HFIDO - Human Factors in Information Design Organization

UPDATE (1/31): Here is the recording of the panel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX1wM3v9qvQ

Join UX practitioner Ben Judy from Texas online for a panel discussion he organized, exploring what it’s like to be a user experience design practitioner in different environments.

By “environments” we primarily mean different kinds of organizations, such as:

* For-profit corporation
* Non-profit organization
* Government / civil service
* Marketing agency
* Startup venture
* Independent consultant / freelancer
* Academic institution
* and so on…

Other comparisons may also be discussed:

* different industries, e.g. travel vs. health care vs. retail
team size, e.g. “UX team of one” vs. small team vs. large department
* organizational structure, e.g. centralized UX team vs. individuals embedded in project teams

Panelists:

* Stephen Anderson - Author of Seductive Interactions and creator of Mental Notes
* Kara DeFrias - Appointed to the first class of White House Presidential Innovation Fellows
* Daniel Munz - Web professional with experience building smart digital strategies for civic causes, political campaigns and federal agencies
* Lynne Polischuik - Independent designer and consultant
* John Yuda - Establishing an in-house design and development practice for the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau 
* Roger Belveal - Principal Experience Designer at Intuit
Moderator: Ben Judy - UX generalist who has worked as a manager, contributor, contractor, and consultant

For full details and additional information on the panelists, visit: www.benjudy.com/ux-in-different-environments

Date & Time: Thursday, January 30, 2014 @ 8:00PM EST

Google Hangouts on Air Link: https://plus.google.com/events/crrcitvvdd309pf2f7hem0829os

The goal of the UX Portfolio Roundtable is to provide students with the tools and knowledge to create or refine their UX portfolio. Several panelists will begin by sharing their experiences in creating their own portfolios, and/or using portfolios during the hiring process. Following the discussion, the panel participants will take questions from students, and provide individual feedback on student portfolios.

The event is an adjunct to Eva Kaniasty’s UX Portfolio class on Skillshare.com, but will be open to the whole Bentley community. (If interested, you can still sign up for the Skillshare course at http://skl.sh/1alp3S4

The panelists include:
Christopher Laroche, MIT (HFID Grad, Instructor at Northeastern)
Rob Fitzgibbons, Mobiquity (RISD Grad, Manager)
Dani Nordin, the zen kitchen (HFID Grad, Author)

If you wish to receive feedback on your portfolio, please make sure it is either accessible online or through your laptop.

Don’t have a portfolio?  Come and learn what you need to know from the panelists and your classmates!

When: Thursday, December 5 @ 7:30PM ET  (students in Resnick’s class, just drop in after class ends!)

Where: Smith 122, online (see below)

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For your remote participation in the HFIDO Portfolio Panel, Thursday, Dec 5, 2013 at 7:30, you will be using Saba Centra 7 Web conferencing Software. Please follow the directions below.

ATTEND USING A GUEST LINK

If not live, copy and paste the link below into a Browser. We recommend Chrome for the PC and Safari or Firefox for the MAC.

· NOTE: This program works with Java. Please make sure the latest update is installed and enabled on the browser you are using.

· If you have Windows 8, you may have difficulty installing this program. Please contact us for assistance.

· If you have a MAC with Maverick OS, please use Firefox browser

https://online.bentley.edu:443/GA/main/00000120d6b70000014237ca452f85b1

· You will be using VoIP audio so please have a headset or microphone available to test your audio.

· PLEASE use earphones/ear buds, instead of open computer speakers as this will minimize audio feedback.

· You will come to a page that will ask you to enter an e-mail address.

· You will be given two options, “Launch on Desktop” or “Attend in Browser.” Please use the “Launch on Desktop” to enter the session. The browser version is not full featured and there is no video window to see the professor/room, etc. The desktop option will ask you to download software.

· If you are using a PC and asked to install/ run the software and/or allow security- please select yes. If you are asked to allow a plugin (java) select yes.

****This online event is currently open so you can follow the above instructions to attend and get the software downloaded at your convenience and make sure you enter the event.

