Usability's Last Day

Today I went back to the Usability Week 2004 Conference. The subject today was e-mail usability.

The presentation given by Amy Stover was very informative and gave us a good grounding in the subject matter at hand.

Overall, this week has had it's highs and lows. The high point was today. Definately. Todays presentation spoke directly to me and my work, the low point being Jakobs obsession with graphs, equations, and mathmatical analyses. In addition to that, we've been playing the chase Jakob game all week. He was nowhere to be found except for the 3 x 1.5 hour sessions he did from Monday to Wednesday. We didn't pay for his absence.

I'd still recommend this conference to anyone who wants to learn about usability techniques, but not to those wanting to lend Jakobs ear. He charges US$5,000 p/h for that !

Standing Room

I firmly believe the Athens Olympic Games will be a resounding success because it will be standing room only at the Olympic Stadium when the games kick off on Friday August 13th.

Why ? Because today the Athens organisers (ATHOC) have cancelled a contract with an Australian company (Starena) for 75,000 seats to fill the Olympic Stadium and Indoor Arena. No seats ... you can't sit down ... so theres standing room only eh ? (tongue in cheek of course).

Some have cited the dissapointment (disapproval even) expressed by ATHOC because Australia chooses to protect and advise it's citizens when they travel overseas by issuing a travel warning.

What's even more astounding about all of this is that construction is far behind schedule already. Now they're going to make it even harder for themselves. They are thier own worst enemies in this respect.

Some advice for ATHOC, get on with the job, live it, live the dream and deliver a spectacular games. Sydney had to live with criticism as do all host cities .... just get on with it.

http://smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/26/1085461837884.html

Usability again

It's 1202am Friday May 28th. I'm still awake. I want to sleep .... I need to sleep. The e-mail usability hop is on today. It's the last day of the conference ... it's been interesting but .... oh don't get me started on Jakob again .... it's too late in the night for that.

Where do the do-gooders get off

Theres been a bit of talk about a new movie called "Super-Size Me" lately. This is the movie where a guy eats nothing but Maccas (as we here is Australia call it), for a month and records it all on film. When he's asked if he'd like to "upsize" or "super-size" the meal he always said yes. link to story in SMH May 27th

My issue with all this is .... why should any business not just McDonalds be suddenly forced to change thier product because one individual makes a movie to disparage them.

When will do-gooders stop in this world and get off people's backs. People are entitled to eat what they will, it's thier health and thier body. (oh ... and don't gimme the crap about it costing everyone by way of the health budget) The only thing costing the Health Budget .... is the NSW State Governments mismanagement.

Superdome Supermess

A row has erupted over the future of the Sydney Entertainment Centre and the fortunes of the Sydney Superdome at Olympic Park.

My view is that we are an international city, we've proved our worth and now it's time to attract more events and get serious about being a convention and entertainment capital. That way we wouldn't have to worry about venue long term viability.

There are no major international events planned for Sydney at the moment. We need to start walking the talk, and get moving on it.

More in the story at Gerry's shopping list : One Superdome

Usability

I have been attending a Jakob Nielsen conference this week on Usability. The question I am asking right now is how usable is usability training. His presentations have been appaling, whereas the other presenters, Amy, Kara and Hoa have been excellent and engaging.

Bad luck if we were expecting him to talk for 3 days. So far, of those days he's given 3 x 1.5 hours "talks" or should I say unintelligble dribble. It's not what we paid for in this respect.

More later.

Church statues 'bleed'

A bizarre story today. Church spokesman Vincent Do said the abnormalities, which are the first recorded religious phenomena to occur in Australia since a fence post in Sydney's Coogee reportedly took on the image of the Madonna, began more than a week ago when rose oil started flowing from the eyes, nose, forehead and fingers of a statue of the Virgin Mary.

Church statues 'bleed'

Earthquake shakes Barossa Valley

Shaken and stirred. A mild earth tremor (not really an earchquake) struck the Barossa Valley wine region in South Australia early today.

