Recommended Reading from Boxes and Arrows Website

I have found a few good books on the excellent Boxes and Arrows site covering 'the design behind design'. This site has lots of ideas about information architecture, design of user interfaces, etc.

Anyway these book are the books that I will read in that mythical 'when I have time' space I never seem to reach. As John Lennon said '...life's what happens while your making plans.' How true. Anyway check out the books below.

Universal Principles of Design
William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, and Jill Butler
October 2003
100 design principles—concepts such as affordance, constraints, figure-ground, etc.—clearly explained. Includes many examples and illustrations. (As you’d expect, it’s also beautifully designed.)

Recommended by Jorge Arango on http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/oldies-and-goodies

Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace (9th Edition)
Joseph M. Williams
December 2006
You write. You write all the time: stacks of email messages, instant messages, text messages, reports, rants, and reviews. And you follow rules. You follow rules you learned in high school: don’t begin a sentence with “But,” don’t end a sentence with a preposition, and never use fragments. In a time where writing happens more often than not and where the rules no longer apply, we need a book to tell us how to break the rules elegantly. Truth is, they were never meant to be followed in the first place. Williams, in this 9th edition, presents a stunning set of guidelines on how to break the rules, and how to diagnose the problems with your own writing.

Recommended by Liz Danzico on http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/oldies-and-goodies

Designing Interfaces
Jenifer Tidwell
November 2005
I have found Designing Interfaces to be an invaluable resource. It is a collection of well-organized UI design patterns for a wide selection of platforms, desktop, web, mobile, and other digital devices.

Recommended by Alecia Kozbial on http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/oldies-and-goodies

Information Architecture for the World Wide Web
Peter Morville, Louis Rosenfeld
November 2006
I just got my copy of the Third Edition of Information Architecture for the World Wide Web by Morville & Rosenfeld. The previous editions have always been favorites and a must-have for all of us. This is a book that has been critical for the development of our field. It seems like the book has been thoroughly revised; I see new screenshots and new subtitles everywhere. It has been updated to include social classification and navigation concepts, and all those other things we’ve been discussing since the last edition. Some advanced findability notions are also considered, as well as more depth on user needs, enterprise IA, and strategy. There’s also more on deliverables than ever before. While sticking to roughly the same amount of pages as the Second Edition, this book seems completely refreshed. I look forward to have a chance to sit down and read it cover to cover.

Recommended by Javier Velasco on http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/oldies-and-goodies

Buzzwords of the day

I found some words left on my performancing blog plug-in, so I thought I would share them with the world, that is all.

1. blog bouncers



2. link jackers



3. tag soup

NextSpace... A good newsletter for those wanting to follow future trends in the Library field

Source: NextSpace: OCLC Community Newsletter

I just wanted to wholeheartedly recommend the NextSpace: OCLC Community Newsletter which is has lots of good articles on technology and trends in the library. I particularly enjoyed their issues on Web 2.0 and Boomers vs. Gamers. They also cover issues like the 'long tail' effect, and ways to personalise the Web interface for library users.

Speaking of ways to personalise the Web I was recently introduced to Netvibes, a Personal Information Management System (PIMS) for things you are doing on the Web. It allows the creation of and linking of RSS feeds and other API scripted widget boxes that allow you to check multiple mail accounts, your ebay, local weather, etc.

Rex Libris... a comic for librarians

I discovered this while down at my favourite comic shop in Melbourne 'Alternate Worlds'. In this issue Rex Libris, a kind of New Jersey accented tough guy librarian, gets sucked into a book of monsters and tries to rescue a patron of the library. Some people in my course had talked about it before I think students who studied Children's Literature as an elective are aware of it's existence.

Anyhow I found it entertaining and liked this panel describing the role of a librarian and how it is not to seek adventure.

What the heck is Library 2.0?... here's a visual Meme map by bonariabiancu

Source: Uploaded March 16, 2006 by bonariabiancu
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bonaria/113222147/

I found this visual representation of Library 2.0 when looking through Chelsea Harper and Kate Watson's Powerpoint presentation on wikis and blogs and their use in the libray. I have always liked diagrams and visual explanations of concepts. I think the Japanese do them very well, with their comic (or manga) culture. I am also interested in the idea that games can increase digital literacy as put forward by Paul Gee in his book see info below.

What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy

by James Paul Gee

See this book for a very detailed (and more academic than I expected) look at video games and semiotic domains etc

Later when I find it on my flash drive again I will include a link to a great powerpoint presentation on games demonstrating how the complexities of an interface used be a typical role playing game (RPG) like the popular World of Warcraft prepares game players to adapt to many different software applications.

I have found something interesting to assist me with my research interests next year.

I was looking through the latest issue of Incite Magazine (Dec 06), and on page six there was some information about the Ray Choate Scholarship. The idea behind this is to investigate some aspect of reference services that will lead to better practice in this area. It sounds really interesting and I look forward to putting something towards this scholarship. For now that is going to have to go on the backburner as I have to get my employment and graduation sorted.

I am very interested in the current recipients project which is 'Investigating Blog and Wiki Technology for the Enhancement of Internal Reference Services Practice' by Chelsea Harper and Kate Watson. I am going to have a bit of look at their project tonight and hope to be able to contribute some of the sources I have uncovered in my exploration of blog and wiki issues.

All consuming... check it out for books, music, and movies I recommend

As most of my friends know I read a fair bit. In the words of Bill Hicks 'wellll looks like we got ourselves a reader!' One of the fantastic people I hung out with on my recent trip to Canberra wanted to know more about what I recommend in the way of reading materials etc. So I prepared this little list and tried to think of at least ten movies, books, and music that I like. I have fairly eclectic tastes and if I had more time I would describe why I liked each of these items. Anyways might do some more tagging later.

Check out my goodies on All Consuming then just select books, music, or movies from the sidebar.

Viruses are not scary... be afraid of the Bots

I have just been reading about bot attacks in Wired Magazine (Nov 06). Scott Berinato wrote an article titled 'Attack of the Bots' on p. 171. These bots have the ability to create huge DDos (distributed denial-of-service-attacks) and one company called Blue Security had their site taken down by bots because they were trying to provide an anti spam service which tries to flood the spammer with data. Unfortunately the site and related ISPs and other network servers were all shut down in the process.

Anyhow these things are real nasty and basically are controlled on high by Command and Control (C&C) operational software which usually move servers often to frustrate those trying to stop the bots. Even if you shut down one of these operational software programs there may be another one lurking somewhere else.

When the botnet underground means business and it is probably best to stay out of their way.