UPA Monthly: September 2008

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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

On a Small Screen, Just the Salient Stuff (NY Times, 13 July 2008 )
"Visiting Web sites that have been redesigned for the iPhone is often a quicker and more pleasing experience than it is on those increasingly cinema-style desktop displays, which routinely have 20-inch or larger screens."

Google's experimental Gmail toys (BBC Technology, 7 June 2008)
"In a first, Google is opening up its testing process by calling on tens of millions of Gmail users to put new features of the service through their paces."

IT And Business Alignment Remains CIO's Top Concern (InformationWeek, 3 Sep 2008)
"What's the number-one worry keeping CIO awake at night this year? Drum-roll, please: It's "IT and business alignment."

UPA News & Events

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 .

WORLD USABILITY DAY - 13 NOV 2008
Registration is OPEN for World Usability 2008 at our new website www.worldusabilityday.org. Registering your event for World Usability Day 2008 is free for everyone, so register early even if you don't know all of the details yet! Our focus for World Usability Day 2008 is TRANSPORTATION. 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 Questions: caryn@worldusabilityday.org

BETTER BALLOTS
UPA has working with the Brennan Center for Justice on a major report about the impact of poor ballot designs and unclear instructions on voters and the importance of usability testing. Among the highlights is an overview of the UPA's usability testing kit for local election officials (the LEO Usability Testing Kit). Members of the UPA Usability in Civic Life Project are working with Brennan Center to provide direct training for election officials.
The report is titled Better Ballots, and can be found on the Brennan Center site:
- http://www.brennancenter.org/
- http://www.brennancenter.org/content/resource/better_ballots/

3 articles in USA Today and the New York Times highlight it
Study: Poor ballot designs still affect U.S. elections
Ballot designs are 'literacy test for voters'
Influx of Voters Expected to Test New Technology

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.
http://www.uaweb.org.mx/en/seminar2008/prices
Contact: Roberto Palacios Macías - roberto.palacios@proinfa.com.mx

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

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 - Participate as a presenter or support UPA by being a submission reviewer! Reviewer sign-up closes September 19, 2008. Most submission categories close October 3, 2008.

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

Chapter News

Chapter Spotlights
- China - http://www.upachina.org/
- New Zealand- http://www.upa.org.nz/
- Singapore - http://www.upasingapore.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 - Using Calculators for User Engagement
Yun Zhou and Cliff Anderson
http://www.usabilityprofessionals.org/upa_publications/upa_voice/

UPA - Journal of Usability Studies - May 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
Natasha Voynarovskaya (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

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