decipherExploring the map and the territory; seeing the forest and the trees; research, strategy and design.The Web That Wasn't- November 13, 2007 Alex Wright gave a talk based on his book down at Google and it's probably the longest video I've ever watched with full attention start to finish on the web. The Web That Wasn't is an accessible and inspiring series of biographical sketches of historical visionaries of the web and web-like constructions. Alex describes the visions and significance of Paul Otlet, Vannevar Bush, Douglas Engelbart, Ted Nelson, and others who foresaw the current www (and more) over the past 100+ years. And, in so..http://www.decipher.org/archive/2007/11/the_web_that_wa.html Data wants to be free- November 9, 2007 Just as the basic tools (if not necessarily the high aesthetics) of visual communication have been thoroughly democratized, tools for data visualization are moving to the mainstream. The most recent example I've seen, and it's a lovely one, is The Gapminder World 2006. The exciting thing to me is not so much that the information design clearly and simply reveals unsettling truths (people in Africa live 30 years shorter lives than people in the US; think about that for a moment) but that the...http://www.decipher.org/archive/2007/11/data_wants_to_b.html Antenna is now decipher- November 5, 2007 Lots of change around here. I have a new job and Giant Ant has a new site. As part of this transition, I've moved my personal weblog to a new domain (http:www.decipher.org). I've gone and set up some mod_rewrite rules (thank you Apache!) to redirect old Antenna posts seamlessly, but I'm sure lots of stuff will fall through the cracks. Please bear with me and if you see something messed up or missing, I'd appreciate a quick email letting me know. Thanks!http://www.decipher.org/archive/2007/11/antenna_is_now.html "Smartphones" vs. smart phones- November 3, 2007 I've been meaning to write up my experiences with a couple of mobile phones for a while. I used a Nokia 6682 for a year or so and recently switched over to a Sony k790a. My experience with the k790 is a great lesson in why product managers and designers continue to fight about whether features or experience should drive product development. I bought the phone primarily because I wanted a phone with a "real" camera and at the time it was (arguably) the best cameraphone out there (3.2...http://www.decipher.org/archive/2007/11/smartphones_vs.html |