"If only IT people could design usable systems"
Venue: Hilton Hotel, Central Promenade, Douglas
Date: Wednesday 19th October 2005
Time: Doors open at 18:00, for an 18:30 start.
Speaker: Barbara McManus, CEng, FBCS, CITP, ILTM
Description:
The British Computer Society (Isle of Man) are pleased to announce that the first event in their 2005/6 annual programme, took place on Wednesday 19th October at the Hilton Hotel, Central Promen
ade, Douglas. Doors opened at 18:00, for an 18:30 start. Those who attended last year should note the change to both venue and day of the week. Feedback via our questionnaires showed that some people could simply never make it on a Thursday, so this year we'll be spreading events across different days of the week; and the Villa Marina simply had no availability in 2005 at all.
The talk took a light hearted look at a non-IT system, analysing its problems from a usability and error handling perspective. These results were then used to demonstrate how a set of simple guidelines could enable both IT and non-IT systems to be better designed.
Our speaker was Barbara McManus, CEng, FBCS, CITP, ILTM. Barbara is a Principal Lecturer at University of Central Lancashire in Preston specialising in Human Computer Interaction and Multimedia Design.
She was seconded to the NHS during 2003/4 to work on the National Programme for IT (now known as NHS Communicating For Health) originally with respect to usability, but then focused on accessibility.
She has been heavily involved with BCS since the inaugural conference of the Young Professionals in 1986. She has since taken on roles at Branch, Specialist group and National level and is currently a member of: Council; Knowledge Services Board; Qualifications and Standards Board; Trustee Board; and the Charitable Fund Management Committee. She also undertakes other roles within the BCS as a member of Disciplinary and Accreditation Panels and as a Professional Reviewer.