Items tagged "Canada"

UX Irregulars @ OCAD: “Design for the Other 90%” Private Tour + Social (Toronto, ON, Canada)

Friday, December 5th, 2008 by Kaleem
December 8, 2008
7:00 pmto9:00 pm

A private tour of the “Design for the Other 90%” exhibit at the
Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD) with curator, Charles
Reeve, on the evening of Monday, December 8th.
Charles will take us thorough this fantastic exhibit and discuss
several of the items in detail. He will also discuss the role of
experience design as it pertains to designing for the 5.8 billion
people who have little or no access to the products and services that
we take for granted.
SPACE IS LIMITED. E-mail Kaleem directly offlist.
http://groups.google.com/group/UXIrregulars/

Toronto is the ONLY Canadian stop for the Design for the Other 90%
exhibition. Don’t miss it!
Everyone is welcome to join us at 8:00 PM at Sin & Redemption (126
McCaul) just up the street from OCAD for food, drink, conversation and
the final UX Irregulars event of the 2008 calendar year whether you
are on the tour or not.
Please RSVP on Upcoming if possible so we have enough tables reserved:
http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1423220/

DESIGN FOR THE OTHER 90%
http://www.ocad.ca/mini/progallery/
A touring exhibition organized by the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt
National Design Museum
The OCAD Professional Gallery is hosting Design for the Other 90%, a
collection of design solutions addressing the basic needs of poor and
marginalized populations not traditionally serviced by professional
designers.
The exhibition, organized by the New York-based Smithsonian Cooper-
Hewitt National Design Museum and curated by Cynthia E. Smith,
explores a growing movement among designers to design low-cost
solutions for the “other 90%” — that is, the 5.8 billion people (out
of the world’s total population of 6.5 billion people) who have little
or no access to most of the products and services many of us take for
granted. Design for the Other 90% looks at how individuals and
organizations are finding unique ways to address the basic challenges
of survival and progress — for example, nearly half of the other 90%
do not have regular access to food, clean water, or shelter.
“Unconventionally, this exhibition highlights products that are
economically self-sustaining, yet affordable to people living on a
dollar a day — inexpensive irrigation systems for farming, for
instance,” says Charles Reeve, Curator of the Professional Gallery.
“The new forms of ingenuity here focus on pressing issues like poverty
relief and environmental sustainability, both of which are key themes
in what we teach and research here at OCAD.”
Toronto is the only Canadian stop for the touring exhibition. An
extensive website, including a blog, discussion forum and additional
resources is available at http://other90.cooperhewitt.org/.

Journée mondiale de l’utilisabilité / Usability Day (Montréal, Québec)

Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 by Nathalie Berger
November 7, 2008
6:00 pm

La thématique de cette quatrième édition de la JMU est l’utilisabilité dans les transports.

Utilisabilité Québec, section québécoise du Usability Professionals’ Association, célébrera l’événement à Montréal (au CRIM) et à Québec en simultané, dans une Formule «5 à 7», de 18h à 20h.
La Journée mondiale de l’utilisabilité (World Usability Day) a pour but de promouvoir le concept de l’utilisabilité à travers différents pays par l’organisation d’activités soulignant l’apport de la discipline de l’utilisabilité pour le développement de produits faciles à apprendre, faciles à utiliser, efficients et efficaces.

D’autres détails vous seront communiqués prochainement.
Vous trouverez ici un aperçu de la JMU de l’an dernier (8 novembre 2007).
—–
What is World Usability Day?
It’s about making our world work better. It’s about “Making Life Easy” and user friendly. This year’s theme is Usability in Transportation.In order to humanize a world that uses technology as an infrastructure for education, healthcare, transportation, government, communication, entertainment, work and other areas, we must develop these technologies in a way that serves people first…

World Usability Day was founded in 2005 as an initiative of the Usability Professionals’ Association to ensure that services and products important to human life are easier to access and simpler to use.

Each year, over 225 events are organized in over 40 countries around the world to raise awareness for the general public, and train professionals in the tools and issues central to good usability research, development and practice.

AnthroDesign + UX Irregulars with Steve Portigal

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008 by Kaleem
July 30, 2008
7:00 pmto10:00 pm

(via Sam Ladner)

Steve Portigal is in town and for this special occasion, we’re inviting a “crossing of the streams.”

The UX Irregulars group is also invited! For those of you who don’t know the UX Irregulars, they’re a rag-tag, fugutive fleet of user experience designers who design mostly Web interactions, but also software, and sometimes crazy things like ski hills. They LOVE anthropologists. No really, they do.

Steve is the founder of Portigal Consulting, a boutique firm that helps clients to discover and act on new insights about themselves and their customers.

Upcoming
upcoming.yahoo.com/event/945571
rurl.org/wem

Victory Cafe
581 Markham Street
www.victorycafe.ca

There is a story behind every link (Toronto, ON, Canada)

Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 by Kaleem
June 24, 2008
7:00 pmto9:00 pm

Tales of information architecture from IBM.com

Ever wonder how a large corporate web site navigation system is designed, and how it evolves over time? How certain links find their way to the corporate home page, while other ones do not? How major changes in the corporation’s business affect the web site navigation? And how the IA of the corporate web site can give clues about how well the business is doing?

