Archived Meetings: 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999

Meetings from 2003

April 24. 2003

Topic: Accessible Design for High Tech Products and Services
Speaker: Erika Noll Webb, Quintus Design
Location: Micro Analysis and Design (MAAD), 4949 Pearl East Circle, Boulder, CO

Abstract:
For years, there has been a growing movement to create high tech products and services that are accessible to people with disabilities. The percentage of the population with functional disabilities increases with the age of the population. As the baby boomers hit their 60's, the first generation of people who grew up with ever increasing levels of technology in their lives will become increasingly disabled in sometimes subtle ways. Thus creating accessible products benefits a larger group of consumers than one might initially think.

In recent years, the Federal Government has created new regulations to stimulate and require industry to create accessible products for consumers. Two laws, Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1998 have made great changes in the regulatory
environment. These regulations have made great improvements for the disabled population but have caused huge headaches for companies trying to comply with them. This talk will discuss those regulations and the intricacies and subtleties of complying with them. As anyone who has reviewed them may have discovered, the issues surrounding accessible design can be very complex.

Erika Noll Webb, Ph.D.

As a consultant with a background in neuropsychology, Erika has developed an expertise in the design of high-tech products for accessibility to people with different disabilities. She has studied the area of accessibility extensively and has done accessibility consulting for companies such as Parsons Brinkerhoff
Farradyne, HP, Kyocera, Nuance and Company 39. In addition to Universal Design, she has worked as a Usability Expert in a variety of areas from telephony to e-commerce. She has worked extensively with different products at companies such as Sun, Kiehl's, Longaberger, Qwest, HP, Storagetek, and Qubit. She can be reached at ewebb@quintusdesign.com or 303.449.5020.

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February 27, 2003

Topic: Ethnographic Methods: A how-to approach to doing behavioral research for product development
Speaker: John Milanski

To me, ethnography is a set of qualitative social research methods where you participate in people?s daily lives - watching, listening, asking questons - in order to throw light on the issues of the research. It's about gathering new ideas and insights from behavior - watching what people do rather than listening to what they say.

My talk will focus on the methods I've used in the field -- a practical approach on how to do ethnographic research, under the real world pressures of time and budget that business imposes. We'll talk about disposable camera studies, video ethnography, trace analysis, participatory observation, and fly-on-the-wall observations. After discussing methods, we'll talk about the before and after, namely, how to get this type of research approved, and how to analyze the results in order to make sense out of them.

• Slides (.ppt)
  

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January 23, 2003

Topic: Conducting Remote International Usability Evaluations
Speaker: Laurie Roshak, Human Computer Interaction Engineer, Sun Microsystems

Conducting international usability evaluations remotely, especially unmoderated, may not be ideal for some user research. The biggest disadvantage of these remote evaluations is some results may be
irrelevant. These evaluations do, however, allow us to evaluate our products and obtain user feedback when challenging development schedules and limited funding precludes other methods of user research. The biggest advantage of these remote evaluations is the elimination of travel costs and travel time. Laurie conducts usability evaluations in several countries in a single day without leaving her office. Sun
combines remote usability evaluations with other user research methods to enhance the advantages and reduce the disadvantages.

For this presentation, Laurie will discuss a series of remote usability studies she conducted to help globalize the Sun.com web site. The presentation will include:

• A demo of a moderated remote study
• A demo of an unmoderated remote study
• Lessons learned and tips when conducting remote studies
• Lessons learned and tips when conducting usability studies in multiple cultures
• Q&A

• Slides (.ppt)
• Handouts (.doc)
  

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Archived Meetings: 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999