Events

Upcoming events

• May Meeting: Accessibility is the New Black by Wendy Chisholm

  • When
    21 May 2013
  •  
    6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
  • Location
    Aquent 1109 N 36th St, Seattle, WA 98103

  May Meeting: Accessibility is the New Black by Wendy Chisholm

  In a world of 30-second super bowl ads and 140-character tweets, how do you catch someone’s attention? When you get it, how do you communicate about something as complex as web accessibility? In this session we’ll talk about the issues we face helping large corporations make their web properties accessible. We’ll talk about tactics that have worked well and strategies that haven’t. This will be an insider’s perspective into corporate culture from two newbies to that culture.

  This will not be a discussion of the color black (since we wouldn’t want to convey information in color alone!). This is about messaging web accessibility within a large organization, catching someone’s attention and maintaining it in order to create organizational change.
  The title of the session refers to a phrase in the fashion world, “x is the new black,” which Wikipedia describes as "an expression used to indicate the sudden popularity or versatility of an idea at the expense of the popularity of a second idea.” We used this phrase because we wanted to talk about how we can make accessibility more accessible, just as companies like Ikea have made design more affordable. Accessibility clearly changes the world: smart phones exist because of universal design, yet most people don’t realize smart phones are built on assistive technologies like onscreen keyboards and screen magnification. Our job is to help our organizations embrace innovation and accessibility; to embrace not just a “fad” but a better way to design and build that we believe is timeless… kind of like the color black. We’ll talk about how we’re trying to do it.

  Bio

  Wendy is an author, activist and developer. She co-authored “Universal Design for Web Applications” with Matt May (O’Reilly, 2008). Before that, she co-edited Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 and 2.0–the basis of  most web accessibility policies. As a Senior Strategist at Microsoft, she is working to make all web-related applications throughout the company accessible. Her personal mission is to find elegant solutions that remove  barriers that prevent everyone from participating fully in society. To learn more about her and her work visit http://sp1ral.com/about/

  Location:

  TBD

  Agenda:

  6:30pm Light dinner and networking
  7:00pm Introductions
  7:10-8pm Speaker presentation
  8-8:30pm Q&A

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• The UX Team of One Bootcamp

  • When
    31 May 2013
  •  
    9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
  • Location
    Mercer Slough Environmental Education Center, 1625 118th Ave SE, Bellevue

  Register

  The UX Team of One Bootcamp

  Many organizations have only a modest understanding of user experience. Some have none at all. In such an environment, if you are the key person or team driving for a more user-centered way of working, you are a user experience team of one. (That’s true whether it’s your official job or not.)

  This workshop is a hands on crash course in the skills, methods, and clever hacks that successful UX teams of one use to work inclusively, efficiently, and effectively. It is also a frank and candid guide to the challenges and opportunities that you might encounter if you're a

  UX team of one.

  In this workshop, you'll learn:

  •   Quick and effective methods for every point in the UX process, from planning a project to collaborative lo-fi design and rapid prototyping

  •   Language and tools for "selling" UX and building support

  •   Soft skills for gaining buy-in, conquering conflict, and communicating your work

  Like any good bootcamp, this workshop will get you working, sweating, and challenging your own assumptions about what you're capable of.

  Bio 

  Leah Buley is a design strategist at Intuit and the author of the forthcoming book The User Experience Team of One. Prior to Intuit, Leah was a lead experience designer at Adaptive Path, working for clients in financial services, media, consumer products, and the non-profit world. Leah writes and speaks regularly on tactics for inviting colleagues and skeptics into the user-centered design process. Her workshops and presentations have a reputation for being quirky, information-packed, and always fun.

  Agenda
  

  9:00 – 9:30 Check-in and Breakfast
  

  9:30 – 12:00 Workshop
  

  12:00 – 12:30 Lunch
  

  12:30 – 3:00 Workshop

  Registration
  

  Early bird sign up before May 1st
  

  $360 for members and $395 for non members (includes membership for a year)

  May 1st or later
  

  $375 for members and $410 for non members (includes membership for a year)

  Scholarships are available; accepting applications now til May 1st.

  Location
  

  Mercer Slough Environmental Education Center
  Douglas Fir Community Room
  1625 118th Ave SE, Bellevue, WA

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