Job: Freelance IA/UX Opportunity

We are looking for an experienced IA to participate in the development of a community focused website.  This project is for one of the top five national banks and will be tailored to a female audience. The site will be a place where women will learn about the best ways to harness the potential power of every aspect of their financial lives and to take action on what they’ve learned, both to improve their circumstances and to share the experience with others. The engagement will be for up to three months and will include a quantitative research component, site-flow, process flow and wireframe development and usability testing.

We are looking for someone with 7+ years of experience in UX/IA with a strong background in community and marketing related site development. Financial services experience is a big plus as is marketing to women. This candidate will need extensive background working with multiple vendors and teams in order to produce actionable deliverables.

Specific responsibilities include:

• Assist in the preparation, execution and analysis of quantitative user studies. 
• Develop clear and concise site maps, use cases, site flows, process flows and wireframes.
• Plan and moderate usability tests using best practices.
• Work collaboratively with internal and external teams

This job will be coordinated out of Winston-Salem, NC and will require an on-site presence.  For more information please contact james.gledhill@mullen.com.

James Gledhill

Senior Interactive Producer

T 336-774-9307  F 336-774-9540

mullen │ 101 N. Cherry Street Winston-Salem, NC 27101 

Job: Freelance Technical Director

Freelance Technical Director will be responsible for project and technical oversight and also develop solutions that have a positive impact—someone who can act as a thought leader and business partner internally, and through advanced technical knowledge pushes the boundaries when developing complex technical solutions.

Ideal candidate is fluent in understanding effective and creative design as well as efficient, elegant code that drives the interface and backend.  Candidate has demonstrated ability to guide and direct programming teams to keep them on budget and schedule–while continually inspiring them to innovate for our clients; solid understanding of web production processes; and ability to work with a diverse range of talents, personalities and teams.  You are a leader who is able to inspire and motivate, open to new ways of doing things, and a strong communicator.  You thrive within a fast-paced, creative, deadline-driven environment.

Ideal candidate has direct experience and skills in brand marketing and understanding of online marketing tactics; has proven ability to achieve desired effects with Flash rapidly and understands the implications of technical decisions; has experience using Advanced Flash functions in innovative ways based on prior experimentation and experience; understands basic to intermediate concepts of object-oriented programming and architecture; understands and has experience using Actionscript 2.0 (3.0 a plus).  You are familiar with localization techniques and the issues related to providing international (non-English) content within Flash.  You have experience with variable data driven design; with using Actionscript and understanding of basic JavaScript; with theories related to interface design and usability; with video editing, cell-based animation and 3D; with Flash Remoting MX and Flash Communications Server and/or Unity2.

As the technical lead in an ad agency, you have expert knowledge of emerging advertising platforms and technologies, as well as a strong understanding of web servers, database servers, general networking, protocols, HTTP, FTP, etc.  You command a solid understanding of web development and of programming logic, and have experience with C#, VB.NET, ASP.NET, MS SQL Server, XML-driven architectures, HTML, JavaScript, AJAX, Ruby, etc.  You also have an appreciation for software engineering best practices, QA throughout the development process, and for collaboration.  Bachelor’s degree required with 7-10 years experience in an advertising agency or similarly creative/marketing environment desired.

CLAUDINE K. DUSABLON
RECRUITER /

MCKINNEY /
318 BLACKWELL STREET /
DURHAM / NC / 27701
T / (919) 313 . 4063
C / (919) 815 . 7469
E / claudine.dusablon@mckinney.com

Job: Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC Usability Summer Intern (Durham)

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) is a leader in delivering innovative health care products, services and information to approximately 3.5 million members, including 815,000 served on behalf of other Blue Plans. For 75 years, the company has served its customers by offering access to quality health care at a competitive price and has served the people of North Carolina through support of community organizations, programs and events that promote good health. At BCBSNC, we are guided by a family-friendly philosophy that emphasizes an appealing work environment, competitive compensation and benefits packages, and opportunities for career growth and work/lifebalance.

