Media: WebWord interviews Isensee, Righi and Vredenburg

WebWord is carrying an interview with 'UCD innovators' Scott Isensee, Carol Righi and Karel Vredenburg on "Improving Business Through User-Centered Design". The authors of "User-Centered Design: An Integrated Approach" were interviewed by Kerrie Green, Hoover's Online usability manager, consultant and Austin UPA president.

By the thrid question, the interview is getting really interesting:

'Kerrie: "What's the difference between UCD and the development process currently used by most companies today?"

'Scott: "One major difference is our emphasis on the total customer experience. In most companies today, usability attention is given only to the user interface of a product. Often products fail, however, because of problems outside of the user interface. It is like a chain that is only as strong as its weakest link. In order for a product to be a great success, all aspects of the customer experience must be excellent and they must all fit together into a cohesive whole.

'Carol: "Again, to dovetail off Scott's response, our approach to UCD is multidisciplinary and addresses the total user experience. Many companies address usability as an isolated variable. This often leads to failure. Usability, in order to be a value-add, must be considered in light of the other aspects of the total user experience. Another way our approach is different is that the members of the multidisciplinary design team must work closely with one another. In many companies, the various specialties work in virtual isolation from one another. They throw the results of their efforts "over the wall" to the other specialists. The various factions may wind up going down different paths, making it difficult to reconcile sometimes very disparate visions for the product."

'Karel: "Actually, most companies still don't include the user in their development process at all. The ones that do often restrict themselves, as Scott and Carol point out, to a very limited aspect of the user experience, or only to user testing, and don't design for the user. Furthermore, they often still involve a user focus too late in the development process. Our integrated UCD approach as Scott and Carol point out focuses on the total customer experience, starting right at the beginning of the process and involving all disciplines that are necessary to design the total solution."'

The substantial piece goes on to explore how usability professionals can convince senior management that UCD is a more beneficial process with an improved return on investment.

Associated Link: WebWord: Improving Business Through User-Centered Design

Internet access is 'a fundamental right'
Source: BBC, 12 March 2010
 
Almost four in five people around the world believe that access to the internet is a fundamental right, a poll for the BBC World Service suggests.

The Net generation, Unplugged
Source: The Economist, 11 March 2010
 
Is it really helpful to talk about a new generation of "digital natives" who have grown up with the internet?

Rewriting the Human-Computer interaction Handbook
Source: CIOL, 10 March 2010
 
Indrani Medhi of Microsoft Research India has developed text-free user interfaces (UIs) to allow any illiterate or semi-literate person on first contact with a computer, to proceed with minimal or no assistance.

Lip reading Mobile promises End to noisy phone calls
Source: BBC, 9 March 2010
 
A prototype device shown off at CeBIT could allow people to conduct silent phone conversations.

Games User Researchers band together
Source: UN, 8 March 2010
 
The number of UX professionals in gaming has reached critical mass.

Quince Pro enables privately-held UX Design Libraries
Source: Infragistics, 6 March 2010
 
Infragistics has launched Quince Pro, a private, secure and organized way to collaborate, communicate and cultivate private UX design libraries to ensure consistent user experiences across teams, departments and companies.

Announcing a new issue of the Journal of Usability Studies
Source: UPA, 5 March 2010
 
UPA is happy to announce the publication of the second issue of volume 5, the Journal of Usability Studies.

Impatient versus Bored
Source: Gerry McGovern, 4 March 2010
 
Customers are much more likely to get impatient with your website than they are to be bored with it.

Futures Thinking: Writing Scenarios
Source: Fast Company, 3 March 2010
 
A valuable skill for UX folks (that's 'how to write scenarios', not 'scenarios in which one writes').

How to Conduct a Usability Review
Source: UsefulUsability, 2 March 2010
 
Never hurts to be reminded.