The UUX Community Newsletter
Usability Interface

Usability Interface is the quarterly publication of the Usability and User Experience Community. The purpose of the newsletter is to provide technical communicators with up-to-date and in-depth information on how they can apply usability design and testing techniques to their products.

January 2007

Human-Computer Interface at Google
By Eric Hoffer
Why does a web site that rarely changes need HCI people? Learn about the experiences of a new employee, Josh Mittleman, which he shared with the UsabilityNJ meeting in October.

A 'Way Last Resort'?
By Molly Malsam
I recently made a career transition from technical writing to usability engineering. In my new position, I have been conducting site visits with customers in the area. During a recent visit, I found an opportunity to query a user, “Mike,” about using online Help. Join Molly on her first experience watching a user try to work with documentation, an experience both illuminating and alarming.

Book Review:
The Persona Lifecycle: Keeping People in Mind Throughout Product Design
By John Pruitt and Tamara Adlin
Reviewed by David Dick

World Usability Day 2006

Global Online Card Sort for World Usability Day 2006
By Rahel Bailie
World Usability Day has come and gone for 2006, and the results of the global online card sort are in. About five hundred people in 19 or 20 countries participated in the exercise. Find out what's next.

Washington DC: Panel Discussion about Usability in Healthcare
By David Dick
The Washington D.C. Usability Special Interest Group teamed up with the local Usability Professionals Association to present a panel discussion about usability in healthcare. Did you know that rising costs, an aging population and pressure to adopt new technologies increasingly strain the healthcare system? At the same time, patients and their families have ever-more access to health information, and many want healthcare to become more patient-centered.

Philadelphia: User Experience Beyond The Web
By Mike Madaio
Because many of the local Usability Professionals Association (UPA) members work in internet-related fields, Philadelphia’s second Annual World Usability Day looked to broaden horizons by focusing on “User Experience Beyond the Web.” The pervasive them of the presentatiosn by Hal Rosenbluth, James Mitchell, and Stephen Wilcox was that we actually have a lot in common.

Columns and SIG News

Editorial
David Dick, Editor
What is World Usability Day? Learn about it, and STC's involvement, here.

The Power of Storytelling
Karen Bachmann, UUX Manager
How Community Manager Karen Bachmann has learned about the power and importance of storytelling, and some of the many stories that have deeply affected her.