Hi all,

You probably all have Chris Hass' email re: WUD planning meeting
scheduled for September 18th at The MathWorks.

Although we aren't officially a UPA charter wondering if we want to
plan an activity for WUD. Or sign up as individual/company volunteers.

Thoughts?

Regards,
Karen

Hi All,

As you know, NH UX is taking the steps to become the Seacoast NH and
Southern NH UPA Chapter. As part of this process, UPA members who
have volunteered to be charter members must sign a petition to submit
with the chapter application. To facilitate the petition signing
process, we are having a "Petition Signing" get together next
Wednesday in Portsmouth, NH. Here are the details:

What: Seacoast NH and Southern NH UPA Chapter Application Petition
Signing
Where: AK's Bar & Bistro, 111 State St. in Portsmouth, NH
When: Wednesday, September 12th from 6pm – 8pm

For those of you who volunteered to be charter members, hopefully we
will see you there. If you can't make it, please contact me to let me
know how I can best get your signature on the petition. Our goal is
to have all the petition members sign the petition by September 14th.

For those of you who did not contact us about being a charter member,
you are still welcome to do so. Charter members must be members of
the National UPA and have the opportunity to help draft the bylaws of
our local chapter.

Finally, even if you are not interested becoming a charter member,
you are still welcome to come next Wednesday for socializing and
networking with fellow user experience professionals!

If you have any questions, please let me know. Otherwise, feel free
to forward this invitation to others who may be interested and hope
to see you next week.

Michael Hawley
User Experience Director
Mad*Pow Media Solutions
603-436-7177 (office)
617-461-8638 (cell)

The Information Architecture Summit is the premier gathering place for those
interested in information architecture.
The 2008 conference will be the 9th IA Summit and will be held at the Hyatt
Regency Hotel in Miami, Florida, USA
from April 12-14 with pre-conference sessions from April 10-11.

The 2007 IA Summit attracted over 570 attendees with varying degrees of IA
experience and from many related fields.
Attendees are passionate about information architecture and user experience
and many are actively involved in the
community and the summit itself – over 230 of the attendees provided
feedback about the event with 93% indicating
that they would attend the summit again and 95% indicating they would
recommend the summit to a colleague.

This is your chance to contribute and take part! We’re now calling for
submissions for presentations, panels,
research papers, pre-conference workshops, posters and management track
content.

The 2008 theme of “Experiencing Information” shifts the focus back to users.
A user experience exists only to allow
people to “do things” (in the broadest sense ... buying books, sharing
photos with friends, looking something up on wikipedia, etc).

What dimensions of information do users typically experience while “doing
things”, and how can we design information
environments that best support these users and activities? Such dimensions
might include:

  - Information quantity and the experience of choice (e.g. Barry Schwartz,
The Paradox of Choice);

  - The timing of information encounters and information use (e.g. Jared
Spool – “seducible moments”);

  - The subconscious consumption of information (e.g. BJ Fogg – Persuasive
Technology);

  - Rapid or intuitive processing of information (e.g. Malcolm Gladwell –
Blink);

  - The social and participatory aspects of information and information
communities (e.g. David Weinberger’s work);

  - The wide range of information media: the Web, virtual worlds, ubiquitous
computing, mobile technology, physical
spaces (e.g. Joshua Prince-Ramus’ and Michael Bierut’s work)

Proposals can address core IA principles, emerging trends and technologies,
the management of IA or UX teams,
or the business of IA. We are also interested in cross-disciplinary
contributions to the practice of IA from related fields
such as library science, user experience, interaction design, and user
centered design.

We encourage submissions from practitioners, managers, academics, and
students. We also enjoy hearing from developers,
business analysts, and others who work with information architects and/or
information architecture.

For more information, details about submission procedures and deadlines
please see the summit website, www.iasummit.org.


~ Kyle Pero
    2008 IA Summit Steering Committee

--
Kyle Pero
Founding Principal, Lead Consultant
Usable Interface
Usability and Interface Design Consulting

Phone: (603) 205-0315
Email: kylepero@...
Website: http://www.usableinterface.com

--
Kyle Pero
Founding Principal, Lead Consultant
Usable Interface
Usability and Interface Design Consulting

Phone: (603) 205-0315
Email: kylepero@...
Website: http://www.usableinterface.com

Folks,

I'd be glad to join a local UPA chapter as a charter member. "Send
the papers!" as Peter said.

Best,

Four

NH UX is taking the steps to become the NH UPA Chapter. We need your help to make this possible!

