Transitioning from Corporate Usability Practitioners to Consultants and Vice-Versa: Where is the Grass Greener?

David Mitropoulos-Rundus, Moderator; Jakob Nielsen; Janice James; Kathryn McEwen; Judee Humburg
Compuware Corporation, Nielsen Norman Group, Simply Usable Through Design, JLHumberg Associates, Home Account Inc.

Audience: anyone
Keywords: career path, consulting, usability method implementation or adaptation

This panel session will look at the benefits and challenges that occur for human factors and usability specialists who are consultants versus dedicated employees of a single corporation. The panelists will consist of HF/Usability folks who have worked both as industry employees and as consultants over their careers.

Linking Products, Features, and Usability: The Access Board's Market Monitoring Report

Jim Tobias
Inclusive Technologies

Audience: anyone
Keywords: how-to discussion, strategic usability, comparative studies, organizational issues

New regulations require improved accessibility and usability of telecom products. A study of 600 existing products shows designers, consumers, and regulators what to look for.

Optimal Positioning for Usability in an Organization: A Panel Session

Dave Mitropoulos-Rundus, Moderator; Susan M. Kennedy; Tricia Gallagher; Pamela Nyberg; Peter Picone
Compuware Corporation, Johnson Controls Inc., Melita Corporation, Whirlpool Corporation

Audience: anyone
Keywords: organizational structure, organizational issues, strategic usability, selling usability

This panel session will look at the benefits and challenges that occur for usability specialists positioned in various parts of an organization. The goal is to review the benefits and challenges that occur with each of these positions and to debate where the highest impact is achieved with each.

Not Just a Hammer: When and How to Employ Multiple Methods in Usability Programs

Stephanie Rosenbaum
Tec-Ed Inc.

Audience: people who have used more than one usability method
Keywords: how-to discussion, combining methods, product lifecycle and usability, strategic usability

Why should usability programs incorporate many kinds of methodology to influence corporate decision-making? This session describes what makes successful multiple-method usability programs. Audience exercises contribute to discussions of when to apply each method and how to justify such programs to management.

A Comparison of Two Usability Testing Methods: Formal Testing and Automated Logging

Michael Etgen and Judy Cantor

AT&T Labs

Audience: anyone
Keywords: comparison of usability methods, computer software, remote testing, comparative studies, content-aware logging

An overview of a new automated logging technique for the Web, and a comparison of the usability testing results from the logger with formal usability testing.

Goal-Directed Competitive Analysis: Evaluating the User Interface in the Real World

Jin Li
IBM

Audience: anyone
Keywords: usability method implementation or adaptation, possible new method, comparative studies

We will lead a discussion based on our new goal-directed competitive analysis methodology. This new methodology will be described and contrasted with traditional techniques and case studies from our experiences will be presented.

ISO and Industry standards for usability measurement

Nigel Bevan
Serco Usability Systems

Audience: practitioners and managers interested in usability test reports
Keywords: how-to discussion, standards and usability testing, enhancing general usability skills, metrics, standards, usability testing

A new series of International Technical Reports include recommended usability metrics. Their relationship to the Common Industry Format for reporting usability test results will be explained, and the potential benefits discussed.

Interactive Television Programs: Current Challenges and Solutions

Ali Afshan and Sheri Lamont
WebTV Networks

Audience: beginner usability specialists
Keywords: presentation of design guidelines, small devices, usability method implementation or adaptation, heuristics and guidelines, combining methods, interactive television

Usability guidelines were developed to address unique challenges in designing interactive television programs. These guidelines were based on extensive research, including field studies, focus groups, heuristic evaluations, and usability testing.

The Usability of DIS and CarPCs

Dr. Ing Peter Roessger
Computer Aided Animation GmbH

Length: 45 minutes

Audience: anyone
Keywords: how-to discussion, automotive product, strategic usability, selling usability, automotive device

Driver information systems in automobiles are complex. Major questions on usability of DIS will be discussed. The application of human factors knowledge in the development of a CarPC will be shown.

Diagnosis of Human-Centeredness of the Design Process by the SDOS

Masaaki Kurosu
Shizuoka University, NTT-AT, Misubishi Research Institute, Otaru University

Length: 45 minutes

Audience: intermediate usability specialists
Keywords: how-to discussion, methodology for design process, possible new method, organizational issues, strategic usability

Strategic Design of Human-Centered Organization Structure (SDOS) is a method to analyze the human-centeredness of the design process. The method has two phases: (1) card-sorting task and (2) analysis by the table.