The recent Government 2.0 conference provides an excellent look at the current state of open government’s beta period. As Alex Howard, from the O’Reily radar put it, “open government is complicated. It’s risky, it’s incremental, and it’s a largely unfunded mandate.” This has left many non-profit organizations and media centers footing the bill to provide inroads and opportunities as they mine the somewhat inconsistent, archaic a sometimes inaccurate Government data sets.

I had the good fortune seeing a talk given by Joan Dimicco, from the IBM Visualization Lab sponsored by Boston CHI. Her presentation on the “Many Bills” project was inspiring in terms of the visualization & algorithms to color code bills by sections. This site does help to de-mystify some of the wonky and wordy nature of legislation while still providing direct access to the original bills. Being able to access all federal legislation from a more accessible portal than the government’s site is of great service to the public. Also being able to break down the bill activity created by specific members of congress provides some useful insights.

What this site desperately needs an active ‘power user’ community to help develop a greater context & usability for this tool. As Joan reported, about 2% of users account for over 50% of the site’s current use. The “So what?” factor on this site needs to be more apparent or show more examples of what can easily be done with this information to enhance more lives.

As it stands, ‘Many bills’ peters out on engagement continuum. The site does provide a greater understanding of the legislative process and visual communication of specific legislation, but it desperately needs an infusion from professional educators, journalist and data analysts to provide rich examples of how this tool can be used to interpret and then provide richer contributions and discourse in the legislative process.

On a broader scale, Government 2.0 is proving to be as messy, iterative and ugly as democracy can be. Fortunately there are many great minds pushing the creative envelope to make this new transparency work. In the end, however, these transparency tools require input from ‘the people.’ Want to learn more about your government? Take one of these tools for a test drive and explore what works for you. Transparent democracy will improve with input from its citizenry.

Engagement is all about creating a conversation;
Step 1. What are you talking about?
Presenter: “Did you know this? . . .”
Audience “No.”
Step 2. Why should you care?
Presenter: “Well here’s why it’s relevant to you. . .”
Audience: “Ah, that’s interesting.”
Step 3. What should you do about it?
Presenter: “And NOW, here’s what you can do about it. . .”
Audience: “Oh, I see that- cool, thanks!”

If you haven’t succeeded in getting your audience through step 2, then why clutter your page up with step 3? To add to the experience design toolbox, and enhance this conversation with your audience, page layouts can be greatly enhanced through strategic timing of calls to action.

Read any article from the New York Times and you will see a scroll-triggered “more. . .” related articles call to action appear at the bottom right side of your screen.

This box layover appears once all other right rail content is finished, and is anchored at the bottom right of your browser window. The additional advantage here is that this call-to-action solves the designer’s challenge of how to handle the white space created by longer articles. In the e-commerce world where action is everything, this is a great opportunity for providing recommendations, checkout, etc.

OKCupid provides another style of scroll triggered call to action when you reach very end of an article, the box layover appears anchored to the top of the browser window.

While this approach doesn’t solve the white space challenge for blog posts, it does create a very clear and timely call-to-action which might otherwise get lost at the end of the page. The authors of this page have clearly stated, “Here’s what you can do with this article” only after a viewer has committed to this page by either reading and scrolling or simply scrolling to the bottom. As a frequent reader of blogs, the sharing action icons at the bottom of the page have lost their effectiveness in engaging me in step 3 ‘Now what?’

In both cases, the viewer has implicitly informed the provider, “Hey, I’m at least somewhat interested in this content to view more, what else do you have for me?” The conversation becomes more active through this approach. This also provides are some clear opportunities for design layout. If you’re interested in some additional techniques which also enhance SEO, check out this great article, “7 Cutting Edge Web Design Trends (that Can Actually Improve SEO).”

From a technical perspective, creating this scroll triggered call to action can be handled through a jquerry. If developed correctly, this tool provides a great opportunity to increase SEO. To learn how you to create scroll triggered call-to-actions on your WordPress post pages, see Danny van Kooten’s blog post “scroll triggered box.”

Scroll triggered calls-to-action will definitely evolve and become increasingly effective as conversion rates are analyzed across conversion types. “More articles,” “share this,” “donate,” “volunteer,” “recommendations” are common calls to actions that become more potent once a conversation has been established. What’s your call to action? And when does your step 3 begin?

With Prezi, the canvas is your non-linear workspace to present an online web or hierarchy of ideas.  A well constructed Prezi mimics the playful interconnectedness of ideas as thoughts are grouped and transitions float, spin and zoom across the canvas.  Meaning is conveyed through transitions.  The effect enables the creator to tell a more imaginative story, while also allowing the viewer to see connections that they may easily miss in a more linear PowerPoint format.

