Northern User Experience

All,

Good to see some new people at the last meeting.

Following our discussion here is a link to some AbilityNet videos of assistive technology users

http://uk.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=3CD45E862B50C925

Some of these are also available on Easy Youtube which was developed by Chris Heilmann

http://scriptingenabed.pbwiki.com/AbilityNet-Videos

Judith

For our next meeting I’ll be talking about a pet topic of mine. I’ll be looking at the car user’s experience and seeing why it’s so difficult to get people to switch to public transport. Then I’ll be looking at how we might design a public transport system in such a way as to make the experience as good as (or better) than using the car.

I’ll also look at other modes of transport, and see where they fit in a transport policy based heavily on user needs.

Some of the solutions I’ll mention already exist in early form, some are much more futuristic, but most are achievable with current technologies. This isn’t sci-fi, but full implementation would be expensive. So I’ll talk a little bit about how we might afford these systems, and the other social benefits which might arise from moving beyond the car.

Right - now I’m going to drive over to York! See you all next time.

We are going to be able to use Manchester Digital/MDDA offices on Portland Street for our next meetings. -  Thanks for sorting venues Paul.

I’ve set up a poll on Doodle to see what dates are the best for everyone, we are still looking at meeting every month. http://www.doodle.ch/participation.html?pollId=b4ss63xhtx24m8iw

We’ve also had offers to talk on a range of interesting topics so we can set up an agenda for the next six months or so.

Thanks

Judith

When we met on thursday, we agreed it would be nice to do something a bit special for world usability day, but it’s not far away so we will need to move quickly.  The plan so far is:

- Try to get an outside speaker.

- Try to get a small sponsorship / donation to fund a speaker / food / drinks - either from a commercial organisation or possibly from a local government / quango source.

If you can help us achieve either of these, please get in touch.

If you have any other ideas for how the event could take shape (bearing in mind the short timescale and our very limited resources), please share. The theme of this year’s day is “Transportation” which is possibly a little bit outside of the box for most of us, but let’s see what we can do with it.

All suggestions gratefully received…

It looks like we have (just) enough people to proceed, so following an unplanned summer break NUX is back, back, back.

We will be meeting 6.30  at the Waterhouse pub, just near St. Peter’s Square metrolink (walkable from piccadily station).

http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/pubs/pub-details.php?PubNumber=2103

Judith will be talking about personas and how she uses them in her work.  There’s been a lot of interest from the group on this, so for those that can’t attend, we can put the presentation and any other content here on the blog.

Since the group is currently homeless again,  we can also discuss possible venues (MDDA and so on) and decide whether we prefer meeting a) somewhere with a projector or b) somewhere that serves beer.

See you there.

Wasn’t clear if we had a venue sorted for tomorrow, could someone confirm if we have. Otherwise Wetherspoons on Princess street might be a good option they have a few side rooms that are often empty. http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/pubs/pub-details.php?PubNumber=2103

Judith

I’m currently studying an OU course in UI Design and Evaluation. Over on the course message board we’ve been having an interesting discussion about the terminology / jargon that the course materials use - in particular the concepts of task scenario, concrete use case, use scenario and essential use case:

a task scenario is related to a specific case, ie it is ‘concrete’
a concrete use case is not related to a specific case, ie it is abstract
a use scenario is a predicted task scenario for an as-yet unwritten system
an essential use case is less specific and higher level than a concrete use case

The students with a development background find this terminology particularly problematic because terms like use-case already exist with a definite and slightly different meaning in OO programming. It’s less of a big deal for me - I’m not a programmer so in my head, they mean what the textbook says they mean.  Even so, as a writer I can see that the concepts and their definitions are a bit on the messy side. This is an area of the course that everyone seems to be struggling to learn and retain.

I’d be interested to know how much use these terms get from people doing usability in the real world.  If you’re communicating with people from different disciplines, the last thing you need is terminology that means something different in their discipline.  I can also see how, as a field that often has to fight to be taken seriously in industry, the language of programming may have been appropriated to add gravitas.

Your thoughts please…

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We now have the next two monthly meetings scheduled in Upcoming. They are Wednesday, July 2 and Wednesday, August 6. Both are booked for Laterooms’ offices (thanks Hugo).

No firm agenda yet, but we open to ideas. Comment here or on the mailing list.

So far, the agenda is:

• Next meeting venue - Leeds?
• Progress of the new blog and mailing list, end-of-life for the yahoo group.
• Future presentations.
• The main feature - Chris Collingridge on Usability in an Agile Development Environment.
• AOB.
• Pub.

6.30 start.