Date and time:
March 28, 2005 (Monday)
6:00-7:00 p.m. Dinner at La Madeleine for those who would like to
join us (directions below)
7:00-9:00 p.m. Program
Location:
Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center, Meeting Room B
4805 Edgemoor Lane
Bethesda, MD 20814
Description:
The standard approach to usability testing is to prepare task scenarios
in advance and to rate how each participant completes each task. A
completion score may be assigned to each task to indicate whether
it was completed successfully, with difficulty, or not at all. This
approach gives us good metrics to identify usability problems. But
what would happen if we conducted a usability test without pre-planned
task scenarios? Some might consider this a crazy idea. However, several
local professionals who have tried it say that it has merit.
The idea of conducting a usability test without pre-planned task
scenarios is to elicit real-life scenarios from the test participants
themselves, and to evaluate how well the web site addresses these
scenarios. This hybrid technique is part contextual interview, part
usability test, and allows us to gather much more qualitative information
about the user's needs and the context of use, in addition to identifying
usability problems. In this panel discussion, usability specialists
from three different organizations will share their experiences with
this hybrid technique, followed by open discussion of the idea.
Speakers:
Lynn Baumeister, Cirque Interactive LLC
Christy Mylks, UPA-DC Metro Chapter President
Lisa Battle, Lockheed Martin/Social Security Administration
Registration:
Advance registration is recommended. You can register using our
online registration
form.
Note: This event was originally scheduled for February, but was cancelled due to snow.
If you registered and paid in advance in February, please go ahead and register again,
but do not pay.
Cost: $5 for UPA DC Metro members
$7 for non-members
Directions to the Program:
The Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center is located at
4805 Edgemoor Lane, Bethesda, MD 20814. The Center is in the two-story
County office building on the plaza level of the Metropolitan complex,
above a County parking garage. View
the MapQuest Map
By Car:
The entrance to the parking garage is marked with a large blue Bethesda
Center parking sign. Parking is available in the garage - $.75 per
hour short-term (3 hours or less), $.50 per hour for over 3 hours.
If you are coming south on Old Georgetown Road (from the Beltway
use exit 36), turn right on Woodmont Avenue and the parking entrance
is almost immediately on your left (second driveway). If you are
coming south on Wisconsin Avenue/Rockville Pike, turn right onto
Woodmont Avenue, go south for approximately one mile, cross Old
Georgetown Road, and the parking garage entrance is the second driveway
on your left. If you are coming north on Wisconsin or west on Rt.
410, take Old Georgetown Road north, turn left at the second traffic
light (Woodmont Ave.) and the garage entrance will be on your left
(It's the second driveway). Take the elevators from the parking
garage to the plaza level (P). The building is located at the center
of the plaza. County and American flags and a sign bearing the County
seal mark the entrance to the building.
By Metro, Bus or on Foot:
The building is located across the street from the Bethesda Metro
station. From the Bethesda Metro Station, take the escalator from
the bus bay to the plaza level, turn left, walk past the clock tower
and across to the Metropolitan plaza using the pedestrian bridge.
If you are walking from any other location, the Center's street
entrance is at 4605 Edgemoor Lane (corner of Old Georgetown and
Edgemoor) and is marked with County and American flags. Take the
elevator to level 2 for meeting rooms.
Directions to Dinner:
La Madeleine is located at 7607 Old Georgetown Rd, Bethesda, MD
20814. The restaurant is a short walk from the Bethesda metro stop. View
the MapQuest Map
Contact the
for events-related issues.
UPA DC Metro maintains a code of professional ethics to encourage the
free expression of ideas and assure the security of our members and
guests. We reserve the right to exclude or remove any individual and to
limit meeting attendance if necessary.
