Archive for the 'Events' Category

2nd Birthday Party: UPA Sydney

Published
by
scenariogirl
on June 23, 2009
in Events
. Closed

The Sydney UPA Chapter are celebrating their 2nd Birthday in a social event with two short, but very cool talks and a couple of excellent prizes!

I really hope to see a wide cross section of the Sydney web community at this event. User Experience is something that many more of us are aware of in our work these days, and we have a couple of brilliant presentations that will be of interest to anyone working on the web.

With this party, we hope to relaunch regular UPA events, leading with UX topics that are challenging, accessible and of interest to the wider web community.

The event is open to everyone but rsvp’s are essential.

When?

Wednesday 1st July 2009
6pm for 6.30pm till 10pm

Where?

Level 3, Blacket Hotel
70 King Street
Corner of King & George Streets

What’s happening?

1) Prizes and give-aways including a free ticket to UX Australia, as well as an iPod shuffle from Web Directions and discount codes for both conferences on the night.

2) Guest speaker: Dr. Christopher Khalil from News Interactive
The Future of HCI: Intelligent User Interfaces as Agents of Change
In this talk Christopher Khalil will discuss some trends in HCI and what they mean to us as User Experience Practitioners. Is the end nigh for Interaction Design as we know it? Will we all end up being lawyers rather than designers?

3) Guest speaker: Cameron Adams (The Man in Blue) from Google
Google Wave: Designing Communications
Google Wave is a new tool for communication and collaboration on the web, coming later this year.

How much?

Full members* – Free (please bring your membership number)
Associate members and friends of the local Sydney UPA Chapter – $10

*Full members of the UPA Chapter are full members of the parent body Usability Professionals’ Association (http://www.upassoc.org/).

More information on the event and a link to the RSVP are on the UPA Sydney blog post.

Supa! Social UPA

Published
by
scenariogirl
on May 27, 2009
in Events and Usability
. 3 Comments

Psssssst! Pass it on!

There’s another Social UPA planned for next Thursday, June 4th. And in case you’re wondering, you don’t have to be a UPA member to attend, if you’re working in the area of UX or interested in it, come along. It’s all about catching up, meeting, mixing and talking shop.

We’ll be holding it in the same place, upstairs at the Art House Hotel, on Pitt street, Sydney, from 5:30pm.

One thing I’d really like to mention is that Raymond Van Der Zalm, the current President of the Sydney UPA chapter will be there.

Elections for the positions of President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer are being held for Sydney UPA in June, so if you’re at all interested in taking a more active role, come along to Supa next Thursday and ask Raymond all the tough questions! He *loves* it!

See you at Supa!

Accessible Cinema at the Sydney Film Festival

Published
by
scenariogirl
on May 27, 2009
in Accessibility and Events
. 1 Comment

When I moved up to Sydney from Melbourne in 1997, I honestly thought I’d be here for a year or so before I moved back home again. Twelve years later I’m still here, and twelve years later I’m still saying “this year I’m going to buy a subscription to the Sydney Film Festival and take 11 days off to go to the movies…”.

Taking 11 days off at this time of year to sit in the cinema is a bit of a fantasy really. But there are three movies I’d really like to see this year, and I think you might like them too.

A Good Man

An Australian documentary that illustrates the loving relationship of Chris and his wife Mary, who suffered a massive stroke 14 years ago, leaving her unable to walk or talk.

An Inverell farmer with the usual worries about the weather and the bank, Chris comes up with a bizarre solution to their financial woes – a brothel.

Saturday 6 June, 2:00 PM, 80 minutes
Greater Union George Street,Sydney

Blind Loves

A Slovakian film that combines documentary and fiction to depict a variety of scenarios in which people who are blind fall in love.

Miro and Monika are in love, but her parents disapprove not of his blindness but his Romany roots. As a hairdresser snips, a pregnant woman reveals anxieties and hopes. We meet Peter and Iveta, sitting listening to ski jumping – and in a wonderful sequence imagining a walk along the seabed.

Sunday 7 June, 12:30 PM, 77 minutes
Dendy Opera Quays, Sydney

The Horse Boy

A North American film that tells the story of autism, family and an attempt to treat the condition with traditional Mongolian spiritual healing. It sounds like a bit of a stretch for me, and probably the one I’d most likely miss if I had to pick one.

Journalist Rupert Isaacson and his psychology professor wife, Kristin, are struggling to cope with their autistic son, Rowan. The only time he’s calm is when he’s on horseback. They decide to travel to Mongolia, a land famed for its horses and shamans, to see if traditional healing can help. Their journey, intercut with footage of their life in Texas and testimony with autism experts, is both a spiritual and emotional rollercoaster.

Sunday 7 June, 2:00 PM, 93 minutes
Greater Union George Street, Sydney

So if I had to pick just one, my money’s on The Good Man. It sounds like a raw and engaging film that is bound to warm my heart. I’ll be seeing that one, for sure.

Dining in the Dark

Published
by
scenariogirl
on May 27, 2009
in Events
. Closed

Reminds me of a very popular song from the 80’s, but thank god it’s something completely different.

I heard about a Dinner in the Dark event being held sometime last year. It sounded like fun and definitely something different to what I normally did when eating out. The customer reviews were shocking though, with people commenting that they’d waited hours in the dark for even an entrée, that things had been stolen and bottoms pinched. Not much of a success at all.

But when I saw that Vision Australia were hosting a Dinner in the Dark as a fund raiser, I was keen to look into it again. Unfortunately for me, though not for them, tomorrow’s event is already sold out.

It sounds like a great fundraiser though, so if I can get a seat at the next one I’m there!

Supa! Social UPA

Published
by
scenariogirl
on April 1, 2009
in Events and Usability
. 26 Comments

I was talking recently with the gorgeous Penny Hagen wondering about what had happened to the Sydney UPA chapter. Things have been quiet there for a long while and we haven’t had an official meeting for ages.

It got me thinking that it would be great to have a purely social usability gathering, where we could all catch up and get back in touch offline.

We came up with the event name, Underground Usability Professionals Association, or UUPA. But unfortunately, as Erietta was quick to point out, the acronym has already been assumed by another organisation :( [if you're wondering, it's worth a look!]

We then came up with the Blackmarket Usability Meetup, which Pat considered for half a second, until he realised BUM probably wasn’t appropriate.

So here we are, two days out, without a name. Not to worry.

Social UPA!

This is simply a casual after work get together for User Experience people and friends… No microphones, no projectors, no slideshows.

And you don’t need to be a member of the UPA, but interest in User Experience would be good.

Where and when?

Friday April 3rd, 5:00pm onwards
Art House Hotel
275 Pitt Street, Sydney
Upstairs

Come and catch up with some old and new friends!

Can you make it? Let us know and spread the word! I’m really looking forward to it ;)

Lisa