[Sigia-l] Fw: Alertbox: Celebrating Holidays and Special Occasions on Websites

[Samantha Bailey]

This is only peripherally IA related, but thought I'd throw out my 2 cents
about the current alertbox. It seems a pretty feeble effort with a (non)
healthy dose of cultural imperialism thrown in. It failed to address at
least two pretty important issues: a) disenfranchisement if you're not
celebrating a particular holiday--e.g., Christmas isn't celebrated by
everyone (inside or outside the US) despite its ubiquity in the US (and by
association, consumer skepticism about marketing around the holidays) and b)
the web is global and things like seasonal weather changes don't happen
everywhere/at the same time.

The challenge pointed to in this column is a valid one: how do we make sites
feel more connected to users lives when we're dealing with such diverse
populations? I just don't think the answer's proposed do justice to the
issue.

Or maybe I'm just Grinchy?

sb
> ---------------------- Forwarded by Samantha Bailey/ECommerce/USR/FTU on
> 10/28/2002 11:27 AM ---------------------------
>
>
> alertbox at nngroup.com (Jakob Nielsen) on 10/28/2002 10:00:00 AM
>
> Please respond to bounce-alertbox-5376808 at laser.sparklist.com
>
> To:    "Alertbox Announcement List" <alertbox at laser.sparklist.com>
> cc:
>
> Subject:    Alertbox: Celebrating Holidays and Special Occasions on
>        Websites
>
>
> Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox for October 28 is now online at:
>    http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20021028.html
>
> Summary:
> Even small holiday decorations can increase joy of use and make websites
> feel more current and more connected to users' lives and physical
> environment. The key is to commemorate without detracting from your users'
> main reasons for visiting the site.
>
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