capchi-announce

capchi-announce March 16 @ 6pm, TheCodeFactory: Thom Kearney: Bringing the social web to Government

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:39:00 GMT

Title: Bringing the social web to Government - An inside out approach Date: Tuesday, March 16, 2010 Time: 6:00pm Place: TheCodeFactory, 246 Queen St., Ottawa Abstract This case study will provide a rare look behind the firewall at one of the most ambitious and exciting initiatives to come out of Canada this year. GCPEDIA, an open wiki for collaboration and the GCCONNEX professional networking platform are enabling culture change and workplace renewal amongst 250,000 employees across 100s of legislated silos within the Canadian Federal Government. The presentation will cover why and how it was done, the "spaghetti" strategy, starting small and growing big, and the approach of viral adoption and the perpetual beta. The policy implications involved creating an architecture of participation providing the guardrails for appropriate behaviour without stifling innovation, and providing practical information management. The effect was turning the light on in a dark room how social media increases the need for policy adherence as everything is done in a more transparent and open environment. It is about culture not technology, flying under th e radar, and asking permission and begging forgiveness. We learned what engagement really means, and that changing culture requires one conversation at a time; but trust is hard for institutions. We can report on where we are seeing business value, the evidence we have collected, and metrics that involve measuring what people actually care about. Biography Thom Kearney loves to solve problems. In the 80s he built one of Ottawas premiere ad agencies and then went on to teach and coach young adults. More recently hes been a leader, analyst and change agent for a range of technology intensive but business needs driven projects. A professional communicator by trade, Thoms eclectic background makes him a rare expert generalist, someone that can cross the boundaries between the technical and business side of change, mediating for the benefit of both. Thom thinks strategically but acts tactically, always seeing the end game, without losing sight of the practical reality we live in. Thoms unique perspective and forthright opinions have earned him the status of trusted advisor for organizations like the Government of Canada and Mitel Networks. Thom also teaches in the Bachelor of Information program at Carleton University. Thom is fresh from a three year assignment as an executive with the Chief Information Officer Branch of the Treasury Board Secretariat, (the Feds), where he led the introduction of GCPEDIA, GCCONNEX and other elements of an Open Collaborative Workplace for Canadian Public Servants. When and Where This event will take place on Tuesday, March 16, 6:00pm at TheCodeFactory, located at 246 Queen Street, between Bank and Kent, (on the second floor) above the Green Papaya Restaurant. Note There is no cost for attending this event and prior registration is not required. Light snacks and refreshments will be served. An informal social gathering will follow at a nearby pub. Who CapCHI is a social and professional society of people who work as user interface designers, researchers, educators, software developers, web designers, graphic designers and human factors engineers in and around Canadas National Capital Region. Founded in 1991, CapCHIs goal is to bring together local professionals interested in how humans and computers interact, in a relaxed and informal atmosphere. SIGCHIs 1996 Profile on CapCHI <a href="http://www.cwi.nl/~steven/sigchi/bulletin/1996.3/local-sigs.html">http://www.cwi.nl/~steven/sigchi/bulletin/1996.3/local-sigs.html</a> Mailing List Join the capchi-announce mailing list for announcements of CapCHI events and other news! <a href="http://www.capchi.org/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/list/announce/">http://www.capchi.org/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/list/announce/</a>

capchi-announce Tuesday February 16 @ 6pm, TheCodeFactory: Jeff Parks: Being Human is NOT Quantifiable

