So my trip to the bookstore was a bit of a bust. I went to the ridiculously huge Barnes & Noble at Desert Ridge Mall. Of the ones on my list, the only book they had in stock from my list was Jakob Nielsen's Designing Web Usability. It was an interesting read, and instead of purchasing it, I read it almost cover-to-cover while seated in a cumfy chair at the back of the store. It was mostly about the specifics of making truly useful web pages, where usefulness and ease of use was more important than the appearance. I learned a lot.
But it wasn't what I was looking for. I wanted to find a book about how large groups of people use a corporate web site to coordinate their efforts, and to disseminate information effectively. My conclusion must be that this book simply hasn't been written yet.
In a way, I guess I'm glad. I sometimes prefer a creative challenge that is not hindered by an environment full of "this is the standard" or "this is what everyone expects out of this." Sometimes, it's nice to just start the design process at the basement level, and work my way up.
I've done it before, in a previous life as a high school teacher. But this challenge is different. I lack a true knowledge base of computer knowledge to figure out how to get from my ideas to a finished working project (that nurses really will use).
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