 

We Need 10 Charter Members  …

 

We need and a minimum of 10 UPA members to get started. To be a Charter Members, you must sign a petition for us to submit with our paperwork to the UPA Board of Directors. Charter members will also be invited to help the officers draft the Chapter Charter and Bylaws.

 

We Need 4 Officers …

 

This includes a:

 

• President
• Vice President
• Secretary
• Treasurer

 

To learn more about these officers’ duties please see the full descriptions below.

 

To be an officer or a charter member, you must be a full UPA member (national level). If you’re not a member, you can join the UPA online at: https://directory.upassoc.org/join.aspx?

 

If you’re interested in becoming a member or officer or if you have a question, please contact Kyle Pero at kylepero@usableinterface.com by Wednesday, August 22.

 

Regards,

 

Amy Cueva

Josh Corringham

Michael Hawley

Laura Mason

Kyle Pero

 

NH UX Organizers

 

* * *

 

Officers' Duties:

Chapter President

·         conducts regular meetings of the Chapter Council (at least three to five meetings per year are recommended)

·         assigns duties to other officers soon after their election

·         suggests schedules for ongoing Chapter programs both within the Association and in collaboration with other professional groups

·         explores topics for the coming year’s meetings with the Program Committee Manager and other officers

·         appoints special assistants or committees for specific tasks not easily managed by standing committees

·         applies and maintains controls for budgets, expenditures, and other fiscal activities and, together with the Treasurer, signs all Chapter checks

·         reviews contents of Chapter newsletter prior to publication

·         writes articles and columns for the Chapter newsletter

·         leads in the formulation of goals and policies for the Chapter

·         contacts committee managers periodically to obtain status/activity reports, which are then submitted to the Chapter officers

·         submits a report describing Chapter activities to the Chapter Sponsor prior to each UPA Board of Directors meeting

·         submits informal reports frequently to keep the Chapter Sponsor informed about the general condition of the Chapter

·         ensures that procedures for Chapter elections are carried out properly

 

 

Vice President

·         maintains a special awareness of all Chapter operations and confers frequently with the Chapter President, not only to advise and assist, but also to gain knowledge that could prove useful if the Vice President becomes President

·         helps formulate policy and establish the Chapter’s long-term and short-term goals

·         monitors the Chapter’s finances on a continuing basis

·         assumes the duties of Chapter President when the President is unavailable

·         performs other duties as defined by the President

 

 

Secretary

·         takes minutes at Chapter Council and other Chapter meetings (or arranges for a substitute)

·         prepares and distributes copies of meeting minutes to officers within ten days

·         prepares correspondence related to Chapter business at the direction of the Chapter President

Treasurer

·         prepares a budget at the beginning of the Chapter year

·         establishes and maintains a checking account for current operations (arranges for signature cards and other documents required by the bank. Checks must be signed by the Treasurer and co-signed by the President or vice-President.)

·         establishes and monitors a savings account and/or certificates of deposit when Chapter funds exceed those needed for current operations

·         deposits Chapter funds and pays invoices promptly

·         transfers funds from the operating account to the savings account when appropriate, with the concurrence of the Chapter President

·         renews nonprofit mail permit (if one is used) when due and periodically deposits additional funds in a mailing account at the post office

·         prepares a monthly report of Chapter income and expenditures for review by the Chapter President

·         prepares reports of income and expenditures on Chapter projects, making comparisons with the budget every 60 days for current projects and at the close of each project

·         develops a detailed year-end report (as of December 31) of all financial transactions; grouping income and expenses for each major activity.

·         completes and signs a year-end report for the UPA Treasurer on a form provided by the UPA office

·         mails the year-end Chapter financial report to the UPA Treasurer as soon as possible, but no later than January 5, to ensure a prompt dues rebate to the Chapter

 

--
Kyle Pero
Founding Principal, Lead Consultant
Usable Interface
Usability and Interface Design Consulting

Phone: (603) 205-0315
Email: kylepero@usableinterface.com
Website: http://www.usableinterface.com

 

--
Kyle Pero
Founding Principal, Lead Consultant
Usable Interface
Usability and Interface Design Consulting

Phone: (603) 205-0315
Email: kylepero@...
Website: http://www.usableinterface.com

--
Kyle Pero
Founding Principal, Lead Consultant
Usable Interface
Usability and Interface Design Consulting

Phone: (603) 205-0315
Email: kylepero@...
Website: http://www.usableinterface.com

Folks,

A good example of an entirely unselfconscious
review of the effectiveness and usefulness of a
number of major web apps in a demanding
application of online search, research and
commerce.
--
Four Hewes, Principal
Caspian Design | Consulting for Innovation + Design
Know your customers. Innovate for them. Grow your business.

