[IxDA Discuss] NYC-UPA meeting Tues., 9/19, Designing for Diverse Audiences (+job posting)

[Joy Zigo]

(scroll down for job posting)

NYC Usability Professionals Association presents:

Designing for Diverse Audiences: Are We More Alike Than We Think?

Speaker: Whitney Quesenbery, principal consultant, Whitney Interactive 
Design

Sponsored by: Sachs Insights http://www.sachsinsights.com

Join us as Whitney Quesenbery, past president of the national UPA, presents 
a case study of the design of a web site for The Open University that would 
appeal to and be usable by more than one audience.

Date: Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Registration: 6:00pm (refreshments served)
Presentation: 6:30pm to 8:00pm (includes Q&A)
Networking: 8:00pm to 8:30pm
Dinner at a nearby restaurant: 8:30pm to whenever (participants pay for 
their own dinner)
Location: Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, Laura Parsons Pratt 
Conference Center, 281 Park Avenue South (at 22nd Street).

What happens when a site has to appeal to a wide range of people with 
different usability needs? Can you make one site work for all of them, and 
if not, how do you sort out conflicting requirements?

Last summer, the web team at The Open University set out to design a site to 
introduce the university to a new audience: teenagers leaving secondary 
schools. But it also needed to work for older adults, and people with low 
English literacy just learning about higher education.

Recent usability research reports for these three audiences suggested that 
one site would not fit all, but there was considerable overlap. In the end, 
they launched a single site, built around a few simple plain language 
guidelines.

Quesenbery will share those guidelines and how her team transformed some 
long, dense pages of information written by academics into a site that helps 
visitors take the first step on their journey to a university degree.

About the speaker:
Whitney Quesenbery, past president of the national UPA, is a user 
researcher, user experience practitioner, and usability expert with a 
passion for clear communication, working with companies from The Open 
University to the National Cancer Institute.

Whitney serves on two Federal Advisory Committees (for voting systems and 
Section 508 accessibility regulations), working to improve the usability and 
accessibility of our civic life. Her most recent publication is a chapter on 
storytelling and narrative in The Personas Lifecycle (by Pruitt and Adlin).

She has served as president of the Usability Professionals' Association, on 
the board of UXnet and helped launch the first World Usability Day on 3 
November 2005.

More info here: www.WQusability.com

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Cost: $10 for NYC-UPA members if pre-registered, $15 if not pre-registered; 
$20 for non-members if pre-registered, $25 if not pre-registered; $5 for 
full-time students if pre-registered, $10 if not pre-registered (students 
please provide valid ID) All fees payable, by cash or check only, at the 
door only.

RSVP: Reserve your space by sending an email to rsvp at nycupa.org with the 
subject "NYC-UPA Event RSVP" (to pass our spam filters). Include your name, 
your company name (if applicable), the event name and date in the body. 
Please send the RSVP in plain text.

You will get an e-mail confirmation. If you have not received this 
confirmation within 2 days, please register again to ensure your place at 
the event.

For more information, visit our Web site:
http://www.nycupa.org/events.html

Thanks to our meeting sponsor: Sachs Insights. Visit them at 
http://www.sachsinsights.com

JOIN NYC-UPA
...............................................................................................
NYC chapter members save $10 off the non-member price at every meeting.
Join at the registration table. The $10 discount applies immediately.
Dues are only $15 per year.

If you plan to join:
To help us speed up the registration line, please do this: print out this 
e-mail, neatly fill out the form below, and present it at the registration 
table along with $15 dues plus the discounted meeting cost (cash or check).

*** SPEEDY MEMBERSHIP FORM ***

First Name: _______________

Last Name: ______________________

Job Title: _______________________________________

Company: _______________________________________

Street Address: ___________________________________ (indicate whether this 
is your home or work)

City: ___________________________________________

State: _______________________ Zip Code: ___________

Telephone: _______________________________ (indicate whether this is your 
home or work phone)

Fax Number: ___________________________________

E-mail: __________________________________________

Web Site: ________________________________________

JOB POSTING
...............................................................................................
JPMorgan Chase is looking for User Experience Analysts and Designers to join 
our team as we look to reshape the client's experience with our online tools 
and reporting applications in one of our major divisions.

We've built a strong user-centered design practice, with complete management 
commitment to our efforts. We work very closely with our clients and 
development partners throughout all phases of the project lifecycle both in 
person and remotely. Solid information architecture and user centered design 
skills are required. A demonstrated work history with web applications is 
preferred. Strong communication and consultative skills are required. For 
our Analysts, we seek a minimum of 7 years related experience and 3 years 
for our Designers.

Interested candidates should send their resume and work samples to 
karen.s.pascoe at jpmchase.com.

OUR MISSION
...............................................................................................
The NYC chapter of the Usability Professionals Association (UPA) seeks to 
gather members of the marketing, design, technology and research communities 
who share a common vision: creating websites that are compelling, intuitive 
and customer-driven. By bringing together professionals from different 
industries and disciplines and sharing our collective experiences, the NYC 
UPA hopes to create a forum for learning and professional growth in the New 
York City metropolitan (and tri-state) area.

SHARE THE WORD
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PLEASE FORWARD this email to colleagues, clients, and friends to spread the 
news about our new organization. Send us any names and emails you would like 
added to our mailing list at list at nycupa.org

NEWSLETTER INFORMATION
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announcements related to NYC UPA events and official business. To 
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not disclose our emailing list to third parties.

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For more information about the Usability Professionals Association (NYC 
Chapter), go to http://www.nycupa.org/.