Jakob Neilsen: New Media Rockstar

Jakob Neilsen: "You're just jealous because he talks to hot babes online all day."

This guy is the star of our class. Who would have thought to become "usability guru?" Neilsen tests out internet objects to determine whether they are safe for general consumption. Back in the medieval times, the king had someone to taste his food to see if it was poisoned. In the 21st century, Jakob kindly fills that role for Joe 6 pack.

Neilsen patented over 77 web inventions that make the internet more "user friendly" like the pop-up advertisement. With the flood of poor internet design, Neilsen proves what effect design looks like with his website, which is fully equipped to run on ARPANET, circa 1977. It might even work on your Atari too with that color scheme...

Just in case you might have missed his "rock star" status, Jakob posts his accolades on his website. Seriously, this guy was voted "one of the top 10 minds in small business," according to Fortune Magazine. USA Today said Neilsen is "the next best thing to a time machine." That's because he was surfing the information superhighway even before Al Gore invented it.

In case you want to feature Jakob in the latest Gap ad, he posted over 100 photos of himself in different positions on his website. (No joke). He's got press clips longer than most politicians, and he has his own drinking game! And 609,000 hits on Google, too!

We should all aspire to become so famous...

(Emi your reading assignment list was down so I couldn't post a substantive entry)