If so, then join Keith Instone as he tells stories about the information architecture of ibm.com.

Keith Instone has been the information architecture lead for IBM.com for the last several years.

Where
Room 1220
Bahen Centre, University of Toronto
40 St. George Street
Toronto, ON

Google Map
http://rurl.org/tp9
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=40+St.+George+Street,+Toronto,+Ontario

ToRCHI
http://www.torchi.org/Default.aspx?pageId=91841&eventId=17628

Upcoming
http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/823375

UXIrregulars June (Toronto, ON, Canada)

Monday, June 9th, 2008 by Kaleem
June 10, 2008
6:30 pm

We’re meeting at our usual place (Duke of Devon patio) and time (second Tuesday of every month).

Current forecast is 26 C & mostly sunny - perfect for an evening on the patio for discussions about all things UX and beyond with friends & colleagues. Newcomers are always welcome so bring a friend.

The Duke is accessible underground via the PATH network from King, Union & St. Andrew TTC subway stations so on the off-chance it rains (Weather Network predicts a 30% chance) you don’t even have to step
outside!

If you’re on Upcoming, please indicate if you plan to attend so we have numbers for what will surely be a busy patio

Where
Duke of Devon (patio)
Toronto Dominion Centre, TD Tower
66 Wellington Street West (just West of Bay & Wellington)
Toronto, Ontario M5K 1H1
Google Maps
http://tinyurl.com/3ba24u
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=66+Wellington+Street+West,+Toronto,+ON

Upcoming.org
http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/778494/

Across Cultures from NFB / ONF: Connect to Canada’s Diversity through film : User Centered Design in Multicultural Context

Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 by Nathalie Berger

Across Cultures, the most recent Website of the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). In collaboration with Ideactif Conseil.

D’une culture à l’autre de l’ONF : Un design centré utilisateur en contexte multiculturel.

Le plus récent site Web de l’Office national du film du Canada (ONF) portant sur la diversité culturelle au Canada. En collaboration avec Idéactif Conseil.

Voici un aperçu de la conférence que j’ai présenté dans le cadre d’Intracom 2008, 8e conférence internationale de l’Association des professionnels professionnels en intranet, Internet et extranet (API).

Les ingrédients clés de la démarche ont été dévoilés et illustrés lors de cette présentation du making-of de la création du plus récent site Web de l’ONF portant sur la diversité culturelle au Canada. Un site qui retrace une histoire étonnante à travers des documents d’archives vidéos, audios et photos des années 40 à aujourd’hui, ainsi que des entrevues et vox populi spécialement conçus pour ce site.

Utilisabilité, accessibilité, standards Web, respect des normes et standards ouverts, SEO, et mesure sont au rendez-vous.

Vous pouvez consulter ci-dessous le fichier powerpoint de ma présentation. Il ne rend compte évidemment que d’une partie de ma communication, mais ça donne tout de même un bon aperçu.

New Frontiers in Gaming/Les nouvelles frontières du jeu (Montreal, Canada)

Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 by Nathalie Berger
April 8, 2008
5:30 pmto9:30 pm

Organisée par Interfaces Montréal, le 08 Avril 2008, 17h30-21h30, à la Société des arts technologiques [SAT] (Montréal).

Description : Les nouveaux environnements immersifs se distinguent par les expériences sensorielles, les impacts émotifs, et par les contenus dynamiques offerts aux utilisateurs. Immergé, le participant crée l’interactivité.

The emergence of new platforms brings greater power to the gaming industry in terms of both artistic impact and cultural scope. Like an interactive form of theatre, digital games are changing the space between the show and the audience, and redrawing the boundaries for interface design and multimedia content.

Conférenciers/Speakers :

    Phil Fish -­ Directeur de création, Polytron ­ Co-Fondateur, Kokoromi
    Reid Schneider - Producteur Senior, Electronic Arts Montréal
    Bart Simon - Professeur associé, Département de sociologie et anthropologie, Université Concordia
    Jonathan Morin - Chef Level Design, Ubisoft

Introduction par Sylvie Gagnon, Directrice générale, TechnoCompétences

Informations : http://www.interfacesmontreal.org/fr/conference/saison-2008/jeu/
http://www.interfacesmontreal.org/en/conference/season-2008/gaming/

Tali Krakowsky - Architecture of Play - OCAD Faculty of Design Speaker Series (Toronto, ON, Canada)

Wednesday, February 27th, 2008 by Kaleem
February 27, 2008
6:30 pmto9:30 pm

Tali Krakowsky - Algorithmic Anthologies: The Architecture of Play

Tali Krakowsky, Director of Experience Design for Imaginary Forces, has been extensively involved for the last five years in concept development, management and development of the division and its projects in both the New York and Los Angeles offices. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Design from Parsons the New School for Design and a Master of Arts from UCLA’s School of Architecture, with a thesis on interactive architecture.

