CHI 2005 | Development Consortium

April 2-7 | Portland, Oregon, USA

Local Ambassadors: Local action/global impact
Dirk Knemeyer
Involution Studios LLC, International Institute forInformation Design, American Institute of GraphicArts, Industrial Designers Society of America,
American Marketing Association, UXnet
21 School St., Suite 2L, Somerville, MA 02143
dirk@involutionstudios.com

Nick Finck
Digital Web Magazine, Asilomar Institute forInformation Architecture, Association for
Computing Machinery (SIGCHI), Society forTechnical Communication, DevGroup NW, UXnet
Matteo Penzo
Consultechnology, Idearium, UXnet

ABSTRACT

active, collaborative network of those Ambassadors,
sharing ideas, resources, and energy across geographic
boundaries. This would simultaneously provide localized
regions with the natural benefits inherent in cooperation andoptimization of related efforts, while helping to raise theprofile, scope, and importance of user experience as animportant part of successful business. At the same time,
Local Ambassadors would serve as a critical lynchpin
between related organizations, helping both their businessinterests and aiding their members through the thoughtful
cross-pollinationofinformation,resources,andopportunities.

This position paper for the CHI2005 Development
Consortium introduces the Local Ambassadors Initiative of
the User Experience Network (UXnet), a collaborativeinternational vision that unites user experience
professionals with a variety of skills and backgrounds in ashared effort to develop a productive user experience
community.
Author Keywords

UXnet, User Experience Network, Local Ambassadors
ACM Classification Keywords

Once UXnet launched, the nuances and complexity ofrealizing the Local Ambassador vision firmly took hold.
Even though there was a basic acknowledgement thatdifferent regions would face vastly disparate opportunities
and challenges, it was only through getting all of thevolunteers involved in the same conversation that we wereable to adapt the vision to truly mesh with reality. We are in
the process of documenting, understanding, and best
adapting to this, an ongoing process that should crystallize
in our group’s vision by early-to-mid 2005.

K.7.2. The computer profession: organizations
INTRODUCTION

In June 2004, the User Experience Network (UXnet) madeits initial public “pre-launch.” Word about UXnet spreadquickly, and it was not long before volunteers from aroundthe world raised their hand to participate as volunteers.
Much of this early enthusiasm channeled into the LocalAmbassadors initiative. As UXnet evolved over the rest of
2004, the energy and activity of the Local Ambassadorsserved as the primary tactical point of progress, leading tothe organization and co-sponsorship of events, theconsolidation of individual efforts in a variety of major
municipalities, and the early development of tools.

LOCAL AMBASSADORS: PARTICIPANTS &STRUCTURE

There are currently 22 geographical regions in fivecontinents, overseen by 29 total Local Ambassadors. Eachregion and community is dealing with a different local
situation – in some cases dramatically so. Consider:This presentation will explore the Local Ambassadors
initiative in some depth, including the vision and purpose of
the group, the participants and basic operating structure, as
well as examining some of the tactical achievements thegroup has enjoyed to date, and where the group is heading.

• The San Francisco Bay Area already had an organizationin place that served the basic Local Ambassador function
for their region – BayDUX. With an active community
and replete with resources, BayDUX operates more likethe local chapter for a large industry association,including three primary organizers, a solid web presence,
and awareness in their local community. Surrounded by astrong local presence from every major user experienceorganization, the role of our San Francisco Bay Area
Local Ambassadors is one of networking andorganization, building user experience through thecoordination and connection of different local groups
under the umbrella of user experience.

LOCAL AMBASSADORS: VISION & PURPOSE

The Local Ambassadors initiative was designed to create
local infrastructure and cooperation between different
groups involved with user experience, and to serve as anCopyright is held by the author/owner(s).
CHI 2005, April 2–7, 2005, Portland, Oregon, USA.
ACM 1-59593-002-7/05/0004.

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CHI 2005 | Development Consortium

April 2-7 | Portland, Oregon, USA

event in Switzerland that brought together the efforts of two
Local Ambassadors from different parts of the country.

