Nancy Locke: International by Design
Wednesday, June 29 – 10:30
Commerce and communications across cultural borders, whether between neighborhoods, villages, geographic regions or nation-states, is an activity older than money and as fraught with latent misunderstanding as it is potentially profitable and productive. Today, thanks to the Internet and the globalization of the world economy, the volume and velocity, and the sheer distances goods, services and people travel to get to market have increased dramatically. Today, we live in nation-states in which the nation is a mosaic of diverse cultures. Today, there is a heightened awareness and sensitivity to linguistic and cultural differences.
New processes have emerged in response to this new global, multicultural and multimedia reality, namely localization and internationalization. Both address the challenges of communicating across cultural and linguistic borders. The presentation “International by Design” will offer an introduction to these processes, their impacts on the authoring and graphic design of documentation and how both contribute to the quality of multilingual communications.
Nancy A. Locke has worked in the language services industry for over eight years. In addition to providing desktop publishing and translation services, she is a localization educator, a speaker and freelance writer specializing in language matters. Formerly the director of the Localization Certificate program at Université de Montréal, Ms. Locke’s articles have appeared in Intercom (STC), The Chronicle (ATA), Localisation Focus (Ireland) and the Canadian national daily, The Globe and Mail. She is a regular contributor to Multilingual Computing & Technology. Her book, International by Design, will be published in 2005.
Gregg C. Vanderheiden, PhD: "Changing the Rules - Natural Accessibility for Voting Systems and Personal Pluggable Interfaces for Everything"
Wednesday, June 29 – 1:30 p.m.
Recent advances in information technology, networking and interface research have provided new tools which will allow us to completely redefine rethink or definition of interface. Flexibility in interface made possible by processors can now allow them to provide user options that can address the needs of a very wide range of users – as part of the standard interface. And the introduction of user interface sockets can enable the concept of portable personal interfaces. Coupled with natural language and direct access to functionality we can have products that users can control on their own terms. Someday we may even be able to control things by simply thinking about them. The foundations for this has already been laid.
Gregg C. Vanderheiden is a Professor in the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department (Human Factors Program) and the Biomedical Engineering Dept, and directs the Trace R&D Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Vanderheiden has been working in the area of interface technologies for over 30 years and his work is currently focused on increasing the usability of information and telecommunication products for the widest possible audiences. His work can be found in technologies ranging from the WWII memorial to the USPS Automated Postal Centers and computers. Interface features developed by Dr Vanderheiden and his team have been built into the Macintosh OS since 1987, OS/2 and the UNIX X Window system since 1993 and over half a dozen features developed by his team are built into every copy of Windows from 95 through XP.
Jean-Luc Doumont: Bridging cultures: segmentation, strategies, and statistics
Thursday, June 30 – 8:30
Communication across cultures is no doubt a challenge, as all of us must have experienced. Still, a segmentation into cultures is but a construction of the mind, one that results from the similarities and differences we find striking. Focusing on differences is a natural, but limited approach: we have much to gain from recognizing similarities, too. Moreover, taking cultural differences into account does not necessarily mean doing as the others do: adapting is not imitating. Strategies that seem countercultural can sometimes be more effective, more consistent, and more profound. Finally, cultural differences proven statistically by empirical research are valid for the materials and the groups studied only: we should beware of extrapolating them to other materials or to other groups, and of applying them to the individuals within these groups. These three themes—segmentation, strategies, and statistics—are developed in this presentation.
Jean-luc Doumont teaches and provides advice on professional speaking, writing, and graphing. He also trains other instructors and can facilitate any process that requires solid structuring and effective communication. For over fifteen years, he has helped audiences of all ages, backgrounds, and nationalities structure their thoughts and construct their communication, in English, French, Dutch, and Spanish.
He has an engineering degree from the University of Louvain and a doctor in applied physics from Stanford University.
Thursday, June 30 – 10:30
Our research concerns usability evaluation methods. We were primarilyinterested in defining, validating and testing the Ergonomic Criteria for the evaluation of interactive systems, then to user testing procedures, to evaluation methods and techniques for the evaluation of mobile interactive systems and finally to remote usability testing. If these studies were initially guided by scientific and methodological aspects, they were also guided by clients' needs. By another way, the advancement of our research and the evolution of user testing technologies and techniques allowed us to propose new studies to our "clients" thus changing their demands and their expectations.
In fact, depending on their usability maturity level, the clients' demands have not always been very clear and precise. The first interventions have often consisted in usability inspections. These interventions have been followed by redesign techniques. More recently, more quantitative approaches have been applied, in particular remote testing.
