Presentations by 6 User Centric staff accepted to HFES 2006

Presentations by six User Centric staff have been accepted to this years' annual Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) conference. Wendy Yee, Jessica Buttimer and Neha Pathak's paper, '20+ Applications in 8 Weeks: Lessons from Large-Scale 'Checkpoint' Usability Testing', will be presented at the conference along with Agnieszka Bojko, Kevin Buffardi, Gavin Lew (of User Centric) and Edmond Israelski's (of Abbott Labs) paper, "Eye Tracking Study on the Impact of the Manufacturer's Logo and Multilingual Description on Drug Selection Performance".

The former presentation will focus on lessons learned during a complex usability testing project for a large technology organization. The session will outline the requirements involved in testing over twenty applications in an eight week period, including logistical, scheduling and reporting challenges. In addition to sharing the strategies and approaches actually implemented during this effort, the presentation will benefit audience members by providing recommendations and guidelines for conducting successful large-scale user research initiatives on their own.

The submission by Bojko, Buffardi, Lew and Israelski marks the seventh User Centric publication or presentation on eye tracking to be accepted by a major usability conference or journal. This presentation will describe a study that was conducted with standardized Abbott drug labels for domestic and international cartons. The objective of the study was to use eye tracking to determine the appropriateness of two label elements: an additional Abbott logo and a multilingual drug description. The presentation will describe the eye movement methods used and measures taken, as well as the results of the project, which indicated that the additional label elements could be safely introduced without hindering user performance.

The 2006 HFES Conference will be held in San Francisco from October 16-20. For more about this event, please visit here.

About the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society

The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society was founded in 1957. Its mission is to promote the discovery and exchange of knowledge concerning the characteristics of human beings that are applicable to the design of systems and devices. The Society's 5,000+ members advocate systematic use of human factors knowledge to achieve compatibility in the design of interactive systems of people, machines, and environments to ensure their effectiveness, safety, and ease of performance. Through its 21 technical groups, 35 local chapters and 31 student chapters, the Society encourages education and training for those entering the human factors and ergonomics profession and for those who conceive, design, develop, manufacture, test, manage, and participate in systems.

About User Centric, Inc.

User Centric is a global consulting firm that focuses on improving user experience. We apply our expertise to projects involving handhelds, web sites, software, medical devices, print, packaging, and telephony services. Experience, quality, value, global reach and outstanding client services set us apart. Our services include user research, user interface design consulting, information architecture, usability testing, user interface evaluations, eye tracking, and online surveys. Learn more about us at www.UserCentric.com.