World Usability Day: eGov Success Stories
from the Nation's Capital
Highlights:
World Usability Day celebration, usability success stories, reception,
poster session, e-government, food, door prize for pre-registered
attendees, accessible downtown location. All yours for a mere $5
and an evening out.
Date and time:
November 3, 2005 (Thursday)
Poster session and reception (light refreshments will be served):
6:00-7:00 p.m.
Panel presentations: 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Door prize for pre-registered attendees: 9:00 p.m.
Registration for this event is now
closed. The facility has reached full capacity.
Theme: World Usability Day: eGov Success Stories from the Nation's
Capital Washington, DC, USA
“Show me what works, not what
doesn’t.” When it comes to usability, we usually see
examples of what not to do and of what doesn’t work. Even
when we’re able to research or design a great user experience,
there’s always the challenge of navigating the politics to
implement it properly. So on November 3, please join the UPA DC
Metro and the STC DC Usability SIGus for a special evening focusing
on what works and how to achieve it.
The Usability Professionals Association (UPA) has designated
November 3, 2005 as World Usability Day (www.upassoc.org/worldusabilityday).
World Usability Day is for all the people who have ever asked questions
such as: "Why doesn't this work better? Why does it have to
be so frustrating? "Why can't they make this easier?"
The answer is: it can. The purpose of this worldwide series of events
is to promote awareness of usability engineering and user-centered
design as methods for improving user experience.
For this event, we set ourselves a challenge: find examples –
in our U.S. government, no less – of usable interfaces and
effective user-centered design processes. Come learn about and discuss
e-gov usability success stories from our fair city.
The UPA DC Metro chapter and the Usability
SIG of the Society for Technical Communication (STC) DC Chapter
will jointly host a reception, poster display, and speaker panel
featuring usability experts from U.S. Federal government agencies.
The speakers will provide an update on usability within the Federal
government and share success stories of advances in usability that
benefit the American public.
This session is open to anyone who is interested in how to improve
ease of use within government, or in fact within any project; membership
in UPA or STC is not required. Discussion, sharing of stories, and
questions from the audience will be encouraged. Reception and Poster Session:
To launch the evening, attendees will nosh on light food and drink
while roaming and discussing the advance Poster Session of usability
successes. Please contact us at events@upa-dc-metro.org if you would
like to display a poster.
The interactive poster session during the opening reception will
provide opportunities to see and discuss additional case studies
and research. The posters include examples not covered in the evening’s
presentations.
Sheila Campbell, ofFirstGov.gov
at the GSA
with Cari Wolfson of Focus on U!, discussing the FirstGov search
redesign
Whitney Quesenbery, Director of the UPA Voting and Usability
Project and President of UPA, discussing Voting Usability successes
with the Elections Assistance Commission
Registration: Registration for this event is now
closed. The facility has reached full capacity.
Cost: $5 if registered in advance
$10 at the door
Directions to the Program:
American Institute of Architects, (www.aia.org)
1735 New York Ave, NW (near 17th and E)
Washington, DC 20006
By Car:
Taking Metro is strongly encouraged, but you can park in the garage
under the AIA building for $12.
By Metro: Farragut North stop on the Red Line: Walk approx. 3 blocks
south on 17th St S. Turn right on New York Ave NW. Walk a short
distance southwest on New York Ave NW. Farragut West stop on the Blue/Orange Line: Walk west on
I (Eye) Street towards 19th Street. Turn left onto 19th Street.
Turn left onto Pennsylvania Avenue.
Turn right onto New York Avenue.
Contact the
for events-related issues.
World Usability Day
World Usability Day, a project of the Usability Professionals Association,
was organized to promote awareness of the benefits of usability
engineering and user-centered design. More than 70 events are planned
in 35 countries around the world, beginning in New Zealand and ending
in the western U.S. Many locations will be streaming video broadcasts,
so if you cannot attend our event, check with the UPA’s
international site online.
Presenter Bios:
Mary Frances Theofanos is a Computer
Scientist in the Visualization and Usability Group in the Information
Access Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology
where she is project manager on the Industry Usability Reporting
(IUSR) Project and the Common Industry Format for Usability
Test Reports developing standards for usability. Previously,
she was the Manager of the National Cancer Institute’s
(NCI) Communication Technologies Research Center (CTRC) a state-of-the-art
usability testing facility for web sites, applications, and
emerging technologies, as well as a training facility and collaborative
design center. She spearheaded a project to create a Section
508 evaluation protocol for U. S. government agencies, and served
as project manager for usability components of the complete
overhaul of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) web site. A long-time member of both ACM and IEEE, Mary
received her bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the
University of Richmond and her master’s degree in computer
science from the University of Virginia. She is currently a
Ph.D. candidate in software engineering at George Mason University
working on her dissertation.
