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NUI talk and more at our May pub event!

Posted: May 28th, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Events | Tags: , , | No Comments »

On May 17th, we had a great turnout to our NUIs in your living room, in a pub event!

To spice things up, we asked those who attended the event to submit their recap of the event!  Not only does this summarize the event for those who didn’t attend, but those who did attend can hear what the other end of the table was talking about!

Quote 1: In our conversations we talked about the user experience of a video store, a grocery store and independently owned/operated establishments and what they offer over big chain stores.  We proposed that there is a certain niche for independent stores like this, and while some people may switch to this niche market if they knew of it, others just demand the convenience of the big chains.

Quote 2: Alas, we did not have an iPad to play with, but many of us have been able to play with one or know someone who has one.  We heard about some of the technical specs and who was excited to get an iPad or Kindle and those who were happy with just their smartphones and laptops.  It’s clear that NUIs (natural user interfaces) are becoming all the rage as these products become more mainstream, so we as usability professionals will definitely need to become more aware of ways that we can ensure the products we work on are suited for NUIs.  Here’s an article that outlines some of the challenges NUIs cause for development and prototyping.

Quote 3: It was a low-key discussion about user experience in a very broad sense.  Our talk touched on traditional software-based UX topics, but concentrated on the user experience in retail environments, with a focus on the differences between a globalized and a localized retail experience. Essentially, the ideas that we explored had to do with the different feelings associated with shopping at a local small business with a unique perspective and tightly focused set of offerings, versus shopping at a larger global chain with a wide variety of products, often at a lower price point. Overall, it was a great time, and I can’t wait for the next one!

Quote 4: The most striking conversational detour from me was around relationships that the best stores have with their customers. We talked about it in the content of independent video stores, music stores (of which there are fewer and fewer), and even grocery stores. I pointed out that I’ll often go to my favourite video store (Waterloo’s Generation X, as it turns out) and ask “What should I watch?” or “What should my wife and I watch?”, and have never been disappointed with the recommended film that I then rent. The personal, local relationship has become more meaningful in an age of online access to just about anything.

For anyone who had additional thoughts on our last event or has ideas about future events, feel free to add a comment!

Hope to see you at the Current Think Aloud Practices event on Thursday, June 24, 2010, where Amy Gill will be sharing information about her research and we’ll discuss think out loud sessions!

May 17, 2010 UX Group Event- NUIs in your living room, in a pub

May 17, 2010 UX Group Event- NUIs in your living room, in a pub


(June 2010) Current Think Aloud Practices

Posted: May 26th, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Events | Tags: , , | No Comments »

Thursday, June 24, 2010
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Accelerator Centre
Meeting Room #2
295 Hagey Blvd., Waterloo
[Map]

Many of us have used think aloud sessions as a way of understanding how users interact with a software product. In tonight’s meeting, we’ll run some actual sessions to see how a think aloud session works in practice.

We’ll also hear from Amy Gill, who is a pursuing a Masters degree in Applied Computer Science at the University of Guelph under the guidance of Dr. Blair Nonnecke (no stranger to the UX Group). The focus of Amy’s research is the think aloud method which is often used during usability testing. Her research aims to explore current think aloud practices to compare the use of think aloud in the usability field with the original use of think aloud in psychology. For this research, practitioners in the usability field were interviewed to gain an understanding of current think aloud practices.

RSVP

Please click here to register for this UX Group event. Thanks! Hope to see you there.

UX Show and Tell Recap

Posted: May 16th, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Events | Tags: , , | No Comments »

Hey UXers!

Hope you can attend our next UX group meeting tomorrow (May 17th) from 5:30-7pm at Barley Works at the Heuther Hotel.

To read more about what we’ll be discussing and to register, check out our blog post about the event: NUIs in your living room, in a pub.

If you missed our last UX group meeting on April 19th, here’s a quick recap.  We had 20 UXers attend our “show & tell” session, which turned out to be very interactive and fun!  We split into groups and each group listened to design challenges and ideas that their peers have been working with.

Then, each group picked a representative that presented their design challenge to the whole room.  Some of the interesting ideas we heard about include:

  • Design challenges for group collaboration and some of the time wasters that get in the way when individuals are working together in an office or on a tabletop surface.
  • How Adobe Fireworks can be used for wireframing and for finished designs.  We saw how this can be a great tool for creating a design and gathering commentary.
  • Overview of recommendations for revamping a website that is used by students and staff at Wilfrid Laurier University.
  • Saw examples of how menu options for an application were brought from early prototypes to the final product.
  • Got a sneak peak of a new feature for math software and heard about the design challenges of designing for a small space in an existing application.

Thanks to everyone who shared their ideas and opinions at this event!  Photos from the event are posted below.  Hope to see you at our event tomorrow!

