Olga Howard
Olga is an Information Architect and Usability Consultant. For 10 years Olga has worked in the Web industry including public sites, Intranets, Extranets, interactive television, and online communities. Her focus is in providing Information Architecture, Usability consulting, Interaction Design, and Community Network Strategy to create great Web Experience Design. She has a wide breadth of experience starting with design and producer roles to project management. Olga can be reached at olga [at] olgahow [dot] com.
Website: http://olgahow.com/
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
| November 13, 2008 |
| 2:00 pm | to | 3:00 pm |
“Create Great Usability Requirements” - A free webinar to celebrate World Usability Day
Thursday, November 13, 2:00-3:00 pm ET
http://www.usa.gov/webcontent/usability/world_usability_day.shtml
Join Government Usability Experts Mary Theofanos and Sharon Laskowski of NIST for a webinar on how to use the great new usability requirements toolkit called CISUR (”Scissor”). See http://zing.ncsl.nist.gov/iusr/documents/CISU-R-IR7432.pdf for more information.
Sponsored by the Web Managers Forum User Experience Task Group (UXTG). Government and non-government participants are welcome. This webinar will replace our regular monthly task group call.
Free event but registration required. Register your webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/767257267
Read about How to Write Good Usability Requirements (FAQs) at http://www.usa.gov/webcontent/usability/cisur.shtml.
Posted in Calendar | Online | UPA | World Usability Day 2008
Tags: Government | Webinar
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Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
| November 13, 2008 |
| 2:00 pm | to | 3:00 pm |
Toral Contractor, NavigationArts’ Director of User Research, will discuss how design trends impact usability.
Celebrate World Usability Day with NavigationArts
LIVE Webinar: Thursday, November 13 at 2 pm EDT
Join NavigationArts’ Director of User Research as she explores the latest web design trends and how they impact usability. A website that was considered highly usable in 1995 would probably not appear so today. What about a site from 2005? How do user expectations for the Web affect a site’s usability, and how can you factor that into your plans for your website?
During this session, we will cover:
* The impact of Web 2.0, social networking, user generated content, and blogs on usability
* Alternative navigation schemes
* The evolution of “the fold”
* User expectations for search
* The usability principles that are so fundamental – they never change
TO REGISTER, VISIT: http://www.navigationarts.com/webinar/
Posted in Calendar | Online | UPA | World Usability Day 2008
Tags: Webinar
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Monday, September 8th, 2008
| November 11, 2008 |
| 9:00 am | to | 5:00 pm |
In this workshop, Louis Rosenfeld will focus on how site search analytics can improve the performance of search systems, navigation, content, metadata, and ultimately the entire user experience. The workshop includes group discussion and lots of hands-on analysis.
The full description and registration information are available here:
http://louisrosenfeld.com/ssa/
November 11, 9am-5pm (early registration deadline: 10/17)
The following day Steve Krug will present his “Discount Usability Testing” workshop (http://www.sensible.com/workshops.html). Discounts are available when you register for both, as well as for early registration and when three or more register concurrently.
Posted in Calendar | Washington, DC, USA
Tags: DC | krug | rosenfeld | search | testing | Usability | workshop
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Friday, July 18th, 2008
| September 18, 2008 |
| 5:00 pm | to | 8:00 pm |
Hear UPA DC member Dr. Mary Lozano give a talk sponsored by the Potomac Chapter of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES).
Speaker: Dr. Mary Lozano, Technical Advisor for Northrop Grumman Corporation Electronic Systems
Topic: Interfacing Systems Engineering and Human Performance Modeling
Tools: Improving the Design of Human-Systems Integration
Where: Positano Restaurant
4940 Fairmont Ave. Bethesda MD 20814
Three blocks from the Bethesda Metro Station on the Red Line.
Parking garages are across the street and also around the corner.
