Help me bring water to 15,000 people

Posted December 3, 2009, under Web Analytics
4 comments

UPDATE January 1, 2010: thanks everyone for contributing. Together we raised $2591 for UNICEF.

I’m a big fan of Unicef and the work that they do around the world. Every year they are one of the charities that our family donates to. Normally we try to do something that can really have an impact, like helping build a school, improve literacy or health care options for others.

I have been fortunate this year to have had the support of many from the UX community and would like to “pay it forward” with a little side project and raise $20,000 which can purchase a water purification unit used to provide drinking water for about 15,000 residents or displaced populations in cases of emergency.

While that sounds like a lot of money, it really isn’t. In my address book are 1020 people. If each of them give $20 we can fund this. Not a lot to ask.

If you’re interested – follow the link and donate on the Unicef site. A tax receipt will be issued via email by Unicef for each donation received.

DONATE NOW

4 comments so far, add yours ▶

Reflections on CanUX

Posted November 18, 2009, under Information Architecture, User Experience
Comments Off

Another CanUX conference has wrapped up. This annual gathering of UX professionals (mostly Canadian) is a great opportunity to connect with one another, share knowledge, ideas and approaches. I love attending and can’t imagine a year without it. This was the last year for the conference in Banff, coming years will see it move around (as I understand), a chance for others to get in on the action.

Design Slam

Matthew Nish-Lapidus and I put together this year’s design slam topic about food banks. The topic turned out to be a good challenge and though some similarities existed between solutions (e.g. colour coding, sorting methods), it was a great way to get people warmed up and thinking on Day 1.

Lane Becker – Get Satisfaction

Lane, a co-founder of Adaptive Path, shared with us his view of the ever-evolving landscape of customer satisfaction and how organizations are changing and learning to adapt in this age of transparency. The success of his company, Get Satisfaction, is impressive (over 28,000 companies on the roll) and some fantastic brands using the tools to connect with customers.

Jess McMullin – Business Origami

Business Origami

Business Origami

Jess shared his BETA of business origami — a methology originally created at Hitatchi. With thousands of cut-out paper characters we helped map scenarios for a number of problems. As basic as this tool was, the complexities of some scenarios could be effectively communicated. Everyone had a blast trying it out and sharing feedback on the BETA run.

Nathan Curtis – Modular Web Design

Nathan, from EightShapes, shared with us his approaches and thinking on modular web design. We were introduced to patterns, components and how these elements can be combined to speed up UX deliverable development. I’ve been using a similar approach for the past couple years (minus the InDesign supported workflow) and found it very interesting. I think the best part was the hands-on group work at tables that helped people understand components and how they can be re-assembled to create other pages.

Chad Fournier – Shaw Communications

Chad shared with us the Agile UX approach at Shaw in re-tooling their customer call centre application. An interesting inside look at creating a UX culture, advancing the purpose of UX, finding success and building on that success over time. Chad and his team have a lot to be proud of here and have clearly delivered a lot of value to the organization.

Matthew Milan and Alex Eberts – Akoha

A walk through the path to the game Akoha — a game that has the goal to make the world a better place. This start-up is exploring ways to leverage social capital and will be curious to watch over time as they continue to re-invent themselves and try to find their market niche.

Kristina Halvorson – Content Strategy for the Web

An entertaining and information-rich presentation from the author of Content Strategy for the Web. She was so excited when talking that she almost forgot to breathe, but had a lot to say and share. The big take-away is that you need to include content as part of our process — not as an afterthought. The exercises were a good intro into the pains of writers, the need for copy and the benefits of having copy earlier, rather than later in the process. Although you have to wonder how many people went back to the office and continued the same-old-same-old with content.

Rahel Bailie – Content Strategy Case Study

Following Kristina takes guts and Rahel delivered a ton of confirmations and insights into her content strategy and approach. I really enjoyed seeing some real-life application and the depth of effort and role of writers in interactive projects. Lots of room for growth in this area of UX, especially for those with a command of words, language and organization.

