I built the usability discipline at Immersant, an Internet professional services company.

I also integrated and delivered usability services in several Fortune 500 Internet projects.

I can deliver these services for your project too...

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In my Editorial Board role I determine whether original usability research is of sufficient merit and scientific quality to be published.
I've also delivered dozens of confidential client reports and internal company reports for IBM and Immersant.
At IBM, I delivered User-Centered Design services in large projects that developed GUI interfaces for complex software technology.
At IBM I was also involved in developing User-Centered Design processes at IBM's first UCD center of competence.
My professional experience in the "usability" field goes far beyond software user-interfaces ---

Throughout my Ph.D. work I was subcontracted to conduct Human Factors research on several government and military aviation and air traffic control projects.

I've taught scientific methodology for human research for over 20 years.

Since 1990, I've integrated the most effective and efficient of those methodologies in
software user-interface development projects.

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All of my academic career was in psychology ---

This certainly helps me in understanding how motivation, perception, cognition, and behavior are involved when designing human-friendly technology!

I personally conducted usability work under contract to the companies listed to the left. This represents thousands of hours of professional work.

Company overview What is usability? How is it integrated to YOUR project? Complete listing of my usability services Partner with me to enhance your business My professional background Contact information Home


Summary (select a link to see details) Opens resume in a new window (PDF format)

  Usability clients and professional experience
 
Internet usability services I have delivered for Fortune 500 clients and others
Usability evaluation and User-Centered Design for OS/2 and Windows-based database technology products and application development environments
Contractor in cognitive Human Factors research on aviation instrumentation and Air Traffic Control systems
Other related experience and education
 
11 years as a professor of psychological research design and statistics
B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology (Human Factors specialization)
Member: Special Editorial Board for the journal Interacting with Computers, and others
Professional and academic awards and patents
My publications and presentations on software usability and Human Factors research

Details are below

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Internet projects1998-date

   Internet clients

  Clients who have engaged my usability services in Internet development projects or in usability evaluation projects, both as an independent usability consultant and as an employee of Immersant.

  Financial Services Dot-com and others
 

 

 
 
  • Bank One
  • Paine Webber
  • Frank Russell Company
  • Marshall & Ilsley
  • Bank of Montreal
  • CIBC
  • Investors Group
  • Deutchebank
  • T. Rowe Price
  • Quick & Reilly
  • Drugstore.com
  • Government of Ontario
  • Octanewave Software (wireless)
  • Nevada Learning Series
  • Word of Mouth Planet
  • PrinterOn
  • Bowneinternet.com
  • Immersant.com CRM
  • Business World News
  • youthbusiness.com
  • settlement.org

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   Internet employment 1998-2001

  Immersant - Global Internet Consulting and Development   Senior Usability Analyst
Corporate Lead: Usability Research & Analysis
 

From 1998 to 2001, I was employed at Immersant (formerly Bowne Internet Solutions), a consulting and professional services firm involved in Internet strategy, technology integration, and site design and development, primarily for Fortune 1000 financial services companies. At our peak, we had over 300 employees in 17 offices worldwide. In June 2001, Immersant's parent, Bowne & Co, dissolved the company.


 
  • Personally conducted, under contract, extensive design reviews and/or laboratory testing for  4 banks, 2 brokerages, 2 mutual fund companies, and 4 dot-coms.
  • Developed, managed, marketed, sold, and delivered high-ROI user-centered product evaluation service offerings for client's Internet development and site-evolution projects.
  • Established Usability Research and Analysis as a recognized corporate discipline, and designated as corporate team lead.
  • Integrated usability service offerings into Immersant's Rational Unified Process for product development.
  • Designed, built and used state-of-the art usability testing labs in three Immersant offices, and deployed portable labs to deliver services in several client market locations.
  • Trained staff to deliver usability services.
  • Presented Immersant’s usability strategy and service offerings in several conference presentations and published press interviews, and to prospective clients in dozens of sales engagements.
  • From a zero baseline, increased usability services work to 17 projects and $650k CDN revenue.
  • Won  7 new Fortune 1000 and dot.com clients for Immersant by way of standalone services or integrated within design projects. 
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Product development at IBM1991-1998

  IBM logo IBM User-Centered Design staff

  When I was a staff member of the User-Centered Design group at the IBM Canada Software Development Laboratory, my “clients” were internal IBM development, marketing, product management, and methodology development teams.

