Tuesday, July 25, 2006:
DJing with MP3s - mixing and scratching with Scratch
Sam Gribben of Auckland company Serato will bring his turntable, mixer and speaker so that people can see and hear the software that is Scratch LIVE - a leading edge DJ tool for manipulating MP3s. He’ll talk about how it all works, how Serato go about designing it, and how what we have made has changed the way people DJ (by adding a visual element).
Serato Audio Research creates leading edge audio software, used by studios, engineers, musicians and DJs the world over. Serato¹s latest product, Scratch LIVE, is taking the DJ world by storm, and is the digital DJing solution of choice of Paul van Dyke, Jazzy Jeff, Klute, A-Trak, Afrika Bambaataa, and DJ Revolution, to name just a few.
Serato are hiring an interaction designer http://www.seek.co.nz/showjob.asp?jobid=7130525
Recommended reading on input and output devices (from Miriam).
There are two key issues with using software to replicate a non-software problem - one is around matching the interaction design of the software to the mental models of the users and the other is providing input and output devices that give users the ability to interact in all the ways that can be expressed by a human body with a set of artists/musicians/sword fighters/drivers tools.
If you are interested in why input devices to software can be a poor fit to the flexiblity of tools available to artists then I recommend you read about taxonomies of input devices. http://www.billbuxton.com/3state.html provides a starting point by summarising previous work and describing why a mouse is fundamentally different in capabilities from a touchscreen.
Bill Buxton’s work on other input devices makes great further reading. Thinking about the need to provide input and output through the same device brings us to feedback - of which http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~stephen/ Stephen Brewster’s work on training veterinary students to palpate horse ovaries is a novel example.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006:
Two talks: Future of usability and Help
Hayden Vink of Hansel on where to go with Usability in New Zealand Hayden’s research, strategy and interaction design skills are all part of the way Hansel helps companies make the most of their information. Hayden recently went to Cooper’s highly recommended courses in San Francisco, so if you are contemplating a serious step to improve your interaction design skills you might want to ask about the courses.
Isaac Freeman on “Help”
Why is it online help so hard to read? And why is it even harder to write? Isaac Freeman will propose reasons why, and present an alternative approach to help.
Bio of Isaac Freeman
Having recently returned to university after several years teaching high school mathematics, Isaac Freeman is unsure whether he is supposed to be a graduate, an undergraduate or a lecturer. He has been working on sketch recognition for Tablet PCs, and will soon be starting a PhD. He has a long-standing interest in comics as a visual medium.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006: Design & Emotion
Emotions are pivotal in the formation of values, choices and judgments.
Emotions give valence to the stream of experience that we call life. Emotions are very important to users and designers. Emotions are also notorious for being slippery, difficult to get hold of, pin-down or observe. Over the last decade the study of emotion, and the practice of emotion-focussed design has gained momentum and greater currency within the creative industries.
This presentation will deal with:
* The background to our contemporary understanding of emotion, and the competing theories.
* Design tactics for provoking emotion.
* Techniques of measuring emotional responses.
Speaker: Dr.Cris de Groot Cris is the Programme Director of the MDes at Unitec in Auckland. His research interests are centred around the technological experience and around collaborative innovation. Before moving to New Zealand he was a director of the ‘nowhere foundation’ and co-founder of the ‘nowhere group’, a net of companies focussed on innovation, design and organisational transformation.
Tuesday, May 2, 2006: Reading, fonts and the future of reading
John will talk about the psychology and physiology of reading, font design and typography, what fonts actually are (from a semi-technical point of view), what Microsoft ClearType is and how it works, and the new font advances in Windows Vista and Office 12.
John Downs is a senior software developer with a finance company in Auckland, New Zealand and a fourth-year student studying at the University of Auckland for degrees in computer science and psychology. After John’s talk we will have discussions about some trends in reading and technology. Please read one of the following paper for our discussion:
Listen Reader: http://www.thereadinglab.com/papers/back_listenreader.pdf
Speeder Reader:http://www.thereadinglab.com/papers/speederreader.pdf
Air book http://www.thereadinglab.com/papers/airbook.pdf
Tuesday, April 4, 2006: Designing for User eXperience (UX)
“The role that user interfaces and products play in achieving exceptional User Experiences”
This talk will describe the emerging field of Experience Design, and will position the user interface and/or product as a strategic pillar to achieving an overall Experience Design.
Questions that will be addressed include:
* What are the layers of User Experience, and how does knowledge about these layers help with conception and design of products and services?
* Closer to the bone, how does usability fit into the overall activity of Designing for Human Experience?
* More broadly, what elements contribute to a calculation of the ROI of User Experience Design?
