Note to Intro Usability class – Feb. 22
Four weeks after this Thursday (i.e., March 23th) you will be expected to turn in a test
plan, detailing your final project. You can find a pretty good template for a test plan at
the STC Usability SIG site
(http://www.stcsig.org/usability/resources/toolkit/ut_plan.doc). Though you should feel
free to deviate from this template as you see fit, or use another test plan as your model.
So, after this Thursday, start pairing up, and deciding what you want to do an evaluation
of. I will NOT want you to do simply a heuristic evaluation (professional judgment
review). Rather, I will want your evaluation to entail SOME user testing. Though, as I
said in class, you are free to test just friends, or fellow classmates.
You will NOT be obliged to complete IRB (Institutional Review Board) forms – I will
complete one form for the whole exercise. But you will still be obliged to follow good
testing practice, treating the test participants with respect, securing “Informed Consent”
from them, etc. We’ll talk more about this as the semester goes on.
If you have something you’d like to test, go for it. Here is a list of local nonprofits’
websites that you might find worthy of your attention. In the past, some students have
shared their results with the nonprofit organization, and have actually influenced
redesigns.
- http://www.austinhabitat.org/
- http://caritasofaustin.org/
- http://newlifetexas.org/ (in the interest of “full disclosure” I should tell you that
my wife works for these folks)
- http://www.hillcountryride.org/site/PageServer
- http://www.abcaus.org/
- Indeed, here’s a place to find a bunch of nonprofits:
http://austin.about.com/od/charitableorganizations/
Of course, feel free to pick any site you wish (almost!), or desktop application.
The Near Future
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February 23 – Visit from local usability consultant, Gordon Montgomery.
March 2 – Visit to BMC Software, 10415 Morado Cir., at noon. Here’s a map.
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?address=10415%20Morado%20Circle
%20&city=Austin&state=TX&county=Travis&country=US If you need a ride
and haven’t been able to hook up with a classmate, shoot me an email and I’ll find
you a ride.
March 9 – Panel discussion of various usability professionals.
March 16 – Spring Break. This week I think you should be reading the following
things:
o Nah, I’m just kidding.