| Nov. 17th, 2005 |
Next Generation Search
Panel of Presenters: Vivian Bliss, Taxonomist, Microsoft Corporation, Dr. Joe Janes, Associate Dean, UW Information School, Marianne Sweeny, Daedalus Information Systems, Kirby Winfield, Program Manager, Marchex Inc.
Location: Microsoft, Redmond, WA
Attendance: 100
Finding answers used to be simpler. First we asked our moms and the
librarians. Then we asked Altavista, Dogpile, Excite, and the other first
generation search tools. Now we "google" for answers. User-directed search
gave way to machine-directed search that is making way for what direction in
Search technology. Join us for a collective peering into the crystal ball to
see how we will be finding the information that we need.
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| November 3, 2005 |
Tutorial: Envision: Translating Data into a Design Concept
Presenter: Kim Goodwin
Location: Adobe, Seattle, WA
Attendance: 55
Kim Goodwin, director of design at Cooper Interaction Design, led a one-day seminar on the process of turning findings from user interface and usability studies into workable designs.
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| Oct. 27th, 2005 |
Software Design: Ending the Death March
Presenter: Alan Cooper
Location: Kane Hall, University of Washington, Seattle
Software construction experts agree: Your software project has a 50
percent chance of failure. The other 50 percent suffer what is commonly
known as a "Death March" where the project can only be completed on
schedule by jettisoning half of the functionality, most of the
flexibility, and all of the user friendliness. What's more, the
programmers are exhausted, the managers are frustrated, and the users
are reduced to quiet weeping.
In Alan Cooper's latest talk he will show
how executives can take control of their technical efforts and vanquish
the Death March. As usual, his comments will provide you with insights
and techniques that are as effective as they are unexpected.
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| Sept. 22nd, 2005 |
Remote Usability Testing
Presenters: Michael Medlock, Microsoft, Ken Becker, Boeing, Susan Todd, Microsoft, Julianne Bryant, Getty Images, Domenick Dellino, Washington Mutual
Location: Adobe, Seattle, WA
Attendance: 50
New tools and improved bandwidth have made remote usability testing a
reality for many in the user research field. Remote testing offers a
variety of benefits, including lower costs, greater flexibility in
scheduling, access to remote users, and a choice of application hosts.
It also offers virtually all of the benefits of a traditional lab,
including remote observation and recording. We have assembled an
experienced panel of usability professionals from a variety of
backgrounds to talk about how and why they use remote testing, the
tools they use, and the benefits and challenges that this method offers.
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| July 21, 2005 |
Usability 2.0: Trends in User-Centered Design You Can't Ignore
Presenters: Jared Spool & Ben Shneiderman
Location: Getty Images, Seattle, WA
Attendance: 200
Usability gurus Jared Spool and Ben Shneiderman discussed the future of User-Centered Design and Human-Computer Interaction.
Spool, founder of the usability research and consulting firm, User Interface Engineering, focused on the need for new approaches to usability practice, which he contends has barely changed in two decades. He made a strong call for more attention to usability science, so practitioners can achieve repeatable results and better advise clients on where to focus improvement efforts to achieve ROI.
Shneiderman, A professor at the University of Maryland, discussed his new book “Leonardo’s Laptop” and focused on the future of computing, which he contends is social rather than personal. He touched on challenges such as comprehensive security management, creativity support tools and spam-free email.
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| July 21st, 2005 |
Usability 2.0: Trends in User Centered Design You Can't Ignore
Jared Spool and Ben Shneiderman
Ben's Presentation slides (PPT - 4Mb)
Jared's will be posted soon.
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| June 8th, 2005 |
Brand-Driven Information Architecture
Jesse James Garrett, Adaptive Path
Presentation slides (PDF - 1.2Mb)
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| April 28th, 2005 |
Web Site Usability, Accessibility, and Universal Accessibility: Users' and Designers' Perspectives
Melody Y. Ivory, PhD, University of Washington
The Web enables broad dissemination of information and
services, yet many sites have inadequate usability and accessibility.
The presentation will describe a study which examined a fundamental web
site design question: What makes a site usable, accessible, or
universally accessible? Results suggest little commonality in users’
and designers’ perceptions. Furthermore, designers who have different
levels of experience have differing perceptions. If we consider the
predominant concepts that users discussed as representing the most
important web site features for them and similarly for designers, then
it is possible that this mismatch may lead to the design of sites which
do not match users’ expectations. Perhaps this mismatch is at the crux
of the current state of the Web (i.e., the preponderance of sites with
inadequate usability and accessibility).
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| Mar. 24th, 2005 |
Designing for Truly Personal Computing: A Case Study
Arnie Lund, Director of User Experience, Microsoft Mobile Platforms
Arnie will provide a case study of the user experience
program within the mobile computing division at Microsoft. To set the
context, he will review trends in ubiquitous computing and talk about
the implications for design in the future, including a model of what
makes a successful user experience that is shaping the response to the
trends. He will discuss how the user experience team is characterizing
their users, and then using that characterization to drive
user-centered design requirements.Arnie
will also share some of the latest design activities that are underway
for the newest version of Windows that is expected in 2006, as well as
possibilties for future activities. He will present some of the methods
and approaches that are being developed and implemented to increase the
impact of the design work, and approaches to integrating user-centered
design into the product development process.
