Promoting User Sensitive Inclusive Design: Strategies for Communicating User Needs to Designers
Organisors:
- Mike Jones & Jim Mueller, Wireless RERC, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA USA.
- Alan Newell, Applied Computing, University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland, UK.
Time: Tuesday 23rd August - All Day
Designers who strive to meet the needs of the "average" user ignore a large and growing
portion of the customer population. They exclude millions of potential customers diverse in age
and ability, especially elders and people with disabilities. Successful designers broaden their
market opportunities by employing a more inclusive approach.
This six-hour workshop will explore effective strategies and techniques for inclusive design.
Emphasis will be on how to gather input from users of all ages and abilities and communicate this
input to designers and engineers in ways that help them understand and design for user needs.
Twenty-minute presentations are invited for two sessions:
- "Success stories": Selected speakers will present case examples of successful business
efforts to design for customers diverse in age and abilities. Emphasis will be on why and how
businesses were persuaded to devote greater attention to the design of user inclusive products or services.
- "Best practices": Selected speakers will demonstrate techniques to assist designers along the journey to
understanding user needs. Presentations will include a wide variety of approaches, including empathic
exercises, use of personas, and theatre presentations.
Accepted presentations will serve as a basis for group critique of currently-used strategies and
a springboard for new ideas. These presentations may include summaries of successful techniques,
market forces that reinforce the effectiveness of these techniques, and/or influence of celebrities,
persons with disabilities, and highly-committed personal champions within businesses. These discussions
will also include consideration for best ways to reach the decision-makers who drive change.
The workshop will be followed on the subsequent day by a two-hour satellite meeting of interested
participants, providing an opportunity for strategy development, brainstorming, and planning possible research
collaborations.
Interested participants should submit a one-page (500 word maximum) summary of their proposed presentation.
Please note whether this is a "success story" or "best practices" presentation and be sure to include contact
information (name, phone number, email address).
Presentation proposals must be received by July 1, 2005, and should be submitted by email to
mike_jones@shepherd.org.
Please note: Should you be concerned about having things to talk about in a presentation,
please get in touch with the organisor as it is possible to attend without presenting.
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