“Not only is shopping melting into everything, but everything is melting into shopping” (The above sentence is taken from the referred article) The article ‘The mauling of America’, by Wittman K., introduces the consumer oriented nature of retail architectures. The article brings into light the most visible forms of ‘Gruen effect’ where the consumer is…
“Hedgehogs see what is essential, and ignore the rest” (The above sentence is taken from Jim Collin’s famous article – ‘Are You a Hedgehog or a Fox?’ – Below is my anlaysis of this topic as related to Information Architecture) Collins’ article brings out the importance of having a unified “organizing idea” that guides everything….
This topic is very relevant when we realize the importance of aligning Information Architecture (IA) with the business strategy. The topic that we reflect on refers to how business strategy and IA are related. It means that business strategy drives the structural design or the IA. In other words, the website IA should support the…
“Instead of creating a clever new product before trying to sell it to customers, the anthropological approach requires companies to look at the customer perspective first and feed that information back to developers and designers.” (The above sentence is from the referred article) Thomas K.’s article is very much relevant in the context of user…
“Farmers Vs. Cowmen” – Is a sentence from the referred book and below is my review, recommendations – I found this topic very interesting and thought provoking since it is directly linked to the way that our mindsets are molded by our educational/professional background. The way different professionals visualize the website is accurately captured. Having…
“User’s impressions of a Web site—about usefulness, ease-of-use, and how enjoyable the experience is—are formed by the Web site’s visual design” (The above sentence is from the referred article and below is my insights on this and analysis of couple of websites – walmart.com and walgreens.com) I liked the article, the way it hits the…
“Navigation Systems aids us to chart our course, determine our position and find our way back” (The above sentence is quoted from the referred book) I liked this analogy of a conventional navigation system as related to the web-site navigation systems since it supports the basic user need to browse through information with most satisfaction….
“When information is stacked in time, it is difficult to understand context and evaluate relationships” (This is based on a sentence as referred in the article by Tufte) I would like to expand on this concept and relate it to need for grouping related content together. The idea is simple – Our mind is less…
“..Scent of information..” (This is based on a reference sentence as seen in Krug’s User experience book) The above extract from Krug’s book caught my attention since often we deal with IA components that ensure scents of useful information while navigating or searching through the web site. The need to keep the user less distracted…
This is one of the important aspects of (Information Architecture) IA that directly improves usability of websites by supporting information seeking behavior of users. As I see that this feature most suits e-commerce web-sites that would require extensive product browsing and searching, it won’t be as of much use in case of other kind of…
“Elements of User Experience” (My reflections on the referred article from Garret) Garret’s presentation of ‘Elements of User Experience’ touched all vital aspects of web development that can affect user experience. What I liked most is the way the document brings into light how these user elements gets their unique roles in a web-based software…
“Your Goal should be for each page to be self explanatory” (This is based on my reading from the referred text, my insights, recommendations) The above sentence from the section on page 18, is the key towards not making users think what each feature/functionality is for. The idea here is to structure and design the…
“Practicing IA in the real world” (This is summary of what I read from the referred book and my thoughts, recommendations) For me, the most satisfying definition for Information Architecture is that it is the ‘structural design of shared information environments’ and the most satisfying IA deliverable is the blueprint model. The reason why I…
UML or Unified modelling language is the best tool for modelling object oriented systems. As we know, in objet oriented modelling and design, we identify objects (entities)within the system and analyze how they interact with each other and thus design an interactive model preserving their individual properties, behavior as well as publicizing their public attributes…
ERD or Entity relationship diagram is the most common database design and modelling tool used in System Design phase. The diagram basically represents all data entities of the targeted system, their attributes and relationships. Database modeller represents ERD in various levels of details such as Context Data Model, Key based model and Fully attributed model….
