Twice in this blog, I've referenced the CHI 2005 Development Consortium, which I led earlier this month in Portland, Oregon. In my most recent reference, I described this 2-day workshop as an opportunity to "perturb the ecosystem" -- to significantly increase collaboration among UX-related professional organizations, and to create a hunger and an opportunity for more to happen along the same and similar lines in the future.
Over the intensive two days, leaders of multiple professional organizations examined user experience practitioners' experiences of the organizations and their offerings, why the organizations and their conferences are as they are, ways the organizations and their offerings are changing, alternatives to professional organizations and their offerings, needs of user experience practitioners and of companies that hire them, and ways the organizations could collaborate to meet more of those needs. Participants emerged from the consortium committed to making things happen and very eager to take next steps.
Specific outcomes will be reported in upcoming weeks, primarily via UXnet. However, you can now access an overview of the consortium, as well as position papers submitted by participants prior to the consortium, at http://uxnet.org/devcon/.
