Anybody Can Do Usability

Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox for December 21 is now online at:
  > http://www.useit.com/alertbox/anybody-usability.html
	
Summary:
Usability is like cooking: everybody needs the results, anybody can do it
reasonably well with a bit of training, and yet it takes a master to
produce a gourmet outcome.

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Usability Week 2010 conference

  > Miami, FL: January 25-29
  > Atlanta, GA: February 22-26
  > New York, NY: March 22-26
  > London, UK: May 16-21

Full program:
  > http://www.nngroup.com/events

DEADLINE to save 10% on Miami early-bird registrations: THIS FRIDAY

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EYETRACKING WEB USABILITY - new book published

The book documenting our eyetracking research is shipping from bookstores
in the United States:

  > http://www.useit.com/eyetracking

You now have a great way to surprise the user experience professionals on
your list with a gift they definitely don't have (since the book was just
published last week).

Sadly, the book won't reach bookstores in most countries outside the USA and UK until January. 

Amazon UK has the book now at a great 50%-off deal:
	
  > http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0321498364?tag=useit-21

The book is available in a PC/Mac eBook version that can be downloaded
from the publisher's site today, no matter where you are located:

  > http://bit.ly/EyetrackEbook

Enter coupon code EYETRACK on the payment screen during checkout to get
48% discount on the eBook.
(This is purely for subscribers to this email newsletter, so I won't put
the coupon on my website or Twitter feed. There ought to be some loyalty
rewards that don't extend to random people who visit one or two pages on a
website.)

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LONDON conference announced for 2010

The program for Usability Week 2010 in London is now available, just in
time for you to register if you have money left in this year's budget:

  > http://www.nngroup.com/events/london/agenda.html

Many interesting topics, if I say so myself, including our new research on
usability guidelines for iPhone apps, and a particularly important seminar
on how to write Web content for brand tone of voice.

I particularly want to highlight the new 3-day seminar on Designing
Complex Applications and Websites:

  > http://www.nngroup.com/events/tutorials/complex_apps.html

3 days may sound like a lot, but as the name implies, this is an advanced
and complex topic, and the audience feedback forms from a 2-day seminar
this October indicated that people wanted even more depth. You ask, I
listen, we act.
	
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HOLIDAY GIFT TO SUBSCRIBERS

I have a holiday gift for you to thank you for being a loyal subscriber to
the Alertbox email newsletter and for your support over the years: a free
copy of our report on the usability of site maps:

  > http://www.nngroup.com/reports/sitemaps

This report is based on user testing of 20 websites' site maps, but it
should also be of some use to intranet designers.

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WHAT PEOPLE SAY vs WHAT THEY DO - THE RADIO EDITION

Two ways of estimating the number of listeners to radio programs give
drastically different results:

  > http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/16/business/media/16radio.html

Method A: ask people what programs/channels they listen to.

Method B: have people wear a recording device all day and record what
shows they *actually* listen to.

This is the umpteenth data point showing big differences between what
people SAY and what they DO. Making it that much astounding that so many
companies still rely on "what they say" methods to drive design instead of
employing empirical observations of real behavior.

In the most dramatic example, a Los Angeles radio station had half the
actual audience as what was claimed when people were asked to state their
listening preferences.

In a broader example, classical music had 10.7% lower market share in the
real data than what was claimed when people were asked. Why? It's
prestigious to listen to classical music, so people tend to exaggerate how
much they do so, in order to appear smart. I write this while listening to
an opera CD, though of course that's only what I *say*. I could be playing
Celine Dion for all you know.

Another example:

  SAY data: Men are 34.7% of the soft rock audience
  DO data:  Men are 40.1% of the soft rock audience
  Why different: Men are ashamed of such easy listing

In general, self-reported data has particularly low credibility if certain
answers are more prestigious, more shameful, more socially accepted (or
frowned upon), or harder to remember. If you read my previous column
you'll remember how weak human memory is :-)