UPA Meeting and Chapter Council Election Nominations (Sydney, Australia)
Monday, September 8th, 2008 by Casey Glass| September 11, 2008 | ||
| 6:00 pm | to | 8:00 pm |
It’s been a while since UPA Sydney has met. Now that the days are getting longer, the temperature is finally getting warmer, and World Usability Day is just around the corner, it’s definitely time to get UPA Sydney rolling once again.
The September event will be as follows:
Clarendon Hotel 156 Devonshire Street (cnr Waterloo), Surry Hills 9319 6881 (Map)
6:00 - 6:30pm: Drinks, socializing, networking, joining UPA Sydney
6:30 - 7:00pm: Designing Mobile Wayfinding Applications: Carolin Plate, The Hiser Group
7:00 - 7:15pm: Nomination and election of 2008-2009 Chapter Council
7:15 - 8:00pm: Planning for World Usability Day and networking
About the presentation
Carolin Plate will present her results from a recent comparative study in pedestrian navigation, where she investigated whether users find visual or text-based interfaces more efficient and effective on mobile devices for visual-spatial tasks such as finding your way in an unfamiliar environment. The results of this research are surprising, and they have potential implications for the user interface design of lots of different types of navigation aids.
This is a great kick-off to launch our efforts for World Usability Day in Sydney, where the theme is transportation.
About Carolin Plate
Carolin joined The Hiser Group as a usability consultant at the beginning of 2008. With a background in mathematics, computer science, computational linguistics and cognitive psychology, Carolin can approach the design of user interfaces from both the developer’s perspective and the end user’s point of view.
Prior to joining Hiser, Carolin worked in the Computer-Human Adapted Interaction Group at the University of Sydney assisting its team of developers with initial design and usability testing. Previous to that, Carolin held internships with IBM Research Germany and the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI).
Carolin received her Bachelors and Masters of Cognitive Science from the University of Osnabrueck. Her Masters research (the subject of this talk) was carried out in cooperation with the Computer Human Adapted Interaction Group of the University of Sydney under the supervision of Professor Judy Kay.
Call for Nominations and Upcoming Election
The September meeting will also be an opportunity to nominate and elect the 2008-2009 Chapter Council.
There are four positions to be filled, as follows:
- President
- Vice President
- Secretary
- Treasurer
General responsibilities for each of these are described below (of course, subject to change as our chapter evolves). Any member of the parent UPA organisation is eligible to hold office and vote in the election. As a reminder, to be a voting member of UPA Sydney, you will need to be a member of the parent UPA organisation, however, we also offering associate membership in UPA Sydney to those who choose not to become members of UPA. However, we need to have a quorum of voting members at the meeting in order to hold the election.
This is your chance to get involved. Please consider nominating yourself (or someone else who accepts the nomination!) for one of these roles. And please come to vote. Hope to see you there.
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President
The Chapter President heads the Chapter Council and is responsible for all operations of the Chapter. The Chapter President:
- conducts regular meetings of the Chapter Council (at least three to five meetings per year are recommended)
- assigns duties to other officers soon after their election
- suggests schedules for ongoing Chapter programs both within the Association and in collaboration with other professional groups
- explores topics for the coming years meetings with the Program Committee and other officers
- appoints special assistants or committees for specific tasks not easily managed by standing committees
- applies and maintains controls for budgets, expenditures, and other fiscal activities and, together with the Treasurer, signs all Chapter checks
- reviews contents of Chapter website prior to posting
- writes articles and columns for the Chapter website
- leads in the formulation of goals and policies for the Chapter
- contacts committee managers periodically to obtain status/activity reports, which are then submitted to the Chapter officers
- submits a report describing Chapter activities to the Chapter Sponsor prior to each UPA Board of Directors meeting
- submits informal reports frequently to keep the Chapter Sponsor informed about the general condition of the Chapter
- ensures that procedures for Chapter elections are carried out properly
Vice President
The Vice President:
- maintains a special awareness of all Chapter operations and confers frequently with the Chapter President, not only to advise and assist, but also to gain knowledge that could prove useful if the Vice President becomes President
- helps formulate policy and establish the Chapter’s long-term and short-term goals
- monitors the Chapter’s finances on a continuing basis
- assumes the duties of Chapter President when the President is unavailable
- performs other duties as defined by the President
Secretary
The Secretary:
- takes minutes at Chapter Council and other Chapter meetings (or arranges for a substitute)
- prepares and distributes copies of meeting minutes to officers within ten days
- prepares correspondence related to Chapter business at the direction of the Chapter President
- ensures that the annual Elections are managed in accordance with UPA by-laws
Treasurer
The Treasurer:
- prepares a budget at the beginning of the Chapter year
- establishes and maintains any bank accounts
- prepares periodic reports of Chapter income and expenditures for review by the Chapter President
- develops a detailed year-end report (as of December 31) of all financial transactions; grouping income and expenses for each major activity
