Following my 1st meet-up on the 6th August, I wanted to share a few thoughts on the group and its current exposure in the north-west.
From what I understand, what the Northern User Experience group is currently
- a monthly get together attended by a very small group of people passionate about usability, user centered design and accessibility
- attended by the likes of a usability guru from Sage, and ex usability consultant at HSBC (now at Ability Net) and one of the original founders of Wordpress
- an offshoot a chapter of the Usability Professionals Association (UPA), the worldwide association for usability professionals and advocates
- an opportunity for attendees to discuss topical areas of the usability market, gaining insights from client-side specialists, agency side consultants, freelance consultants and developers
From my initial exposure to NUX, where apparent weaknesses are
(Please note this isn’t intended to come across as being critical of anyone involved in the group to date, and I know it is run purely in peoples spare time and simply out of passion!).
- a current lack of exposure as being the primary usability community in the north
- due to the lack of exposure, very low attendance to the monthly get togethers
- a lack of engaging reasons as to why someone should attend the monthly get togethers
- very limited content on this blog, meaning new visitors may not feel the group has the kind of credibility which it does actually have by the people involved (Mike I know that a profiles page is being planned which will certainly help this)
Potential ways to increase exposure and help build credibility
Below I have listed out some ways in which I would be very keen in helping to implement in order to increase the exposure of the NUX and therefore strengthen its credibility. I am sure this will provide benefits across the group, both in the effectiveness of this blog and in the scale of the monthly meetings.
- promoting the group and the monthly events through Manchester Digital
- promoting the group and the monthly events through the Geek-up Google group
- promote the monthly get together to the larger agencies in the north west, who have a vested interest in user experience
- providing links into external blog posts tagged with, for instance, NUX, therefore providing more regular content being available through this blog (for instance I have recently published an article on our User Centered Design process, which may well spark some commentary from people within the NUX group)
- promoting NUX on our own usability blogs, therefore increasing exposure to people interested in and reading about user experience and user centered design
- creating a podcast of each monthly event and promoting it on the blog, increasing the amount of engagement on this site and hopefully helping to encourage new visitors to come along and participate
- for when attendee numbers increase (or maybe not) videoing the monthly events and posting these up on the blog
- harnessing the increasing flexibility and power of Wordpress to provide an improved user experience of this blog, perhaps even using the blog to push some of the boundaries of what Wordpress can do – this could provide interesting online news and provide increased exposure of the group
I know these initial ideas would take varying levels of time to implement, but although I am new to the group, I am extremely keen in seeing the Northern User Experience grow in exposure and credibility over the long term, like I’m sure others are.
As a side note, if London can end up with having a large event focussing on the BBC user experience with a BBC UX representative, then why not have ambitions of this kind of coup for the North West!
What does everyone else think?
8 responses so far ↓
Paul Rouke and PRWD on User Centered Design » Blog Archive » Northern User Experience (NUX) Group - More Passionate People Wanted! // August 11, 2008 at 2:45 pm
[...] the 1st instance I have posted my first article on the NUX blog, where I have given my thoughts to how the group is currently promoting itself, followed by a quick [...]
Rachel // August 18, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Hi Paul, and welcome,
When the group formed in its current form (only about 6 months ago) we had a long talk about our ambitions for it and also about its limitations.
The previous UPA North group started with a bang but very nearly faded out completely because of problems with venues, schedules, finding speakers and generally everybody being too busy.
We managed to save the group but I think that we’ve been cautiously trying to build a solid core of attendees and establish a venue that’s suitable and consistently available.
It looks as if we’re starting to achieve these two modest goals so yes, maybe we could start to be a bit more ambitious – bearing in mind that at the moment the group runs more or less on thin air.
Something to talk about next meeting?
Simon Wheatley // August 19, 2008 at 8:01 am
Unfortunately the NUX meeting this month got bumped from my calendar by client work down in that London. I hope to be at the next meeting, and am looking forward to it already!
Paul Rouke // August 19, 2008 at 10:11 am
Hi Rachel,
I agree this can be part of the next meetings discussion points – for a regular venue that is consistently available, the MDDA offices on Portland Street are usually available to use for free from what I understand, especially for this type of monthly get together.
I know some people there who I can speak to if next months meeting hasn’t yet being arranged.
I’ll await further comments – see you soon!
Tero // August 28, 2008 at 9:42 am
The MDDA office on Portland street sounds like a nice idea; close to the Piccadilly Station means travelling (at least for rail travellers) is easier.
I’d be very keen on making sure the NUX meetings are not just Manchester based, though. I arranged one meeting here in Leeds at the Orange offices couple of months ago, but also researched some other options which would be free and close to the train station.
Here in Leeds are also tons of other, potentially related meetings, like Open Coffee Leeds which we could “use” to get more attendees. However, I agree with Rachel’s point that we still need to make sure we can walk before we start running.
Unfortunately I will have another trip to London on the 3rd September and (again) will have to skip the NUX meeting.
Tero // September 1, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Just drove by the pub I was planning on for our meetings in Leeds and it’s for sale. The website is still up and running, so I’ll have to have a closer look at it.
I’ve also resigned from Orange, so cannot arrange a meeting here either anymore.
Nevertheless, I’m on a mission to bring NUX back to Leeds again, so I will keep you posted!
Jon Eland // September 23, 2008 at 10:51 am
Hi,
As someone heavilly involved in delivering great ‘user experience’ I’d really be interested in attending. However would someone be able to clarify if this is essentially a usability group or a user experience group?
Might sound a bit picky but to me the two things are quite difference.
As a Leeds dweller I’m also keen to have at least some meetings this side of the pennines. If ‘pub’ is not a pre-requisite starting point then Leeds has both the Round Foundry and Leeds Met’s Old Broadcasting House as potential venues. However, I wouldn’t mind a western journey to attend in Manchester.
Mike Little // October 2, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Hi Jon,
As our about page mentions, we started out as a usability group but have expanded our ‘remit’ to encompass a wider palette of usability, HCI, information design and all aspects of the user experience.
As for location, we have met in Leeds before, and I recently experienced Old Broadcast House with another group. I was impressed.
Leave a Comment