Although a relatively small prize, it is hotly contested, peer reviewed and any sites that are shortlisted (let alone those that win), have achieved very high levels of excellence in coding, usability, design and accessibility (that’s all together, not categories!). It is truly an achievement and I encourage people to visit the McFarlane site and view some of the entries.

Usually, the contenders are relatively small sites from well controlled environments. Not to take anything away from their achievements, but it’s tempting to think such accolades are beyond the reach of large and diverse organisations. Well, this year’s prize winner put paid to that assumption.

Swinburne University of Technology took out the main prize. For those of us in the know about how difficult it is to pull together a university website this is an achievement that ranks alongside climbing Everest, cycling the Nullarbor and completing the Hawaii Ironman.

They deserve: 1) a huge pat on the back and 2) five minutes of your time to visit their site and check what makes it tick.

If you look at this photo, you’ll see some pretty massive compression artefacts as well as a wild colour balance issue (that purple is supposed to be royal blue!), but the product was aimed at the fast turnaround press environment (believe me, you couldn’t afford this kit at home!), and given the low resolutions involved and the fact that no newspapers were printed in colour, these technical issues were not big obstacles.

My task was to get the ‘real’ press photographers interested in it and teach them how to use it if they were interested. It was a great tool, probably the biggest issue was the shutter delay. You really had to fire in anticipation – about half a second ahead, otherwise you missed your moment.

In the end, a photo I took of Jim Courier holding aloft the cup was posted on the ‘wire’ and was picked up by the Canberra Times, appearing on the back page the next day – the first digital photograph to appear in any Australian Newspaper.

My highilight, though, was Monica Seles – one of the most fiercely determined women I’ve ever seen. Great fun.

I say introduction because that is the word Telstra are using, but in reality the technology is not theirs and has been around and freely available for download and use on java capable mobile phones for the better part of a year. They are characterising it as some sort of breakthrough, but of course, it’s not.

That’s not to say I don’t think these things have merit – I believe the concept is great, in fact, I use it regularly at work when testing sites on mobile phones and I don’t want to type in long URLs on the keypad, I just load up a code, snap it with the camera straight from the screen and it takes me there.

What is not well known is that there are two commonly used types of code: Semacode and QRcode, both seem to do the same thing and there’s no reason why you can’t have both readers on your mobile phone, so I am curious about the pros and cons.

QRcode seems to be the underdog, being mostly confined to the Japanese market and (in my simple test at least), almost half as efficient as Semacode in rendering a URL (841 pixels vs. 484 pixels), but it still seems to work well though in use, I find Semacode better.

Efficiency is a key factor for usability where conditions are less than ideal – dodgy cameras, poor lighting, movement and parallex – all make it harder for the software to recognise the patterns, so it’s a given that the less pixels you have to capture and interpret, the less mistakes you will make.

Semacode also seem to be doing interesting things with Social Networking tools and have a Facebook app, so you can generate your own personal card that others can ‘grab’.

The good news is that you don’t need to make a decision. Telstra are saying in their ads that you ‘get the software from your Telstra dealer’, like it’s some exclusive deal, but in reality you can download both readers freely: I’ve been using the readers from Semacode and Kaywa, but I’ve just found this one called beetagg which apparently reads both.

You can also create codes easily, with loads of open source libraries and online tools, once again from Semacode, Kaywa and there are generators that do both from Nokia and Beetagg.

Enjoy

Yes, the multi touch is cool, the screen is brilliant, the wifi easy to use – all just so sweet. So, what can I say about my week that hasn’t already been said a million times in a million other reviews? I’ll try to stick to a couple of things that have impressed me.

First is the ‘always connected’ nature of it.

I remember just a few years ago, there were plenty of people who didn’t use the internet – couldn’t understand why you would use it – mostly because it was so inconvenient. You had to dial in with your modem – a process which, even if it did work first time, took a good minute or so and then your connection was so slow and flaky that you’d regularly just have to give up and try another time.

Now these same people use broadband – there’s no dialup, no delay, no interruption to the spontaneity of the process; you wonder if it’s going to rain – it takes less than half a minute to check the weather radar. Suddenly, the naysayers got it, and the computer – often wireless – is now a ubiquitous appliance in many homes.

So, what have we got today? A whole lot of hype about mobile internet, but ask most people about it and they’ll say “why would I use the internet on my mobile?”. These people are thinking of the mobile internet in the same way as they use the ‘desktop’ internet, so they simply can’t see the application. I’m inclined to agree… on most devices, it’s a royal pain. So much so, that even reasonably capable mobile phones are still pretty clumsy to use.

