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
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
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
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
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
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?
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
This year two bright young high school students I know did something quite unexpected. They graduated. One has spent much of his high school years addressing thorny mental health issues. The other (someone I have a semi-maternal interest in) just doesn’t like school — except for the social aspect — and really couldn’t be bothered … Read more Down with Education; Up with Learning
Unless you have put an extraordinary amount of effort into embracing your inner luddite for the last few months–not to mention avoiding most of literate humanity–you’ve at least heard of Serial. Serial is the podcast phenomenon narrated by This American Life‘s Sarah Koenig, which takes listeners on an investigative journey the 1999 murder of 17 … Read more Information Design and “Serial”
In August A Book Apart released On Web Typography by Jason Santa Maria. This is an excellent introduction to typography and well-timed, since most of the predictions for hot design trends in 2014 include something about fonts. Forbes: large fonts. The Next Web: Non-boring typography. Moveable Online: More experimental type. Web Marketing Today: custom fonts. But … Read more Fun with Type (But Keep It Functional)
