You're invited to the next meeting of the Usability Professionals Association Minnesota chapter (UPA-MN) at the Rockford Road Library Monday, February 2 at 6:00.
The next Usability Professionals Association Minnesota (UPA-MN) chapter meeting will be at the Rockford Road Library on MONDAY, February 2nd at 6:00 pm. Please note the date! It is a deviation from our regular schedule of the second Thursday of every month.
We are moving the night of our UPA MN chapter meeting to take advantage of having the UPA-International Board of Directors in town. Dave Mitropoulos-Rundus is the Co-Directors for Chapters, and he has graciously offered to present to our local chapter on the topic of "Evolution of Usability in Consumer Products." Additional UPA-International Board members may also be attending.
Topic 1: History of web site usability and vision for the future.
Dave will present an interesting, entertaining, and informative mix of history, facts, statistics, and opinions on the evolution of consumer retail web sites, as well as the evolution and fit of "people who do usability stuff." Dave has information and opinions on these topics that he will share, but his objective is to spark a productive discussion.
Topic 2: What's happening with other UPA chapters?
Dave will give brief overview of other UPA local chapters. The intention is to provide a bit of perspective for YOUR chapter, and prompt discussions as to how your chapter may want to grow or do programs.
Dave Mitropoulos-Rundus has designed user interfaces for hand-helds, kiosks, web sites and production machines, and has conducted evaluations in the lab, on the web, in the field, and in the homes of consumers. He is currently responsible for defining and driving usability improvement, user interface standardization, and 508 compliance across Compuware's broad range of software products. He has held usability management, consulting, and sales positions in both the product development and in the consulting organizations at Compuware.
Prior to joining Compuware, Dave was a human factors engineer for Eastman Kodak where he participated in the design of a wide variety of hardware and software products for consumer and business applications, and also conducted designed experiments to optimize perceived image quality in Kodak products.
He has a Masters degree in Human Factors Psychology with research experience in visual perception and mental workload. Dave has written papers and has given presentations, tutorials, and consultations on usability, web site design, product design, home product testing, and consumer products. He is a chapter author for Design by People for People: Essays in Usability.
Dave is an active member of ACM SIG-CHI and HFES, is on the UPA Board of Directors, and is president of the Southeast Michigan Chapter of the UPA.
Tonight's Speaker was Dave Mitropoulous-Rundus. Mr. Mitropoulous-Rundus is the UPA's Co-Director of Chapters, president of the Michigan UPA Chapter, and usability practitioner @ Compuware. His presentation, to the dozen professionals that braved the Minnesota winter, was about the growth of retail ecommerce. He remarked that in 2000, ecommerce accounted for 1% of the entire US retail economy - and averaged 1.5% for 2003.
"It's the delta," Mr. Mitropoulous-Rundus stated, We're making improvements...not the ultimate sexy thing."
Pete Gordon from UsersFirst demo'd VisualMark - their upcoming portable usability lab software.
A reminder: there are a number of volunteer positions available in the upcoming UPA Conference this summer (July 7-11) here in Minneapolis. First consideration is given to students, contact Joy Roberts at the Chicago UPA chapter for more information.
Please RSVP if you wish to attend. Just send the names of the people in your group who'll be attending to Lyle_Kantrovich@cargill.com.
Non-member visitors are welcome, but are asked to pay five dollars to attend each meeting.
Haven't joined our chapter yet? It's only $20 for the calendar year, and you can sign up at our monthly meetings.
More information is here: http://www.upamn.org/join.shtml
Map URL: http://snipurl.com/RockfordLibrary
Driving Directions:
The meeting room is just to the right once inside the front doors of the library.
Ample free parking is available in the library lot.
Know someone interested in usability? Feel free to invite them to an upcoming meeting. Visitors are always welcome. Please forward this announcement to other area professionals who might have an interest in UPA-MN meetings or activities.
Do you have an idea for a future meeting or know someone you think would be a good speaker? Contact Laurie Bennett (LBennett@LifeTimeFitness.com) with your suggestions.