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Boston-IA 2007 Events

In 2007, Boston-IA presented, co-sponsored, or participated in the following events:

November 8, 2007: Accessibility Evaluations at World Usability Day III
September 19, 2007: Joint Meeting with HFES at Adaptive Environments
July 19, 2007: Boston-IA Summer Picnic at Community Boating, Inc.
June 7, 2007: "Barrier-Free Web Surfing" with Amy Ruell and P.J. Gardner
February 21, 2007: Adobe Systems on Rich Internet Applications

For information about other Boston-IA meetings:

Accessibility Evaluations at World Usability Day III (November 8, 2007)

World Usability Day is an annual program that consists of concurrent events around the world to raise public awareness about the role of usability (and accessibility) in making designs easier to use and understand.

November 2007

Thursday, November 8, 2007, was the third year in a row that Boston-IA members joined the Boston chapter of the Usability Professionals' Association (UPA) and other Boston area volunteers at Boston's Museum of Science for this fun-filled, day-long event.

In 2007, Boston-IA again contributed to the "The Evaluation Station", an activity in which volunteers conduct free web site usability and accessibility evaluations for local organizations. Boston-IA Founder and President, P.J. Gardner, performed accessibility evaluations of web applications for representatives from Sybase and Kronos, as well as two collaborative web sites— one for teachers and the other for young adults.

November 2006

At World Usability Day 2006 (November 14), Boston-IA engaged in a wide variety of participatory usability activities, including inaugurating the idea of performing accessibility evaluations alongside the usability evaluations donated to non-profit organizations at "The Evaluation Station".

November 2005

In 2005, Boston-IA was recognized, along with UPA and Boston CHI (formerly Greater Boston SIGCHI), for its participation in the first World Usability Day in a proclamation by Mayor Thomas M. Menino declaring November 3, 2005, as World Usability Day in the City of Boston.

Learn more about World Usability Day, past and present:

Joint Meeting with HFES at Adaptive Environments (September 19, 2007)

Valerie Fletcher at Adaptive Environments.

The September 19, 2007 meeting featured Valerie Fletcher, Executive Director of the Institute for Human-Centered Design (IHCD) at Adaptive Environments. The meeting, hosted by Adaptive Environments, was a joint event with the New England Chapter of the Human Factors and Ergonomic Society (HFES).

The meeting was held at the new facilities of the Institute for Human-Centered Design at Adaptive Environments, near North Station in downtown Boston. The Institute is a showplace for accessible spatial design, including a shop offering beautifully designed and accessible items for sale. The Institute also houses a world-class library on accessible design, open to the public.

Explore the following pages on the Institute for Human Centered Design (IHCD) web site:

Boston-IA Summer Picnic at Community Boating, Inc. (July 19, 2007)

Sign saying: Community Boating Inc. Boat House, Sailing Here for All.

Sailboats at Community Boating on the Charles River in Boston.

On Thursday, July 19, Boston-IA held its summer picnic at Community Boating, Inc., on the Charles River in downtown Boston. Due to the inclement weather, we met inside the CBI boathouse in their spacious function room and were still able to enjoy a beautiful view of the Charles River.

Despite rain, fog, and intense traffic, it was a great chance to celebrate the fourth anniversary of Boston-IA. Intrepid participants enjoyed an evening of picnic food, conversation with Boston-IA members and friends about web accessibility issues, and a presentation by Marcin Kunicky of Community Boating about CBI's new accessible sailing program.

"Barrier-Free Web Surfing" with Amy Ruell and P.J. Gardner (June 7, 2007)

On Thursday, June 7, 2007, Amy Ruell demonstrated barriers people who are blind experience when surfing the Web using the JAWS screen reader. Amy is president of the 50-plus member Visually Impaired and Blind User Group and program manager for the ReadBooks! national children's Braille literacy program for the National Braille Press.

P.J. Gardner, founder of Boston-IA, demonstrated the exact same barriers from the technical point of view and talked about how to solve them.

The meeting was sponsored by the Design and Usability Center at Bentley University, HiSoftware Inc., and Signature Consultants.

Here are some links related to the presentation:

Read an article about the June 7, 2007 meeting.

Adobe Systems on Rich Internet Applications (February 21, 2007)

Andrew Kirpatrick of Adobe Systems Incorporated.

On Wednesday, February 21, 2007, Andrew Kirkpatrick, accessibility expert at Adobe Systems Incorporated, give a presentation called "Accessibility for Rich Internet Applications". He talked about how to make Adobe® Flash®, Adobe® Flex™, Ajax, and other rich internet applications accessible for people with disabilities. The meeting was held at the Adobe Systems offices in Newton, Massachusetts.

The meeting was sponsored by Adobe Systems, and Signature Consultants, an IT staffing solutions firm.

Here are some useful links related to Andrew's presentation:

Thanks to Mark Doerschlag, creator of MarksGuide, a professional networking resource in the Boston area, for his review of the February 21 Boston-IA meeting and his permission to use the image of Andrew.

Adobe, the Adobe logo, Flash, and Flex are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.