Welcome to Buenos Aires! ¡Bienvenidos a Buenos Aires!
Monday, August 10th, 2009 by Gonzalo J. AuzaMy name is Gonzalo J. Auza and I am the local ambassador for UXNet in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I am founder and Director of Inter-Cultura, a User Experience and Usability consultancy firm.
In our city there is a small but growing community of user experience practitioners. The more experienced members of our community have been working for more than a decade in the fields of usability, interaction and interface design, information architecture or accessibility. There are professionals working in Buenos Aires for Internet companies, software factories, design studios and consultancy firms; and students and young professionals of Design, Computer Science, Social Sciences, Psychology and other areas have an increasing interest in our field.
There are in Buenos Aires a number of activities in terms of professional or social meetings, conferences and workshops among others. The most important event lately was the World Usability Day 2008 - Buenos Aires, with more than 150 attendees. The event was very successful and we are planning to organize it again this year.
We also have an incipient institutional activity: we have a local group of IxDA; the members of UPA are working on the start up of the local chapter; and other institutions like ISOC (Internet Society) are promoting usability and accessibility as well.
To promote our field and to provide links for a regional community, at Inter-Cultura we have created a Linkedin group called Usabilidad en Latinoamérica with almost 400 members.
UXNet asked me to include a description of who I am. So here it goes: I have been linked with the field since the end of ‘90; yet, before creating my own company, Inter-Cultura. I connected to the Internet in 1994 and became a usability enthusiast and an ardent reader three or four years later, while I was working on web design; thanks to Eduardo Mercovich, a colleague and friend that introduced the concept in Argentina. After my first user tests in 2000 the way was clear: that year I published my first professional article and the following year I taught my first course at Universidad Católica Argentina. Since then I have become increasingly involved with user experience; especially with usability and information architecture. Nowadays all my time is devoted to user experience, as I am now working for local and international clients from diverse industries.
I actively promote our field and disciplines in Argentina and Latin America through conferences, courses, articles and an active participation in professional associations.
I expect to keep you updated on the main events and news of our community through UXNet. If you learn about an UX event coming up in this city or anything else that would be of interest for this community, please let me know.
Let’s keep in touch through UXNet!
Best Regards,
