Join the IUE Google Group

Share

Internet User Experience 2009

Spotlighting methods for dramatically improving today's user experience

March 30 - April 2, 2009, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

Program : Tuesday Tutorials

Enhance Your Skills

The Tuesday tutorials offer in-depth training with mentored practice.

Full-day Tutorial (8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.) on Tuesday, March 31, 2009



Danielle Cooley | Field Research for User Experience Design

Danielle Cooley
Tuesday March 31, 2009, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Field Research is an often-overlooked part of user-centered design, but it can be the most valuable analysis method at our disposal. This full-day tutorial will illustrate the benefits of field research over other user research methods and outline some of the more common field research techniques. We'll be doing some actual field research, so be ready with your notebook and your digital camera!

Tutorial Outline / Schedule

  1. An Introduction to Field Research Techniques (8:30 - 9:15 a.m.)
  2. Field Research vs. Other Methods (9:15 - 10:00 a.m.)
  3. Break (10:00 - 10:15 a.m.)
  4. Best Practices in Reporting Field Research Findings (10:15 - 11:00 a.m.)
  5. Activity: Actual Field Research (11:00 - NOON)
  6. Lunch (NOON - 1:00 p.m.)
  7. Continue Field Research (1:00 - 2:00 p.m.)
  8. Activity: Approach for Analysis (2:00 - 2:30 p.m.)
  9. Break (2:30 - 2:45 p.m.)
  10. Analyze Field Research (2:45 - 3:15 p.m.)
  11. Group Presentations (3:15 - 3:45 p.m.)
  12. Approaches and examples for field research (3:45 - 4:15 p.m.)
  13. Review and Wrap-Up (4:15 - 4:30 p.m.)

Audience

This session is for all levels.

Instructor

Danielle has over 10 years of experience in a multitude of user research and usability analysis methods utilized on a wide variety of applications, including hardware, Windows, web, telephone, and mobile. Her successful designs have been implemented at both large and small, public and private companies in many industries ranging from pharmaceuticals to car rental to financial services.

Active in the field, she was the founding Vice President of the Boston chapter of the Usability Professionals Association and served as Panels chair and Experienced Practitioner co-chair for the 2007 and 2008 Usability Professionals' Association Annual Conferences, respectively. She has a BE in Biomedical and Electrical Engineering from Vanderbilt University and a MS in Human Factors in Information Design from the Elkin B. McCallum Graduate School of Business at Bentley University in Waltham, MA.

Half-day Tutorial (8:30 a.m. - NOON) on Tuesday, March 31, 2009



Jason Withrow, Usable Development, LLC | User Experience Design of Intranets and Portals

Jason Withrow
Tuesday March 31, 2009, 8:30 a.m. - NOON

Intranets and portals are both touted as excellent tools / systems that help to resolve difficulties and boost productivity within an organization. Unfortunately, in practice there are often so many issues with them that they are underutilized or abandoned. These issues run the gamut from technical problems (e.g., poor document indexing) to user experience difficulties (e.g., a user interface only the original designer could understand). This workshop focuses on the variety of issues typically afflicting intranets and portals and how to best resolve those problems.

Audience

This workshop is for business professionals, user experience practitioners, and web developers.

Tutorial Outline / Schedule

  1. An Introduction to Intranets and Portals (8:30 - 9:00 a.m.)
  2. Intranet User Experience, Part I (9:00 - 9:45 a.m.)
  3. Break (9:45 - 10:00 a.m.)
  4. Intranet User Experience, Part II (10:00 - 10:30 a.m.)
  5. Portal User Experience (10:30 - 11:15 a.m.)
  6. Activity: Portal Design (11:15 - 11:45 p.m.)
  7. Review and Wrap-Up (11:45 - NOON)

Instructor

Jason is the president and founder of Usable Development, LLC, which focuses on user experience and web design consulting, development, and training.

He also serves as the Department Chair for the Internet Professional Program at Washtenaw Community College.

His background includes over 8 years of experience in the web industry, in roles such as Information Architect and Business Systems Analyst.

Half-day Tutorial (1:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.) on Tuesday, March 31, 2009



Carol Smith, Midwest Research | User Experience Design of Profiles and Personas

Carol Smith
Tuesday March 31, 2009, 1:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

User Profiles are essential to helping product teams properly understand their target customers and focus development activities to build the right product with the right user interface. Personas, help product teams think more like their users when they are making design and usage decisions.

This tutorial defines user profiles and personas, provides multiple examples, and gives participants hands-on practice in creating them. Participants in this tutorial will walk away with the tools, templates, and knowledge needed to immediately start creating personas for their projects.

