cbd

Everyone else on the planet has probably read it already, but I’ve finished my first read of Steven Johnson’s Everything Bad is Good for You. I like Johnson’s stuff (I fancy this this comment about an update of Interface Culture both a compliment and dead on). I read the endnotes before reading the book so [...]

I’m getting faster; some sparklines show it

Edward Tufte’s most recent book Beautiful Evidence follows in the tradition of his previous books, arguing for visual displays with high information density. Much of the argument is by example, annotated reproductions or redrawings of images Tufte identifies as “graphical excellence.”
Beautiful Evidence introduces the idea of sparklines: “Why not also construct data graphics that work [...]

The Easterling-Dilger household is bustlin’ these days, so bloggin’ sometimes has to take a back seat.
I’m very, very glad to say I’m reading a fair amount these days. I’m halfway through a second reading of Tufte’s Beautiful Evidence, which has some very good bits. Lisa Gitelman’s Always Already New is next, and for fun Shipley [...]

Jakob Nielsen and Hoa Loranger
Prioritizing Web Usability
New Riders, 2006
Jakob Nielsen is the 800lb gorilla of usability, at least where the web is concerned. Why?

Academics like him because of publications like Usability Engineering (1993), which uses a definition of usability accompanied with research into testing and application.
Nerds like him because of his readable, practical, quotable [...]

Commentary on David Crystal’s The Fight for English (Oxford 2007), a history of and argument against prescriptive views of English.

ILL books coming due in 2008.
Dry skin, then razor burn, from the heat being turned on.
The Dairy Queen closing until Spring.
Getting behind on email.
Wishing daylight savings was over.
Our trip to Columbia cancelled because Madelyn got sick.

A busy month. So, time for a roundup:
No blogging, but I have been running lately, three times or more most every week. Last Sunday I ran the Quad Cities Half Marathon at 1:57 (8:57/mi). Going out my pace was 8:43, so though I didn’t run a negative split, I’m happy with the result. I was [...]

Shirky: “Almost indescribably self-involved.”

Yesterday morning Jeff hit some of the things I’ve been thinking about quite a bit lately as I’ve considered my work habits, the research I’m interested in, and the publications I’m currently working on. This reflection is motivated by survival, for lack of a better word: I’ve been burning the candle at both ends for [...]