[Sigia-l] Findability

[Derek R]

Richard wrote:

>| Two points i'd like to make


Realize you are able to 'make points.' At least that's a start.


>| 'Scannability' ... I can't find that term in the dictionary...
>| - was it made up?

Scannability is a term popularized by Jakob Nielsen. It's not in the
dictionary because it's a made-up word -- a buzzword. It means the
obvious thing: scan + ability.


>| 'Scannability' is the 'cause' and 'findability' is the 'effect' 
>| but that doesn't preclude someone from trying to design
>| for 'findability'

I'm not saying you cannot try to design for 'findability.' I am only
indicating that to do so would be to fool yourself into believing
something which is not true and to operate within a delusion. You can't
create an effect without 'causing' it to happen. There is no way around
that one. Sorry.

So the real issue I have brought up is how serious do you want to be? To
what extent do you want to hide behind a wall of buzzwords and make
yourself out to be what you are not? How fake can you go?


>| You should look into some of the Sig Sigma tools like
>| DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) -
>| http://www.isixsigma.com/me/dmaic/ - which focus on 
>| identifying root-cause measurements and improving them

I am aware of them. I think they are useful and prudent.


>| I personally don't care about improving the 'scannability'
>| of content if its not going to help the user do something 
>| with it - noone goes to a website to 'scan' something - 
>| thats incidental, they go to 'use' or 'find'

Again, Richard, you are missing the big-picture and have what I would
call a narrow and linear viewpoint. This isn't an attack you personally,
just a clarification I hope you can see. You simply can't just throw
stuff online and hope people will be able to 'use' or 'find' it. In
actual fact you will have to 'present' it in a clear and 'scannable'
way, which is to say it must be communicable and able to be examined and
understood. Just 'finding' is all fine-and-dandy, but like 'just going
to the moon' there are logical ways to go about it, things which must
occur that have, only as their consequence, the actual achievement of
landing on the moon. I know it is easy to sit-back in a swivel-chair and
say "I'm going to the moon," but in reality, there will be many
processes at work which conspire to get this done. It's not just a
snap-your-fingers-and-receive proposition.