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Need another reason to attend the World Usability Day? How about $50? We’re awarding two $50 cash prizes to two of the usablity tickets posted to flickr.

We're awarding two $50 cash prizes to the most interesting usablity tickets posted to flickr. What do we mean by interesting? Anything that stands out as unusual--e.g. an unusual product, technology, or person(!?). Your description counts, too...unusual reasons for why you love or hate the product will certainly garner votes among the judges!

**Update:** Instead of awarding a ticket for the most interesting usability ticket, we're going to hold a random drawing; there will still be two $50 awards. For detailed information about the tickets and the event, visit:

* http://www.triux.org/usability-ticket/

All you have to do is take a picture of something that annoys the fire out of you--or something that you works so well it puts most other products to shame--and post it to flickr under the tag "uticket". And make sure you attach the ticket after you've posted it to flickr!

The deadline to be considered for the contest is Wednesday at 6pm Thursday at noon. We'll announce the winners during the ticket review on Thursday. The only catch is that you must attend the event in order to receive the cash. If you don't show, you don't get the dough. (Yeah, definitely not one of my better attempts at a rhyme.)

Do you have co-workers or a boss who just doesn't understand why usability matters? Consider having that person post ticket a usability violation. That'll get them thinking about how usability affects their lives--and who knows, maybe you'll get that testing budget you've been vying for all these years, and then you'll get promoted because of all the amazing product improvements you initiated due to the testing...a guy can dream, can't he?

This shouldn't take more than 15-30 minutes to execute, and it should be a lot of fun! And besides, I'm sure you could actually list several products that are completely unusable that you use every day--admit it, you're always thinking about usability no matter what product you're using. (Surely *I'm* not the only one!) This is just an opportunity to share your frustration and/or joy.

We're heading into the final stretch for World Usability Day and are shifting gears from organization to promotion. I would love to see RTP have one of the best attended events, but we can't do it without your help. Help us reach our goal of 100+ attendees by

* Posting the following description with a link to triux.org on your Web site and e-newsletters: Attend World Usability Day on Thursday, November 3 from 6:00pm - 9:00pm @ MCNC (Get Directions »). World Usability Day is for everyone who's ever asked these questions: "Why doesn't this work right? What am I supposed to do with this now?" Save the date and visit http://www.triux.org/ for more information about the event.
* Encouraging your co-workers, employees, and clients to attend; even folks who work peripherally to the usability discipline or user experience field--such as product managers, project managers, and developers--will find the event educational and fun. The interactionary will provide a great opportunity to see a user-centered design process in action; and the usability ticket review will demonstrate how usability affects our every day lives. For practitioners, the event will provide professional development and networking opportunities.
* And, lastly, posting the following description of the usability ticket on your web site or e-newsletter: "Is there a product that never works the way you expect? What about a product that always exceeds your expectations? Share your joys and frustrations
by tagging the product with the usability ticket. Come on out to the Triangle's celebration of World Usability Day on Thursday, November 3 @ MCNC (Get Directions ») from 6pm to 9pm to discuss ticketed items from around the Triangle. For more information about World Usability Day in the Triangle, visit triux.org.

With your help, we can create a great event that will exceed everyone's expectations.

Wanted to thank our local sponsors, once again.

* Gold sponsor: Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina.
* Silver sponsor: hesketh.com
* Silver sponsor: Motricity

Thanks to them we have raised $1,000 for the event, which will help pay for the space, food, and some advertising. Thanks, all! We still need help, though. If you know someone who might be interested in sponsoring, pass on the sponsorship benefits.

Participate in World Usability Day and win $50.

We’re awarding two $50 cash prizes to the most interesting usablity tickets posted to flickr. What do we mean by interesting? Anything that stands out as unusual–e.g. an unusual product, technology, or person(!?). Your description counts, too…unusual reasons for why you love or hate the product will certainly garner votes among the judges!

And what do we mean by usability? Think about products that never work the way you expect. You press one button expecting the thing to start and instead it turns off. That's a usability issue. Many products have good usability--from something as simple as a door that opens how you expect it to open to a cell phone that makes calling your friends super-easy.

Share your joys and frustrations--and enter the contest--by downloading the usability ticket and following these instructions:

1. Find a product or object or...whatever. Just something that either never works the way you expect or something that always exceeds your expectations.
2. Take a picture or screenshot.
3. Post the picture to flickr. (If you don’t already have an account, you will need to create one, but it is fast and free.)
4. Tag the item with "uticket" (without the quotes). This is extremely important as we won't be able to review the item you’ve ticketed unless you tag it with uticket (short for usability ticket). Feel free to add other tags to the photo as well (eg "usability", "design", "broken"). Wikipedia has more information on tagging (aka folksonomies).
5. Explain yourself! Add a comment on the item that describes why you ticketed the item. Love it? Hate it? Let us know!
6. Complete the citation and attach it the item for others to discover; use the usability violation for items with poor usability and the usability commendation for the things that exceed your expectations. Both are in the PDF!
7. Repeat!