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 23:12:00 GMT

Title: Being Human is NOT Quantifiable Date: Tuesday February16th, 2010 Time: 6:00pm Place: TheCodeFactory, 246 Queen St., Ottawa Abstract Technology has taken much of our humanity. Hard data and quantitative measurement while important, have begun in many ways to dominate the choices we make in both business and government. And yet, we are trying to communicate through design and other forms of technology to people, not other machines. We are all Social Animals. Our very nature and reason for being is based in feelings and individual realities from the culmination of a life time of experiences. In short, no equation or set of data can sum up the "user" because they are the ultimate "X" factor in everything we design. Jeff will share experiences from interviewing and learning from thought leaders in Information Architecture, User Experience Design, Interaction Design, and Human Factors on every continent over the last five years. He will share insights from Jesse James Garrett, Jon Kolko, Peter Morville, Daniel Szuc, Indi Young, Eric Reiss, and others. Jeff will also share some of the most powerfully emotional stories told at conferences and involve those in attendance to demonstrate the ways in which we can all become more effective in balancing both hemispheres. Speaker Bio: Jeff Parks is the President of i.a. consultants and the Canadian Lead for the European based User Experience firm, FatDux. He has been called the voice of Information Architecture and User Experience for his work in producing Radio Johnny, Boxes and Arrows, as well as the i.a. podcasts, syndicated through iTunes; with a global audience numbering in the tens of thousands. A world-renowned conversationalist, Jeff has interviewed some of the most influential minds from Google, IBM, Apple , ClickTale Web Analytics, Apogee, Adaptive Path, Cisco, and more. Jeff is also working with colleagues in New York and Washington in the creation of The UX Workshop <a href="http://www.theuxworkshop.tv">http://www.theuxworkshop.tv</a>; is the lead for the Ottawa chapter of the UX Book Club; and is a mentor in the Information Architecture Institute. Prior to entering the world of IT, Jeff was a cognitive rehabilitation therapist for individuals suffering from Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) working with the leading minds in Neurology, Speech / Language Pathology, and Physiotherapy. This work also lead to his working with pre-kindergarten children with learning disabilities and behavioral issues that put such children at risk for the public school environment. When and Where: This event will take place on Tuesday February 16th, 6:00pm at TheCodeFactory, located at 246 Queen Street, between Bank and Kent, (on the second floor) above the Green Papaya Restaurant. Note: there is no cost for attending this event and prior registration is not required. Light snacks and refreshments will be served. An informal social gathering will follow at a nearby pub.

capchi-announce February 16 @ 6pm, TheCodeFactory: Jeff Parks: Being Human is NOT Quantifiable

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:22:00 GMT

Abstract Technology has taken much of our humanity. Hard data and quantitative measurement while important, have begun in many ways to dominate the choices we make in both business and government. And yet, we are trying to communicate through design and other forms of technology to people, not other machines. We are all Social Animals. Our very nature and reason for being is based in feelings and individual realities from the culmination of a life time of experiences. In short, no equation or set of data can sum up the "user" because they are the ultimate "X" factor in everything we design. Jeff will share experiences from interviewing and learning from thought leaders in Information Architecture, User Experience Design, Interaction Design, and Human Factors on every continent over the last five years. He will share insights from Jesse James Garrett, Jon Kolko, Peter Morville, Daniel Szuc, Indi Young, Eric Reiss, and others. Jeff will also share some of the most powerfully emotional stories told at conferences and involve those in attendance to demonstrate the ways in which we can all become more effective in balancing both hemispheres. Speaker Bio: Jeff Parks is the President of i.a. consultants and the Canadian Lead for the European based User Experience firm, FatDux. He has been called the voice of Information Architecture and User Experience for his work in producing Radio Johnny, Boxes and Arrows, as well as the i.a. podcasts, syndicated through iTunes; with a global audience numbering in the tens of thousands. A world-renowned conversationalist, Jeff has interviewed some of the most influential minds from Google, IBM, Apple , ClickTale Web Analytics, Apogee, Adaptive Path, Cisco, and more. Jeff is also working with colleagues in New York and Washington in the creation of The UX Workshop <a href="http://www.theuxworkshop.tv">http://www.theuxworkshop.tv</a>; is the lead for the Ottawa chapter of the UX Book Club; and is a mentor in the Information Architecture Institute. Prior to entering the world of IT, Jeff was a cognitive rehabilitation therapist for individuals suffering from Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) working with the leading minds in Neurology, Speech / Language Pathology, and Physiotherapy. This work also lead to his working with pre-kindergarten children with learning disabilities and behavioral issues that put such children at risk for the public school environment. When and Where: This event will take place on Tuesday February 16th, 6:00pm at TheCodeFactory, located at 246 Queen Street, between Bank and Kent, (on the second floor) above the Green Papaya Restaurant. Note: there is no cost for attending this event and prior registration is not required. Light snacks and refreshments will be served. An informal social gathering will follow at a nearby pub.

capchi-announce January 19 @ 6pm, TheCodeFactory: Jeff Parks: Being Human is NOT Quantifiable

