MiUPA Events
Tuesday, May 12, 2009, 6-8:30PM
Palermo Pizzeria and Restaurant in Canton, MI
Do you have a subject you’d like the Michigan UPA to cover in a meeting? Have a great idea that you’d like to see put into action? Your chance has arrived!
The Michigan Usability Professionals’ Association is hosting a meeting on Tuesday, May 12, to plan meetings for the next year. We will discuss what topics we will pursue, speakers to recruit, and possible venues. This is a great chance to get a program that interests you on the agenda, meet your MIUPA officers, and to get involved! This meeting is free and open to all who are interested, whether they are UPA members or not.
WHEN:
Tuesday May 12, 2009
6:00PM to 8:30PM
WHERE:
Palermo Pizzeria & Restaurant
44938 Ford Road
Canton, Michigan 48187
Map to location
COST:
This event is free! The only cost is any food or drink that you may order.
REGISTER:
Please RSVP to events@miupa.org by Monday, May 11 so we can ensure the restaurant is properly prepared!
Posted on May 4th, 2009
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Wednesday, March 4, 2009, 6-8:30PM (Food and networking at 6, Program at 7)
VA National Center for Patient Safety
Ann Arbor, MI
An engaging talk on the role of human factors engineering in making medical devices safer and a tour of the National Center for Patient Safety’s hands-on museum of medical devices. Brought to you by The Michigan Usability Professionals’ Association and the University of Michigan student chapter of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
Often, healthcare professionals develop clever and creative workarounds when devices, equipment or architecture are not quite suitable. In other words, they become accustomed to making the hand fit the glove rather than demanding that the glove be designed to fit the hand. The VA National Center for Patient Safety (NCPS) has a hands-on collection of medical devices and equipment that came about to help convince clinicians that they didn’t have to accept these faulty designs. It provides an understanding of the principles that support designing systems for the way humans are built and how we function cognitively and physically.
Linda Williams will talk about how human factors engineering guides the NCPS approach to patient safety and will lead a tour through the hands-on collection.
If you come to this meeting you’ll leave determined never to enter the hospital because your sense of the risk involved will have been heightened. You’ll also leave reassured that through the application of principles of human factors engineering, real changes are being made.
About the Speaker
Linda is a member of the team at VA National Center for Patient Safety, serving initially as computer specialist, now part of program operations with the central focus of development and implementation of patient safety curriculum for physicians. Linda teaches an introductory human factors engineering session at faculty development workshops and is co-director of the patient safety fellowship program. She also is involved in the practical application of usability principles to medical devices and software. Linda holds an undergraduate nursing degree from the University of California at Los Angeles and an M.S.I. degree from the University of Michigan’s School of Information, a degree tailored to medical informatics with emphasis in human computer interaction. www.patientsafety.gov
Location
VA National Center for Patient Safety
20255 24 Frank Lloyd Wright Drive, Lobby M
Ann Arbor, MI 48106
From US-23, take exit 41 for Plymouth Road.
Turn left (east) and then turn left at Earhart Road.
Turn left onto Frank Lloyd Wright Drive.
Cost
HFES Chapter Members - No Charge
Michigan UPA Members - $10
Full-time students - $5
People actively job seeking - $5
All others - $20
RSVP
RSVP via email to events@miupa.org
Posted on February 17th, 2009
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Tuesday February 10, 2009, 6-8:30PM (Food and networking at 6, Program at 7)
Quicken Loans in Livonia, MI
If you are interested in learning the basics and benefits of user centered design and how to introduce it into your organization, then Introduction to User Centered Design is your chance! Mike Beasley, User Experiologist at Pure Visibility and the president of the Michigan UPA, and Dave Mitropoulos-Rundus, Owner and Principal of UsableWorld, will lead a discussion that gives you the opportunity to pose your questions to a couple of user experience experts. You can learn about such things as:
- What IS Usability? Can you touch it? Can you measure it?
