There may be times when you should consider looking to your brand ambassadors for help with a time-consuming aspect of your company’s operations. One effective model: recruiting your user base as moderators for a forum. Not only is it good business; it can also be a great user experience for participants as well as observers. Of course, Slashdot is the pioneer in involving its user base on a... [Read more]

I need to read. Always have. I can down books a lot faster than most, and I am bereft without something meaningful to read, especially on my frequent business trips. Anyone who knows me knows I love Vanity Fair as much as I love cyberpunk. They also know I spend a lot of time evaluating user experience (UX) for magazine apps, and all sorts of other digital products. So what does it mean when someone... [Read more]

Last week I had the privilege of participating in an event called UX for Good/UXXU 2011, organized by individuals (Insight Labs’ Jeff Leitner and Manifest Digital’s Jason Ulaszek) who saw an opportunity for five nonprofit organizations to benefit from the design discipline of user experience. Like any first-time project involving volunteers, it had its ups and downs. It also brimmed over... [Read more]