RodeWorks

Flickr starts its own APP Store

Randy — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:19:46 +0000

Flickr, the coolest on-line photo site there is, has always encouraged outside developers to build their own applications that utilize the massive Flickr public database. I have had a Flickr account like forever, before Yahoo bought them — and have used some WordPress – Flickr plug-ins that utilized the API. But the problem was you had to find the apps yourself, spread around on developers own web pages. Well Flickr just launched a new page that provides an easy way to find apps. I found a cool Facebook app that will display my latest Flickr uploads on my Facebook page — very handy.

The App Garden « Flickr Blog

If you’re looking for neat ways to do more with your photos, developers are beginning to seed the App Garden and showcase their applications. We hope you’ll enjoy new ways to browse, view, upload, download, analyze and make stuff (whew!) with your photos as much as we do.

Flickr Photosets on Flickr – Application Sharing!

Flickr Photosets brings together Flickr and Facebook. With Flickr Photosets you’ll be able to showcase your Flickr photos to your Facebook friends, without them ever having to leave Facebook!

Report on Info Tech trends in Higher Ed

Randy — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:48:34 +0000

For the seventh year Educause has conducted a survey on IT trends in higher educational institutions. This year’s report is out, and a couple of things caught my eye:

We are cautioned not to succumb to a temptation to use the report to “keep up with the Joneses” and use the report as a justification that more IT is better IT. Rather the focus needs to be on evaluating effective outcomes of technology investment, such as enabling better research or making administrative systems less expensive to operate. “..there is a clear and pressing need for higher education to focus on outcome goals…”
The number of institutions considering the discontinuation of student email accounts has risen sharply in 2008, up to 22% in the doctoral group.
The use of open source course management systems is up over 30% in the BA-level group. Use of these systems use by faculty is highest in the associate and doctoral-level groups, at just under 40% of all faculty.

There is a wealth of other data in there, covering everything from the title of the top technology person, to staffing levels, to the number of computers per student FTE. Plenty of good stuff for those who care about this kind of thing!

The Wired Campus – Are College E-Mail Addresses on the Way Out? – The Chronicle of Higher Education

If the last four years are any indication, college-student e-mail addresses may soon be a thing of the past.

EDUCAUSE – Core Data Survey

EDUCAUSE Core Data Service Fiscal Year 2008 Summary Report summarizes much of the data collected through the 2008 EDUCAUSE core data survey about campus information technology (IT) environments at colleges and universities in the U.S. and abroad.

The hidden cost of poor application usability

Randy — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:23:52 +0000

We have a brand new organization-wide, browser-based time tracking application rolling out that will affect all employees over the coming months. The system comes from a major enterprise-level company and I’m sure our company spent plenty on the implementation. I’m equally sure the security, audit-trail, and data integrity pieces are all top notch. But the part the end-users touch, from a usability standpoint, is terrible. A semester-long course on usability/user experience design could be built around all the things wrong with it. What’s wrong? Simple things, like the text of the forms is way too small — and no attention to C.R.A.P. :

Contrast: Important, actionable items on the page should stand out clearly in a quick page scan. If everything looks the same then nothing catches the eye, frustrating and confusing the user (Don’t make them think!)
Repetition: Often this concept related to visual design elements, but it should also be a consideration for actions. Be consistent in logic, i.e. they always add new items the same way — not sometimes in one place, sometimes in another place.
Alignment: Again normally visual, but alignment in common user tasks, and the steps to perform them is equally important
Proximity: Don’t put a button waaaaaaay down at the lower right corner of the screen (American audiences first look upper left for important items) and have the consequences of that action appear somewhere in the middle of the page. The action and the reaction need to be in close proximity on the screen.

How does this happen? In my experiences the well-intentioned and highly skilled people creating the application get wrapped up in technical details, and forget about the people who will be using the application in the real world. A world where many people don’t live in front of a keyboard 8, 10, or 15 hours a day. Something as simple as filling out a timesheet should require little-to-no training right? After all these employees have been doing this basic action for years. So if the application requires a 90 minute training session for every employee something may be amiss.

Migrating from a paper-based system to a digital solution is essential. And over time people will adapt to the new system. But there are hidden costs of the poor usability such as lost employee time (trying to figure out the poorly designed forms), error correction and ongoing training needs. In some cases it may take two people to perform an action where one was involved previously (a supervisor or fellow employee helps someone fill out their timesheets and time off requests.) Some benefit over the old system will be realized, but the efficiencies and cost savings are dragged lower by the usability issues.

If you’ve read this far maybe you’re wondering why I care? I just find it frustrating that when it is so easy to get usability right we get handed something so lacking in usability. Even companies like Microsoft value application usability. And if only consultant-level opinions are valued, how about words of wisdom from Forrester Research? Or a web 2.0 design firm like 37Signals? As easy-to-use and sophisticated applications become ubiquitous in the consumer space perhaps enough end-users will start to demand the same ease of use from their corporate, enterprise applications. We can only hope.

