Josh Porter discusses his book at our inaugural Bookclub

To promote the free exchange of ideas in the local user experience community, Boston IxDA is temporarily changing the format of our social events. Whereas we would normally meet up to wax poetic about IxD at a local pub, we will be now hosting focused Design discussions on the backdrop of a User Experience book club in a more fitting venue.

The first event in the series will have Joshua Porter discussing his book Designing for the Social Web http://tinyurl.com/5hvqur. Josh will be giving a talk about the book and hosting a Q&A session with a little twist. Watch this space for more details!

When: Thursday April 23rd at 7pm
Where: Trident bookstore on Newbury St, Boston. http://tinyurl.com/dbnab2


The Logistics:
We have a great list of authors lined up for future events, however, that is only half of the new format. We've had a few inquiries about the possibility of sharing or swapping UX Books. We've put together a framework that will enable people to connect and meet this goal. Here's how it works; First you list the books you are willing to share on http://www.librarything.com, and tag them with ixda_boston_bookclub. Give us your librarything url and we'll share it with the community. People can then parse the list of book sharers and then contact them via email.

There is no requirement to sign up to this but if you are interested, please follow these steps:

1. (optional) Create a catalog of books on the free service http://www.librarything.com
2. Become a Boston IxDA book club member by signing up http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pQG39RalBf4Mo46qeqoPoVw&hl=en
3. To view a list of members and to explore the books available, check out the http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pQG39RalBf4Mo46qeqoPoVw
4. Interested in borrowing a book? Contact the owner and meet them at the event or arrange a separate time.

Note: It is up to book owners to track who they lend books to.

We would like to thank Eva Kaniasty for first suggesting this and taking on the task of organizing the first event. In the future, we aim to make this a self-organizing social where members can connect, share, and propose topics for the book club.

Thank you, and we are looking forward to seeing you on the 23rd of April!

Funny Business - Using Comics in the Design

Many of the challenges we face as designers relate not to the quality of our work, but rather to the communication of our ideas. Boston IxDA is thrilled to host Amy Cueva, Co-Founder and Chief Experience Officer at Mad*Pow, who will be conducting a “how to” session on how to get going with comics from a strategy, process and tools perspective.

When: http://tinyurl.com/dz8ba6
Thursday, March 19th. 6:30 socializing, 7pm start.

Where: http://tinyurl.com/cv4wro
Autodesk. 1560 Trapelo Road, Waltham, MA.

Event Description:
For years, usability professionals and interaction designers alike have been using flow diagrams to demonstrate existing and proposed task flows. We have integrated the great thinking from Kevin Cheng into our design process by using the comic strip model to illustrate points of user frustration with existing flows, recommend new approaches, and communicate how the corporation and technology might support the solution. It has proven to be a very engaging communication, combining the persona, their context and mental model, other influencers, their multi-channel interactions and a high level start to interface design.

This event is open to all and RSVPing is not required. However in the event of a last minute change keep follow us on http://twitter.com/bostonixda or sign up to our mailing list here: http://tinyurl.com/azr77t

Amy's Bio:
Amy partners with clients like Google, Aetna, Fidelity, and Monster to create strong cross-channel digital strategies, first class user experiences, and streamlined internal processes. She built Mad*Pow's user-centered design methodology as the vehicle to synergize business goals, customer needs, and technology requirements. She is the secretary and one of the charter members of the NH UPA, is speaking at UPA 2009, and was selected as one of Mass High Tech’s Women to Watch in 2009.

Prior to Mad*Pow, Amy worked for Putnam Investments simplifying experiences for both investors and employees. She also spent time at MicroArts, Sapient, and Sun Microsystems designing business to business financial applications, marketing sites, and intranet sites. Prior to starting her career, Amy was privileged to have the opportunity to study art history, painting and architecture at La Sorbonne in Paris, France.