The deadline to be considered for the contest is Thursday at noon. We’ll announce the winners during the ticket review on Thursday. The only catch is that you must attend the event in order to receive the cash. If you don’t show, you don’t get the dough. (Yeah, definitely not one of my better attempts at a rhyme.)

And, lastly, a big thanks to Todd Robert who designed the usability ticket for us. :-) Thanks, Todd!

Now print some tickets and get started!

Participate in World Usability Day and win $50.

We’re awarding two $50 cash prizes to the most interesting usablity tickets posted to flickr. What do we mean by interesting? Anything that stands out as unusual–e.g. an unusual product, technology, or person(!?). Your description counts, too…unusual reasons for why you love or hate the product will certainly garner votes among the judges!

And what do we mean by usability? Think about products that never work the way you expect. You press one button expecting the thing to start and instead it turns off. That's a usability issue. Many products have good usability--from something as simple as a door that opens how you expect it to open to a cell phone that makes calling your friends super-easy.

Share your joys and frustrations--and enter the contest--by downloading the usability ticket and following these instructions:

1. Find a product or object or...whatever. Just something that either never works the way you expect or something that always exceeds your expectations.
2. Take a picture or screenshot.
3. Post the picture to flickr. (If you don’t already have an account, you will need to create one, but it is fast and free.)
4. Tag the item with "uticket" (without the quotes). This is extremely important as we won't be able to review the item you’ve ticketed unless you tag it with uticket (short for usability ticket). Feel free to add other tags to the photo as well (eg "usability", "design", "broken"). Wikipedia has more information on tagging (aka folksonomies).
5. Explain yourself! Add a comment on the item that describes why you ticketed the item. Love it? Hate it? Let us know!
6. Complete the citation and attach it the item for others to discover; use the usability violation for items with poor usability and the usability commendation for the things that exceed your expectations. Both are in the PDF!
7. Repeat!

The deadline to be considered for the contest is Thursday at noon. We’ll announce the winners during the ticket review on Thursday. The only catch is that you must attend the event in order to receive the cash. If you don’t show, you don’t get the dough. (Yeah, definitely not one of my better attempts at a rhyme.)

And, lastly, a big thanks to Todd Robert who designed the usability ticket for us. :-) Thanks, Todd!

Now print some tickets and get started!

Wanted to thank our local sponsors, once again.

* Gold sponsor: Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina.
* Silver sponsor: hesketh.com
* Silver sponsor: Motricity

Thanks to them we have raised $1,000 for the event, which will help pay for the space, food, and some advertising. Thanks, all! We still need help, though. If you know someone who might be interested in sponsoring, pass on the sponsorship benefits.

The usability ticket is finished. :-) Check it out and pass it on! There are two tickets (both are in the above PDF):

* One is for **usability violations**. Ever come across something that just really bugged you? Here's your chance to gripe to folks who will feel your pain.
* The other is for products whose **usability has just amazed you**. This might take a little thinking because we tend not to think about products that just work.

So, download the ticket and follow these steps to get started:

1. Find a product or object or...whatever. Just something that either works or doesn't work.
1. Take a picture or screenshot.
1. Post the picture to flickr.com. (If you don't already have an account, you will need to create one, but it is fast and free.)
1. Tag the item with "uticket" (without the quotes). This is extremely important as we won't be able to review the item you've ticketed unless you tag it with uticket (short for usability ticket). Feel free to add other tags to the photo as well (eg "usability", "design", "broken"). Wikipedia has more information on tagging (aka folksonomies).
1. Explain yourself! Add a comment on the item that describes why you ticketed the item. Love it? Hate it? Let us know!
1. Complete the paper citation and attach it to the item so other people can discover it.
1. Repeat!

And, lastly, a big thanks to Todd Robert who designed the usability ticket for us. :-) Thanks, Todd!

Now print some tickets and get started!

We've signed up five great folks for the panel!

* Dr. Barry Beith of HumanCentric Technologies
* Heather Hesketh of hesketh.com
* Beth Khalifa of Gamil Design
* Dr. Gary Marchionini of UNC's information science program
* Dr. Chris Mayhorn of NC State's human factors program

They'll judge the interactionary design competition and review some of the usability tickets.

The agenda has finally been determined. It's amazing how everything is starting to fall into place!

* **6:00 - 6:30 Food!** We're going to have pizza and drinks in the lobby of MCNC. This will be a great time for talking with old friends and getting to know new ones. Note: Please don't take the food and drinks into the auditorium. We'll be charged for any cleaning bills!
* **6:30 - 7:30 Interactionary.** We'll migrate over to the auditorium starting around 6:25 for the interactionary. We'll announce the teams and have the coin toss to see which team goes first...and then begins the competition. (Insert oohing and ahhing.) After each team designs and presents their solution, we'll announce the winner, and then we'll have a short question and answer session with the teams.
* **7:30 - 7:40 Break.** We'll take a quick break. Please, eat more pizza.
* **7:40 - 9:00 Usability Ticketing review.** We'll take as long or as short as we need to. We'll have the panelists comment on some the items people ticketed and take comments and questions from the audience.

Hope to see you there!