Drawing inspiration from unconventional sources

Yesterday, I blogged from the Edward Tufte seminar in Boston. It was truly one of the most eye-opening experiences I've had since attending SXSW 2006 and was just the inspiration I had been looking for in a professional development opportunity. All too often, I think people in higher education tend to isolate themselves from outside sources of information, instead constantly asking the question "what are other colleges doing?" Don't get me wrong - it's important to know what other colleges are doing. But if you really want to be ahead of the game, you'll look outside that. I feel like a broken record for saying this so much, but people that are on your website are not comparing you to other college websites - they are comparing you to every other website that they've visited. Your ultimate goal should not be just to hit a certain number of visits or page views. It should be about user engagement.

Here are some of my favorite sources of inspiration:

www.edwardtufte.com - Just blogged about him yesterday, but if you're looking to learn how to present information effectively he's your guy. He's doing a bunch of seminars around the country right now and if you go, you get all of his books (which are beautifully produced). Though I think he less than gets the web, any web professional worth their salary will be able to take his ideas and apply them to the medium.

Creating Passionate Users - Kathy Sierra stopped blogging a year ago due to death threats but her blog since remains extremely relevant. If you want to engage your users, she will teach you how to do it in a realistic and fun way.

Sam Seder - Sam Seder is a host on Air America. Whether or not you agree with his politics, the man really gets the power of the web and how to engage his users. Sam has developed a cult following on this site because of the level of interaction he offers his users. During his weekly radio shows, he does a video simulcast on his site, where he talks directly with his viewers over IM during commercial breaks.

Threadless - Threadless is a community-based t-shirt company that lets users upload their designs, which members of the site then vote on . The ones with the most votes get printed and sold. I think the business model used to engage the user on these sites is one of the most effective out there.

Pew Internet and American Life Project - Ok, so this isn't really a source of inspiration as much as it is a source of information. This is the direct source of information that most conference presenters use to build their cases for whatever technology they are championing at the moment. Avoid the cherry-picking of information that goes on by going straight to the source.

Any websites or email lists related to grass roots organization - Its an election year and this is a golden opportunity to learn how the pros do it. Set your personal politics aside and get yourself on as many of these lists and websites as you can because these guys know how to engage their audience like no other.

The most popular online retailers - These guys bring in the big bucks for a reason and it's pretty likely that you're already using them. Think about how you can make your web experience more like what people are use to when they visit these sites. For example, do you have a shopping cart option for gift opportunities? Why not?

Ultimately, it's all about your user - not about the organization. Higher ed still hasn't managed to get that. They think the college is the center of the universe and that everything else should revolve around it. It's time to sit back and take a realistic view of the situation instead of some manufactured idealist view from middle managers who THINK they know what works on the web but really have no idea.

Next time: My rant on why non-web people should not be making web decisions. This should be a fun one :-)