World Usability Day 2011 -- Over but Not Forgotten

Greetings Event Participants . . . World Usability Day 2011 is over, but the fun has just begun!  Now we get to share photos and videos from events around the world.  Do you have photos or video to share?  Be sure to post them on YouTube and Flickr with the hashtag #wud2011.

Thank you to everyone who participated this year.  It was a great day with amazing events.  We want to particularly recognize those countries, that in the midst of social and/or political upheaval found the time to put together a World Usability Day event: Egypt, Greece, India, Iran, Israel,  Pakistan, and Rwanda We are just so pleased that you join us in the understanding of the importance of usability.

Honoring Steve Jobs:
A role model for Education: Designing for Social Change

By Elizabeth Rosenzweig, Director, World Usability Day

When I heard that Steve Jobs died, I felt like a light went out in the world. Ever since I started using the Macintosh computer, in 1985, I felt encouraged that there were people out there who really understood how to use technology to help people achieve their dreams. The organizers of World Usability Day honor the legacy of Steve Jobs by acknowledging him as a pioneer, an innovator and a leader who showed us the essence of how good design can create change, for the better, especially in the field of Education. Not just at Apple, but at his companies Next and Pixar, Steve Jobs pulled together teams of talented people to show the world that technology can help people learn and enjoy life.

Steve Jobs is a perfect example of a person who intuitively understood the power of user-centered design.

From the very beginning, he made sure that Apple employed people who were tasked to advocate for the customer. In the early 1980s this had never been heard of.. Steve Jobs understood that a company would better serve its customers, if they were listened to. His innovative work related directly to the rise of an awareness of usability. Apple introduced the notion of a desktop that held folders and files. He extended the technology by providing users with a model they could understand, and, therefore, more easily remember. As a result of this understanding of users, Jobs helped transform the computer from a technical tool for businesses, to a platform for consumers.

Jobs knew that a product or service is only successful when it meets the needs of the users, making their lives easier and more enjoyable. There are conflicting stories of whether he was a true supporter of the methodology of user-centered design, but there is clear agreement that he knew how to figure out what users’ needed and wanted.

More then anything, Steve Jobs showed us what it was like to inspire people, live a dream and show us the way to create technology that will change lives and make the world a better place. In June 2005, Jobs gave the Commencement address at Stanford University “When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: ‘If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right.’ It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”

For a transcript of this interview, please click here.

Edinburgh Partner Event Welcome Video

It's about making our world work better.
It's about "Making Life Easy" and user friendly. Technology today is too hard to use. A cell phone should be as easy to access as a doorknob. In order to humanize a world that uses technology as an infrastructure for education, healthcare, transportation, government, communication, entertainment, work and other areas, we must develop these technologies in a way that serves people first…

World Usability Day was founded in 2005 as an initiative of the Usability Professionals' Association to ensure that services and products important to human life are easier to access and simpler to use. Each year, on the second Thursday of November, over 200 events are organized in over 43 countries around the world to raise awareness for the general public, and train professionals in the tools and issues central to good usability research, development and practice.

Visit World Usabilty Day's CafePress Store to buy a t-shirt!