SILS students tapped to lead local UPA chapter

Abe Crystal (left) and Gershom Rogers, Ph.D. students in the School of Information and Library Science, were elected as officers for the Triangle’s new chapter of the Usability Professionals’ Organization.

Crystal was named vice-president and will be overseeing the Web site and blog. Rogers will take on the responsibilities of the mentoring program as secretary for the organization. Usability testing, user research and interaction design are the three main disciplines that the Triangle chapter will focus on within the local community of practitioners.

The Usability Professionals' Association is an international, non-profit, professional association with more than 2000 members in the US and 35 other countries. Members are specialists in evaluating and designing products that are easy to learn and use. The organization provides its members with a wide variety of professional services. Through outreach the UPA:

• Shares information about the skills and approach of usability professionals in meeting needs for usable products.
• Acts as an advocate for usability in consumer, corporate and governmental software, products and Web sites.
• Educates the general public about the usability.