Blog

  • 12 Jul 2009 5:00 PM | Deleted user

    When: 6:30pm | Thursday 7/23/09

    Where: Rigsbee Hall (208 Rigsbee Ave, Durham, NC 27701)

    How: Register Online - We're looking forward to seeing you there!
    Co-Sponsored with Refresh the Triangle!
    "Confusion and clutter are failures of design, not attributes of information. And so the point is to find design strategies that reveal detail and complexityundefinedrather than to fault the data for an excess of complication." --Edward Tufte.

    No matter how sophisticated the technology nor pleasing the design, your Web visitors are really interested in one thing. (No, not that.) They're after great content like your essay, your photo, your widget, your tutorial. It's what makes the Web so great: exploring, learning, and sharing what we know. And the task of a designerundefinedwhether of user interfaces, graphics, data or typeundefinedis to present this information appropriately and elegantly; to remove obstacles to understanding, not introduce them.

    In this presentation, Nathan Huening first presents an overview of the work of information design expert Edward Tufte and then discusses concrete applications and examples for applying his principles of analytical design to the Web. Selected themes include: contrast and meaning in design, avoiding "chartjunk" and "computer administrative debris", clarity and clutter, the value of aesthetics, and simplicity vs. minimalism.

    Edward Tufte is Professor Emeritus of statistics, information design, interface design and political economy at Yale University. In addition to his touring workshops, Mr Tufte has written four books on the display of information and analytical design: The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (1983), Envisioning Information (1990), Visual Explanations (1997), and Beautiful Evidence (2006).
    About the Speaker
    Nathan Huening is a principal at Sprocket House, a creative firm based in Chapel Hill that specializes in Web and print design. When he's not writing client copy or puzzling over UI design, he enjoys making messes in the kitchen and falling off his unicycle to the bemusement of curious onlookers.
    Refresh the Triangle
    Refresh the Triangle is a community of designers and developers working to refresh the creative, technical, and professional culture of New Media endeavors in their areas. Promoting design, technology, usability, and standards.

  • 06 Jul 2009 5:00 PM | Deleted user

    TriUPA recently welcomed David Malouf, professor of interaction design at SCAD, for a full-day workshop on sketching for interaction design.

    TriUPA member Leslie Carter was kind enough to provide some notes, ideas, and links to resources from the workshop. Thanks, Leslie! (You can also download a Microsoft Word copy of the notes: Notes from Sketching Seminar with Dave Malouf - June 2009).

    [scribd id=17145309 key=key-c7t0irr4qhth6mfov4b]

  • 22 Jun 2009 5:00 PM | Deleted user

    David Malouf, one of the co-founders of IxDA, is presenting "Sketching for Interaction Design" for TriUPA.

    Want to meet Dave and talk interaction design before the workshop? Join Dave and other TriUPAians for drinks...

    7:30pm
    Tuesday 6/23/09
    Carolina Inn bar
    http://www.carolinainn.com/chapel-hill-trip-planner.php

    Hope you can join us!

  • 05 Jun 2009 5:00 PM | Deleted user

    When: 6:30pm | Wednesday 6/10/09

    Where: Raleigh Ale House at Brier Creek

    How: Register Online - We're looking forward to seeing you there!


    Know the difference between HCI and Hi-C? Do you make user interfaces in your Alpha-bits? Can you recite all the HTML4 tags? In reverse order? Want to get to know other UX Professionals and win prizes?

    Come out and join us for the first ever TriUPA UX Trivia Night. You’ll be able to show off your UX knowledge while answering user friendly trivia questions in a quest for fame and prizes.

    This is a great chance to get to know other triangle area User Experience folks in a fun, relaxed atmosphere. There are a few prizes too:

    • Chance to win free admission to a TriUPA workshop of your choice
    • UX Books straight from our library
    • Bragging rights, bragging rights, bragging rights!
  • 26 May 2009 5:00 PM | Deleted user
    If you are attending the 2009 Usability Professionals Conference in Portland be sure to visit the UPA Networking Event on Wednesday, June 10 to meet up with other Triangle area Chapter members! The networking event will also showcase UPA projects, SIGS, and other Chapters. If you’d like to connect with other TriUPA members prior to the conference, comment here on our blog, or contact Kim Chang at kim.chang at bcbsnc.com.
  • 22 May 2009 5:00 PM | Deleted user

    The TriUPA community needs you!

