Technology

Article — 30 September 2024 — 583 words

Another fresh start

Personal — Web

I have decided to refresh my approach to blogging (yet again). There are a couple of main drivers for this.

Article — 1 July 2024 — 1,082 words

Reflecting on two years as a user experience consultant; looking ahead to working on structured content

Digital — Information architecture — User experience — User research

Work: Scottish Government, User Vision

The latest chapter in my career has closed, as I have found an incredibly exciting new opportunity. But the past couple of years have given me a lot to reflect on.

Article — 2 January 2024 — 1,225 words

Busi-ness and blogging in 2024

Personal — Technology — Web

A busier life, and recent events on the internet, mean a new direction for my blog.

Article — 30 December 2022 — 1,261 words

20 years of blogging

Personal — Technology — Web

Today marks the 20th anniversary of my first blog post. Blogging is important to me, but it has seen many changes. The online publishing ecosystem is having a moment right now. So what’s next?

Article — 6 November 2022 — 1,179 words

One twit can make a service a dodo

Digital — Politics — Web

I have complicated feelings about the apparent imminent demise of Twitter in the hands of a reckless owner.

Article — 22 August 2022 — 1,698 words

12 years in higher education web and user experience management

Content design — User experience — Web

Work: Learn Foundations, SRUC — Scotland’s Rural College, Study at St Andrews website, The University of Edinburgh, University of St Andrews, User Vision

Today I have started a new job. But while I’m looking forward, I have also been reflecting, as this moment marks my first real move away from higher education. Despite the differing natures of the three organisations I worked for, there were many parallels across them.

Article — 10 February 2022 — 341 words

Could you be our nudge intern?

Economics — Social science — User experience — Web

Work: The University of Edinburgh

We have a fascinating opportunity for a University of Edinburgh undergraduate student to join our team as an intern this summer. The job has a cool title: nudge intern.

Article — 11 January 2022 — 877 words

Awooga! The metaverse was better 29 years ago

Media — Technology

What’s most surprising about the metaverse is just how lacking in ambition it is. This is a half-hearted rehash of a 30-year-old idea.

Article — 27 September 2021 — 86 words

List of things Google Assistant thinks I want to do instead of make oat milk

Technology

Occasionally I make my own oat milk. When I run out of oat milk, I ask Google Assistant to remind me later in the day to make oat milk. It normally misunderstands me. Interestingly, it misunderstands me in a variety of different ways.

Article — 2 July 2021 — 1,431 words

Pace layers in experience design — Stabilise innovation by understanding people’s needs

Social science — Society — Technology — User experience

Innovation falls flat when it doesn’t respond to a human need. Use human-centred approaches to understand people’s fundamental motivations and needs. These are the stabilising forces for innovation.

Article — 12 May 2021 — 1,268 words

Why content is more important than code

Accessibility — Content design — Information architecture — Technology — User experience

…and what I don’t mean by that.

Linknote — 29 April 2021 — 117 words

Content design — Service design — Technology — User experience

Lessons on readability and bias — Reflections from the UCD Gathering conference — Website and Communications Blog

Back in October, I had the opportunity to attend the UCD Gathering conference, a new virtual event for practitioners of user-centred design in all its forms. Over on my work blog, I have published the first of two posts reflecting on what I learned.

This first post covers two themes:

Being aware of bias, and other cognitive considerations
Improving readability of content

The post also mentions my own session at the conference, about our user research into the needs of staff and students working with course materials online. The Learn Foundations project has proved fortuitous in that it has helped schools move their teaching online and prepare for hybrid teaching in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.