One modest browser proposal: Since linking to the home page via the logo is more a useful convention than a design standard ? or even an expected feature by users ? and the “Home” button in the browser is often used/confused by users trying to get the home page of the site, why not create a button in the browser that distinguishes the two? Have one button called “My Home”, which is the site the browser loads to by default, and a “Site Home” button which brings users to home of the web site being viewed. It could be specified by the developer in a meta tag, or default to the root of the domain if such a tag isn’t coded.
Why are local newscasters celebrities?
Can someone explain to me the theory behind local news newscasters as celebrities? They have become as much a standard an element as a company logo in the upper left corner, as witnessed at my four local stations’ websites.
Is it possible to statistically define the placement of a hit song on an album?
Don’t ask me why I think of these kinds of things, but here goes: Is it possible to statistically define the placement of a hit song on an album? This question leads other directions: Is it possible to use that statistic/formula to create a hit song? Will the placement of a song affect whether the band becomes a one-hit wonder?
Do you have any ideas? Any theories? How does the track order get selected for an album (which obviously may be different between the way a band and a studio producer picks them)? Does sandwiching bad songs in between hits (see: sitcoms) work? Does grouping songs give you a statistically better chance to have a hit? Email me.
Here are some (unreliable/unscientific) test results: For this week’s Billboard Hot 100, 9 (nine) out of the top 20 songs are Track 3 on their respective albums. Nine! Almost half! Five of the top 20 are Track 2, two are Track 1, and two are Track 10 (someone explain that one.) Interesting preliminary results.
So many questions, so much data to handle, so little time to write a paper on the subject, so little money to buy the data from Billboard…
Ice
I am really starting to appreciate today’s rappers and their use of words that have multiple meanings through slang, like the word “ice”. I’ve never heard the word “ice” used so much in my life. Some favorites:
- A lil nigga seventeen playin’ with six figures
Got so much ice you can skate on a nigga
-“Bling Bling” by Hot Boys
I got so many karats, I could feed ten rabbits
Got so much ice, cool me down when I wear it
-“Never Had Shit” by Juvenile
OK, let’s talk about this ice that I’m carryin
All these karats like I’m a fuckin vegetarian
-“Shine” by Lil’ Wayne
You should be watching the news.
You should be watching the news.
mouseover != interactive
Some people think the only thing required to deem a web site as “interactive” is to have mouseovers. While I agree that there is a facet of interaction design regarding visual elements changing over time or by user interaction (or by both), stopping at such a minute point sounds so limiting to me. Either way, in my mind mouseovers are a visual design element, not an interaction design element. To truly be “interactive” requires so much more than having a strong visual aesthetic and/or just showing the user where their mouse is. What about taking advantage of the digital medium, metaphors, rhythm, pace, order, time, space, narrative, depth of field, dynamics, or a more direct communication? Does anyone truly accomplish any of these well (or at all?) in a corporate environment? Is it really limited to places like experimental web sites and the Codex Series?
Rich CEOs in commercials
Doesn’t anyone else find it oddly disturbing about commercials starring CEOs of small-yet-still-bastardly-large corporations pandering to the general consumer and thanking them for choosing the “underdog”, yet somewhat underhandedly thanking them for making that person amazingly rich?
Free beer
“Selling music today at traditional prices is like trying to sell lemonade
when the guy down the street is giving away free beer.” -Nicholas Butterworth, CEO, MTVi Group
The Propaganda Game
This weekend I scored an original unopened 1970 edition of “The Propaganda Game” from WFF ‘N PROOF! It’s spectacular. And it’s got the sponsorship of the infamous Lorne Greene! For the unfamiliar, it’s a game where you learn the intriguing techniques used by professionals to mold public opinion. Players learn to recognize “bandwagon” appeals, faulty analogy, out-of-context quotes, rationalization, technical jargon, emotional appeals and many more. In playing this game learners develop deeper insight about the underlying premises in TV ads, newspaper editorials, and political speeches.
“In a democratic society such as ours, it is the role of every citizen to make decisions after evaluating many ideas. It is specially important that a citizen be able to analyze and distinguish between the emotional aura surrounding an idea and the actual content of that idea. It is this goal of clear thinking that The Propaganda Game addresses.” —
Commander AdamaLorne Greene