19 Aug 04 Announcing UXnet: User Experience Network

What if…

… you could find out about all the local events and meetings relevant to your work that will take place in your area over the coming weeks?

… your AIfIA membership got you a discount on a subscription to ACM’s interactions magazine? Or your STC membership got you a discount to attend an AIGA event?

… there was an easier way to meet and network with colleagues in your community who cared about developing great user experiences?

… the annual UPA and AIGA-ED conferences took place in the same location in succession, instead of (frustratingly) in different cities at the exact same time?

… UX (User Experience) emerged as the thread that ties us together–whether we’re software developers, interaction designers, content strategists, usability engineers, graphic designers, editors, information architects, or whomever–and allows us to better understand and work with each other?

That’s just part of a wish list of big and small things that would be served by better coordination of UX-related associations, and by providing infrastructure to connect UX practitioners in their local communities. To that end, a bunch of volunteer recently soft-launched UXnet, the User Experience Network.

UXnet isn’t intended to be a new professional association, and has no plans to attract members. We just want the natural evolution of UX to take place a little faster, and perhaps a little more consciously. We hope to help that evolution along with a few basic initiatives that would connect various UX-related dots.

One planned initiative is to get the usual suspect associations (think AIfIA, the AIGA Experience Design Community, ASIS&T, IxD, SIGCHI, STC, and UPA, for starters) to at least begin talking with each other on a regular basis and, ultimately, coordinating activities and services that would benefit all who care about UX. And let’s face it: for many of us, the association we joined fresh out of college no longer serves all of our intellectual and professional needs. Many of us have already been drawn to other associations and communities; wouldn’t it be best for traditional associations to acknowledge this trend and work with it, rather than ignore or resist it?

Another UXnet initiative would help develop infrastructure to support grass roots efforts among local UX organizers. In many locales, there simply isn’t a critical mass of interaction designers, technical writers, or other specializations to stand alone as a community. So we often cast our nets widely when searching for colleagues and community. Witness frequent list announcements for “IA/UE/ID cocktail hours” and such; those slashes are significant. A shared directory of local groups and chapters, and a calendar of their events that can be filtered geographically could serve as excellent infrastructure for what’s already happening organically on a local scale.

To reiterate, UXnet is not intended to serve as a new association, isn’t planning on charging membership dues, doesn’t have publications. In fact, we’re still working out our governance model. But there’s so much promise in this concept; what we right need now is support, encouragement and, perhaps, a little courage. And soon, volunteers.

You can learn more from the UXnet site.

Tags: New & Notable, Professional Organizations