From d.sless at communication.org.au Mon Aug 3 12:46:12 2009 From: d.sless at communication.org.au (David Sless) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 20:46:12 +1000 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: cri courses and publications Message-ID: <826C4147-5B29-4CDA-AED7-CF493D0FBB37@communication.org.au> Apologies for cross posting We are finalising all the details and application forms for enrolment in our courses and workshops, so keep an eye on our site. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, with preference given to CRI and IIID members. For this month only, our case history on 'Shorter CMIs: The sad failure of a design project' is available to all site visitors and subscribers, not just Members. http://communication.org.au/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=118 Also there are some new blogs at: http://www.communication.org.au/dsblog/ Enjoy, David From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:17 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:17 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, The article "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is praised for making people look their best and dissed for setting the bar too high" was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all Brothers & Sisters"). The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:41 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:41 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedal-powered Laotian computers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775431.6090102@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, I know some of you will be interested in this _World Ark_ story "Technology Advances Rural Businesses" (pp. 10-11 of the Summer 2009 issue of the Heifer organization's _World Ark_ magazine) which I believe is directly accessible at http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/heifer/worldark_2009summer/#/12 If that doesn't work, try http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.4021787/?msource=0809nl then click on the link "VIEW WORLD ARK AS A PAGE-TURNER MAGAZINE" and navigate through the (Flash-powered?) e-magazine to p. 10. Those with no interest in the story might still find the design of the digital magazine worth a look. Makes an interesting alternative to standard PDF formatting.... Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From r.waller at reading.ac.uk Tue Aug 4 00:05:00 2009 From: r.waller at reading.ac.uk (Rob Waller) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 23:05:00 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Funnily enough this issue was in the news in the UK today, with a political party calling for the banning of unrealistically airbrushed images in material aimed at young girls - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html A commentator on the BBC mentioned a famous instance of this from British history - the Hans Holbein portrait of Anne of Cleves commissioned to interest Henry VIII in marrying her. He didn't fancy her as much when they actually met. __________________________________ Rob Waller Department of Typography & Graphic Communication University of Reading On 3 Aug 2009, at 22:18, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > Cafe, > > The article > > "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is > praised for making people look their best and dissed for > setting the bar too high" > > was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ > (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: > > http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story > > I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I > struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and > problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist > Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century > contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those > trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters > alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all > Brothers & Sisters"). > > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) > > Deborah > _____ > > Deborah Taylor-Pearce > dtp at she-philosopher.com > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090803/4fb89755/attachment.htm From d.sless at communication.org.au Mon Aug 3 12:46:12 2009 From: d.sless at communication.org.au (David Sless) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 20:46:12 +1000 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: cri courses and publications Message-ID: <826C4147-5B29-4CDA-AED7-CF493D0FBB37@communication.org.au> Apologies for cross posting We are finalising all the details and application forms for enrolment in our courses and workshops, so keep an eye on our site. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, with preference given to CRI and IIID members. For this month only, our case history on 'Shorter CMIs: The sad failure of a design project' is available to all site visitors and subscribers, not just Members. http://communication.org.au/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=118 Also there are some new blogs at: http://www.communication.org.au/dsblog/ Enjoy, David From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:17 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:17 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, The article "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is praised for making people look their best and dissed for setting the bar too high" was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all Brothers & Sisters"). The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:41 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:41 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedal-powered Laotian computers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775431.6090102@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, I know some of you will be interested in this _World Ark_ story "Technology Advances Rural Businesses" (pp. 10-11 of the Summer 2009 issue of the Heifer organization's _World Ark_ magazine) which I believe is directly accessible at http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/heifer/worldark_2009summer/#/12 If that doesn't work, try http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.4021787/?msource=0809nl then click on the link "VIEW WORLD ARK AS A PAGE-TURNER MAGAZINE" and navigate through the (Flash-powered?) e-magazine to p. 10. Those with no interest in the story might still find the design of the digital magazine worth a look. Makes an interesting alternative to standard PDF formatting.... Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From r.waller at reading.ac.uk Tue Aug 4 00:05:00 2009 From: r.waller at reading.ac.uk (Rob Waller) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 23:05:00 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Funnily enough this issue was in the news in the UK today, with a political party calling for the banning of unrealistically airbrushed images in material aimed at young girls - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html A commentator on the BBC mentioned a famous instance of this from British history - the Hans Holbein portrait of Anne of Cleves commissioned to interest Henry VIII in marrying her. He didn't fancy her as much when they actually met. __________________________________ Rob Waller Department of Typography & Graphic Communication University of Reading On 3 Aug 2009, at 22:18, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > Cafe, > > The article > > "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is > praised for making people look their best and dissed for > setting the bar too high" > > was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ > (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: > > http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story > > I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I > struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and > problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist > Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century > contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those > trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters > alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all > Brothers & Sisters"). > > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) > > Deborah > _____ > > Deborah Taylor-Pearce > dtp at she-philosopher.com > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090803/4fb89755/attachment-0001.htm From frank at limov.com Tue Aug 4 08:00:35 2009 From: frank at limov.com (Frank Wales) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:00:35 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <4A77CE83.5070406@limov.com> Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) For those who don't know about it, the Photoshop Disasters blog has a great selection of doofus-level picture manipulations, where things have been Photoshopped to *im*perfection. Such as where they 'fixed' the faces, but not their reflections: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/10/marie-claire-on-reflection-perhaps-not.html Or this piece of racial tokenism for the city of Toronto: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2009/06/city-of-toronto-token-brilliance.html Although I think my favourite is still Tatler's "pile of limbs" cover: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/12/tatler-legs-akimbo.html -- Frank Wales [frank at limov.com] From dtp at she-philosopher.com Tue Aug 4 23:03:29 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:03:29 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Message-ID: <4A78A221.2080004@she-philosopher.com> Hi, Rob -- > Funnily enough this issue > was in the news in the UK > today, with a political party > calling for the banning of > unrealistically airbrushed > images in material aimed at > young girls - >http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html Many thanks for this! I shall include a link to the online article in my revised gallery exhibit. My $0.02 re. the posted responses at the bottom of the page: I too think that training in "media literacy" (sometimes called "critical literacy" over here) is generally a good idea, but I'm not at all sure it's going to solve girls' problem with unrealistic body images. The media studies professor quoted in the _LA Times_ article (Gigi Durham) hinted as much: "Even those [girls] who are more savvy, she adds, are still affected. 'They know that no one really looks like that, but they still say, 'I wish my waist were that small.'" In my experience, once these sorts of images come to dominate our visual culture, even the most critical of us are susceptible. The unreal soon becomes the new real, largely because it's so familiar and over-represented in our visual subconscious. I don't believe we can legislate or analyze our way out of this. Rather, I think the answer is for each of us to expand our visual field (meaning that girls "pore over" a lot more images than just celebrity/fashion "magazine photos"). Deborah (here spouting more armchair pop psychology than your usual cultural-studies scholar ;-) _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From d.sless at communication.org.au Mon Aug 3 12:46:12 2009 From: d.sless at communication.org.au (David Sless) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 20:46:12 +1000 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: cri courses and publications Message-ID: <826C4147-5B29-4CDA-AED7-CF493D0FBB37@communication.org.au> Apologies for cross posting We are finalising all the details and application forms for enrolment in our courses and workshops, so keep an eye on our site. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, with preference given to CRI and IIID members. For this month only, our case history on 'Shorter CMIs: The sad failure of a design project' is available to all site visitors and subscribers, not just Members. http://communication.org.au/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=118 Also there are some new blogs at: http://www.communication.org.au/dsblog/ Enjoy, David From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:17 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:17 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, The article "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is praised for making people look their best and dissed for setting the bar too high" was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all Brothers & Sisters"). The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:41 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:41 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedal-powered Laotian computers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775431.6090102@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, I know some of you will be interested in this _World Ark_ story "Technology Advances Rural Businesses" (pp. 10-11 of the Summer 2009 issue of the Heifer organization's _World Ark_ magazine) which I believe is directly accessible at http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/heifer/worldark_2009summer/#/12 If that doesn't work, try http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.4021787/?msource=0809nl then click on the link "VIEW WORLD ARK AS A PAGE-TURNER MAGAZINE" and navigate through the (Flash-powered?) e-magazine to p. 10. Those with no interest in the story might still find the design of the digital magazine worth a look. Makes an interesting alternative to standard PDF formatting.... Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From r.waller at reading.ac.uk Tue Aug 4 00:05:00 2009 From: r.waller at reading.ac.uk (Rob Waller) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 23:05:00 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Funnily enough this issue was in the news in the UK today, with a political party calling for the banning of unrealistically airbrushed images in material aimed at young girls - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html A commentator on the BBC mentioned a famous instance of this from British history - the Hans Holbein portrait of Anne of Cleves commissioned to interest Henry VIII in marrying her. He didn't fancy her as much when they actually met. __________________________________ Rob Waller Department of Typography & Graphic Communication University of Reading On 3 Aug 2009, at 22:18, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > Cafe, > > The article > > "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is > praised for making people look their best and dissed for > setting the bar too high" > > was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ > (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: > > http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story > > I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I > struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and > problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist > Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century > contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those > trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters > alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all > Brothers & Sisters"). > > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) > > Deborah > _____ > > Deborah Taylor-Pearce > dtp at she-philosopher.com > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090803/4fb89755/attachment-0002.htm From frank at limov.com Tue Aug 4 08:00:35 2009 From: frank at limov.com (Frank Wales) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:00:35 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <4A77CE83.5070406@limov.com> Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) For those who don't know about it, the Photoshop Disasters blog has a great selection of doofus-level picture manipulations, where things have been Photoshopped to *im*perfection. Such as where they 'fixed' the faces, but not their reflections: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/10/marie-claire-on-reflection-perhaps-not.html Or this piece of racial tokenism for the city of Toronto: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2009/06/city-of-toronto-token-brilliance.html Although I think my favourite is still Tatler's "pile of limbs" cover: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/12/tatler-legs-akimbo.html -- Frank Wales [frank at limov.com] From dtp at she-philosopher.com Tue Aug 4 23:03:29 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:03:29 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Message-ID: <4A78A221.2080004@she-philosopher.com> Hi, Rob -- > Funnily enough this issue > was in the news in the UK > today, with a political party > calling for the banning of > unrealistically airbrushed > images in material aimed at > young girls - >http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html Many thanks for this! I shall include a link to the online article in my revised gallery exhibit. My $0.02 re. the posted responses at the bottom of the page: I too think that training in "media literacy" (sometimes called "critical literacy" over here) is generally a good idea, but I'm not at all sure it's going to solve girls' problem with unrealistic body images. The media studies professor quoted in the _LA Times_ article (Gigi Durham) hinted as much: "Even those [girls] who are more savvy, she adds, are still affected. 'They know that no one really looks like that, but they still say, 'I wish my waist were that small.'" In my experience, once these sorts of images come to dominate our visual culture, even the most critical of us are susceptible. The unreal soon becomes the new real, largely because it's so familiar and over-represented in our visual subconscious. I don't believe we can legislate or analyze our way out of this. Rather, I think the answer is for each of us to expand our visual field (meaning that girls "pore over" a lot more images than just celebrity/fashion "magazine photos"). Deborah (here spouting more armchair pop psychology than your usual cultural-studies scholar ;-) _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From christian.nordstrom at suunto.com Wed Aug 5 09:03:43 2009 From: christian.nordstrom at suunto.com (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nordstr=F6m=2C_Christian?=) Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 10:03:43 +0300 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: How different groups spend their day Message-ID: <5AC9E5A111847E4DA8040C7B18B529491FF52A@vaas0002.emea.amersports.int> Dear all, Here?s a nice interactive info-graph, in case you have not seen it: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/31/business/20080801-metrics-graphic.html Parts nicely executed: - choosing between different groups on the upper right corner - clicking on the activity to see the statistics Br, Christian CHRISTIAN NORDSTR?M User Documentation Specialist Suunto Oy Valimotie 7, FI-01510 Vantaa, Finland mobile +358 50 596 8969, fax +358 9 875 87 300 christian.nordstrom at suunto.com, www.suunto.com, www.amersports.com This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0001.htm -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 6691 bytes Desc: image001.jpg Url : http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0001.jpeg From gvanpatter at humantific.com Wed Aug 5 18:19:40 2009 From: gvanpatter at humantific.com (GK VanPatter | Humantific) Date: Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:19:40 -0400 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: SenseMaker Dialogs Registration Opens In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Registration opens for SenseMaker Dialogs, a new speaker series focused on exploring the rapidly changing hybrid activity of SenseMaking in the 21st century. Event is Thursday, August 13, 2009 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM (ET) in New York. Series Originators & Organizers: Humantific Facility Sponsor: Parsons The School of Design Strategies SPACE IS LIMITED. Go here to buy your tickets. http://sensemakerdialogs.eventbrite.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/a2e8c8da/attachment.htm From d.sless at communication.org.au Mon Aug 3 12:46:12 2009 From: d.sless at communication.org.au (David Sless) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 20:46:12 +1000 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: cri courses and publications Message-ID: <826C4147-5B29-4CDA-AED7-CF493D0FBB37@communication.org.au> Apologies for cross posting We are finalising all the details and application forms for enrolment in our courses and workshops, so keep an eye on our site. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, with preference given to CRI and IIID members. For this month only, our case history on 'Shorter CMIs: The sad failure of a design project' is available to all site visitors and subscribers, not just Members. http://communication.org.au/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=118 Also there are some new blogs at: http://www.communication.org.au/dsblog/ Enjoy, David From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:17 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:17 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, The article "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is praised for making people look their best and dissed for setting the bar too high" was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all Brothers & Sisters"). The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:41 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:41 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedal-powered Laotian computers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775431.6090102@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, I know some of you will be interested in this _World Ark_ story "Technology Advances Rural Businesses" (pp. 10-11 of the Summer 2009 issue of the Heifer organization's _World Ark_ magazine) which I believe is directly accessible at http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/heifer/worldark_2009summer/#/12 If that doesn't work, try http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.4021787/?msource=0809nl then click on the link "VIEW WORLD ARK AS A PAGE-TURNER MAGAZINE" and navigate through the (Flash-powered?) e-magazine to p. 10. Those with no interest in the story might still find the design of the digital magazine worth a look. Makes an interesting alternative to standard PDF formatting.... Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From r.waller at reading.ac.uk Tue Aug 4 00:05:00 2009 From: r.waller at reading.ac.uk (Rob Waller) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 23:05:00 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Funnily enough this issue was in the news in the UK today, with a political party calling for the banning of unrealistically airbrushed images in material aimed at young girls - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html A commentator on the BBC mentioned a famous instance of this from British history - the Hans Holbein portrait of Anne of Cleves commissioned to interest Henry VIII in marrying her. He didn't fancy her as much when they actually met. __________________________________ Rob Waller Department of Typography & Graphic Communication University of Reading On 3 Aug 2009, at 22:18, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > Cafe, > > The article > > "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is > praised for making people look their best and dissed for > setting the bar too high" > > was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ > (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: > > http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story > > I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I > struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and > problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist > Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century > contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those > trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters > alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all > Brothers & Sisters"). > > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) > > Deborah > _____ > > Deborah Taylor-Pearce > dtp at she-philosopher.com > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090803/4fb89755/attachment-0004.htm From frank at limov.com Tue Aug 4 08:00:35 2009 From: frank at limov.com (Frank Wales) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:00:35 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <4A77CE83.5070406@limov.com> Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) For those who don't know about it, the Photoshop Disasters blog has a great selection of doofus-level picture manipulations, where things have been Photoshopped to *im*perfection. Such as where they 'fixed' the faces, but not their reflections: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/10/marie-claire-on-reflection-perhaps-not.html Or this piece of racial tokenism for the city of Toronto: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2009/06/city-of-toronto-token-brilliance.html Although I think my favourite is still Tatler's "pile of limbs" cover: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/12/tatler-legs-akimbo.html -- Frank Wales [frank at limov.com] From dtp at she-philosopher.com Tue Aug 4 23:03:29 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:03:29 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Message-ID: <4A78A221.2080004@she-philosopher.com> Hi, Rob -- > Funnily enough this issue > was in the news in the UK > today, with a political party > calling for the banning of > unrealistically airbrushed > images in material aimed at > young girls - >http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html Many thanks for this! I shall include a link to the online article in my revised gallery exhibit. My $0.02 re. the posted responses at the bottom of the page: I too think that training in "media literacy" (sometimes called "critical literacy" over here) is generally a good idea, but I'm not at all sure it's going to solve girls' problem with unrealistic body images. The media studies professor quoted in the _LA Times_ article (Gigi Durham) hinted as much: "Even those [girls] who are more savvy, she adds, are still affected. 'They know that no one really looks like that, but they still say, 'I wish my waist were that small.'" In my experience, once these sorts of images come to dominate our visual culture, even the most critical of us are susceptible. The unreal soon becomes the new real, largely because it's so familiar and over-represented in our visual subconscious. I don't believe we can legislate or analyze our way out of this. Rather, I think the answer is for each of us to expand our visual field (meaning that girls "pore over" a lot more images than just celebrity/fashion "magazine photos"). Deborah (here spouting more armchair pop psychology than your usual cultural-studies scholar ;-) _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From christian.nordstrom at suunto.com Wed Aug 5 09:03:43 2009 From: christian.nordstrom at suunto.com (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nordstr=F6m=2C_Christian?=) Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 10:03:43 +0300 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: How different groups spend their day Message-ID: <5AC9E5A111847E4DA8040C7B18B529491FF52A@vaas0002.emea.amersports.int> Dear all, Here?s a nice interactive info-graph, in case you have not seen it: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/31/business/20080801-metrics-graphic.html Parts nicely executed: - choosing between different groups on the upper right corner - clicking on the activity to see the statistics Br, Christian CHRISTIAN NORDSTR?M User Documentation Specialist Suunto Oy Valimotie 7, FI-01510 Vantaa, Finland mobile +358 50 596 8969, fax +358 9 875 87 300 christian.nordstrom at suunto.com, www.suunto.com, www.amersports.com This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0002.htm -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 6691 bytes Desc: image001.jpg Url : http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0002.jpeg From gvanpatter at humantific.com Wed Aug 5 18:19:40 2009 From: gvanpatter at humantific.com (GK VanPatter | Humantific) Date: Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:19:40 -0400 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: SenseMaker Dialogs Registration Opens In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Registration opens for SenseMaker Dialogs, a new speaker series focused on exploring the rapidly changing hybrid activity of SenseMaking in the 21st century. Event is Thursday, August 13, 2009 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM (ET) in New York. Series Originators & Organizers: Humantific Facility Sponsor: Parsons The School of Design Strategies SPACE IS LIMITED. Go here to buy your tickets. http://sensemakerdialogs.eventbrite.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/a2e8c8da/attachment-0001.htm From d.sless at communication.org.au Mon Aug 3 12:46:12 2009 From: d.sless at communication.org.au (David Sless) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 20:46:12 +1000 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: cri courses and publications Message-ID: <826C4147-5B29-4CDA-AED7-CF493D0FBB37@communication.org.au> Apologies for cross posting We are finalising all the details and application forms for enrolment in our courses and workshops, so keep an eye on our site. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, with preference given to CRI and IIID members. For this month only, our case history on 'Shorter CMIs: The sad failure of a design project' is available to all site visitors and subscribers, not just Members. http://communication.org.au/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=118 Also there are some new blogs at: http://www.communication.org.au/dsblog/ Enjoy, David From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:17 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:17 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, The article "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is praised for making people look their best and dissed for setting the bar too high" was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all Brothers & Sisters"). The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:41 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:41 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedal-powered Laotian computers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775431.6090102@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, I know some of you will be interested in this _World Ark_ story "Technology Advances Rural Businesses" (pp. 10-11 of the Summer 2009 issue of the Heifer organization's _World Ark_ magazine) which I believe is directly accessible at http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/heifer/worldark_2009summer/#/12 If that doesn't work, try http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.4021787/?msource=0809nl then click on the link "VIEW WORLD ARK AS A PAGE-TURNER MAGAZINE" and navigate through the (Flash-powered?) e-magazine to p. 10. Those with no interest in the story might still find the design of the digital magazine worth a look. Makes an interesting alternative to standard PDF formatting.... Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From r.waller at reading.ac.uk Tue Aug 4 00:05:00 2009 From: r.waller at reading.ac.uk (Rob Waller) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 23:05:00 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Funnily enough this issue was in the news in the UK today, with a political party calling for the banning of unrealistically airbrushed images in material aimed at young girls - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html A commentator on the BBC mentioned a famous instance of this from British history - the Hans Holbein portrait of Anne of Cleves commissioned to interest Henry VIII in marrying her. He didn't fancy her as much when they actually met. __________________________________ Rob Waller Department of Typography & Graphic Communication University of Reading On 3 Aug 2009, at 22:18, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > Cafe, > > The article > > "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is > praised for making people look their best and dissed for > setting the bar too high" > > was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ > (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: > > http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story > > I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I > struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and > problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist > Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century > contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those > trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters > alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all > Brothers & Sisters"). > > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) > > Deborah > _____ > > Deborah Taylor-Pearce > dtp at she-philosopher.com > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090803/4fb89755/attachment-0005.htm From frank at limov.com Tue Aug 4 08:00:35 2009 From: frank at limov.com (Frank Wales) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:00:35 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <4A77CE83.5070406@limov.com> Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) For those who don't know about it, the Photoshop Disasters blog has a great selection of doofus-level picture manipulations, where things have been Photoshopped to *im*perfection. Such as where they 'fixed' the faces, but not their reflections: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/10/marie-claire-on-reflection-perhaps-not.html Or this piece of racial tokenism for the city of Toronto: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2009/06/city-of-toronto-token-brilliance.html Although I think my favourite is still Tatler's "pile of limbs" cover: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/12/tatler-legs-akimbo.html -- Frank Wales [frank at limov.com] From dtp at she-philosopher.com Tue Aug 4 23:03:29 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:03:29 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Message-ID: <4A78A221.2080004@she-philosopher.com> Hi, Rob -- > Funnily enough this issue > was in the news in the UK > today, with a political party > calling for the banning of > unrealistically airbrushed > images in material aimed at > young girls - >http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html Many thanks for this! I shall include a link to the online article in my revised gallery exhibit. My $0.02 re. the posted responses at the bottom of the page: I too think that training in "media literacy" (sometimes called "critical literacy" over here) is generally a good idea, but I'm not at all sure it's going to solve girls' problem with unrealistic body images. The media studies professor quoted in the _LA Times_ article (Gigi Durham) hinted as much: "Even those [girls] who are more savvy, she adds, are still affected. 'They know that no one really looks like that, but they still say, 'I wish my waist were that small.'" In my experience, once these sorts of images come to dominate our visual culture, even the most critical of us are susceptible. The unreal soon becomes the new real, largely because it's so familiar and over-represented in our visual subconscious. I don't believe we can legislate or analyze our way out of this. Rather, I think the answer is for each of us to expand our visual field (meaning that girls "pore over" a lot more images than just celebrity/fashion "magazine photos"). Deborah (here spouting more armchair pop psychology than your usual cultural-studies scholar ;-) _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From christian.nordstrom at suunto.com Wed Aug 5 09:03:43 2009 From: christian.nordstrom at suunto.com (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nordstr=F6m=2C_Christian?=) Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 10:03:43 +0300 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: How different groups spend their day Message-ID: <5AC9E5A111847E4DA8040C7B18B529491FF52A@vaas0002.emea.amersports.int> Dear all, Here?s a nice interactive info-graph, in case you have not seen it: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/31/business/20080801-metrics-graphic.html Parts nicely executed: - choosing between different groups on the upper right corner - clicking on the activity to see the statistics Br, Christian CHRISTIAN NORDSTR?M User Documentation Specialist Suunto Oy Valimotie 7, FI-01510 Vantaa, Finland mobile +358 50 596 8969, fax +358 9 875 87 300 christian.nordstrom at suunto.com, www.suunto.com, www.amersports.com This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0003.htm -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 6691 bytes Desc: image001.jpg Url : http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0003.jpeg From gvanpatter at humantific.com Wed Aug 5 18:19:40 2009 From: gvanpatter at humantific.com (GK VanPatter | Humantific) Date: Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:19:40 -0400 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: SenseMaker Dialogs Registration Opens In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Registration opens for SenseMaker Dialogs, a new speaker series focused on exploring the rapidly changing hybrid activity of SenseMaking in the 21st century. Event is Thursday, August 13, 2009 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM (ET) in New York. Series Originators & Organizers: Humantific Facility Sponsor: Parsons The School of Design Strategies SPACE IS LIMITED. Go here to buy your tickets. http://sensemakerdialogs.eventbrite.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/a2e8c8da/attachment-0002.htm From d.sless at communication.org.au Mon Aug 3 12:46:12 2009 From: d.sless at communication.org.au (David Sless) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 20:46:12 +1000 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: cri courses and publications Message-ID: <826C4147-5B29-4CDA-AED7-CF493D0FBB37@communication.org.au> Apologies for cross posting We are finalising all the details and application forms for enrolment in our courses and workshops, so keep an eye on our site. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, with preference given to CRI and IIID members. For this month only, our case history on 'Shorter CMIs: The sad failure of a design project' is available to all site visitors and subscribers, not just Members. http://communication.org.au/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=118 Also there are some new blogs at: http://www.communication.org.au/dsblog/ Enjoy, David From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:17 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:17 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, The article "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is praised for making people look their best and dissed for setting the bar too high" was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all Brothers & Sisters"). The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:41 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:41 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedal-powered Laotian computers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775431.6090102@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, I know some of you will be interested in this _World Ark_ story "Technology Advances Rural Businesses" (pp. 10-11 of the Summer 2009 issue of the Heifer organization's _World Ark_ magazine) which I believe is directly accessible at http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/heifer/worldark_2009summer/#/12 If that doesn't work, try http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.4021787/?msource=0809nl then click on the link "VIEW WORLD ARK AS A PAGE-TURNER MAGAZINE" and navigate through the (Flash-powered?) e-magazine to p. 10. Those with no interest in the story might still find the design of the digital magazine worth a look. Makes an interesting alternative to standard PDF formatting.... Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From r.waller at reading.ac.uk Tue Aug 4 00:05:00 2009 From: r.waller at reading.ac.uk (Rob Waller) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 23:05:00 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Funnily enough this issue was in the news in the UK today, with a political party calling for the banning of unrealistically airbrushed images in material aimed at young girls - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html A commentator on the BBC mentioned a famous instance of this from British history - the Hans Holbein portrait of Anne of Cleves commissioned to interest Henry VIII in marrying her. He didn't fancy her as much when they actually met. __________________________________ Rob Waller Department of Typography & Graphic Communication University of Reading On 3 Aug 2009, at 22:18, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > Cafe, > > The article > > "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is > praised for making people look their best and dissed for > setting the bar too high" > > was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ > (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: > > http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story > > I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I > struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and > problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist > Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century > contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those > trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters > alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all > Brothers & Sisters"). > > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) > > Deborah > _____ > > Deborah Taylor-Pearce > dtp at she-philosopher.com > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090803/4fb89755/attachment-0006.htm From frank at limov.com Tue Aug 4 08:00:35 2009 From: frank at limov.com (Frank Wales) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:00:35 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <4A77CE83.5070406@limov.com> Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) For those who don't know about it, the Photoshop Disasters blog has a great selection of doofus-level picture manipulations, where things have been Photoshopped to *im*perfection. Such as where they 'fixed' the faces, but not their reflections: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/10/marie-claire-on-reflection-perhaps-not.html Or this piece of racial tokenism for the city of Toronto: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2009/06/city-of-toronto-token-brilliance.html Although I think my favourite is still Tatler's "pile of limbs" cover: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/12/tatler-legs-akimbo.html -- Frank Wales [frank at limov.com] From dtp at she-philosopher.com Tue Aug 4 23:03:29 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:03:29 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Message-ID: <4A78A221.2080004@she-philosopher.com> Hi, Rob -- > Funnily enough this issue > was in the news in the UK > today, with a political party > calling for the banning of > unrealistically airbrushed > images in material aimed at > young girls - >http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html Many thanks for this! I shall include a link to the online article in my revised gallery exhibit. My $0.02 re. the posted responses at the bottom of the page: I too think that training in "media literacy" (sometimes called "critical literacy" over here) is generally a good idea, but I'm not at all sure it's going to solve girls' problem with unrealistic body images. The media studies professor quoted in the _LA Times_ article (Gigi Durham) hinted as much: "Even those [girls] who are more savvy, she adds, are still affected. 'They know that no one really looks like that, but they still say, 'I wish my waist were that small.'" In my experience, once these sorts of images come to dominate our visual culture, even the most critical of us are susceptible. The unreal soon becomes the new real, largely because it's so familiar and over-represented in our visual subconscious. I don't believe we can legislate or analyze our way out of this. Rather, I think the answer is for each of us to expand our visual field (meaning that girls "pore over" a lot more images than just celebrity/fashion "magazine photos"). Deborah (here spouting more armchair pop psychology than your usual cultural-studies scholar ;-) _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From christian.nordstrom at suunto.com Wed Aug 5 09:03:43 2009 From: christian.nordstrom at suunto.com (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nordstr=F6m=2C_Christian?=) Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 10:03:43 +0300 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: How different groups spend their day Message-ID: <5AC9E5A111847E4DA8040C7B18B529491FF52A@vaas0002.emea.amersports.int> Dear all, Here?s a nice interactive info-graph, in case you have not seen it: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/31/business/20080801-metrics-graphic.html Parts nicely executed: - choosing between different groups on the upper right corner - clicking on the activity to see the statistics Br, Christian CHRISTIAN NORDSTR?M User Documentation Specialist Suunto Oy Valimotie 7, FI-01510 Vantaa, Finland mobile +358 50 596 8969, fax +358 9 875 87 300 christian.nordstrom at suunto.com, www.suunto.com, www.amersports.com This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0004.htm -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 6691 bytes Desc: image001.jpg Url : http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0004.jpeg From gvanpatter at humantific.com Wed Aug 5 18:19:40 2009 From: gvanpatter at humantific.com (GK VanPatter | Humantific) Date: Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:19:40 -0400 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: SenseMaker Dialogs Registration Opens In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Registration opens for SenseMaker Dialogs, a new speaker series focused on exploring the rapidly changing hybrid activity of SenseMaking in the 21st century. Event is Thursday, August 13, 2009 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM (ET) in New York. Series Originators & Organizers: Humantific Facility Sponsor: Parsons The School of Design Strategies SPACE IS LIMITED. Go here to buy your tickets. http://sensemakerdialogs.eventbrite.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/a2e8c8da/attachment-0003.htm From d.sless at communication.org.au Mon Aug 3 12:46:12 2009 From: d.sless at communication.org.au (David Sless) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 20:46:12 +1000 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: cri courses and publications Message-ID: <826C4147-5B29-4CDA-AED7-CF493D0FBB37@communication.org.au> Apologies for cross posting We are finalising all the details and application forms for enrolment in our courses and workshops, so keep an eye on our site. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, with preference given to CRI and IIID members. For this month only, our case history on 'Shorter CMIs: The sad failure of a design project' is available to all site visitors and subscribers, not just Members. http://communication.org.au/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=118 Also there are some new blogs at: http://www.communication.org.au/dsblog/ Enjoy, David From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:17 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:17 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, The article "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is praised for making people look their best and dissed for setting the bar too high" was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all Brothers & Sisters"). The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:41 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:41 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedal-powered Laotian computers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775431.6090102@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, I know some of you will be interested in this _World Ark_ story "Technology Advances Rural Businesses" (pp. 10-11 of the Summer 2009 issue of the Heifer organization's _World Ark_ magazine) which I believe is directly accessible at http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/heifer/worldark_2009summer/#/12 If that doesn't work, try http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.4021787/?msource=0809nl then click on the link "VIEW WORLD ARK AS A PAGE-TURNER MAGAZINE" and navigate through the (Flash-powered?) e-magazine to p. 10. Those with no interest in the story might still find the design of the digital magazine worth a look. Makes an interesting alternative to standard PDF formatting.... Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From r.waller at reading.ac.uk Tue Aug 4 00:05:00 2009 From: r.waller at reading.ac.uk (Rob Waller) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 23:05:00 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Funnily enough this issue was in the news in the UK today, with a political party calling for the banning of unrealistically airbrushed images in material aimed at young girls - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html A commentator on the BBC mentioned a famous instance of this from British history - the Hans Holbein portrait of Anne of Cleves commissioned to interest Henry VIII in marrying her. He didn't fancy her as much when they actually met. __________________________________ Rob Waller Department of Typography & Graphic Communication University of Reading On 3 Aug 2009, at 22:18, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > Cafe, > > The article > > "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is > praised for making people look their best and dissed for > setting the bar too high" > > was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ > (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: > > http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story > > I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I > struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and > problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist > Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century > contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those > trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters > alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all > Brothers & Sisters"). > > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) > > Deborah > _____ > > Deborah Taylor-Pearce > dtp at she-philosopher.com > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090803/4fb89755/attachment-0007.htm From frank at limov.com Tue Aug 4 08:00:35 2009 From: frank at limov.com (Frank Wales) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:00:35 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <4A77CE83.5070406@limov.com> Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) For those who don't know about it, the Photoshop Disasters blog has a great selection of doofus-level picture manipulations, where things have been Photoshopped to *im*perfection. Such as where they 'fixed' the faces, but not their reflections: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/10/marie-claire-on-reflection-perhaps-not.html Or this piece of racial tokenism for the city of Toronto: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2009/06/city-of-toronto-token-brilliance.html Although I think my favourite is still Tatler's "pile of limbs" cover: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/12/tatler-legs-akimbo.html -- Frank Wales [frank at limov.com] From dtp at she-philosopher.com Tue Aug 4 23:03:29 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:03:29 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Message-ID: <4A78A221.2080004@she-philosopher.com> Hi, Rob -- > Funnily enough this issue > was in the news in the UK > today, with a political party > calling for the banning of > unrealistically airbrushed > images in material aimed at > young girls - >http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html Many thanks for this! I shall include a link to the online article in my revised gallery exhibit. My $0.02 re. the posted responses at the bottom of the page: I too think that training in "media literacy" (sometimes called "critical literacy" over here) is generally a good idea, but I'm not at all sure it's going to solve girls' problem with unrealistic body images. The media studies professor quoted in the _LA Times_ article (Gigi Durham) hinted as much: "Even those [girls] who are more savvy, she adds, are still affected. 'They know that no one really looks like that, but they still say, 'I wish my waist were that small.'" In my experience, once these sorts of images come to dominate our visual culture, even the most critical of us are susceptible. The unreal soon becomes the new real, largely because it's so familiar and over-represented in our visual subconscious. I don't believe we can legislate or analyze our way out of this. Rather, I think the answer is for each of us to expand our visual field (meaning that girls "pore over" a lot more images than just celebrity/fashion "magazine photos"). Deborah (here spouting more armchair pop psychology than your usual cultural-studies scholar ;-) _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From christian.nordstrom at suunto.com Wed Aug 5 09:03:43 2009 From: christian.nordstrom at suunto.com (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nordstr=F6m=2C_Christian?=) Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 10:03:43 +0300 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: How different groups spend their day Message-ID: <5AC9E5A111847E4DA8040C7B18B529491FF52A@vaas0002.emea.amersports.int> Dear all, Here?s a nice interactive info-graph, in case you have not seen it: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/31/business/20080801-metrics-graphic.html Parts nicely executed: - choosing between different groups on the upper right corner - clicking on the activity to see the statistics Br, Christian CHRISTIAN NORDSTR?M User Documentation Specialist Suunto Oy Valimotie 7, FI-01510 Vantaa, Finland mobile +358 50 596 8969, fax +358 9 875 87 300 christian.nordstrom at suunto.com, www.suunto.com, www.amersports.com This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0005.htm -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 6691 bytes Desc: image001.jpg Url : http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0005.jpeg From gvanpatter at humantific.com Wed Aug 5 18:19:40 2009 From: gvanpatter at humantific.com (GK VanPatter | Humantific) Date: Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:19:40 -0400 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: SenseMaker Dialogs Registration Opens In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Registration opens for SenseMaker Dialogs, a new speaker series focused on exploring the rapidly changing hybrid activity of SenseMaking in the 21st century. Event is Thursday, August 13, 2009 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM (ET) in New York. Series Originators & Organizers: Humantific Facility Sponsor: Parsons The School of Design Strategies SPACE IS LIMITED. Go here to buy your tickets. http://sensemakerdialogs.eventbrite.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/a2e8c8da/attachment-0004.htm From d.sless at communication.org.au Mon Aug 3 12:46:12 2009 From: d.sless at communication.org.au (David Sless) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 20:46:12 +1000 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: cri courses and publications Message-ID: <826C4147-5B29-4CDA-AED7-CF493D0FBB37@communication.org.au> Apologies for cross posting We are finalising all the details and application forms for enrolment in our courses and workshops, so keep an eye on our site. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, with preference given to CRI and IIID members. For this month only, our case history on 'Shorter CMIs: The sad failure of a design project' is available to all site visitors and subscribers, not just Members. http://communication.org.au/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=118 Also there are some new blogs at: http://www.communication.org.au/dsblog/ Enjoy, David From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:17 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:17 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, The article "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is praised for making people look their best and dissed for setting the bar too high" was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all Brothers & Sisters"). The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:41 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:41 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedal-powered Laotian computers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775431.6090102@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, I know some of you will be interested in this _World Ark_ story "Technology Advances Rural Businesses" (pp. 10-11 of the Summer 2009 issue of the Heifer organization's _World Ark_ magazine) which I believe is directly accessible at http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/heifer/worldark_2009summer/#/12 If that doesn't work, try http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.4021787/?msource=0809nl then click on the link "VIEW WORLD ARK AS A PAGE-TURNER MAGAZINE" and navigate through the (Flash-powered?) e-magazine to p. 10. Those with no interest in the story might still find the design of the digital magazine worth a look. Makes an interesting alternative to standard PDF formatting.... Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From r.waller at reading.ac.uk Tue Aug 4 00:05:00 2009 From: r.waller at reading.ac.uk (Rob Waller) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 23:05:00 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Funnily enough this issue was in the news in the UK today, with a political party calling for the banning of unrealistically airbrushed images in material aimed at young girls - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html A commentator on the BBC mentioned a famous instance of this from British history - the Hans Holbein portrait of Anne of Cleves commissioned to interest Henry VIII in marrying her. He didn't fancy her as much when they actually met. __________________________________ Rob Waller Department of Typography & Graphic Communication University of Reading On 3 Aug 2009, at 22:18, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > Cafe, > > The article > > "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is > praised for making people look their best and dissed for > setting the bar too high" > > was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ > (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: > > http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story > > I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I > struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and > problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist > Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century > contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those > trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters > alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all > Brothers & Sisters"). > > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) > > Deborah > _____ > > Deborah Taylor-Pearce > dtp at she-philosopher.com > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090803/4fb89755/attachment-0008.htm From frank at limov.com Tue Aug 4 08:00:35 2009 From: frank at limov.com (Frank Wales) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:00:35 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <4A77CE83.5070406@limov.com> Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) For those who don't know about it, the Photoshop Disasters blog has a great selection of doofus-level picture manipulations, where things have been Photoshopped to *im*perfection. Such as where they 'fixed' the faces, but not their reflections: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/10/marie-claire-on-reflection-perhaps-not.html Or this piece of racial tokenism for the city of Toronto: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2009/06/city-of-toronto-token-brilliance.html Although I think my favourite is still Tatler's "pile of limbs" cover: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/12/tatler-legs-akimbo.html -- Frank Wales [frank at limov.com] From dtp at she-philosopher.com Tue Aug 4 23:03:29 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:03:29 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Message-ID: <4A78A221.2080004@she-philosopher.com> Hi, Rob -- > Funnily enough this issue > was in the news in the UK > today, with a political party > calling for the banning of > unrealistically airbrushed > images in material aimed at > young girls - >http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html Many thanks for this! I shall include a link to the online article in my revised gallery exhibit. My $0.02 re. the posted responses at the bottom of the page: I too think that training in "media literacy" (sometimes called "critical literacy" over here) is generally a good idea, but I'm not at all sure it's going to solve girls' problem with unrealistic body images. The media studies professor quoted in the _LA Times_ article (Gigi Durham) hinted as much: "Even those [girls] who are more savvy, she adds, are still affected. 'They know that no one really looks like that, but they still say, 'I wish my waist were that small.'" In my experience, once these sorts of images come to dominate our visual culture, even the most critical of us are susceptible. The unreal soon becomes the new real, largely because it's so familiar and over-represented in our visual subconscious. I don't believe we can legislate or analyze our way out of this. Rather, I think the answer is for each of us to expand our visual field (meaning that girls "pore over" a lot more images than just celebrity/fashion "magazine photos"). Deborah (here spouting more armchair pop psychology than your usual cultural-studies scholar ;-) _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From christian.nordstrom at suunto.com Wed Aug 5 09:03:43 2009 From: christian.nordstrom at suunto.com (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nordstr=F6m=2C_Christian?=) Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 10:03:43 +0300 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: How different groups spend their day Message-ID: <5AC9E5A111847E4DA8040C7B18B529491FF52A@vaas0002.emea.amersports.int> Dear all, Here?s a nice interactive info-graph, in case you have not seen it: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/31/business/20080801-metrics-graphic.html Parts nicely executed: - choosing between different groups on the upper right corner - clicking on the activity to see the statistics Br, Christian CHRISTIAN NORDSTR?M User Documentation Specialist Suunto Oy Valimotie 7, FI-01510 Vantaa, Finland mobile +358 50 596 8969, fax +358 9 875 87 300 christian.nordstrom at suunto.com, www.suunto.com, www.amersports.com This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0006.htm -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 6691 bytes Desc: image001.jpg Url : http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0006.jpeg From gvanpatter at humantific.com Wed Aug 5 18:19:40 2009 From: gvanpatter at humantific.com (GK VanPatter | Humantific) Date: Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:19:40 -0400 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: SenseMaker Dialogs Registration Opens In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Registration opens for SenseMaker Dialogs, a new speaker series focused on exploring the rapidly changing hybrid activity of SenseMaking in the 21st century. Event is Thursday, August 13, 2009 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM (ET) in New York. Series Originators & Organizers: Humantific Facility Sponsor: Parsons The School of Design Strategies SPACE IS LIMITED. Go here to buy your tickets. http://sensemakerdialogs.eventbrite.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/a2e8c8da/attachment-0005.htm From d.sless at communication.org.au Mon Aug 3 12:46:12 2009 From: d.sless at communication.org.au (David Sless) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 20:46:12 +1000 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: cri courses and publications Message-ID: <826C4147-5B29-4CDA-AED7-CF493D0FBB37@communication.org.au> Apologies for cross posting We are finalising all the details and application forms for enrolment in our courses and workshops, so keep an eye on our site. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, with preference given to CRI and IIID members. For this month only, our case history on 'Shorter CMIs: The sad failure of a design project' is available to all site visitors and subscribers, not just Members. http://communication.org.au/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=118 Also there are some new blogs at: http://www.communication.org.au/dsblog/ Enjoy, David From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:17 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:17 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, The article "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is praised for making people look their best and dissed for setting the bar too high" was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all Brothers & Sisters"). The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:41 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:41 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedal-powered Laotian computers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775431.6090102@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, I know some of you will be interested in this _World Ark_ story "Technology Advances Rural Businesses" (pp. 10-11 of the Summer 2009 issue of the Heifer organization's _World Ark_ magazine) which I believe is directly accessible at http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/heifer/worldark_2009summer/#/12 If that doesn't work, try http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.4021787/?msource=0809nl then click on the link "VIEW WORLD ARK AS A PAGE-TURNER MAGAZINE" and navigate through the (Flash-powered?) e-magazine to p. 10. Those with no interest in the story might still find the design of the digital magazine worth a look. Makes an interesting alternative to standard PDF formatting.... Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From r.waller at reading.ac.uk Tue Aug 4 00:05:00 2009 From: r.waller at reading.ac.uk (Rob Waller) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 23:05:00 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Funnily enough this issue was in the news in the UK today, with a political party calling for the banning of unrealistically airbrushed images in material aimed at young girls - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html A commentator on the BBC mentioned a famous instance of this from British history - the Hans Holbein portrait of Anne of Cleves commissioned to interest Henry VIII in marrying her. He didn't fancy her as much when they actually met. __________________________________ Rob Waller Department of Typography & Graphic Communication University of Reading On 3 Aug 2009, at 22:18, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > Cafe, > > The article > > "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is > praised for making people look their best and dissed for > setting the bar too high" > > was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ > (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: > > http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story > > I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I > struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and > problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist > Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century > contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those > trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters > alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all > Brothers & Sisters"). > > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) > > Deborah > _____ > > Deborah Taylor-Pearce > dtp at she-philosopher.com > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090803/4fb89755/attachment-0009.htm From frank at limov.com Tue Aug 4 08:00:35 2009 From: frank at limov.com (Frank Wales) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:00:35 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <4A77CE83.5070406@limov.com> Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) For those who don't know about it, the Photoshop Disasters blog has a great selection of doofus-level picture manipulations, where things have been Photoshopped to *im*perfection. Such as where they 'fixed' the faces, but not their reflections: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/10/marie-claire-on-reflection-perhaps-not.html Or this piece of racial tokenism for the city of Toronto: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2009/06/city-of-toronto-token-brilliance.html Although I think my favourite is still Tatler's "pile of limbs" cover: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/12/tatler-legs-akimbo.html -- Frank Wales [frank at limov.com] From dtp at she-philosopher.com Tue Aug 4 23:03:29 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:03:29 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Message-ID: <4A78A221.2080004@she-philosopher.com> Hi, Rob -- > Funnily enough this issue > was in the news in the UK > today, with a political party > calling for the banning of > unrealistically airbrushed > images in material aimed at > young girls - >http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html Many thanks for this! I shall include a link to the online article in my revised gallery exhibit. My $0.02 re. the posted responses at the bottom of the page: I too think that training in "media literacy" (sometimes called "critical literacy" over here) is generally a good idea, but I'm not at all sure it's going to solve girls' problem with unrealistic body images. The media studies professor quoted in the _LA Times_ article (Gigi Durham) hinted as much: "Even those [girls] who are more savvy, she adds, are still affected. 'They know that no one really looks like that, but they still say, 'I wish my waist were that small.'" In my experience, once these sorts of images come to dominate our visual culture, even the most critical of us are susceptible. The unreal soon becomes the new real, largely because it's so familiar and over-represented in our visual subconscious. I don't believe we can legislate or analyze our way out of this. Rather, I think the answer is for each of us to expand our visual field (meaning that girls "pore over" a lot more images than just celebrity/fashion "magazine photos"). Deborah (here spouting more armchair pop psychology than your usual cultural-studies scholar ;-) _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From christian.nordstrom at suunto.com Wed Aug 5 09:03:43 2009 From: christian.nordstrom at suunto.com (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nordstr=F6m=2C_Christian?=) Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 10:03:43 +0300 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: How different groups spend their day Message-ID: <5AC9E5A111847E4DA8040C7B18B529491FF52A@vaas0002.emea.amersports.int> Dear all, Here?s a nice interactive info-graph, in case you have not seen it: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/31/business/20080801-metrics-graphic.html Parts nicely executed: - choosing between different groups on the upper right corner - clicking on the activity to see the statistics Br, Christian CHRISTIAN NORDSTR?M User Documentation Specialist Suunto Oy Valimotie 7, FI-01510 Vantaa, Finland mobile +358 50 596 8969, fax +358 9 875 87 300 christian.nordstrom at suunto.com, www.suunto.com, www.amersports.com This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0007.htm -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 6691 bytes Desc: image001.jpg Url : http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0007.jpeg From gvanpatter at humantific.com Wed Aug 5 18:19:40 2009 From: gvanpatter at humantific.com (GK VanPatter | Humantific) Date: Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:19:40 -0400 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: SenseMaker Dialogs Registration Opens In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Registration opens for SenseMaker Dialogs, a new speaker series focused on exploring the rapidly changing hybrid activity of SenseMaking in the 21st century. Event is Thursday, August 13, 2009 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM (ET) in New York. Series Originators & Organizers: Humantific Facility Sponsor: Parsons The School of Design Strategies SPACE IS LIMITED. Go here to buy your tickets. http://sensemakerdialogs.eventbrite.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/a2e8c8da/attachment-0006.htm From d.sless at communication.org.au Mon Aug 3 12:46:12 2009 From: d.sless at communication.org.au (David Sless) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 20:46:12 +1000 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: cri courses and publications Message-ID: <826C4147-5B29-4CDA-AED7-CF493D0FBB37@communication.org.au> Apologies for cross posting We are finalising all the details and application forms for enrolment in our courses and workshops, so keep an eye on our site. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, with preference given to CRI and IIID members. For this month only, our case history on 'Shorter CMIs: The sad failure of a design project' is available to all site visitors and subscribers, not just Members. http://communication.org.au/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=118 Also there are some new blogs at: http://www.communication.org.au/dsblog/ Enjoy, David From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:17 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:17 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, The article "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is praised for making people look their best and dissed for setting the bar too high" was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all Brothers & Sisters"). The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:41 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:41 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedal-powered Laotian computers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775431.6090102@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, I know some of you will be interested in this _World Ark_ story "Technology Advances Rural Businesses" (pp. 10-11 of the Summer 2009 issue of the Heifer organization's _World Ark_ magazine) which I believe is directly accessible at http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/heifer/worldark_2009summer/#/12 If that doesn't work, try http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.4021787/?msource=0809nl then click on the link "VIEW WORLD ARK AS A PAGE-TURNER MAGAZINE" and navigate through the (Flash-powered?) e-magazine to p. 10. Those with no interest in the story might still find the design of the digital magazine worth a look. Makes an interesting alternative to standard PDF formatting.... Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From r.waller at reading.ac.uk Tue Aug 4 00:05:00 2009 From: r.waller at reading.ac.uk (Rob Waller) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 23:05:00 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Funnily enough this issue was in the news in the UK today, with a political party calling for the banning of unrealistically airbrushed images in material aimed at young girls - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html A commentator on the BBC mentioned a famous instance of this from British history - the Hans Holbein portrait of Anne of Cleves commissioned to interest Henry VIII in marrying her. He didn't fancy her as much when they actually met. __________________________________ Rob Waller Department of Typography & Graphic Communication University of Reading On 3 Aug 2009, at 22:18, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > Cafe, > > The article > > "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is > praised for making people look their best and dissed for > setting the bar too high" > > was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ > (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: > > http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story > > I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I > struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and > problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist > Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century > contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those > trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters > alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all > Brothers & Sisters"). > > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) > > Deborah > _____ > > Deborah Taylor-Pearce > dtp at she-philosopher.com > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090803/4fb89755/attachment-0010.htm From frank at limov.com Tue Aug 4 08:00:35 2009 From: frank at limov.com (Frank Wales) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:00:35 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <4A77CE83.5070406@limov.com> Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) For those who don't know about it, the Photoshop Disasters blog has a great selection of doofus-level picture manipulations, where things have been Photoshopped to *im*perfection. Such as where they 'fixed' the faces, but not their reflections: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/10/marie-claire-on-reflection-perhaps-not.html Or this piece of racial tokenism for the city of Toronto: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2009/06/city-of-toronto-token-brilliance.html Although I think my favourite is still Tatler's "pile of limbs" cover: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/12/tatler-legs-akimbo.html -- Frank Wales [frank at limov.com] From dtp at she-philosopher.com Tue Aug 4 23:03:29 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:03:29 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Message-ID: <4A78A221.2080004@she-philosopher.com> Hi, Rob -- > Funnily enough this issue > was in the news in the UK > today, with a political party > calling for the banning of > unrealistically airbrushed > images in material aimed at > young girls - >http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html Many thanks for this! I shall include a link to the online article in my revised gallery exhibit. My $0.02 re. the posted responses at the bottom of the page: I too think that training in "media literacy" (sometimes called "critical literacy" over here) is generally a good idea, but I'm not at all sure it's going to solve girls' problem with unrealistic body images. The media studies professor quoted in the _LA Times_ article (Gigi Durham) hinted as much: "Even those [girls] who are more savvy, she adds, are still affected. 'They know that no one really looks like that, but they still say, 'I wish my waist were that small.'" In my experience, once these sorts of images come to dominate our visual culture, even the most critical of us are susceptible. The unreal soon becomes the new real, largely because it's so familiar and over-represented in our visual subconscious. I don't believe we can legislate or analyze our way out of this. Rather, I think the answer is for each of us to expand our visual field (meaning that girls "pore over" a lot more images than just celebrity/fashion "magazine photos"). Deborah (here spouting more armchair pop psychology than your usual cultural-studies scholar ;-) _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From christian.nordstrom at suunto.com Wed Aug 5 09:03:43 2009 From: christian.nordstrom at suunto.com (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nordstr=F6m=2C_Christian?=) Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 10:03:43 +0300 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: How different groups spend their day Message-ID: <5AC9E5A111847E4DA8040C7B18B529491FF52A@vaas0002.emea.amersports.int> Dear all, Here?s a nice interactive info-graph, in case you have not seen it: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/31/business/20080801-metrics-graphic.html Parts nicely executed: - choosing between different groups on the upper right corner - clicking on the activity to see the statistics Br, Christian CHRISTIAN NORDSTR?M User Documentation Specialist Suunto Oy Valimotie 7, FI-01510 Vantaa, Finland mobile +358 50 596 8969, fax +358 9 875 87 300 christian.nordstrom at suunto.com, www.suunto.com, www.amersports.com This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0008.htm -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 6691 bytes Desc: image001.jpg Url : http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0008.jpeg From gvanpatter at humantific.com Wed Aug 5 18:19:40 2009 From: gvanpatter at humantific.com (GK VanPatter | Humantific) Date: Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:19:40 -0400 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: SenseMaker Dialogs Registration Opens In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Registration opens for SenseMaker Dialogs, a new speaker series focused on exploring the rapidly changing hybrid activity of SenseMaking in the 21st century. Event is Thursday, August 13, 2009 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM (ET) in New York. Series Originators & Organizers: Humantific Facility Sponsor: Parsons The School of Design Strategies SPACE IS LIMITED. Go here to buy your tickets. http://sensemakerdialogs.eventbrite.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/a2e8c8da/attachment-0007.htm From d.sless at communication.org.au Mon Aug 3 12:46:12 2009 From: d.sless at communication.org.au (David Sless) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 20:46:12 +1000 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: cri courses and publications Message-ID: <826C4147-5B29-4CDA-AED7-CF493D0FBB37@communication.org.au> Apologies for cross posting We are finalising all the details and application forms for enrolment in our courses and workshops, so keep an eye on our site. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, with preference given to CRI and IIID members. For this month only, our case history on 'Shorter CMIs: The sad failure of a design project' is available to all site visitors and subscribers, not just Members. http://communication.org.au/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=118 Also there are some new blogs at: http://www.communication.org.au/dsblog/ Enjoy, David From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:17 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:17 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, The article "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is praised for making people look their best and dissed for setting the bar too high" was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all Brothers & Sisters"). The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:41 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:41 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedal-powered Laotian computers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775431.6090102@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, I know some of you will be interested in this _World Ark_ story "Technology Advances Rural Businesses" (pp. 10-11 of the Summer 2009 issue of the Heifer organization's _World Ark_ magazine) which I believe is directly accessible at http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/heifer/worldark_2009summer/#/12 If that doesn't work, try http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.4021787/?msource=0809nl then click on the link "VIEW WORLD ARK AS A PAGE-TURNER MAGAZINE" and navigate through the (Flash-powered?) e-magazine to p. 10. Those with no interest in the story might still find the design of the digital magazine worth a look. Makes an interesting alternative to standard PDF formatting.... Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From r.waller at reading.ac.uk Tue Aug 4 00:05:00 2009 From: r.waller at reading.ac.uk (Rob Waller) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 23:05:00 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Funnily enough this issue was in the news in the UK today, with a political party calling for the banning of unrealistically airbrushed images in material aimed at young girls - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html A commentator on the BBC mentioned a famous instance of this from British history - the Hans Holbein portrait of Anne of Cleves commissioned to interest Henry VIII in marrying her. He didn't fancy her as much when they actually met. __________________________________ Rob Waller Department of Typography & Graphic Communication University of Reading On 3 Aug 2009, at 22:18, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > Cafe, > > The article > > "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is > praised for making people look their best and dissed for > setting the bar too high" > > was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ > (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: > > http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story > > I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I > struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and > problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist > Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century > contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those > trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters > alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all > Brothers & Sisters"). > > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) > > Deborah > _____ > > Deborah Taylor-Pearce > dtp at she-philosopher.com > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090803/4fb89755/attachment-0011.htm From frank at limov.com Tue Aug 4 08:00:35 2009 From: frank at limov.com (Frank Wales) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:00:35 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <4A77CE83.5070406@limov.com> Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) For those who don't know about it, the Photoshop Disasters blog has a great selection of doofus-level picture manipulations, where things have been Photoshopped to *im*perfection. Such as where they 'fixed' the faces, but not their reflections: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/10/marie-claire-on-reflection-perhaps-not.html Or this piece of racial tokenism for the city of Toronto: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2009/06/city-of-toronto-token-brilliance.html Although I think my favourite is still Tatler's "pile of limbs" cover: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/12/tatler-legs-akimbo.html -- Frank Wales [frank at limov.com] From dtp at she-philosopher.com Tue Aug 4 23:03:29 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:03:29 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Message-ID: <4A78A221.2080004@she-philosopher.com> Hi, Rob -- > Funnily enough this issue > was in the news in the UK > today, with a political party > calling for the banning of > unrealistically airbrushed > images in material aimed at > young girls - >http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html Many thanks for this! I shall include a link to the online article in my revised gallery exhibit. My $0.02 re. the posted responses at the bottom of the page: I too think that training in "media literacy" (sometimes called "critical literacy" over here) is generally a good idea, but I'm not at all sure it's going to solve girls' problem with unrealistic body images. The media studies professor quoted in the _LA Times_ article (Gigi Durham) hinted as much: "Even those [girls] who are more savvy, she adds, are still affected. 'They know that no one really looks like that, but they still say, 'I wish my waist were that small.'" In my experience, once these sorts of images come to dominate our visual culture, even the most critical of us are susceptible. The unreal soon becomes the new real, largely because it's so familiar and over-represented in our visual subconscious. I don't believe we can legislate or analyze our way out of this. Rather, I think the answer is for each of us to expand our visual field (meaning that girls "pore over" a lot more images than just celebrity/fashion "magazine photos"). Deborah (here spouting more armchair pop psychology than your usual cultural-studies scholar ;-) _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From christian.nordstrom at suunto.com Wed Aug 5 09:03:43 2009 From: christian.nordstrom at suunto.com (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nordstr=F6m=2C_Christian?=) Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 10:03:43 +0300 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: How different groups spend their day Message-ID: <5AC9E5A111847E4DA8040C7B18B529491FF52A@vaas0002.emea.amersports.int> Dear all, Here?s a nice interactive info-graph, in case you have not seen it: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/31/business/20080801-metrics-graphic.html Parts nicely executed: - choosing between different groups on the upper right corner - clicking on the activity to see the statistics Br, Christian CHRISTIAN NORDSTR?M User Documentation Specialist Suunto Oy Valimotie 7, FI-01510 Vantaa, Finland mobile +358 50 596 8969, fax +358 9 875 87 300 christian.nordstrom at suunto.com, www.suunto.com, www.amersports.com This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0009.htm -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 6691 bytes Desc: image001.jpg Url : http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0009.jpeg From gvanpatter at humantific.com Wed Aug 5 18:19:40 2009 From: gvanpatter at humantific.com (GK VanPatter | Humantific) Date: Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:19:40 -0400 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: SenseMaker Dialogs Registration Opens In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Registration opens for SenseMaker Dialogs, a new speaker series focused on exploring the rapidly changing hybrid activity of SenseMaking in the 21st century. Event is Thursday, August 13, 2009 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM (ET) in New York. Series Originators & Organizers: Humantific Facility Sponsor: Parsons The School of Design Strategies SPACE IS LIMITED. Go here to buy your tickets. http://sensemakerdialogs.eventbrite.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/a2e8c8da/attachment-0008.htm From d.sless at communication.org.au Mon Aug 3 12:46:12 2009 From: d.sless at communication.org.au (David Sless) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 20:46:12 +1000 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: cri courses and publications Message-ID: <826C4147-5B29-4CDA-AED7-CF493D0FBB37@communication.org.au> Apologies for cross posting We are finalising all the details and application forms for enrolment in our courses and workshops, so keep an eye on our site. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, with preference given to CRI and IIID members. For this month only, our case history on 'Shorter CMIs: The sad failure of a design project' is available to all site visitors and subscribers, not just Members. http://communication.org.au/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=118 Also there are some new blogs at: http://www.communication.org.au/dsblog/ Enjoy, David From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:17 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:17 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, The article "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is praised for making people look their best and dissed for setting the bar too high" was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all Brothers & Sisters"). The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:41 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:41 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedal-powered Laotian computers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775431.6090102@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, I know some of you will be interested in this _World Ark_ story "Technology Advances Rural Businesses" (pp. 10-11 of the Summer 2009 issue of the Heifer organization's _World Ark_ magazine) which I believe is directly accessible at http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/heifer/worldark_2009summer/#/12 If that doesn't work, try http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.4021787/?msource=0809nl then click on the link "VIEW WORLD ARK AS A PAGE-TURNER MAGAZINE" and navigate through the (Flash-powered?) e-magazine to p. 10. Those with no interest in the story might still find the design of the digital magazine worth a look. Makes an interesting alternative to standard PDF formatting.... Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From r.waller at reading.ac.uk Tue Aug 4 00:05:00 2009 From: r.waller at reading.ac.uk (Rob Waller) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 23:05:00 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Funnily enough this issue was in the news in the UK today, with a political party calling for the banning of unrealistically airbrushed images in material aimed at young girls - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html A commentator on the BBC mentioned a famous instance of this from British history - the Hans Holbein portrait of Anne of Cleves commissioned to interest Henry VIII in marrying her. He didn't fancy her as much when they actually met. __________________________________ Rob Waller Department of Typography & Graphic Communication University of Reading On 3 Aug 2009, at 22:18, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > Cafe, > > The article > > "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is > praised for making people look their best and dissed for > setting the bar too high" > > was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ > (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: > > http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story > > I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I > struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and > problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist > Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century > contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those > trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters > alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all > Brothers & Sisters"). > > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) > > Deborah > _____ > > Deborah Taylor-Pearce > dtp at she-philosopher.com > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090803/4fb89755/attachment-0012.htm From frank at limov.com Tue Aug 4 08:00:35 2009 From: frank at limov.com (Frank Wales) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:00:35 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <4A77CE83.5070406@limov.com> Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) For those who don't know about it, the Photoshop Disasters blog has a great selection of doofus-level picture manipulations, where things have been Photoshopped to *im*perfection. Such as where they 'fixed' the faces, but not their reflections: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/10/marie-claire-on-reflection-perhaps-not.html Or this piece of racial tokenism for the city of Toronto: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2009/06/city-of-toronto-token-brilliance.html Although I think my favourite is still Tatler's "pile of limbs" cover: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/12/tatler-legs-akimbo.html -- Frank Wales [frank at limov.com] From dtp at she-philosopher.com Tue Aug 4 23:03:29 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:03:29 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Message-ID: <4A78A221.2080004@she-philosopher.com> Hi, Rob -- > Funnily enough this issue > was in the news in the UK > today, with a political party > calling for the banning of > unrealistically airbrushed > images in material aimed at > young girls - >http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html Many thanks for this! I shall include a link to the online article in my revised gallery exhibit. My $0.02 re. the posted responses at the bottom of the page: I too think that training in "media literacy" (sometimes called "critical literacy" over here) is generally a good idea, but I'm not at all sure it's going to solve girls' problem with unrealistic body images. The media studies professor quoted in the _LA Times_ article (Gigi Durham) hinted as much: "Even those [girls] who are more savvy, she adds, are still affected. 'They know that no one really looks like that, but they still say, 'I wish my waist were that small.'" In my experience, once these sorts of images come to dominate our visual culture, even the most critical of us are susceptible. The unreal soon becomes the new real, largely because it's so familiar and over-represented in our visual subconscious. I don't believe we can legislate or analyze our way out of this. Rather, I think the answer is for each of us to expand our visual field (meaning that girls "pore over" a lot more images than just celebrity/fashion "magazine photos"). Deborah (here spouting more armchair pop psychology than your usual cultural-studies scholar ;-) _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From christian.nordstrom at suunto.com Wed Aug 5 09:03:43 2009 From: christian.nordstrom at suunto.com (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nordstr=F6m=2C_Christian?=) Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 10:03:43 +0300 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: How different groups spend their day Message-ID: <5AC9E5A111847E4DA8040C7B18B529491FF52A@vaas0002.emea.amersports.int> Dear all, Here?s a nice interactive info-graph, in case you have not seen it: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/31/business/20080801-metrics-graphic.html Parts nicely executed: - choosing between different groups on the upper right corner - clicking on the activity to see the statistics Br, Christian CHRISTIAN NORDSTR?M User Documentation Specialist Suunto Oy Valimotie 7, FI-01510 Vantaa, Finland mobile +358 50 596 8969, fax +358 9 875 87 300 christian.nordstrom at suunto.com, www.suunto.com, www.amersports.com This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0010.htm -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 6691 bytes Desc: image001.jpg Url : http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0010.jpeg From gvanpatter at humantific.com Wed Aug 5 18:19:40 2009 From: gvanpatter at humantific.com (GK VanPatter | Humantific) Date: Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:19:40 -0400 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: SenseMaker Dialogs Registration Opens In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Registration opens for SenseMaker Dialogs, a new speaker series focused on exploring the rapidly changing hybrid activity of SenseMaking in the 21st century. Event is Thursday, August 13, 2009 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM (ET) in New York. Series Originators & Organizers: Humantific Facility Sponsor: Parsons The School of Design Strategies SPACE IS LIMITED. Go here to buy your tickets. http://sensemakerdialogs.eventbrite.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/a2e8c8da/attachment-0009.htm From d.sless at communication.org.au Mon Aug 3 12:46:12 2009 From: d.sless at communication.org.au (David Sless) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 20:46:12 +1000 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: cri courses and publications Message-ID: <826C4147-5B29-4CDA-AED7-CF493D0FBB37@communication.org.au> Apologies for cross posting We are finalising all the details and application forms for enrolment in our courses and workshops, so keep an eye on our site. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, with preference given to CRI and IIID members. For this month only, our case history on 'Shorter CMIs: The sad failure of a design project' is available to all site visitors and subscribers, not just Members. http://communication.org.au/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=118 Also there are some new blogs at: http://www.communication.org.au/dsblog/ Enjoy, David From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:17 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:17 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, The article "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is praised for making people look their best and dissed for setting the bar too high" was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all Brothers & Sisters"). The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:41 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:41 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedal-powered Laotian computers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775431.6090102@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, I know some of you will be interested in this _World Ark_ story "Technology Advances Rural Businesses" (pp. 10-11 of the Summer 2009 issue of the Heifer organization's _World Ark_ magazine) which I believe is directly accessible at http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/heifer/worldark_2009summer/#/12 If that doesn't work, try http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.4021787/?msource=0809nl then click on the link "VIEW WORLD ARK AS A PAGE-TURNER MAGAZINE" and navigate through the (Flash-powered?) e-magazine to p. 10. Those with no interest in the story might still find the design of the digital magazine worth a look. Makes an interesting alternative to standard PDF formatting.... Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From r.waller at reading.ac.uk Tue Aug 4 00:05:00 2009 From: r.waller at reading.ac.uk (Rob Waller) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 23:05:00 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Funnily enough this issue was in the news in the UK today, with a political party calling for the banning of unrealistically airbrushed images in material aimed at young girls - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html A commentator on the BBC mentioned a famous instance of this from British history - the Hans Holbein portrait of Anne of Cleves commissioned to interest Henry VIII in marrying her. He didn't fancy her as much when they actually met. __________________________________ Rob Waller Department of Typography & Graphic Communication University of Reading On 3 Aug 2009, at 22:18, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > Cafe, > > The article > > "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is > praised for making people look their best and dissed for > setting the bar too high" > > was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ > (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: > > http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story > > I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I > struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and > problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist > Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century > contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those > trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters > alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all > Brothers & Sisters"). > > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) > > Deborah > _____ > > Deborah Taylor-Pearce > dtp at she-philosopher.com > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090803/4fb89755/attachment-0013.htm From frank at limov.com Tue Aug 4 08:00:35 2009 From: frank at limov.com (Frank Wales) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:00:35 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <4A77CE83.5070406@limov.com> Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) For those who don't know about it, the Photoshop Disasters blog has a great selection of doofus-level picture manipulations, where things have been Photoshopped to *im*perfection. Such as where they 'fixed' the faces, but not their reflections: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/10/marie-claire-on-reflection-perhaps-not.html Or this piece of racial tokenism for the city of Toronto: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2009/06/city-of-toronto-token-brilliance.html Although I think my favourite is still Tatler's "pile of limbs" cover: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/12/tatler-legs-akimbo.html -- Frank Wales [frank at limov.com] From dtp at she-philosopher.com Tue Aug 4 23:03:29 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:03:29 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Message-ID: <4A78A221.2080004@she-philosopher.com> Hi, Rob -- > Funnily enough this issue > was in the news in the UK > today, with a political party > calling for the banning of > unrealistically airbrushed > images in material aimed at > young girls - >http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html Many thanks for this! I shall include a link to the online article in my revised gallery exhibit. My $0.02 re. the posted responses at the bottom of the page: I too think that training in "media literacy" (sometimes called "critical literacy" over here) is generally a good idea, but I'm not at all sure it's going to solve girls' problem with unrealistic body images. The media studies professor quoted in the _LA Times_ article (Gigi Durham) hinted as much: "Even those [girls] who are more savvy, she adds, are still affected. 'They know that no one really looks like that, but they still say, 'I wish my waist were that small.'" In my experience, once these sorts of images come to dominate our visual culture, even the most critical of us are susceptible. The unreal soon becomes the new real, largely because it's so familiar and over-represented in our visual subconscious. I don't believe we can legislate or analyze our way out of this. Rather, I think the answer is for each of us to expand our visual field (meaning that girls "pore over" a lot more images than just celebrity/fashion "magazine photos"). Deborah (here spouting more armchair pop psychology than your usual cultural-studies scholar ;-) _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From christian.nordstrom at suunto.com Wed Aug 5 09:03:43 2009 From: christian.nordstrom at suunto.com (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nordstr=F6m=2C_Christian?=) Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 10:03:43 +0300 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: How different groups spend their day Message-ID: <5AC9E5A111847E4DA8040C7B18B529491FF52A@vaas0002.emea.amersports.int> Dear all, Here?s a nice interactive info-graph, in case you have not seen it: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/31/business/20080801-metrics-graphic.html Parts nicely executed: - choosing between different groups on the upper right corner - clicking on the activity to see the statistics Br, Christian CHRISTIAN NORDSTR?M User Documentation Specialist Suunto Oy Valimotie 7, FI-01510 Vantaa, Finland mobile +358 50 596 8969, fax +358 9 875 87 300 christian.nordstrom at suunto.com, www.suunto.com, www.amersports.com This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0011.htm -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 6691 bytes Desc: image001.jpg Url : http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0011.jpeg From gvanpatter at humantific.com Wed Aug 5 18:19:40 2009 From: gvanpatter at humantific.com (GK VanPatter | Humantific) Date: Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:19:40 -0400 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: SenseMaker Dialogs Registration Opens In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Registration opens for SenseMaker Dialogs, a new speaker series focused on exploring the rapidly changing hybrid activity of SenseMaking in the 21st century. Event is Thursday, August 13, 2009 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM (ET) in New York. Series Originators & Organizers: Humantific Facility Sponsor: Parsons The School of Design Strategies SPACE IS LIMITED. Go here to buy your tickets. http://sensemakerdialogs.eventbrite.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/a2e8c8da/attachment-0010.htm From d.sless at communication.org.au Mon Aug 3 12:46:12 2009 From: d.sless at communication.org.au (David Sless) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 20:46:12 +1000 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: cri courses and publications Message-ID: <826C4147-5B29-4CDA-AED7-CF493D0FBB37@communication.org.au> Apologies for cross posting We are finalising all the details and application forms for enrolment in our courses and workshops, so keep an eye on our site. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, with preference given to CRI and IIID members. For this month only, our case history on 'Shorter CMIs: The sad failure of a design project' is available to all site visitors and subscribers, not just Members. http://communication.org.au/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=118 Also there are some new blogs at: http://www.communication.org.au/dsblog/ Enjoy, David From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:17 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:17 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, The article "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is praised for making people look their best and dissed for setting the bar too high" was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all Brothers & Sisters"). The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:41 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:41 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedal-powered Laotian computers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775431.6090102@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, I know some of you will be interested in this _World Ark_ story "Technology Advances Rural Businesses" (pp. 10-11 of the Summer 2009 issue of the Heifer organization's _World Ark_ magazine) which I believe is directly accessible at http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/heifer/worldark_2009summer/#/12 If that doesn't work, try http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.4021787/?msource=0809nl then click on the link "VIEW WORLD ARK AS A PAGE-TURNER MAGAZINE" and navigate through the (Flash-powered?) e-magazine to p. 10. Those with no interest in the story might still find the design of the digital magazine worth a look. Makes an interesting alternative to standard PDF formatting.... Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From r.waller at reading.ac.uk Tue Aug 4 00:05:00 2009 From: r.waller at reading.ac.uk (Rob Waller) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 23:05:00 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Funnily enough this issue was in the news in the UK today, with a political party calling for the banning of unrealistically airbrushed images in material aimed at young girls - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html A commentator on the BBC mentioned a famous instance of this from British history - the Hans Holbein portrait of Anne of Cleves commissioned to interest Henry VIII in marrying her. He didn't fancy her as much when they actually met. __________________________________ Rob Waller Department of Typography & Graphic Communication University of Reading On 3 Aug 2009, at 22:18, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > Cafe, > > The article > > "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is > praised for making people look their best and dissed for > setting the bar too high" > > was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ > (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: > > http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story > > I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I > struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and > problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist > Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century > contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those > trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters > alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all > Brothers & Sisters"). > > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) > > Deborah > _____ > > Deborah Taylor-Pearce > dtp at she-philosopher.com > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090803/4fb89755/attachment-0014.htm From frank at limov.com Tue Aug 4 08:00:35 2009 From: frank at limov.com (Frank Wales) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:00:35 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <4A77CE83.5070406@limov.com> Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) For those who don't know about it, the Photoshop Disasters blog has a great selection of doofus-level picture manipulations, where things have been Photoshopped to *im*perfection. Such as where they 'fixed' the faces, but not their reflections: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/10/marie-claire-on-reflection-perhaps-not.html Or this piece of racial tokenism for the city of Toronto: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2009/06/city-of-toronto-token-brilliance.html Although I think my favourite is still Tatler's "pile of limbs" cover: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/12/tatler-legs-akimbo.html -- Frank Wales [frank at limov.com] From dtp at she-philosopher.com Tue Aug 4 23:03:29 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:03:29 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Message-ID: <4A78A221.2080004@she-philosopher.com> Hi, Rob -- > Funnily enough this issue > was in the news in the UK > today, with a political party > calling for the banning of > unrealistically airbrushed > images in material aimed at > young girls - >http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html Many thanks for this! I shall include a link to the online article in my revised gallery exhibit. My $0.02 re. the posted responses at the bottom of the page: I too think that training in "media literacy" (sometimes called "critical literacy" over here) is generally a good idea, but I'm not at all sure it's going to solve girls' problem with unrealistic body images. The media studies professor quoted in the _LA Times_ article (Gigi Durham) hinted as much: "Even those [girls] who are more savvy, she adds, are still affected. 'They know that no one really looks like that, but they still say, 'I wish my waist were that small.'" In my experience, once these sorts of images come to dominate our visual culture, even the most critical of us are susceptible. The unreal soon becomes the new real, largely because it's so familiar and over-represented in our visual subconscious. I don't believe we can legislate or analyze our way out of this. Rather, I think the answer is for each of us to expand our visual field (meaning that girls "pore over" a lot more images than just celebrity/fashion "magazine photos"). Deborah (here spouting more armchair pop psychology than your usual cultural-studies scholar ;-) _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From christian.nordstrom at suunto.com Wed Aug 5 09:03:43 2009 From: christian.nordstrom at suunto.com (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nordstr=F6m=2C_Christian?=) Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 10:03:43 +0300 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: How different groups spend their day Message-ID: <5AC9E5A111847E4DA8040C7B18B529491FF52A@vaas0002.emea.amersports.int> Dear all, Here?s a nice interactive info-graph, in case you have not seen it: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/31/business/20080801-metrics-graphic.html Parts nicely executed: - choosing between different groups on the upper right corner - clicking on the activity to see the statistics Br, Christian CHRISTIAN NORDSTR?M User Documentation Specialist Suunto Oy Valimotie 7, FI-01510 Vantaa, Finland mobile +358 50 596 8969, fax +358 9 875 87 300 christian.nordstrom at suunto.com, www.suunto.com, www.amersports.com This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0012.htm -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 6691 bytes Desc: image001.jpg Url : http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0012.jpeg From gvanpatter at humantific.com Wed Aug 5 18:19:40 2009 From: gvanpatter at humantific.com (GK VanPatter | Humantific) Date: Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:19:40 -0400 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: SenseMaker Dialogs Registration Opens In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Registration opens for SenseMaker Dialogs, a new speaker series focused on exploring the rapidly changing hybrid activity of SenseMaking in the 21st century. Event is Thursday, August 13, 2009 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM (ET) in New York. Series Originators & Organizers: Humantific Facility Sponsor: Parsons The School of Design Strategies SPACE IS LIMITED. Go here to buy your tickets. http://sensemakerdialogs.eventbrite.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/a2e8c8da/attachment-0011.htm From d.sless at communication.org.au Mon Aug 3 12:46:12 2009 From: d.sless at communication.org.au (David Sless) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 20:46:12 +1000 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: cri courses and publications Message-ID: <826C4147-5B29-4CDA-AED7-CF493D0FBB37@communication.org.au> Apologies for cross posting We are finalising all the details and application forms for enrolment in our courses and workshops, so keep an eye on our site. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, with preference given to CRI and IIID members. For this month only, our case history on 'Shorter CMIs: The sad failure of a design project' is available to all site visitors and subscribers, not just Members. http://communication.org.au/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=118 Also there are some new blogs at: http://www.communication.org.au/dsblog/ Enjoy, David From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:17 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:17 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, The article "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is praised for making people look their best and dissed for setting the bar too high" was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all Brothers & Sisters"). The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:41 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:41 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedal-powered Laotian computers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775431.6090102@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, I know some of you will be interested in this _World Ark_ story "Technology Advances Rural Businesses" (pp. 10-11 of the Summer 2009 issue of the Heifer organization's _World Ark_ magazine) which I believe is directly accessible at http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/heifer/worldark_2009summer/#/12 If that doesn't work, try http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.4021787/?msource=0809nl then click on the link "VIEW WORLD ARK AS A PAGE-TURNER MAGAZINE" and navigate through the (Flash-powered?) e-magazine to p. 10. Those with no interest in the story might still find the design of the digital magazine worth a look. Makes an interesting alternative to standard PDF formatting.... Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From r.waller at reading.ac.uk Tue Aug 4 00:05:00 2009 From: r.waller at reading.ac.uk (Rob Waller) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 23:05:00 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Funnily enough this issue was in the news in the UK today, with a political party calling for the banning of unrealistically airbrushed images in material aimed at young girls - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html A commentator on the BBC mentioned a famous instance of this from British history - the Hans Holbein portrait of Anne of Cleves commissioned to interest Henry VIII in marrying her. He didn't fancy her as much when they actually met. __________________________________ Rob Waller Department of Typography & Graphic Communication University of Reading On 3 Aug 2009, at 22:18, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > Cafe, > > The article > > "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is > praised for making people look their best and dissed for > setting the bar too high" > > was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ > (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: > > http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story > > I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I > struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and > problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist > Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century > contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those > trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters > alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all > Brothers & Sisters"). > > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) > > Deborah > _____ > > Deborah Taylor-Pearce > dtp at she-philosopher.com > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090803/4fb89755/attachment-0015.htm From frank at limov.com Tue Aug 4 08:00:35 2009 From: frank at limov.com (Frank Wales) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:00:35 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <4A77CE83.5070406@limov.com> Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) For those who don't know about it, the Photoshop Disasters blog has a great selection of doofus-level picture manipulations, where things have been Photoshopped to *im*perfection. Such as where they 'fixed' the faces, but not their reflections: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/10/marie-claire-on-reflection-perhaps-not.html Or this piece of racial tokenism for the city of Toronto: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2009/06/city-of-toronto-token-brilliance.html Although I think my favourite is still Tatler's "pile of limbs" cover: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/12/tatler-legs-akimbo.html -- Frank Wales [frank at limov.com] From dtp at she-philosopher.com Tue Aug 4 23:03:29 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:03:29 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Message-ID: <4A78A221.2080004@she-philosopher.com> Hi, Rob -- > Funnily enough this issue > was in the news in the UK > today, with a political party > calling for the banning of > unrealistically airbrushed > images in material aimed at > young girls - >http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html Many thanks for this! I shall include a link to the online article in my revised gallery exhibit. My $0.02 re. the posted responses at the bottom of the page: I too think that training in "media literacy" (sometimes called "critical literacy" over here) is generally a good idea, but I'm not at all sure it's going to solve girls' problem with unrealistic body images. The media studies professor quoted in the _LA Times_ article (Gigi Durham) hinted as much: "Even those [girls] who are more savvy, she adds, are still affected. 'They know that no one really looks like that, but they still say, 'I wish my waist were that small.'" In my experience, once these sorts of images come to dominate our visual culture, even the most critical of us are susceptible. The unreal soon becomes the new real, largely because it's so familiar and over-represented in our visual subconscious. I don't believe we can legislate or analyze our way out of this. Rather, I think the answer is for each of us to expand our visual field (meaning that girls "pore over" a lot more images than just celebrity/fashion "magazine photos"). Deborah (here spouting more armchair pop psychology than your usual cultural-studies scholar ;-) _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From christian.nordstrom at suunto.com Wed Aug 5 09:03:43 2009 From: christian.nordstrom at suunto.com (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nordstr=F6m=2C_Christian?=) Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 10:03:43 +0300 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: How different groups spend their day Message-ID: <5AC9E5A111847E4DA8040C7B18B529491FF52A@vaas0002.emea.amersports.int> Dear all, Here?s a nice interactive info-graph, in case you have not seen it: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/31/business/20080801-metrics-graphic.html Parts nicely executed: - choosing between different groups on the upper right corner - clicking on the activity to see the statistics Br, Christian CHRISTIAN NORDSTR?M User Documentation Specialist Suunto Oy Valimotie 7, FI-01510 Vantaa, Finland mobile +358 50 596 8969, fax +358 9 875 87 300 christian.nordstrom at suunto.com, www.suunto.com, www.amersports.com This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0013.htm -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 6691 bytes Desc: image001.jpg Url : http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0013.jpeg From gvanpatter at humantific.com Wed Aug 5 18:19:40 2009 From: gvanpatter at humantific.com (GK VanPatter | Humantific) Date: Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:19:40 -0400 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: SenseMaker Dialogs Registration Opens In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Registration opens for SenseMaker Dialogs, a new speaker series focused on exploring the rapidly changing hybrid activity of SenseMaking in the 21st century. Event is Thursday, August 13, 2009 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM (ET) in New York. Series Originators & Organizers: Humantific Facility Sponsor: Parsons The School of Design Strategies SPACE IS LIMITED. Go here to buy your tickets. http://sensemakerdialogs.eventbrite.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/a2e8c8da/attachment-0012.htm From d.sless at communication.org.au Mon Aug 3 12:46:12 2009 From: d.sless at communication.org.au (David Sless) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 20:46:12 +1000 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: cri courses and publications Message-ID: <826C4147-5B29-4CDA-AED7-CF493D0FBB37@communication.org.au> Apologies for cross posting We are finalising all the details and application forms for enrolment in our courses and workshops, so keep an eye on our site. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, with preference given to CRI and IIID members. For this month only, our case history on 'Shorter CMIs: The sad failure of a design project' is available to all site visitors and subscribers, not just Members. http://communication.org.au/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=118 Also there are some new blogs at: http://www.communication.org.au/dsblog/ Enjoy, David From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:17 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:17 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, The article "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is praised for making people look their best and dissed for setting the bar too high" was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all Brothers & Sisters"). The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:41 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:41 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedal-powered Laotian computers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775431.6090102@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, I know some of you will be interested in this _World Ark_ story "Technology Advances Rural Businesses" (pp. 10-11 of the Summer 2009 issue of the Heifer organization's _World Ark_ magazine) which I believe is directly accessible at http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/heifer/worldark_2009summer/#/12 If that doesn't work, try http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.4021787/?msource=0809nl then click on the link "VIEW WORLD ARK AS A PAGE-TURNER MAGAZINE" and navigate through the (Flash-powered?) e-magazine to p. 10. Those with no interest in the story might still find the design of the digital magazine worth a look. Makes an interesting alternative to standard PDF formatting.... Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From r.waller at reading.ac.uk Tue Aug 4 00:05:00 2009 From: r.waller at reading.ac.uk (Rob Waller) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 23:05:00 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Funnily enough this issue was in the news in the UK today, with a political party calling for the banning of unrealistically airbrushed images in material aimed at young girls - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html A commentator on the BBC mentioned a famous instance of this from British history - the Hans Holbein portrait of Anne of Cleves commissioned to interest Henry VIII in marrying her. He didn't fancy her as much when they actually met. __________________________________ Rob Waller Department of Typography & Graphic Communication University of Reading On 3 Aug 2009, at 22:18, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > Cafe, > > The article > > "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is > praised for making people look their best and dissed for > setting the bar too high" > > was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ > (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: > > http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story > > I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I > struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and > problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist > Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century > contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those > trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters > alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all > Brothers & Sisters"). > > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) > > Deborah > _____ > > Deborah Taylor-Pearce > dtp at she-philosopher.com > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090803/4fb89755/attachment-0016.htm From frank at limov.com Tue Aug 4 08:00:35 2009 From: frank at limov.com (Frank Wales) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:00:35 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <4A77CE83.5070406@limov.com> Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) For those who don't know about it, the Photoshop Disasters blog has a great selection of doofus-level picture manipulations, where things have been Photoshopped to *im*perfection. Such as where they 'fixed' the faces, but not their reflections: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/10/marie-claire-on-reflection-perhaps-not.html Or this piece of racial tokenism for the city of Toronto: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2009/06/city-of-toronto-token-brilliance.html Although I think my favourite is still Tatler's "pile of limbs" cover: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/12/tatler-legs-akimbo.html -- Frank Wales [frank at limov.com] From dtp at she-philosopher.com Tue Aug 4 23:03:29 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:03:29 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Message-ID: <4A78A221.2080004@she-philosopher.com> Hi, Rob -- > Funnily enough this issue > was in the news in the UK > today, with a political party > calling for the banning of > unrealistically airbrushed > images in material aimed at > young girls - >http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html Many thanks for this! I shall include a link to the online article in my revised gallery exhibit. My $0.02 re. the posted responses at the bottom of the page: I too think that training in "media literacy" (sometimes called "critical literacy" over here) is generally a good idea, but I'm not at all sure it's going to solve girls' problem with unrealistic body images. The media studies professor quoted in the _LA Times_ article (Gigi Durham) hinted as much: "Even those [girls] who are more savvy, she adds, are still affected. 'They know that no one really looks like that, but they still say, 'I wish my waist were that small.'" In my experience, once these sorts of images come to dominate our visual culture, even the most critical of us are susceptible. The unreal soon becomes the new real, largely because it's so familiar and over-represented in our visual subconscious. I don't believe we can legislate or analyze our way out of this. Rather, I think the answer is for each of us to expand our visual field (meaning that girls "pore over" a lot more images than just celebrity/fashion "magazine photos"). Deborah (here spouting more armchair pop psychology than your usual cultural-studies scholar ;-) _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From christian.nordstrom at suunto.com Wed Aug 5 09:03:43 2009 From: christian.nordstrom at suunto.com (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nordstr=F6m=2C_Christian?=) Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 10:03:43 +0300 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: How different groups spend their day Message-ID: <5AC9E5A111847E4DA8040C7B18B529491FF52A@vaas0002.emea.amersports.int> Dear all, Here?s a nice interactive info-graph, in case you have not seen it: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/31/business/20080801-metrics-graphic.html Parts nicely executed: - choosing between different groups on the upper right corner - clicking on the activity to see the statistics Br, Christian CHRISTIAN NORDSTR?M User Documentation Specialist Suunto Oy Valimotie 7, FI-01510 Vantaa, Finland mobile +358 50 596 8969, fax +358 9 875 87 300 christian.nordstrom at suunto.com, www.suunto.com, www.amersports.com This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0014.htm -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 6691 bytes Desc: image001.jpg Url : http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0014.jpeg From gvanpatter at humantific.com Wed Aug 5 18:19:40 2009 From: gvanpatter at humantific.com (GK VanPatter | Humantific) Date: Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:19:40 -0400 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: SenseMaker Dialogs Registration Opens In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Registration opens for SenseMaker Dialogs, a new speaker series focused on exploring the rapidly changing hybrid activity of SenseMaking in the 21st century. Event is Thursday, August 13, 2009 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM (ET) in New York. Series Originators & Organizers: Humantific Facility Sponsor: Parsons The School of Design Strategies SPACE IS LIMITED. Go here to buy your tickets. http://sensemakerdialogs.eventbrite.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/a2e8c8da/attachment-0013.htm From d.sless at communication.org.au Mon Aug 3 12:46:12 2009 From: d.sless at communication.org.au (David Sless) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 20:46:12 +1000 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: cri courses and publications Message-ID: <826C4147-5B29-4CDA-AED7-CF493D0FBB37@communication.org.au> Apologies for cross posting We are finalising all the details and application forms for enrolment in our courses and workshops, so keep an eye on our site. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, with preference given to CRI and IIID members. For this month only, our case history on 'Shorter CMIs: The sad failure of a design project' is available to all site visitors and subscribers, not just Members. http://communication.org.au/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=118 Also there are some new blogs at: http://www.communication.org.au/dsblog/ Enjoy, David From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:17 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:17 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, The article "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is praised for making people look their best and dissed for setting the bar too high" was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all Brothers & Sisters"). The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:41 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:41 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedal-powered Laotian computers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775431.6090102@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, I know some of you will be interested in this _World Ark_ story "Technology Advances Rural Businesses" (pp. 10-11 of the Summer 2009 issue of the Heifer organization's _World Ark_ magazine) which I believe is directly accessible at http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/heifer/worldark_2009summer/#/12 If that doesn't work, try http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.4021787/?msource=0809nl then click on the link "VIEW WORLD ARK AS A PAGE-TURNER MAGAZINE" and navigate through the (Flash-powered?) e-magazine to p. 10. Those with no interest in the story might still find the design of the digital magazine worth a look. Makes an interesting alternative to standard PDF formatting.... Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From r.waller at reading.ac.uk Tue Aug 4 00:05:00 2009 From: r.waller at reading.ac.uk (Rob Waller) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 23:05:00 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Funnily enough this issue was in the news in the UK today, with a political party calling for the banning of unrealistically airbrushed images in material aimed at young girls - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html A commentator on the BBC mentioned a famous instance of this from British history - the Hans Holbein portrait of Anne of Cleves commissioned to interest Henry VIII in marrying her. He didn't fancy her as much when they actually met. __________________________________ Rob Waller Department of Typography & Graphic Communication University of Reading On 3 Aug 2009, at 22:18, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > Cafe, > > The article > > "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is > praised for making people look their best and dissed for > setting the bar too high" > > was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ > (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: > > http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story > > I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I > struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and > problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist > Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century > contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those > trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters > alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all > Brothers & Sisters"). > > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) > > Deborah > _____ > > Deborah Taylor-Pearce > dtp at she-philosopher.com > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090803/4fb89755/attachment-0017.htm From frank at limov.com Tue Aug 4 08:00:35 2009 From: frank at limov.com (Frank Wales) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:00:35 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <4A77CE83.5070406@limov.com> Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) For those who don't know about it, the Photoshop Disasters blog has a great selection of doofus-level picture manipulations, where things have been Photoshopped to *im*perfection. Such as where they 'fixed' the faces, but not their reflections: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/10/marie-claire-on-reflection-perhaps-not.html Or this piece of racial tokenism for the city of Toronto: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2009/06/city-of-toronto-token-brilliance.html Although I think my favourite is still Tatler's "pile of limbs" cover: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/12/tatler-legs-akimbo.html -- Frank Wales [frank at limov.com] From dtp at she-philosopher.com Tue Aug 4 23:03:29 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:03:29 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Message-ID: <4A78A221.2080004@she-philosopher.com> Hi, Rob -- > Funnily enough this issue > was in the news in the UK > today, with a political party > calling for the banning of > unrealistically airbrushed > images in material aimed at > young girls - >http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html Many thanks for this! I shall include a link to the online article in my revised gallery exhibit. My $0.02 re. the posted responses at the bottom of the page: I too think that training in "media literacy" (sometimes called "critical literacy" over here) is generally a good idea, but I'm not at all sure it's going to solve girls' problem with unrealistic body images. The media studies professor quoted in the _LA Times_ article (Gigi Durham) hinted as much: "Even those [girls] who are more savvy, she adds, are still affected. 'They know that no one really looks like that, but they still say, 'I wish my waist were that small.'" In my experience, once these sorts of images come to dominate our visual culture, even the most critical of us are susceptible. The unreal soon becomes the new real, largely because it's so familiar and over-represented in our visual subconscious. I don't believe we can legislate or analyze our way out of this. Rather, I think the answer is for each of us to expand our visual field (meaning that girls "pore over" a lot more images than just celebrity/fashion "magazine photos"). Deborah (here spouting more armchair pop psychology than your usual cultural-studies scholar ;-) _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From christian.nordstrom at suunto.com Wed Aug 5 09:03:43 2009 From: christian.nordstrom at suunto.com (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nordstr=F6m=2C_Christian?=) Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 10:03:43 +0300 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: How different groups spend their day Message-ID: <5AC9E5A111847E4DA8040C7B18B529491FF52A@vaas0002.emea.amersports.int> Dear all, Here?s a nice interactive info-graph, in case you have not seen it: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/31/business/20080801-metrics-graphic.html Parts nicely executed: - choosing between different groups on the upper right corner - clicking on the activity to see the statistics Br, Christian CHRISTIAN NORDSTR?M User Documentation Specialist Suunto Oy Valimotie 7, FI-01510 Vantaa, Finland mobile +358 50 596 8969, fax +358 9 875 87 300 christian.nordstrom at suunto.com, www.suunto.com, www.amersports.com This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0015.htm -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 6691 bytes Desc: image001.jpg Url : http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0015.jpeg From gvanpatter at humantific.com Wed Aug 5 18:19:40 2009 From: gvanpatter at humantific.com (GK VanPatter | Humantific) Date: Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:19:40 -0400 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: SenseMaker Dialogs Registration Opens In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Registration opens for SenseMaker Dialogs, a new speaker series focused on exploring the rapidly changing hybrid activity of SenseMaking in the 21st century. Event is Thursday, August 13, 2009 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM (ET) in New York. Series Originators & Organizers: Humantific Facility Sponsor: Parsons The School of Design Strategies SPACE IS LIMITED. Go here to buy your tickets. http://sensemakerdialogs.eventbrite.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/a2e8c8da/attachment-0014.htm From conradtaylor at me.com Wed Aug 19 15:05:53 2009 From: conradtaylor at me.com (Conrad Taylor) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:05:53 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality Message-ID: Hello Cafe, I'm working at the moment on something quite interesting, but to me unfamiliar territory. I'm helping a project team to specify the design of what could end up as quite a large dynamic Web site, based on a Content Management System. The aim of the system is to function as an online school, using video tutorials to teach some practical skills. The principals behind this project created a document that described what they wanted the online school site to do. I was brought on board partly to advise on usability, but in practice they have come to rely on me to write the brief that is going to be shown to some agencies which specialise in Web and interaction design, to encourage them to tender and to quote. At the same time, I am aware of a few friends who are facing similar problems of coming up with a description of what a CMS-based dynamic Web site should do. What I am wondering is, what kinds of diagrammatic modelling techniques there might be for capturing and representing these kinds of complex systems. Through my membership of the British Computer Society, where I mix with database management types, I am aware of various techniques that exist for diagrammatically modelling relational database systems. Indeed we had a whole day's meeting on the subject this year. The favourite flavour there would seem to be Entity-Relationship Modelling, though one of the speakers made an impassioned pitch for Object-Relation Modelling as an alternative. Within our team, people have been happiest talking about "screens" or "pages", and what people ought to be able to do on those pages, or read from those pages. One of the things that I have been able to contribute to these discussions is a greater awareness that there is a database system and a bunch of clever scripts behind these pages. So, for example, if I am editing my personal Profile Page I can see that the current description of my interests is X, which means that has been projected onto the page from one field in a database; that I say that I want to edit this, which projects it into a window where I change the text; that when I press the Save button, the contents of that field in the database is updated. At the same time when editing I press some check-boxes which indicate that I don't mind making this info available to my class tutor and virtual classmates, but I don't want other members of the virtual school to see this field. Those settings are going to update some other part of the database. And when my classmate wants to look at my profile page, the system has to check (a) that she is logged in with an identity and that it is therefore possible to tell that (b) she is my classmate, so she should be able to see my description of my interests when she looks at my profile page. It seems to me that if one were to create a rigorous diagram of these kinds of relationships, one would have to have a visual language to describe the interactions between the human user and the interface elements, and also a visual language to decribe the nature of the data elements involved (both those which control the interface elements, and those which drive the content of those elements and bits of information on the page). And between what lies beneath in the database and what appears on the screen, there will also be transformation processes that turn one into the other. I am painfully aware here that I am expressing myself clumsily. I want a kind of language that I can use to externalise our requirements and discuss them among ourselves and with the developers that we engage, and I don't know what it should be. Any observations on this problem would be read by me with great gratitude! Conrad From abeesj at googlemail.com Wed Aug 19 21:00:11 2009 From: abeesj at googlemail.com (Abi Searle-Jones) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:00:11 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme coming up Message-ID: <53a2d8ab0908191200g6ac01eb2t631b1bd79dabf73c@mail.gmail.com> Hi, Caf? members in the UK may be interested in this BBC Radio 4 programme on 'How to write an instruction manual'. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m4470 On air Friday at 11 and then on 'Listen again' after that. It will also be the Radio 4 Choice podcast. Cheers, Abi -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090819/2757421d/attachment.htm From 2waysit at verizon.net Wed Aug 19 21:19:56 2009 From: 2waysit at verizon.net (Bruce Faron) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:19:56 -0400 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme and podcast on "How to Write an Instruction Manual" In-Reply-To: <53a2d8ab0908191200g6ac01eb2t631b1bd79dabf73c@mail.gmail.com> References: <53a2d8ab0908191200g6ac01eb2t631b1bd79dabf73c@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Mr. (?) Jones, Does BBC Radio 4 allow its podcasts to be downloaded to IP addresses outside the UK? I want to download it, but am unsure of the BBC 4?s policies (as of earlier this year, I could not download an episode of Torchwood). As you can pick up from my spelling, I am in the USA (Pennsylvania). I get the InfoD-Caf? feed and find it very interesting. The question mark above is because ?Abi? can be a first name for both men and women. Regards, Bruce Faron Technical/Marketing Writer From: infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org [mailto:infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org] On Behalf Of Abi Searle-Jones Sent: Wednesday, August 19, 2009 3:00 PM To: Discussions about information design Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme coming up Hi, Caf? members in the UK may be interested in this BBC Radio 4 programme on 'How to write an instruction manual'. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m4470 On air Friday at 11 and then on 'Listen again' after that. It will also be the Radio 4 Choice podcast. Cheers, Abi -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090819/862480fc/attachment.htm From abeesj at googlemail.com Wed Aug 19 22:22:37 2009 From: abeesj at googlemail.com (Abi Searle-Jones) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:22:37 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme and podcast on "How to Write an Instruction Manual" In-Reply-To: References: <53a2d8ab0908191200g6ac01eb2t631b1bd79dabf73c@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <53a2d8ab0908191322q3d4d9b3dm332724285e846087@mail.gmail.com> Hi Bruce, You may be in luck; I think the BBC is a little more liberal with its radio programmes than its television programmes. The programme I posted is on BBC Radio 4, not BBC 4 (I know, it confuses us too!). According to this page http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/help/download_programmes/outsideuk 'most' radio programmes are available on iPlayer. Certainly some Canadian relatives of mine were able to download some BBC Radio 4 programmes earlier this year. Good luck; I hope it works for you as it sounds interesting. Cheers, Abi (a Ms, btw!) 2009/8/19 Bruce Faron <2waysit at verizon.net> > Mr. (?) Jones, > > > > Does BBC Radio 4 allow its podcasts to be downloaded to IP addresses > outside the UK? I want to download it, but am unsure of the BBC 4?s > policies (as of earlier this year, I could not download an episode of > Torchwood). > > > > As you can pick up from my spelling, I am in the USA (Pennsylvania). > > > > I get the InfoD-Caf? feed and find it very interesting. > > > > The question mark above is because ?Abi? can be a first name for both men > and women. > > > > Regards, > > > > Bruce Faron > > Technical/Marketing Writer > > > > *From:* infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org [mailto: > infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org] *On Behalf Of *Abi > Searle-Jones > *Sent:* Wednesday, August 19, 2009 3:00 PM > *To:* Discussions about information design > *Subject:* InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme coming up > > > > Hi, > > Caf? members in the UK may be interested in this BBC Radio 4 programme on > 'How to write an instruction manual'. > http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m4470 > > On air Friday at 11 and then on 'Listen again' after that. It will also be > the Radio 4 Choice podcast. > > Cheers, Abi > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090819/e80d0554/attachment-0001.htm From matt at studiolift.com Wed Aug 19 23:46:38 2009 From: matt at studiolift.com (Matt Carey) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:46:38 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi Conrad I receive the type of briefs you are helping to write. I have also helped clients write the brief for us, as a way of taking their vague concepts and notions and turning it into something we can design and build against. My instant reaction? That the problem you are describing is not a problem at all, and not something you should worry about. The brief for a website such as this should, in my opinion, describe the page/screen interaction. That is after all what the end user will see when they use the site. The end user won't know what databases tables are being queried when they click a button, and why should they. The brief to the designer/developer should describe the interactions required by the user of the website. For example; Clicking edit my events should take the user to an edit event screen where they can amend x, y and z details. It should not be concerned with how that data is structured. The reason why you don't need to specify is because the web developer will deal with it. If a site is to be CMS based then the developer will know what CMS they will want to use from reading the brief. This may be their 'base' CMS (the one they use for every project because they know it inside out), or they may pick one 'off the shelf' to suit the exact requirements of the project. Rolling a custom system from scratch is very rare these days, due to budget, time and there is just no need as their is a very mature CMS market out there. The CMS will decide the database set-up, fields and interactions. The UI is layered on to top (with some code logic) to perform the tasks the user is required to do by the brief. I would suggest that if your brief stated how the database should be structured, it has more chance of putting off web developers than attracting them. Not because they are annoyed that someone is telling them how to do their job. Instead because they might find it difficult to quote when they know their CMS does not match the database spec -- but it will perform and deliver the end result just fine. You would be much better off spending the time honing and refining the user flow, and interaction points, than worrying how the underlying data is being structured. Just my 2p Matt On 19 Aug 2009, at 2:05, Conrad Taylor wrote: > Hello Cafe, > > I'm working at the moment on something quite interesting, but to me > unfamiliar territory. I'm helping a project team to specify the > design of what could end up as quite a large dynamic Web site, based > on a Content Management System. The aim of the system is to function > as an online school, using video tutorials to teach some practical > skills. > > The principals behind this project created a document that described > what they wanted the online school site to do. I was brought on board > partly to advise on usability, but in practice they have come to rely > on me to write the brief that is going to be shown to some agencies > which specialise in Web and interaction design, to encourage them to > tender and to quote. > > At the same time, I am aware of a few friends who are facing similar > problems of coming up with a description of what a CMS-based dynamic > Web site should do. > > What I am wondering is, what kinds of diagrammatic modelling > techniques there might be for capturing and representing these kinds > of complex systems. > > Through my membership of the British Computer Society, where I mix > with database management types, I am aware of various techniques that > exist for diagrammatically modelling relational database systems. > Indeed we had a whole day's meeting on the subject this year. The > favourite flavour there would seem to be Entity-Relationship > Modelling, though one of the speakers made an impassioned pitch for > Object-Relation Modelling as an alternative. > > Within our team, people have been happiest talking about "screens" or > "pages", and what people ought to be able to do on those pages, or > read from those pages. One of the things that I have been able to > contribute to these discussions is a greater awareness that there is > a database system and a bunch of clever scripts behind these pages. > So, for example, if I am editing my personal Profile Page I can see > that the current description of my interests is X, which means that > has been projected onto the page from one field in a database; that I > say that I want to edit this, which projects it into a window where I > change the text; that when I press the Save button, the contents of > that field in the database is updated. At the same time when editing > I press some check-boxes which indicate that I don't mind making this > info available to my class tutor and virtual classmates, but I don't > want other members of the virtual school to see this field. Those > settings are going to update some other part of the database. And > when my classmate wants to look at my profile page, the system has to > check (a) that she is logged in with an identity and that it is > therefore possible to tell that (b) she is my classmate, so she > should be able to see my description of my interests when she looks > at my profile page. > > It seems to me that if one were to create a rigorous diagram of these > kinds of relationships, one would have to have a visual language to > describe the interactions between the human user and the interface > elements, and also a visual language to decribe the nature of the > data elements involved (both those which control the interface > elements, and those which drive the content of those elements and > bits of information on the page). And between what lies beneath in > the database and what appears on the screen, there will also be > transformation processes that turn one into the other. > > I am painfully aware here that I am expressing myself clumsily. I > want a kind of language that I can use to externalise our > requirements and discuss them among ourselves and with the developers > that we engage, and I don't know what it should be. > > Any observations on this problem would be read by me with great > gratitude! > > Conrad > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------ Lift: creative communication design phone: +44 (0)118 948 4862 **New number** mobile: +44 (0)7979 757983 aim: studiolift web: http://www.studiolift.com *This email is confidential and intended for the addressee only From alan at alphabyte.co.nz Thu Aug 20 00:08:12 2009 From: alan at alphabyte.co.nz (Alan Litchfield) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:08:12 +1200 (NZST) Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Hi Conrad, I have had these kinds of projects often in the past, and still do from time to time. Seems to me that there are number of issues that need clarification. 1. Are you writing a brief or preparing an RFP? A brief is just that, brief. It leaves wide scope for discussion and response from prospective partners. An RFP on the other hand needs to be sufficiently well specified so as to remove ambiguity from proposals when they are received. 2. I am not assured that a relational database concept will help achieve what you are seeking to do. That is, using relational concepts to think about what you want to achieve will only serve to limit what you get. While many/most CMS system use relational databases of various kinds you should not limit yourself thinking in that way. Instead, consider what the real relationships between objects ought to be, then leave the execution up to the RFP responders to deliver the required solutions. 3. It is true there are many modelling languages and approaches. These days UML seems to be the flavour of the month and while it is strongly biased towards java developments it is very useful for achieving the goal of defining object relationships and interactions. However, have you thought of using Soft Systems Methods and drawing a "rich picture" to get a clearer overview first? 4. I think some of the confusion you mention has to do with coming at the problem with top-down and bottom-up thinking, at the same time. If you are coming from the top down, then ignore all temptation to engage in thinking about what kind of software will deliver what you want. Leave that to the specialists who run their preferred flavour, but also make certain that what they propose fits with your over-arching concept. 5. Talking about screens is great for defining what the systems are required to deliver, but try to avoid getting into detailed discussion about what content goes onto which screen. Build classes of screens and call them objects, that contain other objects, then you can build a hierarchy of screens and a logical structure. And you can begin to see where objects are shared across classes. Whiteboards and post-it notes are great for this. HIH Alan -- Alan Litchfield MBus (Hons), MNZCS AlphaByte PO Box 1941, Auckland http://www.alphabyte.co.nz From matt at studiolift.com Thu Aug 20 01:11:23 2009 From: matt at studiolift.com (Matt Carey) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:11:23 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Message-ID: <7C3378F9-D6BF-480E-B144-9EFD29D69D33@studiolift.com> On 19 Aug 2009, at 11:08, Alan Litchfield wrote: > Whiteboards and post-it notes are great for this. I can second this. We have run sessions with the client where we have mapped the structure together using post-its. These can be great sessions, especially if the client does not have the vocabulary to describe what they want the site to do. Matt ------------------------------------------------ Lift: creative communication design phone: +44 (0)118 948 4862 **New number** mobile: +44 (0)7979 757983 aim: studiolift web: http://www.studiolift.com *This email is confidential and intended for the addressee only From d.sless at communication.org.au Mon Aug 3 12:46:12 2009 From: d.sless at communication.org.au (David Sless) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 20:46:12 +1000 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: cri courses and publications Message-ID: <826C4147-5B29-4CDA-AED7-CF493D0FBB37@communication.org.au> Apologies for cross posting We are finalising all the details and application forms for enrolment in our courses and workshops, so keep an eye on our site. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, with preference given to CRI and IIID members. For this month only, our case history on 'Shorter CMIs: The sad failure of a design project' is available to all site visitors and subscribers, not just Members. http://communication.org.au/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=118 Also there are some new blogs at: http://www.communication.org.au/dsblog/ Enjoy, David From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:17 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:17 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, The article "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is praised for making people look their best and dissed for setting the bar too high" was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all Brothers & Sisters"). The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:41 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:41 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedal-powered Laotian computers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775431.6090102@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, I know some of you will be interested in this _World Ark_ story "Technology Advances Rural Businesses" (pp. 10-11 of the Summer 2009 issue of the Heifer organization's _World Ark_ magazine) which I believe is directly accessible at http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/heifer/worldark_2009summer/#/12 If that doesn't work, try http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.4021787/?msource=0809nl then click on the link "VIEW WORLD ARK AS A PAGE-TURNER MAGAZINE" and navigate through the (Flash-powered?) e-magazine to p. 10. Those with no interest in the story might still find the design of the digital magazine worth a look. Makes an interesting alternative to standard PDF formatting.... Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From r.waller at reading.ac.uk Tue Aug 4 00:05:00 2009 From: r.waller at reading.ac.uk (Rob Waller) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 23:05:00 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Funnily enough this issue was in the news in the UK today, with a political party calling for the banning of unrealistically airbrushed images in material aimed at young girls - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html A commentator on the BBC mentioned a famous instance of this from British history - the Hans Holbein portrait of Anne of Cleves commissioned to interest Henry VIII in marrying her. He didn't fancy her as much when they actually met. __________________________________ Rob Waller Department of Typography & Graphic Communication University of Reading On 3 Aug 2009, at 22:18, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > Cafe, > > The article > > "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is > praised for making people look their best and dissed for > setting the bar too high" > > was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ > (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: > > http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story > > I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I > struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and > problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist > Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century > contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those > trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters > alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all > Brothers & Sisters"). > > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) > > Deborah > _____ > > Deborah Taylor-Pearce > dtp at she-philosopher.com > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090803/4fb89755/attachment-0018.htm From frank at limov.com Tue Aug 4 08:00:35 2009 From: frank at limov.com (Frank Wales) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:00:35 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <4A77CE83.5070406@limov.com> Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) For those who don't know about it, the Photoshop Disasters blog has a great selection of doofus-level picture manipulations, where things have been Photoshopped to *im*perfection. Such as where they 'fixed' the faces, but not their reflections: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/10/marie-claire-on-reflection-perhaps-not.html Or this piece of racial tokenism for the city of Toronto: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2009/06/city-of-toronto-token-brilliance.html Although I think my favourite is still Tatler's "pile of limbs" cover: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/12/tatler-legs-akimbo.html -- Frank Wales [frank at limov.com] From dtp at she-philosopher.com Tue Aug 4 23:03:29 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:03:29 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Message-ID: <4A78A221.2080004@she-philosopher.com> Hi, Rob -- > Funnily enough this issue > was in the news in the UK > today, with a political party > calling for the banning of > unrealistically airbrushed > images in material aimed at > young girls - >http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html Many thanks for this! I shall include a link to the online article in my revised gallery exhibit. My $0.02 re. the posted responses at the bottom of the page: I too think that training in "media literacy" (sometimes called "critical literacy" over here) is generally a good idea, but I'm not at all sure it's going to solve girls' problem with unrealistic body images. The media studies professor quoted in the _LA Times_ article (Gigi Durham) hinted as much: "Even those [girls] who are more savvy, she adds, are still affected. 'They know that no one really looks like that, but they still say, 'I wish my waist were that small.'" In my experience, once these sorts of images come to dominate our visual culture, even the most critical of us are susceptible. The unreal soon becomes the new real, largely because it's so familiar and over-represented in our visual subconscious. I don't believe we can legislate or analyze our way out of this. Rather, I think the answer is for each of us to expand our visual field (meaning that girls "pore over" a lot more images than just celebrity/fashion "magazine photos"). Deborah (here spouting more armchair pop psychology than your usual cultural-studies scholar ;-) _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From christian.nordstrom at suunto.com Wed Aug 5 09:03:43 2009 From: christian.nordstrom at suunto.com (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nordstr=F6m=2C_Christian?=) Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 10:03:43 +0300 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: How different groups spend their day Message-ID: <5AC9E5A111847E4DA8040C7B18B529491FF52A@vaas0002.emea.amersports.int> Dear all, Here?s a nice interactive info-graph, in case you have not seen it: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/31/business/20080801-metrics-graphic.html Parts nicely executed: - choosing between different groups on the upper right corner - clicking on the activity to see the statistics Br, Christian CHRISTIAN NORDSTR?M User Documentation Specialist Suunto Oy Valimotie 7, FI-01510 Vantaa, Finland mobile +358 50 596 8969, fax +358 9 875 87 300 christian.nordstrom at suunto.com, www.suunto.com, www.amersports.com This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0016.htm -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 6691 bytes Desc: image001.jpg Url : http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0016.jpeg From gvanpatter at humantific.com Wed Aug 5 18:19:40 2009 From: gvanpatter at humantific.com (GK VanPatter | Humantific) Date: Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:19:40 -0400 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: SenseMaker Dialogs Registration Opens In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Registration opens for SenseMaker Dialogs, a new speaker series focused on exploring the rapidly changing hybrid activity of SenseMaking in the 21st century. Event is Thursday, August 13, 2009 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM (ET) in New York. Series Originators & Organizers: Humantific Facility Sponsor: Parsons The School of Design Strategies SPACE IS LIMITED. Go here to buy your tickets. http://sensemakerdialogs.eventbrite.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/a2e8c8da/attachment-0016.htm From conradtaylor at me.com Wed Aug 19 15:05:53 2009 From: conradtaylor at me.com (Conrad Taylor) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:05:53 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality Message-ID: Hello Cafe, I'm working at the moment on something quite interesting, but to me unfamiliar territory. I'm helping a project team to specify the design of what could end up as quite a large dynamic Web site, based on a Content Management System. The aim of the system is to function as an online school, using video tutorials to teach some practical skills. The principals behind this project created a document that described what they wanted the online school site to do. I was brought on board partly to advise on usability, but in practice they have come to rely on me to write the brief that is going to be shown to some agencies which specialise in Web and interaction design, to encourage them to tender and to quote. At the same time, I am aware of a few friends who are facing similar problems of coming up with a description of what a CMS-based dynamic Web site should do. What I am wondering is, what kinds of diagrammatic modelling techniques there might be for capturing and representing these kinds of complex systems. Through my membership of the British Computer Society, where I mix with database management types, I am aware of various techniques that exist for diagrammatically modelling relational database systems. Indeed we had a whole day's meeting on the subject this year. The favourite flavour there would seem to be Entity-Relationship Modelling, though one of the speakers made an impassioned pitch for Object-Relation Modelling as an alternative. Within our team, people have been happiest talking about "screens" or "pages", and what people ought to be able to do on those pages, or read from those pages. One of the things that I have been able to contribute to these discussions is a greater awareness that there is a database system and a bunch of clever scripts behind these pages. So, for example, if I am editing my personal Profile Page I can see that the current description of my interests is X, which means that has been projected onto the page from one field in a database; that I say that I want to edit this, which projects it into a window where I change the text; that when I press the Save button, the contents of that field in the database is updated. At the same time when editing I press some check-boxes which indicate that I don't mind making this info available to my class tutor and virtual classmates, but I don't want other members of the virtual school to see this field. Those settings are going to update some other part of the database. And when my classmate wants to look at my profile page, the system has to check (a) that she is logged in with an identity and that it is therefore possible to tell that (b) she is my classmate, so she should be able to see my description of my interests when she looks at my profile page. It seems to me that if one were to create a rigorous diagram of these kinds of relationships, one would have to have a visual language to describe the interactions between the human user and the interface elements, and also a visual language to decribe the nature of the data elements involved (both those which control the interface elements, and those which drive the content of those elements and bits of information on the page). And between what lies beneath in the database and what appears on the screen, there will also be transformation processes that turn one into the other. I am painfully aware here that I am expressing myself clumsily. I want a kind of language that I can use to externalise our requirements and discuss them among ourselves and with the developers that we engage, and I don't know what it should be. Any observations on this problem would be read by me with great gratitude! Conrad From abeesj at googlemail.com Wed Aug 19 21:00:11 2009 From: abeesj at googlemail.com (Abi Searle-Jones) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:00:11 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme coming up Message-ID: <53a2d8ab0908191200g6ac01eb2t631b1bd79dabf73c@mail.gmail.com> Hi, Caf? members in the UK may be interested in this BBC Radio 4 programme on 'How to write an instruction manual'. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m4470 On air Friday at 11 and then on 'Listen again' after that. It will also be the Radio 4 Choice podcast. Cheers, Abi -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090819/2757421d/attachment-0002.htm From 2waysit at verizon.net Wed Aug 19 21:19:56 2009 From: 2waysit at verizon.net (Bruce Faron) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:19:56 -0400 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme and podcast on "How to Write an Instruction Manual" In-Reply-To: <53a2d8ab0908191200g6ac01eb2t631b1bd79dabf73c@mail.gmail.com> References: <53a2d8ab0908191200g6ac01eb2t631b1bd79dabf73c@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Mr. (?) Jones, Does BBC Radio 4 allow its podcasts to be downloaded to IP addresses outside the UK? I want to download it, but am unsure of the BBC 4?s policies (as of earlier this year, I could not download an episode of Torchwood). As you can pick up from my spelling, I am in the USA (Pennsylvania). I get the InfoD-Caf? feed and find it very interesting. The question mark above is because ?Abi? can be a first name for both men and women. Regards, Bruce Faron Technical/Marketing Writer From: infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org [mailto:infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org] On Behalf Of Abi Searle-Jones Sent: Wednesday, August 19, 2009 3:00 PM To: Discussions about information design Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme coming up Hi, Caf? members in the UK may be interested in this BBC Radio 4 programme on 'How to write an instruction manual'. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m4470 On air Friday at 11 and then on 'Listen again' after that. It will also be the Radio 4 Choice podcast. Cheers, Abi -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090819/862480fc/attachment-0002.htm From abeesj at googlemail.com Wed Aug 19 22:22:37 2009 From: abeesj at googlemail.com (Abi Searle-Jones) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:22:37 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme and podcast on "How to Write an Instruction Manual" In-Reply-To: References: <53a2d8ab0908191200g6ac01eb2t631b1bd79dabf73c@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <53a2d8ab0908191322q3d4d9b3dm332724285e846087@mail.gmail.com> Hi Bruce, You may be in luck; I think the BBC is a little more liberal with its radio programmes than its television programmes. The programme I posted is on BBC Radio 4, not BBC 4 (I know, it confuses us too!). According to this page http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/help/download_programmes/outsideuk 'most' radio programmes are available on iPlayer. Certainly some Canadian relatives of mine were able to download some BBC Radio 4 programmes earlier this year. Good luck; I hope it works for you as it sounds interesting. Cheers, Abi (a Ms, btw!) 2009/8/19 Bruce Faron <2waysit at verizon.net> > Mr. (?) Jones, > > > > Does BBC Radio 4 allow its podcasts to be downloaded to IP addresses > outside the UK? I want to download it, but am unsure of the BBC 4?s > policies (as of earlier this year, I could not download an episode of > Torchwood). > > > > As you can pick up from my spelling, I am in the USA (Pennsylvania). > > > > I get the InfoD-Caf? feed and find it very interesting. > > > > The question mark above is because ?Abi? can be a first name for both men > and women. > > > > Regards, > > > > Bruce Faron > > Technical/Marketing Writer > > > > *From:* infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org [mailto: > infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org] *On Behalf Of *Abi > Searle-Jones > *Sent:* Wednesday, August 19, 2009 3:00 PM > *To:* Discussions about information design > *Subject:* InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme coming up > > > > Hi, > > Caf? members in the UK may be interested in this BBC Radio 4 programme on > 'How to write an instruction manual'. > http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m4470 > > On air Friday at 11 and then on 'Listen again' after that. It will also be > the Radio 4 Choice podcast. > > Cheers, Abi > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090819/e80d0554/attachment-0002.htm From matt at studiolift.com Wed Aug 19 23:46:38 2009 From: matt at studiolift.com (Matt Carey) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:46:38 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi Conrad I receive the type of briefs you are helping to write. I have also helped clients write the brief for us, as a way of taking their vague concepts and notions and turning it into something we can design and build against. My instant reaction? That the problem you are describing is not a problem at all, and not something you should worry about. The brief for a website such as this should, in my opinion, describe the page/screen interaction. That is after all what the end user will see when they use the site. The end user won't know what databases tables are being queried when they click a button, and why should they. The brief to the designer/developer should describe the interactions required by the user of the website. For example; Clicking edit my events should take the user to an edit event screen where they can amend x, y and z details. It should not be concerned with how that data is structured. The reason why you don't need to specify is because the web developer will deal with it. If a site is to be CMS based then the developer will know what CMS they will want to use from reading the brief. This may be their 'base' CMS (the one they use for every project because they know it inside out), or they may pick one 'off the shelf' to suit the exact requirements of the project. Rolling a custom system from scratch is very rare these days, due to budget, time and there is just no need as their is a very mature CMS market out there. The CMS will decide the database set-up, fields and interactions. The UI is layered on to top (with some code logic) to perform the tasks the user is required to do by the brief. I would suggest that if your brief stated how the database should be structured, it has more chance of putting off web developers than attracting them. Not because they are annoyed that someone is telling them how to do their job. Instead because they might find it difficult to quote when they know their CMS does not match the database spec -- but it will perform and deliver the end result just fine. You would be much better off spending the time honing and refining the user flow, and interaction points, than worrying how the underlying data is being structured. Just my 2p Matt On 19 Aug 2009, at 2:05, Conrad Taylor wrote: > Hello Cafe, > > I'm working at the moment on something quite interesting, but to me > unfamiliar territory. I'm helping a project team to specify the > design of what could end up as quite a large dynamic Web site, based > on a Content Management System. The aim of the system is to function > as an online school, using video tutorials to teach some practical > skills. > > The principals behind this project created a document that described > what they wanted the online school site to do. I was brought on board > partly to advise on usability, but in practice they have come to rely > on me to write the brief that is going to be shown to some agencies > which specialise in Web and interaction design, to encourage them to > tender and to quote. > > At the same time, I am aware of a few friends who are facing similar > problems of coming up with a description of what a CMS-based dynamic > Web site should do. > > What I am wondering is, what kinds of diagrammatic modelling > techniques there might be for capturing and representing these kinds > of complex systems. > > Through my membership of the British Computer Society, where I mix > with database management types, I am aware of various techniques that > exist for diagrammatically modelling relational database systems. > Indeed we had a whole day's meeting on the subject this year. The > favourite flavour there would seem to be Entity-Relationship > Modelling, though one of the speakers made an impassioned pitch for > Object-Relation Modelling as an alternative. > > Within our team, people have been happiest talking about "screens" or > "pages", and what people ought to be able to do on those pages, or > read from those pages. One of the things that I have been able to > contribute to these discussions is a greater awareness that there is > a database system and a bunch of clever scripts behind these pages. > So, for example, if I am editing my personal Profile Page I can see > that the current description of my interests is X, which means that > has been projected onto the page from one field in a database; that I > say that I want to edit this, which projects it into a window where I > change the text; that when I press the Save button, the contents of > that field in the database is updated. At the same time when editing > I press some check-boxes which indicate that I don't mind making this > info available to my class tutor and virtual classmates, but I don't > want other members of the virtual school to see this field. Those > settings are going to update some other part of the database. And > when my classmate wants to look at my profile page, the system has to > check (a) that she is logged in with an identity and that it is > therefore possible to tell that (b) she is my classmate, so she > should be able to see my description of my interests when she looks > at my profile page. > > It seems to me that if one were to create a rigorous diagram of these > kinds of relationships, one would have to have a visual language to > describe the interactions between the human user and the interface > elements, and also a visual language to decribe the nature of the > data elements involved (both those which control the interface > elements, and those which drive the content of those elements and > bits of information on the page). And between what lies beneath in > the database and what appears on the screen, there will also be > transformation processes that turn one into the other. > > I am painfully aware here that I am expressing myself clumsily. I > want a kind of language that I can use to externalise our > requirements and discuss them among ourselves and with the developers > that we engage, and I don't know what it should be. > > Any observations on this problem would be read by me with great > gratitude! > > Conrad > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------ Lift: creative communication design phone: +44 (0)118 948 4862 **New number** mobile: +44 (0)7979 757983 aim: studiolift web: http://www.studiolift.com *This email is confidential and intended for the addressee only From alan at alphabyte.co.nz Thu Aug 20 00:08:12 2009 From: alan at alphabyte.co.nz (Alan Litchfield) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:08:12 +1200 (NZST) Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Hi Conrad, I have had these kinds of projects often in the past, and still do from time to time. Seems to me that there are number of issues that need clarification. 1. Are you writing a brief or preparing an RFP? A brief is just that, brief. It leaves wide scope for discussion and response from prospective partners. An RFP on the other hand needs to be sufficiently well specified so as to remove ambiguity from proposals when they are received. 2. I am not assured that a relational database concept will help achieve what you are seeking to do. That is, using relational concepts to think about what you want to achieve will only serve to limit what you get. While many/most CMS system use relational databases of various kinds you should not limit yourself thinking in that way. Instead, consider what the real relationships between objects ought to be, then leave the execution up to the RFP responders to deliver the required solutions. 3. It is true there are many modelling languages and approaches. These days UML seems to be the flavour of the month and while it is strongly biased towards java developments it is very useful for achieving the goal of defining object relationships and interactions. However, have you thought of using Soft Systems Methods and drawing a "rich picture" to get a clearer overview first? 4. I think some of the confusion you mention has to do with coming at the problem with top-down and bottom-up thinking, at the same time. If you are coming from the top down, then ignore all temptation to engage in thinking about what kind of software will deliver what you want. Leave that to the specialists who run their preferred flavour, but also make certain that what they propose fits with your over-arching concept. 5. Talking about screens is great for defining what the systems are required to deliver, but try to avoid getting into detailed discussion about what content goes onto which screen. Build classes of screens and call them objects, that contain other objects, then you can build a hierarchy of screens and a logical structure. And you can begin to see where objects are shared across classes. Whiteboards and post-it notes are great for this. HIH Alan -- Alan Litchfield MBus (Hons), MNZCS AlphaByte PO Box 1941, Auckland http://www.alphabyte.co.nz From matt at studiolift.com Thu Aug 20 01:11:23 2009 From: matt at studiolift.com (Matt Carey) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:11:23 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Message-ID: <7C3378F9-D6BF-480E-B144-9EFD29D69D33@studiolift.com> On 19 Aug 2009, at 11:08, Alan Litchfield wrote: > Whiteboards and post-it notes are great for this. I can second this. We have run sessions with the client where we have mapped the structure together using post-its. These can be great sessions, especially if the client does not have the vocabulary to describe what they want the site to do. Matt ------------------------------------------------ Lift: creative communication design phone: +44 (0)118 948 4862 **New number** mobile: +44 (0)7979 757983 aim: studiolift web: http://www.studiolift.com *This email is confidential and intended for the addressee only From jcurran at mindspring.com Thu Aug 20 08:07:14 2009 From: jcurran at mindspring.com (Jim Curran) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 23:07:14 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Message-ID: Hi Alan, I am having trouble understanding what you mean here and wonder if you wouldn't mind expanding a bit on this method. > Build classes of screens and call them > objects, that contain other objects, then you can build a hierarchy > of screens > and a logical structure. Thanks, Jim Curran Freelance information designer, Vancouver On 19 Aug 2009, at 15:08, Alan Litchfield wrote: > Hi Conrad, > > I have had these kinds of projects often in the past, and still do > from time > to time. > > Seems to me that there are number of issues that need clarification. > 1. Are you writing a brief or preparing an RFP? A brief is just > that, brief. > It leaves wide scope for discussion and response from prospective > partners. An > RFP on the other hand needs to be sufficiently well specified so as > to remove > ambiguity from proposals when they are received. > > 2. I am not assured that a relational database concept will help > achieve what > you are seeking to do. That is, using relational concepts to think > about what > you want to achieve will only serve to limit what you get. While > many/most CMS > system use relational databases of various kinds you should not > limit yourself > thinking in that way. Instead, consider what the real relationships > between > objects ought to be, then leave the execution up to the RFP > responders to > deliver the required solutions. > > 3. It is true there are many modelling languages and approaches. > These days > UML seems to be the flavour of the month and while it is strongly > biased > towards java developments it is very useful for achieving the goal > of defining > object relationships and interactions. However, have you thought of > using Soft > Systems Methods and drawing a "rich picture" to get a clearer > overview first? > > 4. I think some of the confusion you mention has to do with coming > at the > problem with top-down and bottom-up thinking, at the same time. If > you are > coming from the top down, then ignore all temptation to engage in > thinking > about what kind of software will deliver what you want. Leave that > to the > specialists who run their preferred flavour, but also make certain > that what > they propose fits with your over-arching concept. > > 5. Talking about screens is great for defining what the systems are > required > to deliver, but try to avoid getting into detailed discussion about > what > content goes onto which screen. Build classes of screens and call them > objects, that contain other objects, then you can build a hierarchy > of screens > and a logical structure. And you can begin to see where objects are > shared > across classes. Whiteboards and post-it notes are great for this. > > HIH > Alan > > -- > Alan Litchfield MBus (Hons), MNZCS > AlphaByte > PO Box 1941, Auckland > http://www.alphabyte.co.nz From conradtaylor at me.com Thu Aug 20 10:12:56 2009 From: conradtaylor at me.com (Conrad Taylor) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:12:56 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: <7C3378F9-D6BF-480E-B144-9EFD29D69D33@studiolift.com> References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> <7C3378F9-D6BF-480E-B144-9EFD29D69D33@studiolift.com> Message-ID: > On 19 Aug 2009, at 11:08, Alan Litchfield wrote: >> Whiteboards and post-it notes are great for this. > > Matt Carey replied: > > I can second this. We have run sessions with the client where we have > mapped the structure together using post-its. These can be great > sessions, especially if the client does not have the vocabulary to > describe what they want the site to do. Alan and Matt, thanks for the input so far. I shall have to ponder before responding in depth. Concerning the "whiteboards and post-its" strand, this is essentially how I led our working team's last major discussion. We read through a previous document about what the site should do, and I had stacks of sticky notes and wrote them up as what we were calling "pages". A big glass table was a good surface for displaying and organising there (a kind of sticky card sort) and we discussed the relationships between them and some typical user journeys. Meanwhile, I was keeping track of the implied data elements and structures. At the end of the session, I numbered the post-its in a reasonable narrative sequence and we did a verbal group summary with a dictaphone -- well, me summarising and the others correcting or adding. Then I took the dictaphone and the post-its away and started to write up a document. I'll return to the business of whether we should steer clear on thinking about the technology later. I'll just remark here that I have for decades been an advocate, with respect of design for print, of fully understanding the litho printing process, so you don't end up using InDesign to put together an 18-page magazine with 20 spot colours and several photos in RGB... It seems to me there should be some equivalent level of knowledge about CMS-based web design that I should be aspiring to. Regards, Conrad From alan at alphabyte.co.nz Thu Aug 20 23:55:10 2009 From: alan at alphabyte.co.nz (Alan Litchfield) Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2009 09:55:10 +1200 (NZST) Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Message-ID: <2148.202.37.117.21.1250805310.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Jim Curran wrote: > Hi Alan, > > I am having trouble understanding what you mean here and wonder if you > wouldn't mind expanding a bit on this method. > >> Build classes of screens and call them >> objects, that contain other objects, then you can build a hierarchy >> of screens >> and a logical structure. > > > Thanks, > Jim Curran Hi Jim, Well, what I mean is that by abstracting the information displayed in various screens you can, instead of getting confused by multiple instantiations of information or building classes that are based on the physical attributes of data, take a higher level view and consider what types of information exist and the uses to which they are put. Then from that you can lump the abstracted information types into classes of information. It might help this process if one uses an existing taxonomy and since this is an educational site, there are a number of ontologies or taxonomies Conrad could use to build classes of information. Perhaps the most commonly referred to taxonomy is Bloom's (for example http://www.krummefamily.org/guides/bloom.html) which concentrates on educational objectives. In this example one could build classes of content that are focussed on the educational objectives required of the system, rather than the typical approach which is to base the information just on the courses that are run and probably end up with a high level of redundancy with the associated problems with data anomalies commonly found in this kind of situation. Of course this does not mean that courses wouldn't exist, they would. What I am talking about here is the underlying information classification schema. Getting a clear understanding of the relationships that exist at this level provides a data structure on which the site can be built that obviates getting into technical discussions about what database system to use. Instead, it provides a logical structure for the database designer to work from and it provides information for the site designer who needs to build classes to code with. This site, http://www.taxonomywarehouse.com, has a range of various taxonomies that provide different structures of information. Another approach might be to take a functionalist approach, that is to look at what it is that people do when they access a page and arrange the types of information to suit that. Classes may then be allocated against the work that needs to be done and information is classified against work outcomes rather than informational classes. The obvious choice of information classification is to take the course structure and apply that: topic-> subject -> course. Or, class structure: Qualification, year of intake, level of course, etc. Then, one can mix them up a bit, so some classes are based on, for example Bloom's taxonomy, some classes are built on the work to be achieved (for example, examinations or enrolment processes), some on the course structure, and some on the class structure. All these are treated at a high level and are independent of any technological solution. They do provide sufficient information though for the coder and database designer to build their systems. The next step then is to overlay this with what information is required at each stage of the site. That means identifying the uses to which parts of the site will be put and aliging information classes with those. Some uses might be for enrollment processes, online learning processes, examination processes, course information dissemination processes, etc. Eventually one should then end up with a logical structure for the whole site that identifies all the information types, how the information is used and where. It does not devolve into languages or systems. That comes in the next step. Cheers Alan -- Alan Litchfield MBus (Hons), MNZCS AlphaByte PO Box 1941, Auckland http://www.alphabyte.co.nz From matt at studiolift.com Fri Aug 21 00:06:25 2009 From: matt at studiolift.com (Matt Carey) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:06:25 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> <7C3378F9-D6BF-480E-B144-9EFD29D69D33@studiolift.com> Message-ID: <30E1DC4F-F0E9-43BC-BCBA-7599135DB6BE@studiolift.com> On 20 Aug 2009, at 9:12, Conrad Taylor wrote: > > I'll return to the business of whether we should steer clear on > thinking > about the technology later. I'll just remark here that I have for > decades > been an advocate, with respect of design for print, of fully > understanding > the litho printing process, so you don't end up using InDesign to put > together an 18-page magazine with 20 spot colours and several > photos in RGB... It seems to me there should be some equivalent > level of knowledge about CMS-based web design that I should be > aspiring to. Conrad, I agree. You should have an understanding of how a CMS website works 'behind the scenes' as that will provide knowledge of what is, and what is not, possible. I would suggest that knowledge has to be generic as you cannot hope to know how each and every CMS works. But while you may want to have the knowledge, it doesn't mean the brief should be directing how the backend should work. To take your DTP/print analogy for a moment. I know how the litho printing process works. So I have knowledge and experience to not produce artwork which cannot be successfully printed. I also have enough knowledge that I can communicate with the printers to a certain technical level. When I see a running sheet coming off the press and the colour is not right, I may suggest that there is too much red for example. I wouldn't know, or expect to be able to, tell the printer how to adjust their heiedlberg to achieve the change. That is their territory and their expertise. Therefore, with your CMS brief you should leave the exact technical infrastructure to the developers. Yes, you can guide them on how the end user might interact, but the developer should translate that into code using their skills and expertise. Matt ------------------------------------------------ Lift: creative communication design phone: +44 (0)118 948 4862 **New number** mobile: +44 (0)7979 757983 aim: studiolift web: http://www.studiolift.com *This email is confidential and intended for the addressee only From matt at studiolift.com Fri Aug 21 00:13:20 2009 From: matt at studiolift.com (Matt Carey) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:13:20 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: <2148.202.37.117.21.1250805310.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> <2148.202.37.117.21.1250805310.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Message-ID: <7309D6A5-30DA-4737-8D23-8FE21FF410BD@studiolift.com> On 20 Aug 2009, at 10:55, Alan Litchfield wrote: > > > All these are treated at a high level and are independent of any > technological > solution. They do provide sufficient information though for the > coder and > database designer to build their systems. Hi Alan What you are implying here is a bespoke system, not something using an existing CMS. That is a whole different type of development process. If you are using an existing CMS system, no matter which one it is, the database tables and interactions are already in place. There is no development work there, and surly that is the point. You don't have to reinvent the wheel everytime. Matt ------------------------------------------------ Lift: creative communication design phone: +44 (0)118 948 4862 **New number** mobile: +44 (0)7979 757983 aim: studiolift web: http://www.studiolift.com *This email is confidential and intended for the addressee only From d.sless at communication.org.au Mon Aug 3 12:46:12 2009 From: d.sless at communication.org.au (David Sless) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 20:46:12 +1000 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: cri courses and publications Message-ID: <826C4147-5B29-4CDA-AED7-CF493D0FBB37@communication.org.au> Apologies for cross posting We are finalising all the details and application forms for enrolment in our courses and workshops, so keep an eye on our site. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, with preference given to CRI and IIID members. For this month only, our case history on 'Shorter CMIs: The sad failure of a design project' is available to all site visitors and subscribers, not just Members. http://communication.org.au/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=118 Also there are some new blogs at: http://www.communication.org.au/dsblog/ Enjoy, David From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:17 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:17 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, The article "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is praised for making people look their best and dissed for setting the bar too high" was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all Brothers & Sisters"). The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:41 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:41 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedal-powered Laotian computers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775431.6090102@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, I know some of you will be interested in this _World Ark_ story "Technology Advances Rural Businesses" (pp. 10-11 of the Summer 2009 issue of the Heifer organization's _World Ark_ magazine) which I believe is directly accessible at http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/heifer/worldark_2009summer/#/12 If that doesn't work, try http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.4021787/?msource=0809nl then click on the link "VIEW WORLD ARK AS A PAGE-TURNER MAGAZINE" and navigate through the (Flash-powered?) e-magazine to p. 10. Those with no interest in the story might still find the design of the digital magazine worth a look. Makes an interesting alternative to standard PDF formatting.... Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From r.waller at reading.ac.uk Tue Aug 4 00:05:00 2009 From: r.waller at reading.ac.uk (Rob Waller) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 23:05:00 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Funnily enough this issue was in the news in the UK today, with a political party calling for the banning of unrealistically airbrushed images in material aimed at young girls - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html A commentator on the BBC mentioned a famous instance of this from British history - the Hans Holbein portrait of Anne of Cleves commissioned to interest Henry VIII in marrying her. He didn't fancy her as much when they actually met. __________________________________ Rob Waller Department of Typography & Graphic Communication University of Reading On 3 Aug 2009, at 22:18, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > Cafe, > > The article > > "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is > praised for making people look their best and dissed for > setting the bar too high" > > was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ > (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: > > http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story > > I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I > struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and > problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist > Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century > contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those > trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters > alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all > Brothers & Sisters"). > > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) > > Deborah > _____ > > Deborah Taylor-Pearce > dtp at she-philosopher.com > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090803/4fb89755/attachment-0019.htm From frank at limov.com Tue Aug 4 08:00:35 2009 From: frank at limov.com (Frank Wales) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:00:35 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <4A77CE83.5070406@limov.com> Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) For those who don't know about it, the Photoshop Disasters blog has a great selection of doofus-level picture manipulations, where things have been Photoshopped to *im*perfection. Such as where they 'fixed' the faces, but not their reflections: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/10/marie-claire-on-reflection-perhaps-not.html Or this piece of racial tokenism for the city of Toronto: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2009/06/city-of-toronto-token-brilliance.html Although I think my favourite is still Tatler's "pile of limbs" cover: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/12/tatler-legs-akimbo.html -- Frank Wales [frank at limov.com] From dtp at she-philosopher.com Tue Aug 4 23:03:29 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:03:29 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Message-ID: <4A78A221.2080004@she-philosopher.com> Hi, Rob -- > Funnily enough this issue > was in the news in the UK > today, with a political party > calling for the banning of > unrealistically airbrushed > images in material aimed at > young girls - >http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html Many thanks for this! I shall include a link to the online article in my revised gallery exhibit. My $0.02 re. the posted responses at the bottom of the page: I too think that training in "media literacy" (sometimes called "critical literacy" over here) is generally a good idea, but I'm not at all sure it's going to solve girls' problem with unrealistic body images. The media studies professor quoted in the _LA Times_ article (Gigi Durham) hinted as much: "Even those [girls] who are more savvy, she adds, are still affected. 'They know that no one really looks like that, but they still say, 'I wish my waist were that small.'" In my experience, once these sorts of images come to dominate our visual culture, even the most critical of us are susceptible. The unreal soon becomes the new real, largely because it's so familiar and over-represented in our visual subconscious. I don't believe we can legislate or analyze our way out of this. Rather, I think the answer is for each of us to expand our visual field (meaning that girls "pore over" a lot more images than just celebrity/fashion "magazine photos"). Deborah (here spouting more armchair pop psychology than your usual cultural-studies scholar ;-) _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From christian.nordstrom at suunto.com Wed Aug 5 09:03:43 2009 From: christian.nordstrom at suunto.com (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nordstr=F6m=2C_Christian?=) Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 10:03:43 +0300 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: How different groups spend their day Message-ID: <5AC9E5A111847E4DA8040C7B18B529491FF52A@vaas0002.emea.amersports.int> Dear all, Here?s a nice interactive info-graph, in case you have not seen it: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/31/business/20080801-metrics-graphic.html Parts nicely executed: - choosing between different groups on the upper right corner - clicking on the activity to see the statistics Br, Christian CHRISTIAN NORDSTR?M User Documentation Specialist Suunto Oy Valimotie 7, FI-01510 Vantaa, Finland mobile +358 50 596 8969, fax +358 9 875 87 300 christian.nordstrom at suunto.com, www.suunto.com, www.amersports.com This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0017.htm -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 6691 bytes Desc: image001.jpg Url : http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0017.jpeg From gvanpatter at humantific.com Wed Aug 5 18:19:40 2009 From: gvanpatter at humantific.com (GK VanPatter | Humantific) Date: Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:19:40 -0400 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: SenseMaker Dialogs Registration Opens In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Registration opens for SenseMaker Dialogs, a new speaker series focused on exploring the rapidly changing hybrid activity of SenseMaking in the 21st century. Event is Thursday, August 13, 2009 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM (ET) in New York. Series Originators & Organizers: Humantific Facility Sponsor: Parsons The School of Design Strategies SPACE IS LIMITED. Go here to buy your tickets. http://sensemakerdialogs.eventbrite.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/a2e8c8da/attachment-0017.htm From conradtaylor at me.com Wed Aug 19 15:05:53 2009 From: conradtaylor at me.com (Conrad Taylor) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:05:53 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality Message-ID: Hello Cafe, I'm working at the moment on something quite interesting, but to me unfamiliar territory. I'm helping a project team to specify the design of what could end up as quite a large dynamic Web site, based on a Content Management System. The aim of the system is to function as an online school, using video tutorials to teach some practical skills. The principals behind this project created a document that described what they wanted the online school site to do. I was brought on board partly to advise on usability, but in practice they have come to rely on me to write the brief that is going to be shown to some agencies which specialise in Web and interaction design, to encourage them to tender and to quote. At the same time, I am aware of a few friends who are facing similar problems of coming up with a description of what a CMS-based dynamic Web site should do. What I am wondering is, what kinds of diagrammatic modelling techniques there might be for capturing and representing these kinds of complex systems. Through my membership of the British Computer Society, where I mix with database management types, I am aware of various techniques that exist for diagrammatically modelling relational database systems. Indeed we had a whole day's meeting on the subject this year. The favourite flavour there would seem to be Entity-Relationship Modelling, though one of the speakers made an impassioned pitch for Object-Relation Modelling as an alternative. Within our team, people have been happiest talking about "screens" or "pages", and what people ought to be able to do on those pages, or read from those pages. One of the things that I have been able to contribute to these discussions is a greater awareness that there is a database system and a bunch of clever scripts behind these pages. So, for example, if I am editing my personal Profile Page I can see that the current description of my interests is X, which means that has been projected onto the page from one field in a database; that I say that I want to edit this, which projects it into a window where I change the text; that when I press the Save button, the contents of that field in the database is updated. At the same time when editing I press some check-boxes which indicate that I don't mind making this info available to my class tutor and virtual classmates, but I don't want other members of the virtual school to see this field. Those settings are going to update some other part of the database. And when my classmate wants to look at my profile page, the system has to check (a) that she is logged in with an identity and that it is therefore possible to tell that (b) she is my classmate, so she should be able to see my description of my interests when she looks at my profile page. It seems to me that if one were to create a rigorous diagram of these kinds of relationships, one would have to have a visual language to describe the interactions between the human user and the interface elements, and also a visual language to decribe the nature of the data elements involved (both those which control the interface elements, and those which drive the content of those elements and bits of information on the page). And between what lies beneath in the database and what appears on the screen, there will also be transformation processes that turn one into the other. I am painfully aware here that I am expressing myself clumsily. I want a kind of language that I can use to externalise our requirements and discuss them among ourselves and with the developers that we engage, and I don't know what it should be. Any observations on this problem would be read by me with great gratitude! Conrad From abeesj at googlemail.com Wed Aug 19 21:00:11 2009 From: abeesj at googlemail.com (Abi Searle-Jones) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:00:11 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme coming up Message-ID: <53a2d8ab0908191200g6ac01eb2t631b1bd79dabf73c@mail.gmail.com> Hi, Caf? members in the UK may be interested in this BBC Radio 4 programme on 'How to write an instruction manual'. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m4470 On air Friday at 11 and then on 'Listen again' after that. It will also be the Radio 4 Choice podcast. Cheers, Abi -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090819/2757421d/attachment-0003.htm From 2waysit at verizon.net Wed Aug 19 21:19:56 2009 From: 2waysit at verizon.net (Bruce Faron) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:19:56 -0400 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme and podcast on "How to Write an Instruction Manual" In-Reply-To: <53a2d8ab0908191200g6ac01eb2t631b1bd79dabf73c@mail.gmail.com> References: <53a2d8ab0908191200g6ac01eb2t631b1bd79dabf73c@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Mr. (?) Jones, Does BBC Radio 4 allow its podcasts to be downloaded to IP addresses outside the UK? I want to download it, but am unsure of the BBC 4?s policies (as of earlier this year, I could not download an episode of Torchwood). As you can pick up from my spelling, I am in the USA (Pennsylvania). I get the InfoD-Caf? feed and find it very interesting. The question mark above is because ?Abi? can be a first name for both men and women. Regards, Bruce Faron Technical/Marketing Writer From: infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org [mailto:infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org] On Behalf Of Abi Searle-Jones Sent: Wednesday, August 19, 2009 3:00 PM To: Discussions about information design Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme coming up Hi, Caf? members in the UK may be interested in this BBC Radio 4 programme on 'How to write an instruction manual'. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m4470 On air Friday at 11 and then on 'Listen again' after that. It will also be the Radio 4 Choice podcast. Cheers, Abi -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090819/862480fc/attachment-0003.htm From abeesj at googlemail.com Wed Aug 19 22:22:37 2009 From: abeesj at googlemail.com (Abi Searle-Jones) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:22:37 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme and podcast on "How to Write an Instruction Manual" In-Reply-To: References: <53a2d8ab0908191200g6ac01eb2t631b1bd79dabf73c@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <53a2d8ab0908191322q3d4d9b3dm332724285e846087@mail.gmail.com> Hi Bruce, You may be in luck; I think the BBC is a little more liberal with its radio programmes than its television programmes. The programme I posted is on BBC Radio 4, not BBC 4 (I know, it confuses us too!). According to this page http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/help/download_programmes/outsideuk 'most' radio programmes are available on iPlayer. Certainly some Canadian relatives of mine were able to download some BBC Radio 4 programmes earlier this year. Good luck; I hope it works for you as it sounds interesting. Cheers, Abi (a Ms, btw!) 2009/8/19 Bruce Faron <2waysit at verizon.net> > Mr. (?) Jones, > > > > Does BBC Radio 4 allow its podcasts to be downloaded to IP addresses > outside the UK? I want to download it, but am unsure of the BBC 4?s > policies (as of earlier this year, I could not download an episode of > Torchwood). > > > > As you can pick up from my spelling, I am in the USA (Pennsylvania). > > > > I get the InfoD-Caf? feed and find it very interesting. > > > > The question mark above is because ?Abi? can be a first name for both men > and women. > > > > Regards, > > > > Bruce Faron > > Technical/Marketing Writer > > > > *From:* infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org [mailto: > infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org] *On Behalf Of *Abi > Searle-Jones > *Sent:* Wednesday, August 19, 2009 3:00 PM > *To:* Discussions about information design > *Subject:* InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme coming up > > > > Hi, > > Caf? members in the UK may be interested in this BBC Radio 4 programme on > 'How to write an instruction manual'. > http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m4470 > > On air Friday at 11 and then on 'Listen again' after that. It will also be > the Radio 4 Choice podcast. > > Cheers, Abi > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090819/e80d0554/attachment-0003.htm From matt at studiolift.com Wed Aug 19 23:46:38 2009 From: matt at studiolift.com (Matt Carey) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:46:38 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi Conrad I receive the type of briefs you are helping to write. I have also helped clients write the brief for us, as a way of taking their vague concepts and notions and turning it into something we can design and build against. My instant reaction? That the problem you are describing is not a problem at all, and not something you should worry about. The brief for a website such as this should, in my opinion, describe the page/screen interaction. That is after all what the end user will see when they use the site. The end user won't know what databases tables are being queried when they click a button, and why should they. The brief to the designer/developer should describe the interactions required by the user of the website. For example; Clicking edit my events should take the user to an edit event screen where they can amend x, y and z details. It should not be concerned with how that data is structured. The reason why you don't need to specify is because the web developer will deal with it. If a site is to be CMS based then the developer will know what CMS they will want to use from reading the brief. This may be their 'base' CMS (the one they use for every project because they know it inside out), or they may pick one 'off the shelf' to suit the exact requirements of the project. Rolling a custom system from scratch is very rare these days, due to budget, time and there is just no need as their is a very mature CMS market out there. The CMS will decide the database set-up, fields and interactions. The UI is layered on to top (with some code logic) to perform the tasks the user is required to do by the brief. I would suggest that if your brief stated how the database should be structured, it has more chance of putting off web developers than attracting them. Not because they are annoyed that someone is telling them how to do their job. Instead because they might find it difficult to quote when they know their CMS does not match the database spec -- but it will perform and deliver the end result just fine. You would be much better off spending the time honing and refining the user flow, and interaction points, than worrying how the underlying data is being structured. Just my 2p Matt On 19 Aug 2009, at 2:05, Conrad Taylor wrote: > Hello Cafe, > > I'm working at the moment on something quite interesting, but to me > unfamiliar territory. I'm helping a project team to specify the > design of what could end up as quite a large dynamic Web site, based > on a Content Management System. The aim of the system is to function > as an online school, using video tutorials to teach some practical > skills. > > The principals behind this project created a document that described > what they wanted the online school site to do. I was brought on board > partly to advise on usability, but in practice they have come to rely > on me to write the brief that is going to be shown to some agencies > which specialise in Web and interaction design, to encourage them to > tender and to quote. > > At the same time, I am aware of a few friends who are facing similar > problems of coming up with a description of what a CMS-based dynamic > Web site should do. > > What I am wondering is, what kinds of diagrammatic modelling > techniques there might be for capturing and representing these kinds > of complex systems. > > Through my membership of the British Computer Society, where I mix > with database management types, I am aware of various techniques that > exist for diagrammatically modelling relational database systems. > Indeed we had a whole day's meeting on the subject this year. The > favourite flavour there would seem to be Entity-Relationship > Modelling, though one of the speakers made an impassioned pitch for > Object-Relation Modelling as an alternative. > > Within our team, people have been happiest talking about "screens" or > "pages", and what people ought to be able to do on those pages, or > read from those pages. One of the things that I have been able to > contribute to these discussions is a greater awareness that there is > a database system and a bunch of clever scripts behind these pages. > So, for example, if I am editing my personal Profile Page I can see > that the current description of my interests is X, which means that > has been projected onto the page from one field in a database; that I > say that I want to edit this, which projects it into a window where I > change the text; that when I press the Save button, the contents of > that field in the database is updated. At the same time when editing > I press some check-boxes which indicate that I don't mind making this > info available to my class tutor and virtual classmates, but I don't > want other members of the virtual school to see this field. Those > settings are going to update some other part of the database. And > when my classmate wants to look at my profile page, the system has to > check (a) that she is logged in with an identity and that it is > therefore possible to tell that (b) she is my classmate, so she > should be able to see my description of my interests when she looks > at my profile page. > > It seems to me that if one were to create a rigorous diagram of these > kinds of relationships, one would have to have a visual language to > describe the interactions between the human user and the interface > elements, and also a visual language to decribe the nature of the > data elements involved (both those which control the interface > elements, and those which drive the content of those elements and > bits of information on the page). And between what lies beneath in > the database and what appears on the screen, there will also be > transformation processes that turn one into the other. > > I am painfully aware here that I am expressing myself clumsily. I > want a kind of language that I can use to externalise our > requirements and discuss them among ourselves and with the developers > that we engage, and I don't know what it should be. > > Any observations on this problem would be read by me with great > gratitude! > > Conrad > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------ Lift: creative communication design phone: +44 (0)118 948 4862 **New number** mobile: +44 (0)7979 757983 aim: studiolift web: http://www.studiolift.com *This email is confidential and intended for the addressee only From alan at alphabyte.co.nz Thu Aug 20 00:08:12 2009 From: alan at alphabyte.co.nz (Alan Litchfield) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:08:12 +1200 (NZST) Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Hi Conrad, I have had these kinds of projects often in the past, and still do from time to time. Seems to me that there are number of issues that need clarification. 1. Are you writing a brief or preparing an RFP? A brief is just that, brief. It leaves wide scope for discussion and response from prospective partners. An RFP on the other hand needs to be sufficiently well specified so as to remove ambiguity from proposals when they are received. 2. I am not assured that a relational database concept will help achieve what you are seeking to do. That is, using relational concepts to think about what you want to achieve will only serve to limit what you get. While many/most CMS system use relational databases of various kinds you should not limit yourself thinking in that way. Instead, consider what the real relationships between objects ought to be, then leave the execution up to the RFP responders to deliver the required solutions. 3. It is true there are many modelling languages and approaches. These days UML seems to be the flavour of the month and while it is strongly biased towards java developments it is very useful for achieving the goal of defining object relationships and interactions. However, have you thought of using Soft Systems Methods and drawing a "rich picture" to get a clearer overview first? 4. I think some of the confusion you mention has to do with coming at the problem with top-down and bottom-up thinking, at the same time. If you are coming from the top down, then ignore all temptation to engage in thinking about what kind of software will deliver what you want. Leave that to the specialists who run their preferred flavour, but also make certain that what they propose fits with your over-arching concept. 5. Talking about screens is great for defining what the systems are required to deliver, but try to avoid getting into detailed discussion about what content goes onto which screen. Build classes of screens and call them objects, that contain other objects, then you can build a hierarchy of screens and a logical structure. And you can begin to see where objects are shared across classes. Whiteboards and post-it notes are great for this. HIH Alan -- Alan Litchfield MBus (Hons), MNZCS AlphaByte PO Box 1941, Auckland http://www.alphabyte.co.nz From matt at studiolift.com Thu Aug 20 01:11:23 2009 From: matt at studiolift.com (Matt Carey) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:11:23 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Message-ID: <7C3378F9-D6BF-480E-B144-9EFD29D69D33@studiolift.com> On 19 Aug 2009, at 11:08, Alan Litchfield wrote: > Whiteboards and post-it notes are great for this. I can second this. We have run sessions with the client where we have mapped the structure together using post-its. These can be great sessions, especially if the client does not have the vocabulary to describe what they want the site to do. Matt ------------------------------------------------ Lift: creative communication design phone: +44 (0)118 948 4862 **New number** mobile: +44 (0)7979 757983 aim: studiolift web: http://www.studiolift.com *This email is confidential and intended for the addressee only From jcurran at mindspring.com Thu Aug 20 08:07:14 2009 From: jcurran at mindspring.com (Jim Curran) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 23:07:14 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Message-ID: Hi Alan, I am having trouble understanding what you mean here and wonder if you wouldn't mind expanding a bit on this method. > Build classes of screens and call them > objects, that contain other objects, then you can build a hierarchy > of screens > and a logical structure. Thanks, Jim Curran Freelance information designer, Vancouver On 19 Aug 2009, at 15:08, Alan Litchfield wrote: > Hi Conrad, > > I have had these kinds of projects often in the past, and still do > from time > to time. > > Seems to me that there are number of issues that need clarification. > 1. Are you writing a brief or preparing an RFP? A brief is just > that, brief. > It leaves wide scope for discussion and response from prospective > partners. An > RFP on the other hand needs to be sufficiently well specified so as > to remove > ambiguity from proposals when they are received. > > 2. I am not assured that a relational database concept will help > achieve what > you are seeking to do. That is, using relational concepts to think > about what > you want to achieve will only serve to limit what you get. While > many/most CMS > system use relational databases of various kinds you should not > limit yourself > thinking in that way. Instead, consider what the real relationships > between > objects ought to be, then leave the execution up to the RFP > responders to > deliver the required solutions. > > 3. It is true there are many modelling languages and approaches. > These days > UML seems to be the flavour of the month and while it is strongly > biased > towards java developments it is very useful for achieving the goal > of defining > object relationships and interactions. However, have you thought of > using Soft > Systems Methods and drawing a "rich picture" to get a clearer > overview first? > > 4. I think some of the confusion you mention has to do with coming > at the > problem with top-down and bottom-up thinking, at the same time. If > you are > coming from the top down, then ignore all temptation to engage in > thinking > about what kind of software will deliver what you want. Leave that > to the > specialists who run their preferred flavour, but also make certain > that what > they propose fits with your over-arching concept. > > 5. Talking about screens is great for defining what the systems are > required > to deliver, but try to avoid getting into detailed discussion about > what > content goes onto which screen. Build classes of screens and call them > objects, that contain other objects, then you can build a hierarchy > of screens > and a logical structure. And you can begin to see where objects are > shared > across classes. Whiteboards and post-it notes are great for this. > > HIH > Alan > > -- > Alan Litchfield MBus (Hons), MNZCS > AlphaByte > PO Box 1941, Auckland > http://www.alphabyte.co.nz From conradtaylor at me.com Thu Aug 20 10:12:56 2009 From: conradtaylor at me.com (Conrad Taylor) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:12:56 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: <7C3378F9-D6BF-480E-B144-9EFD29D69D33@studiolift.com> References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> <7C3378F9-D6BF-480E-B144-9EFD29D69D33@studiolift.com> Message-ID: > On 19 Aug 2009, at 11:08, Alan Litchfield wrote: >> Whiteboards and post-it notes are great for this. > > Matt Carey replied: > > I can second this. We have run sessions with the client where we have > mapped the structure together using post-its. These can be great > sessions, especially if the client does not have the vocabulary to > describe what they want the site to do. Alan and Matt, thanks for the input so far. I shall have to ponder before responding in depth. Concerning the "whiteboards and post-its" strand, this is essentially how I led our working team's last major discussion. We read through a previous document about what the site should do, and I had stacks of sticky notes and wrote them up as what we were calling "pages". A big glass table was a good surface for displaying and organising there (a kind of sticky card sort) and we discussed the relationships between them and some typical user journeys. Meanwhile, I was keeping track of the implied data elements and structures. At the end of the session, I numbered the post-its in a reasonable narrative sequence and we did a verbal group summary with a dictaphone -- well, me summarising and the others correcting or adding. Then I took the dictaphone and the post-its away and started to write up a document. I'll return to the business of whether we should steer clear on thinking about the technology later. I'll just remark here that I have for decades been an advocate, with respect of design for print, of fully understanding the litho printing process, so you don't end up using InDesign to put together an 18-page magazine with 20 spot colours and several photos in RGB... It seems to me there should be some equivalent level of knowledge about CMS-based web design that I should be aspiring to. Regards, Conrad From alan at alphabyte.co.nz Thu Aug 20 23:55:10 2009 From: alan at alphabyte.co.nz (Alan Litchfield) Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2009 09:55:10 +1200 (NZST) Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Message-ID: <2148.202.37.117.21.1250805310.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Jim Curran wrote: > Hi Alan, > > I am having trouble understanding what you mean here and wonder if you > wouldn't mind expanding a bit on this method. > >> Build classes of screens and call them >> objects, that contain other objects, then you can build a hierarchy >> of screens >> and a logical structure. > > > Thanks, > Jim Curran Hi Jim, Well, what I mean is that by abstracting the information displayed in various screens you can, instead of getting confused by multiple instantiations of information or building classes that are based on the physical attributes of data, take a higher level view and consider what types of information exist and the uses to which they are put. Then from that you can lump the abstracted information types into classes of information. It might help this process if one uses an existing taxonomy and since this is an educational site, there are a number of ontologies or taxonomies Conrad could use to build classes of information. Perhaps the most commonly referred to taxonomy is Bloom's (for example http://www.krummefamily.org/guides/bloom.html) which concentrates on educational objectives. In this example one could build classes of content that are focussed on the educational objectives required of the system, rather than the typical approach which is to base the information just on the courses that are run and probably end up with a high level of redundancy with the associated problems with data anomalies commonly found in this kind of situation. Of course this does not mean that courses wouldn't exist, they would. What I am talking about here is the underlying information classification schema. Getting a clear understanding of the relationships that exist at this level provides a data structure on which the site can be built that obviates getting into technical discussions about what database system to use. Instead, it provides a logical structure for the database designer to work from and it provides information for the site designer who needs to build classes to code with. This site, http://www.taxonomywarehouse.com, has a range of various taxonomies that provide different structures of information. Another approach might be to take a functionalist approach, that is to look at what it is that people do when they access a page and arrange the types of information to suit that. Classes may then be allocated against the work that needs to be done and information is classified against work outcomes rather than informational classes. The obvious choice of information classification is to take the course structure and apply that: topic-> subject -> course. Or, class structure: Qualification, year of intake, level of course, etc. Then, one can mix them up a bit, so some classes are based on, for example Bloom's taxonomy, some classes are built on the work to be achieved (for example, examinations or enrolment processes), some on the course structure, and some on the class structure. All these are treated at a high level and are independent of any technological solution. They do provide sufficient information though for the coder and database designer to build their systems. The next step then is to overlay this with what information is required at each stage of the site. That means identifying the uses to which parts of the site will be put and aliging information classes with those. Some uses might be for enrollment processes, online learning processes, examination processes, course information dissemination processes, etc. Eventually one should then end up with a logical structure for the whole site that identifies all the information types, how the information is used and where. It does not devolve into languages or systems. That comes in the next step. Cheers Alan -- Alan Litchfield MBus (Hons), MNZCS AlphaByte PO Box 1941, Auckland http://www.alphabyte.co.nz From matt at studiolift.com Fri Aug 21 00:06:25 2009 From: matt at studiolift.com (Matt Carey) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:06:25 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> <7C3378F9-D6BF-480E-B144-9EFD29D69D33@studiolift.com> Message-ID: <30E1DC4F-F0E9-43BC-BCBA-7599135DB6BE@studiolift.com> On 20 Aug 2009, at 9:12, Conrad Taylor wrote: > > I'll return to the business of whether we should steer clear on > thinking > about the technology later. I'll just remark here that I have for > decades > been an advocate, with respect of design for print, of fully > understanding > the litho printing process, so you don't end up using InDesign to put > together an 18-page magazine with 20 spot colours and several > photos in RGB... It seems to me there should be some equivalent > level of knowledge about CMS-based web design that I should be > aspiring to. Conrad, I agree. You should have an understanding of how a CMS website works 'behind the scenes' as that will provide knowledge of what is, and what is not, possible. I would suggest that knowledge has to be generic as you cannot hope to know how each and every CMS works. But while you may want to have the knowledge, it doesn't mean the brief should be directing how the backend should work. To take your DTP/print analogy for a moment. I know how the litho printing process works. So I have knowledge and experience to not produce artwork which cannot be successfully printed. I also have enough knowledge that I can communicate with the printers to a certain technical level. When I see a running sheet coming off the press and the colour is not right, I may suggest that there is too much red for example. I wouldn't know, or expect to be able to, tell the printer how to adjust their heiedlberg to achieve the change. That is their territory and their expertise. Therefore, with your CMS brief you should leave the exact technical infrastructure to the developers. Yes, you can guide them on how the end user might interact, but the developer should translate that into code using their skills and expertise. Matt ------------------------------------------------ Lift: creative communication design phone: +44 (0)118 948 4862 **New number** mobile: +44 (0)7979 757983 aim: studiolift web: http://www.studiolift.com *This email is confidential and intended for the addressee only From matt at studiolift.com Fri Aug 21 00:13:20 2009 From: matt at studiolift.com (Matt Carey) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:13:20 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: <2148.202.37.117.21.1250805310.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> <2148.202.37.117.21.1250805310.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Message-ID: <7309D6A5-30DA-4737-8D23-8FE21FF410BD@studiolift.com> On 20 Aug 2009, at 10:55, Alan Litchfield wrote: > > > All these are treated at a high level and are independent of any > technological > solution. They do provide sufficient information though for the > coder and > database designer to build their systems. Hi Alan What you are implying here is a bespoke system, not something using an existing CMS. That is a whole different type of development process. If you are using an existing CMS system, no matter which one it is, the database tables and interactions are already in place. There is no development work there, and surly that is the point. You don't have to reinvent the wheel everytime. Matt ------------------------------------------------ Lift: creative communication design phone: +44 (0)118 948 4862 **New number** mobile: +44 (0)7979 757983 aim: studiolift web: http://www.studiolift.com *This email is confidential and intended for the addressee only From d.sless at communication.org.au Mon Aug 3 12:46:12 2009 From: d.sless at communication.org.au (David Sless) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 20:46:12 +1000 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: cri courses and publications Message-ID: <826C4147-5B29-4CDA-AED7-CF493D0FBB37@communication.org.au> Apologies for cross posting We are finalising all the details and application forms for enrolment in our courses and workshops, so keep an eye on our site. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, with preference given to CRI and IIID members. For this month only, our case history on 'Shorter CMIs: The sad failure of a design project' is available to all site visitors and subscribers, not just Members. http://communication.org.au/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=118 Also there are some new blogs at: http://www.communication.org.au/dsblog/ Enjoy, David From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:17 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:17 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, The article "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is praised for making people look their best and dissed for setting the bar too high" was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all Brothers & Sisters"). The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:41 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:41 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedal-powered Laotian computers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775431.6090102@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, I know some of you will be interested in this _World Ark_ story "Technology Advances Rural Businesses" (pp. 10-11 of the Summer 2009 issue of the Heifer organization's _World Ark_ magazine) which I believe is directly accessible at http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/heifer/worldark_2009summer/#/12 If that doesn't work, try http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.4021787/?msource=0809nl then click on the link "VIEW WORLD ARK AS A PAGE-TURNER MAGAZINE" and navigate through the (Flash-powered?) e-magazine to p. 10. Those with no interest in the story might still find the design of the digital magazine worth a look. Makes an interesting alternative to standard PDF formatting.... Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From r.waller at reading.ac.uk Tue Aug 4 00:05:00 2009 From: r.waller at reading.ac.uk (Rob Waller) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 23:05:00 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Funnily enough this issue was in the news in the UK today, with a political party calling for the banning of unrealistically airbrushed images in material aimed at young girls - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html A commentator on the BBC mentioned a famous instance of this from British history - the Hans Holbein portrait of Anne of Cleves commissioned to interest Henry VIII in marrying her. He didn't fancy her as much when they actually met. __________________________________ Rob Waller Department of Typography & Graphic Communication University of Reading On 3 Aug 2009, at 22:18, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > Cafe, > > The article > > "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is > praised for making people look their best and dissed for > setting the bar too high" > > was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ > (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: > > http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story > > I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I > struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and > problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist > Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century > contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those > trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters > alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all > Brothers & Sisters"). > > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) > > Deborah > _____ > > Deborah Taylor-Pearce > dtp at she-philosopher.com > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090803/4fb89755/attachment-0020.htm From frank at limov.com Tue Aug 4 08:00:35 2009 From: frank at limov.com (Frank Wales) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:00:35 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <4A77CE83.5070406@limov.com> Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) For those who don't know about it, the Photoshop Disasters blog has a great selection of doofus-level picture manipulations, where things have been Photoshopped to *im*perfection. Such as where they 'fixed' the faces, but not their reflections: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/10/marie-claire-on-reflection-perhaps-not.html Or this piece of racial tokenism for the city of Toronto: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2009/06/city-of-toronto-token-brilliance.html Although I think my favourite is still Tatler's "pile of limbs" cover: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/12/tatler-legs-akimbo.html -- Frank Wales [frank at limov.com] From dtp at she-philosopher.com Tue Aug 4 23:03:29 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:03:29 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Message-ID: <4A78A221.2080004@she-philosopher.com> Hi, Rob -- > Funnily enough this issue > was in the news in the UK > today, with a political party > calling for the banning of > unrealistically airbrushed > images in material aimed at > young girls - >http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html Many thanks for this! I shall include a link to the online article in my revised gallery exhibit. My $0.02 re. the posted responses at the bottom of the page: I too think that training in "media literacy" (sometimes called "critical literacy" over here) is generally a good idea, but I'm not at all sure it's going to solve girls' problem with unrealistic body images. The media studies professor quoted in the _LA Times_ article (Gigi Durham) hinted as much: "Even those [girls] who are more savvy, she adds, are still affected. 'They know that no one really looks like that, but they still say, 'I wish my waist were that small.'" In my experience, once these sorts of images come to dominate our visual culture, even the most critical of us are susceptible. The unreal soon becomes the new real, largely because it's so familiar and over-represented in our visual subconscious. I don't believe we can legislate or analyze our way out of this. Rather, I think the answer is for each of us to expand our visual field (meaning that girls "pore over" a lot more images than just celebrity/fashion "magazine photos"). Deborah (here spouting more armchair pop psychology than your usual cultural-studies scholar ;-) _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From christian.nordstrom at suunto.com Wed Aug 5 09:03:43 2009 From: christian.nordstrom at suunto.com (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nordstr=F6m=2C_Christian?=) Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 10:03:43 +0300 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: How different groups spend their day Message-ID: <5AC9E5A111847E4DA8040C7B18B529491FF52A@vaas0002.emea.amersports.int> Dear all, Here?s a nice interactive info-graph, in case you have not seen it: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/31/business/20080801-metrics-graphic.html Parts nicely executed: - choosing between different groups on the upper right corner - clicking on the activity to see the statistics Br, Christian CHRISTIAN NORDSTR?M User Documentation Specialist Suunto Oy Valimotie 7, FI-01510 Vantaa, Finland mobile +358 50 596 8969, fax +358 9 875 87 300 christian.nordstrom at suunto.com, www.suunto.com, www.amersports.com This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0018.htm -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 6691 bytes Desc: image001.jpg Url : http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0018.jpeg From gvanpatter at humantific.com Wed Aug 5 18:19:40 2009 From: gvanpatter at humantific.com (GK VanPatter | Humantific) Date: Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:19:40 -0400 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: SenseMaker Dialogs Registration Opens In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Registration opens for SenseMaker Dialogs, a new speaker series focused on exploring the rapidly changing hybrid activity of SenseMaking in the 21st century. Event is Thursday, August 13, 2009 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM (ET) in New York. Series Originators & Organizers: Humantific Facility Sponsor: Parsons The School of Design Strategies SPACE IS LIMITED. Go here to buy your tickets. http://sensemakerdialogs.eventbrite.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/a2e8c8da/attachment-0018.htm From conradtaylor at me.com Wed Aug 19 15:05:53 2009 From: conradtaylor at me.com (Conrad Taylor) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:05:53 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality Message-ID: Hello Cafe, I'm working at the moment on something quite interesting, but to me unfamiliar territory. I'm helping a project team to specify the design of what could end up as quite a large dynamic Web site, based on a Content Management System. The aim of the system is to function as an online school, using video tutorials to teach some practical skills. The principals behind this project created a document that described what they wanted the online school site to do. I was brought on board partly to advise on usability, but in practice they have come to rely on me to write the brief that is going to be shown to some agencies which specialise in Web and interaction design, to encourage them to tender and to quote. At the same time, I am aware of a few friends who are facing similar problems of coming up with a description of what a CMS-based dynamic Web site should do. What I am wondering is, what kinds of diagrammatic modelling techniques there might be for capturing and representing these kinds of complex systems. Through my membership of the British Computer Society, where I mix with database management types, I am aware of various techniques that exist for diagrammatically modelling relational database systems. Indeed we had a whole day's meeting on the subject this year. The favourite flavour there would seem to be Entity-Relationship Modelling, though one of the speakers made an impassioned pitch for Object-Relation Modelling as an alternative. Within our team, people have been happiest talking about "screens" or "pages", and what people ought to be able to do on those pages, or read from those pages. One of the things that I have been able to contribute to these discussions is a greater awareness that there is a database system and a bunch of clever scripts behind these pages. So, for example, if I am editing my personal Profile Page I can see that the current description of my interests is X, which means that has been projected onto the page from one field in a database; that I say that I want to edit this, which projects it into a window where I change the text; that when I press the Save button, the contents of that field in the database is updated. At the same time when editing I press some check-boxes which indicate that I don't mind making this info available to my class tutor and virtual classmates, but I don't want other members of the virtual school to see this field. Those settings are going to update some other part of the database. And when my classmate wants to look at my profile page, the system has to check (a) that she is logged in with an identity and that it is therefore possible to tell that (b) she is my classmate, so she should be able to see my description of my interests when she looks at my profile page. It seems to me that if one were to create a rigorous diagram of these kinds of relationships, one would have to have a visual language to describe the interactions between the human user and the interface elements, and also a visual language to decribe the nature of the data elements involved (both those which control the interface elements, and those which drive the content of those elements and bits of information on the page). And between what lies beneath in the database and what appears on the screen, there will also be transformation processes that turn one into the other. I am painfully aware here that I am expressing myself clumsily. I want a kind of language that I can use to externalise our requirements and discuss them among ourselves and with the developers that we engage, and I don't know what it should be. Any observations on this problem would be read by me with great gratitude! Conrad From abeesj at googlemail.com Wed Aug 19 21:00:11 2009 From: abeesj at googlemail.com (Abi Searle-Jones) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:00:11 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme coming up Message-ID: <53a2d8ab0908191200g6ac01eb2t631b1bd79dabf73c@mail.gmail.com> Hi, Caf? members in the UK may be interested in this BBC Radio 4 programme on 'How to write an instruction manual'. