On November 14, 2006, at least 40,000 people were thinking about usability. Clearly World Usability Day was touching something important in many people’s lives. World Usability Day created an opportunity for people to come together and connect with people in other countries with a shared focus—of making things that work better.
Ten thousand volunteers knew that people who shared a common vision could transcend national borders, religion, education, and economic barriers and become part of a single movement. We now have 1,000 signatures on the World Usability Day charter (www.worldusabilityday.org/charter) and that is only the beginning.
The idea of becoming a single worldwide team was apparent in several projects and events. For one global product review, groups of people worked together in an activity explained in this issue’s “Expert Review Around the World.”. Several design contests were held globally, and the best of the bunch are described in “Design Competitions Succeed in Spreading the Message.” The big picture is chronicled in “World Usability Day: What Happened on November 14, 2006? ”
One of the biggest challenges this year was creating and working with a global team. World Usability Day could only fulfill its mission if we had people from every corner of the world working to organize the day’s concentrated events. Although it is wonderful to be part of such a diverse team, it is also difficult to hold meetings when people are separated across time zone differences of up to seventeen hours. This experience of the Core Committee is related in “Creating a Global Team and a Global Infrastructure .”
The date for World Usability Day 2007 and beyond has already been set: it will be observed every year on the second Thursday in November. After you read this issue’s review of World Usability Day 2006, we hope you’ll look forward to an even better World Usability Day on 8 November 2007.
