[Sigia-l] World Usability Day 2006 in Philadelphia - "User Experience beyond The Web"

Tue Oct 17 09:37:16 EDT 2006

*** APOLOGIES FOR CROSS-POSTING ****

On November 14, 2006, Philadelphia will celebrate the Second Annual World
Usability Day event titled "User Experience beyond the Web". 

World Usability Day 2006 promotes the value of usability engineering and
user-centered design and the belief that every user has the responsibility
to ask for things that work better. 

This year, the UPA Delaware Valley chapter, GSI Commerce, Refinery, Inc.,
and Empathy Lab have prepared a special event exploring the ideas of user
experience beyond the web.

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WHAT: 
World Usability Day 2006 in Philadelphia
USER EXPERIENCE BEYOND THE WEB:
Usability Saving Lives in Healthcare, Architecture, and Medical Products
http://usabilityday.org 

WHEN:
November 14th, 2006
6:00 PM - 9:30 PM

WHERE:
GSI Commerce Headquarters 
935 First Avenue 
King of Prussia, PA 19406
Directions: http://www.gsicommerce.com/contactus/directions.jsp 

RSVP: 
http://usabilityday.org/register 

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GUEST SPEAKERS:

1. Hal Rosenbluth: 
Co-Founder, Chairman of the Board, Take Care Health Systems
President, Convenient Care Association

Topic: The New Patient Experience – Blending of People, Technology and
Emotion 
Hal Rosenbluth's presentation will focus on the new, innovative approach to
Patient Experience in Healthcare, which blends People, Technology and
Emotion. Hal Rosenbluth will discuss how his company has designed a new
patient experience that makes the patient the center of attention and
considers all the touch points along the way, from the moment the patient
walks into the clinic until they are discharged. 

2. James E. Mitchell
Associate Professor and Director
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Program
Drexel University

Topic: Looking at Buildings – Usability Issues
James Mitchell will look into issues that architects and engineers face
while designing buildings. The built environment has long required careful
consideration of usability, although that word is seldom used. Examples
range from Building Codes ( e.g. Americans with Disabilities Act) to Design
Standards, to safety regulations (OSHA). The consequences of failure are
often measured in human lives. The presentation will touch on some of the
examples of successful and unsuccessful usability designs in both the
architectural and engineering building design. 

3. Stephen B. Wilcox
Ph.D., FIDSA
Principal, Design Science

Topic: Using Cultural Anthropology & Information Graphics to Improve Medical
Products
Stephen Wilcox will show how ethnographic research from cultural
anthropology can be applied to medical product development in order to save
lives and improve the quality of medical procedures. 

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EVENT SCHEDULE:
6:00-6:30 PM Hallway activities, refreshments, wine, beer, & soft drinks
6:30-8:45 PM Guest speakers
8:45-9:30 PM Socializing and further discussion 
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INTERESTED IN GETTING INVOLVED?
If you are interested in the event's sponsorship or if you'd like to
volunteer, please contact us at upadelawarevalley at gmail.com. 

By sponsoring the event, you can set up a table exhibit to demonstrate your
successful projects and include your company information on the website.

Or you can just come and enjoy the presentation, just don't forget to RSVP:
http://usabilityday.org/register

Best Regards,

UPA Delaware Valley & World Usability Day Committee:

Natalia Minibayeva, Synapsis Technology, Inc.
Casey Malcolm, Refinery, Inc.
Jason Zimmer, GSI Commerce
Teri Durkin, Refinery, Inc.
Jonathan Lupo, Empathy Lab
Jon Ashley, Refinery, Inc.
Jackie O'Neil, Intuitive Design
Jim Morris, Refinery, Inc.
Bert Schultz 

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GROWING LIST OF EVENT SPONSORS:
GSI Commerce, Refinery, Empathy Lab, Devon Consulting

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ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

Hal F. Rosenbluth
As former chairman and CEO of Rosenbluth International, Hal grew his company
from a $20 million travel company to a $6 billion global industry leader
prior to selling to American Express in 2003. He has been renowned for his
unconventional approach to leadership, his ability to inspire world-class
customer service, and his unwavering focus on the value of blending the
right people with innovative and revolutionary technologies. The Wall Street
Journal, Harvard Business Review, Inc. Magazine, CIO Magazine, and The
Financial Times have recognized Hal as an unconventional leader, a
visionary, and a trendsetter, and Fortune Magazine, among others, has
celebrated Rosenbluth International as one of the best companies to work for
in America. Hal is the New York Times best-selling author of The Customer
Comes Second, a book focusing on how to create a great service organization
by first focusing on your associates. As Hal points out, "only when one
knows what it feels like to be first in the eyes of their employer can they
convey that same feeling to a customer." Among other awards, Hal was the
recipient of the Humanitarian Award, presented by the Foundation of
Christians and Jews. 

James E. Mitchell
Professor Mitchell is the director of Drexel University's Architectural
Engineering (AE) program.   He is registered architect (M. Arch; U. of PA
1973, BA & MS Harvard University 1964 & 1967), and was a principal in the
Architecture and Planning firm Jordan-Mitchell, Inc. for nine years before
joining the Drexel faculty.  While in professional practice his firm
designed primarily health care and commercial facilities. At Drexel Prof.
Mitchell's primary teaching responsibility is building system design, with
emphasis on integrating all building systems, including architecture.  His
goal is to produce buildings that are better for all those involved in
designing, building, occupying and maintaining them.  He teaches the
Architectural Engineering curriculum's core design courses, using computer
and web tools extensively.  He's also significantly involved in educational
research. 

Stephen B. Wilcox
Stephen B. Wilcox, Ph.D., FIDSA holds a B.S. in Psychology and Anthropology
from Tulane University, a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Penn State,
and a Certificate in Business Administration from the Wharton School of the
University of Pennsylvania. He is the Founder and a Principal of Design
Science, a 20+ person Philadelphia-based firm that specializes in helping
companies make their products as "user-friendly" as possible.  He is also
the Chair of the Human Factors Professional Interest Section of the
Industrial Designers' Society of America (IDSA), a former Vice President of
IDSA, and a member of the IDSA Academy of Fellows. He has published more
than 60 articles in professional journals and given many invited addresses
to various organizations.  He is the author, with Michael Wiklund, of
Designing Usability into Medical Products, which was published in the winter
of 2005. 

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ABOUT UPA DELAWARE VALLEY:

UPA Delaware Valley chapter is a local Philadelphia chapter of the UPA
(Usability Professionals Association). It is dedicated to promoting
usability concepts and techniques. 

Join the UPA Delaware Valley discussion group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/upapa/
UPA membership is not required.

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ABOUT WORLD USABILITY DAY:
World Usability Day promotes usability awareness and the value of everyone's
contribution to make thing work better. Last year, 115 events in 35
countries took place during the 36 hour period, attended by over 8,000
people around the world. 

Last year in Philadelphia, the World Usability Day event at Drexel
University drew over 100 people to the keynote speaker presentation by
Thomas Tullis titled "Usability and the Evolution of Technology, or You
Shouldn't Have to Read a User Manual to Ride an Elevator!". The event also
featured Usability Museum, 5-minute Site Reviews, and Mock Usability
Testing. 

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