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m4470 On air Friday at 11 and then on 'Listen again' after that. It will also be the Radio 4 Choice podcast. Cheers, Abi -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090819/2757421d/attachment-0004.htm From 2waysit at verizon.net Wed Aug 19 21:19:56 2009 From: 2waysit at verizon.net (Bruce Faron) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:19:56 -0400 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme and podcast on "How to Write an Instruction Manual" In-Reply-To: <53a2d8ab0908191200g6ac01eb2t631b1bd79dabf73c@mail.gmail.com> References: <53a2d8ab0908191200g6ac01eb2t631b1bd79dabf73c@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Mr. (?) Jones, Does BBC Radio 4 allow its podcasts to be downloaded to IP addresses outside the UK? I want to download it, but am unsure of the BBC 4?s policies (as of earlier this year, I could not download an episode of Torchwood). As you can pick up from my spelling, I am in the USA (Pennsylvania). I get the InfoD-Caf? feed and find it very interesting. The question mark above is because ?Abi? can be a first name for both men and women. Regards, Bruce Faron Technical/Marketing Writer From: infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org [mailto:infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org] On Behalf Of Abi Searle-Jones Sent: Wednesday, August 19, 2009 3:00 PM To: Discussions about information design Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme coming up Hi, Caf? members in the UK may be interested in this BBC Radio 4 programme on 'How to write an instruction manual'. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m4470 On air Friday at 11 and then on 'Listen again' after that. It will also be the Radio 4 Choice podcast. Cheers, Abi -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090819/862480fc/attachment-0004.htm From abeesj at googlemail.com Wed Aug 19 22:22:37 2009 From: abeesj at googlemail.com (Abi Searle-Jones) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:22:37 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme and podcast on "How to Write an Instruction Manual" In-Reply-To: References: <53a2d8ab0908191200g6ac01eb2t631b1bd79dabf73c@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <53a2d8ab0908191322q3d4d9b3dm332724285e846087@mail.gmail.com> Hi Bruce, You may be in luck; I think the BBC is a little more liberal with its radio programmes than its television programmes. The programme I posted is on BBC Radio 4, not BBC 4 (I know, it confuses us too!). According to this page http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/help/download_programmes/outsideuk 'most' radio programmes are available on iPlayer. Certainly some Canadian relatives of mine were able to download some BBC Radio 4 programmes earlier this year. Good luck; I hope it works for you as it sounds interesting. Cheers, Abi (a Ms, btw!) 2009/8/19 Bruce Faron <2waysit at verizon.net> > Mr. (?) Jones, > > > > Does BBC Radio 4 allow its podcasts to be downloaded to IP addresses > outside the UK? I want to download it, but am unsure of the BBC 4?s > policies (as of earlier this year, I could not download an episode of > Torchwood). > > > > As you can pick up from my spelling, I am in the USA (Pennsylvania). > > > > I get the InfoD-Caf? feed and find it very interesting. > > > > The question mark above is because ?Abi? can be a first name for both men > and women. > > > > Regards, > > > > Bruce Faron > > Technical/Marketing Writer > > > > *From:* infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org [mailto: > infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org] *On Behalf Of *Abi > Searle-Jones > *Sent:* Wednesday, August 19, 2009 3:00 PM > *To:* Discussions about information design > *Subject:* InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme coming up > > > > Hi, > > Caf? members in the UK may be interested in this BBC Radio 4 programme on > 'How to write an instruction manual'. > http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m4470 > > On air Friday at 11 and then on 'Listen again' after that. It will also be > the Radio 4 Choice podcast. > > Cheers, Abi > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090819/e80d0554/attachment-0004.htm From matt at studiolift.com Wed Aug 19 23:46:38 2009 From: matt at studiolift.com (Matt Carey) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:46:38 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi Conrad I receive the type of briefs you are helping to write. I have also helped clients write the brief for us, as a way of taking their vague concepts and notions and turning it into something we can design and build against. My instant reaction? That the problem you are describing is not a problem at all, and not something you should worry about. The brief for a website such as this should, in my opinion, describe the page/screen interaction. That is after all what the end user will see when they use the site. The end user won't know what databases tables are being queried when they click a button, and why should they. The brief to the designer/developer should describe the interactions required by the user of the website. For example; Clicking edit my events should take the user to an edit event screen where they can amend x, y and z details. It should not be concerned with how that data is structured. The reason why you don't need to specify is because the web developer will deal with it. If a site is to be CMS based then the developer will know what CMS they will want to use from reading the brief. This may be their 'base' CMS (the one they use for every project because they know it inside out), or they may pick one 'off the shelf' to suit the exact requirements of the project. Rolling a custom system from scratch is very rare these days, due to budget, time and there is just no need as their is a very mature CMS market out there. The CMS will decide the database set-up, fields and interactions. The UI is layered on to top (with some code logic) to perform the tasks the user is required to do by the brief. I would suggest that if your brief stated how the database should be structured, it has more chance of putting off web developers than attracting them. Not because they are annoyed that someone is telling them how to do their job. Instead because they might find it difficult to quote when they know their CMS does not match the database spec -- but it will perform and deliver the end result just fine. You would be much better off spending the time honing and refining the user flow, and interaction points, than worrying how the underlying data is being structured. Just my 2p Matt On 19 Aug 2009, at 2:05, Conrad Taylor wrote: > Hello Cafe, > > I'm working at the moment on something quite interesting, but to me > unfamiliar territory. I'm helping a project team to specify the > design of what could end up as quite a large dynamic Web site, based > on a Content Management System. The aim of the system is to function > as an online school, using video tutorials to teach some practical > skills. > > The principals behind this project created a document that described > what they wanted the online school site to do. I was brought on board > partly to advise on usability, but in practice they have come to rely > on me to write the brief that is going to be shown to some agencies > which specialise in Web and interaction design, to encourage them to > tender and to quote. > > At the same time, I am aware of a few friends who are facing similar > problems of coming up with a description of what a CMS-based dynamic > Web site should do. > > What I am wondering is, what kinds of diagrammatic modelling > techniques there might be for capturing and representing these kinds > of complex systems. > > Through my membership of the British Computer Society, where I mix > with database management types, I am aware of various techniques that > exist for diagrammatically modelling relational database systems. > Indeed we had a whole day's meeting on the subject this year. The > favourite flavour there would seem to be Entity-Relationship > Modelling, though one of the speakers made an impassioned pitch for > Object-Relation Modelling as an alternative. > > Within our team, people have been happiest talking about "screens" or > "pages", and what people ought to be able to do on those pages, or > read from those pages. One of the things that I have been able to > contribute to these discussions is a greater awareness that there is > a database system and a bunch of clever scripts behind these pages. > So, for example, if I am editing my personal Profile Page I can see > that the current description of my interests is X, which means that > has been projected onto the page from one field in a database; that I > say that I want to edit this, which projects it into a window where I > change the text; that when I press the Save button, the contents of > that field in the database is updated. At the same time when editing > I press some check-boxes which indicate that I don't mind making this > info available to my class tutor and virtual classmates, but I don't > want other members of the virtual school to see this field. Those > settings are going to update some other part of the database. And > when my classmate wants to look at my profile page, the system has to > check (a) that she is logged in with an identity and that it is > therefore possible to tell that (b) she is my classmate, so she > should be able to see my description of my interests when she looks > at my profile page. > > It seems to me that if one were to create a rigorous diagram of these > kinds of relationships, one would have to have a visual language to > describe the interactions between the human user and the interface > elements, and also a visual language to decribe the nature of the > data elements involved (both those which control the interface > elements, and those which drive the content of those elements and > bits of information on the page). And between what lies beneath in > the database and what appears on the screen, there will also be > transformation processes that turn one into the other. > > I am painfully aware here that I am expressing myself clumsily. I > want a kind of language that I can use to externalise our > requirements and discuss them among ourselves and with the developers > that we engage, and I don't know what it should be. > > Any observations on this problem would be read by me with great > gratitude! > > Conrad > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------ Lift: creative communication design phone: +44 (0)118 948 4862 **New number** mobile: +44 (0)7979 757983 aim: studiolift web: http://www.studiolift.com *This email is confidential and intended for the addressee only From alan at alphabyte.co.nz Thu Aug 20 00:08:12 2009 From: alan at alphabyte.co.nz (Alan Litchfield) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:08:12 +1200 (NZST) Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Hi Conrad, I have had these kinds of projects often in the past, and still do from time to time. Seems to me that there are number of issues that need clarification. 1. Are you writing a brief or preparing an RFP? A brief is just that, brief. It leaves wide scope for discussion and response from prospective partners. An RFP on the other hand needs to be sufficiently well specified so as to remove ambiguity from proposals when they are received. 2. I am not assured that a relational database concept will help achieve what you are seeking to do. That is, using relational concepts to think about what you want to achieve will only serve to limit what you get. While many/most CMS system use relational databases of various kinds you should not limit yourself thinking in that way. Instead, consider what the real relationships between objects ought to be, then leave the execution up to the RFP responders to deliver the required solutions. 3. It is true there are many modelling languages and approaches. These days UML seems to be the flavour of the month and while it is strongly biased towards java developments it is very useful for achieving the goal of defining object relationships and interactions. However, have you thought of using Soft Systems Methods and drawing a "rich picture" to get a clearer overview first? 4. I think some of the confusion you mention has to do with coming at the problem with top-down and bottom-up thinking, at the same time. If you are coming from the top down, then ignore all temptation to engage in thinking about what kind of software will deliver what you want. Leave that to the specialists who run their preferred flavour, but also make certain that what they propose fits with your over-arching concept. 5. Talking about screens is great for defining what the systems are required to deliver, but try to avoid getting into detailed discussion about what content goes onto which screen. Build classes of screens and call them objects, that contain other objects, then you can build a hierarchy of screens and a logical structure. And you can begin to see where objects are shared across classes. Whiteboards and post-it notes are great for this. HIH Alan -- Alan Litchfield MBus (Hons), MNZCS AlphaByte PO Box 1941, Auckland http://www.alphabyte.co.nz From matt at studiolift.com Thu Aug 20 01:11:23 2009 From: matt at studiolift.com (Matt Carey) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:11:23 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Message-ID: <7C3378F9-D6BF-480E-B144-9EFD29D69D33@studiolift.com> On 19 Aug 2009, at 11:08, Alan Litchfield wrote: > Whiteboards and post-it notes are great for this. I can second this. We have run sessions with the client where we have mapped the structure together using post-its. These can be great sessions, especially if the client does not have the vocabulary to describe what they want the site to do. Matt ------------------------------------------------ Lift: creative communication design phone: +44 (0)118 948 4862 **New number** mobile: +44 (0)7979 757983 aim: studiolift web: http://www.studiolift.com *This email is confidential and intended for the addressee only From jcurran at mindspring.com Thu Aug 20 08:07:14 2009 From: jcurran at mindspring.com (Jim Curran) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 23:07:14 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Message-ID: Hi Alan, I am having trouble understanding what you mean here and wonder if you wouldn't mind expanding a bit on this method. > Build classes of screens and call them > objects, that contain other objects, then you can build a hierarchy > of screens > and a logical structure. Thanks, Jim Curran Freelance information designer, Vancouver On 19 Aug 2009, at 15:08, Alan Litchfield wrote: > Hi Conrad, > > I have had these kinds of projects often in the past, and still do > from time > to time. > > Seems to me that there are number of issues that need clarification. > 1. Are you writing a brief or preparing an RFP? A brief is just > that, brief. > It leaves wide scope for discussion and response from prospective > partners. An > RFP on the other hand needs to be sufficiently well specified so as > to remove > ambiguity from proposals when they are received. > > 2. I am not assured that a relational database concept will help > achieve what > you are seeking to do. That is, using relational concepts to think > about what > you want to achieve will only serve to limit what you get. While > many/most CMS > system use relational databases of various kinds you should not > limit yourself > thinking in that way. Instead, consider what the real relationships > between > objects ought to be, then leave the execution up to the RFP > responders to > deliver the required solutions. > > 3. It is true there are many modelling languages and approaches. > These days > UML seems to be the flavour of the month and while it is strongly > biased > towards java developments it is very useful for achieving the goal > of defining > object relationships and interactions. However, have you thought of > using Soft > Systems Methods and drawing a "rich picture" to get a clearer > overview first? > > 4. I think some of the confusion you mention has to do with coming > at the > problem with top-down and bottom-up thinking, at the same time. If > you are > coming from the top down, then ignore all temptation to engage in > thinking > about what kind of software will deliver what you want. Leave that > to the > specialists who run their preferred flavour, but also make certain > that what > they propose fits with your over-arching concept. > > 5. Talking about screens is great for defining what the systems are > required > to deliver, but try to avoid getting into detailed discussion about > what > content goes onto which screen. Build classes of screens and call them > objects, that contain other objects, then you can build a hierarchy > of screens > and a logical structure. And you can begin to see where objects are > shared > across classes. Whiteboards and post-it notes are great for this. > > HIH > Alan > > -- > Alan Litchfield MBus (Hons), MNZCS > AlphaByte > PO Box 1941, Auckland > http://www.alphabyte.co.nz From conradtaylor at me.com Thu Aug 20 10:12:56 2009 From: conradtaylor at me.com (Conrad Taylor) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:12:56 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: <7C3378F9-D6BF-480E-B144-9EFD29D69D33@studiolift.com> References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> <7C3378F9-D6BF-480E-B144-9EFD29D69D33@studiolift.com> Message-ID: > On 19 Aug 2009, at 11:08, Alan Litchfield wrote: >> Whiteboards and post-it notes are great for this. > > Matt Carey replied: > > I can second this. We have run sessions with the client where we have > mapped the structure together using post-its. These can be great > sessions, especially if the client does not have the vocabulary to > describe what they want the site to do. Alan and Matt, thanks for the input so far. I shall have to ponder before responding in depth. Concerning the "whiteboards and post-its" strand, this is essentially how I led our working team's last major discussion. We read through a previous document about what the site should do, and I had stacks of sticky notes and wrote them up as what we were calling "pages". A big glass table was a good surface for displaying and organising there (a kind of sticky card sort) and we discussed the relationships between them and some typical user journeys. Meanwhile, I was keeping track of the implied data elements and structures. At the end of the session, I numbered the post-its in a reasonable narrative sequence and we did a verbal group summary with a dictaphone -- well, me summarising and the others correcting or adding. Then I took the dictaphone and the post-its away and started to write up a document. I'll return to the business of whether we should steer clear on thinking about the technology later. I'll just remark here that I have for decades been an advocate, with respect of design for print, of fully understanding the litho printing process, so you don't end up using InDesign to put together an 18-page magazine with 20 spot colours and several photos in RGB... It seems to me there should be some equivalent level of knowledge about CMS-based web design that I should be aspiring to. Regards, Conrad From alan at alphabyte.co.nz Thu Aug 20 23:55:10 2009 From: alan at alphabyte.co.nz (Alan Litchfield) Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2009 09:55:10 +1200 (NZST) Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Message-ID: <2148.202.37.117.21.1250805310.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Jim Curran wrote: > Hi Alan, > > I am having trouble understanding what you mean here and wonder if you > wouldn't mind expanding a bit on this method. > >> Build classes of screens and call them >> objects, that contain other objects, then you can build a hierarchy >> of screens >> and a logical structure. > > > Thanks, > Jim Curran Hi Jim, Well, what I mean is that by abstracting the information displayed in various screens you can, instead of getting confused by multiple instantiations of information or building classes that are based on the physical attributes of data, take a higher level view and consider what types of information exist and the uses to which they are put. Then from that you can lump the abstracted information types into classes of information. It might help this process if one uses an existing taxonomy and since this is an educational site, there are a number of ontologies or taxonomies Conrad could use to build classes of information. Perhaps the most commonly referred to taxonomy is Bloom's (for example http://www.krummefamily.org/guides/bloom.html) which concentrates on educational objectives. In this example one could build classes of content that are focussed on the educational objectives required of the system, rather than the typical approach which is to base the information just on the courses that are run and probably end up with a high level of redundancy with the associated problems with data anomalies commonly found in this kind of situation. Of course this does not mean that courses wouldn't exist, they would. What I am talking about here is the underlying information classification schema. Getting a clear understanding of the relationships that exist at this level provides a data structure on which the site can be built that obviates getting into technical discussions about what database system to use. Instead, it provides a logical structure for the database designer to work from and it provides information for the site designer who needs to build classes to code with. This site, http://www.taxonomywarehouse.com, has a range of various taxonomies that provide different structures of information. Another approach might be to take a functionalist approach, that is to look at what it is that people do when they access a page and arrange the types of information to suit that. Classes may then be allocated against the work that needs to be done and information is classified against work outcomes rather than informational classes. The obvious choice of information classification is to take the course structure and apply that: topic-> subject -> course. Or, class structure: Qualification, year of intake, level of course, etc. Then, one can mix them up a bit, so some classes are based on, for example Bloom's taxonomy, some classes are built on the work to be achieved (for example, examinations or enrolment processes), some on the course structure, and some on the class structure. All these are treated at a high level and are independent of any technological solution. They do provide sufficient information though for the coder and database designer to build their systems. The next step then is to overlay this with what information is required at each stage of the site. That means identifying the uses to which parts of the site will be put and aliging information classes with those. Some uses might be for enrollment processes, online learning processes, examination processes, course information dissemination processes, etc. Eventually one should then end up with a logical structure for the whole site that identifies all the information types, how the information is used and where. It does not devolve into languages or systems. That comes in the next step. Cheers Alan -- Alan Litchfield MBus (Hons), MNZCS AlphaByte PO Box 1941, Auckland http://www.alphabyte.co.nz From matt at studiolift.com Fri Aug 21 00:06:25 2009 From: matt at studiolift.com (Matt Carey) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:06:25 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> <7C3378F9-D6BF-480E-B144-9EFD29D69D33@studiolift.com> Message-ID: <30E1DC4F-F0E9-43BC-BCBA-7599135DB6BE@studiolift.com> On 20 Aug 2009, at 9:12, Conrad Taylor wrote: > > I'll return to the business of whether we should steer clear on > thinking > about the technology later. I'll just remark here that I have for > decades > been an advocate, with respect of design for print, of fully > understanding > the litho printing process, so you don't end up using InDesign to put > together an 18-page magazine with 20 spot colours and several > photos in RGB... It seems to me there should be some equivalent > level of knowledge about CMS-based web design that I should be > aspiring to. Conrad, I agree. You should have an understanding of how a CMS website works 'behind the scenes' as that will provide knowledge of what is, and what is not, possible. I would suggest that knowledge has to be generic as you cannot hope to know how each and every CMS works. But while you may want to have the knowledge, it doesn't mean the brief should be directing how the backend should work. To take your DTP/print analogy for a moment. I know how the litho printing process works. So I have knowledge and experience to not produce artwork which cannot be successfully printed. I also have enough knowledge that I can communicate with the printers to a certain technical level. When I see a running sheet coming off the press and the colour is not right, I may suggest that there is too much red for example. I wouldn't know, or expect to be able to, tell the printer how to adjust their heiedlberg to achieve the change. That is their territory and their expertise. Therefore, with your CMS brief you should leave the exact technical infrastructure to the developers. Yes, you can guide them on how the end user might interact, but the developer should translate that into code using their skills and expertise. Matt ------------------------------------------------ Lift: creative communication design phone: +44 (0)118 948 4862 **New number** mobile: +44 (0)7979 757983 aim: studiolift web: http://www.studiolift.com *This email is confidential and intended for the addressee only From matt at studiolift.com Fri Aug 21 00:13:20 2009 From: matt at studiolift.com (Matt Carey) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:13:20 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: <2148.202.37.117.21.1250805310.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> <2148.202.37.117.21.1250805310.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Message-ID: <7309D6A5-30DA-4737-8D23-8FE21FF410BD@studiolift.com> On 20 Aug 2009, at 10:55, Alan Litchfield wrote: > > > All these are treated at a high level and are independent of any > technological > solution. They do provide sufficient information though for the > coder and > database designer to build their systems. Hi Alan What you are implying here is a bespoke system, not something using an existing CMS. That is a whole different type of development process. If you are using an existing CMS system, no matter which one it is, the database tables and interactions are already in place. There is no development work there, and surly that is the point. You don't have to reinvent the wheel everytime. Matt ------------------------------------------------ Lift: creative communication design phone: +44 (0)118 948 4862 **New number** mobile: +44 (0)7979 757983 aim: studiolift web: http://www.studiolift.com *This email is confidential and intended for the addressee only From d.sless at communication.org.au Mon Aug 3 12:46:12 2009 From: d.sless at communication.org.au (David Sless) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 20:46:12 +1000 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: cri courses and publications Message-ID: <826C4147-5B29-4CDA-AED7-CF493D0FBB37@communication.org.au> Apologies for cross posting We are finalising all the details and application forms for enrolment in our courses and workshops, so keep an eye on our site. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, with preference given to CRI and IIID members. For this month only, our case history on 'Shorter CMIs: The sad failure of a design project' is available to all site visitors and subscribers, not just Members. http://communication.org.au/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=118 Also there are some new blogs at: http://www.communication.org.au/dsblog/ Enjoy, David From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:17 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:17 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, The article "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is praised for making people look their best and dissed for setting the bar too high" was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all Brothers & Sisters"). The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:41 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:41 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedal-powered Laotian computers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775431.6090102@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, I know some of you will be interested in this _World Ark_ story "Technology Advances Rural Businesses" (pp. 10-11 of the Summer 2009 issue of the Heifer organization's _World Ark_ magazine) which I believe is directly accessible at http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/heifer/worldark_2009summer/#/12 If that doesn't work, try http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.4021787/?msource=0809nl then click on the link "VIEW WORLD ARK AS A PAGE-TURNER MAGAZINE" and navigate through the (Flash-powered?) e-magazine to p. 10. Those with no interest in the story might still find the design of the digital magazine worth a look. Makes an interesting alternative to standard PDF formatting.... Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From r.waller at reading.ac.uk Tue Aug 4 00:05:00 2009 From: r.waller at reading.ac.uk (Rob Waller) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 23:05:00 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Funnily enough this issue was in the news in the UK today, with a political party calling for the banning of unrealistically airbrushed images in material aimed at young girls - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html A commentator on the BBC mentioned a famous instance of this from British history - the Hans Holbein portrait of Anne of Cleves commissioned to interest Henry VIII in marrying her. He didn't fancy her as much when they actually met. __________________________________ Rob Waller Department of Typography & Graphic Communication University of Reading On 3 Aug 2009, at 22:18, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > Cafe, > > The article > > "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is > praised for making people look their best and dissed for > setting the bar too high" > > was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ > (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: > > http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story > > I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I > struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and > problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist > Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century > contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those > trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters > alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all > Brothers & Sisters"). > > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) > > Deborah > _____ > > Deborah Taylor-Pearce > dtp at she-philosopher.com > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090803/4fb89755/attachment-0021.htm From frank at limov.com Tue Aug 4 08:00:35 2009 From: frank at limov.com (Frank Wales) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:00:35 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <4A77CE83.5070406@limov.com> Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) For those who don't know about it, the Photoshop Disasters blog has a great selection of doofus-level picture manipulations, where things have been Photoshopped to *im*perfection. Such as where they 'fixed' the faces, but not their reflections: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/10/marie-claire-on-reflection-perhaps-not.html Or this piece of racial tokenism for the city of Toronto: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2009/06/city-of-toronto-token-brilliance.html Although I think my favourite is still Tatler's "pile of limbs" cover: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/12/tatler-legs-akimbo.html -- Frank Wales [frank at limov.com] From dtp at she-philosopher.com Tue Aug 4 23:03:29 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:03:29 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Message-ID: <4A78A221.2080004@she-philosopher.com> Hi, Rob -- > Funnily enough this issue > was in the news in the UK > today, with a political party > calling for the banning of > unrealistically airbrushed > images in material aimed at > young girls - >http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html Many thanks for this! I shall include a link to the online article in my revised gallery exhibit. My $0.02 re. the posted responses at the bottom of the page: I too think that training in "media literacy" (sometimes called "critical literacy" over here) is generally a good idea, but I'm not at all sure it's going to solve girls' problem with unrealistic body images. The media studies professor quoted in the _LA Times_ article (Gigi Durham) hinted as much: "Even those [girls] who are more savvy, she adds, are still affected. 'They know that no one really looks like that, but they still say, 'I wish my waist were that small.'" In my experience, once these sorts of images come to dominate our visual culture, even the most critical of us are susceptible. The unreal soon becomes the new real, largely because it's so familiar and over-represented in our visual subconscious. I don't believe we can legislate or analyze our way out of this. Rather, I think the answer is for each of us to expand our visual field (meaning that girls "pore over" a lot more images than just celebrity/fashion "magazine photos"). Deborah (here spouting more armchair pop psychology than your usual cultural-studies scholar ;-) _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From christian.nordstrom at suunto.com Wed Aug 5 09:03:43 2009 From: christian.nordstrom at suunto.com (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nordstr=F6m=2C_Christian?=) Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 10:03:43 +0300 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: How different groups spend their day Message-ID: <5AC9E5A111847E4DA8040C7B18B529491FF52A@vaas0002.emea.amersports.int> Dear all, Here?s a nice interactive info-graph, in case you have not seen it: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/31/business/20080801-metrics-graphic.html Parts nicely executed: - choosing between different groups on the upper right corner - clicking on the activity to see the statistics Br, Christian CHRISTIAN NORDSTR?M User Documentation Specialist Suunto Oy Valimotie 7, FI-01510 Vantaa, Finland mobile +358 50 596 8969, fax +358 9 875 87 300 christian.nordstrom at suunto.com, www.suunto.com, www.amersports.com This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0019.htm -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 6691 bytes Desc: image001.jpg Url : http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0019.jpeg From gvanpatter at humantific.com Wed Aug 5 18:19:40 2009 From: gvanpatter at humantific.com (GK VanPatter | Humantific) Date: Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:19:40 -0400 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: SenseMaker Dialogs Registration Opens In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Registration opens for SenseMaker Dialogs, a new speaker series focused on exploring the rapidly changing hybrid activity of SenseMaking in the 21st century. Event is Thursday, August 13, 2009 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM (ET) in New York. Series Originators & Organizers: Humantific Facility Sponsor: Parsons The School of Design Strategies SPACE IS LIMITED. Go here to buy your tickets. http://sensemakerdialogs.eventbrite.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/a2e8c8da/attachment-0019.htm From conradtaylor at me.com Wed Aug 19 15:05:53 2009 From: conradtaylor at me.com (Conrad Taylor) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:05:53 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality Message-ID: Hello Cafe, I'm working at the moment on something quite interesting, but to me unfamiliar territory. I'm helping a project team to specify the design of what could end up as quite a large dynamic Web site, based on a Content Management System. The aim of the system is to function as an online school, using video tutorials to teach some practical skills. The principals behind this project created a document that described what they wanted the online school site to do. I was brought on board partly to advise on usability, but in practice they have come to rely on me to write the brief that is going to be shown to some agencies which specialise in Web and interaction design, to encourage them to tender and to quote. At the same time, I am aware of a few friends who are facing similar problems of coming up with a description of what a CMS-based dynamic Web site should do. What I am wondering is, what kinds of diagrammatic modelling techniques there might be for capturing and representing these kinds of complex systems. Through my membership of the British Computer Society, where I mix with database management types, I am aware of various techniques that exist for diagrammatically modelling relational database systems. Indeed we had a whole day's meeting on the subject this year. The favourite flavour there would seem to be Entity-Relationship Modelling, though one of the speakers made an impassioned pitch for Object-Relation Modelling as an alternative. Within our team, people have been happiest talking about "screens" or "pages", and what people ought to be able to do on those pages, or read from those pages. One of the things that I have been able to contribute to these discussions is a greater awareness that there is a database system and a bunch of clever scripts behind these pages. So, for example, if I am editing my personal Profile Page I can see that the current description of my interests is X, which means that has been projected onto the page from one field in a database; that I say that I want to edit this, which projects it into a window where I change the text; that when I press the Save button, the contents of that field in the database is updated. At the same time when editing I press some check-boxes which indicate that I don't mind making this info available to my class tutor and virtual classmates, but I don't want other members of the virtual school to see this field. Those settings are going to update some other part of the database. And when my classmate wants to look at my profile page, the system has to check (a) that she is logged in with an identity and that it is therefore possible to tell that (b) she is my classmate, so she should be able to see my description of my interests when she looks at my profile page. It seems to me that if one were to create a rigorous diagram of these kinds of relationships, one would have to have a visual language to describe the interactions between the human user and the interface elements, and also a visual language to decribe the nature of the data elements involved (both those which control the interface elements, and those which drive the content of those elements and bits of information on the page). And between what lies beneath in the database and what appears on the screen, there will also be transformation processes that turn one into the other. I am painfully aware here that I am expressing myself clumsily. I want a kind of language that I can use to externalise our requirements and discuss them among ourselves and with the developers that we engage, and I don't know what it should be. Any observations on this problem would be read by me with great gratitude! Conrad From abeesj at googlemail.com Wed Aug 19 21:00:11 2009 From: abeesj at googlemail.com (Abi Searle-Jones) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:00:11 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme coming up Message-ID: <53a2d8ab0908191200g6ac01eb2t631b1bd79dabf73c@mail.gmail.com> Hi, Caf? members in the UK may be interested in this BBC Radio 4 programme on 'How to write an instruction manual'. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m4470 On air Friday at 11 and then on 'Listen again' after that. It will also be the Radio 4 Choice podcast. Cheers, Abi -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090819/2757421d/attachment-0005.htm From 2waysit at verizon.net Wed Aug 19 21:19:56 2009 From: 2waysit at verizon.net (Bruce Faron) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:19:56 -0400 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme and podcast on "How to Write an Instruction Manual" In-Reply-To: <53a2d8ab0908191200g6ac01eb2t631b1bd79dabf73c@mail.gmail.com> References: <53a2d8ab0908191200g6ac01eb2t631b1bd79dabf73c@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Mr. (?) Jones, Does BBC Radio 4 allow its podcasts to be downloaded to IP addresses outside the UK? I want to download it, but am unsure of the BBC 4?s policies (as of earlier this year, I could not download an episode of Torchwood). As you can pick up from my spelling, I am in the USA (Pennsylvania). I get the InfoD-Caf? feed and find it very interesting. The question mark above is because ?Abi? can be a first name for both men and women. Regards, Bruce Faron Technical/Marketing Writer From: infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org [mailto:infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org] On Behalf Of Abi Searle-Jones Sent: Wednesday, August 19, 2009 3:00 PM To: Discussions about information design Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme coming up Hi, Caf? members in the UK may be interested in this BBC Radio 4 programme on 'How to write an instruction manual'. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m4470 On air Friday at 11 and then on 'Listen again' after that. It will also be the Radio 4 Choice podcast. Cheers, Abi -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090819/862480fc/attachment-0005.htm From abeesj at googlemail.com Wed Aug 19 22:22:37 2009 From: abeesj at googlemail.com (Abi Searle-Jones) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:22:37 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme and podcast on "How to Write an Instruction Manual" In-Reply-To: References: <53a2d8ab0908191200g6ac01eb2t631b1bd79dabf73c@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <53a2d8ab0908191322q3d4d9b3dm332724285e846087@mail.gmail.com> Hi Bruce, You may be in luck; I think the BBC is a little more liberal with its radio programmes than its television programmes. The programme I posted is on BBC Radio 4, not BBC 4 (I know, it confuses us too!). According to this page http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/help/download_programmes/outsideuk 'most' radio programmes are available on iPlayer. Certainly some Canadian relatives of mine were able to download some BBC Radio 4 programmes earlier this year. Good luck; I hope it works for you as it sounds interesting. Cheers, Abi (a Ms, btw!) 2009/8/19 Bruce Faron <2waysit at verizon.net> > Mr. (?) Jones, > > > > Does BBC Radio 4 allow its podcasts to be downloaded to IP addresses > outside the UK? I want to download it, but am unsure of the BBC 4?s > policies (as of earlier this year, I could not download an episode of > Torchwood). > > > > As you can pick up from my spelling, I am in the USA (Pennsylvania). > > > > I get the InfoD-Caf? feed and find it very interesting. > > > > The question mark above is because ?Abi? can be a first name for both men > and women. > > > > Regards, > > > > Bruce Faron > > Technical/Marketing Writer > > > > *From:* infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org [mailto: > infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org] *On Behalf Of *Abi > Searle-Jones > *Sent:* Wednesday, August 19, 2009 3:00 PM > *To:* Discussions about information design > *Subject:* InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme coming up > > > > Hi, > > Caf? members in the UK may be interested in this BBC Radio 4 programme on > 'How to write an instruction manual'. > http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m4470 > > On air Friday at 11 and then on 'Listen again' after that. It will also be > the Radio 4 Choice podcast. > > Cheers, Abi > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090819/e80d0554/attachment-0005.htm From matt at studiolift.com Wed Aug 19 23:46:38 2009 From: matt at studiolift.com (Matt Carey) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:46:38 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi Conrad I receive the type of briefs you are helping to write. I have also helped clients write the brief for us, as a way of taking their vague concepts and notions and turning it into something we can design and build against. My instant reaction? That the problem you are describing is not a problem at all, and not something you should worry about. The brief for a website such as this should, in my opinion, describe the page/screen interaction. That is after all what the end user will see when they use the site. The end user won't know what databases tables are being queried when they click a button, and why should they. The brief to the designer/developer should describe the interactions required by the user of the website. For example; Clicking edit my events should take the user to an edit event screen where they can amend x, y and z details. It should not be concerned with how that data is structured. The reason why you don't need to specify is because the web developer will deal with it. If a site is to be CMS based then the developer will know what CMS they will want to use from reading the brief. This may be their 'base' CMS (the one they use for every project because they know it inside out), or they may pick one 'off the shelf' to suit the exact requirements of the project. Rolling a custom system from scratch is very rare these days, due to budget, time and there is just no need as their is a very mature CMS market out there. The CMS will decide the database set-up, fields and interactions. The UI is layered on to top (with some code logic) to perform the tasks the user is required to do by the brief. I would suggest that if your brief stated how the database should be structured, it has more chance of putting off web developers than attracting them. Not because they are annoyed that someone is telling them how to do their job. Instead because they might find it difficult to quote when they know their CMS does not match the database spec -- but it will perform and deliver the end result just fine. You would be much better off spending the time honing and refining the user flow, and interaction points, than worrying how the underlying data is being structured. Just my 2p Matt On 19 Aug 2009, at 2:05, Conrad Taylor wrote: > Hello Cafe, > > I'm working at the moment on something quite interesting, but to me > unfamiliar territory. I'm helping a project team to specify the > design of what could end up as quite a large dynamic Web site, based > on a Content Management System. The aim of the system is to function > as an online school, using video tutorials to teach some practical > skills. > > The principals behind this project created a document that described > what they wanted the online school site to do. I was brought on board > partly to advise on usability, but in practice they have come to rely > on me to write the brief that is going to be shown to some agencies > which specialise in Web and interaction design, to encourage them to > tender and to quote. > > At the same time, I am aware of a few friends who are facing similar > problems of coming up with a description of what a CMS-based dynamic > Web site should do. > > What I am wondering is, what kinds of diagrammatic modelling > techniques there might be for capturing and representing these kinds > of complex systems. > > Through my membership of the British Computer Society, where I mix > with database management types, I am aware of various techniques that > exist for diagrammatically modelling relational database systems. > Indeed we had a whole day's meeting on the subject this year. The > favourite flavour there would seem to be Entity-Relationship > Modelling, though one of the speakers made an impassioned pitch for > Object-Relation Modelling as an alternative. > > Within our team, people have been happiest talking about "screens" or > "pages", and what people ought to be able to do on those pages, or > read from those pages. One of the things that I have been able to > contribute to these discussions is a greater awareness that there is > a database system and a bunch of clever scripts behind these pages. > So, for example, if I am editing my personal Profile Page I can see > that the current description of my interests is X, which means that > has been projected onto the page from one field in a database; that I > say that I want to edit this, which projects it into a window where I > change the text; that when I press the Save button, the contents of > that field in the database is updated. At the same time when editing > I press some check-boxes which indicate that I don't mind making this > info available to my class tutor and virtual classmates, but I don't > want other members of the virtual school to see this field. Those > settings are going to update some other part of the database. And > when my classmate wants to look at my profile page, the system has to > check (a) that she is logged in with an identity and that it is > therefore possible to tell that (b) she is my classmate, so she > should be able to see my description of my interests when she looks > at my profile page. > > It seems to me that if one were to create a rigorous diagram of these > kinds of relationships, one would have to have a visual language to > describe the interactions between the human user and the interface > elements, and also a visual language to decribe the nature of the > data elements involved (both those which control the interface > elements, and those which drive the content of those elements and > bits of information on the page). And between what lies beneath in > the database and what appears on the screen, there will also be > transformation processes that turn one into the other. > > I am painfully aware here that I am expressing myself clumsily. I > want a kind of language that I can use to externalise our > requirements and discuss them among ourselves and with the developers > that we engage, and I don't know what it should be. > > Any observations on this problem would be read by me with great > gratitude! > > Conrad > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------ Lift: creative communication design phone: +44 (0)118 948 4862 **New number** mobile: +44 (0)7979 757983 aim: studiolift web: http://www.studiolift.com *This email is confidential and intended for the addressee only From alan at alphabyte.co.nz Thu Aug 20 00:08:12 2009 From: alan at alphabyte.co.nz (Alan Litchfield) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:08:12 +1200 (NZST) Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Hi Conrad, I have had these kinds of projects often in the past, and still do from time to time. Seems to me that there are number of issues that need clarification. 