People who don’t have a photographic memory are going to forget who’s who or what’s what. In the digital context, you can easily help people with that; but if you’re anything like me, you tend to follow a link to learn more about a subject, and then you end following this interesting trail that never leads you back to what you were originally reading. (more…)

Our first step was to conduct a thorough content audit of these sites and all other financial aid related content within the Ithaca.edu structure. Once we knew what we had, what we didn’t, and where it lived within our site structure, we spent significant effort doing focus groups, interviews, and usability testing with key audiences (including internal staff). (more…)

The most interesting thing we learned is how Flipboard plans to make money. Flipboard plans to actually show more of publishers’ content, advertising against it, and then share revenues. Mike says it will increase publishers’ digital revenues “by a factor of ten from what they’re currently doing with banner ads.”

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We also used this opportunity to pursue a very streamlined, aggressively minimalist approach to the presentation, seriously questioning the density of information and promotional content that occurs throughout the rest of the site. Perhaps what I’m proudest of is what’s not there — all the things we managed to cut out (and the fact that at launch, they still aren’t there) and the elegant core that remains. (more…)

“I’ve worked with many large and small publishers, and nearly all of them love the value that Instapaper provides to their readers. I accommodate any publishers’ wishes who would rather not have their content accessible in Instapaper, but to date, almost no publishers have chosen that option. Most see the potential for higher reader engagement, loyalty, and retention rates, and in nearly every case, the people I speak with are happy Instapaper users themselves.”

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“I was observing what was going on with mobile devices, and I realized I could read an entire book on my iPhone,” Edmiston said. “The more I thought about it, I really felt like there was something transformative going on here. And at the same time, there’s a huge pool of talented people who can create high quality content that people will pay for.”

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