Week 1!

Well, as it always does, life rears its head and gets in the way of school work.  I went to Pennsylvania for Memorial Day weekend (and also to celebrate my graduation and birthday) only to find that the computer I thought that I would have access to was not working. Joy.  And then, on my birthday, I pick up a nasty bug at the airport that knocks me out for the rest of the week.  But here I am, catching up - better a bit late than never, right?  AND by the end of the week I should have a new computer so the whole process should be much less painful (I'm working with a 2006 machine that has the slowest processor I think I've ever dealt with).

Anywho, you don't care about that! Let's get down to business:

Week 1 of Intro to Multimedia and Web Design Tools (INFM322)

Our reading assignment for week one was to read the Basics and Methods section of www.usability.gov.
I was really excited to find this great resource!  I love usability - I really do.  It's one thing to create something amazing, but if people can't USE it, then what's the point?

It was interesting to see concepts that I've practiced and traits of studies that I've been a part of clearly defined.  I've conducted a couple of usability tests, and been a subject in a couple, but somehow I didn't realize that some surveys I've taken have been employing usability techniques as well, such as card sorting. Who knew? Not me, but now I do.

Usability is about how easy and intuitive it is to use something.  And in this day and age, when people have endless other options, it's essential that using something isn't frustrating - if it is, people will find something else to use.  A lot of research has been done in the field, and I'm glad to see it present on the usability.gov site - but I am aware that the field is always evolving as people find more efficient ways to do things and users adapt. Look at operating systems for example! The place where usability has become pretty much the essential focus.  There may be best ways of doing something, now, but everyone still has their own ideas about it. I look forward to seeing how we use usability in the rest of our term activities.