Where to start …

Presented with an empty input box, there is always that 10 seconds of doubt as to what to write … I have just had that feeling here as I start again my blog after a number of year of inactivity, using other mediums (images, tweets, links etc.) and also having had many different focused blogs over my 17+ years working in online.

I don’t need to be coding any more to get a post live to the world

I don’t need to be ‘keeping up with others’ in a race to who can find the cool new experience

I don’t need to be proving that I know a thing or 2 about online experiences and what works for users (I hope I had shown that to my current and previous employers)

… and I don’t need to ramble … so where to start?

This blog started out in reference to an article in Wired/Technology magazine in 2007/8 (this has since disappeared behind a paywall, so no link, but the paywall will be a subject we come to in later posts I am sure), covering the subject of metadata and how thinking at this level across all that we define, design, develop and deliver online (and when I say online, I don’t not distinguish between mobile, PC, tablet etc. … it is all the same now), creates a whole new view into what can be achieved and the relationships which can be created within those experiences and with others … a theme which I warmed to, as I have been applying it during all of my career to date.

This blog will therefore attempt to stretch thinking by reducing the volume a little and taking user experiences back to a metadata level, be it across real or online (is there a difference?) experiences, the connection between the 2 and also what this means for new experiences for the future.

Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Groupon, Zynga, Amazon … and the majority of online experiences are only as powerful to users as they are due to a clear understanding of what can be achieved when you think about the relationships and power of data (be that implicit or explicit) at a meta level, and then building up the experiences which can delight and amaze users on top of that … this gets lost in the mix sometimes, so I want to start to de-construct and then construct within this blog and maybe make you think a little about what this might mean for how you work, approach a situation, interact with others etc.

The input box is no longer blank or empty … which means we are starting somewhere … so here it is … enjoy!