April 19th- UX Group Show & Tell

Group 2

Group 3

Group 5


NUIs in your living room, in a pub

Posted: May 9th, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Events | Tags: , | 1 Comment »

Well, our plans for May have changed due to scheduling challenges. For this month’s event on Monday May 17 we’ll be enjoying an evening of fine conversation in the informal atmosphere of a pub. While everyone is, of course, free to follow whatever path the conversation goes in, we’ll at least set out to answer this question:

What are the UX implications of NUIs in the living room?

We fully acknowledge that the question is inspired by the impending arrival of the Apple iPad in Canada this month, with its gestural interface and lightweight form. There are other devices, though, that are here already (Nintendo Wii, anybody?), and there are certainly more on the horizon.

Finally, we may well have an iPad for those of you who would like to see and feel one up close. If anyone has any devices that they’d like to share, please do bring them along! Otherwise, bring your ideas and contribute generously to what we hope will be  friendly and illuminating discussion.

May meeting (Updated with new date and location)
Monday, May 17, 2010
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Back room at Barley Works, Huether Hotel, 59 King Street North, Waterloo, ON N2J 2X2

Please register here.


(April 2010) UX Show and Tell

Posted: April 1st, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Events | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | No Comments »

Monday April 19, 2010
5:30 to 7:00 (Then drinks afterwards if you’re interested!)
Accelerator Centre
Meeting Room #2
295 Hagey Blvd., Waterloo
[Map]

A chance to share our work and learn from each other

This month we’re hosting our first UX Show and Tell, an event that’s become fairly popular with other IxDA and UX-related groups around the world. It’s no wonder, as it’s quite a lot of fun and is a great way to learn from each other.

Bring examples of anything from your work: research artifacts, personas, sketches, wireframes, design comps, prototypes, documents… anything goes. Tell us a challenge you faced. Or show us a problem you solved. Bring a question you have, or simply show off something you’re proud of.

We’ll keep things brief, so please choose only one or two pages from that 5-pound design specification. 🙂

Do I NEED to bring something to show?

No, it’s not required that you bring something to show. But we certainly encourage you do so, as you’ll be surprised how much fun it can be. Remember, you don’t have to show a lot. Even a single screenshot can be plenty. And yes, you DO have something that others would find interesting or valuable!

RSVPs requested

If you’re hoping to attend, please click here to RSVP via Communitech. As usual, everyone’s welcome to join us, so spread the word!

Join us for informal drinks and chitchat afterwards

After the event ends at 7:00, we’re planning to get together at a nearby pub or restaurant. If this sounds like fun, just hang out for a few minutes afterwards while we see who’s interested and decide where to go.


Like Tabletop Interfaces? You can make your own!

Posted: March 23rd, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Events | Tags: , , , , , | No Comments »

In last Thursday’s March UX Group meeting, Dr. Stacey Scott spoke to us about the exciting projects that she and her team are working on with tabletop interfaces. She brought us through the history of tabletop interfaces and showed us that there has been a large amount of work that brought us from the earliest prototypes, to what we’ve seen with more mainstream products like Microsoft Surface and the SMART Table.

Imagine playing Risk, but on a tabletop interface!

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This video shows some the amazing projects that Dr. Scott and her team in the Collaborative Systems Laboratory at the University of Waterloo have been working on. They are focussing on applications for tabletop interfaces in two main areas: 1) military command and control operations  and 2) digital board gaming. One day, the army or navy might be using these systems and we might be able to enjoy digitalized versions of strategy board games (like Risk and Pax Romana) on our own kitchen tables!

Want to build your own tabletop interface?

Well, if you can’t wait and want to try building your own interactive tabletop, you’re in luck! Contact Professor Michael Haller’s Media Interaction Lab in Austria, from which you can order the same kit that Dr. Scott’s team uses for their work. Order the special grid paper and pens, install a projector, set it all up on any table that you have lying around and voila… you’ll be able to tinker with your own tabletop interface!  If you have any luck, you can enter in the SMART Multitouch Application Contest and compete against other developers who are working on surface applications.

Join the new IxDA Waterloo site!

In other news, we have a new IxDA Waterloo site!  Check out the link to see more information, learn about other IxDA events, and gain access to more resources about design and user experience. While there, we encourage you to join IxDA (it’s free) and indicate your membership with IxDA Waterloo. We’re currently looking into ways to combine our current UX group blog with this new IxDA site.

Send us your ideas for future events

The UX group planning commitete brainstormed after last Thursday’s event and we came up with some great ideas for future events. We plan to continue the tradition of “UX drinks” after our monthly events, so we can get together to chat in a more social atmosphere. If you have any thoughts or ideas, please leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you!


Is there a UX war going on?

Posted: February 28th, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Events | Tags: , , | No Comments »

Guerrilla Usability WorkshopThe February UX Group meeting was a great success. Blair Nonnecke led a guerrilla usability workshop. The resulting discussions and explorations were rich enough that we didn’t actually get through the entire workshop!