Peter Merholz – Upgrading our Mandate

Peter, as always, gets the last word. His talk took us through a range of inspiration, big and practical ideas. What really stood out for me from his talk is that designers are really becoming facilitators. We solve problems, that aren’t always visual.

p.s. if you are looking for a great run-down of the conference from Twitter, check out the work that Bryce Johnson did pulling them all together or Murray Thompson’s sketch notes

Comments Off

Farewell CM, hello nForm

Posted November 1, 2009, under Information Architecture, Jobs and Careers, User Experience
One comment

On October 28 I wrapped up my work as Director of Information Architecture at Critical Mass. I really enjoyed the role, especially getting back to managing people and work (something I’m told I’m good at). Over my five months at CM I tripled the size of our team; addressed a number of issues within the practice; improved the quality of the work we produce; and mentored, coached and played a supporting role for all on the team. I had a chance to work with many talented folks across IA, Creative/Design, Planning and Project Management on a wide variety of projects including AT&T, Adidas, Nissan/Infinity. CM was a great extraordinary experience. But, in the end my work/life balance was suffering and I decided that I needed more time with family (an aging/ailing in-law, my son starting school and my spouse’s busy career among the things needing more attention).

I was expecting to just take some time off for a bit or to do just a bit of contract work, but a few opportunities came up. In the end I decided to join Edmonton-based nForm User Experience as a Senior User Experience Consultant. nForm does great work and I’m looking forward to working with them on a number of exciting projects.

One comment so far, add another ▶

Career advice: enjoy the ride

Posted September 26, 2009, under Career Planning, Information Architecture
One comment

I few weeks ago I sat on a panel at Mount Royal College University here in Calgary. The panel was for new students to the Faculty of Communications which encompasses the Broadcasting, Journalism, Public Relations and Information Design programs.

I had a great time, but was struck by the number of students who had parents or family questioning as to whether their learning path was the best for them. Many had questions like “is there work in this field?”, “what do you see as the job opportunities ahead for people studying X?” to “can you really make money doing X?”, or “isn’t this sector on the decline?”.

During the panel discussion I spoke of my varied career path — from a musician, to bookseller, to dot-com (where I was a project manager, producer, user experience, front-end developer), to teacher, to banking (product management, channel management & strategy and web analytics), and currently information architecture.

The important point I tried to get across is that many of us go to school intending to be one thing, but that our various interactions in life lead on new and often diverse paths. You might be one of those who just specializes, but few now days do (other than say my dentist or doctor). Instead, embrace these opportunities to try new things and follow your passions and gut instincts. Work hard and do what you like. Life will work its way out.

Personally, I love this quote from the Tinkering School’s Gever Tulley: “Instead of having a career path, always do the most interesting thing you can. A career-path will only get you to retirement. Follow your interests obsessively, sacrifice everything, and keep doing it. Eventually it will turn into something both amazing and surprising. Along the way you will do things that you never thought you would, find yourself in places that you never imagined you would go, and back and say “Wow! What a fun ride that was! Can I go again?”

One comment so far, add another ▶

Finding an IA job, idea #2: network

Posted September 8, 2009, under Career Planning, Information Architecture
Comments Off

This is part 2 in a short series I’m doing on finding an IA job. Read part one of finding an IA job: practice.

Networking is critical and especially important since many jobs in our field are filled not via traditional job postings, but rather through word-of-mouth. Who you know matters and is a big factor when looking for work.

There are a number of ways to network. Here’s some suggestions:

  • Research and reach out to other IA’s in your local community. We’re not scary and often can be of help or will try to keep our eyes and ears open about possible opportunities — either within our own companies/teams or with others. Here is Calgary you’ll want to try Calgary UX or the soon-to-start Calgary UX Bookclub
  • Come out to events and conferences. Calgary UX runs quarterly events, local conferences like UX Camp and nForm’s CanUX are all great places to meet others.
  • Talk to those who are doing UX in the community. The other day I got a great letter of introduction from an IA moving to Calgary asking if I’d be willing to meet with him, view his work and talk about the community here in Calgary. We’re meeting this week and it’s a great example of putting yourself out there.
  • Seek out folks on IXDA, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other gathering points. Many of us post using hashtags like #ux or #ia. Search for common phrases like information architecture, usability, interaction design, service design to find others who talk about IA topics. You might even stumble on some local folks.
  • Browse the membership directories of UX groups/associations. The Information Architecture Institute and other groups have membership directories that are accessible to members. It’s a great way to uncover folks who live and work in your city.

Any other ideas?

Comments Off
◀ Older Entries
Newer Entries ▶