SILS students elected officers of usability organization

Three students at the School of Information and Library Science (SILS) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill were elected officers of the Triangle Usability Professionals Association (TriUPA).

Abe Crystal (Ph.D. student) will serve as TriUPA president in 2007. Jackson Fox (Ph.D. student and user experience designer at Lulu) was named vice president of programs, and Noel Fiser (MSIS student and user experience engineer at Motricity) will serve as secretary/treasurer for the organization.

Founded in 2005, TriUPA is a local chapter of the Usability Professionals Organization and serves members in North Carolina’s “Research Triangle” area (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and surrounding communities). TriUPA is “focused on building and supporting the local community of practitioners in usability testing, user research, interaction design and information architecture.”

In 2006 TriUPA organized the second annual Triangle-area World Usability Day celebration, featuring live design competitions and a keynote address. The organization also hosted a number of events throughout the year. During the first World Usability Day Celebration held in 2005, SILS students won the competition for their design of a DVD remote control unit that was usable for arthritic and farsighted users.

In 2007, TriUPA will continue organizing events to present the latest developments in user experience methods and knowledge. In addition, TriUPA officers will focus on building the Triangle-area user experience community by connecting members through regular communications and activities.

More information on TriUPA can be found on its Web site or on the TriUX blog.