NorthStarNerd.Org

Voice of the Blog Customer

In today's prior post, I criticized APQC for their seach interface, but am I tough enough to take my own medicine? In my research of Web 2.0 tools I stumbled across a neat survey tool which allows any web site owner to add an interactive survey to their web site, 4Q Web iPerceptions. Thus, I've taken the plunge and created a survey for the Northstar Nerd (i.e. me and my sites). There is no charge to use the service, and the process was quite simple ... register ... follow some paint by number instructions ... copy and embedd some code. By design, For the moment I will sample a large majority of my web site guests; I'll dial this back in a day or two. Click to view the image shown below at full size.

Your User Interface Should Not Confuse!

I like APQC (American Productivity and Quality Center). However, while they may have some great benchmarking reports and studies, their user interface is horrible. Take a look at this screenshot. When I try to search, I am presented with three options (really four, but how many folks would find the final choice). Does your user interface confuse your customer? More information is not always better. Avoid clutter. Usability is not a Luxury (Don Normal essay). Click upon the screenshot to view full sized.

YouTube ... not Just for Breakfast Anymore! (EDU)

YouTube is blocked by many corporate firewalls. Companies are worried that employees will waste time watching dumb videos ... well YouTube has moved into the land of relevancy. Welcome to YouTube.Edu. After all, how do you define an educational portal (including search engine) which includes free learning from the likes of Stanford, MIT ... and of course the University of Minnesota (land of the NorthStar Nerd)?! YouTube.Edu also includes many, many other fine academic organizations. Here are just two results from the YouTube.edu search engine:

• YouTube.Edu Search Upon ... Mems | Sparta

Thus, whether your interests range from engineering to ancient Greece ... try it out! I'm adding YouTube.edu to the Engineering Learning Wiki.

Blog, Wiki, Tweet ... The Real You??

"It all began in realspace, on a subway train in South Korea. A young woman’s small dog pooped in the train. Other passengers asked her to clean it up, but she told them to mind their own business. That’s when it moved over to cyberspace and became even uglier."

These are the opening lines from the book, The Future of Reputation, written by George Washington University Law School Professor Daniel Solove. The book may be downloaded without charge. He also edits one of the top legal blogs on the web, Concurring Opinions. (listen to a Yale University Press podcast interview with the author)

If you ever doubted the need before, after reading parts of Solove's book you will understand that you need to learn how to manage your online reputation (personal or business). Do you have Google RSS feeds which monitor your name? (the same in the blogosphere or Twitter?). An intelligent company uses the web to learn when customers are angry (or happy). A few additional RSS feeds which use the words <insert your company name + sucks> or similar phrases could save your firm big problems.

While, I can't teach you how to monitor these key areas, here at least is a start (prior blog posts involving both search and RSS):

• Google Alerts
• Google Blog Search
• Keeping Current via RSS
• RSS Software

A Moral / Legal Dilemma

What would you do? I am faced with a dilemma. Here are the basic details: (all true)

• My family has a long term house guest ... now a friend ... who is legally in the USA. In less than two months, our friend should receive his citizenship papers. For the purposes of this post, I will call my friend "Olaf".
• Olaf advocated for democracy in his homeland. The ruling military dictatorship ultimately imprisoned Olaf ... tortured and shot him. For obvious reasons Olaf and his family fled to a neighboring country.
• Monday afternoon, Olaf was pulled over by the police in the neighboring town and issued a minor traffic citation (not even speeding ticket). Unlike me, Olaf is not white. It's pretty obvious that Olaf is not from the land of Garrison Keillor ... no Scandinavian Minnesota heritage in his background.
• The racial profiling was apparent. We live in a modest middle class neighborhood. The policeman in question did a quick U-Turn to pull over someone who did not match his expectations for the neighborhood.

Here is my dilemma. I have told Olaf he should not contest the ticket; he should pay the minor fine. My recommendation is based upon the fact that he is within weeks of receiving his citizenship papers. My feeling is that under the circumstances it is not worth the battle or risk (ten years of legal work and residency requirements).  It makes me feel small for giving such advice. After all, I've never been shot for what I believe in. It's not like I'm someone who goes through life not getting involved. The fact Olaf is my house guest, and my efforts in China show otherwise. Before you quickly come down too hard upon me, one final note. US Citizenship will provide Olaf some measure of protection and the ability to travel back to his home region to visit his family. Without his papers, he is a "man without a country".