last entry here

THIS BLOG IS MOVING

to www.sarahthelwall.co.uk - there's new entries here and i'll post the archive there also.

Interacting with finance & numbers

it's been a week full of driving ... plenty of time to mull things over. b'tween got me thinking that there are two key elements of MyCake that I want to find the time, space (and cash) to work on:
- community ... how we set up a trusted community that users will share, ask questions with etc
- interaction design ... how to design good interactions with numbers

Community:
to date the typical stance on numbers is that they are not to be shared and indeed are to be protected. whilst i agree that confidentiality and security are crucial to establishing a trusted site the goal as I see it is to establish an atmosphere where users choose to share their insight, questions and challenges with other users. this may lead to mentoring, shared resources .. who knows.

Interaction design:
we've already seen that the benchmarking reporting we've designed is far preferable to the typical tables and lists of numbers.
this visualisation of finances is a key part of our usp and one that needs developing throughout the site. it could be a dashboard on the landing page with drag and drop widgets. it could be colour coding of thermometers ... the key is to find a way to research what visualisation tools work in this environment.

Portable Radio starts broadcasting

finally!
after lots of gassing, much writing and not a little annoyance with UPS we are kicking it off in Gateshead with Workplace Gallery.

there will be about 10 Portable Radio events in the next year including at the Whitstable Biennale and Liverpool Biennial.

see www.portableradio.org.uk for details of events near you and a podcast download facility for previous events

preparing some new MyCake cartoons

these will become postcards for use by Creative Northants and Artquest. what do you think?

the curse of the expresso martini's

it's 3am, Shelagh Wright and I delivered the 'Investment Matters' conference for CIDA & ECCE yesterday, my brain's still spinning and rather than attribute it to the superb conversations i'm going to blame the expresso martini's for my insomnia.
in tribute to this drink more elegant than the vodka/redbull and better disguised than many forms of sleep deprivation torture here's my list of best places in town to mess with your zzzzz's
- Brown's Hotel (here they call it a cappucino martini on account of the cream)
- Polo Bar at the Westbury (my first taste was here)
- Shoreditch House
- Zetter
- Adam St club (actually a pretty poor imitation)

have we dined at Dehesa yet?

Courgette flowers tempura style stuffed with blue cheese and drizzled with truffle honey ... divine. The sherry menu is pretty good too....

meet me by the river?

come out to kingston for your meetings and we'll go to my favourite cafe ... a right little local community it is. the coffee is roasted in surbiton and comes from south america.

World Investment Conference here I come

Well here's the thing. I'm navigating a microlight aircraft to Switzerland and the route takes us back through La Baule (we were planning on having an extra day in Nantes to travel by articulated elephant around the city). So when Anamaria Wills said she was speaking at the WIC I plucked up the courage to ask if they were looking for Creative Industries speakers as I'd be keen to speak given the opportunity.
I'll be speaking on the 5th at the 4-6.30pm session and overall it's a great programme. Watch this space for feedback.