General News (From UsabilityNews)

By 2020 the terms "interface" and "user" will be obsolete as computers merge ever closer with humans.

It is one prediction in a Microsoft-backed report drawn from the discussions of 45 academics from the fields of computing, science, sociology and psychology. It predicts fundamental changes in the field of so-called Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). By 2020 humans will increasingly interrogate machines, the report said. In turn computers will be able to anticipate what we want from them, which will require new rules about our relationship with machines.

By Stuart O'Brien

A roundtable of forward thinkers convened in London last month to debate mobile user experience in advance of the forthcoming MEX conference. ME listened in…


The iPhone may not be the perfect device, but in one area it undoubtedly trumps everything that has come before it: user experience. Apple’s big gamble has thrown into sharp relief the shortcomings of most other devices. ME joined an industry thinktank into UE, and here are the highlights...

Marek Pawlowski, PMN: User experience is suddenly at the fore of mobile thinking. Why is that?

So far, inclusive design has addressed ageing and disability better than culture. But inclusion of emerging economies, developing countries and the particular challenges of designing technologies across cultures came under scrutiny at the CHI 2008 workshop on HCI for Community and International Development. The weekend workshop in Florence set its agenda to take on work begun at CHI the previous year. Fierce debates about identity and scope accompanied planning sessions and reports on current projects.

By Mike Harvey


Picture this: a young woman goes to a party. She doesn't know anyone but it's fine because she has her mobile with her. A few clicks and she accesses the profiles of a dozen people at the party, including their pictures. She's in luck: two of them turn out to be friends of friends. She messages them and they start to chat.

By Mark Williamson


Name: Chris Rourke.
Age: 42.
What is your business called? User Vision.
Where is it based? Edinburgh and London.

- What services does it offer?

An exciting thing happened in the USA on 14th April 2008. It didn't quite manage to make it onto the national news - that day, we were mostly hearing about the Pope's visit to the USA. Any ideas? Any clue from my title? Give up?

USA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES PASSES PLAIN LANGUAGE ACT