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Futuristic Design, Inc.
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StraightFace column archive |
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August 15, 2000 Don't you realize what this means? There are few times
in the history of the computer software industry that everyone in the
field should be required to bow down and give thanks – the original
MacOS was one, introduction of Quake was another, and now the Nielsen
Norman Group hires both Bruce Tognazzini and
Brenda Laurel…all I can
say is, well you know…. Why am I holding my head in amazement? Don’t you realize that now the four leading experts in the user experience field are all working together? This just happened recently, so I forgive you for not writing this column yourself. This is MAJOR news. Why? Oh man, if I have to tell you… Look -- user
interface, or user experience, or whatever you want to call it has
always suffered from a lack of respect in the industry and from
management (collectively speaking) -- ask anyone who works in the
field. Now we have four very charismatic people banded together to
promote what we all believe to be true -- business must understand and
embrace great UE or we're all doomed.... The four principals of
Nielsen Norman are now Jakob Nielsen (web usability smartass),
Don
Norman (information appliance prophet), Bruce Tognazzini (the blue
collar programmer’s user experience expert) and Brenda Laurel (user
experience visionary). Together, they represent the best and brightest
we have to offer the rest of the industry. Can’t wait to see them
all speak at the same session -- four different opinions, and then some… I’ve followed each
of their careers and writings religiously over the years, and seen
them speak many times in person. Can’t say I agree with all of their
perspectives, but they make for entertaining arguments nonetheless. (If
you ever have the chance to catch them in person, do yourself a favor
and make the time – you certainly won’t regret it) So, why does this
hiring event matter to the world at large? Well, let me put it this
way – HCI (human computer interaction) is emerging as THE
differentiating factor in e-Business and the Web, but it has few high
profile personalities. So now, the Nielsen Norman Group employs all of
them. This is a good thing. Maybe now we’ll get some mainstream
press, not just a throwaway BusinessWeek column every now and then. If you’re reading this column, presumably you already care about people (and user experience) and know that we all have to make the collective user experience of our customers much better than it is today. That’s a tough job for anyone. But, trust me – Batman is now on the case. I can sleep now knowing that the new and improved Nielsen Norman Group is only an e-mail away… and not a moment too soon. Go get 'em www.nngroup.com M. Pell [ Writer's note: I generally don't curse very often. But, there are two times in recent memory when I heard myself say that phrase out loud -- when I saw Napster for the first time, and when I read this piece of news about the Nielsen Norman Group. -- M. Pell ]
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