FAQ Sections
Overview
Q: What is UX?
A: According to UXnet, the User Experience Network, user experience
is "an emerging field concerned with improving the design of anything people experience: a web site, a toy, or a museum. UX is inherently interdisciplinary, synthesizing methods, techniques, and wisdom from many fields, ranging from brand design to ethnography to library science to architecture and more."
Q: What is UX Zeitgeist?
A: UX Zeitgeist combines input from the UX community with data from a variety of web services to generate an unequaled collection of UX books and related topics. UX Zeitgeist also profiles the trends that describe the field's evolution.
Q: How do I contact you with my questions/suggestions/criticisms?
A: We're always looking for feedback and new ideas; feel free to contact us.
Why We Are Doing This
Q: How will the UX world benefit from UX Zeitgeist?
A: The UX community will enjoy:
- A communally-derived collection of books representing the UX canon, ranked and sortable by a variety of useful criteria
- A comprehensive list of topics that describe the current needs and interests of the UX community
- Rich contextual information on specific UX books and topics
- Profiles of what colleagues in the UX community are thinking, reading, and blogging
Q: How will Rosenfeld Media benefit from UX Zeitgeist?
A: By enabling the UX community to assemble useful resources, Rosenfeld Media will gain two benefits:
- We'll have greater visibility among the community that we hope will buy our books
- We-and competing publisherswill have a view of current trends and a validated list of topics that members of the UX community would like to see covered by future books
Q: Will Rosenfeld Media sell my responses?
A: No, we won't sell your information or use any of the data in an exploitative way. However, we do collect data on the data in order to generate our trends. And remember, your responses will be shared publicly via the UX Zeitgeist web site, so it won't afford us any secret advantage in our plans for world domination.
Participation
Q: How do I get to participate in UX Zeitgeist and suggest books and topics?
A: For now, participation is by invitation only. We're considering ways of opening up the participation process after the site is more mature.
Q: Why are you being so elitist? I have something to say about UX books and topics.
A: Absolutely, but because UX Zeitgeist requires editorial effort to work properly, we're using an invitation-only model that will help us scale up the service slowly. Once we understand how much care and feeding the service requires, we should be able to open up participation.
Q: But I really want to participate now. What can I do?
A: If you're desperate, and know one of the people who've already participated, you can ask one to request an invitation on your behalf.
Q: Will you edit participant responses?
A: Yes, we do check for spelling errors, and we normalize book topics. For example, if you suggested a topic that's already in UX Zeitgeist, albeit with slightly different wording, we may change your wording to match what's already there. We don't want to put words in your mouth; the point of UX Zeitgeist is to reflect the community's interests, not Rosenfeld Media's. If you have any questions about what we've done to your responses, please contact us.
Q: I'm one of the lucky ones who got to participate; when will my responses show up on the site?
A: As soon as we get a chance to edit your responses (see previous question).
How UX Zeitgeist Works
Q: How do you determine which books, topics, and people are included in UX Zeitgeist?
A: We don't: you do. The books and topics listed come from members of the user experience community invited to participate or nominated by their colleagues.
Q: Is UX Zeitgeist's content created by Rosenfeld Media?
A: No, we're simply the content's aggregator. We gather suggestions and other information from members of the UZ community, and aggregate it with relevant data from a variety of other web sites and services. Rosenfeld Media minimally edits the information submitted by participants.
Q: How do you arrive at your rankings for books and topics? What's the secret sauce?
A: Nothing secret here; we simply take the various scores that each book and topic receives from the content sources we aggregate (e.g., Amazon book sales, number of results from Google Blog Search), weight them, and hope for the best. You can see how we're currently weighting each criterion here (link We'd really appreciate your suggestions on how to improve our weighting criteria.
For Book Authors
Q: I wrote a UX book; why isn't it included in UX Zeitgeist?
A: All of the books (and topics as well) are suggested by participants. We (Rosenfeld Media, which is yes a UX book publisher) have absolutely no say over which books are nominated.
Q: How can I improve my book's ranking?
A: Get your book talked about. Book rankings are directly tied to being nominated by UX Zeitgeist participants and to mentions on the web. The more popular your book is the higher UX Zeitgeist will rank it.
For Content Providers
Q: I'd like UX Zeitgeist to feature my service's content. Can we mash?
A: Sure, let's talk. We're always looking for new and better sources of UX-related content to feature in UX Zeitgeist; if you believe that yours would be a good fit, let us know.
Q: I'd like to grab UX Zeitgeist data to include in my own service's content. Can we mash that way too?
A: Absolutely; if you want our content, we already offer lots of RSS feeds. If you're not finding what you need, contact us.