Overloaded vs. Generic Commands

Overloading different outcomes on similar commands can be confusing. Using
the same command for multiple actions enhances usability if the results
are conceptually the same.

Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox for December 19:
  > http://www.useit.com/alertbox/overloaded-commands.html
	
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Usability Week 2012 conference

  * New York City: Feb. 26 – March 2
  * Las Vegas: March 11-16 (includes the 3-Day Camp)
  * Edinburgh, Scotland: March 19-23
  * San Francisco: April 2-7
  * Amsterdam, The Netherlands: April 23-27

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

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ANNOUNCING THE USABILITY WEEK 2012 CONFERENCE

See list of individual cities and dates above.

We will also be in Canada and Australia, as follows:
  * Toronto: July 23-27, 2012
  * Sydney: August 12-17, 2012
I am still working on those conference programs, so they are not ready to
be announced yet. But stay tuned to the above website for further info.

The Las Vegas conference in March includes the special 3-Day Camp on
Usability in Practice. This is our most intense training event where we
cram 4 days of info into 3 highly integrated seminar days. Because it
requires so many resources, we can only offer the Camp on rare occasions.

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

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KINDLE FIRE FOLLOW-UP

There were so many reactions to my previous column about the new 7-inch
tablet that I wrote a commentary on the comments:

  > http://www.useit.com/alertbox/kindle-fire-critics.html

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USER EXPERIENCE BOOK OF THE YEAR

"Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman

  > USA link:  http://www.useit.com/books/thinkingUSA
  > UK/Europe: http://www.useit.com/books/thinkingUK
	
Dr. Kahneman won the Nobel Prize for developing behavioral economics, but
what may be more important to us is that he provides a good explanation of
the difference between "system 1" and "system 2" thinking that underlies
most of the guidelines for persuasive and credible website design.

System 1 is the "fast" thinking alluded to in the book title, and relies
on associative memory and other shortcuts that allow humans to make rapid
decisions without having to engage the full machinery of deeper, but
slower reasoning. For example, System 1 is behind phenomena like the mere
exposure effect (if you've seen something many times, you'll like it
purely because it's familiar – one of the reasons users hate design
changes).

Practical implications of these concepts:
  > http://www.nngroup.com/events/tutorials/usability_mind.html
  > http://www.nngroup.com/events/tutorials/credibility.html
  > http://www.nngroup.com/events/tutorials/multiuser_services.html

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS	

My holiday present to you for being a loyal reader this year is a free
copy of our report "234 Tips for Recruiting Users as Participants in
Usability Studies"

  > http://www.nngroup.com/reports/tips/recruiting

My best wishes to you for the New Year.