Friday 5 — 9.18.2015

By Friday Five

design tools survey

  1. A survey of >4,000 designers revealed the most commonly used design tools, from brainstorming to wireframing to project management. As a big user of different project management platforms, I found it interesting to see the fragmentation of the market.
  2. In a similarly complicated arena, Growthverse is an interactive visualization of marketing technologies, a tool for marketers who have a need and want to browse solutions. A recent update makes the information easier to access, with direct links to categories like social content analytics or workflow collaboration.
  3. Imagine the meanest email you ever wrote, searchable on the internet. Security expert Bruce Schneier paints a sobering picture of our vulnerability to organizational doxing in an era of cloud computing.
  4. If you were hiding under a rock this week, you may have missed the Ahmed Mohamed, a 14 year old Muslim boy who was suspended for bringing a homemade clock to school in Texas. #IStandWithAhmed generated well over half a million tweets, serious invitations to the White House and to Facebook, along with the inevitable funny responses.
  5. 18F launched Federalist, a platform for quick creation of static government websites. Web platform solutions for website or mobile apps are notoriously hard to propagate in a world where people gravitate toward the bespoke. Federalist is an excellent example of combining open source software, canny feature tradeoffs, and excellent design to deliver a platform users will adopt.

Don’t miss: HUBweek is a weeklong series of events celebrating the innovative work happening at the intersection of art, science, and technology in and around Greater Boston. Check out a masterclass in Fenway Parkflying robotics in Harvard Stadium, all the Harvard events, or the full listing. The week starts October 3: most events are free or low cost, and open to all.

Weekend fun: Worried about our robotic drone overlords? Consider befriending some professional ice hockey players.

Every Friday, find five, highly subjective pointers to compelling technologies, emerging trends, and interesting ideas that affect how we live and work digitally. Try out the Friday 5 archive, or sign up for a weekly email.

 

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