Sean Wheeler is the lead usability
specialist for the Social Security Administration (SSA). He
was instrumental in establishing SSA’s Usability Center
as an integrated part of the agency's process improvement initiatives.
He has more than fifteen years’ experience in applying
HCI principles to the design of large scale core business applications,
and most recently in the development of online services for
the public. Sean is the agency's primary advocate of user-centered
design methods and provides technical leadership to a staff
of designers who are helping the agency to integrate user-centered
methods into the software development process.
Nicole Burton is a Usability Analyst
at the Financial Management Service, U. S Department of the
Treasury. She is currently mentoring a team of accountants in
designing a Web-based application that will provide an intelligent
search tool for the US Standard General Ledger and automate
its maintenance and quarterly publication. She was also Lead
Usability Analyst on the conversion of the Federal Agencies
Centralized Trial-Balance System I (FACTS I) from a mainframe
system to a user-centered designed Internet system. For eleven
years, Nicole has pioneered bringing user-centered design methods
to government agency applications development projects. Before
joining Treasury seven years ago, she spent over 10 years as
a technical writer, information architect, and usability specialist
at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, where she co-designed
EDIE, the Electronic Deposit Insurance Estimator, www2.fdic.gov/edie/index.asp.
Nicole has also been a playwright and novelist for twenty-six
years, which she believes enhances her Human Factors practice.
Elizabeth (Betty) Murphy has been
a Research Psychologist at the U. S. Census Bureau’s Usability
Lab since 1998. She was recently selected to lead the Census
Bureau’s Human Factors and Usability Group. Betty holds
a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Maryland. She has
over 20 years of experience in conducting human-factors evaluations
for government agencies. Her areas of specialization include
the usability and accessibility of human-computer interfaces,
most recently the design and evaluation of Web-based, national
censuses and surveys. Betty has authored or co-authored 45 papers
in professional journals and conference proceedings.
Sheila Campbell is a Senior Content
Manager for FirstGov.gov,
the U.S. government's official web portal. Since she joined the
FirstGov team in October 2001, she has managed the redesign of
FirstGov, led numerous usability testing efforts, and developed
the U.S. government's first Spanish-language portal, FirstGov
en Español. Most recently, she's served as co-chair of
the Web Managers Advisory Council, which recommended policies
for federal public websites to OMB in June 2004. Sheila currently
manages Webcontent.gov, a one-stop website that provides practical
tools and guidance for government web managers. Before joining
FirstGov, Sheila served as Deputy Chief of Staff for the Peace
Corps, where she developed and implemented the Peace Corps first
Intranet.
Cari A. Wolfson is President of Focus
on U!, a user-centered design and usability consulting firm that
specializes in analyzing, designing and iteratively testing websites
in order to create products that are measurably easier to use,
learn and understand. Clients include: Department of Homeland
Security (DHS), Department of Health & Human Services, Department
of State, Department of Treasury, the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA), General Services Administration (GSA), www.usability.gov,
www.firstgov.gov, National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST), two E-Government initiatives, and various e-health initiatives
at Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University, and Carnegie
Mellon University. Prior to founding Focus on U!, Wolfson was
a Usability Engineer with the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
In this role, she aided in the development of the Research-Based
Web Design & Usability Guidelines and www.usability.gov. Wolfson
is currently working with the Department of Health & Human
Services to redesign the www.usability.gov
website.
Whitney Quesenbery is a user interface
designer and usability specialist with a passion for clear communication.
As the principal consultant for Whitney Interactive Design (wqusability.com)
she works with companies around the world to develop usable web
sites and applications. Whitney is a frequent presenter at industry
conferences including UPA, ACM SIGCHI, STC, tekom, the IA Summit
Winwriters, as well as many local group meetings. She is the President
of UPA (Usability Professionals' Association), the Past-Manager
and Web Manager for the STC Usability SIG, and a member of the
Executive Committee for UXNet, as well as an active participant
in local usability groups. In 2005, she was given the STC President's
Award. She is the Director
of the UPA Voting and Usability Project and has been appointed
to the US Elections Assistance Commission's guidelines development
committee, where she works to ensure the usability of voting systems.
Code of Professional Ethics
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 troublesome
individual and to limit meeting attendance if necessary.