Taking my portfolio as a subject, I enthusiastically launched into the Prezi environment.  After allowing myself the time just to play with artifacts, using the “zebra tool” to re-size, spin and re-locate items I found particular interest in how you can manipulate the transition paths to foreshadow and contextualize your next artifacts.  After getting my content on the page, I realized quickly that I had to think differently about my content, pay more attention to grouping my work into themes so that my story could be more coherent and easier to understand it’s interconnectivity.  As an information architect, the relative sizing of artifacts was important, and the user interface side of me focused on the  saw when you transitioned.  So, as my first draft of a Prezi project, here’s what I came up with:

Listening to a kid present a project, a piece of writing or pitch an idea, it’s what got me excited about teaching.  Prezi revives that sense of energy and excitement accompanying new exploration. Show me an engaging Prezi, and I’ll show you someone who hasn’t forgot the important lessons from childish play.

Here’s how it works: Think ‘Pecha Kucha‘ without having anything prepared ahead of time. Visuals for slides are created from a simple search on your topic of choice (or audience chosen), and you task as a presenter is to make up whatever first comes to mind about the topic. Prescribing a presentation structure, you’re able to sidestep idea inhibitors like form, how best present visually, and focus in on what your first unfiltered thoughts might be. Using visuals to support & trigger ideas also serve as improvisational props. Using a pre-scripted template (“7 steps to insert topic here“), the top 10 ‘medium’ sized images found for the insert topic here on Google images, the Wikipedia entry & the top tweet on topic at the time of creation, a presenter can then improvise the response to the prompt, “7 steps” (or any number under 10) to their selected topic. This can either be prompted by the images preloaded, or they can be done from scratch.

The result is an initial improv presentation on your topic within 5mins. This activity serves well in the conference room, living room or bar room. It helps to expose pre-conceptions, stereotypes or biases which, while often well founded, may need to be updated, revised or more fully informed based on further research.

In this example, I’ve chosen the topic, “Ideation” as a buzz word in the design world. Having read quite a bit on the topic, most recently Bill Buxton’s book, “Sketching User Experiences” (I highly recommend), I chose a fresh brain on the subject, a longtime friend and colleague, Dan Spurgin. Among his many talents, Dan is one of the best improvisational thinkers I know. He has the gift of the gab and free associations, and has been on numerous improv troupes over the years. While chatting on Facebook, I gave him an informal assignment, “Give me 7 steps to ‘ideation.’” Before I could add, “I’ll send you a few images to help get you started” he had typed back his first ideas within 30 seconds and we were off and running. “The key to improv is FAST AND FURIOUS!” he said, and I couldn’t agree more- I just wasn’t expecting that fast…

What amazed me was how well his words worked with the images that I’d already grabbed. Using Google search, I’d filtered images by “medium” sized so they would fit into the presentation format, grabbed the first 10, re-ordered 2 to make for better flow, inserted his steps, and the bulk of the presentation was complete. Then, using the first Tweet I found on the subject of ‘ideation’ I asked Dan to respond to the quote using the lead in, “Remember, . . .” as a summary statement / take away for the presentation.

The end result showcased the goals I’d set out for in the beginning: rapid, light, fun, improvisational and social view of a topic or idea. What’s the value to this? It’s a simple activity that helps set the stage for brainstorming, creativity, and. . . wait for it. . . ideation. Take a peak and tell me what you think of this activity. Is this something that you would use and how?

The heat is on both publisher’s and authors to demonstrate leadership as we evolve in a world where the printed word is eclipse by the digital experience.  In order to be paid for their creative efforts, authors need to build a community around their book, or topic. This implies that reading is becoming a more social endeavor, sharing ideas in a public forum (virtual or real).  The role of publishers will be to help authors create an environment of engagement.  Success stories will emerge from agile partnerships with authors, experience designers, editors and publishers.  The role of the experience designer becomes critical in this evolution.  The New York Times page title, “Breaking News, World News & Multimedia” recognizes the importance experience design, and thanks in large part to an independent team of flash media developers, provides insights into the possibilities for engaged reading environments.

As the iPad roles off the assembly line, interaction designers & experience team development will be what leads this beleaguered industry into a new era.  The technical platform provided by the iPad, and newer multimedia compatible e-readers has gone ahead, but it’s the innovations in the experience that will lead.

With Apple’s new iPad announcement, we gear up for the latest battleground for internet device supremacy- a web reader for home lounging time. While today we connect to the internet primarily through PCs and smartphones, the promise of ubiquitous computing creates the latest gap for consumers. When I want a device that is always on, always connected, coffee table friendly and sized for flexible viewing of weather, favorite site, book, magazine or industry publication with a few taps this market is leaving the station; without a complimentary business model for publishing industry this may become a lonely ride.

Evolving interactions- touch screens, gestural commands, and increasingly affordable technologies: e-ink, low energy outputs have all paved the way for this new class of devices, but understanding the need differentiators for consumers, producers and advertisers will be key to supremacy in this space. Will these devices give a unique experience (enough to shell out $300-1000), with a fresh approach to displaying content and offer significant revenue generation through advertising and promotions to help support a beleaguered publishing industry?  How would you respond to this new market opportunity?