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:12:00 GMT

Abstract Technology has taken much of our humanity. Hard data and quantitative measurement while important, have begun in many ways to dominate the choices we make in both business and government. And yet, we are trying to communicate through design and other forms of technology to people, not other machines. We are all Social Animals. Our very nature and reason for being is based in feelings and individual realities from the culmination of a life time of experiences. In short, no equation or set of data can sum up the "user" because they are the ultimate "X" factor in everything we design. Jeff will share experiences from interviewing and learning from thought leaders in Information Architecture, User Experience Design, Interaction Design, and Human Factors on every continent over the last five years. He will share insights from Jesse James Garrett, Jon Kolko, Peter Morville, Daniel Szuc, Indi Young, Eric Reiss, and others. Jeff will also share some of the most powerfully emotional stories told at conferences and involve those in attendance to demonstrate the ways in which we can all become more effective in balancing both hemispheres. Speaker Bio: Jeff Parks is the President of i.a. consultants and the Canadian Lead for the European based User Experience firm, FatDux. He has been called the voice of Information Architecture and User Experience for his work in producing Radio Johnny, Boxes and Arrows, as well as the i.a. podcasts, syndicated through iTunes; with a global audience numbering in the tens of thousands. A world-renowned conversationalist, Jeff has interviewed some of the most influential minds from Google, IBM, Apple , ClickTale Web Analytics, Apogee, Adaptive Path, Cisco, and more. Jeff is also working with colleagues in New York and Washington in the creation of The UX Workshop <a href="http://www.theuxworkshop.tv">http://www.theuxworkshop.tv</a>; is the lead for the Ottawa chapter of the UX Book Club; and is a mentor in the Information Architecture Institute. Prior to entering the world of IT, Jeff was a cognitive rehabilitation therapist for individuals suffering from Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) working with the leading minds in Neurology, Speech / Language Pathology, and Physiotherapy. This work also lead to his working with pre-kindergarten children with learning disabilities and behavioral issues that put such children at risk for the public school environment. When and Where: This event will take place on Tuesday January 19th, 6:00pm at TheCodeFactory, located at 246 Queen Street, between Bank and Kent, (on the second floor) above the Green Papaya Restaurant. Note: there is no cost for attending this event and prior registration is not required. Light snacks and refreshments will be served. An informal social gathering will follow at a nearby pub.

capchi-announce Tommorrow Tuesday January 19 @ 6pm, TheCodeFactory: Michelle Gauthier on User-Centred Design: A Cultural Challenge

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:20:00 GMT

Title: User-Centred Design: A Cultural Challenge Date: Tuesday January 19, 2009 Time: 6:00pm Place: TheCodeFactory, 246 Queen St., Ottawa Abstract: The quality of interactive experience with technology is produced in a particular cultural context and only determined or evaluated in the context of use. Incorporation of cultural factors in design thinking and design processes is critical to achieve the high quality of human-technology interaction that enables our experience with the technology to be effective and convivial. Michelle will present her recent experience working for a non-profit organization in South East Asia. The focus of her presentation will be the impact of cultural issues on interface design, and the challenge of applying a user-centred design (UCD) process to manage projects in a third-world Asian country. Michelle will demonstrate the impact of cultural issues on the UCD approach with an example archival digitization project in which she managed and helped re-design a digitization software interface. The discussion of cultural issues will provide valuable implications on design approaches and usability test methods to product designers and researchers. Bio: Since 2006 Michelle Gauthier is a Human Factors consultant for CAE Professional Services Canada. In this role, Michelle provides human factors support to various military, energy, academic, and commercial projects. She took a one-year sabbatical to work for a non-profit organization in Laos, South East Asia in 2008-2009. Since returning from South East Asia, Michelle intends to re-focus her human factors skills on more socially responsible projects. Michelle is currently a member of the National Capital chapter of ACM SIGCHI. She received her M.A. in psychology with a specialty in human-computer interaction from Carleton University, Ottawa, in 2005. When and Where: This event will take place on Tuesday January 19th, 6:00pm at TheCodeFactory, located at 246 Queen Street, between Bank and Kent, (on the second floor) above the Green Papaya Restaurant. Note: there is no cost for attending this event and prior registration is not required. Light snacks and refreshments will be served. An informal social gathering will follow at a nearby pub.

capchi-announce : This Tuesday January 19 @ 6pm, TheCodeFactory: Michelle Gauthier on User-Centred Design: A Cultural Challenge

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:56:00 GMT

capchi-announce January 19 @ 6pm, TheCodeFactory: Michelle Gauthier on User-Centred Design: A Cultural Challenge

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:40:00 GMT

capchi-announce Today (Tuesday) - Stacey Scott on Next Generation Digital Tabletop Interfaces