301-654-1717
Schedule:
6:00 pm - networking with Mary and others
6:30 - dinner: order off the menu; each person pays their own. (see menu info)
7:30 - coffee/tea and dessert, courtesy of the Potomac Chapter. (If you prefer, you can skip dinner and come for complimentary coffee/tea and dessert!)
7:40 - Mary’s talk on “Interfacing SE and HP Modeling Tools”
8:30 - questions/discussion and wrap-up
RSVP: Please notify Derek Schultz (mediadesign@att.net; 301-656-1897) by Wednesday 9/17/08
=> if you plan to attend, and
=> whether you’ll be there for dinner or coffee/dessert only.
Abstract: In a well-designed human-machine system, the system performs better jointly than either the human or the machine does separately. Human reliance on the automation associated with machines can result in loss of operator vigilance and situation awareness, more opportunity for human error, lack of practice and, hence, a
decrease in skills and an increase in workload demands during high tempo, high risk conditions. A proper allocation of functions to the machine and the human can help alleviate these challenges, challenges that become more acute with increased demand for more autonomous systems. A technique for accomplishing this type of allocation could involve the integration of two modeling tools - the Systems Modeling Language (SysML) design and analysis language tool and the Integrated Manpower and Personnel Integration (IMPRINT) task network modeling tool. A combined SysML-IMPRINT tool would overcome limitations of each individual tool - SysML does not satisfactorily capture human performance adequately, whereas IMPRINT does not have advanced system engineering data necessary to adequately identify human driven constraints. Interfacing SysML and IMPRINT would allow systems engineering to include human performance as a critical design parameter, and would also allow the interaction of human-system performance to be assessed throughout the system life cycle. This presentation will discuss the use of SysML and IMPRINT to address the challenges of human-machine systems integration.
Speaker Bio: Mary L. Lozano, Ph.D. is a Technical Advisor for Northrop Grumman Corporation Electronic Systems (NGES), providing technical information to Supportability Engineering team for various project areas in Department of Defense operations. For the first ten years of her career, she was a federal employee with the U.S. Department of Navy, the Office of Personnel Management and the U.S. Army at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Employment with aerospace industries included workload and performance measures for military operations, system safety engineering, researcher and development specialist, analyst of crew station tactical displays for the military, and evaluator of workstation suites for FAA air traffic controllers. Dr. Lozano collaborated with international partners for project design and review for the following industries: Rockwell International-North American Aircraft, McDonnell Douglas Space Systems - International Space Station, General Dynamics Land Systems and Advanced Information Systems, Hughes Aircraft, Raytheon Company - US Navy DDX, SAIC - Future Combat Systems, and Anteon - US Coast Guard Deepwater Program.
Posted in Calendar | Local meeting | UPA | Washington, DC, USA
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Friday, July 18th, 2008
| July 29, 2008 |
| 6:00 pm | to | 8:00 pm |
Celebrate summer and UPA-DC with help from mediabarn! Join your UPA-DC colleagues and friends at Oyamel, Tuesday, July 29, and share experiences, insights, and trends. Plus get a free drink ticket for an icy, festive beverage while you chat!
Light hors d’œuvres provided.
Location:
Oyamel
401 7th Street NW
Washington, DC 20004
(202) 628-1005
When you arrive, ask for the UPA-DC crowd.
Posted in Calendar | Local meeting | Social networking | UPA | Washington, DC, USA
Tags: DC-IA | DC-UPA | Networking
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Sunday, June 22nd, 2008
| June 27, 2008 |
| 11:00 am | to | 1:00 pm |
Although there are plenty of words in our language to choose from, our technical environments unconsciously encourage us to create new terms, abuse existing terms, and forget the basics of good technical communication. This presentation will describe why controlling technical terminology is so critical to our success, explain common terminology challenges that writers and editors face today, and discuss tools, tips, and tricks for how you can control the unnecessary sprawl of terminology.
