IA for tiny stuff: Exploring widgets and gadgets Martin Belam IA Summit, April 2008 currybet.net

The information stone age

The (hand) written word

The printed word

The librarian era

The World Wide Web

"The Widget"

Why widgets? “ Users have already made it clear that they want their content, their way. Those publishers locked into the Web 1.0 portal mindset will find themselves losing market share. While it's impossible to project where the market will be in 18-24 months, forward-looking publishers will begin to engage their users with widget technology and move forward with their users”. Barry Graubart – ‘Widgets for Content Distribution: A Shift in the Internet’ http://web.fumsi.com/go/article/share/2637

Typical simple widget architecture

This really is the simple widget architecture

Introducing 'Nom Nom'

The Marketing Team widget

The Sales team widget

The Technical Team widget

What the user actually wants…

If an e-commerce site is like a busy mall…

…then a widget is a more personal space

The Sky News widget is flexible Sky ' s widget offers lots of functions - but it means that the user has to configure it

Forbes offer a range of pre-configured widgets Forbes take a different approach, and basically offer variations on the same basic widget, pre-configured for the user

Time is an under-used dimension

Leaving event websites live as an archive is fine

A 2008 Olympics widget has a specific lifespan MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST

Thank your users when the event is over It costs nothing to be polite. Acknowledge an event is over and thank your users

Cross-promote if your widget comes to an abrupt halt Cross-promote another widget if there isn’t going to be any more content for an existing one

Mimic a physical environment For most of the week a sports stadium is empty

Mimic a physical environment But it comes alive on match-day

Give it an inactive state… If there is no current event, why display anything?

…and switch it on when needed Wake it up for matches – just like the stadium

Easter Eggs

U23D Widget U2 fans could unlock hidden video in this widget

Engage with your audience offline

Super Furry Animals vote The widget worked as online promotion for the tour, and as engagement with the fans

Widgets, widgets, widgets

IA for tiny stuff: Exploring widgets and gadgets Martin Belam IA Summit, April 2008 [email_address]