A List Apart: Articles: Can You Say That in English? Explaining UX Research to Clients

I created a cheat sheet to help you pitch UX research using plain, client-friendly language that focuses on the business value of each exercise. But, before we get to the cheat sheet, let’s talk about how we can communicate the value of UX research at a much higher level.

Via @wedeman 11-5-09 Tweet

User-centered design is all about reinserting your product/service into the organic life of a human being. Thinking BEFORE-during-AFTER.

Getting Real — The faster, smarter, better way to build web applications

Anyone working on a web app — including entrepreneurs, designers, programmers, executives, or marketers — will find value, fresh perspectives, and inspiration in this practical book. At under 200 pages it’s quick reading too. Makes a great airplane book.

Social Media for college student recuritment

Randy — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:16:47 +0000

We had a good group watching the Effective Use of Social Media for Student Recruitment webcast last week. The session was nicely moderated by Jacques Steinberg of the New York Times, with speakers Robert Moore a consultant and Greg Carroll from Furman University. A couple of take-aways:

Over 90% of today’s incoming students are frequent users of social networking sites
They are very sensitive to the ‘voice’ of content — things that sound scripted and corporate will not come off as genuine
Two-way communication is crucial — listening needs to be a key strategy
Integrate social-media outreach into core strategy — don’t paste it on to existing outreach
Communicate as an individual — not an institution

Some good examples cited by Robert:

And you need to be ready for some publicity that you might wish to avoid as www.youtube.com/user/OlivetNazareneU discovered in this student-created video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLByTnNwico

Furman is doing some pretty creative outreach, including the creation of their own social networking tool for current students, prospective students and student applicants. The site launches in January and it will be interesting to see how well it is adopted.

Listen and Watch Closely: The Effective Use of Social Media for Student Recruitment WEBCAST « New York Times Knowledge Network

Educational institutions are looking for the best formula to effectively deal with the plethora of social media available. In fact, no one has drawn a bead on this moving target– and new platforms constantly crowd into the space. There are so many questions and so few answers. Where should we start? How do we know it works? Where are teens getting their “authentic” information? Is there a place for our institutional voice in all this user-generated content? All we can say for sure is that participation matters – starting with a commitment to listen and watch closely, to monitor behavior and activity.

WordPress maps plug-in

Randy — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:53:17 +0000

Here is a cool-looking WordPress plug-in.

It can manage a group of locations, such as store branches, and direct people to the closest location — a store-location type of thing. What else could this type of functionality be used for? Maybe a listing that has sitings of a particular type of bird (i.e. eagle nesting sites), and the viewer could find the closest location to them. Or a research project that shows points along some epic journey (like all the places Washington slept in New England.)

SimpleMap – the easy store locator plugin for WordPress, using Google Maps

SimpleMap is a store locator plugin for WordPress. It has an intuitive interface and is completely customizable.

The look and feel of SimpleMap is just like that of WordPress. It uses the same functions, technology, and style to create a seamless administrative interface. Editing existing database entries is quick and easy, just like editing Posts in WordPress.

Easy steps to a mobile friendly web site

Randy — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:32:12 +0000

I caught a video from WordCamp Portland, where Duane Storey was talking about the “Mobile Frontier.” He mentions some interesting statistics, such as most people using a mobile phone to web browse prefer a mobile-friendly web site, while at the same time the majority of web sites don’t offer a mobile-friendly theme. Seems like a bit of a disconnect. And completely unnecessary, as getting a mobile design for your site couldn’t be easier — especially if you use WordPress. But the resources offered below also have options for Drupal and others. I use the MobilePress plug-in on my site — it is really easy to use, allows multiple versions for various browsers, and I like the way it displays on my blackberry.

MOBIFY – Make Your Website Mobile

Mobify is a free service that makes WordPress, Drupal and other websites mobile-friendly. Supports iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and 4500+ other devices. Sign up now and start mobifying!

WPtouch: Mobile Plugin + Theme for WordPress ? BraveNewCode Inc.

More than just a plugin, WPtouch is an entire theme package for your WordPress website. Modeled after Apple’s app store design specs, WPtouch makes your WordPress website load lightning fast on touch mobile devices, show your content beautifully, all while not interfering with your regular theme.

MobilePress – Enable The Mobile Web – Turn Your WordPress Blog Mobile

MobilePress is a free WordPress plugin which turns your WordPress blog into a mobile friendly blog when viewed on a cell phone. MobilePress also allows you to create custom mobile themes for different handheld devices and mobile browsers such as the iPhone, Opera Mini and Windows Mobile.

Drupal and Acquia

Randy — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:43:16 +0000

In a post earlier this week I incorrectly suggested that Drupal did not have a major commercial company that utilizes the program as Automattic (started in 2005 by WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg) does with WordPress — and I was wrong. Dries Buytaert is the founder of Drupal and also a founder of the company Acquia which utilizes Drupal in its business. Acquia has been around since November 2007. I recently recommended their services to a colleague who was planning a Drupal deployment — I’ve also attended some of their webinars. I just didn’t realize Buytaert was behind them. Oops, set straight by the New York Times.

