Refresh the Triangle

Monday, January 05, 2009

TriUPA’s 2009 Professional Training workshop series

What’s TriUPA?
TriUPA is a local chapter of the Usability Professionals’ Association based in the Research Triangle, NC.

We’re offering an extensive workshop program in 2009, which we hope will be of interest to folks throughout the Southeast.

About TriUPA’s Professional Training
TriUPA is excited to announce our 2009 Professional Training workshop series.  The goal of our workshop series is to bring to our community the best thinking and latest practices in the user experience field.

TriUPA focuses on four areas of practice…

1. usability evaluation and testing
2. user research
3. interaction design
4. information architecture

... and our workshop series is designed to address each of these areas.

Please save the dates for the following full-day workshops.  Detailed information and a link to register will be sent in advance of each workshop.  Fees will vary for each event, but will typically be in the range of $150 - $250 for TriUPA members, with discounts for corporate sponsors and students.

You can become a TriUPA member today, by registering on our website.  It’s $15/year for professionals; free for students.

Feel free to contact me with any questions about our workshop series.

Cheers,
--Abe
VP, Professional Development Programs // TriUPA

2009 Professional Training workshop series schedule

1. Matt Cornell — personal productivity for UX professionals — Monday, January 12th, 2009 [register now!]

2. Todd Wilkens (Adaptive Path) — design research— Friday, February 20th, 2009

3. Scott Berkun — UX and project management — Friday, April 3rd, 2009

4. David Malouf — sketching and interaction design — Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

5. Dan Brown & Nathan Curtis — UX documentation/deliverables — Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

6. Bolt|Peters — remote usability testing — TBD in October 2009

Thanks to TriUPA’s sponsors for making this workshop series possible:

* Lulu
* GSK
* BlueCross BlueShield
* Insight
* Lenovo
* Hesketh.com
* Capstrat
* User-View
* SAS
* MoreBetterLabs

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Refresh 014 — Barometer for the Web-Based: Lessons Learned, Current Pressures, & Future Forecasts

Thursday, Jan 22, 2009
6:30 - 8:00pm

Join us as Abe Crystal (Ruzuku), Stephen Fraser (Spoonflower), and Nicholas Napp (DisruptorMonkey) briefly share their adventures in web-based business through reflections on past experiences and outlooks for 2009. This will be a casual, conversational, panel-like group discussion, and will be an ideal opportunity to ask questions and discuss how we all might better leverage the potential of the web in 2009.

Location:
TBD

TriUPA Workshop — Reboot Your Work: Modern Methods for Productivity, Sanity, and Control

When: 9am - 4:30pm, Monday 1/12/09 or Tuesday 1/13/09
Where: Council for Entrepreneurial Development
How: Register online (Cost is $50 - $195)

Start the year by freeing up your brain so you can think clearly, do more, and work creatively!

In this fast-paced full-day workshop, you will learn modern techniques to juggle and prioritize all the information constantly coming at you: dozens of projects, round-the-clock demands for your attention, and the perpetual overload of email and IM.

You’ll apply the concepts using hands-on exercises at the individual, small group, and large group levels. You’ll leave with a solid system for doing your job more productively, with less effort, and a greater sense of control.
Find out more.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

New Javascript Group forming

I’m putting out a call for anyone interested in a Triangle Area Javascript Group to visit http://jsusers.com/groups/triangle-area-javascript-user-group and register your interest.  Thank you.

Friday, December 05, 2008

013 Recap

Steve and Matt presented to about 30 people last night on Progressive Enhancement. Steve kicked things off by providing some history on why he coined the term "progressive enhancement" and the landscape of web design at that time.  Matt brought us up to speed on how current best practices reflect progressive enhancement.

Hesketh was a terrific host (with very cool office space) - thanks again to them for the support. We had a great time at The Raleigh Times afterward. Check out the photos on Flickr.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Refresh 013 — The Enhancement of Progressive Enhancement

Thursday, Dec 4, 2008
6:30 - 8:00pm

Steve Champeon and Matt Henry of Hesketh.com will give a brief overview of Progressive Enhancement and then will bring us up to date on how it’s being affected/transformed by Web 2.0 and interactive Web applications.

