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Boston-IA 2010 Events

In 2010, Boston-IA presented, co-sponsored, or participated in the following events:

For information about other Boston-IA meetings:

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Movie Night with Boston-IA & UPA Boston (August 31, 2010)

On Tuesday evening, August 31, Boston-IA joined the Boston chapter of the Usability Professionals Association for a showing of "Temple Grandin", at the Regent Theatre in Arlington, Massachusetts. The HBO biopic, starring Claire Danes, chronicles the real-life story of Dr. Temple Grandin and depicts a "young woman's perseverance and determination while struggling with the isolating challenges of autism".

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BostonCHI & UPA Boston Summer Picnic (July 27, 2010)

On Tuesday evening, July 27, Boston-IA joined Boston CHI and the Boston chapter of the Usability Professionals Association for an informal summer pot-luck picnic at Mayor Thomas W. Danehy Park in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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Joint Boston-IA & UPA-Boston Meeting: Ten-Minute Talks (July 21, 2010)

On Wednesday, July 21, 2010, Boston-IA and the Boston chapter of the Usability Professional Association (www.UPA-Boston.org) held a joint meeting featuring a panel of speakers presenting 10-minute talks about the accessibility and usability of electronic information.

Six great speakers presented an interesting variety of topics and beat the clock to present all their material as the minutes ticked away!

The evening meeting consisted of a series of talks by a panel of speakers, each talk limited to ten minutes. After each talk, members of the audience had a brief opportunity to ask questions and participate in discussion with the speakers.

The following topics were presented:

  • Jeanne Spellman (W3C Web Accessibility Initiative) & Kim Patch (President and Founder of Redstart Systems):
    "W3C WAI Accessibility Guidelines: Why They are Important, and How You Can Make a Difference."
  • Susanna Kirk, User Research at IBM:
    "Why Does it Think That? Improving Interaction Design for Personalized Recommendation Systems."
  • Tole Khesin, Director of Marketing, 3Play Media:
    "Transcribing and Captioning Video."
  • Joe Ranft, Principal, Joe Ranft Design:
    "Usability's Brand Problem"
  • Chris LaRoche, User Research at AutoDesk: "The User Edit Method: When a Usability Method Fulfills a Technical Communication Need."
  • Traci Lepore, Principal Interaction Designer, InContext Design:
    "More Effective and Actionable Personas Through Embodiment of 3-Dimensional Characters."

Our venue sponsor for this event was Staples. The meeting was held at the Staples corporate headquarters at 500 Staples Drive in Framingham, Massachusetts.

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The Boston Area's First Accessibility Unconference (May 15, 2010)

Boston-IA members and friends attended the first Accessibility Unconference in Boston (ally-bos) on May 15.

Date: May 15, 2010
Time: 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Location: Adobe Facilities in Waltham, Massachusetts, 02451

Passionate developers, media specialists, designers, usability professionals, accessibility experts, and end-users with disabilities gathered to share knowledge and learn from each other at the first Boston Accessibility Unconference. Over 80 people attended, and well over a dozen presentations were given.

The theme was IT accessibility, and the event was completely free. The space was provided by Adobe Systems, and food and beverages were provided by the event sponsors. The informal nature of the event lent itself to networking and learning, and a great deal of valuable information sharing took place.

In the morning, everyone introduced themselves and provided three words that defined their relationship to accessibility or the conference day. People who wanted to present something or moderate roundtable discussions indicated the topics they were interested in presenting. Ideas were then clustered and assigned to four sets of sessions throughout the day. Participants chose the topics they wanted to hear and moved from room to room. Most of the presentations were extremely informal (which is what makes it an "unconference"),

At the end of the day, everyone gathered again in the main room to acknowledge the unconference coordinators and comment on the experience. Everyone agreed that the day was so successful, we will have to have another one next year.

What does "a11y-bos" stand for? "a11y" is shorthand for a word beginning with the letter "a", followed by eleven letters, and ending with the letter "y". "a11y-bos" simply means "Accessibility-Boston"— Now you know!

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Jim Denham of the Perkins School for the Blind (April 29, 2010)

On Thursday, April 29, Jim Denham, Assistive Technology Coordinator at the Perkins School for the Blind, spoke on the topic, "Web Browsing Through Listening: Perspectives of a Blind Web Surfer".

As Assistive Technology Coordinator at the Perkins School for the Blind, Jim Denham is responsible for obtaining specialized software and hardware that empowers Perkins students to lead independent and fulfilling lives. In his position, he supports and trains staff on a wide variety of products that allow people who are blind or visually impaired to surf the Web.

Jim has been totally blind since birth. He shared his perspectives as a blind Web surfer, and described the highlights and frustrations he experiences as he uses the Web on a daily basis to do everything from buying groceries to selling stocks to downloading music.

As an avid user of technology, Jim employs a variety of screen review applications and browsing techniques. In his talk, Jim demonstrated how JAWS, the leading screen review application, performs on the Web and talked about the accessibility of other platforms and applications, such as the latest versions of Macintosh, his iPhone, and the iPad.

The meeting was held at the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts.

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Boston Interactions Holiday Party (January 20, 2010)

Boston-IA and the other Boston-area Usability and User Experience groups (in association with our sponsors) hosted the Boston Interactions Holiday Party from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 20, 2010. The Boston Interactions community groups enjoyed its Third Annual night of networking, food, and fun.

The 2010 party was held in a private room at the Red Fez (a Middle Eastern restaurant in Boston's South End), located at 1222 Washington Street in Boston.

Read about previous Boston Interactions parties that Boston-IA has participated in:

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Boston Interactions Hosts and Sponsors

Boston interactions is a collaboration among interaction and design groups in the Boston area. Each year, Boston Interactions brings together members of Boston's premier user experience and user interaction organizations to network and socialize with members of the other groups.

The hosts for the 2010 party included the following groups:

The sponsors for the 2010 party included:

Logos for the Boston Interactions Holiday Party hosts and sponsors.

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