Understanding Web Readers (and Non-Readers): Creating Usable and Effective Web Content

This event is now FULL — online registration is closed

Date and time:
February 16, 2006 (Thursday)
6:00-7:00 p.m. Sandwiches and networking
7:00-9:00 p.m. Program

Location:
ASET International Services
2009 N. 14th St.
Arlington, Virginia 22201

Description:
We all know that content is critical on web sites. We know that people come to the web to get information or to complete tasks. But how much thought have you given to that content — how to plan it, how to organize it, how to convey critical messages in as few words as possible, what to put where in a web site?

Come work with Ginny Redish and consider how research from linguistics, as well as cognitive psychology, reading studies, writing studies, and other disciplines can inform our practice in developing useful and usable web sites. As always in an evening with Ginny, this will be very practical and useful, with lots of examples from web sites. Ginny has been collecting great examples for her new book on writing for the web. And she has been thinking about how useful it is to understand the theory and research behind the guidelines, while still having practical guidelines to use. She'll help you develop useful frameworks for thinking about web content, for analyzing what you now have and how to revise it, and for mentoring and training others on your project teams.

This meeting is jointly sponsored by UPA-DC and the STC Usability SIG.

Speaker:
Ginny Redish has been helping colleagues and clients communicate clearly and develop useful and usable products for more than 25 years. She was a pioneer in bringing usability techniques to software and documentation teams, and now to web development teams. Ginny is co-author of two of the major books on usability, A Practical Guide to Usability Testing (with Joseph Dumas) and User and Task Analysis for Interface Design (with JoAnn Hackos).

Her new book, Letting Go of the Words — Writing Web Content that Works, will be published by Morgan Kaufmann in 2006.

Most of Ginny's current work focuses on usability and clear writing for web sites. She has worked with many federal and state government agencies, as well as AARP, American Airlines, Marriott International, Nokia, IBM, HP, Xerox, and many other companies.

On all her projects, Ginny brings her own background as a linguist, as well as her extensive experience and reading in related disciplines. She is known for her ability to synthesize and communicate relevant research, so that practitioners enjoy learning the underlying reasons for the guidelines they espouse and apply. Ginny is a dynamic seminar speaker and workshop leader. When the Department of Personnel in Washington state first offered Ginny's course in Writing for the Web, 250 people tried to sign up in the first hour.

Registration:
This event is now FULL — online registration is closed.

Cost:
$15 for members of UPA-DC Metro and STC-DC (indicate membership on registration form)
$30 for non-members

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