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WebWord Weblog Posting Posting Date: December 02, 2002 Mapping the Userati (by Mac) -- "Userati - A group of people concerned with issues relating to software and users, who are known to their peers."
Reader Comments...
I have only spent about ten hours (so far) on this project, and would like to get some feedback from my fellow webworders. I have started with a cross-section of a few people, but will be adding more (suggestions welcome). You could say that it's a kind of "People who linked to XXX also linked to YYY.", but I am hoping to take this a bit further. I plan to map other groups of people (suggestions welcome) and then see how the different groups overlap. I am trying to identify 'islands' of people, and hope that by showing the links between the groups, maybe I can promote a bit of cross-fertilisation. Do you know of everyone on the list? There are a few webworders in there. Posted by: Mac on December 2, 2002 03:21 PM
How are you calculating the values for the "Connections" column? Posted by: Martin on December 2, 2002 08:23 PM
Where is MadMan in the list? Do you really consider Christina a Userati, or is she more of an IArati? I recognize most of the people on that list. Do you think you could expand it to show their websites? If so, that would be a killer links list to have bookmarked. Is the Connections column just based on their Google linkage? If you include Christina, you really should include Jesse James Garrett. His Elements of User Experience model has been a blueprint for a lot of us. Overall, it's cool! I especially enjoy seeing the people who relate strongly to each other. Posted by: Lydia on December 2, 2002 08:57 PM
Just for that, I'm not talking to Mac for 3 days. Hmph! Posted by: MadMan on December 3, 2002 12:02 AM
Martin: Connections Column Lydia: I am defining Userati as being anyone interested in software and users. This includes Usability, IA, HCI, Ergrnomics etc. I chose the term 'Userati' because no-one is going so start arguing about what it means as I can't find anyone who defines themselves as a 'userati'. Remember you heard the term used here first. Let's see if it spreads. I shall include Jesse (I will update the site in about 10 hours). The connections are 'just based on their Google linkage', but it seems to work quite well. Peter Morville and Lou Rosenfield are tightly connected as you would expect. As are Lucy Lockwood and Larry Constantine. Everyone is connected to Jakob, and only the old-time HCI folk are connected to Dan Diaper (and no, he is not a serial killer). If you click on the big picture at the top of each individuals page, you will be taken to their website. As this is obviously not very clear, I think I shall make the little pictures clickable as well, so that you can get to their pages without having to navigate between individuals. MadMan: I will add you tonight (I am an awful tease). In the meantime your top connections are Jakob Nielsen (784), Christina Wodtke (698), John Rhodes (373), and Ron Zeno (125). MadMan loves Jakob, MadMan loves Jakob. I have included your 'MadMan' moniker in the search and while it does throw up a few spurious connections it doesn't do too much harm. I have also filtered out all of the links between you and animal welfare organisations. All: Is there anyone else who wants to be added to the list? I am going to build a list of 'computer pioneers' Babbage, Boole, Turing etc. etc. and see how the two groups overlap. I was glad I could track down a picture of Adam Greenfield, but I haven't got Pics of Lyle or Ron. I have just read the About Adam Greenfield page and realise that his comments about connections describe exactly what I am trying to do! Posted by: Mac on December 3, 2002 04:19 AM
Heh heh. I'm super-tickled, and honored to make the list. BTW, that particular picture actually is me teaching an IA seminar to the Digital Eve Japan group - it's my nightmare image of puffed-up, purselipsquarejaw Adam-sensei. Victor Lombardi is a name that comes to mind immediately. As well, my "social network" would have to include Matt Jones, Timo Arnall, Matt Webb, Anne Galloway, Fabio Sergio, and Peter Merholz... Posted by: Adam Greenfield on December 3, 2002 05:22 AM
Adam, I will add those names tonight (8 hours time).
What about 'Jack'? :) *naughty boy ... slaps wrist* Posted by: daniel szuc on December 3, 2002 07:18 AM
Daniel, I don't know Jacks real name ! Posted by: on December 3, 2002 07:26 AM
More people that should be added: Thomas Vanderwal
Mark Hurst? Who's he? Posted by: Cheese Witherspoon on December 3, 2002 11:51 AM
Promises delivered with five minutes to spare. I have added all the suggested names. Could people let me know if I have picked the wrong person or picture? Lydia, the main userati page now gives access to all their pages via the images. You can also view the main list by name or connections. Posted by: Mac on December 3, 2002 02:13 PM
Anyone else noticed that the number of connections obeys a power law? Plot log(connections) against rank and the result is close to linear. Posted by: Mark on December 3, 2002 02:58 PM
The power law thing doesn't surprise me in the least, nor the fact that Jakob is (appropriately enough) our Google. Posted by: Adam Greenfield on December 3, 2002 07:50 PM
Bruce, I will be doing the next update in a few days, and will add Jared (I thought I already had !). Any more for any more ? Posted by: Mac on December 4, 2002 08:48 AM
Mac - can I link to this from the glasshaus blog? Posted by: glasshaus Bruce on December 4, 2002 10:47 AM
Mark Hurst had a rollicking column on goodexperience.com, then disappeared for awhile after the crash. Tired, I suspect. Now he's back, and producing again. Keith Instone of usableweb.com needs to be there. Posted by: christina on December 4, 2002 11:09 AM
Christina, Keith is there already. Bruce, link away. Joshua, I did think about putting McEvoy in there, but it just doesn't feel 'right'. Posted by: Mac on December 4, 2002 04:27 PM
Chris, if you're using Google to make the connection calculation, the actual list of Userti will inevitably affect the number of connections after Google has spidered the list. Are you going to take this into account when making the calculation or is the difference negligible? Posted by: Joshua Kaufman on December 8, 2002 11:44 PM
Kinda reminds me of the Erdos Project. Instead of hoping to have "low Erdos numbers" though perhaps everyone wants "high Jakob connections" (or not).
For anyone who pops back to this thread, I have now added usenet connections to the total. Posted by: Mac on December 11, 2002 02:29 PM
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