Some good news this morning from the Webstock team:
I’ve written about Garr and Presentation Zen here several times:
I’ll look forward to hearing him talk.
Posts Tagged 'Webstock'
Garr is coming
Published March 19, 2008 Design , Wellington 2 CommentsTags: Garr Reynolds, Webstock
Cumulative feeling of quality
Published August 21, 2007 Usability , Web Development 1 CommentTags: Ben Goodger, Sam Ng, Webstock
Here is a nice (old) post from Sam Ng at Optimal Usability about Ben Goodger’s presentation at Webstock last year:
“Ben Goodger, lead engineer for the Firefox browser, obviously believes in the power of the user interface and credits their ‘less is more’ philosophy as one of the key reasons for the browser’s success. As part of this philosophy, they made sure that the interface was clear, removing words or interface elements wherever they could to increase clarity. They also had fewer and more useful options, only including a configuration option if 15% or more of users were likely to change it. And they worked hard on using smart defaults, like turning the pop-up blocker on. All these small changes created a ‘cumulative feeling of quality’.”
From: http://www.optimalusability.com/post.php?postid=31
Designing for the 80% majority (or 85% in this case) is a great idea.
Sam – this is good stuff, what’s happened to your blog?
The Code Blacks, who are the New Zealand team in the upcoming Geek Olympics, have launched their website:
Great logo! Do you get it?
The videos from the latest Webstock Mini have been posted.
If you’re looking for a bit of light entertainment check out the Web 2.0 debate (a.k.a debatr, a.k.a. LOLDebate), where we resolved once and for all the question of fizz vs. substance. Or, something like that.
Mike Brown’s conspiracy theory alone was worth the price of admission: “Rod Drury. 8 letters. 3 r’s. You do the maths!”
Phil’s slides were featured on the SlideShare home page a few weeks back and are worth checking out (if you’re interested in the substance).
Mike’s subsequent tribute to the “moral superiority, intellectual acuity and all-round web prowess” of the victorious negative team is also worth a read.
Peter Griffin’s column had a nice summary:
“I think the debate came out how it should have, despite the “fizzers” presenting a more compelling and humorous argument than those with substance.
Above all the inane chatter on Twitter, the annoying music blaring at you from MySpace pages and the flying penises in Second Life, there’s something powerful going on in these new web communities.
Whether they will all live on remains a moot point, but one thing is for sure, the new makeup of the internet is seriously changing our approach to information use and social interaction. Whatever price you put on that, such transformation in a few short years has been nothing but substantial.”
PS In other Webstock related news … the NZ team to compete in the FullCodePress Trans-Tasman Challenge was announced today. Thanks to everybody who put their name forward and congratulations to the chosen few. The nations expectations sit on your shoulders. Jeff from Xero has more details.
A while back Natasha (who works with us at Trade Me and is also one of the people behind Webstock) asked me to nominate my dream speaker for their next conference.
For me it was an easy question to answer: Paul Graham.
If you’re not familiar with his writing, please stop embarrassing me by reading this relative drivel and go and read some of his stuff instead.
His latest article is here:
Why to Not Not Start a Startup
Here is a quote that appealed to me:
“If you took a nap in your office in a big company, it would seem unprofessional. But if you’re starting a startup and you fall asleep in the middle of the day, your cofounders will just assume you were tired.”
:-)
The internet didn’t change my life at all
Published March 20, 2007 Technology , Wellington 5 CommentsTags: Webstock
I was sorry to miss the recent Webstock Mini event in Wellington a couple of weeks back.
But, the good news is that the presentations are now all available online:
http://www.webstock.org.nz/recordings.php
If you didn’t get along, make sure you check out the 10×2 sessions.
This is the quote that grabbed my attention:
“The internet didn’t change my life at all.
I can’t remember life without the internet”.
– Josephine Hall
Ouch! That would have stung for some of the older people in the audience.
She is now 18 and talked about using the internet in 1996, while still at school, to research a science project.
I graduated in 1996. It was also around then that I read an excellent book called Growing Up Digital by Don Tapscott, about “N-Gen”, or the net generation. They (we, although I only just qualify!) are the echo of the baby boom, who have grown up surrounded by interactive technology.
From the book:
Technology is only technology to people born before it was invented
– Alan Kay
That’s why we don’t argue anymore about whether the piano is corrupting music with technology
– Seymore Papert
So, if you’re the sort of person who still marvels at the promise of the internet, take a look over your shoulder and see people, like Josephine, who are already taking it for granted and asking what they can actually do with it.
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