Friday, June 27, 2008 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM
Fees $15 for non-members of STC Washington DC chapter
RSVP Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Posted in Calendar | Local meeting | STC | Washington, DC, USA
Tags: STC Washington DC
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Sunday, June 22nd, 2008
| August 8, 2008 |
| 12:00 am | to | 5:00 pm |
With a date like 8/8/08, we couldn’t pass up an opportunity to launch EightShapes’ public workshops!
And so, join us on August 8 for the first of a series of public workshops. We’ll start with our sweet spot, documentation, and see where it goes.
Since it’s our first, the workshop on 8/8/08 is specially priced at $345.
Want to create better documents?
Attend a one-day documentation workshop on hosted by EightShapes.
Date: August 8, 2008 (9am – 5pm)
Location: Cafritz Conference Center, on the GW campus in downtown Washington, DC (metro accessible!)
Cost: $345, includes morning and afternoon sessions, materials, and lunch Register (via PayPal): http://eightshapes.com/workshop.php
EightShapes believes in great documentation, whether we create it for you, or help you to do it yourself. This Documentation Workshop is our first public training event, intended to take your wireframes, flows, and patterns from “good enough” to “more than enough”.
This workshop is for user experience professionals at all levels who create detailed documentation as part of their work.
The Schedule:
Morning
Documentation Fundamentals with Dan Brown: Spend four hours with the author of Communicating Design—the only book on user experience design documentation—as he leads you through an exploration of wireframes and flows.
Afternoon
Advanced Wireframing and Annotations with Nathan Curtis: Take your wireframes to the next level by energizing your annotations, providing more structure, more detail, and more polish.
Conclusion
Sit through the credits and you’ll get more than a Samuel L. Jackson cameo. EightShapes will demonstrate a version of the documentation system used by many of their clients. The system provides a foundation for creating essential user experience documents efficiently and consistently.
The Location:
The event will take place at the Marvin Center of the Cafritz Conference Center, located on the George Washington University campus in Washington, DC.
To Register:
Visit http://eightshapes.com/workshop.php for more information and to reserve your spot. We look forward to seeing you there!
Posted in Calendar | Training | Washington, DC, USA
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Sunday, June 22nd, 2008
| June 26, 2008 |
| 7:00 pm | to | 8:45 pm |
Location:
Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center
4805 Edgemoor Lane
Bethesda, MD 20814
Description:
There are several conferences each spring of interest to usability professionals, but deadlines and budgets may limit our ability to attend. Featured below are the panelists, several local professionals, who will be sharing ideas and insights from the conferences that they attended in the first half of 2008. Join us for this interactive discussion!
Information Architecture (IA) Summit - Lisa Goldberg, Hallie Wilfert
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Computer-Human Interaction (CHI) Conference - Elizabeth Buie
Society for Technical Communication (STC) Annual Conference - Allen Rotz
Usability Professionals Association (UPA) Annual Conference - Melanie Huston
University of Maryland HCIL Open House - Lisa Battle
IxDA Interaction 08 - James Melzer
Registration:
Not necessary for this free event.
Cost:
Free
Directions to the Program:
The Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center is located at 4805 Edgemoor Lane, Bethesda, MD 20814. The Center is in the two-story County office building on the plaza level of the Metropolitan complex, above a County parking garage.
By Car:
The entrance to the parking garage is marked with a large blue Bethesda Center parking sign. Parking is available in the garage - $.75 per hour short-term (3 hours or less), $.50 per hour for over 3 hours. If you are coming south on Old Georgetown Road (from the Beltway use exit 36), turn right on Woodmont Avenue and the parking entrance is almost immediately on your left (second driveway). If you are coming south on Wisconsin Avenue/Rockville Pike, turn right onto Woodmont Avenue, go south for approximately one mile, cross Old Georgetown Road, and the parking garage entrance is the second driveway on your left. If you are coming north on Wisconsin or west on Rt. 410, take Old Georgetown Road north, turn left at the second traffic light (Woodmont Ave.) and the garage entrance will be on your left (it’s the second driveway). Take the elevators from the parking garage to the plaza level (P). The building is located at the center of the plaza. County and American flags and a sign bearing the County seal mark the entrance to the building.