Earthquake in Barossa Valley

Google Groups - Computers

Google Groups - Computers

I find these lists very useful from time to time. They are worth a browse.

Gates explains the art of blogging to CEOs

Gates explains the art of blogging to CEOs

Roll on Blogger ...this would be so good for customer masses communication. It will take a break with tradition and a change of ideas on what is B2B communication. I'm keen to follow this up this year.

How booze shattered the Blues

How booze shattered the Blues

More Rubgy League crises .... it was time last year to fix this ... 18 months down the track ... still it happens.

Tougher Water Restrictions

Tougher water restrictions on June 1

In this article Frank Sartor (Minister for Resources) says "These are the restrictions we have to have".

Wrong Frank ! We don't have to have them if you and your cronies would take the matter seriously and build the infastructure. You also want to drive the price up !

US ATHLETES WARNED NOT TO WAVE FLAG AT THE OLYMPICS

Now I dont hear anyone from the IOC complaining to the USA about this.

Read the Story

Gasnier's career in limbo - League - www.smh.com.au

Gasnier's career in limbo - League - www.smh.com.au

Theres a simple way to fix this behaviour .... life bans for this type of offense.

The problems with Redfern - Miranda Devine - www.smh.com.au

The problems with Redfern- Miranda Devine - www.smh.com.au

In my opinion the problem is Redfern. I might also add that the problem very well could be Vaucluse, Blacktown, Beacon Hill, Penrith, Dee Why, Palm Beach or any other suburb .... if heroin or any other drug is involved.

There are some who want to make this a racial issue, and in that sense they, themselves are thier own worst enemy.

NBA stars shun Olympics over security concerns - Olympics - www.smh.com.au

NBA stars shun Olympics over security concerns - Olympics - www.smh.com.au

So why isn't the IOC complaining about this then ? I'll tell you ... because we were the last Olympics ... successful (as will Athens be) ... it proves the point made in my earlier post about this subject.

TRAMS TRAINS OR CARS

Why does Sydney suddenly need trams ? I mean "Light Rail"

We already have north south running heavy rail at 5 minute intervals. Lets use that.

Sydney does not need another form of transport we need to improve the ones we have.

We don't need motorways with two lanes each way. We need freeways with 6 lanes each way, two lanes each way for buses in the middle, a train track adjacent to it, and centres for shopping, living, and working, all co-located alongside.

Get real people to run this town not those just here to line thier pockets with loot.

IOC ASKS AUSTRALIA TO STOP ""WINDING UP" ATHENS

Stop winding up Athens, say Olympic chiefs - Sport - www.smh.com.au

Well, well well .... what a difference 4 years makes. And just who was telling who to stop "winding up" Sydney when it was our turn.

Everybody complained about Sydney until we pulled it off ! Tickets, transport, politics, nepotism, price gouging ... the list goes on.

The fact is ... the Howard government has given an appropriate measured response to what is a clear threat. If they didn't do this ... then it'd be the Australian people "winding up" the government.

What is "winding up" anyway .... is it stirring the pot ... or something more sinister. Sinister ... I doubt it.

The problem is ... Sydney was the immediate previous host of the games ... a sucessful games.

Remember how people stirred it up on Atlanta ? Or were people supposed to forget about the Olympic park bombing ?

I sincerely hope that Athens is an even bigger success than Sydney. It is the future of the games at stake. If they can't be improved for the betterment of sport and human endeavour ... then what hope is there.

Citius Altius Fortius.

NYC CONFIRMED ON SHORT LIST FOR 2012

BIG BROTHER

I am watching Series 4 of Big Brother. It is so predictable ... but why do we watch. If nobody watched there wouldn't be a show ... but theres a show '... who's watching? If you asked someone at random, most would say they don't watch it.

Roll on ... it's still mildly entertaining.

