To close out 2011, we wanted to visit the trains at North Park Mall, which is wonderful set of train views of different areas of Dallas during different times within our city’s rich history. All of the proceeds go to help Ronald McDonald House of Dallas, too.
 
 
 
 
Here are the details.

What: Trains at North Park Mall
When: December 1, 2011
Where: North Park Center (Located on Level Two near Barneys New York)
Time: 7;00PM
Cost: $3-$6 and discounts are available at Tom Thumb Stores.

You can find a map here: http://www.northparkcenter.com/directionsmap.html
Register here: http://12dfwupa2011.eventbrite.com/

NOTE: We plan to do some shopping for Keith Anderson’s family. Keith has been in the hospital since November 5th, sedated, on dialysis, using a respirator, and battling pacreatitis. We want to buy some gifts for his family.

The October meeting is a working one! We are going to perform content evaluations, heuristic inspections, and design reviews for some of the non-profit companies particiapting in Give Camp for the weekend of October 21-23.

This event is free. Register at: http://designslamdfw2011.eventbrite.com

It is your chance to make a difference and help out some great non-profit companies. Several of the project managers for Give Camp will be there to explain your design challenge.

Here is the rules for the Design Slam:
1. Meet at Sabre at 630PM.
2. Break up into teams of 4-5 UX groups.
3. Review the non-profit website.
4. Determine a course of action (content review, competitive analysis, wireframe, heuristic)
5. Report results back to the project team at the end of the evening.

For more details on Give Camp, go over to the website (http:www.givecamp.org). Give Camp was started locally in Dallas. Let’s support the home team!

NOTE: Pizza and drinks provided by Big Design Week 2011 (on November 14-18, 2011).

Start Time is 630PM (for socializing), Slam begins at 700PM
Location is:
Sabre
3150 Sabre Drive
Building A, Room A1-157
Southlake, Texas 76092
Google Map

Ready, set, slam!!!

This month’s meeting is going to put you to work! Join Paula Thornton and be part of a group exploratory activity to provide feedback to a research group at the University of British Columbia.

NOTE: Stephen Anderson may drop in to run us through an exercise with his “Mental Notes” cards. He is trying to work it into his schedule.

Paula will lead us through an exercise that supports UBC’s research “how interaction design experts think about the role of social values in their design processes”. UBC is performing the study to gain an understanding of how interaction design experts think about the role of social values in their design processes.

Paula Thornton is a design expert who works with companies and professional organizations to help them define and understand how design can help them build better products and services.

When: Tuesday, September 27
6:30 pm

Where: Slingshot
208 North Market Street #500, Dallas, TX
214. 634.4411
Google Map

Limited seats available for DFW-UPA members.  Only 30 total seats.  Sign up fast!

Register at: http://mobilityday2011.eventbrite.com

Description of Event:

• 9 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. Sam Gilliland’s opening remarks
• 9:15 a.m. – 10 a.m. Mobile Application Landscape – An overview of the
  opportunity and challenges facing mobile products today
• 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. Enabling Technologies – An in-depth look at the
  technologies that are leading the way for application developers
  (SenchaTouch, PhoneGap, Perfecto Mobile, Contendo)
• 1 p.m. – 2:15 p.m. Mobile Market Leaders – Share in depth news about the
  state of mobile (AT&T, Verizon, MobiOne, Microsoft)
• 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm Mobile Application Thought Leaders – Will discuss the
  technical and business challenges of mobile

Also available: Open booths where our partners and Sabre business units will display their technologies and the applications that they have developed. Our Usability Lab will be open to share the process of testing Mobile Usability.

BONUS: We’ll be wrapping up the day with a chance to create mobile applications side-by-side with the experts in our company. Got an idea you’d like to see created, we’ll pair you up!

Eager workshop participants gave up a Saturday but gained a mountain of site development and blogging knowledge. 

DFW-UPA’s Keith Anderson, mobile guru with Sprint instructed the workshop.  Students were able to create their own sites and in no time participants had a site dedicated to an unbeaten Karate Instructor, sites for a Web Design Group and a site for a Web Writing Group, Several Personal Portfolio sites, a Student site and the new DFW-UPA site. 

After creating sites Keith taught participants how to set up and post to the pages as well as add tags.  Students then learned how to install key plug ins that manage spam, a plug in that grabs images and articles related to the blog topic and an all in one SEO plug in.  Everyone enjoyed lunch at a popular Southlake restaurant where the discussion centered on future proofing content.  Content is frequently a final thought in development but is a vital key in site success.  Keith shared his expertise and participants were able to create thoughtful content and develop a content plan to help make their site a success.

Additional workshops will be offered in 2011.  Keith’s will run another blog workshop in the fall but watch for a Usability Boot Camp this spring and a Flash Class (It’s more popular than ever!) available in the spring / summer. 

If you have ideas for a workshop you would like to see offered send us a note at dfwupa@gmail.com.