Social Software Explored

I just signed up for NBA broadband. I know expensive. But without cable or satellite I won’t be able to see any NBA games until they start showing up on Sundays. Which doesn’t start until October 27th. I can choose 7 teams that I want to watch. However, when I go to their account management section there is no indication of that on their site.

It got me thinking. If I was a digital information designer that was out of work, I would totally take a site, microsite or even a page and modify it to make it better. It would kind of go like this:

1) as you use the web start thinking about how you knew what to click or how to accomplish a series of tasks. I am not necessarily thinking about using the web to learn about lifes information. Start with the sites that have real tasks like:
- manage my account
- add content to a site (facebook,twitter,YouTube etc…)

2) fix what’s broken. Does something take too many clicks? Is it confusing on what button to press? Are u struggling to find an important piece of information?

Take matters into your own hands. Make the changes that are necessary. Heck, spruce it up a little bit.

3) send me a link. I will review it with you and then post my review here on my blog. If you want you can tag the link with #iknowweb.

If you are seriously looking to be employed in this space this will be a great addition to your resume.

Take a few minutes (3 minutes and 13 seconds to be exact) and watch the following video. While watching it take note of the ease in which both characters select content and move it around to make it easier to view and work with.

Now think about the iPad. The single reason why I think that the iPad will work (and why other previous inventions similar to the iPad failed) will work is because we are ready. The iPad represents the closest representation to the Minority Report UI that we have seen. Yes – there have been touch screen devices but I think the “multi-touch” approach is going to separate the iPad from its predecessors pretty quickly.

Whenever someone makes good on science fiction and can bring a product to market that meets the expectations of the general public – it works. Bringing the truth out of science fiction is ultimately why we will see a shift in technology use in the year 2010.