Google Censoring Web Content (Oct 2002)

“Nobody expects Google, or any index, to be perfect, since the Web is growing and changing so fast and many parts of it are generated from databases and therefore essentially impossible for a search engine to find or classify. | However, researchers at the highly-respected Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University have…

Car Seat Instructions too Complex

“Such manuals are written at a tenth-grade reading level on average, according to a new study, while data suggest that nearly a quarter of U.S. adults read at or below a fifth-grade level, and at least 25 percent read at about an eighth-grade level.” —Car Seat Instructions too ComplexMSNBC) Thanks for the link Mark. Similar:My…

Persuasive Design: New Captology Book

“Persuasion in itself is obviously not new. From Cicero’s oratory to modern TV commercials, communicators have tried to persuade audiences. What’s different is that websites and other computerized designs are going beyond one-way rhetoric and becoming interactive. For most people, doing something is much more engaging and thus potentially more compelling and persuasive than passively…

MemexSim: The Memex Simulator

“This project, the Memex Simulator, examines the ideas of the Memex and implements them as faithfully to Doctor Bush’s original specifications as is possible given the small amount of information available on the as-of-yet unrealized physical design. Because of the prohibitive complexity and cost of film and hardware for a device such as the Memex,…

Best Web Sites on Capitol Hill

“The Congress Online Project will release its 2003 report about congressional Web sites on Monday, March 3. This report names the winners of the Congress Online Gold, Silver, and Bronze Mouse Awards and provides guidance to congressional offices on how to improve their own Web sites. We don’t want to give away any secrets until…

Blogging Goes Mobile

“People will soon be able to publish their own website via their phones as blogging goes mobile.” —Blogging Goes MobileBBC) Sounds a bit much like drafting a press release to fill a Sunday evening news gap, but journalists have been quick to grasp the social significance of weblogs. Thanks for the link, Rosemary. Similar:This morning…

I Hate Phones

“There are two types of people — those who prefer to communicate via e-mail, and those who prefer the phone. What the phone people don’t realize is that their need for information means that they’re going to interrupt someone else’s day to get that information. E-mail, on the other hand, is just as quick and…

Homepage Real Estate Allocation

“A homepage really has two main goals: to give users information, and to serve as their top-level navigation for information that’s inside the site…. [S]ample sites allocated less than half the screen space to useful pixels.” Jakob Nielsen —Homepage Real Estate AllocationUseIT.com) Similar:This morning I awoke to YouTube’s live footage of crowds circling a mosque…