The Milwaukee User Experience

Bringing World Usability Day to Wisconsin

The 1st Annual World Usability Day is November 3rd, 2005! 

The definition from WorldUsabilityDay.org:

The goal of World Usability Day is to promote the fields of usability engineering and user-centered design. We aim to do this by encouraging, organizing, and sponsoring activities at the local level around the globe, all occurring on November 3, 2005. We envision the UPA, UPA chapters, and allied organizations all holding separate yet related events, revolving around a common theme - "Making it easy - World Usability Day", with a focus this year on egovernment, while also including ecommerce and other commercial applications.

Your help and feedback is needed to make November 3rd a success!  Categories have been set up on The MUE to facilitate discussion. Please post comments! (see the "Categories" list to the right or follow the links below)   

• Brainstorm on potential activities
• Volunteer your time, articles, case study or facility
• Suggest a website for evaluation

The Wisconsin event committee team currently consists of participants representing Milwaukee and Madison but is looking to expand!

• Milwaukee Local Leader - Kevin Lee -  GE Healthcare
• Madison Local Leader - Jeff Horvath - Informed Balance
• John Bowie - GE Healthcare
• Brian Molstad - Molstad Consulting

World Usability Day 2006: Brainstorm - Your Ideas are Important!

Please post your ideas for World Usability Day 2006 activities or promotions here!

Front-running activity idea
Conduct evaluations of Wisconsin eGovernment, corporate or ecommerce sites websites (categories to be confirmed). The best examples may be eligible for a World Usability Day award.  Volunteers will be needed to evaluate the sites.  Your feedback is requested to help establish these categories and checklists for evaluation.

Other activities planned in other parts of the world

• An evening lecture featuring a case study on e-government or
  e-commerce
• A joint event with local, state or national government, highlighting
  the importance of usability
• An open house at a laboratory, featuring a success story and
  processes used to achieve usability
• A collection of stories of wonderfully designed usable technology
  and the positive impact it had
• An update on projects such as UPA's voting standards program
• A high-visibility speaker featured in a webcast event
• A mini-conference featuring several usability case studies, perhaps
  with an awards program
• Articles written for e-government or e-commerce publications
• A lecture at a local museum that has new technology in some of its
  displays
• Televised or radio interviews with a luminary around issues of user
  experience and consumer rights

What do you think?

World Usability Day 2006: Get Involved and Promote Usability in Wisconsin!

Now's the time!  Seize the day! (World Usability Day, that is)

Here is your chance to help usability take center stage in Wisconsin.  The local organizers are looking for volunteers.  Ways to help include:

• Help organize and promote
• Speak or present
• Offer an article, story or case study (get published on the MUE, too!)
• Offer available meeting space
• Recommend a site for evaluation
• Other??

Post your comments here!