Review: Publishers add Value by Building Sites round Books

What a satisfactory trend: we get stimulating ideas without opening our purses, while the publishers create a perfect environment for marketing their latest output. Several publishers' sites are worth watching for free content. This is not an extensive list, but covers the few I've found of interest lately.

Built for Use: Driving Profitability through the User Experience by Karen Donoghue comes with the following articles to develop your thinking:

'Resources for Executives, Managers and Marketers involved in User Experience strategy:
* 7 Things to Know about Building a User Experience Team
* For the User Experience, Good Bones are More Important than Good Skin
* Your Online User Experience is Failing if...'

Resources for Experience Design professionals:
* An Approach for Fixing Broken User Experiences
* Connecting Business Goals to Desired End User Behaviors'

On the Wiley site, Jenny Preece, Yvonne Rogers and Helen Sharp's Interaction Design comes with three sample chapters:
'Chapter 1. What is interaction design?
Interview with Gitta Saloman
Chapter 6. The process of interaction design
Chapter 10. Introducing evaluation'

while newly arrived Brummie publisher Glasshaus, which is building a stable of usability books, promises much in its gallery. So far, though it has an interview with the authors of Web Usability: The Site Speaks For Itself: Bruce Lawson and Molly E. Holzschlag. I've had a look at the earlier Glasshaus publication "Accessible Web Sites" and, judging by this, the series will be well indexed and simple to understand with extensive black and white illustrations and screen shots.

All change at the top for System Concepts
Source: System Concepts Ltd, 3 July 2009
 
Leslie Fountain has been promoted to joint Managing Director of leading usability consultancy System Concepts.

Life in UCD immortalised in fiction: you couldn't make it up
Source: UN, 2 July 2009
 
Sarah Herman's fictitious book on life in a user-centred design company has hit the shelves and The Guardian's book pages...

Interfaces Magazine - Issue 79: The Education Issue
Source: Interaction Group, 1 July 2009
 
The latest issue of Interfaces is now available as a free download from the Interaction Website.

Two new Behavioural research Tools from Noldus
Source: UN, 30 June 2009
 
Tool updates make on-site behavioural data collection easier.

Cell Phones that Listen and Learn
Source: MIT Technology Review, 29 June 2009
 
New software tracks a user's behavior by monitoring everyday sounds.

Top Six Don’ts for Usability Testing
Source: FutureNow Inc., 27 June 2009
 
Six tips for creating quality usability tests to ensure useful feedback from testers.

Usability: ‘Lovely software. But I can’t work it’
Source: FT.com, 26 June 2009
 
In a recent survey by Global Graphics, 77 per cent of office workers estimate they lose up to one hour a week because business software is difficult to use.

And what do you do?
Source: Dexo Design, 25 June 2009
 
How do you describe your job role? Here are the results of a recent 'Preferred UX/UI Title' Poll.

Most Doctors cite Usability as critical to Electronic Health Record Adoption
Source: TMCNet, 24 June 2009
 
It's all about 'meaningful use'.

Glossy monitors look good but can hurt
Source: QUT, 23 June 2009
 
A new advisory cites research which suggests high gloss monitors make users sit awkwardly.