Hurricane Katrina's Impact on UPA Members

Hurricane Katrina illuminated UPA's sense of community this past month when the UPA Board of Directors acted quickly to attempt to contact our members who are/were located in the significantly affected regions of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. We received responses from several.

Mitropoulos-Rundus, Dave. Usability Professionals Association (2005). Articles>Usability>Risk Communication>Southern US

Listening to the Learners: A Case Study in Health Information Website Design  

An important mantra of user-centered design is to 'know thy user.' Accomplishing this requires one to decide what should be known about the user and how to gather the information. In this paper, we focus on the specific instance where the user is a learner. Specifically, we describe our efforts to listen to the learners of an information website, the Arthritis Source, and to act on this information.

Turns, Jennifer and Tracey S. Wagner. STC Proceedings (2002). Articles>User Centered Design>Scientific Communication>Usability

Message Severity Levels: How Much Is Enough?

This article describes how we investigated software message severity levels using surveys in a series of usability tests and how the results helped us create a standard set of severity levels. These findings can also be applied to other messages.

Schwirzke, Martin and Mayuresh Ektare. Usability Interface (2003). Articles>Usability>Risk Communication

Usability in Logos

Principles of usability can apply to everything, not just physical objects. When using or creating graphics, documents, symbols or logos, stop and try to think about whether or not the item is usable.

Lanier, Clinton R. sense and usability (2007). Articles>Usability>Technical Illustration>Risk Communication

Voluntary Adopters Versus Forced Adopters: Integrating the Diffusion of Innovation Theory and the Technology Acceptance Model to Study Intra-Organizational Adoption    

This study extends diffusion research to the intra-organizational level and integrates the classic diffusion of innovation theory (DIT) with the relatively new technology acceptance model (TAM) to empirically explore Chinese journalists' adoption of the internet. It makes a theoretical contribution by proposing four adoption categories — voluntary adopters, forced adopters, resistant non-adopters, and dormant non-adopters — according to the voluntariness of organizational members' innovation decision-making. Based on data from a nationwide survey of 813 journalists in China, this study demonstrates that the DIT and TAM are respectively related to voluntary and forced adoption of the internet.Young, male journalists who perceive the internet positively (i.e., relative advantage and ease of use) and think it to be popular in society are most likely to be voluntary adopters. High-ranking journalists who believe the internet can enhance their job performance and who work in large and technologically sophisticated organizations are most likely to be forced adopters.

Zhou, Yuqiong. New Media and Society (2008). Articles>Technology>Organizational Communication>Usability

Consistency of Message

The main aims are to provide a consistent set of information to our customers, throughout their relationship with us. So from initial contact right the way through to rollout and future upgrades, we will have a coherent set of information that is updated accordingly and a clear idea of how it will all be communicated to the customer.

One Man Writes (2008). Articles>Business Communication>Usability

The Limitations of Mental Models    

As human beings, we create conceptual models that enable us to understand the complex world around us. Hart believes that information designers should understand mental models as a tool for creating the best possible communications.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Intercom (2009). Articles>Communication>Usability>Cognitive Psychology

Investor Relations (IR) on Corporate Websites

Individual investors are intimidated by overly complex IR sites and need simple summaries of financial data. Both individual and professional investors want the company's own story and investment vision.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2009). Articles>Web Design>Business Communication>Usability

企業サイト上の投資家向け情報（IR）

個人投資家はあまりにも複雑なIRサイトに怖気づき、財務データのシンプルなサマリーを欲しがっている。個人投資家も投資専門家も、共に必要としているのは、企業自体のstoryとその投資ビジョンである。

Nielsen, Jakob. Usability.gr.jp (2009). (Japanese) Articles>Web Design>Business Communication>Usability