By Metro, Bus or on Foot:
The building is located across the street from the Bethesda Metro station. From the Bethesda Metro Station, take the escalator from the bus bay to the plaza level, turn left, walk past the clock tower and across to the Metropolitan plaza using the pedestrian bridge. If you are walking from any other location, the Center’s street entrance is at 4605 Edgemoor Lane (corner of Old Georgetown and Edgemoor) and is marked with County and American flags. Take the elevator to level 2 for meeting rooms.
http://www.upa-dc-metro.org/events/2008/06-26-08.htm
Posted in Calendar | Local meeting | UPA | Washington, DC, USA
Tags: upa dc metro
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Sunday, June 22nd, 2008
| June 26, 2008 6:00 pm | to | September 4, 2008 9:00 pm |
The class write-up:”Once considered an odd idea, organizational storytelling has become widely recognized as a powerful, results-driven tool for success. This class will help you discover how narrative forges connections, strengthens relationships, informs strategy, enhances persuasive communication - and ultimately supports improving organizational performance. Managers, consultants, executives and communicators of all types will benefit from learning how to align narrative with personal/organizational mission, track the history of organizational storytelling, identify and use the seven elements of narrative form, and explore strategies for crafting clear content.”
The experience:
Although the class provides us opportunities to explore the research and practice of storytelling, it succeed in forging relationships among classmates - and exchanging practical ideas and examples we can apply in different ways. The class is conducted much like a graduate school seminar - opportunities for reading, researching, and reflecting. Special guests provide value to the class experience, and we always have fun learning and exchanging stories.
The cost and location:
The cost is $360 for ten weeks. Don’t worry if you need to miss a week or two as the class is designed to accommodate adult learners.
The class is held at USDA Graduate School/Capitol Gallery (L’Enfant Avenue metro stop). Check the USDA <http://grad.usda.gov/course_details.php?cid=MGMT4500E> site for more detail.
Two Blurbs About the Instructor
An official blurb: Thom Haller teaches principles of performance-based information architecture and usability and has more than 15-years experience with Graduate School, USDA. As a speaker and storyteller, Thom presents strategies for decreasing user frustration and increasing organizational efficiency.
An unofficial blurb offered by story guru Seth Kahan <http://www.sethkahan.com/>: Thom is a renegade instructor, subverting the dominant paradigm by providing rebelliously unconventional perspectives that encourage creativity and relentlessly bring the mainstream back into alignment with humanity’s creative potential (from which it has seriously strayed).
Posted in Calendar | Training | Washington, DC, USA
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Monday, April 21st, 2008
| April 28, 2008 |
| 5:30 pm | to | 7:30 pm |
IxDA D.C. is throwing a Face-2-Face Social so we can meet in person for drinks, socializing, and planning upcoming events based on user (you–the community) research. As such, we will be gathering both qualitative and quantitative data on the interests of the local IxDA & IA communities. We might even craft some personas (using pictures from later in the evening) to bring our archetypes to life.
So — come one, come all to this April IxDA D.C. social event. Bring your business card, or fill out a blank one there, and we will have a door prize raffle of something cool. You can RSVP to wkevans4@gmail.com
>> When: Monday, April 28th, 5:30 - 7:30pm (but feel free to stay late!)
>> Where: Cafe Citron, Dupont Circle, 1343 Connecticut Ave., Washington D.C.
>> Map: http://tinyurl.com/4guhzb
This a great opportunity to connect and network with local IxDA and IA folks - many of whom just returned from the IA Summit and are burning to share all the brilliant ideas and methods they learned.
The IxDA D.C. coordinators will be there and want you to contribute ideas as we plan upcoming events!
Please RSVP to Will Evans: wkevans4@gmail.com since we will be reserving the space.
/ IxDA D.C. Coordinators
Posted in Calendar | Events | IxDA | Washington, DC, USA
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