From MAILER-DAEMON Tue Dec 25 21:21:05 2001 Date: 25 Dec 2001 21:21:05 -0500 From: Mail System Internal Data Subject: DON'T DELETE THIS MESSAGE -- FOLDER INTERNAL DATA X-IMAP: 1009333265 0000000000 Status: RO This text is part of the internal format of your mail folder, and is not a real message. It is created automatically by the mail system software. If deleted, important folder data will be lost, and it will be re-created with the data reset to initial values. From perlman@turing.acm.org Tue Aug 7 12:10:27 2001 -0500 Status: R X-Status: A X-Keywords: Return-Path: Received: from mauronewmedia.com (mail [63.81.212.184] (may be forged)) by turing.acm.org (8.11.2/8.8.7) with ESMTP id f77GANt29895 for ; Tue, 7 Aug 2001 12:10:26 -0400 Received: from dell.mauronewmedia.com (63.81.212.165) by mauronewmedia.com with ESMTP (Eudora Internet Mail Server 3.0.2); Tue, 7 Aug 2001 12:11:43 -0400 Message-Id: <5.1.0.14.2.20010807115410.0232b180@mail.mauronewmedia.com> X-Sender: cmauro@mail.mauronewmedia.com X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.1 Date: Tue, 07 Aug 2001 12:10:09 -0400 To: perlman@turing.acm.org From: Charles Mauro Subject: Response on your comments about Taskz.com Cc: smillman@mauronewmedia.com, srudy@mauronewmedia.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Gary: Thanks very much for your thoughtful comments on Taskz.com. The site has just launched and is undergoing constant upgrade. Your analysis of the link issues, text structure and related navigation confusion is dead on. We had originally planned to have "News" but due to funding limitations decided to eliminate that data set....so, as sometimes happens the headers stayed and the page content changed. If you visit the site again next week you will see that these issues have been fully resolved. Please feel most free to offer any additional comments you have about the site. As one of the few true experts in this field I highly value your input, both positive and negative. Thanks again....CM. Incidentally, I read your comments on your site about not receiving significant personal recognition. If you have the patience, your recognition will eventually come. Many of us in the field recognize the importance of your contribution. Unfortunately we are not politically active....yet...CM. From perlman@turing.acm.org Tue Aug 7 12:38:47 2001 -0500 Status: R X-Status: X-Keywords: Return-Path: Received: from localhost (perlman@localhost) by turing.acm.org (8.11.2/8.8.7) with ESMTP id f77GckB30249; Tue, 7 Aug 2001 12:38:46 -0400 Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2001 12:38:46 -0400 (EDT) From: Gary PERLMAN To: Charles Mauro cc: Gary perlman Subject: Re: Response on your comments about Taskz.com In-Reply-To: <5.1.0.14.2.20010807115410.0232b180@mail.mauronewmedia.com> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Thanks for your kind comments. When I discussed the issue with SIGCHI folk, they said, "Of course you are appreciated. Just look at the number of hits on hcibib.org!" and when I asked for a letter, I believe there was a bottleneck of getting some SIGCHI letterhead, and later that I was probably so mad at the SIGCHI EC that I would not want a letter. The reason I was so mad was that the SIGCHI EC had spent some time trying to figure out how to make the HCI Bibliography a member benefit that people would have to pay for. The problem was that SIGCHI has no stake in it, but depend on people "thinking" it's a member benefit. Groan. Anyway, I did my stint on the SIGCHI executive committee, and boy was I mad when I left that! Gary On Tue, 7 Aug 2001, Charles Mauro wrote: > Incidentally, I read your comments on your site about not receiving > significant personal recognition. If you have the patience, your > recognition will eventually come. Many of us in the field recognize the > importance of your contribution. Unfortunately we are not politically > active....yet...CM. > From perlman@turing.acm.org Fri Aug 24 09:35:06 2001 -0500 Status: R X-Status: X-Keywords: Return-Path: Received: from mauronewmedia.com (mail [63.81.212.184] (may be forged)) by turing.acm.org (8.11.2/8.8.7) with ESMTP id f7ODZ5t19283 for ; Fri, 24 Aug 2001 09:35:05 -0400 Received: from stacy.mauronewmedia.com (63.81.212.168) by mauronewmedia.com with ESMTP (Eudora Internet Mail Server 3.0.2) for ; Fri, 24 Aug 2001 09:38:14 -0400 Message-Id: <5.1.0.14.2.20010824093718.02494ec0@mail.mauronewmedia.com> X-Sender: smillman@mail.mauronewmedia.com X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.1 Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2001 09:38:58 -0400 To: perlman@turing.acm.org From: Stacy Millman Subject: TaskZ update Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Gary: We have made many of the changes that you recommended on Taskz.com. When you have a moment, take a look. Best regards, Stacy Millman From perlman@turing.acm.org Mon Sep 24 10:35:30 2001 -0500 Status: R X-Status: A X-Keywords: Return-Path: Received: from mail.acm.org (mail.acm.org [199.222.69.4]) by turing.acm.org (8.11.2/8.8.7) with ESMTP id f8OEZUG32226 for ; Mon, 24 Sep 2001 10:35:30 -0400 Received: from mauronewmedia.com (mail [63.81.212.184] (may be forged)) by mail.acm.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id KAA250434 for ; Mon, 24 Sep 2001 10:39:02 -0400 Received: from stacy.mauronewmedia.com (63.81.212.168) by mauronewmedia.com with ESMTP (Eudora Internet Mail Server 3.0.2) for ; Mon, 24 Sep 2001 10:40:47 -0400 Message-Id: <5.1.0.14.2.20010924102956.020967b0@mail.mauronewmedia.com> X-Sender: editorTZ@mail.mauronewmedia.com X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.1 Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2001 10:40:12 -0400 To: perlman@acm.org From: editorTZ Subject: Taskz has selected your site for top 10 list Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Dear Gary: Just a brief note to let you know that we have selected your site as one of the 10 best on the web for usability research and information. I have enclosed a copy of the list below for your reference. We have also emailed this list to our entire TaskZ.com subscription base. You should see a substantial increase in traffic for a day or so. We are proud to nominate your site and hope that you will keep up the great work. Please feel free to send us any sites you feel should be included in our next list to be published later in the year. Charles L. Mauro Editor TaskZ.com TOP USABILITY RESEARCH INFORMATION SITES / 3rd Quarter 2001 1. THE HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION BIBLIOGRAPHY http://www.hcibib.org If anyone can rightfully lay claim to making fundamental contributions to usability information on the web it is Gary Perlman. He has been a tireless, if sometimes cranky, advocate of human computer interaction research data on the web. In our opinion if you have only one site to bookmark, this is the one. Broad, deep and directly presented information. 2. USABLEWEB http://www.usableweb.com Keith Instone's site is an excellent source for quality usability data. Great data, simply presented. 3. WEBWORD http://www.webword.com John S. Rhodes is the unofficial curmudgeon of usability-related information. His rather informal site is updated frequently with a wide range of interesting links and related content on usability. John's personal comments lend an interesting bit of irony to sometimes unnecessarily serious news and research. 4. GRAPHICS, VISUALIZATION, AND USABILITY CENTER AT GEORGIA TECH http://www.gvu.gatech.edu Another essential site for anyone seriously interested in web usability. This site, best known for the important GVU/DCOM WWW studies that benchmark all manner of user web behavior is a tremendous resource for usability and interaction reports and resources. It is a bit difficult to navigate and use, however, the data itself is interesting and wide-ranging. This is a good site to attack when you have an hour or two. Short takes will be frustrating. 5. THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S TECHNOLOGY ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS http://www.section508.gov Much to everyone's amazement President Bush signed into law Section 508 which mandates that all web sites used by or accessed by government employees must be usable by the handicapped. We are talking about millions of people. If you want a real wake up call read the technical specification of Section 508. It is the first major federal policy centered on usability. This is serious stuff if you build web sites for or sell anything on the web to the federal government. 6. USABILITY.GOV http://www.usability.gov The National Cancer Institute's usability initiative on how to make web sites and other user interfaces more usable. Basically a clean implementation with good links and related information. Some links are a bit out of date but most information is easy to find and reliable. Federal funds, well spent. 