可用性协会

可用性协会（可用性专业协会），Usabilty Professional's Association，简称UPA。

该组织致力于扶持、帮助、组织各领域的可用性专家们进行合作与交流，并推动人中心设计以及提升设计体验，推动工业产品的可用性发展。

组织目标是：

1，提供一个国际交流网络平台，方便从业专家们分享个方面专业信息，例如测试技术，方法等；

2，为专业以及非专业（仅仅是与之相关）的人士，提供一个综合交流平台；

3，Change new product development processes to include a concern for the people who use them by presenting the business case for usability in product development to colleagues, customers, the public and governmental agencies.

4，通过展业培训、会议、论坛以及其他专业交流方式，增加、积累可用性以及用户中心设计方面的专业技能和知识。

谁是UPA的成员？

UPA members come from many different backgrounds, meeting in the common ground of a shared interest in creating products that meet the needs of the people who work or play with them.

成员中既有全职的可用性专家，也包括其他组织的成员，例如交互设计师，信息构架师，民族学专家，网页设计人员，程序开发人员等。

How does usability relate to other user experience disciplines?

Usability professionals are part of the user experience community. This community is broad and diverse, and is still in the process of forming. We came from many different places, but share a common vision. Because we started from different places, there are many different names for the path – vector – that we are on.

Some people started in computer science and called it human-computer interaction (HCI)

Others who started in ergonomics called it human factors

Or in training, and called it electronic performance support systems

Or in library science, and called it information architecture

Or in technical writing and started with audience analysis

Or in branding and marketing and called it experience design

Or in user interface design and called it usability

In the UPA, we call that goal usability and many of our members identify the process as user centered design, but we recognize other disciplines and other terminology.