Meeting the Needs of “UserExperience” Professionals
Richard Anderson, Annie Archbold, Michelle Berryman,
Nigel Bevan, Nick Finck, Pabini Gabriel-Petit, JonathanGrudin, Dennis Galletta, Barbara Helfer, David Heller, KeithInstone, Peter Jones, Dirk Knemeyer, Joe Konstan, Arnie
Lund, Ian MaClelland, Nico Macdonald, Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah,
Whitney Quesenbery, Fred Sampson, Lynn Strother,John Zapolski, Ping Zhang

We have to collaborate “on thejob” as UX professionals – whyis it so hard to “collaborate asprofessionals” outside of ourjobs?

11905

HumanFactors &Ergonomics

1915

1945

1955

Taylor WWI
WWII
training humanfactors

1965

1975

Shackel

HFS
CSTG

Human
Factors

HCI inInformation
Systems

IJMMS

1995

2005

Smith
HFES& Mosier CEDM

HUSATOperation & data entry

HFES
HPM

Psych. of HCI
BITBusinessgraphics
Cognitive
GDSSs
style
TAM

Ackoff

Managerial use
Computer-Human
Interaction & antecedents

Discretionary hands-on use

BushLicklider
Sutherland
Engelbart
Hopper
Nelson
Kay
PARC

1905

1985

1915

Generalpurpose
computers

Transistor Mainframes
computers

1945

1955

Focus on non-discretionary use

1965

TOCHI

HCI

POET DISDUX

Emotional
designSIGCHI

Softwarepsychology
Smith &GreenPCs

1975

SIGHCI

1985

Ecommerce

1995

2005

Focus on discretionary use

2How we got here
 Three years ago, Lou Rosenfeld kicked off adiscussion– Face to face meetings– Email discussions on several lists
 A small group met to try to– Articulate the points of pain
– Explore models for solutions– Define principles for moving forward

Things we heard
 “I’m interested in many different things.”
 “I wish I could find out what’s going on in my area moreeasily.” “I don’t have anyone to talk to about this stuff”
 “How do I connect with people across town or aroundthe world?”
 “What should I be learning to keep up in thisprofession?” “I don’t feel like I have a ‘home’ – an organization orconference I can keep coming back to.”3

Overarching principles
 UX is multidisciplinary; no one covers it all Many rich options for UX professionals tochoose from Facilitating connections is key to increasedvalue We can all benefit from supporting those in UX

Getting started…
Local UX Ambassadors

Forming a network of representatives
responsible for facilitating collaboration in
local areas.

Events Calendar & Group Directory
Developing a searchable listing of UX-relatedorganizations and events.

Organization Collaboration

Facilitating collaboration among UX-related
professional organizations.

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Goals for the DevCon Develop a deeper understanding of the problem andbarriers to its solution
 Examine a mix of potential or partial solutions that havebeen or are being attempted, or are being considered Examine a mix of (partial) solutions developed forsimilar problems in other domains
 Generate new ideas for solving the problem
 Establish relationships and a roadmap to facilitate
problem solution

DevCon Participants
SIGCHIACM SIGGRAPH
AIGA
AIS-SIGHCICHI’ATLANTA
HFES
IAI
IDSA
IIID
IxDG
STC
UPA5A broad canvas
HFES - Human factors &ergonomics
STC - Technical communication
SIGCHI - HCIAIS SIGHCI - HCI in a business
context
UPA - Usability and user-centereddesign
AIGA - Graphic design
IDSA - Industrial design
SIGGRAPH - Computer graphics
IxDG - Interaction design
IAI - Information architecture
IIID - Information design

So….what happened?
 We compared notes on how we thought aboutpublications, conferences, and… and…
 We reviewed some history – and discoveredthat the change is a constant We did a bit of brainstorming…and had a fewsparks
 We shared ideas about what’s working–new
technologies, DUX, campfires And we worried about reinventing the wheel

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At the end of the day…

WWW meets the UN
What’s the right model?
 The web: a loosely coupled network
 The mall: a shared infrastructure The UN: banding together for collective action

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Rightsizing
 Each of these models
are useful Some ideas canscale through themodels
 We don’t have tochoose just one

Tactical plan8

Ideas for first projects
 Consolidated event calendar
 Local Ambassadors Organizational profiles
 Overview information about the field:
FAQ’s, glossaries, good starting points
 “Campfires” – small, multi-disciplinaryinterchanges
 Conference collaborations
 The syndicated data pool (and UX Core)

And some other ideas
 The database of experts
 Blog aggregator – bringing all the content
together Curriculum development
 Joint publications
 Certification and professional accreditation Volunteer leadership resources9

Engage!

www.uxnet.org

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