Mary Deaton — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:50:13 GMT

Somewhat along these lines, I am conducting a study as part of a graduate seminar to determine how much Web practitioners agree amongst themselves on what constitutes good Web design practices. And I am looking for participants!

If you live in the Seattle area, have at least one year of experience designing or working on Web sites for user by others, and have a job title of Web designer, information architect, Webmaster, Usability engineer/specialist, Web content writer, or producer/project manager you may be eligible.

To express your interest in being a study participant, please reply to me at mmdeaton@mmdeaton.com. You will be sent a brief survey to gather demographic information and information to determine if you meet the study criteria.

The study sessions will be held in Seattle on a weekday early evening (6’ish), most likely at the University. The session will take between one and two hours. A small honorarium will be paid to those who complete the study.

If you know of someone else who might fit the study criteria, please let me know so that I can send them an invitation as well. And thanks for your help!

Mary Deaton
Department of Technical Communication
School of Engineering,
University of Washington

sherlock_yoda — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:50:13 GMT

I think that much of what was discussed at CHI 2002 relates back to the education of interaction design professionals.

Norman’s comments about taking a wider view of usability, including business and aesthetics, relates to this. As do comments about tools and techniques and the importance of fundamental research and certification.

How do we want to educate interaction designers? My views are influenced by Norman’s and Winograd’s (Bringing Design to Software). I think we need a broad curriculum for interaction designers: business, marketing, IT proficiency, usability evaluation, observation, design skills, contextual analysis, etc. Individuals can then go onto specialise, either in a final year of a degree or perhaps in a post-graduate qualification.

I also think we need a good mix of practical skills practice (many design projects with peer review – and repeated practice of how to apply techniques in different contexts) and fundamental research and theory. Doing & Thinking & Talking seems a good mix. There is not nearly enough practical work in modern HCI degrees. Ideally, I think a modern curriculum would be a sandwich course with a year in industry to practice skills in a realistic context.

This would be the level of certification – a complete interaction design degree. If HCI was seen as important enough to merit a degree, perhaps there would be more fundamental research done around this area (could there be a school of applied social sciences or interactive product design?).

I think the kind of skilled, rounded individuals who would come out of such a degree could start to move to positions where they could influence how interactive products are built in companies.

Just my 2 pence worth (I’m British). I think I may have just broken my vow not to post ever again…
Sherlock

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