The opening date to register as a judge and to submit
your entry is August 1. Plan for it now! To learn more about the
competitions, check out the extensive competitions section of
the site. More>
Your Chapter Needs YOU!
New volunteers are always valuable
since they contribute new ideas and additional skills.
We all have the same goals, such as, to further
our skills, learn more about and promote our profession, and network
with others. Please pitch in to help us provide services to you
and our STC Boston Chapter members.
The Usability SIG explores all aspects of usability in technical communication, software development, and web site design. What is usability, how can it be measured, and why does it matter? How does usability relate to the fields of user experience (UX), Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), human factors, user interface design, ergonomics, and accessibility? How can technical communicators get involved in usability, with or without changing career paths? Through presentations by guest speakers, lively discussions, assigned readings, and occasional field trips, we will attempt to find answers to these and other questions.
November Program
Date
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Program
Don't Push; Pull: Overcoming the Temptation to Teach
Presenter: Kris Engdahl
Description
Transitioning from technical writing to usability work requires reversing the flow of information. It doesn’t go from the development team through you to the user anymore; it goes from the user through you to the development team.
It’s easy, when you are interacting with users of a product that you understand well, to want to explain to them how something
works. Doing so, however, cheats you out of the information that you want to get from them: how they expect the product
to work and why.
Sometimes teaching is appropriate during a usability activity. For example, there are times when you provide training at the beginning of a usability test. But there are other times when providing information is exactly what you don’t want. This presentation will discuss:
Why the urge to teach is so strong, especially in the technical writing community
How that urge manifests itself in interactions with users
Sneaky teaching: How we teach when we are not trying
Ways to avoid teaching when you want to be learning
The meeting includes a tour of the new Usability Lab at Bentley.
About the Speaker
Kris Engdahl is a Usability Consultant at Bentley’s Design and Usability Center. She worked as a technical writer for 15 years before moving full time to Usability in 2005. She has worked on a variety of products ranging from solutions for very technical users, including Web programmers and database administrators, to products for business users and consumers.
Prior to joining Bentley, Kris spent 12 years at Oracle Corporation, where she worked on enterprise-level business applications. Kris’ recent projects have included a large study of enterprise data needs, developing profiles for enterprise users from IT professionals to business executives, developing personas for a loan-related website, conducting mobility studies of seniors, and testing web sites that support teens as they prepare for their futures.
Kris holds an MS in Human Factors from Bentley College. She is active in the Usability Professionals’ Association, for which she designed a special exhibit that illustrated usability principles to children on World Usability Day at Boston’s Museum of Science.
Time
Networking and Tours of Usability Lab
6:30 - 7:00 pm
Presentation and questions
followed by tours of the Usability Lab (time-permitting)
7:00 - 8:30 pm
Location
Bentley College(pay attention to SIG location; they vary)
Smith Academic Technology Center, Room 223
175 Forest Street, Waltham MA 02452 Map and Directions Note: Please print the parking permit, which is downloadable from the Map and Directions page.