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| Feb. 24th, 2005 |
The Seattle Times’ redesign: Clarity, consistency and navigation
Heidi de Laubenfels, Seattle Times' asst. managing editor for graphics, photo and technology.
The Seattle Times newspaper renovated its print
presentation in June 2004 as the result of a two-year-long redesign
project. While the goals for the project were numerous, the key drivers
were for improved navigation, clarity, readability and enhancing the
brand image of The Seattle Times.
Improved navigation meant making it easier for readers
to find what they are looking for in the newspaper, as well as for
related information on seattletimes.com. Important too was identifying
more ways to present information in order to serve different reader
segments.
Heidi de Laubenfels will talk about the research that
was done to inform the Seattle Times' decisions, and break down the
results regarding various solutions. This presentation is intended to
be interactive so as to allow for audience reaction and for the free
exchange of ideas.
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| Jan. 27th, 2005 |
Visual Interfaces for Databases
Chris Stolte, Ph.D. and Jock Mackinlay, Ph.D., Tableau Software
Although visual interfaces and databases are two of the
success stories of the computer revolution, their synergy to date has
been modest, probably because visual interfaces have focused on human
capabilities while databases have focused on efficient query
processing. In this presentation, we will describe an
interface for exploring large multi-dimensional databases that extends
beyond the well-known Pivot Table interface. The novel features include
an interface for constructing visual specifications of table-based
graphical displays and the ability to generate a precise set of
relational queries from the visual specifications.
Visual interfaces started with the GUI (Graphical User
Interface), which supplanted the command line interface by exploiting
the power of the human visual motor system. Research on Visualization
to examine how visual representations of data amplify cognition began
in the mid-1980s due to technological advances in graphics hardware.
Mackinlay’s dissertation, which will be briefly
described, formalized Jacques Bertin’s design theory, and added
psychophysical data that resulted in a system that could automatically
design graphical presentations. The 1990s were a fertile time for
Visualization research, culminating in a formal reference model for
describing visualization systems.
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| Nov. 17th, 2004 |
How to best integrate usability engineering with Use Cases and Agile Programming
Jon Meads, President - Usability Architects, Inc. & Dan Rawsthorne, Ph.D
Presentation slides (PPT - 347Kb)
Usability engineering and software engineering are
often considered as separate aspects of the development process.
Indeed, there is a strong tendency to keep them as separate efforts.
However, a new technique and development philosophy called Agile
Development claims to solve many of the inherent usability issues. It
advocates quick turnaround and incorporating user evaluation in order
to develop a system that the user wants.
Agile Development also employs Use Cases, a technique
used by analysts to define the “functional contractEbetween the system
and “actorsEusing the system. All system components, from users to
sensors to networks, that interact with the system are “actors”– if the
actor is a person, the personal characteristics and human aspects are
not presented, as Use Cases are focused on functionality, not
usability.
Dan Rawsthorne and Jon Meads will present their concerns
about usability practices and pertinent development techniques from the
perspective of the software developer (Dan) and the usability engineer
(Jon). They will then discuss and debate the associated issues from
their respective point of view. Audience participation in the
discussion will be encouraged.
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| Oct. 28th, 2004 |
The R.I.T.E. Method (Rapid Iterative Testing and Evaluation)
Dennis Wixon, Ph.D., Microsoft Games Studios
Presentation slides (PPT - 754Kb)
Dennis Wixon Ph.D., will present an overview of the
Rapid Iterative Testing and Evaluation (RITE) usability method, which
was developed at Microsoft by Michael Medlock for Age of Empires II.
The RITE method is now commonly used by Microsoft and other companies
too, such as Oracle.
RITE is one example of a new series of methods that
focus on effectiveness in an applied environment through the close
collaboration of user testing, design, and project management.
Recently, a toolkit for standardizing the RITE approach was developed
by Melissa Federoff. Examples of the RITE method will be discussed in
the second edition of Cost Justifying Usability by Randolph G. Bias and
Deborah J. Mayhew, that is due out next year.
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| Sept. 23rd, 2004
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TUTORIAL SESSION
User Interface Update
Bob Bailey, President of Computer Psychology, Inc.
Bob Bailey keeps up with the studies on user interfaces
and usability and he will be presenting a one-day class on the latest
findings. Bob dives into the reports, talks with those who designed and
performed each study, sifting through all the details of a study to
draw out conclusions and design implications that are germane to the
field of human computer interaction. This year, for his User Interface
Update, Bob will present findings on usability methods, web prototyping
tools, personas, wireframes, eye movements, design guidelines, the
3-click rule, left vs. right navigation, and usability testing, among
others.
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| Sept. 22nd, 2004 |
Research-based Web Design and Usability Guidelines
Bob Bailey, President of Computer Psychology, Inc.
Dr. Bob Bailey will briefly discuss the origin, value
and intended use of a recently published book containing an up-to-date
set of usability guidelines. The Research-Based Web Design and
Usability Guidelines were developed under a contract from the National
Cancer Institute (NCI). They represent the only publicly available
collection of evidence-based website guidelines.
Dr. Bailey led a project that started in 2000 of a small group of
usability specialists at the National Cancer Institute. After
identifying over 450 prospects, they systematically reduced the number
to 187 guidelines. Each guideline also contains a rating of its
‘Relative ImportanceEto the success of the website, and a rating of
the cumulative ‘Strength of EvidenceEsupporting the guideline.
This set of guidelines, complete with comments, examples and references was published in August, 2004.
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