Your Friend's Privacy (Article Review #7)

Article Title:
When Sites Drag the Unwitting Across the Web

Article Author:
Somini Sengupta

Article Publication Date:
November 13, 2011

URL:
When Sites Drag the Unwitting Across the Web

Article Summary:
Klout is a site that tracks your influence on the web using algorithms to monitors you usage and assigns a score.  The problem being that Klout tracked the activity of your friends and family ,even minors, and created profiles.  After an uproar many of the tracking features have been removed and you can now also deactivate yourself.

Relevance to Class:
Joe Fernandez managed to build a site that tracks your activity on other sites and gauges your influence.  Web architectures connected all 3 aspects, content, context, and the user and benchmarked this information into a very useful tool for marketers.

Key Quote:
Klout, like a host of other influence yardsticks in the digital marketplace, like PeerIndex and Kred, is used by marketers to reach habitual comment makers who are likely to promote their products on social networks. It can be used by employers, teachers, homecoming queen committees — anyone — to gauge someone’s popularity.

Swipe Your Holiday Donation (Article Review #6)

Article Title:
Bell Ringers go Digital this Season
 
Article Author:  
Stephanie Strom and Claire Cain Miller
 
Article Publication Date:
November 15, 2011

URL:
Bell Ringers Go Digital This Season

Article Summary:
The Square has entered the holiday season.  People do not carry cash and the Salvation Army bell ringers are can now swipe your donation.  New technology has been incorporated with a company born in 1852.  Web Architects combined new technology that still maintains the spirit of the Salvation Army.  The technology lowers theft and increases convenience.

Relevance to Class:
The Salvation Army has used new technology and internet based transaction to stay current.  Information Architects have created an application used via portable devices to seamlessly conduct transactions.

Key Quote:
Lucy Bernholz, an expert on the use of technology by nonprofits, said this could have enormous potential. “It’s a no-brainer,” Ms. Bernholz said. “It’s frictionless and will make it so easy to give that if the person ringing the bell can get your attention, there’s no excuse any more because chances are you’ve got a credit card in your pocket.

Smaller with Big Appeal (Article Review #5)

Article Title:
Smaller, cheaper tablets could become a big deal

Article Author:
Amy Gahran

Article Publication Date:
October 26, 2011

URL:
Smaller, Cheaper tablets could become a big deal

Article Summary:
The IPad isfinally be getting some competition by way of tablets like the Nook Color, Kobo Vox, and Kindle Fire.  After being kept oversees these devices finally made their way to America and brought competitively low prices with them.  The apps may be limited for those devices that are not dedicated to Android, so many may stay to avoid learning a new platform.

Relevance to Class:
In today’s society of constantly evolving technology the Web Architecture has to take many things into consideration when designing a website. The layout and movement of a site needs to translate on many platforms and not compromise the user experience.

Key Quote:
“The tablet market is growing fast, and its dynamics are shifting quickly. According to a new report from Strategy Analytics, in the last year Android tablets grew from 2% of the global tablet market to 27%. Meanwhile, the iPad's global tablet market share has dropped from 96% to 67%.”

Occupy Wallstreet Review

Consider this site in critical terms from an information design and usability perspective.

What information is made available on the site?

It is very interesting they have streaming video of the protest so if you are not there you can see what is going on.  This lends to negate the accusation of rowdy behavior being made by those intended to protect Wall Street.

Tactical Briefings are also provided which helps in organization and turn out.

How is the navigation structured?
They have a top navigation bar that actually takes you to adbusters site.  It is confusing

How might you categorize the different types of users who might visit this site? 

I think this site serves to attract the silent protestor who wants to watch from the comfort of their homes as well as the frontline who needs to know where to be next.

How does the format of the site serve the needs of different groups of users?

The videos are a great “see and judge for yourself” tool while the Tactical Briefings are a great way to unite and ensure attendance.

What about the tools integrated into the site? Does the site make direct use of the Twitter hashtag #occupywallst?

It sure does.  They have an active feed to their twitter handle so you can see what the average Joe is writing.

