Christopher Johnson — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 11:46:50 GMT

This is an intriguing topic, one that cries out for more discussion and analysis—as does the related issue of IA for video content.

Coming from the world of Instructional Design, I find the suggestions under the “Educational Psychology” section not only compelling but also empirically valid, based both on my experience and the research that I have done. Repetition and simplicity are essential, but must be accomplished without condescension (it can be done!).

User control over audio content is also key, but is often difficult to achieve without the jarring effect of “scrubbing” the audio progress bar: speech is suddenly interrupted, as is the users attention. I recently (only last night, in fact!) saw a subtle and elegant solution to the problem of audio interruption during navigation; it was in the CD-ROM that accompanied a Verizon wireless card. Audio sections were indicated by graphic buttons, and you were free to jump from one to another as desired. The “jarring” effect was minimized by the inclusion of a looped musical “pad” or beat underlying all audio: its playback remained unbroken, flowing and throbbing along nicely while one audio section changed to another. I don’t recall if the individual sections were set to fade out upon navigating away from them, but that was certainly the effect.

For those who are interested, this was on the “Welcome” CD for the Verizon Kyocera 650 Wireless PC card.

Great post!

Boxes and Arrows: Comments by Christopher Johnson