Activities & Resources

Free activity instructions and downloadable materials

Each of our activities has been thoughtfully developed by usability practitioners, evaluated on-site during World Usability Day, and vetted by the Museum of Science, Boston. We provide them here in their entirety, at no cost to support your educational or World Usability Day efforts. Enjoy!

On this page: Activities | Give Us Feedback

World Usability Day 2009 Activities

These activities are offered free of charge for your use in educational settings. This list is in flux, not all events have content yet.

Mobility in Boston - Alternative Transportation

• Ethnographic research of Charlie Card Machines
• Collapse this bike: Try out assembling and disassembling a collapsible bike?
• Alternative Routes: Find a safe bike route and walk-able neighborhoods

The Food Challenge

• What’s in a label: We'll discover how usable our food labels really are and how much people depend on it when choosing what they buy.
• Slicing an Apple: We'll dissect what information people really need to make decisions by slicing the apple into categories of information around sourcing an apple in New England.

Recycling – Waste or Art?

• The Trash Sort Challenge: How accurately do you sort faux trash when you’re rushing against the clock?
• Design My Recycle Bin: We’ll run a comparative survey of recycle bin designs then invite the public to participate in designing better recycling bins.
• Recycling as Art: We’ll look at artists around the world for inspiration on what we can do to give products a second life.

DIY - Design It Yourself

• Have you ever fixed a broken appliance yourself? Or, have you ever taken apart something that was beyond repair to reuse the components? If so, you can consider yourself a DIY-er. Consumer items can be designed for easier servicing and repurposing - just as they can be designed for for improved usability... or, they can be designed for a limited lifespan. Which one would you rather buy?
• Take it apart: suggest novel uses for components of a familiar home appliance. Design it better: identify ways to create a similar appliance that is more usable, durable, and built in a more sustainable manner.

Healthcare

• How Research Informs Usable and Sustainable Designs: We’ll share examples of how we’ve applied sustainable strategies in medical product development 
• What Do You Think?: Here is your chance to weigh in, stop by to help us create a wall of opinions and ideas about the usability and sustainability of products in your life. 

Past Activities

• The Alarm Clock Alley Rally
  Individual and group competitions to set alarm clocks.
• Doors to Usability
  An interactive examination of doors and why their design can be unintentionally misleading.
• The Evaluation Station
  Product reviews conducted by usability experts for community-based organizations and non-profits.
• The Great Sock Sort
  Individuals or groups learn affinity diagramming by sorting socks into categories of their own devising.
• Instruction Blocks
  Individuals attempt to follow three sets of directions that each employ different instructional techniques.
• MIT Media Lab Touchscreen Voting Machiness
  Test out current and enhanced, research-based touchscreen voting machines.
• Remote Control SuperUser!
  Individuals or groups design a remote control to help a superhero save the day.
• Road to Usability
  A display illustrating a product's evolution from sketch to final design.
• Tag Team!
  A team activity focusing on the importance of applying clear tags to online photos and files. Tagets efficiency and accessibility
• Cell Phone Warrior
  How gr8 r u? An individual or team activity where participants race to examine cell phones and discuss their usability.
• City SignWalk
  An outdoor examination of public signage.
• Facing Fonts
  Individuals match typefaces with photos of children in costumes.
• Toystore Affinity
  Older individuals or groups learn affinity diagramming by sorting toys into categories of their own devising.
• Usability R.A.C.E. (Rolling, Accellerated Contextual Examination)
  Teams scour the city interviewing conducting intercept interviews with passersby.

Try the Activities, Give Us Feedback

We encourage your feedback! Did these activities support your educational efforts? Have you enhanced them in any way? Did your activity inpire a comment, video clip, or other reponse that would inform others, bring a smile or a heartwarming tear? Let us know and we will add your experiences to this website for the benefit of others. Email feedback to: volunteer@upaboston.org.