[Sigia-l] Usability Profession Increasingly Under Scrutiny

[CD Evans]

Eric,

Very valid point on working with people who read 
interaction books. I'm not the most intense book 
reader myself, but I wrote one as well. 
Constructing Usable Shopping Carts. My book is 
co-authored with tons of development, data to 
security, following up my IA chapters.

Judging by the reactions I got from the 
community, none, I guess it's not practical 
enough to be sought after by IA's. Who actually 
needs the code I guess, especially from an author 
who teams up with coders to work towards a common 
goal.

We should buy ourselves some networking time 
while at the IA Summit. Being canadian, we can 
talk freely about social space / public space 
architecture, planning for culture etc... nice of 
me eh?

I'll be coming in from London, if the luck shines bright.

CD Evans


>
>--__--__--
>
>Message: 7
>From: "Eric Reiss" <elr at e-reiss.com>
>To: jnakasone at yfdirect.com, sigia-l at asis.org
>Subject: RE: [Sigia-l] Usability Profession Increasingly Under Scrutiny?
>Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2004 20:13:50 +0100
>
>This is a funny group. We’re quick to dismiss the usability “clowns”
>who read “half a dozen books” and then proclaim themselves experts.
>Honestly, I’ll take my hat off to anybody who even bothers to read
>“half a dozen” usability books. They’re often our strongest allies in
>the corporate arena.
>
>A few years ago, I wrote an introductory book, Practical Information
>Architecture, which has been effectively trashed by the established
>IA community. It may come as a surprise, but I didn’t write it for
>you – I was appealing to the many other people in the world who are
>called upon to make IA decisions in their daily work. These are
>people who’ve never heard of Lou and Peter – or even seen a librarian
>since high school. Happily, some of them are reading books – and
>every IA and usability specialist should be very grateful indeed.
>Let’s stop being so elitist and work WITH these people.
>
>And let’s stop harping on standards and certification at the risk of
>defining ourselves out of an interesting job.
>
>Best regards,
>Eric
>
>Principal,
>E-Reiss and Associates
>Copenhagen, Denmark
>
>www.e-reiss.com
>
>P.S. Come tell Eric in person what a jerk he is at the First Annual
>IA Slam – a cost-effective preconference in Austin, TX on February
>27, 2004. More info at www.asis.org.
>
>