Location:
Pilot Mill Building
1101 Haynes Street
Suite 109
Raleigh, NC 27604

Friday, October 31, 2008

World Usability Day Celebration 2008

When: 6pm - 9pm — Thursday, November 13th 2008
Where: Ruvane Auditorium at GSK
Cost: Free to all!  Food and drink will be served!  Please sign up so we have an idea of how big the crowd will be.
How: Register at http://triupa.org/2008WorldUsability (if you’re a TriUPA member, be sure to click “Login to Register” once you get to the RSVP page)

About the event:
TriUPA will celebrate World Usability Day this year on Thursday, November 13th, at GSK. We have created a program that centers around UPA’s theme of transportation. We are fortunate to have three speakers who have worked in the transportation field and can enlighten us about the usablity challenges in products and services in that area. We have organized a Design Challenge, in which three teams are applying user-centered design to transportation problems. The teams will be presenting their results at WUD. You cannot afford to miss this year’s WUD, so please sign up now!

6 pm - 6:45 pm: Dinner and socializing
Make sure to check out our UX trading card game. Everyone who builds a complete set of cards will be eligible for a raffle!

6:45 pm - 7:45 pm: Transportation and Usability

* Talk by Graham James, Professional Transportation Planner
* Talk by Beth Mcgough, Human Factors Engineer, JCI, Michigan
* Talk by Alex Hussain, Design Engineer, HumanCentric

7:45 pm - 8 pm: Break and dessert

8 pm - 9 pm: Presentations by teams competing in the Design Challenge

* Modular design system for bus stops
* Wayfinding and information displays for bus travel
* And one more… (topic TBD)

Presentation of prizes for UX Card game winner and Design Challenge winners.

Thanks to TriUPA’s sponsors for making our World Usability Day celebration possible:

* Lulu
* GSK
* BlueCross BlueShield
* Insight
* Lenovo
* Hesketh.com
* Capstrat
* User-View
* SAS

Friday, October 24, 2008

012 Recap

Clinton gave an awesome presentation last night on all kinds of tips and tools for improving your productivity online. Full of humor and personal anecdotes, Clinton’s talk was very memorable and lots of fun. The main points seemed to be - reduce distractions! reduce repetitiveness! and be accountable! He showed us lots of tricks for using your computer more efficiently and pointed out several online tools for keeping track of your activity (to promote accountablity).  He was kind enough to make his links available to everyone - enjoy.

Thanks again to Brian Russell at Carrboro Coworking for hosting the meeting and providing delicious food and beverages.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Lightweight Programmer / Web Designer

FA is looking for an intern or part-time programmer to join our web team. You’ll need to be a strong communicator with skills in Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP and AJAX, as well as producing standards compliant XHTML and CSS. Working Knowledge of OOP (object oriented programming) and Agile development principles and experience with e-commerce and content management solutions is important. Background knowledge of Information Architecture, Flash/Actionscript and other development platforms (Java, Ruby on Rails, .NET) would be a bonus. You’ll need to be passionate about problem solving, user centered design and usability, and capable of leading complex development projects from spec to launch.

Customize existing templates displaying community based content.

Interface with senior developer to ensure proper customization of the established tools.

Work with in house designers to establish website deployment.

Demonstrate the ability to assess the functional project requirements and translate that information into the technical development of the website.

Perform maintenance and updates to existing websites.

Proactively initiate, develop, and maintain effective working relationships with team members.

JOB REQUIREMENTS:

Knowledge of Flash, Actionscript 2&3.

Strong knowledge of XHTML, CSS, PHP, and MySQL is required.

Working Knowledge of AJAX, Joomla and XML is preferred.

Bachelor’s degree in computer science or related field preferred.

Must be a self-motivated, quick learner with enthusiasm for web development and new technologies.

Along with your resume, please include a link to projects you have worked on, with details describing your involvement.

Compensation is commensurate with experience.

Contact Fabrik Agency at:
resumes@fabrikagency.com

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Refresh 012 — Unearthed Arcana for Web People

Thursday, Oct 23, 2008
6:30 - 8:00pm

Clinton Nixon, senior developer at Viget Labs, will present and facilitate this talk about how to avoid trivial, repetitive tasks and increase your productivity with your computer. We’ll cover both software you already have, and free/cheap software you might not. If you’ve got a tip of your own, bring it! We’ll have some free time to share at the end.

