The Change We Need Needs IxD: Designing Gov 2.0 that's Inclusive

Session Title

The Change We Need Needs IXD: Designing Gov 2.0 that’s Inclusive

Presenter

Kate Walser, CX Insights

Session Type: Presentation

Inspired by President Obama’s vision, government agencies have stepped on the accelerator and are opening up their agencies, data, and missions to the public like never before. With 305 million people in the US, that’s some lot of potential customers and users. And this audience spans different demographics, ethnicities, education levels, and levels of interest in government. Where product companies and organizations may be able to focus in on certain target audiences, “Gov 2.0″ success and continued energy President Obama’s brought to the government will depend on making ALL in the US feel welcome and engaged. Not a small task.

As a citizen, you won’t want to miss this session. And as a designer, it could spell out many opportunities. Come learn how we can design more inclusive experiences for all US citizens, through ideas and examples I’ll share having worked with agencies who needed to include citizens of different literacy levels, physical and mental abilities, from young to older populations. Find out some key things you as an interaction designer or user experience practitioner can contribute and what’s afoot in the Gov 2.0 movement.

Biography

Kate Walser became a user experience designer in 1997. Since then, she’s talked with and observed audiences from lower-literacy, rural patients to business professionals and high-wealth consumers to understand what their users want and design Web sites and software that make sense to users and engage them. She’s worked with the US Departments of Health & Human Services, Justice, Defense, and Veterans Affairs; US Postal Service; IRS; Small Business Administration; and Commonwealth of Virginia; as well as companies including AXA/Equitable, T. Rowe Price, and PEPCO. Her work has received awards, including eHealthcare and Government Trailblazer awards. She’s presented at conferences including Social Media for Government, The New New Internet Conference, Usability Professionals’ Association (UPA) International, and The Internet Security Conference.

Kate established and led Usability Centers of Excellence at SRA International and American Management Systems, before starting a consulting division focused on customer experiences, CX Insights (http://www.cxinsights.com), at Tritus Technologies. She serves on several advisory boards, including the DC chapter of the Usability Professionals’ Association (UPA-DC) and the Section 508 refresh federal advisory committee.