Re: Usability Professionals and Technical Communicators

["Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>]

Well, I know it takes a lot more than *I* have.

I can do a pretty good job of going through a system, HW
or SW, and evaluating and explaining those aspects of it 
that make it easily and comfortably usable or not...*for me.* 
Being able to extend that analysis across that product's
entire targeted user base, or any other population of
potential users, is quite another matter and is well beyond
my capability.  Unfortunately, I think a lot of what passes
for "usability expertise" these days is just someone 
performing the kind of analysis I can do and then
bamboozling others into buying it as the kind I can't do.

Gene Kim-Eng


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Borokowski" <athloi -at- yahoo -dot- com>
> On the other hand, having a degree in something does not 
> make someone an expert worth listening to, either, and most 
> usability experts these days do a terrible job of it.

> I don't think usability requires a special mentality or much
> background. 

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