7. FRONTEND.COM http://infocentre.frontend.com/servlet/Infocentre A good, resource for interesting articles that mainly bring a business perspective to usability. Nice simple interface and good content. Some material tends to also show up on John Rhodes site and Keith Instone's site. Worth bookmarking and casual reading. 8. BUSINESS 2.0's WEB GUIDE ON WEB USABILITY http://www.business2.com/webguide/0,1660,26399|125|0|0|1|a,00.html A good resource for a wide range of high-level articles on web usability organized by broad topics. Some information tends to be a slightly out of date. Data is presented inside a tsunami of ads and promotional material on the Business 2.0 site. However, we give credit to the publication for gathering basically sound data and links. 9. CIO MAGAZINE'S CYBER BEHAVIOR RESEARCH CENTER ON HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND THE WEB http://www.cio.com/research/behavior/index.html A clean, highly commercial site with some interesting information culled from CIO and other leading magazines and web sites. Most information is in the form of topic articles. Some interesting studies and related analysis also posted. Like most magazine-based sites data is a bit out of date but still relevant. Actually the most interesting data on this site is not in the usability (Cyber Behavior) section but in other business sections. Poke around, there is some great general business information in this site. 10. ANDERSEN'S 2001 REPORT ON INTERNET USERS AND WEB SITE DESIGN http://www.arthurandersen.com/website.nsf/content/MarketOfferingseBusinessResourcesOnlineUserPanelWebsiteDesign The best part of this site is the Anderson Survey Archive which contains a file of Anderson sponsored web user research. Even though the reports are at best thinly disguised marketing tools for Anderson, the data is focused and relevant. The links in this site are sometimes a bit dicey. You want to end up in the "Ebusiness Resources" section. The most recent survey is posted on the "Resources" homepage. The site itself is somewhat threadbare but data is unique and focused on primary business issues. 11. SOFTWARE DESIGN SMORGASBORD http://www.chesco.com/~cmarion do not be deceived by the visual design of Craig Marion's site. A closer look reveals an excellent cross section of useful links and thoughtful analysis. This site offers accurate data, summaries, and many links important for serious usability engineering work. 12. GROUP FOR USER INTERFACE RESEARCH AT UC BERKELEY http://guir.berkeley.edu A small educational site with a series of innovative papers posted in the "Publications" section. Several recent papers are quite interesting and worth a quick read. MOST POPULAR TASKZ.COM ARTICLES Web logs indicate that the following TaskZ.com content has been widely viewed, linked and propagated over the last quarter. 1. GONE IN A FLASH: WHY E-COM FIRMS ARE IN FLAT LINE MODE http://www.taskz.com/ucd_Gone_in_a_flash_indepth.htm This article generated considerable hate mail from out-of-work web interface designers with options underwater. Corporate executives loved the piece. 2. IS A HIGH-PRICED USABILITY "GURU" A GOOD INVESTMENT? http://www.taskz.com/ucd_high_priced_usability_guru_indepth.htm This brutally honest take on Guru style usability consulting has been widely debated in various forums and discussion groups. Not all usability consulting is "user-friendly". 3. USABILITY AND ONLINE FINANCIAL SERVICES: BIG LOSSES http://www.taskz.com/ucd_Usability_financial_indepth.htm This paper has been viewed by hundreds of leading financial institutions and government agencies in the US and around the world. 4. TASKZ RECOMMENDED READING LIST http://www.taskz.com/reading_indepth.htm The TaskZ.com reading list has received many page views. Some unusual books and clearly written reviews seem to be behind the interest. If you do not want to receive the Top Sites list in the future please respond to this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line. To nominate sites for next quarter send an email to editorTZ@mauronewmedia.com. TaskZ.com is maintained by MauroNewMedia 524 Broadway, 4th Floor New York, New York 10012 Voice: 212.343.2878 Email: editorTZ@mauronewmedia.com Web sites: http://www.taskz.com http://www.mauronewmedia.com