“…the unusually permissive atmosphere in the interest of ideas…”

With regard to the elegance of prototypes and machinery we develop to test out ideas, I don’t think the field has come much further than this:

*An early Boston-based usability study

I am really excited.

Earlier this week I was given a sponsorship by Ovo Studios to attend the 2008 Usability Professionals Association Conference in none other than Crabtown, City of Firsts, Mob Town, B-More…yes, the largest city in all of Maryland…Baltimore! Other than checking out all the latest and greatest in the usability world, I intend to peek in on one of the key note speakers Kathy Berke, who will be discussing ethnographic research in user-centered design.

2 years ago, when I was approaching Anthropology professors about a possible thesis topic, I brought up the idea of ethnography in the human factors world to a prof that I thought with whom I would work well. Turns out that most anthropologists do not appreciate human factors folks referring to longitudinal field studies of human behavior as “ethnographies.” I was brutally rebuffed. So, attending this conference, seeing Kathy Berke’s talk, and finally solidifying my academic background with my current career path is going to be quite an experience.

Paint ball welts, peanut butter chips and a brand new box of colored pencils. I would say that Saturday is going to be a swell day.

Current music: Fantasia…the dinosaur part that I always FF through as a little girl, with Igor Stravinsky.