Drupal thoughts — is it worth the learning curve?

Randy — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:14:46 +0000

I want to like Drupal, but despite a fair amount of effort I haven’t been able to get over its shortcomings. Four years ago we had a need to create a web-driven resource library serving dialect training mp3s to students. I did some research and found a really great model powered by Drupal. I’d heard a bit about the system, and after researching it sounded like a good fit for our needs. But as I started digging into a test implementation I found myself feeling a little overwhelmed, so I hired a consultant to serve as a technical resource. We continued that relationship over the course of 2 months, with weekly phone conferences which were really training/technical consultation calls. I got the application up and running, and even expanded its functionality over the last year with the help of a really dedicated student worker. Now I’ve done a fair amount of PHP work, and extensive work with other open source systems like WordPress — and this student worker also had a really strong PHP background. Neither of us ever got to the point of really liking Drupal, or feeling like we wanted apply it to any other projects. Why?

First I just find it clumsy, as opposed to elegant. The underlying logic, with its nodes and CCKs, feels convoluted and overly complex. The admin interface needs a strong helping of usability applied. I am willing to admit that maybe I’m just not smart enough, but I just haven’t been able to wrap my head around Drupal and feel comfortable with it. Second, compared to something like WordPress, Drupal just pales in comparison. Sure WordPress has its flaws too, but it feels elegant and simple while at the same time flexible and powerful. WordPress may benefit from having the company Automattic committed so heavily to its ongoing development, where I don’t think Drupal has this steady hand at its tiller. I’m not ready to give up on Drupal yet, but, when presented with something built with it I do think “the same thing could have been done faster and easier with WordPress.”

Running the White House Web site on Drupal is a political disaster. – By Chris Wilson – Slate Magazine

Even the software’s defenders admit that it is hostile to newcomers—or at least indifferent to their plight, as a University of Baltimore study found. The apologists will tell you that, once you scale the learning curve, it gets much easier.

Drupal hates change. Want to modernize Drupal by upgrading to a newer version? Ask these guys how that worked out for them.

Drupal looks great in theory: It’s a powerful way to govern a Web site
that is born out of the collective efforts of the community. In
practice, it tends to be a bit of a mess.

Drupal is a lot of trouble | A C Zoom

his site uses Drupal. Drupal has turned into a nightmare. It was fine when there was a single 4.x version out there, but soon after 4.x, there was 5.x. Then 6.x. Upgrading from a older version is near impossible…Next stop – look into how much effort it would be to move to something
simpler, like Wordpress. That is not going to be easy but it may be far
less aggravating than going to Drupal 7.x or 8.x.

Re-thinking Tweet this with a re-tweeeeet?

Randy — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:57:22 +0000

There are many ways to skin a cat (no insult intended to you cats or cat-lovers) and it seems just as many ways to tweet a blog post. I like this tip from WpRecipes as it gives more control to the author as far as where the TWEET button appears, and whether to include it or not on a post. It is a little more ’surgical’ than the Tweet This! button at the very bottom of every post. So I have made the switch — at least until some other, better idea comes along!

I love these little short function bits of code that seem to do so much. For me this is one of the things that makes WordPress such a cool, flexible tool. I like the compact form of the button, and so added this line to the head of the code:

then next

I find Twitter a good business tool, a helpful way to keep up with trends, and communicate with people — and as laid out in this ComputerWorld article there are other benefits too, such as that it is not creepy to follow people you don’t know. I just stumbled into Yammer in the last couple of days. And at our workplace it seems I’m not the only one. There were 129 people from our company when I signed up. One day later is was 143. Now, less than a week later we’re over 150. And there is some pretty rich conversation going on. Oddly, while Yammer itself has a lot in common with Twitter, the nature of the conversation here is much more direct, person-to-person. It feels to me like some middle ground between Facebook update, twitter, and old-school IM. So I’m happy to be number 130, and see some real value in the service. But allow me to groan a little — another social network to monitor? There is value in each one I follow — I just need one desktop app to monitor (or rule) them all. TweetDeck, are you listening? Maybe Mozilla’s new Raindrop will help? But I think I’ve reached my social-network-membership limit — at least until the NEW greatest thing rolls along!

Dzone Daily Dose

Mozilla recently announced its latest project, “Raindrop”, an application intended to bring all of your online messages to one portal. That includes Email, tweets, RSS, and social network updates all in one place. Raindrop will be open source and based on Bespin.

Yammer: A ‘Twitter for the enterprise’ | Webware – CNET

Here at TechCrunch50, the idea is also in evidence with Yammer, more of a “Twitter for business” than Socialcast, since it doesn’t seem to be able to pull in external feeds the same way. However, users can have threaded discussions, as they can on FriendFeed. Users can also use “hashtags” for tagging topics, and they can follow just those tags. Useful if you want to follow a project, but not necessarily all the people working on it.

RodeWorks

Flickr starts its own APP Store

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