Is our blog “Putting People First” still of value to you?
Experientia’s blog “Putting People First” has been going for three years now and contains several thousand posts.
Lots of things have changed in those three years. The term “experience design” has become mainstream and is sometimes even over-used; industry has become more open to our ideas; people are increasingly asking for simplicity and usability; and our company has grown quickly and is now very much on solid footing. Meanwhile, some themes have become much more dominant, such as sustainability (first and foremost), ubiquitous technology, mobility, presence, virtual worlds — to name just a few.
So what is the value of this blog for you now? Does it have more or less relevance than a year ago? Which stories do you like and which not? What should change and what not? Should we continue with this at all? Please comment widely and identify broadly who you are or what type of organisation you work for, so that we can understand the context of your comments. You can also write me directly at info – at – experientia – dot – com.
Hi, I am your subscriber for more than one year. I started to read Experientia blog while working at communication consultancy. When I changed the job from being consultant to being executive at ad network, I realized the value of the blog is much bigger while working not just consulting. So the relevance of your blog is – at least from my point of view – bigger than year ago.
Even though I am not the product person, I appreciate your daily look into the processes that influence the everyday life of ours. I wish you would continue.
I’m a usability practitioner in industry and also a blogger. This is one of only a few really valuable user experience blogs in my opinion. I also appreciate the broader technology posts that come from a user-centered perspective — that’s a rarity in the blogosphere.
I’m working with usability in a small software company producing software for researchers in molecular biology. Your blog is my way to stay up-to-date to new trends and findings and I check up several times a day.
I especially enjoy the book reviews and pointers to other resources. I don’t so often read the “links to usability in the news” posts, unless they have a specific relevance to me.
From my point of view, book reviews and reporting of research findings are the most important stuff on this blog.
It’s probably obvious from my comment, but I’m really thankful for the work you put into this.
I work at a large software company as a user experience researcher and I have been reading (through RSS) this blog for more than a year now and every time I check the list of articles, there is always something interesting to read there. I frequently forward things to my collegues.
Interesting things, to me, are articles about methods, use of ethnography in industry and companies using UCD to create products and services.
Please continue with this blog!!!!
I check in to your blog frequently. It’s a great resource for my niche of user experience consulting (I do lots of mobile comms work).
I’m impressed with the sheer quantity of material you manage to post and like your neutrality: you present what’s new but leave your readers to judge.
So, yes, if you have the energy for it, please do continue.
Putting People First is not a very interactive blog. Many people read it (over 4000 via rss alone), but I have no idea what they think, want, need, … Hence my somewhat provocative question, which alarmed some people. I am very pleased by all your comments of course, but don’t hesitate to be critical too.
I read your blog almost daily and it is one of the most well-written and informative sources of information I get on the topics of design, user experience, architecture, information design, etc. I am a user experience manager and information design specialist for web apps, but your blog broadens my thinking (i.e., urban architecture, designing spaces, art, etc.) and helps stretch my thinking. I recommend your blog to people all the time and they love it.
This is one of the posts I look forward to everyday. I enjoy reading the very upto-date articles and the approaches taken towards Experience Design.
You definitely have loads of ardent fans out there! and I happen to be one of them!
One of the critical thing that this blog does is open a broader scope for experience design. Very often we narrow down our approach in doing design and a wholistic vision is what we miss. The experentia blog makes that attempt and it can be only valuable to all.
I’m a consumer experience champion for the consumer support group of a large electronics company. On this site, I consistently find articles that apply both generally and specifically to my role. Even better, I find things that I wouldn’t find otherwise. I often pass on items I find here to others. It’s a terrific resource.
Yes, Putting People First is very valuable to me. I especially appreciate your posts on the digital divide, emerging markets, and special user groups, and your attention to developments and ideas from people like William Easterly who would not label themselves “user experience designers” but who are nonetheless contributing to the field.
In reference to your earlier comment that the blog is “not very interactive,” I see several factors in play. First, your tone is usually neutral and is, therefore, unlikely to arouse debate. Second, your posts are more substantive than most posts on highly interactive blogs, and thus lend themselves to long reflection, not snappy commentary. Third, you rarely comment on timely topics that are the “talk of the blogosphere”–like Microsoft’s bid for Yahoo. Rather than adding to the chatter by recycling other blogs’ content, you introduce new information.
These factors may add up to a less interactive blog, but all three of them are tremendous assets. As you note in your post, UX is a growing field, and readers have a wide array of niche blogs from which to choose. Putting People First still has the best balance of breadth and depth, scope and substance.
I love this blog!
I’m a design student at Esdi (Rio de janeiro, Brazil) and UCD is my major interest in design. But we don’t have a lot of research in this area in Brazil, so the experientia blog has been very usefull in finding information. I have been reading the blog through RSS and for a few months and since then, I discovered books, design companies, researches, etc.
Please continue the blog!
And thaks for all the usefull information!
Yes! I blog often about science and technology for the IdeaFestival. Putting People First is one of the best at providing stories about human-centered design in those fields. I often use or link to them.