National Award Opportunities for UK Leaders in Innovation

The UK’s most innovative local authorities, businesses and voluntary sector organisations are being invited to enter the 2005 eWell-Being Awards.

The awards, developed by SustainIT – an initiative of the UK Centre for Economic and Environmental Development (UK CEED) - and supported by BT, are the first in the UK to identify and promote the environmental, economic and social benefits of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

For this the fourth year of the awards, SustainIT is offering five award categories to entrants:
* Digital Inclusion - sponsored by BT, this category seeks voluntary sector projects that use ICT to enhance access to services and opportunities for individuals and groups.
* Age and Disability – sponsored by BT, this category introduced in 2004 seeks entries focusing specifically on enhancing ICT access and services for elderly or disabled people.
* Improving Public Services- sponsored by the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA), is open to national, regional and local government and seeks projects that utilise ICT to deliver improvements in customer services and public services delivery.
* Climate Change and Environmental Efficiency – sponsored by UK CEED, is for projects which make use of ICT to reduce the environmental impacts of energy, water and resource use. It is open to projects which increase our understanding of the impacts or science of climate change.
* Better Ways of Working – sponsored by Brother, this category seeks ICT projects or applications which encourage more efficient and flexible ways of working.

Last year’s eWell-Being Award winners included
* The UK Phenology Network, a joint project launched by the Woodland Trust and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. It links up over 13,000 volunteers who record when the natural signs of spring and autumn take place each year.
* South Witham Broadband (SWB), a community internet service provider that has networked local villages together, providing high speed internet access, security for public buildings, free internet telephone calls, and even the local scouts get their IT badges.

Professor Peter James, director of SustainIT said: 'The eWell-Being Awards are all about rewarding organisations which use technology in an innovative way to benefit the environment. Winning an award can really help put an organisation on the map and can encourage others to follow examples of best practice.'

To enter the eWell-Being Awards 2005, entrants must complete the Awards entry form available at www.sustainit.org. Projects must have been running for at least six months and applicants may enter a single project in up to two categories. The closing date for entries is Friday 2nd December 2005. Winning projects will be announced at an awards ceremony in London in March 2006.

Associated Link: UK eWell-Being Awards

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.