlines the very basic but most often overlooked usability guidelines. Whether you own and maintain an enterprise website, an e-commerce site, or a blog; I'm pretty sure you'll find the calendar useful. Here's a snapshot of it.

Bad Usability Calendars are published in badusability.com, the blog of NetLife Research, a user experience consultancy firm based Norway.

When I saw the calendar, I was caught in a burst of laughter. Okay, actually the calendar is not hilarious. I was laughing at myself. My bad.

As I mentioned earlier, might interest you. For web product managers, web usability advocates, usability testers, and website administrator, this usability calendar for them is interesting. It is because it says what should have been told. It says something often neglected.

For example, in January, it says: You only know 10 percent of your website. Take control.

Do you know your site 100%? Would you negate the statement that you actually know a little about your site? Please don't throw to me you violent reaction. Kidding!

Read the article of Eirik Hafver Rønjum in badusability.com/2010/january/. The first part says:

How many pages do you have on your webpage? You don’t have a clue, do you? Is it 300, 3000 or even 30,000? This is the first thing you need to know: How many pages do you have to take care of. Yes, take care of? Yes, you need to give your content attention every day. You need to update it, improve it or maybe delete it. Once your content is published, your customers will be able to find it. And you don’t want to serve them outdated crap.

The good thing is, Eirik Hafver Rønjum suggests steps on what to do and even give templates to be used when we wish to apply the suggested actions.

That's just January. Go to February, then to March and I'm pretty sure you will learn many more. By December 2010, I believe you site improves a lot!

Previous calendars are available, too. I advise you to start from Bad Usability Calendar 2006. You can download PDF copy for free. Enjoy!

Usability Humor: Medieval Helpdesk

2010-02-15T13:05:00.042+08:00

One line I always recall in usability is the one written by Peter Meyers in The Paradox of Usability. He wrote: Nothing is really usable until you learn how to use it.

True. How could you say that a computer is usable to someone who doesn't know how to use it?
Usability is funny, a friend told me. Indeed! In fact there are many usability humor online. Here's one video I enjoyed most.

This video makes fun of moderns newbie computer users by illustrating - in a way fully understandable to them - how silly some of their questions are by creating a similar problem in the Middle Ages.

Funny?

Blogs in simple English

2010-02-08T08:00:00.026+08:00

So you are a blogger, what is blog then? Most often, I am asked this question. I can answer the question of course.

If you ask me and both of us are facing computers, I rather bring you to CommonCraft's explanation in plain English. Here's a video on Blog in Plain English. Enjoy!

Can you now tell me what blog is? In less that three minutes, blog is explained. Great, isn't it?

Facebook games at work: Does Farmville affects your productivity?

2010-01-04T19:00:00.000+08:00

Do you have a farm? There is no available figures but there are so many farmers online. Facebook users are so familiar with terms like, farm, harvest. Farmville is not not just an online fad. It has become a coffee talk, too. Really? Okay, a university talk, a home talk perhaps. Actually, a talk of many web users. Just many not most web users. Many web users don't have Facebook account actually and note that many Facebook users don't play games.

Farmville is an online game at Facebook. Take note that the game was not developed by Facebook. As of this writing, Farmville has more than 73 million monthly active users. It's Facebook fan page says it has almost 9 million fans.

Let's compare it to Mafia Wars (another game in Facebook). As of this writing, Mafia Wars has almost 19 thousand monthly active users and more than 11 thousand fans.

That's how popular Farmville is. Note that this article does not claim that Farmville is the most popular game in facebook. My comparison to Mafia Wars will only illustrate how popular Farmville is.

Farms are not alike, a farmer may cultivate food crops; some plant vegetables while others raise animals. Real farms where you plant and harvest real food looks closely similar below. This is typical small corn farm in the Philippines. I took this picture in Tuboran, Mahayag, Zamboanga del Sur.

This is also a snapshot of a typical rice farm. I took this picture in Sta. Cruz, Mahayag, Zamboanga del Sur.

A farm in Facebok looks like this.

In real farm, you need to work hard, to plant and take careof them until harvest time. Facebook farmers are doing the same minus dirt.

Haven't you heard yet a web user who is dying to get online just to harvest?

I've heard some who go home as fast as they can after a church service just to go to Farmville. Anyways, not just churchgoers are hooked to it but some priests, too. I haven't heard yet a farmer who spends much of his time on Farmville than his real farm. If you know one, it wouldn't be surprising.

A friend who works in a university told me that she is requesting the school administration to block Facebook on their network. Too harsh, her best friend reminded her. But when she shared how their work are affected, I understand her intention. Some of her officemates are delaying important reports because some of their time are spent to taking care of their farm. Shhh! This is a top secret but a known phenomenon!

I don't know if similar things happen in government offices. If ever, how much taxpayer's money must have been lost?

Whether we are a real farmer or a virtual farmer, it doesn't make sense unless we don't balance things.

Many employers are too generous for having no restrictions on websites accessed by their employees. Of course, I won't suggest employers to block a domain. Wink. Web users needs to have prudence. The formula is simple, working time is to work as free time is to Farmville.

Does Farmville affects your productivity? We hope that it doesn't.

Let's continue to be a responsible virtual farmer. We will enjoy reaping the fruits later. And the fruits shall nourish our physical self.

I don't have a Facebook farm but can you be my neighbor?

Peso-peso internet or hulog-hulog internet: What is it? How it works?

2009-12-28T04:00:00.004+08:00

If you got five 0ne-Peso coins in your pocket, you can either buy five candies or go online!

Your five coins are enough to check few emails, post status on Facebook or play online games. And read your daily horoscopes perhaps or watch YouTube video.