Any other observations? How does it fare in search results? Do they use variants of their URL to capture traffic that might otherwise be redirected elsewhere?

They have multiple variants of their URL If you are not sure what the right name is, you will hit it anyway!

If You Build It They Will Hack It! (Article Review #4)

Article Title:
Sony locks down online accounts after security breach

Article Author:
Christopher MacManus

Article Publication Date:
October 11, 2011

URL: 
Sony Locks Down Online Accounts after security breach

Article Summary:

Sony has created a gaming platform revered by many has been successfully hacked and almost 60,000 users were exposed.  Sony not only must withstand a tarnished image regarding security but issue free access to Playstation Plus for a month.  Not to mention the $1M it shelled out to cover fraudulent purchase.

Relevance to Class:

Once again an online gaming environment has been compromised.  During the architecture of such websites security must be considered on the same level as user experience.  A pleasurable user experience that entices people to spend real money, should be designed with a strong security wall in order to maintain the trust of its users.

Key Quote:

“The sheer scope of the recent hacking scandal, which compromised the personal information of millions of gamers--was a huge smudge on the public perception of the gaming network. In the damage-control department, Sony issued multiple apologies and the promise of a strengthened network, along with giving affected users a $1 million identity theft insurance policy and free games. It also gave all PSN members affected by the outage access to PlayStation Plus for a month.”

E-Books Cooking with Gas (Article Review #3)

Article Title:
Adapting Julia Child for E-Readers

Article Author:
Julie Bosman

Article Publication Date:
October 4, 2011

URL: 
Adapting Julia Child for E-Readers

Article Summary:
Mastering the Art of French Cooking a book by Julia Childs has been successfully replicated and released for the e-book platform.  The process was complicated and requires a certain 2-column format that was previously incapable of being produced.  This begins the era of cookbooks in the current digital era with a blast from the past.

Relevance to Class:
Layout and positioning are key roles of the Web Architect.  Cookbooks require a certain feel and subtlety in order for the reader to follow and achieve the desired recipe.  By waiting until the book could be constructed as a close facsimile to the original, technology and web architecture can bring the past current.

Key Quote:
“When Knopf tried again this summer, the production staff had the entire book retyped by hand, since no electronic file of the book existed. The illustrations throughout the cookbook — tiny sketches of sauté pans and freshly julienned carrots — were scanned at a high resolution so they could be transferred to the e-book. And the publisher managed to recreate the two-column format, just like the original version of “Mastering.”

Other features are purely digital: live links allow readers to jump to other sections in the book, as when Ms. Child suggests that cooks preparing Potage Velouté aux Champignons should also read the recipe for Fluted Mushroom Caps. And readers who are unsure what a roux is can click on the word and gain access to a pop-up dictionary entry. (It’s a mixture of butter and flour.)”

Ponzi Poker (Article Review #2)

Article Title:
Poker Web Site Cheated Users, U.S. Suit Says

Article Author:
Matt Richtel

Article Publication Date:
September 20, 2011

URL:
Poker Website Cheated Users, U.S. Suit Says

Article Summary:

Log in, add real cash to virtual accounts and poker gods battle for “real” cash.   Full Tilt Poker’s site is a Ponzi scheme.  Gaining good standing with professional poker players the site got free ambassadors and lured millions until shut down by the government.  Recover of nearly $390M is unlikely as funds were embezzled by site owners to their accounts.

Relevance to Class:

Cleverly planned, developed, built and maintained gaming websites can mirrors reality.  A web architect can create a user experience that lulls you into false comfort when spending real money in a virtual environment.  Understanding the psychology of gamblers and combining it with the growing capabilities of the web can make theft easy.

Key Quote:

“Prosecutors said they first exposed the scheme this spring while investigating other problems at Full Tilt Poker and two other poker sites, Poker Stars and Absolute Poker, all of which were based outside the United States. In April, the government shut down access to the sites for American players, arguing that they were violating fraud and money-laundering laws.

Before that, American players had wagered hundreds of millions of dollars on the sites. From their home computers, players would put money into accounts with the virtual poker clubs and then bet against one another.”