All Councils will have Online Presence by late September

The E-Government Bulletin reports that the last local authority in Britain will have its own website by October. All of the UK's 467 local authorities will then have a website, with the rural district of Bridgnorth coming in last as it focuses on customer requirements rather than mere presence.

Early this year, the annual Society of IT Management's review of council sites drew attention to the fact that there were four councils which had yet to develop a site – Bridgnorth, Corby, Vale of White Horse and Lichfield.

Bridgnorth, the independently-controlled district in Shropshire, is now 'the final internet adopter', according to the Bulletin, which reports the council as saying it hopes to launch an initial presence in mid-September following a tender process which will conclude in August. Technology was not a strong policy priority for the council until it was steered in that direction by last year's Government policy requirement. The newly appointed web manager is reported as saying that 'the council could have created a poor quality, static web site at an earlier stage "and been equal to much else of what is on the web" but decided instead to wait until it could create a stronger, citizen-focused site linked to a fully devolved content management system'.

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.