"From the very start, e-commerce has empowered the customer to an unprecedented degree...
If the customer is in the driving seat, the logical next step is to rethink everything from that perspective."
Electronic commerce, 2000 Special Report on the Financial Industry
CAP GERMINI, ERNST & YOUNG
  

Susan Harkus
Home Focus on the user agenda Engagement - get it right My work

My work      Special projects      Writing for translation      Papers, articles & research      Contact me

Special projects

In client engagements, I take the project to website, intranet or email wireframes, provide feedback on creative designs and then step back.

For a few special projects, I have had the fun of designing the user experience [architecture, content plan and engagement strategy], developing simple creative designs and building, or building and maintaining the whole website - all in a voluntary capacity.

Here I reflect on four projects that are very special to me - the Newtown Jets website, the Halcyon Hours website, the Winter Wonderland website and the ASTC [NSW] Members available for work listing.

User-centred architectures + content & communications that engage
=> Business outcomes

Rich collaboration

My work and experience in the online space is exciting and fulfilling because of my close collaboration with two very talented and creative professionals, Renée Todres and Heather Schoenheimer.

Renée is the Managing Director of Tipping Point, a digital services company with extensive experience in e-marketing, website design and innovative web-based business solutions.

Heather is the CEO of HS Consulting, and a specialist consultant in HR, Learning Development, Organisation Capability and Leadership Curricula.

My passion - the website of the Newtown Rugby League Football Club

I have been an ardent Sydney Roosters/Eastern Suburbs RLFC supporter since the early 1970s and when The Roosters formed a partnership with the Newtown Jets, I was naturally interested in the Newtown website.

The Newtown Jets rely on a small army of volunteers to do almost everything from manning the gates and canteen on game day, to 'doing' the Club website - so I volunteered for the website task.

Our website is dedicated to serving Newtown Jets supporters: to post what is happening as soon as it happens, to help supporters identify players and coaching staff; to provide an online record of games both for the current as well as past seasons; to give our supporters directions to away games and opposition supporters information about our Henson Park experience; and to publish news about past players and about the Newtown 'diaspora'.

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My delight - Halcyon Hours, the website of my sister, an original doll artist

Doll people have a wonder about them that is palpable.

I may not be a believer but I delight in the exquisite miniatures my sister creates - unbelievable 1/12th scale glider rocking horses, tiny push toys with wonderful movements as they are pushed along and then the sweetest, prettiest little miniature children dolls - each with its own unique personality.

Designing and building the Halcyon Hours website [with much borrowing of creative design strategy from my Newtown site] was a pure joy.

I have been able to present the miniatures from several angles so that the miniature lover can almost, but not quite, do what they do when they handle a doll or toy - enjoy the sensual experience of the clothes and the artistry.

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My pleasure - Winter Wonderland, the website of the Brisbane Doll, Bear & Collectables Show

I never imagined that I would create a pink website or that my simple HTML and CSS knowledge would be so greatly extended by trying to create bow and extended ribbon effects!

My involvement with Winter Wonderland was almost serendipity. My sister decided to take a trader's table at Winter Wonderland 2008; I suggested she ask about having the Winter Wonderland site link to her site; and we discovered that there was no site... so I offered to build one.

I have the fun of collaborating with a superb Show director, I have developed the skills to create and mail HTML e-newsletters and I can track the impact of mailings on website statistics. Great fun!

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My pride - an XML-XSLT listing of technical writers seeking work

In 2004, I offered to lead a small team redesigning the website of an association that I belong to - the Australian Society for Technical Communication [NSW].

A strong interest for the team was finding a useful way to list Society members who were looking for permanent or contract positions in any one of the many roles filled by technical communicators such as writers, editors, business analysts, courseware developers and project managers.

Prior to the redesign, the society's website had simply listed members available for work with a list to resumes, with no way to compare or select candidates other than by trolling through the links, opening and reading each resume in turn.

We decided to present just enough critical information to enable agencies or employers to compare members and choose the candidates they wished to interview.

For example, for any role, we now display the length of time the member had worked in the role, and what industry sectors they have worked in, linking each member's name to a short, standard online profile.

The real challenge was finding a way to store member records, to generate multiple lists by role and type of work, and to do this regularly and quickly.

I had a little knowledge of XML and XSLT when I started and scrambled to learn enough to build the database, code the XSLT functions and write the batch programs that quickly generated the 50 or more files that make up the listing.

I am extremely proud of the Members available for work listing for two reasons: it is really useful [feedback offered by placement agencies and members who get called] and the technical implementation is robust - still going strong after 5 years!

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© Susan Harkus 2009

Contact Susan Harkus