Events
Upcoming events
UK UPA Summer Quiz Night
The UK UPA Summer Quiz will take place on Tuesday 14th July 2009 in central London from 6:30pm. More details to follow!
Past events
UK UPA Careers Event - Thursday June 25th 2009
The annual UK UPA Careers Event will take place on Thursday 25th June 2009 at LBI on Brick Lane from 6.30pm.
The event is for all those working in or otherwise interested in User Experience. It is an informal and relaxed event, offering the opportunity for you to network, seek talented practitioners, meet those soon to graduate or find a new role...there will be many opportunities to hear from different perspectives and get to know your peers.
Euro IA Call for Participation deadline: May 17th 2009
Beyond Structure
Sept 25-26, 2009, Copenhagen, Denmark
The Fifth European Information Architecture Summit’s focus is "Beyond Structure."
THE SUMMIT SEEKS PROPOSALS FOR:
* Presentations - talks that discuss principles and ideas, or provide insightful analogies and mind-opening explorations to open the minds of information architects
* Case Studies - specific examples showing the use of IA in completed projects
* Panels - differing opinions and discussion on the topics of the day lead by a moderator
UX London 15-17 June 2009
UX London is taking place from 15-17 June 2009, the event aims to bring bring the UX community in Europe together. Speakers will include Don Norman, Jared Spool, Jeff Veen, Dan Saffer and Peter Merholtz. http://twitter.com/UXlondon
UPA Conference 8-12 June 2009
Global UPA Conference is taking place this year in Portland, Oregon. The Focus for 2009 is 'Bringing Usability to Life'.
May Event: The Great Eye-tracking Debate
In a change to our normal venue, the UKUPA has been invited by Bunnyfoot to hold our May event at their offices at Westbourne Studions, London.
This event will revisit the hot topic of eye-tracking and will take the form of a debate. Taking opposite sides of the argument will be Kara Pernice, Managing Director of Nielsen Norman Group, debating why you do not need to use eye-tracking for web usability studies, and Robert Stevens, Co-founder of Bunnyfoot telling us why you absolutely positively must.
The event promises to be lively and informative and there will be a vote at the end. Make sure you come along and hear the compelling arguments as well as have your say at the end!
UX Brighton Event: Bridging the Ethnography/Design Gap
Simon Johnson from Flow Interactive will be talking about his research experience with the Environment Agency, covering all aspects of taking 'street' research through to design.
April Event: Information Architecture for the Rest of the World
Information Architecture for the rest of the World
"One of the challenges facing designers today is how to engage with emerging markets and rapidly developing economies. Well over half of the global population lives and works in these countries and technology is rapidly diffusing into their everyday lives."
Miles Rochford's recent talk at the IA Summit in Memphis was a huge hit and he will be giving the UKUPA highlights from this as well as highlights from Interactions09.
He hopes to help information architects understand the opportunities presented by emerging markets, and the role IA can play in development and growth. He will also discuss tools and techniques for creating globally relevant IA, alongside real-world examples of IA in emerging markets.
Open day at the Centre for Human Computer Interaction – City University London
Tuesday 31st March 2009 (1PM - 7PM)
Open day at the Centre for Human Computer Interaction – City University London
Professor Neil Maiden, Head of the Centre, requests the pleasure of your company to celebrate the new activities of the Centre for Human-Computer Interaction Design at City University London.
The Centre for Human-Computer Interaction Design is an independent Centre. Since its establishment in 1991 it has grown substantially, and its 25 staff now support a wide range of activities.
February Event: Label placement in forms (and other time-consuming controversies)
Label placement in forms (and other time-consuming controversies)
Have you ever been caught in one of those arguments about whether labels should go above the fields on forms?
In this talk, Caroline Jarrett will use eye-tracking data, and her many years experience of forms, to give you ideas for the next time that happens to you . She’ll also get us thinking about some other details of forms, like required field indicators and colons on labels.
January Event: User Experience and the Credit Crunch – What You Need To Know
Recession? Depression? Or: How I Stopped Worrying And Learned To Love The Crunch.