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:03:00 GMT

Title: Next Generation Digital Tabletop Interfaces: Moving Beyond Photosharing Date: Tuesday Dec 15th, 2009 Time: 6:00pm Place: TheCodeFactory, 246 Queen St., Ottawa Abstract: Even before Microsoft announced the Surface system in 2007, the Human-Computer Interaction community was actively researching digital tabletop technologies since Pierre Wellner proposed the DigitalDesk in 1991. Yet only very recent and emerging hardware and software advances have begun to make digital tabletops a feasible technology for real-world markets. Innovations in operating systems (e.g. Microsoft 7), development environments (e.g. Windows Presentation Foundation), and input technologies (e.g. FTIR and TouchCo "multitouch" technologies) are enabling a move beyond proof-of-concept tabletop systems, beyond demonstrations of simple applications that show new interface metaphors and interaction techniques for manipulating and sharing digital photos. Though we are still a few years away from consumer-grade interactive tabletop systems being sold at Best Buy, more specialized markets are emerging and early-adopter markets are on the horizon. This talk will overview some of the digital tabletop research being conducted in the Collaborative Systems Laboratory at the University of Waterloo in two specific application areas: military command and control operations, and digital board gaming. Speaker Bio: Stacey D. Scott, Ph.D. Stacey Scott is an Assistant Professor of Human Systems Engineering in the Department of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, ON, Canada. Dr. Scott received her Ph.D. in Computer Science (specializing in Human-Computer Interaction and Computer-Supported Collaboration) from the University of Calgary in 2005. She received her B.Sc. in Computing Science and Mathematics from Dalhousie University (Halifax, NS) in 1997. She completed two years of postdoctoral studies in the Humans and Automation Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA, USA) from 2005-2007, where she developed awareness technologies to facilitate collaborative decision-making in time-critical military command and control operations. Dr. Scott's graduate research focused on understanding collaborative tabletop work practices with traditional media and developing interface design requirements for digital tabletop platforms. She is now combining this previous theoretical and high-level requirements work with the applied research experience gained in her postdoc to pursue the development of digital tabletop systems that support real-world collaboration in complex task domains. In general, her research interests include computer-supported collaboration, large-screen displays, interface and interaction design, and information visualization. When and Where: This event will take place on Tuesday Dec 15th, 2009, 6:00pm at TheCodeFactory, located at 246 Queen Street, between Bank and Kent, (on the second floor) above the Green Papaya Restaurant. Note: there is no cost for attending this event and prior registration is not required. Light snacks and refreshments will be served. An informal social gathering will follow at a nearby pub.

capchi-announce This Tuesday - Stacey Scott on Next Generation Digital Tabletop Interfaces

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 15:20:00 GMT

Title: Next Generation Digital Tabletop Interfaces: Moving Beyond Photosharing Date: Tuesday Dec 15th, 2009 Time: 6:00pm Place: TheCodeFactory, 246 Queen St., Ottawa Abstract: Even before Microsoft announced the Surface system in 2007, the Human-Computer Interaction community was actively researching digital tabletop technologies since Pierre Wellner proposed the DigitalDesk in 1991. Yet only very recent and emerging hardware and software advances have begun to make digital tabletops a feasible technology for real-world markets. Innovations in operating systems (e.g. Microsoft 7), development environments (e.g. Windows Presentation Foundation), and input technologies (e.g. FTIR and TouchCo "multitouch" technologies) are enabling a move beyond proof-of-concept tabletop systems, beyond demonstrations of simple applications that show new interface metaphors and interaction techniques for manipulating and sharing digital photos. Though we are still a few years away from consumer-grade interactive tabletop systems being sold at Best Buy, more specialized markets are emerging and early-adopter markets are on the horizon. This talk will overview some of the digital tabletop research being conducted in the Collaborative Systems Laboratory at the University of Waterloo in two specific application areas: military command and control operations, and digital board gaming. Speaker Bio: Stacey D. Scott, Ph.D. Stacey Scott is an Assistant Professor of Human Systems Engineering in the Department of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, ON, Canada. Dr. Scott received her Ph.D. in Computer Science (specializing in Human-Computer Interaction and Computer-Supported Collaboration) from the University of Calgary in 2005. She received her B.Sc. in Computing Science and Mathematics from Dalhousie University (Halifax, NS) in 1997. She completed two years of postdoctoral studies in the Humans and Automation Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA, USA) from 2005-2007, where she developed awareness technologies to facilitate collaborative decision-making in time-critical military command and control operations. Dr. Scott's graduate research focused on understanding collaborative tabletop work practices with traditional media and developing interface design requirements for digital tabletop platforms. She is now combining this previous theoretical and high-level requirements work with the applied research experience gained in her postdoc to pursue the development of digital tabletop systems that support real-world collaboration in complex task domains. In general, her research interests include computer-supported collaboration, large-screen displays, interface and interaction design, and information visualization. When and Where: This event will take place on Tuesday Dec 15th, 2009, 6:00pm at TheCodeFactory, located at 246 Queen Street, between Bank and Kent, (on the second floor) above the Green Papaya Restaurant. Note: there is no cost for attending this event and prior registration is not required. Light snacks and refreshments will be served. An informal social gathering will follow at a nearby pub.