Our paid summer internships are a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience working in a corporate environment and to gain valuable exposure to the healthcare/insurance industry. Come see first-hand how one of North Carolina’s oldest and most successful companies brings innovative healthcare solutions to our members

We are currently seeking a Usability Intern to:

• Conduct heuristic reviews of internal and external websites- Assist with usability testing of websites and web-based applications
• Conduct user research and document observations
• Work with business owners to gather requirements for small projects- Create user experience documentation for small projects.

Position Requirements:

• Course work in Information Design, Cognitive Psychology, Information Science, Human Factors/Ergonomics and/or Library Science required (Master’s student preferred).
• Experience designing websites and interest in user-centered design.

Other internship requirements:

• Must be able to work up to 40 hours per week
• Must be able to provide own housing during summer in Chapel Hill/Durham area- Must have permanent, unlimited work authorization in the US
• Rising Senior (completed Junior year by Summer 2008) or Master’s student preferred
• Minimum 3.0 GPA required
• Must have experience with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Must have excellent oral and written communication skills
• Must have excellent interpersonal, collaborative and team building skills
• Must have ability to think analytically, present ideasprofessionally, and work in project teams

Interested students should email their resumes to Mindy Haase (mindy.haase@bcbsnc.com) by Monday, March 3, 2008.

Videos from IxDA conference

IxDA was kind enough to video the entire Interactions ’08 conference, and post the conference sessions online.  The keynotes by Alan Cooper and Bill Buxton are especially worth watching.

IxDA conference videos

Job: Digital experience architect

I am a recruiter for a great advertising agency in Winston-Salem, North
Carolina. They are looking for a digital user experience architect with at
least 3 years of experience. Salary is 70-80k. Here is the job description:

Responsibilities include:

• Create clean and concise wireframes, use cases, site maps, flow diagrams,
  screen prototypes and other artifacts to describe the intended user
  experience
• Participate in project definition and review activities with Account
  Directors and Digital Strategy
• Visualize concepts quickly and cleanly through sketching and other rapid
  prototyping methods
• Define site architecture and navigation that serves as a blueprint of the
  site upon which all other aspects are built
• Moderate and prepare documents for usability tests, including test plans,
  scenarios and questionnaires
• Participate in user studies to understand user behaviors/preferences and
  build, from this understanding, informed user interface solutions
• Participate in formal and informal design critiques
• Work collaboratively with designers to develop interface functionality
• Scope, develop and understand development / engineering leads to determine
  efficacy of a given solution
• Participate in quality assurance checks during production

Requirements: 

• Bachelor’s, Masters degree or equivalent work experience in HCI, Information
  Science, design disciplines (industrial, graphic, instructional,
  architecture), or other relevant field
• 2+ years of experience as either a Junior Information Architect, or a member
  of an interactive design team.
• Highly demonstrable skills creating user flows, sitemaps, wireframes, screen
  prototypes and functional specifications
• Working knowledge of User Centered design principles and practices
• Ability to research, understand and organize specialized content
• Experience working on large, complex sites
• Experience and/or interest in mentoring others
• Excellent writing, speaking, presentation and interpersonal skills
• Proficiency in Visio, Word, and Photoshop
• Solid understanding of HTML & CSS

Please submit your resume and salary requirements to:

Laura Laser
BLT Recruiting
laura@bltrecruiting.com
phone: 310-567-2183

http://www.linkedin.com/in/lauralaser
aim: thelaser

Workshop on Usable IT Security Management (USM ’08)

Workshop on Usable IT Security Management (USM ’08)

Date: July 23, 2008

Location: Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA

The workshop is part of the Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS)

USM’08 solicits short research and position papers from academia and industry about all aspects of IT security management usability. The workshop will provide an opportunity for interdisciplinary researchers and practitioners to discuss this fascinating and important topic. Those interested in participating in the workshop should submit a research or position paper of up to six pages, along with a cover letter describing their research interests, experience, and background in the area of usable IT security management.

Important Dates:

• Position papers deadline: April 13
• Notification of acceptance: May 11
• Camera ready final versions of the papers due: June 6
• Workshop: July 23

Workshop organizers: Konstantin (Kosta) Beznosov (UBC) &  John Karat (IBM)

For full call for papers and other details, visit http://cups.cs.cmu.edu/soups/2008/usm.html