Austin UPA March Meeting: SxSWi Sneak Preview of Near Field Communications with Rachel Youens of Mutual Mobile
Join your fellow Austin UX professionals for a rare treat, a preview of the upcoming SXSWi discussion on Near Field Communications (NFC). Our speaker, Rachel Youens of Mutual Mobile will provide an overview of NFC today and where it might be going tomorrow. Learn about UX design issues and opportunities, and how NFC may change the way users interact with their smart devices. And we would appreciate YOUR thoughts on the subject too!
Networking starts at 6:30 pm and the presentation starts at 7:00 pm. Free food and drinks are provided by our host Mutual Mobile!
Thank you to Mutual Mobile for being our host and providing Food and Drinks!
WHAT: March Austin UPA Meeting of a SXSWi preview on Near Field Communication by Rachel Youens of Mutual Mobile
WHEN: Tuesday, March 6th, Networking at 6:30 pm, Presentation at 7:00 pm
WHERE: Mutual Mobile, 206 East 9th Street, Suite 1400, Austin, Texas 78701 (http://g.co/maps/98y83)
WHY: Network with your fellow Austin UX fans, learn about the new and exciting world of Near Field Communications and the design of the experiences
RSVP: Austin UPA Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/events/238290959593495/)
Parking is available in the building (Capital Towers) on San Jacinto, but it’s $8. Meter parking is available on the street, and if my memory serves is free after 6pm, so consider parking on the street.
Near Field Communication:
Although NFC, or Near Field Communication, is currently in just a handful of mostly Android phones, this short range wireless technology is seeing quick adoption and is expected to be in almost 40% of smartphones by 2015. NFC promises us a future of tapping the register to pay, or brushing against a store display for a coupon, and opens a whole new realm of interaction for UX designers to explore and define.
We’ll look at the types of experiences that NFC, a close cousin to the popular RFID, can enable and the task that UX designers have ahead of them to help people know why, how, and when to use the technology. The real-world interaction that NFC facilitates means that everything from how thick the glass above an NFC smart-poster is, to how a person using NFC banking can properly cover the pin pad on their phone are all new concerns for UX designers. This session will give designers the tools they need to start designing for NFC initiatives and be pioneers in the latest form of interaction.
Attendees will learn:
- What is NFC and how does it compare to technologies like QR and Bluetooth
- Case studies on app using NFC, what they have done right and what they have done wrong
- What are the physical constraints of NFC (what type of data can be exchanged, how much power is needed, how close you have to be)
- Use cases for NFC (opening your car door, paying for a soda at a machine, checking into a venue)
- Current known UX issues for NFC (validation, call to action, which card am I using?)
If you’ll be at SXSW, come join the conversation about this topic at the SXSW panel “NFC: No Freakin Chance”: http://schedule.sxsw.com/2012/
