The role of information architect is featured at Web Worker Daily today:

Random internet browsing brought me to a choice user response to "internet security measures":

Like, I know they are there for good reason, but so many web sites require so many different variations of passwords, I just can't keep up with them all. My bank for example...It's one of those "password must contain atleas 8 characters, upper and lowercase and atleast one number". Okay, I did that, I've managed to remember it...but then, I have to have 8 different security questions. It doesn't always promt me with one, but about every 5th time I log into the site they throw me one of the questions. I can't keep up with all the answers. There are multiple answers to most of the questions. I don't have a fave band, I have several. I don't have a fave candy, or movie or any of that other crap.... So, if I answer wrong 3 times, they disable my account and make me re-register it.....*grumble*

Demographics: female in her 20s on a social networking site (LiveJournal) with novice to intermediate internet savvy (i.e. email, web, url copying, picture/video uploads, IM, etc.)

I think the most interesting thing here is that a lot of internet security measures put up lots of barriers to entry but don't offer a comparable value to the usere either in terms of real security, or in perceived security.

From USA Today, in favor of weighing time on site as more important.

Article specifically cites online video and Ajax as reasons why page views are meaningless.

Time on site is also skewed. Measuring content views would be a more precise measurement of user engagement. (You can track content views for both video and ajax.)

(Link via Mr. Eddie James)

From :

Joost is offering advertisers a range of formats beyond the traditional 30-second spot. Ten-second and 15-second pre-, mid-, and post-roll options are all available, all with interactive capabilities for users to delve deeper into ad messages if they desire.

Another alternative is a roughly 5-second "Brought to You By..." "introstitial," according to Elders. "We're going to be doing a lot of experimenting around our three core principles of targetability, measurability, and interactivity," he said. "There are a lot of unknowns, and we really don't know yet what viewing patterns are going to be like."

In addition, rather than interrupting programming, Joost will run ads alongside content known as "hand-raisers," which users can click for more information either within Joost's platform or on a brand's own Web site.

Hand-raisers are a great idea. With the potential to be highly contextual and relevant, the clickthrough from ads to really engaging and useful experiences (with sales at the end or not) could be really amazing.

Or it should be really amazing. But knowing how us monkeys like throwing our wrenches in things, I'm sure we can monkey it up.

NexD Journal has a follow-up article to GK VanPatter's that triggered much discussion a few months ago. The follow-up is a 4 way conversation between Bob Goodman, Peter Jones, Eric Reiss and GK VanPatter.

I feel like I should post a witty summary, but it is too long to summarise, covers too much ground and (for me) is somewhat hard to grasp (though much easier than the first article).

So I'll pull out just one tiny part that made me chuckle:

"GK: Perhaps we could each talk a little about what the most significant challenge facing us in practice is today and how we grapple with that challenge?

Eric Reiss: The problems facing our practice? In general, I’d say it’s folks who push their personal agendas rather than pursuing the greater good. And how do I “grapple with that challenge?” Well, I listen, learn…and give them lots of rope…"

Online Media Daily quotes Jeremy Allaire's views on web video and advertising in .

His remarks were part of his keynote to the Outfront conference. (There's a link to the entire keynote you can watch, as well.)

Interesting comments fmor a smart gyu. Go read. Tasty bits to moisten your lips:

Open distribution and "self-service models" where content can be created and distributed with no cost of entry are leading to an explosion of new programming outlets and niche networks because anyone can create a TV network today--production companies, publishers, or consumers.

....

The idea, says Allaire, should be some "blended distribution strategy" that includes a branded content site, strategic syndication to affiliate sites, and viral distribution through widgets or players such as Brightcove's that "empower the consumer to distribute it for you." For advertisers, you're looking at extending reach by 50%, 60%, 70% or 80%, he said.

Advertising must be bound to content in this world, Allaire said, and because consumers are more likely to be "snacking"--or clicking around and sampling multiple videos to see which they want to sit through--the existing standard 15-second pre-roll with banner is a complete turnoff, as it forces repeated viewing with a resulting negative effect.

Let's start with Boyd's IP Theft (oops, I mean Dictum) on Prototyping Tools: it is easier for someone who knows what they are doing to transfer a design concept on the back of a business card with a crayon than it is for someone without a clue to perform the same task with any other medium.

In other words, the important part is transferring the design concept not look at the size of my tool.

Sure, some tools make things easier. Some tools are more efficient than others.

You've got a heap of choices. Rightly or not, most client sites in Canberra are Microsoft shops, so for portability purposes there is an argument to use XP-friendly prototyping tools. I'm not saying it's right, just easier.

Some I've looked at include:

• Axure: I use Axure because the engagement I was on was in a Microsoft shop and it was the best available at the time. I've grown used to it's good and bad points. Familiarity has bred content. It produces rapid HTML prototypes but unusable HTML - that said, I like the Microsoft Word specification output, because Word is the easiest way to get documents around the current client site.
• Visio: if there is a Hell for IAs, Visio is the tool that they used to design it. The best thing that can be said about it is that it works - one screen at a time. You can do a bit of work with masters and reuse them, but it is all manual and harder work than it could be using one of the add-on sets - like Intuitect.
• Intuitect: Intuitect is a great idea, but has some flaws because it sits over the top of Visio (but I understand that they're working on it, and I look forward to seeing it grow). It is extensible, and can use real CSS (which in turn can be substituted for other real CSS, so "reskinning" should be easy).

There's a lot more to prototyping tools than this - a lot more. This article is a starting place for yet another discussion on the subject.

hey there, this is a test

Richard Dalton has a new blog, and an excellent post called in which he extends Jesse James Garrett's elements of user experience diagram to represent the effect of strategy on other planes.

Good stuff.

Matt Hodgson has posted a summary of a presentation he did for our local IA group recently. This is a truly awesome piece of IA work - he analysed a large volume of unstructured text and designed a framework to rewrite it in a consistent, machine-readable, human-readable way:

IAslash partner, the , cherishes this resource and wishes to see it come back to life. Therefore, in my capacity as Institute director charged with web and technical initiatives, I have volunteered to undertake a rejuvenation of this site.

Over the next few weeks we will be cleaning up the aggregator subscriptions (retiring some venerable but defunct newsfeeds and adding some fresh new exciting ones) and working on developing a regular posting schedule.

Our goal is to enable you to rely on IAslash as a useful and informative filter and source of interesting news from the realm of IA and the related disciplines and practices of user experience (UX), interaction design (IxD), product management, design management, social web design, and internetworked business and entrepreneurship.

A couple of great blog posts by and touching on topics surrounding emergent IA. There is also some follow up discussion in the .