Yesterday, Danny Dover from SEOmoz.org gave us a presentation on SEO.  He also shared his experiences developing his skills and finding a job.  SEO is the practice of optimizing websites to attract traffic from search engines.  It is a field that is entirely applicable to informatics, but is not represented in our curriculum.  His slides provide a decent overview, but if you want to learn more, I highly recommend visiting seomoz.org and reading through their blog posts.

If you missed the presentation, or would like to review it, here are his slides:

Danny Dover – SEO Workshop

Hey all,
Just letting you know that in order to help promote the much needed redesign of our website, I am now forming a team to help with this project and potentially others(LAN parties and such) as the year progresses.

The format will change as needed, but initially I foresee a few meetings in which we formulate a plan of what needs to be done and divide up based on skills and interests. I’m looking for a few people with at least an interest in creating a new layout for our website, but some experience with either web design(prototyping, Photoshop) or development(HTML, CSS, javascript, PHP) would be nice.

The main outline of the redesign project can still be found in the initial announcement. To sign up, you can shoot me an email at iuga{at}braxtonehle{dot}com or talk to me in person around Mary Gates.

I also have a copy of Dreamweaver CS4 that I’ll be giving away to a lucky member of the team.

Do you know what it’s like working in the information industry?

Accenture is going to give a presentation on their company and take any questions on applying, interviewing, or working in different positions.  Its a good idea if you want some practice talking to recruiters about what you do and why you are special.  (Trust me, you want some practice).

This Thursday 7:00PM

Johnson 111 (next to Mary Gates)

Free Pizza

I suggest business casual and a resume.

The Contest:

We are going to give you all the opportunity to make your mark on the IUGA website. You have from now until the end of the summer to create a fresh look for this website. You may keep or abandon any color scheme or theme you detect, but the final product must look professional, and serve to promote the Informatics undergraduate program and encourage collaboration amongst it’s members.

If you find yourself wanting to redesign the IUGA logo, let me know and I can send you an archive of past logo submissions and ideas.

The Requirements:

The redesign must be submitted in the form of a WordPress theme that can be installed on a current version of WordPress. If your strength is design, you may pair up with someone who is strong in development and submit as a team.

The code must pass at least Transitional(for HTML) and Level 2(CSS) validation tests(Strict is encouraged. See XHTML Validator and CSS Validator.

All components of the site(about, members, forum, etc) must be contained in the redesign, but you are encouraged to reorganize the layout in a manner that reinforces the overall goal of the website(promoting Informatics).

For help getting started, see this tutorial

The Process:

Send all finalized submissions to behle{at}u{dot}washington{dot}edu before the first day of the 2009 Fall quarter.

At the first IUGA officer meeting of the 2009 Fall Quarter, we will select the top 3-5 designs and send our to picks out in the form of a survey to be voted on by the Informatics student body. All nominations will be final, and possibly completely arbitrary

The Motivation:

The winning person/team will recieve attribution at the bottom of the IUGA page with a link to their website/profile/whatever for the duration of the design’s presence on the site. We are working on getting sponsors for this contest, more details to follow.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask me or another officer via email or talking with us in the TE Lab(our home away from home).

Good luck! I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

-Braxton, IUGA Director of IT

Come hear three iSchool alums discuss their jobs in the User Experience (UX) industry. Not only will it be a great panel, but IUGA is also providing free food and drinks.

When: May 4th at 5:30pm
Where: MGH 420

Please RSVP by joining the Facebook event. Everybody is welcome!

Read more about the panelists:

Bennett Hornbostel
Hi, I graduated from the Informatics program in 2007 and am a former IUGA president. Immediately after graduation I joined Microsoft as a Technical Account Manager working directly with enterprise support customers to plan out 12 month proactive support contracts. However, about 3 months ago I changed positions and I am currently a User Experience Researcher working on Windows. It has been a fantastic opportunity for me and I honestly love just about every minute of my job. What I do now and what I learned as an Info student are extremely similar, many of the methodologies and techniques learned in school are thing I practice on a daily basis. I run focus studies, manage surveys, work with instrumentation/SQM and conduct research studies with 1:1 participant sessions (people come into a room with a one-way mirror and I get to watch them complete tasks, it can be entertaining at times). But definitely the most exciting part is the impact I have on the most popular piece of client software in use today. I am looking forward to talking about my career path along with the other panelists, so see you all then!

Aaron Louie is an Associate Director of User Experience at ZAAZ, an interactive web design agency in Seattle. He has over 7 years of experience in user-centered design and information architecture, in addition to 12 years in web design and development. He has successfully provided user experience design and strategic guidance to a wide variety of clients in multiple industries, including technology, higher education, non-profit, government, libraries, and travel. Aaron’s expertise in user research, information architecture, and interaction design ranges from consumer-oriented web sites and interactive applications to enterprise intranets and desktop software. He received a graduate degree in library & information science at the University of Washington. Prior to ZAAZ, Aaron held positions in information architecture and user experience architecture at the University of Washington and at Ascentium Corporation.

Rachel Elkington is an Online Test Designer in the Optimization group at ZAAZ – an interactive digital agency in Seattle, WA. Previously, Rachel was an Associate User Experience Architect in the User Experience group at ZAAZ. She has an MSIM from the iSchool, and a bachelors degree in Religious Studies from Western Washington University. An avid participant in the ever-evolving discipline of UX, Rachel spends some of her not-at-work time planning InfoCamp, leading the Pacific Northwest Chapter of ASIS&T, and thinking about ways that Optimization and User Experience can work together to create perfect harmony.