Krakowsky has had a leading role in a range of projects for Imaginary Forces, including immersive environments for Airbus, BMW, IBM, MoMA and the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. Additionally, she has worked on the World Trade Center redesign competition, an installation for the Netherlands Architecture Institute and MoMA’s Tall Buildings exhibition as part of the design consortium United Architects. In addition to her work at Imaginary Forces, Tali has published several articles on design, architecture, and innovation through collaboration, and has been teaching a class on Experience Design at Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles.

Presented with the generous support of M.C. McCain.

All are welcome to attend, and admission is free. This presentation takes place in the OCAD Auditorium at 100 McCaul Street, Toronto. Limited seating available; guests are advised to arrive early.

Ontario College of Art & Design
100 McCaul Street, Toronto
www.ocad.ca | 416-977-6000

Upcoming.org
http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/410775/

An ergonomical approach of wine / Une approche ergonomique du vin : video & ppt

Wednesday, February 13th, 2008 by Nathalie Berger

Video & PowerPoint Presentations are available here (in French) : www.utilisabilitequebec.org/evenements

Utilisabilité Québec (the local Chapter of the Usability Professional Association) organized an event to celebrate the third annual World Usability Day. Featuring Eric Brangier - Director of the ETIC Research Center and Professor at the Paul Verlaine University of Metz, the conference has been presented simultaneously in Montréal & Quebec cities to academics and usability professionals.

Titled “To consume with moderation - for an ergonomical approach of wine”, the conference discussed how it is possible, useful and necessary to integrate usability studies to the development of information labels used on many products including wine. It described how usability principles can be used to design better wine labels and compared it to usability applied to internet design. For a wine to sell, it must meet many criterias like price, quality, aesthetics and usefulness. Though many products fulfill those qualities, it does not mean wine use is easily understood. It must be chosen to fit many constraints like social context, harmony with meals, pragmatic and cultural rituals ? No one wants to lose face because of an inapproriate choice of wine. How can the information relative to wine qualities be efficiently communicated to consumers.

Initially developped to help design computer interaction, and more recently Web sites virtual consumption, usability studies and their principles have been applied to the design of every day things. The conference presented a research on how attitudes towards wine can be improved, by bettering information on labels, making the various specific dimensions of a wine easier to read, understand and use in different social contexts.

Partners of the event were CITÉ (Université de Montréal), Idéactif and Impact Recherche.
—– [En français] —–
Dans le cadre de la 3e édition de la Journée mondiale de l’utilisabilité, Utilisabilité Québec (l’association des professionnels de l’utilisabilité du Québec) a reçu en conférence Eric Brangier, Directeur du centre de recherche ETIC de l’Université Paul Verlaine de Metz, et Docteur en Psychologie.

Pour qu’un produit se « vende », il doit remplir plusieurs propriétés parmi lesquelles on trouve le prix (bon marché), la qualité (bonne à excellente), le design (agréable), l’esthétique (beau) et l’ergonomie (facile à utiliser). Sur les premiers critères, il ne fait nul doute que de nombreux vins les remplissent, mais pour autant, le vin demeure un produit pas facile à utiliser… Qui comprend facilement un produit dont les conditions d’utilisation varient en fonction des contextes sociaux, des appariements culinaires, des pratiques et des rites culturels ? Qui souhaiterait se faire ridiculiser par l’usage inapproprié ou maladroit d’une bouteille mal choisie ou servie ? On voit bien que l’usage du vin dépend de très nombreuses variables que le consommateur a bien du mal à comprendre. Alors pourquoi les concepteurs de la divine bouteille ne font-ils pas d’efforts pour comprendre l’usage réel et actuel du vin ? Pourquoi ne feraient-ils pas un peu d’utilisabilité de leurs produits ?

Principalement développée dans le secteur des technologies numériques, l’utilisabilité ne s’est pas vraiment préoccupée des produits de la vie courante. Aussi, notre communication, sous la forme de clins d’œil à l’ergonomie, tentera de montrer qu’il est possible, utile et nécessaire d’intégrer l’utilisabilité à tous les produits y compris au vin.

Les partenaires de l’événement étaient le Centre de recherche interdisciplinaire sur les technologies émergentes (CITÉ) de l’Université de Montréal, Idéactif Conseil et Impact Recherche.

La présentation en format Video et PowerPoint est disponible ici : www.utilisabilitequebec.org/evenements

UXIrregulars February (Toronto, ON, Canada)

Monday, February 11th, 2008 by Kaleem
February 12, 2008
7:00 pmto11:00 pm

With most UXers back in town from vacations, CES, Macworld, VizThink, Web Directions North and other events, the UXIrregulars “second Tuesday” monthly meetups are back, too.

Spend a relaxed evening with your friends and colleagues as we return to our winter headquarters at C’est What. Bring a friend and meet your peers.

http://groups.google.com/group/UXIrregulars

Where
C’est What (downstairs) - 67 Front St. E., Toronto, Canada

Google Maps:
http://rurl.org/hc7
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=67+Front+St.+E.,+Toronto,+Ontario

Upcoming.org:
http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/422881/