Location:
Carrboro Creative Coworking
205 Lloyd Street, Suite 101
Carrboro, NC 27510

Friday, September 26, 2008

011 Recap

Last night, Simon Brown presented a great overview of Yubikey, an inexpensive encryption hardware device. Simon gave us a nice demonstration of how the tool works and presented some of the advantages and disadvantages of using it. He fielded questions from the crowd of 35 and we enjoyed lively discussion after the meeting. Photos of the meeting are up on Flickr. Viget Labs was happy to host. Thanks to everyone who came out!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Web Producer / Developer

Job Description: Web Producer / Developer

Company:

Merge Records, founded in 1989, is an independent music label based in downtown Durham. We release approximately 30 albums (in LP, CD, and digital formats) each year, representing artists from the U.S., Canada, and Europe

Description:

The Web Producer / Developer is solely responsible for the ongoing maintenance, updating, and coding of mergerecords.com, including the ecommerce portion of the site. In this capacity, he/she supports company-wide marketing campaigns and goals, coordinating with the marketing, press, and digital promotions departments. The Web Producer / Developer is also responsible for working with third-party developers as needed. This position reports to the Art Director.

Responsibilities include:

• ensuring timely updates and producing content for mergerecords.com
• maintaining email marketing campaign strategies, tools, and basic analytics
• site testing and troubleshooting
• ensuring a consistent user interface and appearance
• maintaining and enforcing a site-wide style guide
• ensuring copy and photo editing for news and newsletters
• building and maintaining digital press kits
• planning and executing promotional programs for the online store
• analyzing site metrics and revenue streams and reporting to marketing department

Ideally, this person can also provide basic IT support for our small office, which includes 15 computers (Macs and PCs), as well as a server. As such, he/she will act as the first contact for all IT issues, and coordinate with external IT personnel when necessary.

Skills & Abilities:

• Experience in developing standards-compliant HTML, CSS and Javascript.
• Experience with PHP/MYSQL and Javascript libraries (such as JQuery), AJAX.
• Preferred: Working knowledge of Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Fireworks; experience working with typography.
• Experience administering client PCs and Macs in a networked environment, Windows Small Business Server administration; maintaining company backup software.

Contact:

Please submit letter of interest and PDF of resumé to maggie at merge records dot com. No phone calls.

Monday, September 08, 2008

TriUPA Training Series #2: Dr. Deborah Mayhew presents “Designing for Efficiency”

We are excited to announced the second event in TriUPA’s new training series!  These events will provide cutting-edge, industrial-strength, knock-your-socks-off UX training in TriUPA’s four focus areas: usability testing, user research, interaction design, and information architecture. This 1-day course is aimed at anyone (developers, user interface designers, usability engineers, information architects, graphic designers, software end-users and end-user managers, marketers, trainers, etc.) who has an interest in helping their organization achieve end user productivity (i.e., efficiency) through the design of software tools. Find out more.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Refresh 011—DIY Hardware Based Authentication

Thursday, Sep 25, 2008
6:30 - 8:00pm

Simon Brown has been a software developer for more years than he cares to admit, currently specializing in the development of large scale web applications. He will discuss the new, open, and inexpensive encryption hardware Yubikey. We’ll look at ways it can be combined with open source or your own software to put a new twist on the problems of authentication. Come along and learn how to integrate encrypted one-time-passwords into your next software project. Simon promises not to go too deeply into hardware or cryptography details ... unless someone asks.

Location:
Viget Labs
202 Rigsbee Ave, 2nd Floor
Durham, NC 27701

010 Recap

Last night’s Refresh on Social Design Patterns was both informative and thought-provoking. Jackson shared some brief but valuable history on design patterns in general, and then led us through some of the current thinking and examples surrounding social design patterns. One which raised a number of eyebrows was the “fake follow”, which looks to now be a reality rather than a discussion. Anti-Patterns were also a hot topic, and the follow-up discussion centered largely around many of the bad patterns that have been identified. There will be more resources to follow when Jackson is able to connect us to his slides, but in the meantime, check out Yahoo’s design pattern library or Chris Messina’s flickr collection of design patterns as general design pattern resources.

Thanks again to Jackson for preparing such an engaging presentation, and to Jeff and Calvert Holdings for being such amazing hosts and showing us such a good time.