UX Communities: Starting from the beginning #3
Continuing on from where Martin left off “This is a continuing conversation, and in the run-up to the IA Summit I also want to look at the roles of physical spaces, “outsiders”, scarcity, and encouraging professional development in setting up a UX Community from scratch. Back over to you, Matthew…or to anyone else who wants to join in the debate” (and my original post below).
News of the week for the London UX community is that the UKUPA are reacting positively to some of the recent negativity regarding how they go about things by hosting an event with workshops from (among others) Jason Mesut and Leisa Reichelt to crowdsource its future and kickstart more of an inclusive direction for its members. All credit to them (though I imagine whatever comes out of the workshops will still have to wind its way through many committee meetings before seeing the light of day).
Within London (and the wider UK – Brighton, Edinburgh, Bristol) there is a progressive and non-centralised community of mentoring going on. It goes on under most people’s radar. It runs as direct action, a product of many, many people in the UX community getting to know each other better (particularly in person) and having the confidence to just contact each other directly and arrange types and levels of mentoring that is mutually beneficial. It seems to be working out quite well and I’m not sure that it requires much nurturing or further organisation.
However, the IA Institute program has worked well over the years and many have gained benefit from it (myself included) and so the thinking is there may still be a role for some form of nurturing model like the previously motioned Work With idea which has never really taken off (though I’m sure has influenced some of the direct action mentioned above). Stepping up to the plate to pick up the Work With mantle is Ian Fenn. He is planning to see if a bit of nurturing and centralisation can help. Whether it will or not will have to be seen. There are always untapped areas of the community – new people joining who often struggle to find our about things who may well benefit from some hand holding to find a mentor and get more out of the London UX community scene. All of us in the know take so much for granted so I give Ian my full support to make something more of Work With.
Both Martin and I have written previously about London IA events getting sold out quickly. You can’t argue with success but it can be very frustrating for people who fail to secure a ticket and call for us to get a bigger venue to accommodate all this frustration. However, the reality is there really isn’t enough of a demand on a regular basis to fill a much bigger venue. The waiting lists aren’t that huge. When we have expanded before (say at The Team) there really wasn’t a high enough turn out to warrant it. That’s why we remain at The Sense Loft. You could spend a lifetime searching for a venue and host as perfect as The Sense Loft and The Sense Network (if anyone knows of one feel free to let me know).
The best advice (the only advice) in a community is “don’t complain, do”. Get out there (just like we have and Lee McIvor with Lightning UX and Boon Chew taking up the UXCampLondon baton to name only a couple) and start organising stuff. The audience has grown and the interest is there. The UX community needs variety and we can give it to them.
Related to this is something I’ve bandied about for a while in relation to the paucity of suitable venues and locations for meet ups (and for a bit of variety), the idea of taking some London IA events out into the streets and outside locations of London (obviously seasonally). Not 100% sure how they would work but maybe this summer we’ll try something. If Adam Greenfield can come and run a walkshop around London then I’m sure London IA can also organise something relevant for information architects and interaction designers around the infrastructure of the city we all know so well (back to Greenfield’s Beyond the “smart city” again). One step up from summer picnics and a chance to take our learning and understanding environments beyond staring at someone running through slides in Keynote in a darkened room.
Any comments towards @solle