There’s been a lot of discussion over the past week after the 2009 IASummit to attempt to 1.) Continue defining what User Experience Practitioners call themselves, 2.) Combining organizations into one big messed up family, and 3.) Consolidating conferences on both the IAI and IxDA list.
It would seem to me that after the poor turnout at the 2009 IA Summit, and the message that the community needs to come together instead of fracture apart has some old school people feeling nervous. The fact is, we’re not fractured, we’re exploring new frontiers and becoming more specialized. We are, in fact, evolving.
These were my responses:
[IxDA Discuss] Its Just UX
Are we still talking about this?
1.) Job Definitions
IA and IxD are but SOME of the things I do with regard to my work. It doesn’t define who I am.
Based on personal experience, most people outside our field don’t care what it’s called. They just want ROI based on their expectations.
You may have a different experience than I, but this is what I’ve seen. I would love to hear from others that have had experiences differerent from mine.
Working directly with senior executives at a corporate level has shown me that what matters to them is the bottom line. “If I invest in this user experience stuff, how will it improve our revenues?”
It really doesn’t matter what you are called or call yourself (I for one have a ridiculously long title at work, but it’s pretty much for a business card and classification in the company’s hierarchy), all that matters is that you do good work. Nobody cares about your title, it’s how much ass you can kick!
There is no doubt though that we need to be better at educating those outside our field of practice. For the record, I always refer to our community as the “Design Community”, because ultimately, that what we do – we contribute (or at least try to) to designing better experiences.
Leading me to…
2.) Communities
Our community is fine. A lot of the people that have become active participants are doing a lot of work behind the scenes to bring us closer together. it doesn’t mean we have to be wrapped under a big umbrella. Big government doesn’t work. Ask any municipality that has recently gone through amalgamation. Increase in taxes, loss of services.
Proof = Steve Baty & co. with the UXBookclub. One idea that has propagated around the world and is an org agnostic community of people that get together and discuss UX books. WOW!
AND there is more going on behind the scenes with collaboration between not only IAI and IxDA, but other groups as well -> recent collaboration in Toronto between UXIrregulars / IxDATO / AgileTO / TORCHI and more to come.
I don’t believe for a second that we are divided, in fact, we are coming together to learn from others – that is the beauty of having multiple communities (or tribes even) within a global community. Former Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark said “Canada is a community of communities.” I see the same under the UX community as a whole.
Personally, I will go to a conference if there is value. I don’t want to go to a conference for the sake of going to a conference. I like smaller conferences, it’s much more intimate and I can target the people I want to talk to instead of a clusterfuck of a conference and only spending a few minutes with each friend. Big doesn’t always necessarily mean better. I would rather go to a couple of really good conferences that complement each other.
What we DO need is more people getting involved in our organizations and not simply lurk or look into the window from outside. I can only speak for the IAI and the IxDA; others can attest to CHI, UPA, etc. Your experience is what you make it. If you want to listen to people trying to make “land grabs”, power to ya! If you want to participate and become part of a movement to not only make our field of practice better, but make us better as a group and individually – you will be welcomed with open arms (well, most orgs anyway).
Let’s work together in making our community even better than bother with discussions on definitions and territorial disputes.
I apologize in advance for offending anyone. I do tend to get emotional about these things.
Oh, and you are coming to IDEA09 in Toronto and Interaction10 in Savannah aren’t you? These are shaping up to be two amazing conferences! #shamelessplug
[IxDA Discuss] Combined Conferences (was Its Just UX)
I would also like to add to Christian’s comments.
Christian is absolutely right! There are a lot of things going on right now between the IAI and the IxDA that people aren’t seeing, but they will have very positive results in the future. Since many of the members of one are also in the other, we find synergies that complement and make both organizations stonger.
For example: Half the IDEA09 Conference team is on the Interaction10 team and we will be working together to make both IDEA09 and Interaction10 amazing conferences. They are not the same type of conference, but they complement each other VERY well. The IAI and IxDA have different mandates, but are now finding balance. Does not mean they have to merge, and not should they.
I do not believe one big organization with one big conference is the answer. That is simply my opinion. If anything, I would like to see some of the other orgs work together when it comes to putting on conferences. IDEA and Interaction work quite well together. We also can’t expect people to come to a conference just because it’s happening. I’m not going to go to the IASummit just because It’s the IASummit. I’m going to go if there is value. Having multiple conferences also give us the opportunity to compete and people usually benefit with increased competition because we’re trying to put on better events.
We have good leadership at the helm of both the IAI and IxDA, and with the next generation of leaders coming soon, it looks even more promising. Contrary to what some people may think, we’re in a great place, there’s lots of excitement happening, and the future looks amazing!
Things like itsjustux.org don’t really solve anything. Whatever you call yourself, people outside our space are going to give you the Homer Simpson blank stare.
We solve this problem by concentrating on our work and trying to build better experiences and by educating those OUTSIDE our field as to the benefits by promoting not only within our own companies, but others as well. When people take notice, it takes off. Industries like music, advertising, television, automotive, as soon as one makes a big splash, everybody jumps in (boy bands, forensic dramas and SUVs folks).
I know why you’re worried.
Listen to what the market wants and give it to them. That’s what we have to do.
… and why do we have to keep talking about “things that are broken”. Let’s go out there and keep working at changing the world.