    Strategic Thinking + Innovation Process
    Product Innovation + Development
    Interaction Design + Customer Experience

four@...
V:  (207) 879-0677


======================
NYT, July 22, 2007
Practical Traveler | Airline Bookings
Web Searches for Flights: Easier Clicking
By MICHELLE HIGGINS
(Online for NYT TimesSelect members)
http://select.nytimes.com/mem/tnt.html?tntget=2007/07/22/travel/22praconline.htm\
l


COMMERCIAL air travel may be in a downward spiral
as flight delays, mishandled luggage and crowded
planes become more common. But there is one place
where airlines are making things easier for
travelers: Web sites.

Just last month, American Airlines changed its
site to make it easier for online shoppers to
pick and choose flights by price and schedule.
Delta Air Lines, which last year began allowing
customers to search for flights up to three days
before or after their chosen travel dates, is now
focusing on making its site a one-stop shop for
car rentals, travel insurance, airline club
passes and other extras.

Southwest Airlines, following a similar move by
Northwest, announced earlier this month that
customers can now use PayPal to buy tickets at
its Web site. Most major airline sites can now be
read in more than one language. And many carriers
have been making it easier to search for
frequent-flier award tickets by displaying award
availability at a glance, over a range of days.

The goals are simple: attract more travelers to
the sites, cut customer service costs and
increase sales. Services like PayPal, which
allows customers with e-mail addresses to send
and receive payments online using debit cards,
bank accounts or stored balances, appeal to
travelers who might not otherwise be able to book
tickets online. Giving travelers opportunities to
reserve hotels, car rentals and other services as
they're booking plane tickets, as Delta is doing,
helps bring in extra revenue for those sales and
keeps customers from switching over to sites like
Expedia or Travelocity. (An e-mail message that
went out to customers last month announcing
one-stop shopping at www.delta.com
<http://www.delta.com/> said, "You'll find
competitive pricing" and, in bold type, "without
any of the additional booking or service fees
charged by many other travel Web sites.")

This sort of expansion of Web offerings, said
Henry H. Harteveldt, principal travel analyst at
Forrester Research, "is proof that airlines are
starting to embrace online retailing rather than
just pushing tickets."

American Airlines, which gets 1.4 million
visitors to www.AA.com <http://www.AA.com/> on an
average weekday, is making the booking process
less opaque. It no longer forces travelers to
search for tickets by either price or schedule.
Instead of confronting a long list of flight
times or round-trip fares for a given date, a
customer can now click on Price & Schedule to
view prices in an easy-to-read grid that shows up
to eight fare categories, including "y-up"
airfares, those coveted coach-price tickets for
business or first-class seats. For a given day,
the lowest available fare is highlighted in a
blue tab at the top of the page. Prices are shown
as one-way fares, which lets travelers pick and
choose the combinations of price and schedule
that are most convenient for them.

Results of a recent search for American Airlines
flights from New York to Los Angeles departing on
Saturday, Aug. 11, and returning on Monday, Aug.
13, for example, flagged $179 at the top of the
page as the lowest one-way fare for the flight
out that day. Below that, a grid displayed
several fare categories ranging from Economy
Super Saver, on the low end and with the most
restrictions, to the most expensive, First
Flexible, for each of 15 different flights
available on that day. For a 9 a.m. flight
departing from Kennedy Airport, a customer could
choose (all one-way tickets) the Economy Super
Saver fare for $344, pay $754 for a refundable
Economy Saver ticket with no change penalties, or
buy a $1,316 Economy Flexible ticket including
the ability to upgrade by spending 500
frequent-flier miles. An Instant Upgrade ticket
was listed for $969. The grid also showed a
saving of $50 or more, depending on the type of
ticket, for flying out of Newark just 10 minutes
later.

The changes make it much easier for a traveler to
see all fare and schedule options for a given
day, but American stands to benefit, too.
Providing a full array of choices, said Rob
Friedman, director of interactive marketing for
American Airlines, gives the company the
opportunity to "up-sell the customer in places
where the price and schedule combo best fits
their needs."

Whether that means paying more for a less
restricted, more flexible coach fare or for an
upgrade to business or first class, said Mr.
Harteveldt of Forrester, "the airline can expect
a portion of AA.com buyers to trade up to a
higher-margin product."

"If 5 percent of AA.com customers pay an extra 5
percent on the average American Airlines ticket,"
Mr. Harteveldt estimated, "the airline would
generate $11.2 million more revenue."

American isn't the only airline going the à la
carte route. For years, Southwest's site,
www.southwest.com, has been displaying a range of
fare categories - from fares refundable at any
time to restrictive fares - for each flight.
Amadeus, which processes travel bookings and
provides airlines with software that it calls
Flex Pricer, said that more than 20 carriers,
mostly international, are using it to help
increase revenue.

