Avi Parush

Few usability professionals are as well-rounded as Avi Parush. Avi has worked in industry and academia, testing and design, the Old World and the New, with web applications and airplane cockpits, in operating rooms and on the bridges of ships.

Anderson, Clifford. Usability Professionals Association (2008). Articles>Interviews>Web Design>Usability

Goal-Directed Design: An Interview with Kim Goodwin

Kim Goodwin is the General Manager and Vice President of Design at Cooper. The great folks at Cooper created an interaction design methodology known as Goal-Directed Design. Their methodology identifies the goals and behaviors of users and directly translates them into the design. UIE's Christine Perfetti recently had the chance to talk with Kim about her work and we've included an excerpt of their conversation below.

Perfetti, Christine. User Interface Engineering (2007). Articles>Interviews>Web Design

How to Create a Site Where Users Can Actually Find Information: Interview with Thom Haller

Thom Haller, information architect and director of the Center for Plain Language, talks about how to create a site where users can actually find the information they're looking for.

Haller, Thom and Tom H. Johnson. Tech Writer Voices (2007). Articles>Interviews>Web Design>Minimalism

Scott Abel on Web 2.0

Abel's presentation on Web 2.0 was the most popular presentation of the STC 2007 conference (at least this is my impression from these interviews). In his presentation, Abel touches upon RSS feeds, wikis, blogs, geospatial positioning, social networking, tagging, podcasts, and other Web 2.0 technologies. He expands here on geospatial positioning and tagging. Abel also explains why he uses a newsletter in addition to a feed for his popular blog, www.thecontentwrangler.com.

Abel, Scott and Tom H. Johnson. Tech Writer Voices (2007). Articles>Interviews>Web Design>Podcasts

Living Multiple Lives — The New Technical Communicator 

In this podcast, Noz Urbina talks about how Web 2.0 is changing the role of the technical communicator into one who drives product R&D and interaction design. The interview covers how the role of the technical communicator has evolved into a diversity of roles; how awareness of user needs and requirements allows technical communicators to get involved in product R&D and user interaction design; and how implementing a backwards flow of data from hundreds of internal and external users changes the role of a technical writer to one who aggregates, synthesizes, and ensures quality rather than one who merely writes.

Urbina, Noz and Tom H. Johnson. Tech Writer Voices (2008). Articles>Interviews>Web Design>Interaction Design

Leading Your Company into the Wikis, Blogs, and Social Networks of Web 2.0 

In this podcast, I talk with Alan Porter, vice president of Operations at WebWorks, about the Web 2.0 technologies they’re using to reach out to their customer base. In addition to using blogs, wikis, and social networks to connect with customers, WebWorks also uses wikis to facilitate communication and collaboration within their company.

Porter, Alan and Tom H. Johnson. Tech Writer Voices (2008). Articles>Interviews>Web Design>Social Networking