Workshop Announcement: DIY Usability Testing

[Liz Konzak Phillips]

DIY Usability Testing: Quick and Approachable Methods To Improve Your Website and Other Communication Channels By Listening to Users

 

A one-day educational workshop sponsored by the Education Committee of the Society of California Archivists.

 

9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Friday, March 30, 2012

Latino-Hispanic Room, San Francisco Public Library, 100 Larkin St., San Francisco, CA

Our websites and many other user access points can be a pleasure to use or they can inadvertently frustrate our users and keep them from getting to the information they want and need. Usability methodologies such as observations, interviews, and task analysis provide direct feedback to help us maximize our efforts, making our materials more accessible and easier to use.

Through a mix of discussion, demonstration, and hands-on practice, participants will learn inexpensive tips, tricks, and best practices that they can implement immediately and apply to a range of channels, including: websites, catalogs, finding aids, mobile devices, newsletters, and even basic forms and communications.

Informed, validated design leads to exponentially better web experiences, resulting in more traffic and greater awareness of our services and collections. The workshop is open to anyone interested in improving the quality of their user access points; no prior technical expertise or web skills are required.

About the presenter: Anne Hall is the Research Librarian and Archivist at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Prior to her role at the Federal Reserve, Anne worked for ten years in the Wells Fargo Historical Services Department, managing the San Francisco Headquarters Museum facility and contributing to special events and projects. Anne holds an MLIS from San Jose State, is a Certified Archivist, and has taken courses from the Bentley University Design and Usability Center.

Scholarships available! Apply for the Walter P. Gray III Education Endowment Fund Scholarship which awards up to $200 per workshop. Submit an application form, including a proposed budget to Liz Phillips, ekphillips[at]stanford.edu by March 16, 2012.

Registration: SCA Member - $60;   Non-SCA Member - $90;   Student (with copy of ID) - $50. Registrations must be completed by March 23, 2012. Attendance in each workshop is limited to the first 30 valid registrants. Registrants after the first 30 will be notified and placed on a waiting list. For more information and online registration see: DIY Usability Testing Workshop