Tutorial Outline / Schedule

  1. Intro to Personas and Profiles (1 - 1:45 p.m.)
  2. Activity: Mapping Dimensions (1:45 - 2:15 p.m.)
  3. Break (2:15 - 2:30 p.m.)
  4. Personas and Profile Creation (2:30 - 3:15 p.m.)
  5. Activity: Persona Creation (3:15 - 4:00 p.m.)
  6. Persona and Profile Lifecycle (4:00 - 4:25 p.m.)
  7. Review and Wrap-Up (4:25 - 4:30 p.m.)

Audience

Participants will be expected to have familiarity with the vocabulary used in user research and user experience work. This tutorial will discuss issues related to internal and external facing applications, Internet and Intranet sites as well as consumer products.

Instructor

Carol Smith has created personas for a wide range of user groups including: school children; federal government employees; instructional designers; software developers; and people needing car insurance. Her efforts have improved applications, Internet sites, Intranet portals, e-commerce sites and consumer products. She has worked with small businesses and Fortune 500 corporations and has managed a User Experience department.

Ms. Smith is the Treasurer and Director of Chapters for the Usability Professionals' Association (UPA). Ms. Smith earned her Masters of Computer Science in Human-Computer Interaction from DePaul University in Chicago, IL. Ms. Smith is the Principal Consultant at Midwest Research, a research and usability testing consultancy in Ohio.

Evening Tutorials (6:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.) on Tuesday, March 31, 2009



Cathy Zapata, Web Marketing Professional & President, NEOUPA | Writing for the Web

Cathy Zapata
Tuesday March 31, 2009, 6:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.

Knowing how to write is all you need to know to publish great Web copy, correct? WRONG!

Writing for the Web is not the same as writing for other channels. Over 79% of users scan vs. read word-for-word online. In addition, the copy on your site is a critical component of persuasion and search engine optimization. Learn the basics to writing good Web copy, plus some challenging more advanced techniques. Then, put what you've learned into practice as part of this tutorial.

Audience

This session is both for the novice and advanced professional writing copy for the Web.

Instructor

Cathleen Zapata has over 14 years experience in online marketing and managing the Customer Experience, specializing in Web site usability. Her background includes a wealth of experience in usability testing, heuristic evaluations, user research and conversion enhancement strategies. Cathy has received extensive usability training from the Neilson Norman Group, and was recently quoted in MarketingSherpa's Marketing Wisdom for 2006. She is a published author, and frequently teaches on topics of Web Usability both nationally, and at local colleges and at community events. Cathy has been on the board of NEOUPA, Cleveland's local chapter of the Usability Professionals' Association, for over four years, and is currently serving as President of the chapter. She is also on the board of The Web Association. Cathy has consulted with numerous Fortune 500 clients on Web Marketing & Usability. Representative clients include: KeyBank, Medical Mutual of Ohio, National City Bank, The Cleveland Clinic, Nationwide Insurance, Safelite AutoGlass, Insurance.com, Citizens Bank, Flagstar Bank, Hallmark, Philosophy, Alltel and Coach, Inc.

Carol Smith, Midwest Research | Style Guides: Guardians of Consistency

Carol Smith
Tuesday March 31, 2009, 6:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.

Is your site inconsistent? Do you need to communicate the look and feel of the site to a wide variety of team members? Learn why style guides should be part of your development cycle to solve these issues. Learn facts to help you make the case for style guides. We'll also cover the basic components of style guides and their benefits.

This tutorial defines style guides, provides examples, and gives participants hands-on practice in creating them. Participants in this tutorial will walk away with some of the tools, templates, and knowledge needed to assess the value of creating a styleguide for their projects, and to initiate a styleguide project.

Tutorial Outline / Schedule

  1. Introduction to style guides (6 - 6:45 p.m.)
  2. The elements of a style guide and examples (6:45 - 7:30 p.m.)
  3. Break (7:30 - 7:45 p.m.)
  4. Activity: Style Guide Creation (7:45 - 8:30 p.m.)
  5. Design Reviews (8:30 - 8:50 p.m.)
  6. Promoting a style guide (8:50 - 9:05 p.m.)
  7. Maintaining a style guide (9:05 - 9:20 p.m.)
  8. Review and Wrap-Up (9:20 - 9:30 p.m.)

Audience

This tutorial will discuss issues related to Internet and Intranet sites. Familiarity with the vocabulary used in user interface standards work will be helpful but is not necessary.

Instructor

Carol Smith has created personas for a wide range of user groups including: school children; federal government employees; instructional designers; software developers; and people needing car insurance. Her efforts have improved applications, Internet sites, Intranet portals, e-commerce sites and consumer products. She has worked with small businesses and Fortune 500 corporations and has managed a User Experience department.

Ms. Smith is the Treasurer and Director of Chapters for the Usability Professionals' Association (UPA). Ms. Smith earned her Masters of Computer Science in Human-Computer Interaction from DePaul University in Chicago, IL. Ms. Smith is the Principal Consultant at Midwest Research, a research and usability testing consultancy in Ohio.

Read and download the Program Schedule (PDF format, 309k) to plan your attendance.

Jump to: