In a world of sophisticated search engines and machine learning (ML), it might seem like investing in a taxonomy is overkill. After all, can’t those ML-enabled search engines find everything? Sometimes even technology needs an assist. Let’s look at why you might want a taxonomy. What Taxonomies Are Good For Taxonomies enable three main digital … Read more A Good Taxonomy Can Make the Difference
What Can Usability Teach Us About Working Together?
World Usability Day was established in 2005 by the Usability Professionals Association. Each year, design professionals come together to discuss how to “develop technologies in a way that serves people first.” On November 8, 2018, professionals met at almost 100 locations around the world to discuss the how to “Make Life Easy.” I attended World Usability … Read more What Can Usability Teach Us About Working Together?
Content Governance: 8 Things to Know When Planning for Success
Let’s face it: Content governance is hard. It requires a great commitment to long-term strategy and a willingness to insulate your content from the vagaries of corporate pressure. But it is worth it. Your content is a key corporate asset. Your content strategy establishes the direction to ensure that your key corporate asset will meet … Read more Content Governance: 8 Things to Know When Planning for Success
5 Suggestions + a Warning: Make Bot Content Do Your Heavy Lifting
You’ve heard about bots. You’ve even chatted with a bot—even if you didn’t know it. But do you know how to make a bot work for you? Bots, algorithms, machine learning, AI… whatever you call it, these are driving how you sell to and engage with customers. These are the “people” you chat with in … Read more 5 Suggestions + a Warning: Make Bot Content Do Your Heavy Lifting
Once Upon a Time: Experiments in Storytelling
What makes a good story? More specifically, does a good story require a specific format? I’m intrigued by some experimental storytelling formats I’ve discovered recently. I’m not convinced they entirely work, but I applaud the attempts. Try out the following: Phone Stories Check out Popup Magazine’s Phone Stories. Call 415.452.6057 to hear someone tell you … Read more Once Upon a Time: Experiments in Storytelling
Content Strategy Trends
At the Detroit Content Strategy Meet-up, I joined the awesome Michele Linn (VP of Content at Content Marketing Institute) and equally awesome Ashok Sharma (VP Associate Director, Content Strategy at MRM//McCann) to discuss trends and challenges in content strategy for 2016. The panel was moderated by Meet-up founder and Associate Director, Customer Experience Strategy, MRM//McCANN, Chris Moritz. Fun … Read more Content Strategy Trends
How Technology Can Help Increase Understanding
We have text-to-voice prostheses for the visually impaired, and voice-to-text (captioning) for the hearing impaired. What about a prosthesis for the cognitively impaired? Configurable in settings, the prosthesis for the cognitively impaired could allow a user or their surrogate to specify the areas in which the user needs support. Have trouble interpreting statistics? Check. Find … Read more How Technology Can Help Increase Understanding
Designing for Users with Cognitive Impairments
I bet you know someone who is totally smart but who never seems to understand the teacher’s assignment. Or a good friend who is mystified by the subtleties of the recent comedy-of-manners film you just saw. Or maybe you are seeing your mother or father show signs of cognitive decline after years of being the smartest … Read more Designing for Users with Cognitive Impairments
Content Strategy: What Are You Being Hired to Do?
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about what content strategy is – to me, to clients and employers, and in the larger XD ecosystem. We all know the Halverson-approved definition: “Content strategy is the practice of planning for the creation, delivery, and governance of useful, usable content.” The definition is both excellent and not that … Read more Content Strategy: What Are You Being Hired to Do?
Collaboration: Ecstasy & Agony
Ugg. Another group project. Aside from the drain that group project work puts on introverts (or, in Myer-Briggs’ nomenclature, those INTJs like me), group projects can be awful. It is practically professional suicide to suggest that you hate group projects and that, more over, they aren’t the most efficient and effective way to complete projects. But … Read more Collaboration: Ecstasy & Agony