1. Are you writing a brief or preparing an RFP? A brief is just that, brief. It leaves wide scope for discussion and response from prospective partners. An RFP on the other hand needs to be sufficiently well specified so as to remove ambiguity from proposals when they are received. 2. I am not assured that a relational database concept will help achieve what you are seeking to do. That is, using relational concepts to think about what you want to achieve will only serve to limit what you get. While many/most CMS system use relational databases of various kinds you should not limit yourself thinking in that way. Instead, consider what the real relationships between objects ought to be, then leave the execution up to the RFP responders to deliver the required solutions. 3. It is true there are many modelling languages and approaches. These days UML seems to be the flavour of the month and while it is strongly biased towards java developments it is very useful for achieving the goal of defining object relationships and interactions. However, have you thought of using Soft Systems Methods and drawing a "rich picture" to get a clearer overview first? 4. I think some of the confusion you mention has to do with coming at the problem with top-down and bottom-up thinking, at the same time. If you are coming from the top down, then ignore all temptation to engage in thinking about what kind of software will deliver what you want. Leave that to the specialists who run their preferred flavour, but also make certain that what they propose fits with your over-arching concept. 5. Talking about screens is great for defining what the systems are required to deliver, but try to avoid getting into detailed discussion about what content goes onto which screen. Build classes of screens and call them objects, that contain other objects, then you can build a hierarchy of screens and a logical structure. And you can begin to see where objects are shared across classes. Whiteboards and post-it notes are great for this. HIH Alan -- Alan Litchfield MBus (Hons), MNZCS AlphaByte PO Box 1941, Auckland http://www.alphabyte.co.nz From matt at studiolift.com Thu Aug 20 01:11:23 2009 From: matt at studiolift.com (Matt Carey) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:11:23 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Message-ID: <7C3378F9-D6BF-480E-B144-9EFD29D69D33@studiolift.com> On 19 Aug 2009, at 11:08, Alan Litchfield wrote: > Whiteboards and post-it notes are great for this. I can second this. We have run sessions with the client where we have mapped the structure together using post-its. These can be great sessions, especially if the client does not have the vocabulary to describe what they want the site to do. Matt ------------------------------------------------ Lift: creative communication design phone: +44 (0)118 948 4862 **New number** mobile: +44 (0)7979 757983 aim: studiolift web: http://www.studiolift.com *This email is confidential and intended for the addressee only From jcurran at mindspring.com Thu Aug 20 08:07:14 2009 From: jcurran at mindspring.com (Jim Curran) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 23:07:14 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Message-ID: Hi Alan, I am having trouble understanding what you mean here and wonder if you wouldn't mind expanding a bit on this method. > Build classes of screens and call them > objects, that contain other objects, then you can build a hierarchy > of screens > and a logical structure. Thanks, Jim Curran Freelance information designer, Vancouver On 19 Aug 2009, at 15:08, Alan Litchfield wrote: > Hi Conrad, > > I have had these kinds of projects often in the past, and still do > from time > to time. > > Seems to me that there are number of issues that need clarification. > 1. Are you writing a brief or preparing an RFP? A brief is just > that, brief. > It leaves wide scope for discussion and response from prospective > partners. An > RFP on the other hand needs to be sufficiently well specified so as > to remove > ambiguity from proposals when they are received. > > 2. I am not assured that a relational database concept will help > achieve what > you are seeking to do. That is, using relational concepts to think > about what > you want to achieve will only serve to limit what you get. While > many/most CMS > system use relational databases of various kinds you should not > limit yourself > thinking in that way. Instead, consider what the real relationships > between > objects ought to be, then leave the execution up to the RFP > responders to > deliver the required solutions. > > 3. It is true there are many modelling languages and approaches. > These days > UML seems to be the flavour of the month and while it is strongly > biased > towards java developments it is very useful for achieving the goal > of defining > object relationships and interactions. However, have you thought of > using Soft > Systems Methods and drawing a "rich picture" to get a clearer > overview first? > > 4. I think some of the confusion you mention has to do with coming > at the > problem with top-down and bottom-up thinking, at the same time. If > you are > coming from the top down, then ignore all temptation to engage in > thinking > about what kind of software will deliver what you want. Leave that > to the > specialists who run their preferred flavour, but also make certain > that what > they propose fits with your over-arching concept. > > 5. Talking about screens is great for defining what the systems are > required > to deliver, but try to avoid getting into detailed discussion about > what > content goes onto which screen. Build classes of screens and call them > objects, that contain other objects, then you can build a hierarchy > of screens > and a logical structure. And you can begin to see where objects are > shared > across classes. Whiteboards and post-it notes are great for this. > > HIH > Alan > > -- > Alan Litchfield MBus (Hons), MNZCS > AlphaByte > PO Box 1941, Auckland > http://www.alphabyte.co.nz From conradtaylor at me.com Thu Aug 20 10:12:56 2009 From: conradtaylor at me.com (Conrad Taylor) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:12:56 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: <7C3378F9-D6BF-480E-B144-9EFD29D69D33@studiolift.com> References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> <7C3378F9-D6BF-480E-B144-9EFD29D69D33@studiolift.com> Message-ID: > On 19 Aug 2009, at 11:08, Alan Litchfield wrote: >> Whiteboards and post-it notes are great for this. > > Matt Carey replied: > > I can second this. We have run sessions with the client where we have > mapped the structure together using post-its. These can be great > sessions, especially if the client does not have the vocabulary to > describe what they want the site to do. Alan and Matt, thanks for the input so far. I shall have to ponder before responding in depth. Concerning the "whiteboards and post-its" strand, this is essentially how I led our working team's last major discussion. We read through a previous document about what the site should do, and I had stacks of sticky notes and wrote them up as what we were calling "pages". A big glass table was a good surface for displaying and organising there (a kind of sticky card sort) and we discussed the relationships between them and some typical user journeys. Meanwhile, I was keeping track of the implied data elements and structures. At the end of the session, I numbered the post-its in a reasonable narrative sequence and we did a verbal group summary with a dictaphone -- well, me summarising and the others correcting or adding. Then I took the dictaphone and the post-its away and started to write up a document. I'll return to the business of whether we should steer clear on thinking about the technology later. I'll just remark here that I have for decades been an advocate, with respect of design for print, of fully understanding the litho printing process, so you don't end up using InDesign to put together an 18-page magazine with 20 spot colours and several photos in RGB... It seems to me there should be some equivalent level of knowledge about CMS-based web design that I should be aspiring to. Regards, Conrad From alan at alphabyte.co.nz Thu Aug 20 23:55:10 2009 From: alan at alphabyte.co.nz (Alan Litchfield) Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2009 09:55:10 +1200 (NZST) Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Message-ID: <2148.202.37.117.21.1250805310.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Jim Curran wrote: > Hi Alan, > > I am having trouble understanding what you mean here and wonder if you > wouldn't mind expanding a bit on this method. > >> Build classes of screens and call them >> objects, that contain other objects, then you can build a hierarchy >> of screens >> and a logical structure. > > > Thanks, > Jim Curran Hi Jim, Well, what I mean is that by abstracting the information displayed in various screens you can, instead of getting confused by multiple instantiations of information or building classes that are based on the physical attributes of data, take a higher level view and consider what types of information exist and the uses to which they are put. Then from that you can lump the abstracted information types into classes of information. It might help this process if one uses an existing taxonomy and since this is an educational site, there are a number of ontologies or taxonomies Conrad could use to build classes of information. Perhaps the most commonly referred to taxonomy is Bloom's (for example http://www.krummefamily.org/guides/bloom.html) which concentrates on educational objectives. In this example one could build classes of content that are focussed on the educational objectives required of the system, rather than the typical approach which is to base the information just on the courses that are run and probably end up with a high level of redundancy with the associated problems with data anomalies commonly found in this kind of situation. Of course this does not mean that courses wouldn't exist, they would. What I am talking about here is the underlying information classification schema. Getting a clear understanding of the relationships that exist at this level provides a data structure on which the site can be built that obviates getting into technical discussions about what database system to use. Instead, it provides a logical structure for the database designer to work from and it provides information for the site designer who needs to build classes to code with. This site, http://www.taxonomywarehouse.com, has a range of various taxonomies that provide different structures of information. Another approach might be to take a functionalist approach, that is to look at what it is that people do when they access a page and arrange the types of information to suit that. Classes may then be allocated against the work that needs to be done and information is classified against work outcomes rather than informational classes. The obvious choice of information classification is to take the course structure and apply that: topic-> subject -> course. Or, class structure: Qualification, year of intake, level of course, etc. Then, one can mix them up a bit, so some classes are based on, for example Bloom's taxonomy, some classes are built on the work to be achieved (for example, examinations or enrolment processes), some on the course structure, and some on the class structure. All these are treated at a high level and are independent of any technological solution. They do provide sufficient information though for the coder and database designer to build their systems. The next step then is to overlay this with what information is required at each stage of the site. That means identifying the uses to which parts of the site will be put and aliging information classes with those. Some uses might be for enrollment processes, online learning processes, examination processes, course information dissemination processes, etc. Eventually one should then end up with a logical structure for the whole site that identifies all the information types, how the information is used and where. It does not devolve into languages or systems. That comes in the next step. Cheers Alan -- Alan Litchfield MBus (Hons), MNZCS AlphaByte PO Box 1941, Auckland http://www.alphabyte.co.nz From matt at studiolift.com Fri Aug 21 00:06:25 2009 From: matt at studiolift.com (Matt Carey) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:06:25 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> <7C3378F9-D6BF-480E-B144-9EFD29D69D33@studiolift.com> Message-ID: <30E1DC4F-F0E9-43BC-BCBA-7599135DB6BE@studiolift.com> On 20 Aug 2009, at 9:12, Conrad Taylor wrote: > > I'll return to the business of whether we should steer clear on > thinking > about the technology later. I'll just remark here that I have for > decades > been an advocate, with respect of design for print, of fully > understanding > the litho printing process, so you don't end up using InDesign to put > together an 18-page magazine with 20 spot colours and several > photos in RGB... It seems to me there should be some equivalent > level of knowledge about CMS-based web design that I should be > aspiring to. Conrad, I agree. You should have an understanding of how a CMS website works 'behind the scenes' as that will provide knowledge of what is, and what is not, possible. I would suggest that knowledge has to be generic as you cannot hope to know how each and every CMS works. But while you may want to have the knowledge, it doesn't mean the brief should be directing how the backend should work. To take your DTP/print analogy for a moment. I know how the litho printing process works. So I have knowledge and experience to not produce artwork which cannot be successfully printed. I also have enough knowledge that I can communicate with the printers to a certain technical level. When I see a running sheet coming off the press and the colour is not right, I may suggest that there is too much red for example. I wouldn't know, or expect to be able to, tell the printer how to adjust their heiedlberg to achieve the change. That is their territory and their expertise. Therefore, with your CMS brief you should leave the exact technical infrastructure to the developers. Yes, you can guide them on how the end user might interact, but the developer should translate that into code using their skills and expertise. Matt ------------------------------------------------ Lift: creative communication design phone: +44 (0)118 948 4862 **New number** mobile: +44 (0)7979 757983 aim: studiolift web: http://www.studiolift.com *This email is confidential and intended for the addressee only From matt at studiolift.com Fri Aug 21 00:13:20 2009 From: matt at studiolift.com (Matt Carey) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:13:20 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: <2148.202.37.117.21.1250805310.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> <2148.202.37.117.21.1250805310.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Message-ID: <7309D6A5-30DA-4737-8D23-8FE21FF410BD@studiolift.com> On 20 Aug 2009, at 10:55, Alan Litchfield wrote: > > > All these are treated at a high level and are independent of any > technological > solution. They do provide sufficient information though for the > coder and > database designer to build their systems. Hi Alan What you are implying here is a bespoke system, not something using an existing CMS. That is a whole different type of development process. If you are using an existing CMS system, no matter which one it is, the database tables and interactions are already in place. There is no development work there, and surly that is the point. You don't have to reinvent the wheel everytime. Matt ------------------------------------------------ Lift: creative communication design phone: +44 (0)118 948 4862 **New number** mobile: +44 (0)7979 757983 aim: studiolift web: http://www.studiolift.com *This email is confidential and intended for the addressee only From d.sless at communication.org.au Mon Aug 3 12:46:12 2009 From: d.sless at communication.org.au (David Sless) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 20:46:12 +1000 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: cri courses and publications Message-ID: <826C4147-5B29-4CDA-AED7-CF493D0FBB37@communication.org.au> Apologies for cross posting We are finalising all the details and application forms for enrolment in our courses and workshops, so keep an eye on our site. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, with preference given to CRI and IIID members. For this month only, our case history on 'Shorter CMIs: The sad failure of a design project' is available to all site visitors and subscribers, not just Members. http://communication.org.au/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=118 Also there are some new blogs at: http://www.communication.org.au/dsblog/ Enjoy, David From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:17 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:17 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, The article "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is praised for making people look their best and dissed for setting the bar too high" was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all Brothers & Sisters"). The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:41 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:41 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedal-powered Laotian computers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775431.6090102@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, I know some of you will be interested in this _World Ark_ story "Technology Advances Rural Businesses" (pp. 10-11 of the Summer 2009 issue of the Heifer organization's _World Ark_ magazine) which I believe is directly accessible at http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/heifer/worldark_2009summer/#/12 If that doesn't work, try http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.4021787/?msource=0809nl then click on the link "VIEW WORLD ARK AS A PAGE-TURNER MAGAZINE" and navigate through the (Flash-powered?) e-magazine to p. 10. Those with no interest in the story might still find the design of the digital magazine worth a look. Makes an interesting alternative to standard PDF formatting.... Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From r.waller at reading.ac.uk Tue Aug 4 00:05:00 2009 From: r.waller at reading.ac.uk (Rob Waller) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 23:05:00 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Funnily enough this issue was in the news in the UK today, with a political party calling for the banning of unrealistically airbrushed images in material aimed at young girls - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html A commentator on the BBC mentioned a famous instance of this from British history - the Hans Holbein portrait of Anne of Cleves commissioned to interest Henry VIII in marrying her. He didn't fancy her as much when they actually met. __________________________________ Rob Waller Department of Typography & Graphic Communication University of Reading On 3 Aug 2009, at 22:18, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > Cafe, > > The article > > "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is > praised for making people look their best and dissed for > setting the bar too high" > > was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ > (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: > > http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story > > I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I > struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and > problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist > Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century > contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those > trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters > alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all > Brothers & Sisters"). > > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) > > Deborah > _____ > > Deborah Taylor-Pearce > dtp at she-philosopher.com > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090803/4fb89755/attachment-0022.htm From frank at limov.com Tue Aug 4 08:00:35 2009 From: frank at limov.com (Frank Wales) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:00:35 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <4A77CE83.5070406@limov.com> Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) For those who don't know about it, the Photoshop Disasters blog has a great selection of doofus-level picture manipulations, where things have been Photoshopped to *im*perfection. Such as where they 'fixed' the faces, but not their reflections: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/10/marie-claire-on-reflection-perhaps-not.html Or this piece of racial tokenism for the city of Toronto: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2009/06/city-of-toronto-token-brilliance.html Although I think my favourite is still Tatler's "pile of limbs" cover: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/12/tatler-legs-akimbo.html -- Frank Wales [frank at limov.com] From dtp at she-philosopher.com Tue Aug 4 23:03:29 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:03:29 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Message-ID: <4A78A221.2080004@she-philosopher.com> Hi, Rob -- > Funnily enough this issue > was in the news in the UK > today, with a political party > calling for the banning of > unrealistically airbrushed > images in material aimed at > young girls - >http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html Many thanks for this! I shall include a link to the online article in my revised gallery exhibit. My $0.02 re. the posted responses at the bottom of the page: I too think that training in "media literacy" (sometimes called "critical literacy" over here) is generally a good idea, but I'm not at all sure it's going to solve girls' problem with unrealistic body images. The media studies professor quoted in the _LA Times_ article (Gigi Durham) hinted as much: "Even those [girls] who are more savvy, she adds, are still affected. 'They know that no one really looks like that, but they still say, 'I wish my waist were that small.'" In my experience, once these sorts of images come to dominate our visual culture, even the most critical of us are susceptible. The unreal soon becomes the new real, largely because it's so familiar and over-represented in our visual subconscious. I don't believe we can legislate or analyze our way out of this. Rather, I think the answer is for each of us to expand our visual field (meaning that girls "pore over" a lot more images than just celebrity/fashion "magazine photos"). Deborah (here spouting more armchair pop psychology than your usual cultural-studies scholar ;-) _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From christian.nordstrom at suunto.com Wed Aug 5 09:03:43 2009 From: christian.nordstrom at suunto.com (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nordstr=F6m=2C_Christian?=) Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 10:03:43 +0300 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: How different groups spend their day Message-ID: <5AC9E5A111847E4DA8040C7B18B529491FF52A@vaas0002.emea.amersports.int> Dear all, Here?s a nice interactive info-graph, in case you have not seen it: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/31/business/20080801-metrics-graphic.html Parts nicely executed: - choosing between different groups on the upper right corner - clicking on the activity to see the statistics Br, Christian CHRISTIAN NORDSTR?M User Documentation Specialist Suunto Oy Valimotie 7, FI-01510 Vantaa, Finland mobile +358 50 596 8969, fax +358 9 875 87 300 christian.nordstrom at suunto.com, www.suunto.com, www.amersports.com This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0020.htm -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 6691 bytes Desc: image001.jpg Url : http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0020.jpeg From gvanpatter at humantific.com Wed Aug 5 18:19:40 2009 From: gvanpatter at humantific.com (GK VanPatter | Humantific) Date: Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:19:40 -0400 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: SenseMaker Dialogs Registration Opens In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Registration opens for SenseMaker Dialogs, a new speaker series focused on exploring the rapidly changing hybrid activity of SenseMaking in the 21st century. Event is Thursday, August 13, 2009 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM (ET) in New York. Series Originators & Organizers: Humantific Facility Sponsor: Parsons The School of Design Strategies SPACE IS LIMITED. Go here to buy your tickets. http://sensemakerdialogs.eventbrite.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/a2e8c8da/attachment-0020.htm From conradtaylor at me.com Wed Aug 19 15:05:53 2009 From: conradtaylor at me.com (Conrad Taylor) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:05:53 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality Message-ID: Hello Cafe, I'm working at the moment on something quite interesting, but to me unfamiliar territory. I'm helping a project team to specify the design of what could end up as quite a large dynamic Web site, based on a Content Management System. The aim of the system is to function as an online school, using video tutorials to teach some practical skills. The principals behind this project created a document that described what they wanted the online school site to do. I was brought on board partly to advise on usability, but in practice they have come to rely on me to write the brief that is going to be shown to some agencies which specialise in Web and interaction design, to encourage them to tender and to quote. At the same time, I am aware of a few friends who are facing similar problems of coming up with a description of what a CMS-based dynamic Web site should do. What I am wondering is, what kinds of diagrammatic modelling techniques there might be for capturing and representing these kinds of complex systems. Through my membership of the British Computer Society, where I mix with database management types, I am aware of various techniques that exist for diagrammatically modelling relational database systems. Indeed we had a whole day's meeting on the subject this year. The favourite flavour there would seem to be Entity-Relationship Modelling, though one of the speakers made an impassioned pitch for Object-Relation Modelling as an alternative. Within our team, people have been happiest talking about "screens" or "pages", and what people ought to be able to do on those pages, or read from those pages. One of the things that I have been able to contribute to these discussions is a greater awareness that there is a database system and a bunch of clever scripts behind these pages. So, for example, if I am editing my personal Profile Page I can see that the current description of my interests is X, which means that has been projected onto the page from one field in a database; that I say that I want to edit this, which projects it into a window where I change the text; that when I press the Save button, the contents of that field in the database is updated. At the same time when editing I press some check-boxes which indicate that I don't mind making this info available to my class tutor and virtual classmates, but I don't want other members of the virtual school to see this field. Those settings are going to update some other part of the database. And when my classmate wants to look at my profile page, the system has to check (a) that she is logged in with an identity and that it is therefore possible to tell that (b) she is my classmate, so she should be able to see my description of my interests when she looks at my profile page. It seems to me that if one were to create a rigorous diagram of these kinds of relationships, one would have to have a visual language to describe the interactions between the human user and the interface elements, and also a visual language to decribe the nature of the data elements involved (both those which control the interface elements, and those which drive the content of those elements and bits of information on the page). And between what lies beneath in the database and what appears on the screen, there will also be transformation processes that turn one into the other. I am painfully aware here that I am expressing myself clumsily. I want a kind of language that I can use to externalise our requirements and discuss them among ourselves and with the developers that we engage, and I don't know what it should be. Any observations on this problem would be read by me with great gratitude! Conrad From abeesj at googlemail.com Wed Aug 19 21:00:11 2009 From: abeesj at googlemail.com (Abi Searle-Jones) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:00:11 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme coming up Message-ID: <53a2d8ab0908191200g6ac01eb2t631b1bd79dabf73c@mail.gmail.com> Hi, Caf? members in the UK may be interested in this BBC Radio 4 programme on 'How to write an instruction manual'. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m4470 On air Friday at 11 and then on 'Listen again' after that. It will also be the Radio 4 Choice podcast. Cheers, Abi -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090819/2757421d/attachment-0006.htm From 2waysit at verizon.net Wed Aug 19 21:19:56 2009 From: 2waysit at verizon.net (Bruce Faron) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:19:56 -0400 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme and podcast on "How to Write an Instruction Manual" In-Reply-To: <53a2d8ab0908191200g6ac01eb2t631b1bd79dabf73c@mail.gmail.com> References: <53a2d8ab0908191200g6ac01eb2t631b1bd79dabf73c@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Mr. (?) Jones, Does BBC Radio 4 allow its podcasts to be downloaded to IP addresses outside the UK? I want to download it, but am unsure of the BBC 4?s policies (as of earlier this year, I could not download an episode of Torchwood). As you can pick up from my spelling, I am in the USA (Pennsylvania). I get the InfoD-Caf? feed and find it very interesting. The question mark above is because ?Abi? can be a first name for both men and women. Regards, Bruce Faron Technical/Marketing Writer From: infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org [mailto:infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org] On Behalf Of Abi Searle-Jones Sent: Wednesday, August 19, 2009 3:00 PM To: Discussions about information design Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme coming up Hi, Caf? members in the UK may be interested in this BBC Radio 4 programme on 'How to write an instruction manual'. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m4470 On air Friday at 11 and then on 'Listen again' after that. It will also be the Radio 4 Choice podcast. Cheers, Abi -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090819/862480fc/attachment-0006.htm From abeesj at googlemail.com Wed Aug 19 22:22:37 2009 From: abeesj at googlemail.com (Abi Searle-Jones) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:22:37 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme and podcast on "How to Write an Instruction Manual" In-Reply-To: References: <53a2d8ab0908191200g6ac01eb2t631b1bd79dabf73c@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <53a2d8ab0908191322q3d4d9b3dm332724285e846087@mail.gmail.com> Hi Bruce, You may be in luck; I think the BBC is a little more liberal with its radio programmes than its television programmes. The programme I posted is on BBC Radio 4, not BBC 4 (I know, it confuses us too!). According to this page http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/help/download_programmes/outsideuk 'most' radio programmes are available on iPlayer. Certainly some Canadian relatives of mine were able to download some BBC Radio 4 programmes earlier this year. Good luck; I hope it works for you as it sounds interesting. Cheers, Abi (a Ms, btw!) 2009/8/19 Bruce Faron <2waysit at verizon.net> > Mr. (?) Jones, > > > > Does BBC Radio 4 allow its podcasts to be downloaded to IP addresses > outside the UK? I want to download it, but am unsure of the BBC 4?s > policies (as of earlier this year, I could not download an episode of > Torchwood). > > > > As you can pick up from my spelling, I am in the USA (Pennsylvania). > > > > I get the InfoD-Caf? feed and find it very interesting. > > > > The question mark above is because ?Abi? can be a first name for both men > and women. > > > > Regards, > > > > Bruce Faron > > Technical/Marketing Writer > > > > *From:* infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org [mailto: > infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org] *On Behalf Of *Abi > Searle-Jones > *Sent:* Wednesday, August 19, 2009 3:00 PM > *To:* Discussions about information design > *Subject:* InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme coming up > > > > Hi, > > Caf? members in the UK may be interested in this BBC Radio 4 programme on > 'How to write an instruction manual'. > http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m4470 > > On air Friday at 11 and then on 'Listen again' after that. It will also be > the Radio 4 Choice podcast. > > Cheers, Abi > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090819/e80d0554/attachment-0006.htm From matt at studiolift.com Wed Aug 19 23:46:38 2009 From: matt at studiolift.com (Matt Carey) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:46:38 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi Conrad I receive the type of briefs you are helping to write. I have also helped clients write the brief for us, as a way of taking their vague concepts and notions and turning it into something we can design and build against. My instant reaction? That the problem you are describing is not a problem at all, and not something you should worry about. The brief for a website such as this should, in my opinion, describe the page/screen interaction. That is after all what the end user will see when they use the site. The end user won't know what databases tables are being queried when they click a button, and why should they. The brief to the designer/developer should describe the interactions required by the user of the website. For example; Clicking edit my events should take the user to an edit event screen where they can amend x, y and z details. It should not be concerned with how that data is structured. The reason why you don't need to specify is because the web developer will deal with it. If a site is to be CMS based then the developer will know what CMS they will want to use from reading the brief. This may be their 'base' CMS (the one they use for every project because they know it inside out), or they may pick one 'off the shelf' to suit the exact requirements of the project. Rolling a custom system from scratch is very rare these days, due to budget, time and there is just no need as their is a very mature CMS market out there. The CMS will decide the database set-up, fields and interactions. The UI is layered on to top (with some code logic) to perform the tasks the user is required to do by the brief. I would suggest that if your brief stated how the database should be structured, it has more chance of putting off web developers than attracting them. Not because they are annoyed that someone is telling them how to do their job. Instead because they might find it difficult to quote when they know their CMS does not match the database spec -- but it will perform and deliver the end result just fine. You would be much better off spending the time honing and refining the user flow, and interaction points, than worrying how the underlying data is being structured. Just my 2p Matt On 19 Aug 2009, at 2:05, Conrad Taylor wrote: > Hello Cafe, > > I'm working at the moment on something quite interesting, but to me > unfamiliar territory. I'm helping a project team to specify the > design of what could end up as quite a large dynamic Web site, based > on a Content Management System. The aim of the system is to function > as an online school, using video tutorials to teach some practical > skills. > > The principals behind this project created a document that described > what they wanted the online school site to do. I was brought on board > partly to advise on usability, but in practice they have come to rely > on me to write the brief that is going to be shown to some agencies > which specialise in Web and interaction design, to encourage them to > tender and to quote. > > At the same time, I am aware of a few friends who are facing similar > problems of coming up with a description of what a CMS-based dynamic > Web site should do. > > What I am wondering is, what kinds of diagrammatic modelling > techniques there might be for capturing and representing these kinds > of complex systems. > > Through my membership of the British Computer Society, where I mix > with database management types, I am aware of various techniques that > exist for diagrammatically modelling relational database systems. > Indeed we had a whole day's meeting on the subject this year. The > favourite flavour there would seem to be Entity-Relationship > Modelling, though one of the speakers made an impassioned pitch for > Object-Relation Modelling as an alternative. > > Within our team, people have been happiest talking about "screens" or > "pages", and what people ought to be able to do on those pages, or > read from those pages. One of the things that I have been able to > contribute to these discussions is a greater awareness that there is > a database system and a bunch of clever scripts behind these pages. > So, for example, if I am editing my personal Profile Page I can see > that the current description of my interests is X, which means that > has been projected onto the page from one field in a database; that I > say that I want to edit this, which projects it into a window where I > change the text; that when I press the Save button, the contents of > that field in the database is updated. At the same time when editing > I press some check-boxes which indicate that I don't mind making this > info available to my class tutor and virtual classmates, but I don't > want other members of the virtual school to see this field. Those > settings are going to update some other part of the database. And > when my classmate wants to look at my profile page, the system has to > check (a) that she is logged in with an identity and that it is > therefore possible to tell that (b) she is my classmate, so she > should be able to see my description of my interests when she looks > at my profile page. > > It seems to me that if one were to create a rigorous diagram of these > kinds of relationships, one would have to have a visual language to > describe the interactions between the human user and the interface > elements, and also a visual language to decribe the nature of the > data elements involved (both those which control the interface > elements, and those which drive the content of those elements and > bits of information on the page). And between what lies beneath in > the database and what appears on the screen, there will also be > transformation processes that turn one into the other. > > I am painfully aware here that I am expressing myself clumsily. I > want a kind of language that I can use to externalise our > requirements and discuss them among ourselves and with the developers > that we engage, and I don't know what it should be. > > Any observations on this problem would be read by me with great > gratitude! > > Conrad > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------ Lift: creative communication design phone: +44 (0)118 948 4862 **New number** mobile: +44 (0)7979 757983 aim: studiolift web: http://www.studiolift.com *This email is confidential and intended for the addressee only From alan at alphabyte.co.nz Thu Aug 20 00:08:12 2009 From: alan at alphabyte.co.nz (Alan Litchfield) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:08:12 +1200 (NZST) Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Hi Conrad, I have had these kinds of projects often in the past, and still do from time to time. Seems to me that there are number of issues that need clarification. 1. Are you writing a brief or preparing an RFP? A brief is just that, brief. It leaves wide scope for discussion and response from prospective partners. An RFP on the other hand needs to be sufficiently well specified so as to remove ambiguity from proposals when they are received. 2. I am not assured that a relational database concept will help achieve what you are seeking to do. That is, using relational concepts to think about what you want to achieve will only serve to limit what you get. While many/most CMS system use relational databases of various kinds you should not limit yourself thinking in that way. Instead, consider what the real relationships between objects ought to be, then leave the execution up to the RFP responders to deliver the required solutions. 3. It is true there are many modelling languages and approaches. These days UML seems to be the flavour of the month and while it is strongly biased towards java developments it is very useful for achieving the goal of defining object relationships and interactions. However, have you thought of using Soft Systems Methods and drawing a "rich picture" to get a clearer overview first? 4. I think some of the confusion you mention has to do with coming at the problem with top-down and bottom-up thinking, at the same time. If you are coming from the top down, then ignore all temptation to engage in thinking about what kind of software will deliver what you want. Leave that to the specialists who run their preferred flavour, but also make certain that what they propose fits with your over-arching concept. 5. Talking about screens is great for defining what the systems are required to deliver, but try to avoid getting into detailed discussion about what content goes onto which screen. Build classes of screens and call them objects, that contain other objects, then you can build a hierarchy of screens and a logical structure. And you can begin to see where objects are shared across classes. Whiteboards and post-it notes are great for this. HIH Alan -- Alan Litchfield MBus (Hons), MNZCS AlphaByte PO Box 1941, Auckland http://www.alphabyte.co.nz From matt at studiolift.com Thu Aug 20 01:11:23 2009 From: matt at studiolift.com (Matt Carey) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:11:23 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Message-ID: <7C3378F9-D6BF-480E-B144-9EFD29D69D33@studiolift.com> On 19 Aug 2009, at 11:08, Alan Litchfield wrote: > Whiteboards and post-it notes are great for this. I can second this. We have run sessions with the client where we have mapped the structure together using post-its. These can be great sessions, especially if the client does not have the vocabulary to describe what they want the site to do. Matt ------------------------------------------------ Lift: creative communication design phone: +44 (0)118 948 4862 **New number** mobile: +44 (0)7979 757983 aim: studiolift web: http://www.studiolift.com *This email is confidential and intended for the addressee only From jcurran at mindspring.com Thu Aug 20 08:07:14 2009 From: jcurran at mindspring.com (Jim Curran) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 23:07:14 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Message-ID: Hi Alan, I am having trouble understanding what you mean here and wonder if you wouldn't mind expanding a bit on this method. > Build classes of screens and call them > objects, that contain other objects, then you can build a hierarchy > of screens > and a logical structure. Thanks, Jim Curran Freelance information designer, Vancouver On 19 Aug 2009, at 15:08, Alan Litchfield wrote: > Hi Conrad, > > I have had these kinds of projects often in the past, and still do > from time > to time. > > Seems to me that there are number of issues that need clarification. > 1. Are you writing a brief or preparing an RFP? A brief is just > that, brief. > It leaves wide scope for discussion and response from prospective > partners. An > RFP on the other hand needs to be sufficiently well specified so as > to remove > ambiguity from proposals when they are received. > > 2. I am not assured that a relational database concept will help > achieve what > you are seeking to do. That is, using relational concepts to think > about what > you want to achieve will only serve to limit what you get. While > many/most CMS > system use relational databases of various kinds you should not > limit yourself > thinking in that way. Instead, consider what the real relationships > between > objects ought to be, then leave the execution up to the RFP > responders to > deliver the required solutions. > > 3. It is true there are many modelling languages and approaches. > These days > UML seems to be the flavour of the month and while it is strongly > biased > towards java developments it is very useful for achieving the goal > of defining > object relationships and interactions. However, have you thought of > using Soft > Systems Methods and drawing a "rich picture" to get a clearer > overview first? > > 4. I think some of the confusion you mention has to do with coming > at the > problem with top-down and bottom-up thinking, at the same time. If > you are > coming from the top down, then ignore all temptation to engage in > thinking > about what kind of software will deliver what you want. Leave that > to the > specialists who run their preferred flavour, but also make certain > that what > they propose fits with your over-arching concept. > > 5. Talking about screens is great for defining what the systems are > required > to deliver, but try to avoid getting into detailed discussion about > what > content goes onto which screen. Build classes of screens and call them > objects, that contain other objects, then you can build a hierarchy > of screens > and a logical structure. And you can begin to see where objects are > shared > across classes. Whiteboards and post-it notes are great for this. > > HIH > Alan > > -- > Alan Litchfield MBus (Hons), MNZCS > AlphaByte > PO Box 1941, Auckland > http://www.alphabyte.co.nz From conradtaylor at me.com Thu Aug 20 10:12:56 2009 From: conradtaylor at me.com (Conrad Taylor) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:12:56 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: <7C3378F9-D6BF-480E-B144-9EFD29D69D33@studiolift.com> References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> <7C3378F9-D6BF-480E-B144-9EFD29D69D33@studiolift.com> Message-ID: > On 19 Aug 2009, at 11:08, Alan Litchfield wrote: >> Whiteboards and post-it notes are great for this. > > Matt Carey replied: > > I can second this. We have run sessions with the client where we have > mapped the structure together using post-its. These can be great > sessions, especially if the client does not have the vocabulary to > describe what they want the site to do. Alan and Matt, thanks for the input so far. I shall have to ponder before responding in depth. Concerning the "whiteboards and post-its" strand, this is essentially how I led our working team's last major discussion. We read through a previous document about what the site should do, and I had stacks of sticky notes and wrote them up as what we were calling "pages". A big glass table was a good surface for displaying and organising there (a kind of sticky card sort) and we discussed the relationships between them and some typical user journeys. Meanwhile, I was keeping track of the implied data elements and structures. At the end of the session, I numbered the post-its in a reasonable narrative sequence and we did a verbal group summary with a dictaphone -- well, me summarising and the others correcting or adding. Then I took the dictaphone and the post-its away and started to write up a document. I'll return to the business of whether we should steer clear on thinking about the technology later. I'll just remark here that I have for decades been an advocate, with respect of design for print, of fully understanding the litho printing process, so you don't end up using InDesign to put together an 18-page magazine with 20 spot colours and several photos in RGB... It seems to me there should be some equivalent level of knowledge about CMS-based web design that I should be aspiring to. Regards, Conrad From alan at alphabyte.co.nz Thu Aug 20 23:55:10 2009 From: alan at alphabyte.co.nz (Alan Litchfield) Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2009 09:55:10 +1200 (NZST) Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Message-ID: <2148.202.37.117.21.1250805310.