Refresh the Triangle

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