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A Historical Speech Captured in a Tag Cloud

Tonight's historical acceptance speech by Barack Obama for Democratic nomination for president has been captured in a word cloud by GraphicDesignr. It strikes me because of the meetings we had today covered everything from keyword optimization for search, the art and science of tagging, and then watching this evening's speech with iPhone in hand refreshing Twitteriffic to the max. I was able to experience a historical speech, and monitor as well as participate in the discussion on the back channel for #DNC08.

Experiencing the 2008 Summer Olympics and now this election in the era of Web 2.0, it's clear that we have more access, more organization, more ways to track, convey, collaborate and develop meaning for any given message, event, and opportunity.

I thought instantly, a historical speech captured in a tag cloud, the perfect conveyance of form and function!

Rethinking the User Experience - AdWeek

AdWeek touches on User Experience this week in an article - Rethinking the User Experience, Web designers should consider how using a site reflects upon the brand. It's a great overview of how user experience (UX) is integral to the design and development of online interactions and perceptions. It is a helpful overview to see and understand how many different disciplines, from accessbility to usability play a role under UX design. Moreover, the article makes a clear connection that good user experience is equally tied to positive reinforcement of the brand. Good experience is a good reflection on the brand. Good experience design helps to establish and reinforce positive relationships, increased customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.

User Experience Quick Links for Week Ending 08.15.2008

InspireUX Quote: Confusion and Clutter

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The Anatomy of an Information Architecture

O'Reilly Media posts an excerpted article from chapter four of the IA book for practitioners, Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, Third Edition, written by Peter Morville and Louis Rosenfeld. It's a great post to revisit some of the basic principles of "the anatomy of an information architecture" and how to ensure Web design, content and user experience is structured the most effectively with the help of well-designed hierarchies and categorization of information on your website.

Contentology - The Science of Content

There's a new manifesto out for information communications and technology professionals that examines the deeper meaning of "content" today. Garth Buchholz of Digital Practices and author of A Manifesto of Contentology (version 1.1) recently published this proposal to help promote a better understanding of "Contentology" for the 21st Century. In addition to defining what "contentology" means, Buchholz focuses on the broader definition of content and emphasizes its broader understanding so that professionals creating, re-purposing, managing, and indexing content are optimizing its worth and value to the fullest.

Bucholz proposes 12 Foundation Principles of Contentology. Specializing in information architecture and content strategies for over a decade, we were excited to see this manifesto focusing on what content is today, how it impacts interpretation, what its value is, its lifespan, and its contextual relevance. It is excellent! Thinking deeper about content in a more holistic way, provides this deeper perspective of content as text, as symbolic imagery, as metadata, as language constructed and de-constructed all the while being pushed and pulled throughout systems on the Web.

Give it a read and see how it shapes your context and understanding for Contentology, "the science of content."