In the week that official figures are expected to show (for the first time) that the UK economy is actually in decline, Be Kaler Blake (Aquent) and Gerred Blyth (Lighthouse Experience) will present on and facilitate a discussion with guests on this timely topic.
We aim for attendees to gain practical insights whether you are:
a) From a user experience agency and looking to help improve your agency's bottom line
b) In-house and seeking to ensure user experience practices hold their own in your company during the downturn
c) Simply keen as a temporary or permanent employee to make sure your gas bills are covered in 2009!
City University & Human Factors International co-host "Mobile Persuasion"
This will take place at City University on Monday 19th January, with speakers Bryan Rieger - Co-Founder & Creative Director of Yiibu - and Kath Straub - Chief Scientist of Human Factors International.
UPA Europe 2008: December 04-06 2008
The first European regional conference of the UPA will take place on December 4th - 6th 2008 in Turin. Details can be found on the UPA Europe website.
World Usability Day 2008
World Usability Day 2008 Thursday 13th November 2008
The UK UPA is proud to be hosting an event to mark World Usability Day this year at LBi. The theme this year is Transportation and we will be holding a poster competition on this theme (please see attached PDF) as well as having a series of talks on Transportation and interesting perspectives on wider Usability.
Our sponsors this year are Human Factors International and Flow Interactive Ltd. In addition, we will be launching the New Media Age (NMA) User Experience Directory 2008 in association with Aquent.
The event will be starting at 7pm sharp with a series of talks and judging for the Poster competition. Light refreshments will be provided.
This event is designed to introduce new faces to Usability as well as provide the old hands with a positive platform for sharing information and work. As always this is a fantastic networking opportunity, so make sure you're there if you don't want to miss out!
WUD Competition Details and Rules
WUD Poster Competition Notice of Entry
Creativity versus Counting
The October event will be taking place on Thursday 30th October at LBi's offices on Brick Lane.
Creativity versus Counting
Martyn Perks is a design consultant with cScape Ltd. Outside of work he regularly writes and speaks about design, innovation and technology.
"Small changes have a big effect” seems to be a mantra for our times. Economic uncertainty is putting even more pressure on website owners to perfect their skills. Creativity is likely to suffer when it has little measurable impact on the bottom line. Instead, customer behaviour analysis continues to dominate how businesses perform. But data paralysis is likely and will inhibit bold decision making. A convergence around the same kinds of analysis will ultimately mean a convergence around the same outcomes–diminishing any potential margins. What customers have done is no assurance on what they are likely to do. Instead, the reliance on customer behaviour analysis is a sure sign of a paralysis of creative thinking. This talk will explore why this is happening and argue that to buck the trend and innovate is going to be more important than perpetuating the statistics.
Martin will also be chairing a debate on Western attitudes toward innovation in the emerging economies “A Brave New World” at this year’s Battle of Ideas festival, 1st and 2nd November at the Royal College of Arts, London. Other digital-related highlights (amongst many other debates) include an exhibition and talk by RCA graduates on “Biomedical and biotechnology futures” and a debate “Caught in the Web” looking at internet censorship and regulation.
Find out more about Martyn Perks
Getting it Wrong - Qualitative Research in the Usability Community: Thursday 18th September 2008
The September event will be taking place on Thursday 18th September at LBi's offices on Brick Lane.
Getting it Wrong - Qualitative Research in the Usability Community
Catriona Campbell, Director at Foviance, a ground-breaking customer experience consultancy, believes it's time for usability companies to wake up to the strategic risks in our market place.
"The User Experience Community has long believed that it is a specialist field - some of us see ourselves as an important addition to the Design Community, however some in the design community believe that designers can fulfil the role with sufficient training. Some in our field see us as specialist Researchers, or as Consultants, and the list goes on.
However, there are others practicing in the field now, and I will outline where the threats are coming from, here in Europe and in the USA. It's an interesting insight into the Market Research community amongst others, where they have been conducting research for over 60 years!"
Catriona will be giving a talk on the risks to the user experiences community and suggesting ways in which we can be better prepared for the future of our market.