Welcome to February's edition of USEworthy. This month we have a major announcement as Marty Carroll, Director of the Usability Practice, has had a paper published titled - Usability and Web Analytics: ROI justification for an Internet strategy. It has been published in the Interactive Marketing Journal and a short introduction and a link to a downloadable version is provided below.

 
We also hear about the "Interface: User and Machine" Conference held in November 2002, and Chaired by HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. In addition Catriona Campbell our CEO has been busy when The Usability Company was invited to represent the UK at the European Usability Forum held in Vienna, December 2002. You can find out what that conference was all about below.

We also bring you up to date with the latest news at The Usability Company and finally Arlene Kline adds the fourth and final part to our series on accessibility, this month covering the moral argument surrounding website accessibility.

Here is a round up of news and announcements within The Usability Company during the past month.

Shelter contract win: Shelter uses The Usability Company to consult its web users

Shelter has awarded The Usability Company its contract for the provision of usability services and consulting on two of its websites – www.shelternet.org.uk and www.homelessnessact.org.uk. The Usability Company carried out a thorough usability evaluation of both websites. The findings from the evaluation will feed the next phase of development for each website.

Joe Barrell, Website Manager at Shelter explained: "Shelter is developing a range of new online services and information resources. As with any web development project, the success of the work we are doing depends on a clear understanding of the needs and expectations of our audiences. We therefore required a detailed and specific evaluation of how they use our websites. The best way to make this evaluation is through user-testing."

The Usability Company offers a special charities rate card that enables organisations such as Shelter to benefit from independent, business-focused usability services within the constraints of limited budgets. This is particularly important to Shelter given the wide diversity of its user groups, which include local authority housing departments, Shelter supporters, and people with any kind of housing problem.

Technology For Marketing 2003

This is a quick reminder that we will be appearing at the Technology For Marketing 2003 conference and exhibition to be held at Olympia 11th and 12th February. You can find us on stand D95 and we will be demonstrating Usability Evaluation techniques live on the stand, plus the very latest in online usability and market research technologies.

Recruitment

Applications have now closed for the position of Marketing Manager and we are hopeful that we can make the appointment from the high quality of candidates that applied.

In the meantime and as promised last month, we can now reveal the identity of our new Usability Specialist. She is someone who will be known to many of you, as she is probably one of the best-qualified and most experienced usability consultants in the UK. She is of course Lisa Halabi. We will ask Lisa to write a short review of her first month for you in next months USEworthy.

and Finally...

Catriona Campbell, CEO of The Usability Company, appeared on the Radio 4 programme Shop Talk last week (Tuesday 28th January at 16.00 hours).

"Heather Payton and guests discuss why some new technologies change our lives and others are confined to the footnotes of history."

You can listen to the programme on the BBC website if you missed it.

This month our accessibility series concludes with the moral issues surrounding the development of accessible products.

more 

With an uncertain economic climate and tightening budgets the time has come to cost justify usability activities. While most site owners intuitively feel that commissioning usability research is a fundamentally sound strategy it is becoming increasingly difficult to release budgets when the value it brings is often dubious. 

The Royal Society for the encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce held a one-day conference on "Interface: User and Machine" instigated by the Duke of Edinburgh in November, and The Usability Company was there. The conference was such a success that a few speakers have been invited to the Palace this month to relay any more news on the subjects raised directly to the Prince. 

The European Usability Forum was set up by a project team sponsored by the European Commission to consolidate various views on the field of Usability or Human Computer Interaction in Europe, and it served as a forum to discuss respective experiences and expectations for the industry for collaboration across Europe. We also concluded that there were a number of projects for which we would seek European funding, to enable Europe to become a leading force in new and evolving usability initiatives and research.