Internet access is getting cheaper and easier. Thanks to coin-operated PC's that are connected to internet.

How it looks like?

Source: Istorya.net Someone sells that. Go to source link to get details.

What's its name?

Locally, it is called, Peso-peso internet although we hear others naming it as hulog-hulog internet. I heard someone mentioned internetan. (internet + suffix an, meaning: internet cafe). In Istorya.net forum, it is described as Desktop Computer with coinslot and digital timer piso (Peso).

Name it whatever you like. People are more interested on its functions than standardizing its name.

Can you describe it?

A good friend describes it as portable internet cafe but most likely a vending machine selling internet minutes. He would add: Peso-peso internet also make use of old PC's and of course the CRT monitors. We slowly migrate from CRT to LCD.

Where to find peso-peso internet machines?

Anywhere. But Peso-peso internet machines are common sight to low-income group communities. Obviously, class A and B of our society don't like it but the masses need it.

It is where it's target users (market) are.

Peso-peso internet machine stands are also spotted among middle-income communities and even in traditional internet cafe setup like the sample image below. This saves internet cafe attendant's time.

Image is used as sample. Source: Pinoyblogoshpere. Notice the red arrow. It points to the coin slot.

How it works?

Very simple, he told me. And added, doesn't need a user's manual.

I observed a school age boy. He dropped some peso coins on the slot, grabbed the mouse, pull the keyboard and started to click. He played an online game. After a while, we hear the beep sound. The boy dropped more coins and continued playing.

Easy to operate, indeed!

Beside the boy was a frail-looking middle-aged man watching porn video. Aside from my friend and I, there are many heads (most are children) peering at the boy's game and the man's videos. Just just looking at computer screens but some onlookers are talking and shouting, and cheering.
With Peso-peso internet or hulog-hulog internet you can browse, stream videos and sounds, play online games. You cannot insert a flash disk because the computer's CPU is inside its - we call it as shell. You can enjoy Yahoo chat. Some machines got webcam. I saw many girls chatting.

The Peso-peso internet or hulog-hulog internet, whatever it should be called, works well and serves well. Does it earns well? The next time we visit the place, I should look for the owner and ask about the business angle of it.

A day without my computer

2009-12-11T04:05:00.006+08:00

The night my laptop crashed, my heart was pounding. How shall my day runs without it?

When a product after sales staff informed me that my laptop is dead because the product model has just been phased-out, I seemed floating. I knew I couldn't buy another one on the same day.

Perhaps it takes days before I can have new laptop.

It annoyed me to think that right after the one-year warranty period was over, I began to notice issues until on its 16th month, my laptop finally die! Now, I miss my sweet sixteen.If I only knew that the piece I bought would last only 16 months, I should have picked another.

Now, going back to the mind-boggling episode.

I need to think of getting my precious files. Just to feel that there is speed recovery on the mess, I took the HDD and safeguard it. Right after I bought hard disk drive enclosure, I went home contemplating what lies ahead on the next 12 hours without my beloved companion.

I supposed to pay my bills online but haven't done it. I haven't read work email, nor checked notifications on my personal email. I haven't read local and national news. I don't have updates on Facebook friends. No IM's, nothing. I have been isolated from WWW. I'm not dying without these stuff but I feel so uncomfortable.

Of course I have an option. Internet cafes are everywhere. There are even coin-operated internet machines. But I'm not comfortable browsing, emailing, reading with other eyes looking at my screen. I am not comfortable with the noise of school-aged gamers.

Now, here I am. I'm online. I'm connected to WWW but my activity are limited. I haven't log in to some of my accounts because I forgot my password. I don't spent much energy remembering my password because my browser can do it for me. It's difficult. Quite difficult because of my dependence to a laptop.

Can you relate on this experience?

Friendster gets new looks: Do you like it?

2009-12-11T03:30:00.000+08:00

Recently, my friends in Facebook post catchy lines: Friendster has new look!, Friendster's new look with mixed emotions. What's that? I was curious, a little bit emotional (mixed emotions, eh!). Why not? I used to enjoy Friendster and I built my social networks there.

I visited the site - a new looks indeed! Green greeted me at the login page. Friendster's login page is good enough. It looks modern and vibrant. So goodbye boring looks?

I went further by logging in. When was the last time I visited Friendster? I can't remember. So I was on my Friendster profile. Still green?

What if I don't like green? Well, I have two other color options: blue and violet.

So, I chose violet. Good web application should allow its users to choose for their preferences. Although color choices are very limited but at least there are two choices other than the default green color. So here's how my profile looked.
My profile:

The next time I visit Friendster, will it remeber that I have set my color preference? I did not remember saving it.
Cool! Friendster indeed remembers. When I logged in again, my profile color was violet!
There is something I have noticed, Gift. This allows user to send virtual gift. I tried but it ask me to Activate Wallet. So Gift and Wallet modules must be connected.

I felt, I was using a small version of Facebook when I see the menu called Fun. It has Apps, Games, Blogs, Forums, Groups, Mobile, 3D Scenes and Classified . Good enough, Friendster now adds more spices. I should say Friendster is getting better than before.
Will the new looks and some additional features encourage many to go back to Friendster? Will it encourages friends to strengthen their networks through Friendster?
No one it sure yet. I logged out. My short break was over.

The return message sounded nice: You've logged out of Friendster. See you next time! Sure, I will. Will you say affirmative response, too?
Congratulations to the men and women behind Friendster! And my best wishes.

Share Web User Experience

2009-12-10T00:35:00.002+08:00

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2009-12-10T00:34:00.010+08:00

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2009-12-10T00:34:00.008+08:00

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2009-12-10T00:00:00.006+08:00

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