Organizations

UPA 2008 (Baltimore, MD, USA)

Saturday, May 10th, 2008 by Conference Editor
June 16, 2008toJune 20, 2008

The international UPA 2008 conference will be held in Baltimore on June 16-20, 2008.

This is a great conference for people new to usability as well as for experienced practitioners. You will meet wonderful people and get lots of practical tips and ideas. Monday June 16 and Tuesday June 17 are tutorials and workshops, while the main conference runs Wednesday June 18 through Friday June 20.

The theme of this year’s conference is “The Many Faces of User Experience: Usability through holistic practice.” Many types of professionals touch the user experience of a product. Marketing specialists, graphic designers, computer scientists, business analysts, psychologists, information architects, technical writers and others bring valuable perspectives to usability and user experience. UPA 2008 invites you to share perspectives and learn from the experiences of other practitioners.

This year’s conference will feature a special full-day program on usability in e-Government on Tuesday, June 17. There will be panel sessions on the status of usability in the U.S. Federal Government and in other governments around the world, small group discussions, and presentations and case studies on a wide range of topics.

UPA 2008 will also introduce a new topic called Managing User Experience. It includes sessions geared towards user experience managers, directors, or team leaders.

Find out more details about the conference
.

PhillyCHI and PANMA Happy Hour (Philadelphia, PA, USA)

Friday, May 9th, 2008 by Crystal Kubitsky
May 15, 2008
5:30 pmto7:30 pm

Come out and join PhillyCHI and PANMA for a beer, or two!

Thursday, May 15, 2008
5:30 - 7:30
National Mechanics, 22 S 3rd Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19106
http://www.nationalmechanics.com
RSVP: phillychi@gmail.com (nice, but not necessary)

About PhillyCHI

PhillyCHI is a Philadelphia-area professional group for those interested in Human-Computer Interaction, User Experience, Usability and other related disciplines. We meet twice a month to network and discuss current topics in UX and HCI. For more information, visit http://phillychi.acm.org

About PANMA

The Philadelphia Area New Media Association serves individuals and companies involved in digital development. By offering a professionally and socially friendly environment, PANMA enhances the interconnections in our community, encourages locally trained and educated professionals to make their homes in the Philadelphia region, and increases employment and business opportunities for our industry.

The Philadelphia Area New Media Association supports the regional digital development community.

We are web designers, graphic artists, database developers, programmers, information architects, marketers and other professionals.

Expecting surprises: A User Research Case Study (Hong Kong)

Monday, April 28th, 2008 by Daniel Szuc
May 22, 2008
7:00 pmto9:00 pm

Expecting surprises: A User Research Case Study (Hong Kong) - 22 May 2008

Conducting user research programs is much more of an art than a science. Even a very small sample size could easily demand serious planning and vigilance in execution, however, the knowledge and insights it brings also goes way beyond what one can get from data based studies such as a survey.

This presentation will take us through a project case study for predesign work targeted at collectors.

See UPA Hong Kong for more information.

NH UPA May Meeting: Sneak Peak at Morae 3 and UserVue Demo

Monday, April 28th, 2008 by Kyle Soucy
May 21, 2008 6:00 pmtoMay 22, 2008 8:00 pm

Topic: Morae 3 and UserVue Demo!

Speaker: Shane Lovellette, Morae and UserVue Product Manager - Techsmith

When you think of TechSmith Morae, you probably think of testing things on a computer screen—like a software application or Web site. But what about testing the iPhone user’s experience? Could Morae speed up and simplify a whole range of testing methods, from paper prototyping to in-depth interviews to focus groups? Could it enable unmoderated testing? The Morae development team is hard at work to support all these methods and approaches! In this session, we’ll pull back the curtain to give you a peek at what’s coming…and demonstrate specific use scenarios. We hope you can join us!

Shane Lovellette, the creator of Morae and UserVue, will be here from TechSmith to give us a demo and explain the benefits of using the new version of Morae and UserVue for conducting, recording, observing, analyzing, and presenting the results of in-person and remote user research tests.

When:
Wednesday, May 21st
Refreshments & Networking: 6-7:00 PM – Food & beverages will be provided.
Meeting: 7:00 PM – 8ish

Where:
Chordiant Software, Inc.
8 Commerce Drive
Bedford, NH 03110

Google map: http://tinyurl.com/43le9t

Summary:
The demo will cover how to: collect local and remote test session data, observe test sessions in local and remote environments, and analyze test sessions with the advanced analytical capabilities of the new v. 3.0 of Morae Manager (not out yet!) and UserVue. We will learn about automated and aggregated usability metric analysis, graphing and reporting, as well as creating video highlight presentations.

For those of you who already use Morae and UserVue, Shane will answer any questions you have about the products and give us all a demo of the new version of Morae 3.

About Shane Lovellette:
Shane Lovellette is the product manager for Morae and UserVue. Shane came to TechSmith with over eight years of management and production experience in video and television.

In 2004, Shane helped TechSmith introduce Morae, the first all-digital solution that records and synchronizes user and system data for the analysis of human-computer interaction. In that time, Morae has become the gold standard for usability testing and user experience research.

Shane holds a bachelor’s degree in television, radio, and film production from Syracuse University and an MBA from Michigan State University. Shane resides in DeWitt, Michigan, with his wife and two children.

RSVP:
Please send RSVPs to info@nhupa.org so we have an idea of the head count for the venue and refreshments.

***NH UPA meetings are always open to anyone who is interested in attending. Membership to the UPA is NOT required.***

UPA 2009 (Portland, OR, USA)

Monday, April 28th, 2008 by Conference Editor
June 8, 2009toJune 12, 2009

The 2009 annual conference of the Usability Professionals’ Association will be June 8-12 in Portland, Oregon.

Over time, more information will be available on the UPA conference page.

Sketching and storytelling (IxDA) - (NYC, NY, US

Monday, April 21st, 2008 by Whitney Quesenbery
April 29, 2008
6:30 pmto8:30 pm

The IxDA NYC April event is an Interaction08 redux. We’ll provide quick summaries to kick off a discussion on sketching and storytelling as pivotal tools for design.In his keynote, Bill Buxton convinced us that he views sketching as more than a design technique. At times, it can be a lifestyle choice. Sketches are used to explore a design problem: to generate alternatives, to elaborate upon them, and to winnow them. With this introduction, we’ll give some examples of projects in which sketching has come in handy and invite you to do so too.

We’ll also visit storytelling. The conversational nature of a well-constructed story makes for engaging designs. We’ll review and build on ideas reflected in talks by Sarah Allen, Chris Conley, and Gretchen Anderson. You can join in by telling a story that drove a successful project, or by recounting what happened when you tackled a project with a storytelling approach.

Whether you were at the Interaction08 (http://interaction08.ixda.org) or not, we want to hear your stories about how sketching and storytelling have made a difference in your design work. In advance of the redux, we have created a wiki where we encourage you to offer sketches, stories and more that we can share during this lively discussion. For a wiki invitation, just request wiki access when you reply.

Location to be announced on RSVP. Respond to nyc-rsvp at ixda dot org.

IxDA DC Kick-off Social ~ RSVP!

Monday, April 21st, 2008 by Olga Howard
April 28, 2008
5:30 pmto7:30 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

Revolving Door Technique: a low-planning, multi-topic rapid data

Monday, April 21st, 2008 by Olga Howard
April 22, 2008
6:00 pmto9:00 pm

Near the end of 2006, the new, quite large website we were working on was nearing launch. Most site product areas needed rapid user feedback due to an aggressive development schedule. And, as we neared launch, more functionality was available so it was actually feasible to test user response to the working elements. However, with a 2-person research team and MANY disparate small research needs, we had to develop a way to effectively get customer input within days of the frequent requests.

We developed the Revolving Door technique in response to this need. It’s called Revolving Door because we scheduled participants to come in a steady stream over a period of 5 weeks and altered the usual research request process allow last-second requests to come in, thus shuffling and changing what topics were put in front of the revolving series of participants.

Working with lots of different topics with a high volume of participants and providing analysis within 2 to 3 days of starting testing helped us learn a lot about juggling disparate needs. We are eager to share what we learned in order to help other research teams provide agile, rapid research with confidence and without going bonkers.

Date and time:
April 22, 2008
6:00-7:00 p.m. Dinner at La Madeleine for anyone who would like to join us
7:00-9:00 p.m. Presentation

Location:
Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center
4805 Edgemoor Lane
Bethesda, MD 20814
Presenters:

Leah Rader: With 10 years experience in understanding and crafting
user experiences through qualitative research methods, Leah most
enjoys the improvisational moments in participant interviews. She has
delved into the behavior and thinking of customers as a head
researcher for consulting firms, e-Lab, Sapient, and Matter. She
started up the user experience research practice for Marriott
International and most recently has worked with Revolution Health as a
freelance researcher.

Beth Toland: Beth has a broad range of experience having worked in
most major functions of the web–from design and information
architecture to content development and research. Her specialty is
messaging and branding which is particularly useful in solutions
development and opportunity mapping. Beth has led projects for
consulting firms Andersen and Sapient, and helped build the research
practice at Marriott International. Most recently, she developed the
research offering at Revolution Health, where she pioneered several
new data collection methods.

Registration:
Please register online at
http://www.upa-dc-metro.org/registration/event/beginEventReg.php

Cost
$5 members
$15 nonmembers

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.

La Madeleine is located at:
7607 Old Georgetown Rd
Bethesda, MD 20814.
The restaurant is a short walk from the Bethesda Metro stop.

IXDA Pittsburgh : Current Interaction Design and IA topics (Pittsburgh, PA)

Friday, April 18th, 2008 by Michele Marut
April 24, 2008
6:30 pmto8:00 pm

Date: April 24 2008

Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

About This Event

Date: Thursday, April 24 2008

Time: 6:30 PM Refreshments & Networking

7:00 PM Presentations

8:00 PM Optional trip to the Walnut Grill in Shadyside for drinks

Place: Daedalus Excel’s Offices, 4914 Baum Blvd, 15213

Map: http://www.daed.com/contact_maps.tt2

RSVP: An RSVP is not required, but it helps us to have an idea of the head count for the venue. Please send RSVPs to mmarut15 at gmail.com

Local IXDA members will be giving brief presentations on a timely IXD topic for the purpose of engaging the group in a discussion.

Sofia Mirza, MDes ‘07, Communication & Information Design, will present her Visualization Toolkit: Tools for Visualizing Qualitative Information for Understanding

Peter Bird, MDes ‘08, Communication & Information Design, will present his ongoing thesis work on Designing for Travel: An Analysis of Public Transportation System Information Aids

Don Charlton from Wall-to-Wall Studios will present his Lessons for Interface Designers
:A series of quick, easily-digestable ideas

William Bernstein from Daedalus Excel will present a case study on the Development of an Interface for Home Dialysis

IDSA Western District Conference (Portland, OR)

Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 by Michele Marut
April 25, 2008toApril 27, 2008

IDSA Western District Conference “The Bird and the Buffalo: Symbiotic Relationships in the Ecosphere of Design”

April 25-27, 2008, Art Institute of Portland, Portland, OR.

See idsa-western.org for more information.