    Do you have ideas for articles that you would like to see on the TriUPA website?

    Are you passionate about a particular user experience related subject?

    Do you have expertise or a success story that you would like to share?

    If you are interested in writing for our site, please contact Kimberly Chang at kim.chang at bcbsnc.com.

  • 24 Apr 2009 5:00 PM | Deleted user

    Finally, job seekers get a break. Carrboro Creative Coworking, a professional workspace in downtown Carrboro, will throw open its doors in May to anyone currently searching for work.

    Eager to help those who have lost jobs in the recent economic downturn, owner Brian Russell is offering free coffee, free Wi-Fi and a desk in a collaborative shared space on a first-come, first-served basis throughout the month of May.

    “Our community atmosphere helps people network, which is crucial to those who are unemployed,” Russell said. “Good jobs are found through the connections people give you, through tips and personal references. Carrboro Coworking is designed to foster that kind of networking, and I wanted to share our part-time coworker service with those who need it most right now.”

    A part-time coworker can use a desk in a large, shared room during Carrboro Coworking’s normal business hours. Amenities include a kitchen, complimentary coffee, free parking and high-speed Internet access. The office is on Lloyd Street, within easy walking distance of Carrboro’s shops and restaurants.

    When job searchers began stopping by and asking about access to the space, Russell told them they could have the first day free, something he offers to all new coworkers. But he wanted to do more. A coworker suggested the free month, and Russell immediately took up the idea.

    “North Carolina has the fourth highest unemployment rate in the country,” he said. “Chapel Hill and Carrboro are traditionally considered more insulated, but they’re not as insulated as we thought. And the tech sector, which is usually considered stable, is being hit as well. I wanted to step up and do what I can.”

    Carrboro Coworking welcomes entrepreneurs, telecommuters and freelance professionals in many fields, but some of its services are tailored to those who work in information technology. The space hosts Meetups on IT topics like Ruby on Rails, Erlang, Python, Rich Internet Applications and iPhone/Cocoa development.

    Brown bag lunches with guest speakers, after-hours Wii games and other special events bring coworkers together and let them blow off stress. Resume coaches and free events with small business advisors will be conducted too. All events with day and time information will be posted at http://carrborocoworking.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3b7219e188e737e12....

    “Having fun and staying focused while you hunt for a new job is key,” Russell said. “I want people to have a friendly place to go while they search for new work or maybe start up a new business. I want to help people be productive in this economy.”

    Carrboro Creative Coworking is a professional shared workspace with a community atmosphere. It is located at 205 Lloyd Street, Suite 101, Carrboro NC 27510.

    For more information, contact Brian Russell at brian@carrborocoworking.com or (919) 442-5301 or visit www.carrborocoworking.com.

  • 22 Apr 2009 5:00 PM | Deleted user

    This year marked the 10th anniversary of the annual IA Summit conference, and we were lucky enough to have six local colleagues (including myself) make it out to Memphis, TN for the event. In an effort to bring the Summit back to the community, we held a recap event last Thursday. We shared our favorite presentations, and some of the larger themes we noticed throughout the event.

    A huge thanks to everyone who came out, and, as promised, here are the presentations we talked about:
    Amanda McGuire (BCBSNC)

    • "ROI: Speaking the Language of Business," Eric Reiss
    • "Using Enterprise IA to Support Business Strategy," Gary Carlson & Samantha Starmer
    • "When Appeasement is Not Enough undefined Or, How to Work Within 'Government Time'," Naomi Norman
    • "Strategies for Enabling UX to Play a More Strategic Role," Richard Anderson & Craig Peters
    • "Turning HiPPOs into Allies: How to Connect With Powerful People in Your Organization," Samantha Starmer

