Karen Bachmann's Page
Karen Bachmann's Groups
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Information Architecture
(36 members)
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Open Source Documentation
(19 members)
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Online Community management
(11 members)
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Free-Range Content
(19 members)
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Grow Your Wiki
(33 members)
Profile
- Job Title:
- Usability Specialist and User Experience Designer
- Company Name:
- Seascape Consulting, Inc.
- About Me:
- As a usability specialist and user experience design consultant, I help clients deliver effective and satisfying product experiences to their users. I am past manager of the STC Usability & User Experience community and an active member of the Usability Professionals' Association. I regularly present on usability topics.
I host the Free-Range Content discussion group in TCWC and have created the UX Watercooler, another Ning network open to all who are interested in user experience design.
The picture shown is the current version of my Second Life avatar, who is loosely modeled on my first life self. She's a very new resident, which is evident to senior residents, so she'll improve with time and Linden dollars.
- Website:
- http://www.seaconinc.com
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Karen Bachmann's Blog
Usability consulting in Second Life
Since I play in many virtual spaces, it's hard sometimes to figure out where to post what and what to cross reference. Today, this blog gets the cross ref. I posted a discussion on usability consulting in Second Life on the UX Watercooler. (Like TCWC, you need to join the network to look at all content, but membership is free and easy.)
Posted on July 30th, 2008 at 6:07pm —
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Why guide users when you can punish them?
Here's a humorous take on the frustration of what I refer to as the "wrist-slap" approach to UI design: PopSickleStrip: Password Validation
There are few better ways to create a miserable user experience than to give users the illusion of freedom and then punish them for not guessing correctly. Thanks to my friend Stew… Continue
Posted on July 23rd, 2008 at 9:30am —
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A user experience design toolkit
Resisting the impulse to write more about other cool reads, we now return you to your regularly scheduled blog, already in progress…
Some years ago, Julie Bommarito (with whom I have regrettably and stupidly lost touch) and I gave a presentation entitled, "The Technical Communicator's Toolbox." The presentation was a conscious, albeit futile, rejection of the ubiquitous "checklists" found in job announcements. We despised the checklists. I still do. My own observation is that when the list is t… Continue
Posted on May 28th, 2008 at 7:33pm —
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Management and online gaming? HBR article connects two seemingly disparate worlds
We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog post to share this resource in the May 2008 Harvard Business Review:
Leadership's Online Labs
The authors describe how online games are cultivating leadership skills and may shape the future of management. As a user experience designer and usability consultant, I find studies of game c… Continue
Posted on May 2nd, 2008 at 12:00pm —
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Behind on blogging, already!
When I started blogging here, I set a personal goal to post at least every other week. However, I've come close to missing that modest mark as I've been focused on launching a new TCWC group: Free-Range Content. Since that group and topic is where my energy and thoughts have been the last couple of weeks, I'll cop out on this post with a shameless self-promotion and encourage you to check out the new group.
See you out on t… Continue
Posted on April 18th, 2008 at 9:17pm —
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Steve Manning speaking at IPCC 2008 Conference
Steve Manning speaking at the IPCC 2008 Conference on July 13-16, 2008 in Montreal, QC.
Ann Rockley speaking at DocTrain Life Sciences Conference
Ann Rockley will be speaking at the DocTrain Life Sciences Conference on June 23-26, 2008 in Indianapolis, IN.
© 2008 Created by Scott Abel
Comment Wall (13 comments)
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Sorry for the delay in writing. I got saturated around and after the STC conference and am just surfacing now. So where do things stand with free-range content? (I'm struck by the fact that the STC, which should be a thought leader in this subject, seems to be minimally involved and that most of the direction and drive is coming from you and this group. A great example of the silo-ing of technical fields.)
Cheers,
Neil
If my experience in usability can be of any help to you, please let me know. I'm happy to answer questions, suggest resources, or just serve when you need a focus for rubber ducking (Really: http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?RubberDucking, http://creatingminds.org/tools/rubber_ducking.htm). I've so far shied clear of a direct role in the blogosphere, but here I may casually blog to share usability resources and articles that I think might be of interest to you.
Rich
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Mike
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