TECHNOLOGY

Today, I managed to get so many things done. All thanks to this technology.

I quite often wonder what work would be like nowdays if we didn't have the personal computer, the modem, the fax, email and the internet.

My absolute number one work projects from here are
Imagery
Mini Sites
Newsletters

ENDING SOON ON EBAY

SYDNEY 2000 - Fuji Xerox 400 Days to Go Pin
SYDNEY 2000 - Fuji Xerox Moving Photocopier Pin

WHAT ANOTHER FANTASTIC DAY

It's hard to believe it's nearly winter time and whilst the nights are colder here in the southern hemisphere now, the days in Sydney are so bright and clear. The daily temperature has been about 21C on average for the past week and today was a spectacular 23C.


Weather Chart as of 22:00 Sun 2004-05-16

Despite my obvious enthusiasm for this weather, I fear that the drought will continue on through winter and next month we will face stage two water restrictions.

Here's hoping for some rain and very soon.

PIN COLLECTING - WHAT WOULD BE REALLY COOL

I just had a thought. Yeah yeah I know. One of my passions over the past few years has been Olympic pin collecting.

Wouldn't it be really special if someone, somehow managed to maintain the authoritative reference for all Olympic Pins in an online database for everyone to use as a reference guide.

There are some 7500 pins from Sydney 2000 and 10,000 from Athens alone. The only problem is how to make money from it.

Let me put my mind to this.

SOMETHING ABOUT MARY

I've just watched the nightly news here in Sydney, and for a change this week theres a good news story.

Mary Donaldson (formerly of Tasmania) is to wed Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark in a few hours time, thus making her the future Queen of Denmark.

They met during the Sydney Olympics, at a Sydney Hotel (the Slip Inn ..) which tonight is celebrating with Carlsberg Beer, commemorative cocktails and Danish food.

Good luck and our best wishes to them both.

Trivia Note : Australia has a long time connection with Denmark. Danish architect Joern Utzon designed the world famous Sydney Opera House.

WHAT TO DO IF THE NEWS UPSETS YOU

Following on from my earlier post, I found the what to do if the news upsets you page on the CBBC (Childrens BBC Site), quite a good reference for parents of younger internet news readers.

Doesn't it just make you weep, to think we have to protect kids in this way nowdays.

MEDIA RESPONSIBILITY IN THE WIRED AGE

The media has a rightful duty to report the news but not to sensationalise it. This week, with the execution of US Citizen, Nicholas Berg, they've been presented an opportunity to show in stark reality an execution video on line.

I applaud the Australian media for not publishing the web site where this video can be found. To me it's a mark of respect for the family involved. A family most of us will never know, except through the story of thier harrowing experience now being chronicled each day.

As many of us feel our sense of macabre curiosity take over, (yes there are lots of us understandably that way inclined), it's comforting to know that in dire circumstances such as these, the media for once have taken a conservative and respectful line.

I want to watch the video to remind me of why our troops are over there, but at the same time I feel there a duty of respect each of us needs to show. I have not and will not watch it.

Congratulations to the Australian media, you had every chance to sensationalise this story but common sense prevailed and for that you deserve our thanks.

FOR ONCE SOME LEADERSHIP

Last nights federal budget is most likely to be seen as the best in history for one reason in particular. It seeks to do what the government has been trying to get the rest of us to do for the past 6 years. That is - save in the good times to help you out in the bad times.

The cynics out there will say .... yeah help who out ... themselves ! But in last nights marathon speech the federal treasurer did exactly what people were expecting and requesting him to do ... and that is .. spend.

The federal coffers are full to the brim right now and in doing the right thing, not just by themselves, but by the whole country, this government shows true leadership.

I wonder if that will be the case if Mr Latham gets in ? Comments welcome.

NEW OLYMPIC PINS FOR SALE ON EBAY

I have just posted up some new pins on eBay Auctions.
Click Here to view them in my eBay Store.