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Adaptive Path Newsletter for October 20, 2004

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In this week’s newsletter, sign up for our San Francisco workshop on Blogger and Basecamp, and read Peter’s essay on “Metadata for the Masses.” Jesse’s visiting Chicago, our friends at FlashintheCan are ramping up some workshops in Canada, and we’re offering a discount on Adaptive Path reports.

Redesigning Blogger Workshop and 37Signals’s Basecamp

In San Francisco, on November 8, Douglas Bowman of Stopdesign and our own Jeffrey Veen are presenting a new workshop detailing Blogger’s redesign. We’ll show you how to apply our process and insights to your Web design projects.

What’s more, we’ve partnered with our friends at 37Signals to add a second day on November 9. Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson, and Ryan Singer will be presenting their highly successful workshop, “The Building of Basecamp.”

Newsletter subscribers get a 10% discount on the workshop tuition for both days. Use coupon code “APDC.” You can register for both workshops here.

Metadata for the Masses

by Peter Merholz

Many classification systems suffer from an inflexible top-down approach, forcing users to view the world in potentially unfamiliar ways.

When I’m shopping for wine online, the standard methods of presentation mean little to me — what’s the difference between a California cabernet, a French merlot, an Australian shiraz? If I were in a store, I could find a salesperson to navigate this sea of options, asking questions like, “What goes with grilled fish?” or “Can you recommend a fruity red wine?” However, online wine stores lose customers who don’t understand highly specialized wine categorizations.

But what if we could somehow peek inside our users’ thought processes to figure out how they view the world? One way to do that is through ethnoclassification — how people classify and categorize the world around them.

Read the rest of Peter’s essay »

Jesse Visits Chicago

Jesse is headed to Chicago December 6 to teach “The Elements of User Experience” workshop based on his well-known book. He’ll review the big picture of user-centered web design — from strategy and requirements, to information architecture and visual design — and explain how each element can help you develop a process.

You’ll also learn about Jesse’s “Nine Pillars of Successful Web Teams” and how to put these models to use immediately. Seats are limited, so sign up today.

Get a 15% discount off this workshop by using discount code AFT61 during registration. Register today »

Message from a Friend of Adaptive Path

FlashintheCan presents “The 4 City Tour,” a design and technology event in four cities: Toronto (Oct. 19), Ottawa (Oct. 21), Montreal (Oct. 23), and Vancouver (Oct. 25). Based on the success of the annual FlashintheCan Festival and partnered with Macromedia, FlashintheCan has gathered a bunch of mega-talented individuals to visit four different cities for a full day of inspiration. Each City is one day, one track, with six presentations for a total of 24 presentations overall.

Can’t make the day event? Come out to the cool mixer in each city. Meet and be up-close with the local new media community, attendees, and speakers for a night of mingling.

Visit the official site.

15% Discount on Adaptive Path Reports

Our newsletter subscribers get a 15% discount off all Adaptive Path reports. You can order individual reports, or use coupon code NEWS15 to take 15% off your entire order. If you haven’t purchased them already, be sure to check out our newest reports: “Site Content Search: A User Experience Analysis” and “Leveraging Business Value: How ROI Changes User Experience.”

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