UPA Monthly: October 2008

The monthly newsletter of the Usability Professionals' Association

In This Edition

Usability in the news
UPA news & Events
Chapter news
UPA Publications
Visit the UPA Store
Usability Resources
Thanks to our contributors

If you would like to learn more about your Board of Directors.

Usability in the News

Between a rock and an interface (BBC News, 7 Oct 2008)
"And that in turn led to a paper on the Scientific Commons website, a two-year old doctoral thesis by a researcher at Utrecht University in the Netherlands in which he reports on his experiments comparing different forms of computer interface in problem-solving."

Design Is More Than Packaging (NY Times, 4 Oct 2008)
"They are proponents of “design thinking,” which focuses on people’s actual needs rather than trying to persuade them to buy into what businesses are selling. It revolves around field research followed by freewheeling idea generation that often leads to unexpected results."

HSBC combines CIO and COO roles (CIO.com, 2 Oct 2008)
"By combining our technology and worldwide operations more closely we can re-engineer customers' experience of HSBC and at the same time drive down the unit cost of production"

UPA News & Events

WORLD USABILITY DAY - 13 NOV 2008
Less than one month to go until World Usability Day 2008! Register your event today at our new website www.worldusabilityday.org. Registering your event for World Usability Day 2008 is free for everyone. If you are hosting an event this year, learn more about how you can stream your event live for the world to see.

Our focus for World Usability Day 2008 is TRANSPORTATION. We will be launching the Global Transport Challenge on November 13th, so check out www.worldusabilityday.org/globaltransportchallenge to get your travel footprint and see how you rate. With the global focus on rising energy costs and the resulting design and development of new methods and modes of transporation; aging infrastructures and safety and security issues in the news daily, World Usability Day 2008 should make an impact on everyone.
http://www.worldusabilityday.org
www.worldusabilityday.org/globaltransportchallenge
Questions: caryn@worldusabilityday.org

INTERNATIONAL STUDENT DESIGN COMPETITION
This is the first year of the UPA International Student Design Competition. Similar competitions have motivated and energized students to work on meaningful projects and led to initiatives that positively impacted lives of real people. Students who have participated in similar events went on to become active members of their professional communities

Sponsor a Young Professional
The UPA Student and Young Professionals Board is happy to announce that Apogee - www.apogeehk.com - has donated sponsorship of 8 x UPA student memberships.
Contact: info@apogeehk.com for more details on eligibility.

UPA Students & Young Professionals
UPA would like to welcome students and young professionals to join a UPA sponsored Yahoo Group. The group will serve as a way to help connect current and potential UPA members. Join the group to learn, to network, and to get more involved with UPA.

LINKEDIN – Networking among UPA members and more
Do you want to find quickly and easily other UPA members with similar backgrounds and needs? Join us on LinkedIn today.

Events

User Friendly 2008 - Shenzhen, China
24-27 October 2008

UA Web 2008, Monterey, Mexico
The International Seminar on Usability and Accessibility for the Web will have Jesse James Garrett as the Keynote speaker and José Manuel Alonso, representing the e-Government chapter of the W3C will also speak. Together we will explore current trends in usability, accessibility, strategy, innovation, user experience and web standards.
Contact: Roberto Palacios Macías - roberto.palacios@proinfa.com.mx

UPA Europe 2008
The first European regional conference of the Usability Professionals' Association (UPA) will take place in Torino, Italy, named the 2008 World Design Capital. Hundreds of designers and usability specialists are expected to attend.

World Usability Day 2008 - Transportation
World Usability Day will next be held on 13 November 2008 and the theme is "Transportation"

Call for Participation! UPA 2009 - Bringing Usability to Life
Will be held in Portland, Oregon on June 8-12, 2009

New email or address?
Keep your member profile up to date, so you don't miss any mail.

Chapter News

Photos from UPA meeting at Mad Pow in Portsmouth, NH

Chapter Spotlights
- Italy - http://www.webusabile.it/
- Russia - http://www.usabilityprofessionals.ru/
- Israel - http://www.upaisrael.org/

Photo of the Month
Share Chapter event photos - use the 'upachapter' tag.

Chapters in Formation

Join the Chapters Group

Learn more about UPA Chapters

Looking for a chapter in your city? Contact: chapters@usabilityprofessionals.org

UPA Publications

User Experience Magazine: Volume 7, Issue 3, 2008
http://www.usabilityprofessionals.org/upa_publications/user_experience/past_issues/2008-3.html

UPA Voice - What's new at UPA 2009?
Kate Caldwell, 2008/2009 UPA Conference Co-chair
http://www.usabilityprofessionals.org/upa_publications/upa_voice/

UPA - Journal of Usability Studies - August 2008: Volume 3, Issue 4
http://usabilityprofessionals.org/upa_publications/jus/

Design by People For People: Essays in Usablity
http://www.usabilityprofessionals.org/upa_publications/design_by_people_for_people.html

Designing the User Experience Poster
http://www.usabilityprofessionals.org/upa_publications/ux_poster.html

Want to write an article for a UPA publications?
Contact: publications@usabilityprofessionals.org

Want to advertise in a UPA publication?
Contact: publications@usabilityprofessionals.org

VISIT THE UPA STORE

No, we can't pre-package usability, but you can buy conference and other UPA materials to help you develop and promote usability in your own organization.
http://www.usabilityprofessionals.org/upa_store/index.html

Usability RESOURCES

http://www.usabilityprofessionals.org/usability_resources

Thanks to Our Contributors

Pauline de Robert (UK Chapter), French
Silvia Zimmermann (Swiss Chapter), German
Alberto Lacalle (Spanish Chapter), Spanish
Michele Visciola (UPA Italia), Italian
Adriana Betiol (Brazil Chapter), Portuguese
Yaniv Michaeli (UPA Israel), Hebrew
Daniel Novichkov (UPA Russia), Russian
Denny Huang (UPA China), Chinese
Tadashi Kobayashi (HCD-Net), Toyohiro Kanayama (UPA), Japanese
Ali Berkman, Turkish
Daniel Szuc (UPA China-Hong Kong), English, News scout

Contact UPA Monthly