Please contact us immediately if you experience any problems or if you have never used this software before we recommend you have an online technology orientation to make sure your connectivity is good and that your audio is working properly.

Please e-mail us at [email protected] or call our helpline at 781-891-3487 between 1PM and 9:30PM Eastern time, Monday through Thursday.

**FIREWALL INFORMATION:
Centra uses a proprietary port 1709 which may be blocked by your company’s firewall. To unblock this port, tell your IT staff that you need a “Direct TCP connection to the Centra servers (141.133.239.178, 141.133.239.179, and 141.133.239.180) on port 1709 outbound”. Port 443 can be used as a backup.

The UX Portfolio is a key requirement for getting the job you want post-graduation.

This event has 2 parts:

1) UX Portfolio Skillshare  is now only $5 to sign up.  After you sign up on my.bentley.edu, forward your receipt to [email protected], and we will send you a registration code to sign up on Skillshare.

• You’ll be free to walk through the material at your own pace.  The materials will be available on October 7.
• To purchase your ticket, go to my.bentley.edu > Student Self-Services > Student Services > Register for Events.

2) There will be a culminating in-person session led by Eva on Thursday, December 7, IF we get enough people who are interested.  We will post a separate event for this later.

Do you blog or update Facebook whenever you find a bad user interface? Consider posting on the HFIDO blog! This is a great way to share your thoughts with the greater HFIDO, Bentley and UX communities. Also, we want to show that HFIDers know a thing or two about UX

We are looking for students to post about:

• Interesting insights on interfaces you experienced or worked on
• UX book reviews
• Experiences with events like conferences, hackathons, design jams, and etc.
• Anything you want to share with HFIDO!

Also, we are still looking for student accomplishments for our Student Spotlight posts. Accomplishments can include publications, presentations, book reviews, awards, and other significant contributions.

Please contact Kathy Dang to post for the blog or to nominate someone for a Student Spotlight.

Update 9/13: Added link to recording.

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Last night, Oscar Yépez taught a great introduction to Axure! We downloaded our own copy of Axure onto our laptops and learned how to create an interactive wireframe of an iPhone app. This included how to add objects, images, and actions to make the wireframe come alive. Also, Oscar showed how to effectively create wireframes through the use of master objects and dynamic panels.

For those of you who couldn’t make it, here is the link to the recording!

If you attended the workshop, we are looking for feedback for those who participated. Feel free to leave a comment on the blog or the Facebook page on what you thought of the workshop!

Special thanks to Oscar for providing HFIDers with a new UX skill!

If you are in the Boston area, check out some of these UX events:

• 9/14: UXPA Sketching Workshop - There are only 6 student tickets left!
• 9/20 - 9/22: HACKFit Startup Weekend Hackathon
• 9/24: Monthly UXPA Meeting

Feel free to comment and share other events!

Update (9/10):

* The room has been changed to Smith 223

* For local students, there will be mixed sandwiches, cheese, fruit.

* Remote students: Here is the Centra link: https://online.bentley.edu:443/GA/main/000000e426a3000001408794fedd82e8
(Instructions: You need Centra installed on your computer and will be asked for an e-mail address and profile information - to log in. You should still choose “launch on desktop” as with the classes in order to see a video window. )

* Everyone will need to install Axure on their laptops BEFORE the session (or look on with somebody else). If you want to get the free student version, it might take a day or two for them to verify your student status before giving you a license key.

* You can also just download the 30 day trial.

* It is useful if you open up Axure and look around before the session (but not required).
- Here is some background info about prototyping in Axure: http://mobile.smashingmagazine.com/2012/08/17/mobile-prototyping-axure-rp/

Update (9/4): Please note that the workshop has been rescheduled for September 12 @ 7:30PM EDT.

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HFID graduate Oscar Yépez, who “lives and dies in Axure” at his UX designer job at Intralinks, will lead a 2-hour beginner workshop on essential skills with Axure. Axure is one wireframing tool widely used in the UX field and the MSHFID program.

