A blog by Mark Connolly
This month’s meeting of the UX Group promises to be an exciting look at Next Generation Tabletop Interfaces. Stacey Scott will overview some of the digital tabletop research being conducted in the Collaborative Systems Laboratory at the University of Waterloo. And yes, there’s more to tabletop computing than that “big-ass table” parody video of Microsoft Surface! (As an aside, Surface was the interesting focus of an earlier UX Group event).
Hope to see you at the meeting!
This month’s meeting of the User Experience Group of Waterloo Region is a workshop presented by my friend and colleague Blair Nonnecke. It’s a Guerrilla Usability Workshop, and it will involve group work and plenty of opportunity to learn and share. If you’ve been out before, you’ll already know that the discussions can be quite rewarding. If you haven’t been out, or haven’t attended in a while, come on out and see what you’ve been missing.
It’s this Thursday February 18 at 5:30pm in the friendly confines of the Accelerator Centre. Please be sure to RSVP if you intend to be there, but even if you don’t get a chance to do so, come on out anyway.
I’m looking forward to the next editions of a couple of recurring events in the tech community.
First up is the January edition of the UX Group of Waterloo Region meeting, next Monday January 18 at the Accelerator Centre. Kem-Laurin Kramer will lead us through a provocative session entitled “Is user experience becoming a commodity?”, which is sure to lead to a lively discussion and exchange of ideas. Come on out and enjoy the company, the conversations, and the connections.
A little later in the month is DemoCampGuelph12, on January 27 at the eBar in Guelph. As I write this, there are over 100 people registered to attend. At this point, I’ll draw your attention to a pair of useful posts by Brydon Gilliss on securing a demo slot at the event and, far more importantly, on the value of intersections.
Past editions of both events have, for me, made for great learning and meeting experiences. I know that this month will be no different. Here’s hoping that January weather isn’t too stormy on the event days!
The December meeting of the UX Group was a great event, despite the appalling weather. Much as with last month’s Ignite Waterloo event, the meeting showed that when people talk about a product design that they are passionate about, the results are always illuminating and engaging.
I thought I’d briefly share the products that I brought to the table.
First was a guitar capo. A capo is a device for holding down the strings on a fretted musical instrument, like a guitar, in order to raise the pitch. There are several styles and designs, ranging from a simple bar with an elastic strap, to more complex inventions. I’ve owned several, with designs optimized for cost (the aforementioned elastic strap) and preservation of tuning (though at the usability cost of requiring very precise placement) amongst them. The capo that I showed is made by Kyser, and is optimized for fast, one-handed operation. The easy to grab handle makes fast changes a breeze, and it can be easily clamped to the headstock when not in use. Mine works quite well and I’m happy with the results.
Next up was a compact tuner. Musicians have long lived with the need to tune their instruments. While being able to do so by ear is a great skill to have, not everyone has the ear to do so reliably when first learning to play, and even those that have developed their ear may need to tune in a noisy environment. Electronic tuners have been around for decades now, and they’ve been a great aid for getting an instrument in tune. My first electronic tuner, which I acquired years ago for tuning my guitar which I and still have, is a large device and has a great analogue needle that shows how far off a note is from being in tune. It’s clumsy to use with an acoustic instrument, though, but it is accurate. The newer tuner that I brought to the event, made by Intelli, is optimized for ease of use with fretted instruments. It clamps onto the head stock of the instrument and detects notes through vibrations transmitted via this direct contact. It swivels to make the display visible, the display is very bright and easy to see, it works with both acoustic and electric instruments, fits all my guitars and my mandolins, and it is small enough to easily fit in an instrument’s case. It’s not perfectly accurate, but it’s great for my needs.
It was fun to share these objects with the group, and I enjoyed the conversations.
The next UX Group meeting, on Tuesday December 15, aims for equal parts socializing and design discussion. It’s the second annual December Product Potluck. Don’t bring food, but do bring a product or products whose design you find worthy of discussion. Anything is fair game, as the goal is lively discussion about design. Last year’s version was lightly attended due to winter weather, but let’s not be deterred by that! Moreover, we had a great discussion during the November meeting and it would be wonderful to continue the conversation this month.
Note that for this month we’re holding the event at McMullan’s on King, a fine pub in Uptown Waterloo. I know from StartupDrinksWaterloo that the venue is well-suited to an event like this. We have a fine UX community here in Waterloo Region, and it’s worth the effort to get out and meet. I hope to see you there.
The November meeting of the UX Group of Waterloo is on Thursday. This session is a group discussion on a big UX topic:
This month we want to explore the factors and issues that will have an impact on user experience design in the near future. As the world goes mobile, what does it mean for users? If everything is accessible, how can it all be managed? What does the move from point-and-click to tap-and-pinch mean? Bring your own issues and questions, and share them in a group discussion with our inquisitive and curious UX community. If you have online videos or other resources to share, let’s have a look at them.
Check out the details and make sure to come out and share your thoughts.
This month’s UX Group of Waterloo Region meeting is on Thursday October 15 and features a special treat. My Primal Fusion colleague Robert Barlow-Busch will be doing a presentation on personas. Bob will draw upon his own ‘stories from the trenches’ to help you to understand how to get the best from this product design tool. Come on out and enjoy the learning opportunity, and meet other folks in Waterloo Region’s thriving UX community.
A new season of UX Group of Waterloo Region fun starts this Thursday, September 17 at 5:30pm at the Accelerator Centre. This first event, inspired by Scott Berkun, will be a design interactionary, an evening of hands on design fun in which teams take solving on design challenges in a ridiculously short amount of time. It promises to be good fun, and it’s a great opportunity to get to know other designers in our community and get to work with them.
Check out the details, and note the RRSP. Sadly, I’ll have to miss this great event myself due to immovable commitments elsewhere.
The UX Group of Waterloo Region is nothing if not pragmatic. If the thought of coming out to a meeting in the heat of August seems daunting, then a casual meeting on the patio at the Heuther may be just the thing to clear away your reservations. The next meeting is on Thursday August 20 at 5:30pm. All the details can be found here, but, really, what are you waiting for?
The June meeting of the UX Group of Waterloo Region is happening at 5:00pm on Thursday June 25 at the Accelerator Centre. This month it’s a presentation by Qixing Zheng called From Concept to Production: Prototyping with Expression Blend 3. The event is hosted by the Infusion Angels Innovation Centre and registration is required.