Data Flow Diagram is the widely used system design tool which aids in depicting flow of logic and data (commonly called process flow) within the targeted system, in various levels of detail. Level 0 DFD is usually called ‘Context Diagram’ and it gives the highest level view. Starting from the black box in Context Diagram,…
Use cases are one of the excellent tools for representing functional requirements of a system. Use case modelling refers to modelling of system’s functions in terms of business events (use cases), who initiated the events (actors) and how does system reacts to those events (Whitten J.L, 2007). Use case models are usually represented as use…
The freedom of expression, being one of the firmly stated and affirmed right in the US constitution, I think the question refers to effecting in a global scenario. Freedom of expression touches most sensitive areas such as religion, which has a soft corner for. Considering the current world situation, I think pushing for such agendas…
Offshore outsourcing is a highly debated topic. It would be nice if we reflect on the reasons that has lead to offshore outsourcing – 1. Highly skilled workforce for cheap labor – Most of the developing countries offers education that is highly specialized and with focus on international job economy. Difference in dollars and x…
We have seen so much about IT and all of us have been a part of it by some means or other. We all know what IT refers to and what are its applications. I have been trying to define what is IT or Information Technology, since some time. This is puerly a personal effort…
Deepesh JosephAugust 2006 Information Management (IM) refers to any activity that leads to effective collection, storage, retrieval and analysis of information by focusing on business strategy and by continuously improving business competitiveness and adaptability. The ultimate goal of any IM job is to add up to the combined efforts to meet the required business strategy….
Operational Vs Informational system : Operational Systems are those which are based on current data and thus supports current/day-to-day functioning of a business. Informational Systems on the other hand are based on historical information and thus supports complex data mining/analysis and decision making. The core difference lies in the way queries are run to process/analyze…
a. Homogeneous vs. heterogeneous distributed database system Homogeneous database systems involve similar databases distributed over the network (on separate machines). Example of homogeneous database system is an enterprise’s nation-wide ERP system which comprises of distributed databases, all of which are Oracle. Heterogeneous database systems on the other hand are distributed database systems that consist of…
Deepesh Joseph February 2009 The main purpose of normalization is to reduce data redundancy and avoid inconsistent data. Normalization leads to separation of unrelated entities into separate entities. In effect, normalization leads to clean database design. Since we do not store redundant data, we save storage space and save resources to maintain (update, delete) redundant…
Steel Rule is a measuring instrument used as a standard for measuring materials. It is made of stainless steel. The most convenient for the general purpose is a 12 inch rule as shown in below schematic – For small jobs, a pocket rule 6 inch long is very useful. In measuring, the graduation should be…
A scriber is a marking tool. It has a straight pointed tip and a bent pointed tip. It is used for marking and drawing straight lines by using a steel rule. Schematic for a Scriber is as shown below –
There are various types of hammers in use. The most commonly used hand hammer is Ball-Pane hammer. Other types are Cross Pane hammer and Straight edge hammer. Schematic of a Ball pave hammer is as shown below – Hammers are made of cast steel. A wooden handle is fixed on the hammer to use it…
Pipe Wrench is a type of adjustable spanner which has wide use in tightening or loosening nuts and taps. It has one fixed jaw and one movable jaw and a handle which is a continuation of the movable jaw. The nut or tap to be loosened or tightened is held tightly between the jaws and…
Vice is a device for holding work. There are various types of vices and the most common one is the Bench Vice. It consists of a movable jaw. Movable jaw has a square or butter threaded spindle. There is a spindle handle also by which the movable jaw can be brought to any desired position. A…
File is another cutting tool and is available in a variety of lengths, grade cuts and shapes. Files are made of high carbon steel and is attached to a handle. The file has a series of teeth set at an angle which cut the work on the forward stroke. Files have generally 3 types of…
Hack-Saw is a cutting tool used for cutting metal pieces, wide grooves etc. It consists of a metal frame fitted with handle made of wood. A blade of suitable size is fitted to the frame as shown below – Usually the blade manufactured are 8inch, 10inch and 12inch, The blade has bent teeth. As the…
Centre Punch is the commonest of all punches and is a steel rod 90 – 150 mm long and 8 – 13 mm in diameter. It is used to make marls at the centers of holes which are to be drilled and to make marks on a line through which a metal is to be…
Try Square is used to test the smoothness of surfaces and to test the perpendicularity of a surface with respect to an adjacent one. It consists of a stock and blade fixed together at 90 degree to each other. The stock acts as a fence and the blade as a guide in marking.