[Build Backlinks Online] #MozCon Speaker Interview: Karen McGrane

Build Backlinks Online has posted a new item, '#MozCon Speaker Interview: Karen
McGrane'


Posted by Erica McGillivray

I'm really excited that we're bringing Karen McGrane, CEO at Bond Art +
Science, to this year's MozCon. A veteran of the content world, she's a champion
of making great content accessible to your audience. Karen proclaims that mobile
is the best thing that's ever happened for content. In fact, she wrote a book on
it. She'll be talking "The Mobile Content Mandate" at MozCon, and you won't want
to miss it.

When Karen's not rooting for seamless content across all devices, you might
find her on Twitter @karenmcgrane and maybe chatting about artichokes. Which as
I interviewed her, I wanted to know more about both.

What's inspired you lately?

I always get a huge burst of energy at this time of year. My birthday is April,
and springtime always feels like a fresh start. I like to work outside on my
terrace when the weather starts getting warm. Iâm sitting outside right
now! It feels like a good way to get things done and pretend that Iâm on
vacation at the same time.

Since you'll be talking about mobile content strategy at MozCon this year, what
mobile devices are your favorite to use?

Iâm a pretty devoted iOS userâIâm on my third iPhone and
second iPad (the iPhone 5 and iPad mini.) I think cross-platform use and testing
is a huge challenge on mobile. My developer friends spend a lot of time (and
often, money) putting together device labs for testing. Weâve been through
this before on the desktop web, and hopefully weâll move quickly to ensure
cross-platform and cross-browser consistency on the mobile web
tooâthatâs what we need to ensure the web grows and evolves.

What sites are your favorite to access on mobile devices?

Sadly, many sites still arenât optimized for the mobile web. The New York
Times mobile website is pretty weak -- theyâve invested more in apps -- so
I still visit their desktop site from my mobile browser. (I led the redesign of
that site in 2005, so Iâm intimately familiar with it!)

In some cases, the mobile website is actually better than the desktop site.
Travel is one category where theyâve invested in optimizing for local
users, so in many cases the mobile site is faster and simpler. Booking.com
provides a great mobile experience, and it shows. Their revenue from mobile
bookings tripled from $1 billion to $3 billion last year.



Banking is another category where theyâve invested a lot in transactional
applications. Iâm consistently impressed by the mobile banking app from my
bank, Chase. But banks have a long ways to go in delivering content to mobile
usersâmost offer only a paltry subset of product and customer service
content compared to the desktop.

You're an extremely proficient writer and speaker. Do you have a certain
writing routine that you apply to your daily schedule? A time, a place, a device
to start with, a process, music?

If Iâm writing an article or a new talk, I must ensure that I have a
clear schedule. I need an entire day to focus on the writing, and I canât
concentrate if Iâm trying to fit it in around client conference calls and
meetings. Given any opportunity to distract myself, I will do it! So I also try
to make sure my apartment is tidy, and Iâm at inbox zero, otherwise
Iâll find myself vacuuming under the bed instead of writing.

I like to write on the sofa or outside on my terraceâI find it easier to
focus when Iâm away from my desk. I sit at my desk and use two monitors
when Iâm making slides for a talk, but when Iâm writing I prefer to
just use my laptop.

On your website, your tagline says "On a good day, I make the web more
awesome." Who are the people out there making the web more awesome that you
admire?

Iâm so grateful to so many people. Iâve learned a lot and been
genuinely blessed to work with some amazing people over the years.

The team at Arc90 does some really impressive work, and they are smart people.
They put out the read-it-later app Readability, as well as a bunch of projects
with banks and publishers.

I teach in the MFA program in Interaction Design at the School of Visual Arts
in New York. I teach design management, which is essentially âbusiness
skills for user experience designers.â Liz Danzico is the chair of the
program, and sheâs assembled a fantastic lineup of instructors and every
year itâs a great group of students. I learn a lot being a part of it.

And, of course, Iâm indebted to Jeffrey Zeldman and the various teams at
A List Apart, An Event Apart, and A Book Apart. I write a column for ALA; my
book was published by ABA; and Iâve spoken at AEA many times. Zeldman has
a real knack for connecting amazing people, and my work is so much better
because of the high standards they set.

In addition to being on the cutting-edge of mobile, you're also a computer
history geek. Who's your favorite unknown scientist or major contributor in
computers that made a huge impact on what we do today?

Well, sheâs not exactly unknown, but Grace Murray Hopper is an amazing
woman and a fantastic role model for our industry. She spent 40 years in the
Navy as a computer scientist, retiring as a rear admiral. There are not many
programmers who have a U.S. Navy Destroyer named after them, but the U.S.S.
Hopper is named for her. I describe her as "the person who taught computers to
speak our language." She came up with the first "compiler," which essentially
allowed people to type commands in English, rather than in binary. It took her
years to convince people that computers could do more than just arithmetic.



Okay, now what I've been dying to know, what's your favorite way to cook an
artichoke?

I eat a lot of artichokes. My everyday preparation is simply to steam the whole
artichoke and serve it with a vinaigrette made of lime juice and good olive oil.
For a fancier preparation, I like to braise the artichokes, searing them first
and then simmering them in chicken stock and white wine. The only trick to
braising is you need to pull off most of the tough outer leavesâI usually
yank off what I think is right, then take off another layer. If you can get baby
artichokes, they are especially nice when braised and served with the braising
sauce over pasta. (I like to serve them with scallops.) Yum.

Yum indeed. Thank you so much, Karen, for sharing a little bit of the future, a
little bit of history, and a little bit about artichokes with us. You can follow
Karen on Twitter @karenmcgrane or better yet, join us for her MozCon talk.
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