    File Attachments
    Download file:
    amanda-ias09-recap.ppt


     

     

    Javier Velasco (UNC SILS)

    Anita Crescenzi (UNC Health Sciences Library)

    File Attachments
    Download file:
    anita-ias09-recap.pptx


     

     

    Jonell Gades (Fidelity)

    File Attachments
    Download file:
    jonell-ias09-recap.ppt


     

     

    Jackson Fox (Viget Labs)

    File Attachments
    Download file:
    jackson-ias09-recap.pptx


     

     

    Other Resources
    In addition to our slides and the presentations linked above, you can see many more presentations on Slideshare, and listen to podcasts of the sessions on Boxes & Arrows.

  • 31 Mar 2009 5:00 PM | Deleted user

    The School of Information & Library Science at UNC has an interesting seminar happening this Friday undefined

    Talk: Interaction Design for Novel Media Technologies
    Speaker: Dr. Hyowon Lee, Dublin City University

    Manning Hall 208
    UNC Chapel Hill
    Friday April 3rd
    12-1pm

    Abstract:
    Current R&D in media technologies such as Multimedia, Semantic Web and Sensor Web technologies are advancing in a fierce rate and will sure to become part of our important regular items in a 'conventional' technology inventory in near future. While the R&D nature of these technologies means their accuracy, reliability and robustness are not sufficient enough to be used in real world yet, we want to envision now the near-future where these technologies will have matured and used in real applications in order to explore and start shaping many possible new ways these novel technologies could be utilised. In this talk, some of this effort in designing novel applications that incorporate various media technologies as their backend will be presented. Examples include novel scenarios of LifeLogging application that incorporate automatic structuring of millions of photos passively captured from a SenseCam (wearable digital camera that automatically takes photos triggered by environmental sensors) and an interactive TV application incorporating a number of multimedia tools yet extremely simple and easy to use with a remote control in a lean-back position. The talk will conclude with remarks on how the design of novel applications that have no precedence or existing user base should require somewhat different approach from those suggested and practiced in conventional usability engineering methodology.

  • 31 Mar 2009 5:00 PM | Deleted user

    The Carolinas Chapter of the American Society for Information Science and Technology is hosting this workshop on content management systems...

    Event details
    There are roughly a gazillion open-source CMS products using a variety of means (PHP, Ruby on Rails, Java, blogging software, etc.) to manage documents, graphics, text, and other digital creations. They can also be used to manage web content, and hold the promise that all you need to do is create the content and leave the HTML markup and publishing to the CMS.

    But just what exactly is a CMS? What does it look like? How does it work? Many CMS products are free or open-source--but does that mean they're cheap in terms of the time you spend setting them up?

    This event is intended for beginners or those new to the CMS idea. It's especially for anyone who's been asked to use a CMS to revamp their organization's web site, but doesn't know where to start or where to go for more information.

    There will be no hands-on activities at this event, but there will be plenty of opportunity to see a few choice CMS products in action and to ask lots of questions.


    When
    Saturday, April 18

    9 a.m.-1 p.m. (approx)


    Where
    Manning Hall, UNC-CH campus

    Directions


    Registration Fees
    Students (with ID or student email address): $15

    Members of STC or ASIS&T: $25

    General: $35

    You can pay via credit card at the cc:ASIS&T site.

    Register now: https://www.asis.org/Chapters/carolinas/ccregform_041809.html


    Sponsors


    Program
    9:00-9:30 "What Is A CMS? Do I Need One?"

    9:40-10:10 Break-Out Groups (one presenter for each room, one CMS for each room)

    10:20-10:50 Break-Out Groups

    11:00-11:30 Break-Out Groups

    11:30-Noon Lunch and chat

    Noon-1p.m. Continue eating during informal Q&A with all three presenters


    Presenters
    Jeff VanDrimmelen: "What is a CMS? Do I Need One?"

    Dan Frey: WordPress

    Julia Kulla-Mader: Drupal

    Jonathan Pletzke: Joomla

    Q&A session will be with all four presenters listed above.

Copyright © Triangle User Experience Professionals Association

Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software