This event has been rescheduled from its earlier date in January.

2007 sees NMK extending the popularity of its evening events - such as Beers & Innovation - to explore some of the more philosophical and tricky problems that face the new media industry.

So please come chew the cud and enjoy a beer or two whilst discussing what is sure to be a lively topic... Usability: whose problem is it anyway?

The Starting Point:
In a recent survey by Nomensa, 98 per cent of the 100 websites analysed didn't reach industry standards on programming code and 89 per cent were difficult to navigate.

In the present atmosphere of growth and in a world of web 2.0 - where interactivity and contribution are king - who's problem is this: Developers? Designers? Publishers? W3C? The government? Firefox? Microsoft? Bloggers? Software producers? The creators of Flash and AJAX? Agencies? Advertisers? Disabled rights organisations?

The Format:
A jargon free evening where our panel will endeavour to sort through the mess and confusion, and attempt to provide some answers to making the web a friendlier place. After which there will be the opportunity to pitch in, share thoughts and ask the panel some rather probing questions.

The Panel:
• Chairing the event is Kathryn Corrick, a new media consultant and freelance editor. Kathryn has worked with companies ranging from Handbag.com to usability specialists, ReadSpeaker, as well as recently acting as editor for NMK. Prior to working as a consultant Kathryn was online manager for the New Statesman where she was responsible for all digital publications and operations as well running their New Media Awards.

• Stefan Haselwimmer is an entrepreneur with over 10 years' experience in new media. He was responsible for launching the Independent and Mirror newspapers on the internet in 1997 and went on to work with Eva Pascoe developing Arcadia Group's e-commerce presence. In 2001, he launched PhoneAnything.com , the UK's first voice portal to provide phone access to webpages, email and internet radio. PhoneAnything received the New Statesman's New Media Award for Accessibility in 2005. He launched the Usability Exchange in March 2006.

• Director of ICT4Learning.com Martin Bazley has more than 10 years experience of developing, evaluating and project managing online learning resources and other digital technology projects with a range of cultural institutions, web developers and other associates. Martin spent 7 years as Internet Projects Manager in the Learning Unit at the Science Museum, London, where he developed the award-winning STEM (Students’ and Teachers’ Educational Materials) project, prior to which he taught for 8 years in a range of schools. In his role as eLearning Officer for SEMLAC (South East Museum, Library and Archive Council) Martin developed a number of projects in collaboration with schools and cultural institutions, including the Victorian Learning Journey - an innovative project for schools, involving live ‘meet the historical character’ face-to-face sessions, videoconferencing, interactive talkboards and short video clips. He presents regularly at conferences and training days, and chairs the E-Learning Group for Museums, Libraries and Archives

• Matthew Somerville is a former civil servant, who realised that actually getting to design stuff was more fun and rewarding. He has helped to create various popular democracy and civic websites, like TheyWorkForYou and PledgeBank, wrote accessible versions of the Odeon and National Rail websites, and doesn't blog at Dracos.co.uk

• Leisa Reichelt. Leisa is a User Experience Consultant with Flow Interactive Flow Interactive. She practices User Centred Design (UCD) has a background in information architecture, interaction design, user research and usability. Some clients she’s worked with include BBC, Transport for London, Moo Cards, HSBC, and Qantas and her work spans web, mobile, online games, e-learning and interactive television. Leisa somewhat obsessed with well designed interaction and social technologies and blogs at Disambiguity.

THIS EVENT WILL ACCEPT CREDIT CARD BOOKINGS ONLY.

For further information prior to booking or to discuss other NMK events and courses contact: Rebecca Fitzgerald

Venue link: CC Club

Friends of NMK are valued supporters of NMK work. In turn, they benefit from reduced-rate access to NMK events and courses. See: Friends of NMK

Report on the event.