Dr. Ben Shneiderman (Message Received on 11th Nov. 2006)

Dear Dinesh Katre and usability practitioners of India,

I am pleased to see a growing interest in usability research and methods across the world and in India. The unique situation of India affords you an opportunity to develop and study technologies that support universal usability (www.universalusability.org). Such technologies could have enormous impact world-wide in improving quality of life for many people.

As information and communication technologies decline in cost the main accelerator of adoption will be the high quality of user interface designs. Simplicity for beginners, within a multi-layer design, allows users to move up to more sophisticated features when they are ready.

Your efforts are part of a growing world-wide interest in Socially Responsible Interaction, which is the theme of the Interact International Conference held next September in Brazil:
http://tuim.inf.puc-rio.br/interact2007/home.php

These efforts may help to make life better for all as part of larger efforts such as the United Nations Millennium Goals:
http://www.undp.org/mdg/basics.shtml

Other international development efforts are catalogued here:
http://www.hcibib.org/development/

Usability research can have profound benefits for people everywhere. There is much work to be done; let's get on with it!

Sincerely... Ben Shneiderman, University of Maryland

Ben Shneiderman
Dept of Computer Science 301-405-2680
University of Maryland 301-405-6707 fax
College Park, MD 20742 www.cs.umd.edu/~ben

World Usability Day 2006, Pune
Programme Schedule

Welcome
Jhumkee Iyengar, Consultant and Head, Usability Engineering, Persistent Systems Pvt. Ltd.

Usability in Perspective: From Basic to Ubiquitous
Dr. Dinesh Katre, Group Coordinator (Head), Human Computer Interaction Design (HCID),
C-DAC's National Multimedia Resource Centre, Pune

Usability in the Internet and Telecom sectors - India perspective
Jaya Deshmukh, PureIT Group, Pune

Overview of User-Centered Design Process followed in product based companies
Shashank Deshpande, Sr. Manager, Symantec Software Corporation, Pune

ROI of Usability: A Case Study
Samir Chabukswar, Technical Manager, Persistent Systems Pvt. Ltd., Pune

Upfront Product Design of Software products
Sandeep Datar, Manager, User Centered Design, Symantec Software Corporation, Pune

Challenges in Usability Service Providing
Atul Manohar, Director, Genesis Usability, Pune

Open House and Panel Discussion
Panelists
Moderator: Jhumkee Iyengar, Consultant and Head, Usability Engineering, Persistent Systems Pvt. Ltd.
Ganesh Gayakwad, Principal Human Factors Engineer, UCD Group, Symantec Software Corporation, Pune
All presenters as panelists

Vote of Thanks
Samyak Pungaliya, 19am, Pune

Related Article
Opportunity India: Interaction Design Market Potential (Nov. 2006)