The answer will need to take place in news media houses and enterprise experience specialists across the country.  Newsrooms stuck with out of date ad business models will find no solace in these new devices until larger, multimedia displays become financially viable.  Until then, the news publishing industry will remain on life support, books and online magazines will find their niche, and aging readers will continue to favor lounging in their favorite chair, turning pages of their sunday paper with ink smudges and pencil in hand.  While the web readers experience has broken new ground with this announcement, there is still plenty of room to grow.

Serving as the gold standard, Mint.com recognizes the need to take the stress out of tracking finances. Clean, SIMPLE interface, quick to show value to a ‘delicate’ customer base, Mint.com set’s the bar for Consumer Service sites. Having seen the guys from Mint.com present at UX Week in San Francisco, I was impressed with their business acumen and audience research.

Aaron Forth | UX Week 2009 | Adaptive Path from Adaptive Path on Vimeo.

Microsoft’s ‘holm’ takes it’s cue from Mint.com in it’s homepage presentation and approach. With a quick glance, it’s easy to see how this site might improve your green ‘n thrifty self with relatively little effort.

Doing a little buttoning up for winter ’round the house, I took the ‘hohm’ energy survey (once I recognized it was free) to see what ways I might further conserve. While fairly educated from a conservation perspective, I found the survey process relatively helpful for weighing the costs of adding additional conservation measures – is it worth saving an additional $49 a year to add even more insulation to my attic? While there were a few usability issues that I found annoying – ex. selecting ‘default’ responses means you’ll never reach 100% completion unless you manually alter those responses- I think the site will serve Microsoft well as they scramble to demonstrate free value added consumer services online.

The greatest area for Consumer Services opportunities will be in the healthcare. While this has been on many digital forecasters lists for years, there climate for change has shifted in several key areas.
1. A digitally vested administration that has demonstrated a keen interest in data compatibility and protection.
2. Healthcare legislation that will rely heavily on a buckshot approach to pilot projects aimed at reducing costs, advancements in electronic medical records & ‘information cards’.
3. More scalable development practices using REST to accommodate the complex nature public & private data sharing.

Identify with the maturation of online consumer needs, keep it simple, and opportunities abound as User Experience Designers and Consumer Service architects in 2010!

David Rodman’s Open Book Blog de-mystifies the financial model for Kiva.org, the fastest growing microlending site. “In short, the person-to-person donor-to-borrower connections created by Kiva are partly fictional. I suspect that most Kiva users do not realize this. Yet Kiva prides itself on transparency.” Kiva’s success comes from it’s ability to draw donors into the personal stories- lending to individuals vs. a microfinancing organization like MicroPlace.

Rodman’s assessment of “this tension between the need to draw donors and operate efficiently.” could easily be applied to Recovery.gov’s need to draw American taxpayers in- to see Government transparency in action. Can they really show exactly where the $787 billion in stimulus spending is going? According to the Washington Times article, they have done so in part by creating 440 fantom districts, accounting for some 6.4 billion- that’s a lot of clerical error at work. Putting the data entry responsibility solely on the shoulders of stimulus recipients is a mistake. Unless you’ve got clear, multi-source validation procedures in place, a site like this will quickly loose credibility.

While these two examples vary in their focus, scope and approach, they both face serious reputation management issues due to an illusion of digital transparency. Clear steps need to be taken to call out these mistakes, and articulate a satisfactory remedy. What remains to be seen is if the remedy can be both accurate and transparent.

For this voice over I worked on, I needed a set up for an at home recording studio that I’m just beginning to develop. I had an old analog mic that worked well in the day, but I’m trying to streamline my approach to digital. A friend had recommended I order a pre-amp from Sweetwater along with a Mic upgrade. After making my selections (along with a mic stand) my bill ended up being $262. OK, price of doing business.

Five minutes later, I received a customer service courtesy call from Steve at Sweetwater, just to review my order and see what else I might need help with. After asking what I was looking to do with my new purchase, he quickly surmised that an alternative solution might better suit my needs. My suspicious self immediately interpreted this as, “Let me help you spend more money on something way cooler.” He ended up recommending a Rode “Podcaster” since the microphone was of better quality and with its built-in A/D conversion and USB connection this was bound to be a much easier piece for me to use. And the best part… I saved a $1.50. The delivery was prompt, and well packed.

This was a first in customer service- especially with a transaction that began online. I’ve since received 2 more calls from Steve to check to see how the mic has been performing, and what other support I might need. He didn’t try to make a hard up-sell, his focus was more on solving my questions around sound quality, ways to tweak my set up, and what I was planning in the future.

I applaud Sweetwater’s attention to customer service. They know their products &, more importantly, they take the time to listen to your needs before making recommendations. Customer service is an experience that continues across the entire life cycle of the interaction between company and customer- so far Sweetwater receives high marks.

The Shade Fund, along with its partners, arranges backing from investors so we can make small loans to entrepreneurs who can put America’s forest to work to create jobs and preserve our rural communities.

A project in partnership with The Conservation Fund, and the U.S. Endowment for Forestry & Communities The Shade Fund is a micro-financing project focused in the Mid-Atlantic States.