Warmest Greetings,

Can Engagability Be Measured?  

:: Thursday, June 17, 2004 ::

We're advancing now into the next phase of determining what "engagability" for web sites and software applications is. Now, someone has asked, can we test for it?

Here are some juicy quotes:

     "How do you really rate the Mona Lisa smile?"


     "My own view is that practically there's no easy way of measuring engageability, even though I'm sure it exists. So I would go with the views of the management team on how they judge the engageability of the alternatives."


     "Engagability, though something we're still defining and trying to understand here, is tied (in my mind) to persuasiveness, credibility and even authenticity. It's also very much related to the fun factor. I'd go so far as to say it's an Internet metaphysical factor, in that what's *engaging* to some people can't really be put into words.

It just is.

Can the cosmic connection be measured and quantified? Sure can. Every incoming link is a nod of approval, acceptance and proof that someone was pleased by something.

Making the saying, "Google is God" suddenly very scary."


     "Obviously not everything can be expressed by words and/or reduced to scientific method. This is why painters choose to paint, musicians choose to make music, and film-makers make films. And why scientists can't write hit singles. All the words in the world, all the scientific method and analysis will not result in a desirability production line.

Can something be made more engageable to an audience? Almost certainly. However, I feel that has everything to do with context and very little to do with universality. Something cannot be universally "interesting". Or "enagageable". Or "usable". People are different. And individuals are different from one moment to the next.

Any method of analysis would require context and audience at its' heart."


A great thread there, for when you're ready to jump off a cliff and dive into a volcano.



Still making the rounds...You Had Me At The Search Engine. This article, first published in Successful Sites newsletter, has been republished more times than anything I've written so far.

This one remains my personal favorite: Your Web Site Is A Wonderland: What Picasso's Art Taught Me About Persuasive Design.

Congratulations to Jennifer Laycock, the new Editor for Robert Clough's very popular SearchEngineGuide

I really enjoyed this trip into SEO-land, from Jill Whalen: Can You Increase My Traffic?

     "If you leave it, you run the risk of being banned. I doubt in your line of work that you want to project yourself as someone who attempts to deceive the search engines. It's true that it's not illegal, but many would argue that it is unethical. And if you were aware of what your SEO was doing, then of course that makes it even worse. But even if you didn't know, it's your site and your responsibility as far as the engines are concerned. If you get banned, going to them later and saying you didn't know isn't really going to help you."

:: posted by Kim Krause Berg on 6/17/2004 12:45:08 PM

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