I’ve just come back from my presentation which was part the South African contribution to World Usability Day.
What a interesting spread of speakers:
- Kristiina Lahde, besides being the kind host of the event, made me aware of the ICT knowledge exchange initiative between the Finland and South African Governments (SAFIPA). You can find out more here.
- Darelle van Greunen (the South African World Usability Day co-ordinator) gave a great overview of what usability was and its value
- Marde Greeff and Dr Louis Coetzee (CSIR Meraka) opened my eyes to the difficulties their organisation is facing in getting the voice of disabled people being heard by the ICT industry.
- Adele Botha’s (CSIR Meraka) presentation on the reality and context within mobile development needs to happen in South Africa (and the rest of Africa) was both highly entertaining and informative.
- Jama Ndwe (CSIR Meraka) opened my mind to the attention that we need to pay to voice interfaces and their value in the South African context.
- Marco Pretorius (Usability Manager UNISA) gave us some interesting insights into eye-tracking studies
My contribution was a presentation of the the role of information architecture in design. If you are interested in getting a copy of the presentation, drop me an email and I will get it through to you.
Probably the most impressive insight from today was the clear breaking down of the borders between the various disciplines needed to create digital interfaces. User Experience was clearly the order of the day, and that can only be good news for users of digital interfaces.