- How can you incorporate it into your organization?
- “Usability,” “User Experience,” “Human Factors,” “Information Architecture?” What’s the deal with all these names?
- What can my website analytics tell me about the usability of my site?
- How you can use user tasks and goals to organize your website.
After an introduction to the basics of usability, they will open the floor to questions. You will set the agenda for this discussion through the questions you bring, so come prepared!
Location
Quicken Loans
20255 Victor Parkway
Livonia, MI 48152
Posted on January 29th, 2009
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Wednesday, December 17, 2008
The Rathskeller in Ann Arbor
The Michigan UPA in collaboration with UXNet invites you to an evening of networking and fun on Wednesday, December 17th in Ann Arbor. This is your chance to skip the speaker and enjoy the company of fellow usability professionals.
This year’s networking and mixer event will be at the Rathskeller bar, located under the Heidelberg on Main Street in Ann Arbor. There is parking conveniently located around the corner at the Ann & Ashley Parking Structure.
This is a free event and a great opportunity to catch up with other people in the field and meet new people. We hope to see you there!
Posted on December 7th, 2008
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We had 6 speakers, 50 attendees, free giveaways from TechSmith, gourmet pizza from Cottage Inn, and a great World Usability Day event in Ann Arbor. We even had a few hardy souls come down from the daylong MSU event in East Lansing.
Photos available in the World Usability Day flickr pool.
Posted on November 16th, 2008
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Thursday, November 13, 2008
Soar Technology in Ann Arbor
How well does your product or website meet your customers’ needs and expectations? Does your product simplify or complicate your client’s workday?
This evening session, open to the general public, will explain this thing called “Usability”. Using a combination of presentations and demonstrations with products ranging from alarm clocks to speeding cars to the high tech hands free voice activated SYNC that was jointly developed by Ford and Microsoft, attendees will walk away with a clear understanding of the value of designing an excellent, compelling, and safe user experience into products. It will also drive home the point that usability is a rigorous design practice that is applied to much more than just web sites.
Usability in Your Life and in the Products You Use is one of many events around the world on World Usability Day, November 13, features speakers from the worlds of software development and technology integration. This event will equip you with an overview of how to listen to your users and find out what they need. It is perfect for people and companies interested in making products that really work for users.
Speakers
R. Jeffrey Benko, Lead Technical Service Engineer at ANSYS, Inc.
Multi-physics Simulation: More Fidelity, Less Effort
Jeff will speak on how Ansys streamlined the workflow for multi-physics simulation activities, replacing the human-powered, laborious, and error-prone linking of disparate software components within a common user environment.
Widespread Adoption: The Key Metric for Design Success.
Richard will describe the focus and techniques of Menlo’s High-tech Anthropology® team. Sheridan will provide compelling industry examples as evidence of the power of an anthropological approach to design.
Brian Phelps, Tec-Ed
Can I hear you now? Designing the User Interface of a Product that Improves Cell Phone Reception.
A common problem in today’s wireless world is poor cell phone reception in one’s home. Tec-Ed’s client (Nextivity, Inc.) developed the technical solution and sought expertise to design the user interface and validate it with real users.
Automotive Human Factors:
What is it, who does it, how do we do it, and what we are working on at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.
Tom Hodges, SYNC and Digital Marketing Manager, Customer Service Division, Ford Motor Company
Usability in the development of the Ford SYNC:
an in-car communications and entertainment system that allows drivers to bring nearly any mobile phone or digital media player into their vehicle and operate them using voice commands, the vehicle’s steering wheel, or radio controls.
Nancy Shore, getDowntown Program Director
The Commuter Challenge: Competition, Prizes, and Consciousness-Raising about Sustainable Transportation.
Nancy will discuss getDowntown’s Commuter Challenge, a month-long competition that encourages employees to use sustainable transportation. She’ll outline the key elements of success and how these could be used to encourage people to use your product or service.