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Jim Curran wrote: > Hi Alan, > > I am having trouble understanding what you mean here and wonder if you > wouldn't mind expanding a bit on this method. > >> Build classes of screens and call them >> objects, that contain other objects, then you can build a hierarchy >> of screens >> and a logical structure. > > > Thanks, > Jim Curran Hi Jim, Well, what I mean is that by abstracting the information displayed in various screens you can, instead of getting confused by multiple instantiations of information or building classes that are based on the physical attributes of data, take a higher level view and consider what types of information exist and the uses to which they are put. Then from that you can lump the abstracted information types into classes of information. It might help this process if one uses an existing taxonomy and since this is an educational site, there are a number of ontologies or taxonomies Conrad could use to build classes of information. Perhaps the most commonly referred to taxonomy is Bloom's (for example http://www.krummefamily.org/guides/bloom.html) which concentrates on educational objectives. In this example one could build classes of content that are focussed on the educational objectives required of the system, rather than the typical approach which is to base the information just on the courses that are run and probably end up with a high level of redundancy with the associated problems with data anomalies commonly found in this kind of situation. Of course this does not mean that courses wouldn't exist, they would. What I am talking about here is the underlying information classification schema. Getting a clear understanding of the relationships that exist at this level provides a data structure on which the site can be built that obviates getting into technical discussions about what database system to use. Instead, it provides a logical structure for the database designer to work from and it provides information for the site designer who needs to build classes to code with. This site, http://www.taxonomywarehouse.com, has a range of various taxonomies that provide different structures of information. Another approach might be to take a functionalist approach, that is to look at what it is that people do when they access a page and arrange the types of information to suit that. Classes may then be allocated against the work that needs to be done and information is classified against work outcomes rather than informational classes. The obvious choice of information classification is to take the course structure and apply that: topic-> subject -> course. Or, class structure: Qualification, year of intake, level of course, etc. Then, one can mix them up a bit, so some classes are based on, for example Bloom's taxonomy, some classes are built on the work to be achieved (for example, examinations or enrolment processes), some on the course structure, and some on the class structure. All these are treated at a high level and are independent of any technological solution. They do provide sufficient information though for the coder and database designer to build their systems. The next step then is to overlay this with what information is required at each stage of the site. That means identifying the uses to which parts of the site will be put and aliging information classes with those. Some uses might be for enrollment processes, online learning processes, examination processes, course information dissemination processes, etc. Eventually one should then end up with a logical structure for the whole site that identifies all the information types, how the information is used and where. It does not devolve into languages or systems. That comes in the next step. Cheers Alan -- Alan Litchfield MBus (Hons), MNZCS AlphaByte PO Box 1941, Auckland http://www.alphabyte.co.nz From matt at studiolift.com Fri Aug 21 00:06:25 2009 From: matt at studiolift.com (Matt Carey) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:06:25 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> <7C3378F9-D6BF-480E-B144-9EFD29D69D33@studiolift.com> Message-ID: <30E1DC4F-F0E9-43BC-BCBA-7599135DB6BE@studiolift.com> On 20 Aug 2009, at 9:12, Conrad Taylor wrote: > > I'll return to the business of whether we should steer clear on > thinking > about the technology later. I'll just remark here that I have for > decades > been an advocate, with respect of design for print, of fully > understanding > the litho printing process, so you don't end up using InDesign to put > together an 18-page magazine with 20 spot colours and several > photos in RGB... It seems to me there should be some equivalent > level of knowledge about CMS-based web design that I should be > aspiring to. Conrad, I agree. You should have an understanding of how a CMS website works 'behind the scenes' as that will provide knowledge of what is, and what is not, possible. I would suggest that knowledge has to be generic as you cannot hope to know how each and every CMS works. But while you may want to have the knowledge, it doesn't mean the brief should be directing how the backend should work. To take your DTP/print analogy for a moment. I know how the litho printing process works. So I have knowledge and experience to not produce artwork which cannot be successfully printed. I also have enough knowledge that I can communicate with the printers to a certain technical level. When I see a running sheet coming off the press and the colour is not right, I may suggest that there is too much red for example. I wouldn't know, or expect to be able to, tell the printer how to adjust their heiedlberg to achieve the change. That is their territory and their expertise. Therefore, with your CMS brief you should leave the exact technical infrastructure to the developers. Yes, you can guide them on how the end user might interact, but the developer should translate that into code using their skills and expertise. Matt ------------------------------------------------ Lift: creative communication design phone: +44 (0)118 948 4862 **New number** mobile: +44 (0)7979 757983 aim: studiolift web: http://www.studiolift.com *This email is confidential and intended for the addressee only From matt at studiolift.com Fri Aug 21 00:13:20 2009 From: matt at studiolift.com (Matt Carey) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:13:20 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: <2148.202.37.117.21.1250805310.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> <2148.202.37.117.21.1250805310.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Message-ID: <7309D6A5-30DA-4737-8D23-8FE21FF410BD@studiolift.com> On 20 Aug 2009, at 10:55, Alan Litchfield wrote: > > > All these are treated at a high level and are independent of any > technological > solution. They do provide sufficient information though for the > coder and > database designer to build their systems. Hi Alan What you are implying here is a bespoke system, not something using an existing CMS. That is a whole different type of development process. If you are using an existing CMS system, no matter which one it is, the database tables and interactions are already in place. There is no development work there, and surly that is the point. You don't have to reinvent the wheel everytime. Matt ------------------------------------------------ Lift: creative communication design phone: +44 (0)118 948 4862 **New number** mobile: +44 (0)7979 757983 aim: studiolift web: http://www.studiolift.com *This email is confidential and intended for the addressee only From d.sless at communication.org.au Mon Aug 3 12:46:12 2009 From: d.sless at communication.org.au (David Sless) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 20:46:12 +1000 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: cri courses and publications Message-ID: <826C4147-5B29-4CDA-AED7-CF493D0FBB37@communication.org.au> Apologies for cross posting We are finalising all the details and application forms for enrolment in our courses and workshops, so keep an eye on our site. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, with preference given to CRI and IIID members. For this month only, our case history on 'Shorter CMIs: The sad failure of a design project' is available to all site visitors and subscribers, not just Members. http://communication.org.au/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=118 Also there are some new blogs at: http://www.communication.org.au/dsblog/ Enjoy, David From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:17 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:17 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, The article "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is praised for making people look their best and dissed for setting the bar too high" was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all Brothers & Sisters"). The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:41 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:41 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedal-powered Laotian computers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775431.6090102@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, I know some of you will be interested in this _World Ark_ story "Technology Advances Rural Businesses" (pp. 10-11 of the Summer 2009 issue of the Heifer organization's _World Ark_ magazine) which I believe is directly accessible at http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/heifer/worldark_2009summer/#/12 If that doesn't work, try http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.4021787/?msource=0809nl then click on the link "VIEW WORLD ARK AS A PAGE-TURNER MAGAZINE" and navigate through the (Flash-powered?) e-magazine to p. 10. Those with no interest in the story might still find the design of the digital magazine worth a look. Makes an interesting alternative to standard PDF formatting.... Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From r.waller at reading.ac.uk Tue Aug 4 00:05:00 2009 From: r.waller at reading.ac.uk (Rob Waller) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 23:05:00 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Funnily enough this issue was in the news in the UK today, with a political party calling for the banning of unrealistically airbrushed images in material aimed at young girls - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html A commentator on the BBC mentioned a famous instance of this from British history - the Hans Holbein portrait of Anne of Cleves commissioned to interest Henry VIII in marrying her. He didn't fancy her as much when they actually met. __________________________________ Rob Waller Department of Typography & Graphic Communication University of Reading On 3 Aug 2009, at 22:18, Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > Cafe, > > The article > > "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is > praised for making people look their best and dissed for > setting the bar too high" > > was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ > (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: > > http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story > > I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I > struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and > problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist > Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century > contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those > trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters > alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all > Brothers & Sisters"). > > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) > > Deborah > _____ > > Deborah Taylor-Pearce > dtp at she-philosopher.com > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090803/4fb89755/attachment-0023.htm From frank at limov.com Tue Aug 4 08:00:35 2009 From: frank at limov.com (Frank Wales) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:00:35 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Message-ID: <4A77CE83.5070406@limov.com> Deborah Taylor-Pearce wrote: > The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the > centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture > (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, > etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) For those who don't know about it, the Photoshop Disasters blog has a great selection of doofus-level picture manipulations, where things have been Photoshopped to *im*perfection. Such as where they 'fixed' the faces, but not their reflections: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/10/marie-claire-on-reflection-perhaps-not.html Or this piece of racial tokenism for the city of Toronto: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2009/06/city-of-toronto-token-brilliance.html Although I think my favourite is still Tatler's "pile of limbs" cover: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/12/tatler-legs-akimbo.html -- Frank Wales [frank at limov.com] From dtp at she-philosopher.com Tue Aug 4 23:03:29 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:03:29 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> References: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> <87D5890F-EBA9-4102-B367-A8CA30064841@reading.ac.uk> Message-ID: <4A78A221.2080004@she-philosopher.com> Hi, Rob -- > Funnily enough this issue > was in the news in the UK > today, with a political party > calling for the banning of > unrealistically airbrushed > images in material aimed at > young girls - >http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dont-beef-up-keiras-bust-lib-dems-take-aim-at-advertisers-over-altered-images-1766549.html Many thanks for this! I shall include a link to the online article in my revised gallery exhibit. My $0.02 re. the posted responses at the bottom of the page: I too think that training in "media literacy" (sometimes called "critical literacy" over here) is generally a good idea, but I'm not at all sure it's going to solve girls' problem with unrealistic body images. The media studies professor quoted in the _LA Times_ article (Gigi Durham) hinted as much: "Even those [girls] who are more savvy, she adds, are still affected. 'They know that no one really looks like that, but they still say, 'I wish my waist were that small.'" In my experience, once these sorts of images come to dominate our visual culture, even the most critical of us are susceptible. The unreal soon becomes the new real, largely because it's so familiar and over-represented in our visual subconscious. I don't believe we can legislate or analyze our way out of this. Rather, I think the answer is for each of us to expand our visual field (meaning that girls "pore over" a lot more images than just celebrity/fashion "magazine photos"). Deborah (here spouting more armchair pop psychology than your usual cultural-studies scholar ;-) _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From christian.nordstrom at suunto.com Wed Aug 5 09:03:43 2009 From: christian.nordstrom at suunto.com (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Nordstr=F6m=2C_Christian?=) Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 10:03:43 +0300 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: How different groups spend their day Message-ID: <5AC9E5A111847E4DA8040C7B18B529491FF52A@vaas0002.emea.amersports.int> Dear all, Here?s a nice interactive info-graph, in case you have not seen it: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/31/business/20080801-metrics-graphic.html Parts nicely executed: - choosing between different groups on the upper right corner - clicking on the activity to see the statistics Br, Christian CHRISTIAN NORDSTR?M User Documentation Specialist Suunto Oy Valimotie 7, FI-01510 Vantaa, Finland mobile +358 50 596 8969, fax +358 9 875 87 300 christian.nordstrom at suunto.com, www.suunto.com, www.amersports.com This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0021.htm -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 6691 bytes Desc: image001.jpg Url : http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/e8b31307/attachment-0021.jpeg From gvanpatter at humantific.com Wed Aug 5 18:19:40 2009 From: gvanpatter at humantific.com (GK VanPatter | Humantific) Date: Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:19:40 -0400 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: SenseMaker Dialogs Registration Opens In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Registration opens for SenseMaker Dialogs, a new speaker series focused on exploring the rapidly changing hybrid activity of SenseMaking in the 21st century. Event is Thursday, August 13, 2009 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM (ET) in New York. Series Originators & Organizers: Humantific Facility Sponsor: Parsons The School of Design Strategies SPACE IS LIMITED. Go here to buy your tickets. http://sensemakerdialogs.eventbrite.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090805/a2e8c8da/attachment-0021.htm From conradtaylor at me.com Wed Aug 19 15:05:53 2009 From: conradtaylor at me.com (Conrad Taylor) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:05:53 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality Message-ID: Hello Cafe, I'm working at the moment on something quite interesting, but to me unfamiliar territory. I'm helping a project team to specify the design of what could end up as quite a large dynamic Web site, based on a Content Management System. The aim of the system is to function as an online school, using video tutorials to teach some practical skills. The principals behind this project created a document that described what they wanted the online school site to do. I was brought on board partly to advise on usability, but in practice they have come to rely on me to write the brief that is going to be shown to some agencies which specialise in Web and interaction design, to encourage them to tender and to quote. At the same time, I am aware of a few friends who are facing similar problems of coming up with a description of what a CMS-based dynamic Web site should do. What I am wondering is, what kinds of diagrammatic modelling techniques there might be for capturing and representing these kinds of complex systems. Through my membership of the British Computer Society, where I mix with database management types, I am aware of various techniques that exist for diagrammatically modelling relational database systems. Indeed we had a whole day's meeting on the subject this year. The favourite flavour there would seem to be Entity-Relationship Modelling, though one of the speakers made an impassioned pitch for Object-Relation Modelling as an alternative. Within our team, people have been happiest talking about "screens" or "pages", and what people ought to be able to do on those pages, or read from those pages. One of the things that I have been able to contribute to these discussions is a greater awareness that there is a database system and a bunch of clever scripts behind these pages. So, for example, if I am editing my personal Profile Page I can see that the current description of my interests is X, which means that has been projected onto the page from one field in a database; that I say that I want to edit this, which projects it into a window where I change the text; that when I press the Save button, the contents of that field in the database is updated. At the same time when editing I press some check-boxes which indicate that I don't mind making this info available to my class tutor and virtual classmates, but I don't want other members of the virtual school to see this field. Those settings are going to update some other part of the database. And when my classmate wants to look at my profile page, the system has to check (a) that she is logged in with an identity and that it is therefore possible to tell that (b) she is my classmate, so she should be able to see my description of my interests when she looks at my profile page. It seems to me that if one were to create a rigorous diagram of these kinds of relationships, one would have to have a visual language to describe the interactions between the human user and the interface elements, and also a visual language to decribe the nature of the data elements involved (both those which control the interface elements, and those which drive the content of those elements and bits of information on the page). And between what lies beneath in the database and what appears on the screen, there will also be transformation processes that turn one into the other. I am painfully aware here that I am expressing myself clumsily. I want a kind of language that I can use to externalise our requirements and discuss them among ourselves and with the developers that we engage, and I don't know what it should be. Any observations on this problem would be read by me with great gratitude! Conrad From abeesj at googlemail.com Wed Aug 19 21:00:11 2009 From: abeesj at googlemail.com (Abi Searle-Jones) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:00:11 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme coming up Message-ID: <53a2d8ab0908191200g6ac01eb2t631b1bd79dabf73c@mail.gmail.com> Hi, Caf? members in the UK may be interested in this BBC Radio 4 programme on 'How to write an instruction manual'. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m4470 On air Friday at 11 and then on 'Listen again' after that. It will also be the Radio 4 Choice podcast. Cheers, Abi -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090819/2757421d/attachment-0007.htm From 2waysit at verizon.net Wed Aug 19 21:19:56 2009 From: 2waysit at verizon.net (Bruce Faron) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:19:56 -0400 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme and podcast on "How to Write an Instruction Manual" In-Reply-To: <53a2d8ab0908191200g6ac01eb2t631b1bd79dabf73c@mail.gmail.com> References: <53a2d8ab0908191200g6ac01eb2t631b1bd79dabf73c@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Mr. (?) Jones, Does BBC Radio 4 allow its podcasts to be downloaded to IP addresses outside the UK? I want to download it, but am unsure of the BBC 4?s policies (as of earlier this year, I could not download an episode of Torchwood). As you can pick up from my spelling, I am in the USA (Pennsylvania). I get the InfoD-Caf? feed and find it very interesting. The question mark above is because ?Abi? can be a first name for both men and women. Regards, Bruce Faron Technical/Marketing Writer From: infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org [mailto:infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org] On Behalf Of Abi Searle-Jones Sent: Wednesday, August 19, 2009 3:00 PM To: Discussions about information design Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme coming up Hi, Caf? members in the UK may be interested in this BBC Radio 4 programme on 'How to write an instruction manual'. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m4470 On air Friday at 11 and then on 'Listen again' after that. It will also be the Radio 4 Choice podcast. Cheers, Abi -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090819/862480fc/attachment-0007.htm From abeesj at googlemail.com Wed Aug 19 22:22:37 2009 From: abeesj at googlemail.com (Abi Searle-Jones) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:22:37 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme and podcast on "How to Write an Instruction Manual" In-Reply-To: References: <53a2d8ab0908191200g6ac01eb2t631b1bd79dabf73c@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <53a2d8ab0908191322q3d4d9b3dm332724285e846087@mail.gmail.com> Hi Bruce, You may be in luck; I think the BBC is a little more liberal with its radio programmes than its television programmes. The programme I posted is on BBC Radio 4, not BBC 4 (I know, it confuses us too!). According to this page http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/help/download_programmes/outsideuk 'most' radio programmes are available on iPlayer. Certainly some Canadian relatives of mine were able to download some BBC Radio 4 programmes earlier this year. Good luck; I hope it works for you as it sounds interesting. Cheers, Abi (a Ms, btw!) 2009/8/19 Bruce Faron <2waysit at verizon.net> > Mr. (?) Jones, > > > > Does BBC Radio 4 allow its podcasts to be downloaded to IP addresses > outside the UK? I want to download it, but am unsure of the BBC 4?s > policies (as of earlier this year, I could not download an episode of > Torchwood). > > > > As you can pick up from my spelling, I am in the USA (Pennsylvania). > > > > I get the InfoD-Caf? feed and find it very interesting. > > > > The question mark above is because ?Abi? can be a first name for both men > and women. > > > > Regards, > > > > Bruce Faron > > Technical/Marketing Writer > > > > *From:* infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org [mailto: > infodesign-cafe-bounces at list.informationdesign.org] *On Behalf Of *Abi > Searle-Jones > *Sent:* Wednesday, August 19, 2009 3:00 PM > *To:* Discussions about information design > *Subject:* InfoD-Cafe: Interesting BBC Radio 4 programme coming up > > > > Hi, > > Caf? members in the UK may be interested in this BBC Radio 4 programme on > 'How to write an instruction manual'. > http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m4470 > > On air Friday at 11 and then on 'Listen again' after that. It will also be > the Radio 4 Choice podcast. > > Cheers, Abi > > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.webtic.nl/pipermail/infodesign-cafe/attachments/20090819/e80d0554/attachment-0007.htm From matt at studiolift.com Wed Aug 19 23:46:38 2009 From: matt at studiolift.com (Matt Carey) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:46:38 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi Conrad I receive the type of briefs you are helping to write. I have also helped clients write the brief for us, as a way of taking their vague concepts and notions and turning it into something we can design and build against. My instant reaction? That the problem you are describing is not a problem at all, and not something you should worry about. The brief for a website such as this should, in my opinion, describe the page/screen interaction. That is after all what the end user will see when they use the site. The end user won't know what databases tables are being queried when they click a button, and why should they. The brief to the designer/developer should describe the interactions required by the user of the website. For example; Clicking edit my events should take the user to an edit event screen where they can amend x, y and z details. It should not be concerned with how that data is structured. The reason why you don't need to specify is because the web developer will deal with it. If a site is to be CMS based then the developer will know what CMS they will want to use from reading the brief. This may be their 'base' CMS (the one they use for every project because they know it inside out), or they may pick one 'off the shelf' to suit the exact requirements of the project. Rolling a custom system from scratch is very rare these days, due to budget, time and there is just no need as their is a very mature CMS market out there. The CMS will decide the database set-up, fields and interactions. The UI is layered on to top (with some code logic) to perform the tasks the user is required to do by the brief. I would suggest that if your brief stated how the database should be structured, it has more chance of putting off web developers than attracting them. Not because they are annoyed that someone is telling them how to do their job. Instead because they might find it difficult to quote when they know their CMS does not match the database spec -- but it will perform and deliver the end result just fine. You would be much better off spending the time honing and refining the user flow, and interaction points, than worrying how the underlying data is being structured. Just my 2p Matt On 19 Aug 2009, at 2:05, Conrad Taylor wrote: > Hello Cafe, > > I'm working at the moment on something quite interesting, but to me > unfamiliar territory. I'm helping a project team to specify the > design of what could end up as quite a large dynamic Web site, based > on a Content Management System. The aim of the system is to function > as an online school, using video tutorials to teach some practical > skills. > > The principals behind this project created a document that described > what they wanted the online school site to do. I was brought on board > partly to advise on usability, but in practice they have come to rely > on me to write the brief that is going to be shown to some agencies > which specialise in Web and interaction design, to encourage them to > tender and to quote. > > At the same time, I am aware of a few friends who are facing similar > problems of coming up with a description of what a CMS-based dynamic > Web site should do. > > What I am wondering is, what kinds of diagrammatic modelling > techniques there might be for capturing and representing these kinds > of complex systems. > > Through my membership of the British Computer Society, where I mix > with database management types, I am aware of various techniques that > exist for diagrammatically modelling relational database systems. > Indeed we had a whole day's meeting on the subject this year. The > favourite flavour there would seem to be Entity-Relationship > Modelling, though one of the speakers made an impassioned pitch for > Object-Relation Modelling as an alternative. > > Within our team, people have been happiest talking about "screens" or > "pages", and what people ought to be able to do on those pages, or > read from those pages. One of the things that I have been able to > contribute to these discussions is a greater awareness that there is > a database system and a bunch of clever scripts behind these pages. > So, for example, if I am editing my personal Profile Page I can see > that the current description of my interests is X, which means that > has been projected onto the page from one field in a database; that I > say that I want to edit this, which projects it into a window where I > change the text; that when I press the Save button, the contents of > that field in the database is updated. At the same time when editing > I press some check-boxes which indicate that I don't mind making this > info available to my class tutor and virtual classmates, but I don't > want other members of the virtual school to see this field. Those > settings are going to update some other part of the database. And > when my classmate wants to look at my profile page, the system has to > check (a) that she is logged in with an identity and that it is > therefore possible to tell that (b) she is my classmate, so she > should be able to see my description of my interests when she looks > at my profile page. > > It seems to me that if one were to create a rigorous diagram of these > kinds of relationships, one would have to have a visual language to > describe the interactions between the human user and the interface > elements, and also a visual language to decribe the nature of the > data elements involved (both those which control the interface > elements, and those which drive the content of those elements and > bits of information on the page). And between what lies beneath in > the database and what appears on the screen, there will also be > transformation processes that turn one into the other. > > I am painfully aware here that I am expressing myself clumsily. I > want a kind of language that I can use to externalise our > requirements and discuss them among ourselves and with the developers > that we engage, and I don't know what it should be. > > Any observations on this problem would be read by me with great > gratitude! > > Conrad > ___________________________________________________________________ > > Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: > infodesign-cafe at list.informationdesign.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit: > http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe > > For all Information Design matters: > http://InformationDesign.org > > Problems? Write to: > InfoDesign-Cafe-Admin at list.InformationDesign.org > ___________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------ Lift: creative communication design phone: +44 (0)118 948 4862 **New number** mobile: +44 (0)7979 757983 aim: studiolift web: http://www.studiolift.com *This email is confidential and intended for the addressee only From alan at alphabyte.co.nz Thu Aug 20 00:08:12 2009 From: alan at alphabyte.co.nz (Alan Litchfield) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:08:12 +1200 (NZST) Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Hi Conrad, I have had these kinds of projects often in the past, and still do from time to time. Seems to me that there are number of issues that need clarification. 1. Are you writing a brief or preparing an RFP? A brief is just that, brief. It leaves wide scope for discussion and response from prospective partners. An RFP on the other hand needs to be sufficiently well specified so as to remove ambiguity from proposals when they are received. 2. I am not assured that a relational database concept will help achieve what you are seeking to do. That is, using relational concepts to think about what you want to achieve will only serve to limit what you get. While many/most CMS system use relational databases of various kinds you should not limit yourself thinking in that way. Instead, consider what the real relationships between objects ought to be, then leave the execution up to the RFP responders to deliver the required solutions. 3. It is true there are many modelling languages and approaches. These days UML seems to be the flavour of the month and while it is strongly biased towards java developments it is very useful for achieving the goal of defining object relationships and interactions. However, have you thought of using Soft Systems Methods and drawing a "rich picture" to get a clearer overview first? 4. I think some of the confusion you mention has to do with coming at the problem with top-down and bottom-up thinking, at the same time. If you are coming from the top down, then ignore all temptation to engage in thinking about what kind of software will deliver what you want. Leave that to the specialists who run their preferred flavour, but also make certain that what they propose fits with your over-arching concept. 5. Talking about screens is great for defining what the systems are required to deliver, but try to avoid getting into detailed discussion about what content goes onto which screen. Build classes of screens and call them objects, that contain other objects, then you can build a hierarchy of screens and a logical structure. And you can begin to see where objects are shared across classes. Whiteboards and post-it notes are great for this. HIH Alan -- Alan Litchfield MBus (Hons), MNZCS AlphaByte PO Box 1941, Auckland http://www.alphabyte.co.nz From matt at studiolift.com Thu Aug 20 01:11:23 2009 From: matt at studiolift.com (Matt Carey) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:11:23 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Message-ID: <7C3378F9-D6BF-480E-B144-9EFD29D69D33@studiolift.com> On 19 Aug 2009, at 11:08, Alan Litchfield wrote: > Whiteboards and post-it notes are great for this. I can second this. We have run sessions with the client where we have mapped the structure together using post-its. These can be great sessions, especially if the client does not have the vocabulary to describe what they want the site to do. Matt ------------------------------------------------ Lift: creative communication design phone: +44 (0)118 948 4862 **New number** mobile: +44 (0)7979 757983 aim: studiolift web: http://www.studiolift.com *This email is confidential and intended for the addressee only From jcurran at mindspring.com Thu Aug 20 08:07:14 2009 From: jcurran at mindspring.com (Jim Curran) Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 23:07:14 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Message-ID: Hi Alan, I am having trouble understanding what you mean here and wonder if you wouldn't mind expanding a bit on this method. > Build classes of screens and call them > objects, that contain other objects, then you can build a hierarchy > of screens > and a logical structure. Thanks, Jim Curran Freelance information designer, Vancouver On 19 Aug 2009, at 15:08, Alan Litchfield wrote: > Hi Conrad, > > I have had these kinds of projects often in the past, and still do > from time > to time. > > Seems to me that there are number of issues that need clarification. > 1. Are you writing a brief or preparing an RFP? A brief is just > that, brief. > It leaves wide scope for discussion and response from prospective > partners. An > RFP on the other hand needs to be sufficiently well specified so as > to remove > ambiguity from proposals when they are received. > > 2. I am not assured that a relational database concept will help > achieve what > you are seeking to do. That is, using relational concepts to think > about what > you want to achieve will only serve to limit what you get. While > many/most CMS > system use relational databases of various kinds you should not > limit yourself > thinking in that way. Instead, consider what the real relationships > between > objects ought to be, then leave the execution up to the RFP > responders to > deliver the required solutions. > > 3. It is true there are many modelling languages and approaches. > These days > UML seems to be the flavour of the month and while it is strongly > biased > towards java developments it is very useful for achieving the goal > of defining > object relationships and interactions. However, have you thought of > using Soft > Systems Methods and drawing a "rich picture" to get a clearer > overview first? > > 4. I think some of the confusion you mention has to do with coming > at the > problem with top-down and bottom-up thinking, at the same time. If > you are > coming from the top down, then ignore all temptation to engage in > thinking > about what kind of software will deliver what you want. Leave that > to the > specialists who run their preferred flavour, but also make certain > that what > they propose fits with your over-arching concept. > > 5. Talking about screens is great for defining what the systems are > required > to deliver, but try to avoid getting into detailed discussion about > what > content goes onto which screen. Build classes of screens and call them > objects, that contain other objects, then you can build a hierarchy > of screens > and a logical structure. And you can begin to see where objects are > shared > across classes. Whiteboards and post-it notes are great for this. > > HIH > Alan > > -- > Alan Litchfield MBus (Hons), MNZCS > AlphaByte > PO Box 1941, Auckland > http://www.alphabyte.co.nz From conradtaylor at me.com Thu Aug 20 10:12:56 2009 From: conradtaylor at me.com (Conrad Taylor) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:12:56 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: <7C3378F9-D6BF-480E-B144-9EFD29D69D33@studiolift.com> References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> <7C3378F9-D6BF-480E-B144-9EFD29D69D33@studiolift.com> Message-ID: > On 19 Aug 2009, at 11:08, Alan Litchfield wrote: >> Whiteboards and post-it notes are great for this. > > Matt Carey replied: > > I can second this. We have run sessions with the client where we have > mapped the structure together using post-its. These can be great > sessions, especially if the client does not have the vocabulary to > describe what they want the site to do. Alan and Matt, thanks for the input so far. I shall have to ponder before responding in depth. Concerning the "whiteboards and post-its" strand, this is essentially how I led our working team's last major discussion. We read through a previous document about what the site should do, and I had stacks of sticky notes and wrote them up as what we were calling "pages". A big glass table was a good surface for displaying and organising there (a kind of sticky card sort) and we discussed the relationships between them and some typical user journeys. Meanwhile, I was keeping track of the implied data elements and structures. At the end of the session, I numbered the post-its in a reasonable narrative sequence and we did a verbal group summary with a dictaphone -- well, me summarising and the others correcting or adding. Then I took the dictaphone and the post-its away and started to write up a document. I'll return to the business of whether we should steer clear on thinking about the technology later. I'll just remark here that I have for decades been an advocate, with respect of design for print, of fully understanding the litho printing process, so you don't end up using InDesign to put together an 18-page magazine with 20 spot colours and several photos in RGB... It seems to me there should be some equivalent level of knowledge about CMS-based web design that I should be aspiring to. Regards, Conrad From alan at alphabyte.co.nz Thu Aug 20 23:55:10 2009 From: alan at alphabyte.co.nz (Alan Litchfield) Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2009 09:55:10 +1200 (NZST) Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Message-ID: <2148.202.37.117.21.1250805310.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Jim Curran wrote: > Hi Alan, > > I am having trouble understanding what you mean here and wonder if you > wouldn't mind expanding a bit on this method. > >> Build classes of screens and call them >> objects, that contain other objects, then you can build a hierarchy >> of screens >> and a logical structure. > > > Thanks, > Jim Curran Hi Jim, Well, what I mean is that by abstracting the information displayed in various screens you can, instead of getting confused by multiple instantiations of information or building classes that are based on the physical attributes of data, take a higher level view and consider what types of information exist and the uses to which they are put. Then from that you can lump the abstracted information types into classes of information. It might help this process if one uses an existing taxonomy and since this is an educational site, there are a number of ontologies or taxonomies Conrad could use to build classes of information. Perhaps the most commonly referred to taxonomy is Bloom's (for example http://www.krummefamily.org/guides/bloom.html) which concentrates on educational objectives. In this example one could build classes of content that are focussed on the educational objectives required of the system, rather than the typical approach which is to base the information just on the courses that are run and probably end up with a high level of redundancy with the associated problems with data anomalies commonly found in this kind of situation. Of course this does not mean that courses wouldn't exist, they would. What I am talking about here is the underlying information classification schema. Getting a clear understanding of the relationships that exist at this level provides a data structure on which the site can be built that obviates getting into technical discussions about what database system to use. Instead, it provides a logical structure for the database designer to work from and it provides information for the site designer who needs to build classes to code with. This site, http://www.taxonomywarehouse.com, has a range of various taxonomies that provide different structures of information. Another approach might be to take a functionalist approach, that is to look at what it is that people do when they access a page and arrange the types of information to suit that. Classes may then be allocated against the work that needs to be done and information is classified against work outcomes rather than informational classes. The obvious choice of information classification is to take the course structure and apply that: topic-> subject -> course. Or, class structure: Qualification, year of intake, level of course, etc. Then, one can mix them up a bit, so some classes are based on, for example Bloom's taxonomy, some classes are built on the work to be achieved (for example, examinations or enrolment processes), some on the course structure, and some on the class structure. All these are treated at a high level and are independent of any technological solution. They do provide sufficient information though for the coder and database designer to build their systems. The next step then is to overlay this with what information is required at each stage of the site. That means identifying the uses to which parts of the site will be put and aliging information classes with those. Some uses might be for enrollment processes, online learning processes, examination processes, course information dissemination processes, etc. Eventually one should then end up with a logical structure for the whole site that identifies all the information types, how the information is used and where. It does not devolve into languages or systems. That comes in the next step. Cheers Alan -- Alan Litchfield MBus (Hons), MNZCS AlphaByte PO Box 1941, Auckland http://www.alphabyte.co.nz From matt at studiolift.com Fri Aug 21 00:06:25 2009 From: matt at studiolift.com (Matt Carey) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:06:25 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> <7C3378F9-D6BF-480E-B144-9EFD29D69D33@studiolift.com> Message-ID: <30E1DC4F-F0E9-43BC-BCBA-7599135DB6BE@studiolift.com> On 20 Aug 2009, at 9:12, Conrad Taylor wrote: > > I'll return to the business of whether we should steer clear on > thinking > about the technology later. I'll just remark here that I have for > decades > been an advocate, with respect of design for print, of fully > understanding > the litho printing process, so you don't end up using InDesign to put > together an 18-page magazine with 20 spot colours and several > photos in RGB... It seems to me there should be some equivalent > level of knowledge about CMS-based web design that I should be > aspiring to. Conrad, I agree. You should have an understanding of how a CMS website works 'behind the scenes' as that will provide knowledge of what is, and what is not, possible. I would suggest that knowledge has to be generic as you cannot hope to know how each and every CMS works. But while you may want to have the knowledge, it doesn't mean the brief should be directing how the backend should work. To take your DTP/print analogy for a moment. I know how the litho printing process works. So I have knowledge and experience to not produce artwork which cannot be successfully printed. I also have enough knowledge that I can communicate with the printers to a certain technical level. When I see a running sheet coming off the press and the colour is not right, I may suggest that there is too much red for example. I wouldn't know, or expect to be able to, tell the printer how to adjust their heiedlberg to achieve the change. That is their territory and their expertise. Therefore, with your CMS brief you should leave the exact technical infrastructure to the developers. Yes, you can guide them on how the end user might interact, but the developer should translate that into code using their skills and expertise. Matt ------------------------------------------------ Lift: creative communication design phone: +44 (0)118 948 4862 **New number** mobile: +44 (0)7979 757983 aim: studiolift web: http://www.studiolift.com *This email is confidential and intended for the addressee only From matt at studiolift.com Fri Aug 21 00:13:20 2009 From: matt at studiolift.com (Matt Carey) Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:13:20 +0100 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Modelling and communicating dynamic Web functionality In-Reply-To: <2148.202.37.117.21.1250805310.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> References: <45358.156.62.3.23.1250719692.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> <2148.202.37.117.21.1250805310.squirrel@webmail.ak.planet.gen.nz> Message-ID: <7309D6A5-30DA-4737-8D23-8FE21FF410BD@studiolift.com> On 20 Aug 2009, at 10:55, Alan Litchfield wrote: > > > All these are treated at a high level and are independent of any > technological > solution. They do provide sufficient information though for the > coder and > database designer to build their systems. Hi Alan What you are implying here is a bespoke system, not something using an existing CMS. That is a whole different type of development process. If you are using an existing CMS system, no matter which one it is, the database tables and interactions are already in place. There is no development work there, and surly that is the point. You don't have to reinvent the wheel everytime. Matt ------------------------------------------------ Lift: creative communication design phone: +44 (0)118 948 4862 **New number** mobile: +44 (0)7979 757983 aim: studiolift web: http://www.studiolift.com *This email is confidential and intended for the addressee only From d.sless at communication.org.au Mon Aug 3 12:46:12 2009 From: d.sless at communication.org.au (David Sless) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 20:46:12 +1000 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: cri courses and publications Message-ID: <826C4147-5B29-4CDA-AED7-CF493D0FBB37@communication.org.au> Apologies for cross posting We are finalising all the details and application forms for enrolment in our courses and workshops, so keep an eye on our site. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, with preference given to CRI and IIID members. For this month only, our case history on 'Shorter CMIs: The sad failure of a design project' is available to all site visitors and subscribers, not just Members. http://communication.org.au/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=118 Also there are some new blogs at: http://www.communication.org.au/dsblog/ Enjoy, David From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:17 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:17 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: "Photoshopped to Perfection" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775419.1000900@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, The article "Photoshopped to Perfection: The graphics editing tool is praised for making people look their best and dissed for setting the bar too high" was published in the _Image_ section of Sunday's _Los Angeles Times_ (2 Aug. 2009) and is available online at URL: http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-photoshop2-2009aug02,0,3129812.story I found the piece by reporter Jeannine Stein especially relevant, as I struggle to finish my new write-up on 17th-century portraiture and problems of representation (e.g., the commercially-successful artist Sir Peter Lely was similarly critiqued by some 17th-century contemporaries for beautifying his female subjects -- especially those trademark "bedroom eyes" which he gave to female and male sitters alike, "So that Mr Walker Ye Painter swore Lilly's Pictures was all Brothers & Sisters"). The artist's technologies of choice may have changed over the centuries, but most of the issues surrounding human portraiture (aesthetics vs. truth, the politics of flattery and physiognomic art, etc.) are pretty much the same. ;-) Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher.com From dtp at she-philosopher.com Mon Aug 3 23:18:41 2009 From: dtp at she-philosopher.com (Deborah Taylor-Pearce) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:18:41 -0700 Subject: InfoD-Cafe: Pedal-powered Laotian computers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4A775431.6090102@she-philosopher.com> Cafe, I know some of you will be interested in this _World Ark_ story "Technology Advances Rural Businesses" (pp. 10-11 of the Summer 2009 issue of the Heifer organization's _World Ark_ magazine) which I believe is directly accessible at http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/heifer/worldark_2009summer/#/12 If that doesn't work, try http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.4021787/?msource=0809nl then click on the link "VIEW WORLD ARK AS A PAGE-TURNER MAGAZINE" and navigate through the (Flash-powered?) e-magazine to p. 10. Those with no interest in the story might still find the design of the digital magazine worth a look. Makes an interesting alternative to standard PDF formatting.... Deborah _____ Deborah Taylor-Pearce dtp at she-philosopher