Examples will be varied and include: buying loose diamonds online, designing of an Indian coffee cup, and others.
Speaker: Suzanne Currie attended the Design for User Experience (DUX) conference in November in San Francisco, and much of this talk’s material is based on the conference proceedings.
February 28th, 2006: Air New Zealand’s extreme make-over
Air New Zealand is New Zealand’s largest ecommerce websites. Come and hear how usability evaluations helped guide Air New Zealand’s first significant website refresh since 2002.
Speaker: Mathew Sanders is an Ecommerce Development Specialist for Air New Zealand. Although a relative newcomer to usability he is an enthusiastic advocate and always looks for ways to promote user-centric design practices.
Christmas Drinks @ the Wine Loft
It’s that time of year again. On the 29th of November the Auckland branch of the Usability Professionals’ Association is getting together at the Wine Loft on Shortland Street to share a pre Christmas beverage. Come along from 6pm and meet some friendly people, reminisce about the year that was, and toast to the year ahead.
Thursday 3rd November : Open Your Eyes to Usability!
Ever felt frustated, confused or lost when surfing the web? Ever wondered how your visitors really ’see’ and experience your website?
If so, join us for an evening of activities designed to increase awareness of usability and user-centred design.
Presentations will include “Internet Usability”, and a live usability evaluation of a popular website. You will also be able to view examples of eye-tracking research, and experience how blind people ’see’ your website using screen readers.
Plus: Remote Control Shootout! How many buttons are there on your remote control? Do you know what they all do? How many do you actually *use*? Bring your remote control along and help us find the worst offending example of poor design and usability. We have spot prizes for the best (the worst?) examples.
World Usability Day: Making technology easy
If you’ve ever been tempted to attack your computer with a sledgehammer or wasted hours navigating a website, chances are you’re not alone. Many people have technology horror stories.
What a lot of people may not realise is that technology problems often stem from poor design and lack of understanding about how products will be used in the real world. The first annual World Usability Day on November 3, 2005, based on the theme ‘Making it Easy’, aims to show New Zealanders how technology can be improved through usability.
New Zealand will be the first country to celebrate the worldwide initiative, which has more than 70 events planned in 30 countries.
“Usability is the science of measuring the efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction of a product. The process is based on the study of cognitive ergonomics and can be applied to everything, from coffee mugs to power tools, to complicated computer systems,” says Zef Fugaz, President of the Usability Professionals’ Association of New Zealand
World Usability Day aims to show people why usability, which can be applied in many different ways, is important to business. The events will include talks from New Zealand’s leading usability experts, case studies showcasing the benefits of improved usability and hands-on workshops to give you the skills to enhance usability in your workplace.
“The benefits of improved usability apply to many different industries and sectors.
Many businesses adopt new technology but poor usability can drive customers away or make your staff frustrated, driving down profits. Technology should enhance businesses - usability makes that a reality,” Fugaz says.
The Auckland World Usability Day event takes place at the Bank of New Zealand, Level 3, 125 Queen St from 6pm to 8pm. Admission is free and refreshments will be provided. World Usability Day is organised by the Usability Professionals’ Association of New Zealand.
More Previous Events
World Usability Day : Open Your Eyes to Usability!
3 November 2005
Usable and Findable: Optimising Search Rankings and User Experience
Stephan Spencer
27 September 2005
Institutionalising Usability at the Bank of New Zealand
Mark McLay
30 August 2005
Information Architecture
Suzanne Currie, Justine Sanderson, Miriam Walker
26 July 05
Design Ethnography
Suzanne Currie (Navman)
28 Jun 05
Community Medley
Trent Mankelow, Justine Sanderson, Navindra Ramachandran, Bharti D’Souza, Sue Weston and Suzanne Currie
31 May 05
Design and Innovation
Pradeep Sharma
26 Apr 05
Usability Testing: Testing with Users, Using the Results
Miriam Walker
29 Mar 05
Making and Testing Lightweight Prototypes
Martin Dickson, Miriam Walker and Dr. Beryl Plimmer
8 Mar 05
Introduction to Informing Design with Data
Dr Ethan Newby
22 Feb 05
Christmas Social
14 Dec 04
Designwriting: Design Process Informing Design Thinking in Response to the Dissatisfaction Driver
Michael Symthe (Creationz Consultants)
30 Nov 04
User-Centred Design and Agile Development Methods
Keith Nicholas, Rick Mugridge and Miriam Walker
26 Sept 04
Presentation on the UsabilityWeek 2004 conference in Sydney
Trent Mankelow
31 Aug 04
Introduction to Usability and User-Experience Design
Suzanne Currie and Miriam Walker
27 July 04