• UXnet Executive Council member Keith Instone has
spent a few years trying to organize a user experience
community in his hometown of Toledo, Ohio. However,Keith is faced with not having any meaningful local
chapters of UX-related organizations, and a small,
uninformed,anddisinterested
communityofpractitioners. Thus, Keith’s challenge lies more in theaggregation of resources and opportunities from otherregions in the approximate geographical vicinity, and ineducating local practitioners about user experience andsharing the out-of-market opportunities with them.

The Local Ambassadors are also in the process of creating
tools to help their efforts and serve their various
constituencies. The primary tool is a set of web templates,
so Local Ambassadors can easily plug in their own local
information, incorporate global UXnet information, allwithin an easy-to-use template that sports the UXnet brand.
Following a systematic best practices approach, thedevelopment team has already put significant time into theinformation architecture, interaction design, and usertesting. Ongoing work on personas and scenarios – as wellas technological specification and research – will befollowed by visual design and implementation. This projectis expected to be complete in the second quarter of 2005.

• Over in Italy, Matteo Penzo is new to the role and idea ofbeing a Local Ambassador, and is further faced with UX
organizations largely operating on a national – not local
or regional – level. Whereas Keith may not have much
activity in Toledo, cities like Detroit, Michigan andCleveland, Ohio – each within a two-hour drive – dooffer many opportunities for his constituency. This is not
the case in Italy. Then, as an additional complication,
most UX organizations are primarily English speaking.
Even though most Italians speak English, it is not theirfirst language.

These approaches are very bottom-up: by establishing
Local Ambassadors in an ever-widening sphere around theworld, involving UXnet and our Local Ambassadors in the
co-organization or sponsorship of events and activities, andbuilding the toils and infrastructure to arm our Local
Ambassadors with the things they need to best service theirlocal groups and participants, we will enable these
constituents to participate in and leverage the crossdisciplinary nature and practical business potential of user
experience.

This snapshot of three very different regions reflects thechallenges we face in structuring and organizing the group.
To date, we operate as a group of peers working together toadvance the initiative. Insodoing, we are identifying
profound differences in geographical regions, theexperience and network depth of various participants, andeven the level of participation in the activities of our overall
group from those participants. As our tactical efforts begin
to gain momentum and the picture of who and what we aregets clearer, so it would seem our structure will also
formally shift to reflect the practical differences we arealready negotiating.

CONCLUSION

Although the initiative is less than seven months old as ofthis proposal, the group has achieved quite a bit. A solidand growing infrastructure of participants organizing,
hosting, and sponsoring UX events, and producing strategic
tools that enable the group to best represent its various
contingencies, is just the beginning. The group is taking ona structure and personality beyond the initial vision of theorganization. In different ways and to different degrees,
Local Ambassadors are advancing the UXnet vision toorganize and build a user experience community, to provide
new opportunities and infrastructure to industry
associations, and to connect interested individuals to UX
information, events, and experiences.

LOCAL AMBASSADORS: PROGRESS &ACHIEVEMENTS

It is a credit to the interest, effort, and spirit of the Local
Ambassadors that the initiative has rapidly taken flight. As
indicated above, people from five continents have stepped
forward to volunteer and participate as Local Ambassadors.
This is an extraordinary achievement, considering the “softlaunch” of the organization and that only a couple of thoseparticipants were aware of the initiative prior to June 2004.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The success of this initiative and the content herein is theproduct of the hard work and dedication of our Local
Ambassadors. The Local Ambassador initiative is overseenby the Executive Council of UXnet: Richard Anderson,
Keith Instone, Dirk Knemeyer, Beth Mazur and Whitney
Quesenbery.

Individually, a number of regions have hosted or cosponsored UXnet events. These include an event in the San
Francisco Bay Area with about 200 attendees, a London
event was promoted above capacity, with a full house andnumerous other people turned away in advance, and an

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