Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2001 12:50:02 EDT
From: Ehausberg@aol.com
Subject: FYI: Web Usability Testing

FYI: 6/12/01 6:30pm Web Usability Testing: 8 Lessons Learned

GB/SIGCHI - Greater Boston Special Interest Group on
Computer-Human Interaction

June 2001 Meeting

* Tuesday, 12 June 2001
* Refreshments at 6:30, meeting at 7:00
* Sun Microsystems, Burlington Mass., Conference Center
* Free & open to the public

           On-line Usability Testing: Eight Lessons Learned
                        Tom McCann & Tim Semen
                             Staples.com

For the most part, usability testing has remained a process performed
in a laboratory setting. While this has proven to be an effective
method for identifying issues and developing recommendations about
software usability, the one-on-one protocol associated with testing
this way has considerable limitations, is time consuming, and is
expensive.

On-line usability testing can overcome many of these limitations and
offers a method of gathering a large amount of user feedback in a
quantifiable form within a very short period of time. In this
presentation we will outline the eight lessons we learned about
on-line usability testing in comparison with some of the limitations
of laboratory-based testing. We will also discuss on-line testing's
strengths and weaknesses, including organizational, technical, and
practical issues.


SPEAKERS

Tom McCann is Manager of Interactive Usability at Staples.com. Tom
has more than ten years experience consulting in system usability and
user interface design for mainframe, client-server, and
Internet-based applications in the Government, Defense, Banking, and
Education sectors. He holds a Masters degree in Psychology from the
University of Sydney, and has been a regular guest lecturer on
Usability and Process Performance Improvement at the University of
New South Wales and the Sydney University of Technology. He is
founding member and board member of a number of usability and process
performance improvement professional associations in Australia and
the United States.

Tim Semen is a Usability Analyst at Staples.com. Tim has been
involved in web usability for about three years, currently
specializing in e-commerce. As part of his work at Staples, he has
developed the on-line usability testing competency. He has in-depth
experience with computers, and has combined this knowledge with his
Masters degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He recently presented at
CHI2001 and is scheduled to present at UPA2001.

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Next Meeting
10 July 2001
No August meeting.

Meetings are on the second Tuesday of each month unless
announced otherwise.

Visit our web page at: http://www.gbsigchi.org

For more information please contact the program chair:
          Ann Marie McKinnon
          mailto:amm@net1plus.com
          978-649-6020