Note: If you are a student with at least a 3.0 GPA, you can get a free Axure RP Pro license!

• Date: September 12, 2013
• Time: 7:30PM - 9:30PM EDT
• Place: Smith 223 and Centra

HFIDO is made up of very talented and accomplished members and the HFIDO board wants to recognize YOU on our blog! We are looking for portfolios, publications, book reviews, experiences with hackathons, startup weekend projects you’d like to share, or interesting insights you’ve gained in the UX field, etc.

Please contact Kathy Dang to nominate yourself or someone you know.

Update (9/3): There are not enough people signed up for the event. We will reschedule for another day and time.

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Join HFIDO for a night at The Pub! Meet fellow HFIDers, enjoy a drink, and play a UX trivia game for a chance to win prizes! Appetizers will be provided and drinks can be purchased at The Pub.

• Date: September 5, 2013
• Time: 7:30PM EDT
• Place: Harry’s a.k.a. The Pub (Inside the Bentley Student Center)

Please RSVP through Facebook or Eventbrite.

Bentley GSA is showcasing all of its sister organizations during its annual Fall Expo! Stop by the HFIDO booth and get your official HFIDO coffee mug!

• Date: August 27, 2013
• Time: 5:00PM - 6:30PM EDT
• Place: LaCava Center (Bentley University)

“When users land on your website, they typically read the content available. Then, the next thing that they will do is to try and familiarize themselves with your website. Most of the time this involves looking for navigation.” Read the full story on Smashing Magazine.

“When you do a lot of writing, you’ll end up with lots of ideas and articles at various stages, including your idea lists, articles you’ve just started writing, halfway-finished articles, completed drafts that you need to review, final versions you’re waiting to publish, and articles that have already been published. It’s hard to keep track of all these pieces without good organization.” Learn more at UXmatters.

“Survey Design DO’s & DON’Ts” – Miriam Gerver Donath, Mon. 2/4 @ 7:30-9:00 pm in Smith 122

Survey design is important because it affects response rate (item and unit) and data quality (introduce bias), which, in turn, affects survey results. As someone who might work directly or tangentially with a market research, or embark on your own research, this presentation will help you think about survey design issues and improve surveys you encounter, as well as give some guidelines and resources. These will be set within the cognitive response model of question comprehension, information retrieval, judgment in responding to a question, and providing a response. Learn more about Miriam Gerver Donath. This event will be recorded and can be attended remotely via Centra.

From 1-2 PM on Friday, November 1, Steven Dow of Carnegie Mellon University will discuss how technologies and services improve through iterative design - refreshments will be offered. Steven Dow is an Assistant Professor at the HCI Institute at Carnegie Mellon University where he researches human-computer interaction, design education, and social computing. He is co-recipient of two National Science Foundation grants, Stanford’s Postdoctoral Research Award, and the Hasso Plattner Design Thinking Research Grant. He received an MS and PhD in Human-Centered Computing from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a BS in Industrial Engineering from University of Iowa.

How do iterative practices such as critique and reflection affect design results for individuals, groups, and crowds? Dow’s experiments have found that, even under tight time constraints when the common intuition is to stop iterating and start refining, iterative prototyping practices such as critique and reflection helps designers learn. Results also show that creating and receiving feedback on multiple designs in parallel—as opposed to serial iteration—leads to more divergent ideation, more explicit comparison, less investment in a single concept, and better overall performance. Small groups who produce and share multiple designs report a greater increase in rapport, exchange more verbal information, share more features, and reach a better consensus. Dow’s work demonstrates that crowd workers perform better and learn from iterative assessments. Visit the MIT site for more details.

The 2012 Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) will be held at the Westin Boston Waterfront, October 22-26. User Experience Day is a dedicated programming track geared for user experience (UX) professionals on Wednesday, October 24, 8:30 am to 7:00 pm.

