Media: IBM describes the NCI tidy-up of a Government Website

This case study on the IBM site gives a detailed account of how the US Health and Human Services Department website got make-over from the National Cancer Institute.

The successfully applied strategy was summed up: 'After each test, the design was tweaked to address usability flaws (that is, categories were changed, renamed, reorganized, or otherwise adjusted). After several rounds of testing and redesigns, a comparative test of the final design was conducted using the same scenarios and user populations from the baseline evaluation. The success rate for the site improved from less than 40 percent to 92 percent.

'"The user-centered process that we applied in designing the HHS portal — identifying the features and design attributes of the old HHS home page that were failing users, establishing why these features or design attributes were failing users, and addressing those failures in a new, user-centered portal — resulted in considerable improvements in user performance. By focusing on users — determining who they are, what terms they use and how they want to search for information — we more than doubled the success rate of the site."

Associated Link: IBM Case study: Improving Communication Between a Government and its Citizens

All change at the top for System Concepts
Source: System Concepts Ltd, 3 July 2009
 
Leslie Fountain has been promoted to joint Managing Director of leading usability consultancy System Concepts.

Life in UCD immortalised in fiction: you couldn't make it up
Source: UN, 2 July 2009
 
Sarah Herman's fictitious book on life in a user-centred design company has hit the shelves and The Guardian's book pages...

Interfaces Magazine - Issue 79: The Education Issue
Source: Interaction Group, 1 July 2009
 
The latest issue of Interfaces is now available as a free download from the Interaction Website.

Two new Behavioural research Tools from Noldus
Source: UN, 30 June 2009
 
Tool updates make on-site behavioural data collection easier.

Cell Phones that Listen and Learn
Source: MIT Technology Review, 29 June 2009
 
New software tracks a user's behavior by monitoring everyday sounds.

Top Six Don’ts for Usability Testing
Source: FutureNow Inc., 27 June 2009
 
Six tips for creating quality usability tests to ensure useful feedback from testers.

Usability: ‘Lovely software. But I can’t work it’
Source: FT.com, 26 June 2009
 
In a recent survey by Global Graphics, 77 per cent of office workers estimate they lose up to one hour a week because business software is difficult to use.

And what do you do?
Source: Dexo Design, 25 June 2009
 
How do you describe your job role? Here are the results of a recent 'Preferred UX/UI Title' Poll.

Most Doctors cite Usability as critical to Electronic Health Record Adoption
Source: TMCNet, 24 June 2009
 
It's all about 'meaningful use'.

Glossy monitors look good but can hurt
Source: QUT, 23 June 2009
 
A new advisory cites research which suggests high gloss monitors make users sit awkwardly.