The ease with which these methods were applied and the impact they had on the interactive systems were a function of the clients' context and more specifically on the origin of the demand in the clients' structure. The aim of this talk is to offer the audience an overview of the evolution of the author's research questions, and of the evolution of their "client's" demands and the context of their usability intervention.
Christian Bastien, a cognitive psychologist, is lecturer at the University Rene Descartes (Paris 5) and attached to the Data-Processing Laboratory of Ergonomics (LEI).
Mr. Bastien teaches the ergonomics of interactive software, Web and new technologies in Master of Ergonomics at Paris 5. His research projects relate mostly to user-centered design and evaluation methods. Mr. Bastien is also the Scientific Counsellor for Yuseo, a French usability agency located in Paris.
Peggy Pusch: “Becoming a Cultural Bridge”
Thursday, June 30 – 1:30 p.m.
Building bridges to other cultures is more than discovering what appeals and is useful to people in them. It involves the process of becoming a cultural bridge-person, one who understands one’s own cultural roots and responses and can function effectively between and within many cultural contexts. This session is devoted to exploring how the head (knowledge), the heart (attitude) and the hand (skills) are essential to bridging cultures. We will explore ways of culture learning, intercultural skill building, and becoming more empathetic in intercultural relations. This highly interactive session will include exercises, specific examples, and a general review of useful and usable theory from the field of intercultural communication.
Margaret D. (Peggy) Pusch is Associate Director of the Intercultural Communication Institute, which sponsors the Summer Institute of Intercultural Communication, a master’s degree in intercultural relations (with University of the Pacific), and other programs. As Executive Director of the Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research, USA, Peggy has been a trainer, educator, writer and editor in the field for longer than she cares to admit. She has lived in Japan and been a presenter and workshop facilitator in many countries and cultures. She is a past president of Intercultural Press, Inc., current chair of the Trustees of the International Partnership for Service-Learning and Leadership, and serves on the board of the Association for International Practical Training. Her most current publication is a chapter on the history of the field in the edited volume, Handbook of Intercultural Training (Sage Publications).
Motohoto: “Networks in Public Places”
Thursday, June 30 – 3:30 p.m.
Incorporating network technology into public and semi-public locations creates new challenges and opportunities for rethinking the design process. Network technology allows any object or space to be transformed into a portal for communication. We will discuss available network technology, starting with a brief history of networked objects and concluding with current trends and future prospects. We will look at the design process we use in the conception and production of embedded networked objects and how the process changes according to the technology employed. Through group work, using low-tech materials, we will explore what kind of non-verbal communication can be had between strangers.
motohoho is composed of four designers and artists who all graduated from New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. Kenneth Haller, an Interaction Designer for Decker Design, participated in the 2004 Convivio Summer School on Human Centered Interaction Design. He is interested in photography, communicating visually as well as creating ubiquitous computer interactions. Kentaro Okuda is Director of Design at SGF Associates, where he develops innovative lighting systems using LED and glass fiber optics. He is interested in network technology and interaction design with tangible objects. Michael Schneider works as resident researcher and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Communications at NYU. He also works in numerous projects such as dancer-driven live audio, and interactive installations for severely handicapped children. Rikayo Horimizu is a Production Artist for LED Effects. She first came to the United States as a media art fellowship student from the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs in 2000.
Bill Jensen: What If...? Building Usability Bridges Within Our Workplaces
Friday, July 1 – 8:30
What if we chose as our goal: Changing the Way the World Works.
Bill Jensen has spent the past decade studying business¹s ability to design work. Much of what he has found horrifies him! And much of what he has found can solved heroically and successfully by usability experts.
Bill will passionately present his findings and recommendation that usability experts are the chosen ones when it comes to changing our workplacesfor the better. We have the skills to solve many of the major challenges facing everyone who works. But do we have the will and desire to be the bridge between workers and their management?
Bill Jensen is today¹s foremost expert on work complexity and cutting through clutter to what really matters.
His books Simplicity and Simplicity Survival Handbook have been hailed as ³breakthroughs in the design of communication and understanding.
His latest book, What is Your Life¹s Work?, published in May 2005, captures the intimate exchanges between mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and caring teammates, all talking about what matters at work, and in life.
Bill has over 25 years of experience in communication and change consulting. He¹s CEO of The Jensen Group, whose mission is: To make it easier to get stuff done.
Among his clients are The World Bank, NASA, Walt Disney World, the US Navy SEALS, the government of Ontario, and Guangzhou China Development District.