Although this event is free, please RSVP to events@miupa.org to ensure that there are enough food and beverages for everyone.
The Michigan UPA is still seeking sponsors for this event.
Posted on October 29th, 2008
Posted in MiUPA Events | 1 Comment »
November 13, 2008
Ann Arbor, East Lansing, & Houghton, MI
World Usability Day is blossoming here in Michigan! We’ve grown from one event in 2007 to three events in 2008, spanning 555 miles within Michigan! Local events can be found in Ann Arbor, East Lansing, and Houghton. While it might be challenging to get to all three, please do join in the festivities, wherever you are located in Michigan!
Michigan Usability Professionals’ Association
The Michigan UPA chapter is offering Usability in Your Life and the Products You Use 6:00-9:30 p.m. in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Speakers from the University of Michigan, Ford Motor Company, Menlo Innovations, Tec-Ed, Ansys, and the getDowntown program of the Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce will highlight usability in transportation.
Michigan State University’s Usability and Accessibility Center
MSU is celebrating World Usability Day with their sixth annual usability and accessibility event. The event is 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. at the MSU Union, in East Lansing, Michigan. A distinguished speaker line-up will address usability and accessibility issues.
Michigan Technological University
Michigan Tech is hosting WUD-UP! World Usability Day in the Upper Peninsula at Michigan Tech featuring a poster session 3:00-4:00 p.m. and a panel discussion 4:00-5:15 p.m. in Houghton, Michigan. 
Posted on October 26th, 2008
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Monday, October 27, 2008
At ProQuest in Ann Arbor, MI
Barb Hernandez, Josephine Scott, and Casey Wright, ProQuest
User Experience Practitioners at TechSmith, maker of Morae and UserVue, Hernandez, Scott, & Wright have attempted a variety of unique methods of getting feedback from varied users in diverse locations. In their presentation, they will talk about how the practice of remote testing and field research has evolved alongside network technologies and conferencing tools. Now, researchers can visit and observe users in their offices or homes from their own offices or homes. The variety of networking tools available makes it less expensive and time consuming to gather more feedback from more users. They will discuss their own experiences conducting a variety of research methods remotely, as well as the tools and methodologies used, and challenges and successes experienced.
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Posted on October 20th, 2008
Posted in MiUPA Events | 1 Comment »
Wednesday October 22, 2008
Steelcase Learning Center in Grand Rapids
If you are interested in learning the basics and benefits of user centered design and how to introduce it into your organization, then Introduction to User Centered Design is your chance! Dave Mitropoulos-Rundus, Director of User Experience at Perficient, and Mike Beasley, the president of the Michigan UPA, will lead a
discussion that gives you the opportunity to pose your questions to a couple of user experience experts. You can learn about such things as:
- What IS Usability? Can you touch it? Can you measure it?
- How can you incorporate it into your organization?
- “Usability,” “User Experience,” “Human Factors,” “Information Architecture?” What’s the deal with all these names?
- What can my website analytics tell me about the usability of my site?
- How you can use user tasks and goals to organize your website.
After an introduction to the basics of usability, they will open the floor to questions. You will set the agenda for this discussion through the questions you bring, so come prepared!
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on October 8th, 2008
Posted in MiUPA Events | No Comments »
Wednesday June 4, 2008
TechSmith, Okemos, MI
Joanna Markel and Serena Rosenhan, ProQuest
As members of the User Experience Design team at ProQuest, a company that produces information products for libraries, we wanted to know more about how our users approach research. While we routinely conduct usability tests and evaluations as part of our product development processes, we needed a new method to help us answer questions about the tasks and situations for which our products are designed. We turned to contextual inquiry and designed and conducted a series of field observations of college students doing library research. After conducting 13 rather time-consuming in-person observations, we modified our methods to remote online observations and quickly discovered that there were unexpected benefits to this approach in addition to time-savings.
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Posted on May 9th, 2008
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