In this issue, we feature an editorial by Austin Henderson and Jed Harris who argue that UI designers need to think of themselves as curators – those who maintain order and provide guidance but who ultimately serve users. We believe you will find their ideas stimulating.
Our first peer-reviewed article by Sam McLellan and colleagues adds to our understanding of the System Usability Scale (SUS). Their study shows that the more experience users have with a product, the higher, more favorable, their SUS scores. As a result, user experience professionals need to make sure they assess participants’ experience with a product when administering SUS.
Our second peer-reviewed article by Jonathan Lazar and colleagues reports on a usability test with blind participants who attempted to apply for jobs using online websites. All of the participants were currently seeking jobs. They found that fewer than 30% of the attempts were successful because of both accessibility and usability problems, which, to quote the authors, “…amounts to discrimination.”