The goal is to deliver a great program of techni­cal sessions and networking opportunities for all attendees. This is your chance to make personal connections with a variety of UX professionals from around the world. The full day of high-quality programming includes something for everyone:

• 8:30 to 10:00 am - Invited speaker Bill Buxton, author and principal UX researcher at Microsoft Re­search, presents “The Human Factors of ‘Simple’ Devices”
• 10:30 am to 12:00 noon - “UX and Agile Development” panel discussion chaired by Marc L. Resnick of Bentley University with John F. (Jeff) Kelley of IBM, Jay Elkerton of Emerson Process Management, Russ Beebe of Vanderbilt University, and Ania Rodriguez of Key Lime Interactive
• 1:30 to 3:00 pm - Best UX paper competition
• TBD - Future leaders speed networking (by invitation only), sponsored by Key Lime Inter­active
• 5:30 to 7:00 pm - Happy hour at Lucky’s Lounge, sponsored by Emerson Process Management

Interested? Learn more about User Experience Day events  and also HFES conference information.

UPDATE: Thank you to all who attended and, especially, to our wonderful presenters from Perkins. If you weren’t able to make it, you can view the recording in your browser (it runs about 90 minutes).

“Accessibility in a Not-So-Accessible World” - Wed., 10/10 at 7:30 PM in Smith 122 or online

Presented by Perkins School for the Blind representatives - Kim Charlson, Director of the Braille and Talking Book Library, and Jim Denham, Director of the Assistive Technology Program - information and experiences will be shared to inform participants of the challenges and potential solutions for consumers with visual impairment. Current technology and real life anecdotes will both be reviewed.

We had a rousing discussion of what helps make a portfolio stand out, what might go into a portfolio, and what to do if you can’t show confidential work. We referenced several resources:

• Chauncey Wilson’s presentation
• Rui Wang’s presentation
• Onward Search Career Resources

We also reviewed examples of good portfolios, discussed useful tools (Alyssa Boehm suggested Squarespace as an affordable option for people seeking a simple way to get started and Brian Mills recommended BlueHost for site hosting), as well as several helpful articles throughout our industry:

• 50 Inspirational Portfolio Sites
• Common Portfolio Pitfalls
• Fill Your Portfolio With Stories
• Build a Kick-Ass Portfolio
• A Great Portfolio Isn’t a Collection of Deliverables
• Better UX Portfolios
• Playing the Main Character in Your Portfolio Story
• The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

Big thanks to our portfolio panelists - John Tarr and Megan Tierney from Onward Search, HFID student Rui Wang, and HFID professor Chauncey Wilson - for all of their help last week.

Want a job? Make a portfolio first!

When many of us consider a “portfolio” we see strong visuals, photos, or graphic designs. Portfolios are not just for designers! A portfolio is a powerful tool for you to tell a story about your work. More and more we hear that if you want a job, you should have a portfolio. But how do you get started?

Chauncey Wilson of Bentley University’s HFID program will explain his thoughts about portfolios, Rui Wang will share her recent experience building a portfolio to land a job, and recruiters from Onward Search will talk about the value of portfolios and what recruiters may expect to see.

We will discuss portfolios from a UX perspective, highlighting research and design work, but the ideas and recommendations can apply to any discipline. Portfolios tell stories to set you apart in a crowded field. Bring your questions or experiences so we can review best practices and insights.

The discussion is this evening - Wednesday, 9/12 - at 7:30 PM in Smith 122 or please attend online.

We hope to see you there!

The New England Chapter of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) is sponsoring an open house and discussion with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) HFES Chapter on Thursday, 6/28 from 6:30 to 9:00 PM. While the event is free to MIT students and HFES members (student membership is $10 annually), non-members are requested to make a small donation (online or at the door) to cover the cost of dinner and desert.

The event includes talks by members of the Humans and Automation Lab (HAL), International Center for Air Transportation (ICAT), Man Vehicle Lab (MVL), and AgeLab. Tours of each lab follow, and the night will round out with a social hour where participants can meet the presenters as well as employers from New England businesses looking to hire professionals from the human factors industry. If interested, please RSVP for complete location details.