Well, it ends with the iPhone/iPod Touch. One click and you’re in – email, weather, maps – all with gorgeous integration. This device that is going to put the spontaneity into mobile internet, and that spontaneity is delightful and addictive. We will see a whole wave of people suddenly ‘getting’ the mobile web.

Second is the purity of the interface vision that Apple have stamped on this product.

One of the first confusions that cleared up for me with the iPhone was the browser. I thought the amazing zoom and pan ability would mean that I could use ‘normal’ sites with ease. Nup. Desktop websites can be navigated successfully, but you could never call it fun or efficient. Sites designed for mobile on the other hand, are just superb. They don’t have to be designed to take advantage of the iPhone, just well designed and focussed on their purpose.

And this is the mastery of Apple. They’ve seen this difference and haven’t just shrunk everything to fit on a small screen… they’ve redesigned the interaction experience. It is so unlike the desktop version of OSX, you’d think it would take time to learn, but Apple have allowed you to click and explore, and learn one simple step at a time. You don’t even feel like it’s learning, it just happens. Compared to a Windows Mobile 6 device I owned for about a month (before disposing of it in disgust!), this is chalk and cheese. That was like all the bad gremlins in Windows had been crammed into a smaller cage where they just caused more havoc than ever before. The iPod Touch takes about 10 minutes to feel like an extension of your thoughts. You never want to put it down.

Parting

So, my week is at end, and someone else in my team is going to play with it for a week and I hope they enjoy it. I’m not about to buy one, my old Sony Ericsson K610i still does the mobile web business, but when the contract runs out in October, an iPhone or maybe even an Android device (if they measure up), is on the cards. My taste of the ‘always on’ internet, was a real appetiser!

Alright, so it isn’t the editorial, it’s the ‘heckler’ column on the back page. Stinging criticism, nonetheless.

In short, this person needs to re-enrol, but they have forgotten their password. However, they can’t access the password reset because of SSL problems, can’t access the student portal because it requires javascript. Quite apart from that, they can’t access the LMS or the electronic resources search (supersearch[!]) and even the new online handbook presents an obstacle. They asked if I could fix the problems, “quickly please”… of course, I was unable to do anything.

Imagine we were part of a sporting team checking into a hotel, but our pile of baggage blocked the way of a person in a wheelchair. Would you move a bag? or would you make excuses why the bag could not be moved?… “oh, it’s too big, too heavy, too old and the handles are broken, the company says that’s where we have to put our bags”… are any of these excuses adequate? I think not.

OK, we don’t get to see the face of the people we block when we build an inaccessible website, but the people are just as real and our actions are just as rude and arrogant.

Continuing the analogy… just because people can see and people can walk, doesn’t mean our baggage isn’t an obstacle. Even quite able people are inconvenienced, having to walk around or step over obstacles.

Accessible websites are not just for disabled people. I don’t consider myself disabled, but my eyesight isn’t what it used to be and my hearing is not that great either, I get a sore wrist sometimes from too much mouse work and I have the temerity to use a mac. So, I like accessible sites because: I can enlarge the text easily, I can navigate using the keyboard, and I don’t get told I have the wrong browser. It’s good for everyone. Sure, I can step over the bags, but it makes me cranky that someone could be so rude and inconsiderate.

So, what now? I know we’re not about to chuck out our LMS, Library search tool and Student Portal, but I’m over it with excuses about why we need to implement these arcane, user hostile systems when they cause inconvenience and annoyance to so many people. In March this year, Australia was one of the first signatories to a new UN convention on human rights, which deals specifically with equal access to information and will sharpen the teeth of the Disability Discrimination Act and help focus the efforts of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission. At the workshop I was attending yesterday it was noted that the organisations which were most serious about accessibility were those whose arses had been subject to the blowtorch of legal threats. Is it going to take that before we finally get the message?

Did you know that the DDA has a clause to the effect that a person who permits a breach to take place is liable. Potentially, if you fail to tell your client/manager that the method/tool being used will cause a problem, then you are personally liable. If that client/manager then continues with implementation of the inaccessible interface, they are personally liable. This clause is as yet untested, but things are warming up and it may not be long before a court is ruling on it. Are you comfortable with that?

I have to say. it was nice to work with someone who has no lack of decent content. David has already filled his blog with loads of interesting stuff.