Periodicdesign

Update: Roles have shifted a bit, so there will be a higher level Experience Architect position being hired. Thanks to all that applied. There are more positions coming.

Well, I said I would let you all know when Siteworx was hiring again, so here you go.

Experience Architect

Siteworx, Inc., an Internet application and development company located in Reston, VA, works to transform clients’ business objectives into powerful interactive solutions. Utilizing strategy, technology and creativity, Siteworx creates fresh, functional solutions that serve many industries.

The Experience Architect will be responsible for performing a lead role in the research and design efforts for Siteworx’s client applications and large-scaled websites. This position requires working directly with client stakeholders to develop strategies and specifications to improve the performance, usability and effectiveness of customer and user facing interfaces. You will use information gathered from client meetings, best practices, and competitive analyses to develop, site maps, wire frames, requirements and specifications which represent the layout, flow and organization of complex Web sites and Web applications. You will work closely with the client and the Siteworx technical and visual design groups.

Applicants please note this is not an opening for a graphic designer. Photoshop designs do not meet the qualifications listed below. All applicants must be able to provide samples of user interface diagrams/wire fames. Specifications and requirements are a plus.

Key Responsibilities

• Meet with clients to gather requirements based on existing business processes
• Research the competitive landscape and make recommendations relating to website organization and information hierarchy
• Document strategy by developing site maps, wire frames, representing website and Web application layouts
• Interface with the internal creative and technical staff to ensure that website designs meet both client and end user needs
• Develop navigation and interaction systems
• Develop nomenclature systems
• Experience changing the Web presence of large or multinational companies

Qualifications

• User focused, highly motivated, organized, able to multi-task, and work under tight deadlines
• Excellent client-facing consultative skills including the ability to lead client meetings
• Deep knowledge of user-centered design principles and information architecture and information design
• Knowledge of general business strategy and specific knowledge of Web strategy
• Ability to analyze business requirements to define and improve applications and business processes
• Experience with a large-scale websites or Web-based applications
• Portfolio that includes examples of wireframes and specifications
• Familiarity with industry tools for generating flow diagrams, wireframes, and specifications

If you’re looking for a career where your contribution will be recognized and rewarded, if you share our philosophy that hiring the right people is the secret to success, and if you believe in working hard and having fun with a team that enjoys doing the same is for you — we want to talk to you!

I have just not had time to update things on my site as of late. Work has been crazy. More on that later. You now have a means of contacting me.

No, I’m not talking about a flock of birds, I’m talking about a browser and a rather nifty one at that. I stumbled across their home page the other day, although I can’t recall how I ended up there, and signed up for their announce list. Well, just last night, I received an announcement about an alpha/beta release for testing. I then proceeded to download both a copy for my home machine and one for my work machine. I have tinkered on both platforms with the browser and am very pleased with what I see so far.

As far as I can tell, this browser, for all intensive purposes, looks to give the major browsers like Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Mozilla’s Firefox, a run for their money. Of course, some of you may argue it’s just another browser and that market is already saturated with the aforementioned browsers as well as many others. To this I say, you are correct and Flock is dead, conversation over! Well, I’m not going to say that, because saying that would be down right ludicrous I tell you!

This thing is more than just a browser, it’s an interaction with the digital life around you. Thomas talks about the Personal InfoCloud and I think this browser moves in that direction. Flock brings what you want on the web, to you, without using web applications or scripting plug-ins for your current browser. This thing ties into your blog and your del.icio.us bookmarks, bringing a portion of your digital life to you. Now granted, it may not bring all of your digital life, but it is a start.

Browsers themselves have faced an unfortunate doom in the past few years. They are all on the same path of rendering valid mark-up being the basis of what a browser should do. On this level, I believe all browsers should be the same and I hope that in that aspect the browser wars are from over. Where browsers will take off is in the functionality and how they tie into the web and the data you want. As Thomas has already said:

In a “come to me web” this is very important.

The browser itself is rather slick in appearance and a rather usable interface to boot. I’m anxious to see what comes of this browser, as it is still in its early stages of development and testing. Will it die, or will this browser become something in the near future? Will this become as valid a browser as Firefox and IE or will it only be embraced by the blog and geek communities? Time will tell I guess.

You know, the web is a huge place. I mean, ha…uge. The down side to this hugeness, is finding what you need, when you need it. Over the past few months, I’ve been thinking to myself about the concept of tagging and what it does to help the user. Now granted, tagging is nothing new and anyone who blogs, knows of Technorati, Flickr and the like, knows what tagging is. My point is this; tagging seems to be growing and at an exponential rate. I read many feeds everyday and a few have been growing in the sense of how you get to the information at hand. Thomas, has been doing this for as long as I’ve known him, but others, such as Dan, James, Brian and Rob have taken on this tagging technique as well (Jared seemed to be heading in this direction for a while). Maybe they have been doing it for a while and I have just now noticed, but the concept works well with finding data and similar concepts tied to the same data.

The popular CMS, WordPress, allows for the categorization of the content on ones site. It does this through “Categories,” which seemed like an odd term for the information at hand. When I first saw this word, I thought to keep things simple and that the less categories, the better. Now I’m seeing differently, that these categories serve well as tagging and at large expanse, need a better place than in the sidebar of WordPress. The list can become rather long and almost unmanageable. Finding data in the lists and sub-lists can be somewhat tiresome and mind numbing at best.

I really like the idea of tagging in a CMS as opposed to categorization. I think along with my redesign will come the expansion of my categories into a tagging system along with a way to manage those tags. Does anyone have any plug-ins or ideas to make the integration of tagging easier? If so, I’d like to hear them.

Kyle made an amazing statement this morning over Google Talk about an interesting topic:

Kyle: no longer .Mac your “.ig” account would have everything you need where ever you go.

I think he makes a very interesting realization about the direction that Google and really the rest of the web should be heading. Of course, I’ll keep this post short and not focus on the collective of the web, but what the folks over at Google are doing.

Kyle pointed out an article this morning about a very high profile (at least I think so) web celebrity that is joining Google as their CIE. Vint Cerf, one of the pioneers behind the internet, will join their executive team on October 3. This is actually quite monumental, considering Vint’s background and the other highly intelligent and high profile individuals that they have coming into their ranks or are already there. Some include the following:

• Louis Monier; director of eBay advanced technology research
• Kai-Fu Lee; researcher at Microsoft

Now, some people are scrambling around saying the tech boom is upon us again! I really don’t think that’s the case, but I do think there are good things brewing in the technological pipelines. Google is one of those at the forefront, as is Yahoo! (which is another post at some point), that is pushing the technology envelope like never before. Of course, Google is in a position to do great things. Their stock price is soaring and investors want to see a return on their investment. This is good for growth, at least for thinkers in the tech sector. Those loan rangers that stuck around for the past five years or more and practiced their craft behind closed doors, or what little they could in their work environments, are the ones to shine in the not so distant future.

From speaking with colleagues in the last few weeks about things to come, the future is bright for all those passionate about tech. The idea of a Google “.ig” or GooOS was in the back of my brain six months or so ago. I approached some friends and colleagues in the field about the idea, only to be shot down, saying it’s too difficult, that no one would use it or what’s the point. Well, obviously someone wants to use it, because Google is heading in this direction. The point is that the web is changing and how we interact with information in front of us is changing as well. Whether we like it or not, how we interact with each other and our personal computers is beginning to change, and for some, already has.