Blair’s focus on building community and on sharing experiences helped us to understand that we all have similar challenges. Moreover, the discussion around the suitability of a martial metaphor made it clear that there are a wide range of experiences amongst our group members. It’s not at all clear that there’s any kind of metaphorical war going on here!

For the 40+ folks that attended, thanks for making the evening such a rewarding one. For those of you who missed it, come out to a future event and get connected. For everyone, let us know what kind of activities and presentations you’d like the UX Group to organize. Add your thoughts to the comments for this post.


(March 2010) Next Generation Tabletop Interfaces

Posted: February 23rd, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Events | Tags: , , , , | No Comments »

Thursday, March 18, 2010
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Accelerator Centre
Meeting Room #2
295 Hagey Blvd., Waterloo
[Map]

“One day, your computer will be a big-ass table.”

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As the above parody so hilariously illustrates, we have yet see tabletop interfaces in every home. We’re at least a few years away from finding them in Best Buy or Future Shop. However, specialized markets for these devices are indeed emerging — and new applications are on the horizon. This month, Stacey Scott will overview some of the digital tabletop research being conducted in the Collaborative Systems Laboratory at the University of Waterloo. She’ll focus on two specific application areas: military command and control operations, and digital board gaming.

Even before Microsoft announced the Surface system in 2007, the Human-Computer Interaction community was actively researching digital tabletop technologies since Pierre Wellner proposed the DigitalDesk in 1991. Yet only recently have hardware and software advances begun to make digital tabletops a feasible technology for real-world markets. Innovations in operating systems (e.g., Microsoft 7), development environments (e.g., Windows Presentation Foundation), and input technologies (e.g., FTIR and TouchCo “multitouch” technologies) are enabling a move beyond proof-of-concept tabletop systems. We’re also well beyond simple demonstrations of new interface metaphors and interaction techniques for manipulating and sharing digital photos.

RSVPs requested

If you’re hoping to attend, please help us anticipate numbers by registering here RSVP’ing to Wanda Eby at Communitech. Thanks!

About the speaker

Stacey Scott is an Assistant Professor of Human Systems Engineering in the Department of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Dr. Scott received her Ph.D. in Computer Science (specializing in Human-Computer Interaction and Computer-Supported Collaboration) from the University of Calgary in 2005. She received her B.Sc. in Computing Science and Mathematics from Dalhousie University (Halifax, NS) in 1997. She completed two years of postdoctoral studies in the Humans and Automation Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA, USA) from 2005-2007, where she developed awareness technologies to facilitate collaborative decision-making in time-critical military command and control operations.

Dr. Scott’s graduate research focused on understanding collaborative tabletop work practices with traditional media and developing interface design requirements for digital tabletop platforms. She is now combining this previous theoretical and high-level requirements work with the applied research experience gained in her postdoc to pursue the development of digital tabletop systems that support real-world collaboration in complex task domains. In general, her research interests include computer-supported collaboration, large-screen displays, interface and interaction design, and information visualization.


Guerrilla Usability Workshop

Posted: February 3rd, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Events | Tags: , | No Comments »

Usability doesn’t have to be a big investment of time and resources. Guerrilla usability techniques can be applied to just about any project and deliver valuable insights. Join us for a guerrilla usability workshop led by Blair Nonnecke, a user experience researcher and practitioner who is an Associate Professor at the University of Guelph. You’ll get hands-on experience in valuable techniques that you can use on your own projects.

Please bring your own favorite guerrilla technique for show and tell!

RSVPs requested

If you’re hoping to attend, please help us make an appropriate reservation by RSVP’ing to Wanda Eby at Communitech. Thanks! Everyone’s invited, so spread the word.

Thursday February 18, 2010
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Accelerator Centre
Meeting Room #2
295 Hagey Blvd., Waterloo
[Map]


(January 2010) Is user experience becoming a commodity?

Posted: January 5th, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Events | Tags: , , , , | No Comments »

Monday January 18, 2010
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Accelerator Centre
Meeting Room #2
295 Hagey Blvd., Waterloo
[Map]

In November, Kem-Laurin Kramer of Research in Motion (RIM) wrote a provocative article for JohnnyHolland magazine that opened with these words:

After 10 years in the field, I woke up one day to realise that my service as a UX practitioner had become a commodity. Usability had become the “in thing” and everyone could do it and show that their products were better than the competition. Usability as a buzzword, populated Product Lifecycle processes in many organizations. So it comes as no suprise when the general attitude of stakeholders these days is one of a shopper saying: “One McUser Experience with usability fries please.”

On January 18, Kem will lead us into a deep dive on this question of whether our practice has become commoditized. Are we producing goods or services that lack differentiation? Is it a problem that user experience is concerned with aesthetics? Can anyone do our job?

Hope you can join us for what’s sure to be a lively, perhaps even heated, UX Group get-together!

RSVPs requested

If you’re hoping to attend, please help us anticipate numbers by RSVP’ing to Wanda Eby at Communitech. Thanks!