[Sigia-l] Rant about bad IA practice.

[Stewart Dean]

Hi Alex,

Christina's responce wasnt a personal attack but the troll thing, well without being overly defensive I've been part of this group for a while and I was essentialy saying 'A sucks - if I'm wrong tell me why'.  I have previously asked 'does A' suck in this group for a couple of the things I mentioned so my current views are partly baed upon the responces I got then.  I've been dong this whole user experience stuff for many many years and feel strongly about the things I brought up and was sounding out the experiences of others. In generaly there has been agreement and raising of good solid things to consider. 

I'd rather be contraversial and correct in my approach than be safe and wrong (not that I take this attituted with clients I should add). 

So far it turns out that eye tracking is indeed snake oil and should be exposed as such. Reasoning is that it leads to bad bad conclustions.  See http://www.useit.com/alertbox/video.html. This is an example where data predictable without eye tracking  leads to incorrect findings that a short trip to you tube disproves. If someting doesnt work I think it only fair to air it in groups like this, don't you?  And if I'm wrong then I'm sure someone will tell me, or I hope so, view it as testing a theory. 


Stewart


----------------------------------------
> Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2006 09:43:23 +1100
> From: alexander.johannesen at gmail.com
> To: msweeny at speakeasy.net
> CC: sigia-l at asis.org
> Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] Rant about bad IA practice.
> 
> On 10/30/06, Marianne <msweeny at speakeasy.net> wrote:
> > I am hopeful that Christina's message below is meant entirely in jest as the
> > Monty Python quote would suggest. It would cause me great dismay to think
> > that that she is implying that alternative philosophies and opinions are not
> > encouraged on the SIGIA list.
> 
> Ah. Now, this is a tricky situation, because there's something else we
> don't like either, which is trolling. I certainly don't want trolls
> around, and sometimes using ridicule and humour is a good way to flush
> them out and remind others to ignore the bait.
> 
> The OP certainly had an air of troll about him; jump into a community
> with a list of negatives about what that community do, and then watch.
> And why phrase it as a truism "A sucks" instead of a question "does A
> suck?" For no other reason than to stir things up. Now, one thing is
> to stir things up to the point of fruitful debate; the other is to
> stir only to stir. The debate is still open on that one. I say troll,
> or at least a goblin.
> 
> >  I've always believed this to be a community of
> > open discourse and not oligarchy where thoughts and methods are prescribed
> > by the few.
> 
> No, this really is a community of people who can't let go. :)
> 
> 
> Alex
> -- 
> "Ultimately, all things are known because you want to believe you know."
>                                                          - Frank Herbert
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