TRAVELERS with flexible travel dates will find it
easier to search at airline Web sites for better
fares over a broader range of dates - Delta, for
example, now lets customers search for flights up
to three days before or after a given travel day
or view prices for weekend flights for a given
month. But Travelocity.com still offers the
widest range of all - up to 330 days ahead for
domestic fares. To search for international fares
using flexible dates, customers can visit
Travelocity's Singapore-based affiliate Zuji.com
<http://Zuji.com/>, said George Hobica of
Airfarewatchdog.com
<http://Airfarewatchdog.com/>. To avoid
"extraordinarily high" booking fees, he
recommends switching back to Travelocity to make
the purchase after you have found the dates you
want.

Airlines have also been improving online service
for travelers shopping for frequent-flier award
tickets. American provides a booking calendar
showing all available awards up to 14 days before
or after a chosen date. Travelers can switch
instantly among four levels of award types, using
color-coded tabs, to see how availability varies.

The United Airlines site (http://www.united.com/)
now lets members of its frequent-flier program
more easily see alternative dates for award
tickets if a first choice is unavailable. And
Delta, which upgraded its award booking page
earlier this year, is expanding its monthly
calendar of award seats to two months, so
customers can view departure and return calendars
side by side. By the end of the year, it plans to
let travelers book award tickets online with
partner airlines.

Even though your booking experience may be
improved at the airline's Web site, it doesn't
mean your flight experience will be any better.
"No matter how good the airlines' Web sites get,
flying can still be stressful," Mr. Harteveldt
said. "If airline Web sites operated like the
airlines themselves, we'd still be waiting for
the first page to download."

Kyle, Folks,

After confirming to attend, I am writing to say I
will not see you all this evening after all
(childcare glitch).

I look forward to the next time!

Best,

Four Hewes

At 1:43 PM -0400 7/6/07, Kyle Pero wrote:
Please join us for the NH UX July Meeting!

When:
Thursday, July 19th
Refreshments & Networking: 6-6:30pm – Food and beverages will be provided.
Meeting: 6:30pm – 8ish
--
--
Caspian Design | Consulting for Innovation + Design
Know your customers. Innovate for them. Grow your business.

    Strategic Thinking + Innovation Process
    Product Innovation + Development
    Interaction Design + Customer Experience

Four Hewes, Principal
four@...
V:  (207) 879-0677

--
Kyle Pero
Founding Principal, Lead Consultant
Usable Interface
Usability and Interface Design Consulting

Phone: (603) 205-0315
Email: kylepero@...
Website: http://www.usableinterface.com

--
Kyle Pero
Founding Principal, Lead Consultant
Usable Interface
Usability and Interface Design Consulting

Phone: (603) 205-0315
Email: kylepero@...
Website: http://www.usableinterface.com

--
Kyle Pero
Founding Principal, Lead Consultant
Usable Interface
Usability and Interface Design Consulting

Phone: (603) 205-0315
Email: kylepero@...
Website: http://www.usableinterface.com

--
Kyle Pero
Founding Principal, Lead Consultant
Usable Interface
Usability and Interface Design Consulting

Phone: (603) 205-0315
Email: kylepero@...
Website: http://www.usableinterface.com

Hello,

This email message is a notification to let you know that
a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the nh-ux
group.

   File        : /bizcards_6_19_07.pdf
   Uploaded by : usable_interface <kylepero@...>
   Description : Business cards collected from the NH UX Gathering on 6.19.07.

You can access this file at the URL:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nh-ux/files/bizcards_6_19_07.pdf

To learn more about file sharing for your group, please visit:
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/groups/files

Regards,

usable_interface <kylepero@...>

Hello All,

I just wanted to briefly introduce myself. My name is Evan Leonard and
I am an Interaction Designer for Mindreef, Inc. in Hollis, NH.
Mindreef creates diagnostics and testing software for Web Services
(WSDL,SOAP, etc). Its pretty technical content, but part of our core
value is making the complex simple and able to be used by multiple
audiences, which is part of where I fit in.

For those of you who are familiar with Scrum or Agile software
development practices, I am also the "Scrum Master" of our group. For
those not familiar with Scrum, that is roughly equivalent to the role
of project manager in traditional processes.

I look forward to meeting other designers in the New Hampshire area.

All the best,
Evan

--
Kyle Pero
Founding Principal, Lead Consultant
Usable Interface
Usability and Interface Design Consulting

Phone: (603) 205-0315
Email: kylepero@...
Website: http://www.usableinterface.com