capchi-announce Next Week - Stacey Scott on Next Generation Digital Tabletop Interfaces

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 01:45:00 GMT

Title: Next Generation Digital Tabletop Interfaces: Moving Beyond Photosharing Date: Tuesday Dec 15th, 2009 Time: 6:00pm Place: TheCodeFactory, 246 Queen St., Ottawa Abstract: Even before Microsoft announced the Surface system in 2007, the Human-Computer Interaction community was actively researching digital tabletop technologies since Pierre Wellner proposed the DigitalDesk in 1991. Yet only very recent and emerging hardware and software advances have begun to make digital tabletops a feasible technology for real-world markets. Innovations in operating systems (e.g. Microsoft 7), development environments (e.g. Windows Presentation Foundation), and input technologies (e.g. FTIR and TouchCo "multitouch" technologies) are enabling a move beyond proof-of-concept tabletop systems, beyond demonstrations of simple applications that show new interface metaphors and interaction techniques for manipulating and sharing digital photos. Though we are still a few years away from consumer-grade interactive tabletop systems being sold at Best Buy, more specialized markets are emerging and early-adopter markets are on the horizon. This talk will overview some of the digital tabletop research being conducted in the Collaborative Systems Laboratory at the University of Waterloo in two specific application areas: military command and control operations, and digital board gaming. Speaker Bio: Stacey D. Scott, Ph.D. Stacey Scott is an Assistant Professor of Human Systems Engineering in the Department of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, ON, Canada. Dr. Scott received her Ph.D. in Computer Science (specializing in Human-Computer Interaction and Computer-Supported Collaboration) from the University of Calgary in 2005. She received her B.Sc. in Computing Science and Mathematics from Dalhousie University (Halifax, NS) in 1997. She completed two years of postdoctoral studies in the Humans and Automation Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA, USA) from 2005-2007, where she developed awareness technologies to facilitate collaborative decision-making in time-critical military command and control operations. Dr. Scott's graduate research focused on understanding collaborative tabletop work practices with traditional media and developing interface design requirements for digital tabletop platforms. She is now combining this previous theoretical and high-level requirements work with the applied research experience gained in her postdoc to pursue the development of digital tabletop systems that support real-world collaboration in complex task domains. In general, her research interests include computer-supported collaboration, large-screen displays, interface and interaction design, and information visualization. When and Where: This event will take place on Tuesday Dec 15th, 2009, 6:00pm at TheCodeFactory, located at 246 Queen Street, between Bank and Kent, (on the second floor) above the Green Papaya Restaurant. Note: there is no cost for attending this event and prior registration is not required. Light snacks and refreshments will be served. An informal social gathering will follow at a nearby pub.

capchi-announce This Tuesday - Tara Whalen on Security Interfaces in Web Browsers

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:24:00 GMT

Title: Browser Interfaces and Extended Validation SSL Certificates Date: Tuesday Nov. 17, 2009 Time: 6:00pm Place: TheCodeFactory, 246 Queen St., Ottawa Abstract Secure socket layer (SSL) certificates have been deployed to provide security for web-based transactions, which allow information to be transmitted securely as well as provide information about the party a user is transacting with. There has been a loss of confidence in the security provided by SSL certificates and browser interfaces in the face of various attacks. As one response, Extended Validation (EV) SSL certificates have been proposed, which are intended to restore confidence among users that a website operator is legitimate. Unfortunately, EV SSL certificates may complicate the already difficult design challenge of effectively conveying certificate information to the average user. This talk describes a user study that explored the interfaces related to SSL certificates in the most widely deployed browser (Internet Explorer 7), proposed an alternative set of interface dialogs, and compared their effectiveness through a user study involving 40 participants. The alternat ive interface was found to offer statistically significant improvements in confidence, ease of finding information, and ease of understanding. Such results from a modest re-design effort suggest considerable room for improvement in the user interfaces of browsers today. This work motivates further study of whether EV SSL certificates offer a robust foundation for improving Internet trust, or a further compromise to usable security for ordinary users. Biography Tara Whalen is a post-doctoral research associate at Carleton University, who received her PhD in the human factors of security in 2008 at Dalhousie University. She previously worked in network security at the Communications Research Centre Canada. Her current research interests include usable security, privacy, and the social implications of technology. When and Where: This event will take place on Tuesday Nov. 17, 6:00pm at TheCodeFactory, located at 246 Queen Street, between Bank and Kent, (on the second floor) above the Green Papaya Restaurant. Note: there is no cost for attending this event and prior registration is not required. Light snacks and refreshments will be served. An informal social gathering will follow at a nearby pub.