At IBM, I conducted end-user requirements gathering, usability lab and field testing, and competitive product reviews in dozens of development projects for OS/2 and Windows GUI products, as well as IBM OS/400 midrange system products.

  IBM product development projects
Method Topic
Instrumented-UI automated evaluation - DB2 Universal Database V5 beta
User-satisfaction survey - DB2 Universal Database V5 beta
Usability lab testing - DB2 Universal Database V5 golden build
Usability review - Microsoft SQL Server 7 beta
User requirements - Data warehouse administration
User requirements - Database administrators: Oracle, Sybase, Informix, Microsoft
Task analysis & user requirements - VAR database application development
End-user competitive analysis - NCR Teradata data warehouse administration
User-satisfaction survey - ILE C/400 application development Beta
Usability & requirements validation - ILE C/400 application development
Usability field testing - ILE C/400 beta documentation
Usability lab testing - ILE C/400 beta VAR recompile
Beta user-satisfaction survey - Experience ILE RPG/400 Multimedia Tutorial
Usability & requirements validation - ILE RPG/400 application development
Design usability consulting - CODE/400 RPG application development
Beta field testing - CODE/400 RPG application development
Usability lab testing - Government procurement system
Group UCD walkthrough evaluation - Microsoft vs IBM database product concept
User interface design - Microsoft NT universal console (Internet)
Usability lab testing - Internet transactional system

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  IBM usability methodology and process development
Type of work Topic
       
Methodology development - Developed and deployed IBM User-Centered Design methodologies: Usability lab testing, beta survey, instrumented beta evaluation
Process integration - Integrated User-Centered Design process to ISO 9001 quality standard
Process development - Participated in establishing the Toronto Software Development lab as the first User-Centered Design center of competence at IBM (1993)
Process integration - Participated in developing corporate User-Centered Design process measures
Usability lab testing - Tested IBM UCD Workbench
Process development & field testing - Developed and validated Internet based user-requirements gathering and prioritization methodology
Process improvement - Developed databases to capture design issues and integrate their remediation into project change control mechanisms
Methodology improvement - Conceived, developed and deployed methodologies for collecting user feedback on alpha- and beta- product releases. Increased volume and quality of end-user feedback on these types of projects from zero to a scientifically meaningful amount
Process automation - Developed automated cleansing, recoding, and analysis of requirements gathering and prioritization data: improved efficiency by 100 times
Methodology development & usability lab testing - Conducted research to validate computerized facial expression detection as an usability metric and issue-indicator

Methodology development,
usability lab testing &
field testing

 - Lead research on using instrumented user interfaces to identify usability issues (SmallTalk and DB2 user interfaces)
Methodology- & tool-development - Invented, participated in design and development, and conducted validation-testing of UCDCam; filed US patent application
Statistical consulting - Provided statistical consulting to Toronto User-Centered Design group
Methodology improvement - Incorporated rigorous statistical analysis techniques into requirements gathering and prioritization, and design evaluation methodologies. Evaluated statistical properties of corporate worldwide product satisfaction surveys  


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Human Factors in aviation1982-1990

 
Behavioral Measures Behavioral Measures at Work logo
  Provided Human Factors research consulting under the sole proprietorship Behavioral Measures at Work.

  Description - Human Factors contracting

 
  • Subcontracted on projects funded by:

    - Defence & Civil Institute of Environmental Medicine
    - Canadian Air Traffic Services: Evaluations Division

    • Designed and conducted research, and performed statistical analysis on human factors topics in applied settings, including aerial search-and-rescue, instrument piloting, and air-traffic control systems.

     
  • From this work I co-authored:

    - 10 contractor's reports
    - 21 published academic & professional papers (peer reviewed)
    - 17 papers presented at international conferences

    See Human Factors publications for details

    		•

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      Projects - Human Factors contracting

      Method Topic
      Lab test - Determination of aerial Search and Rescue detection probabilities in statistically-derived visual search environments
      Lab test - Relationship of visual acuity and visual contrast sensitivity to Search and Rescue performance in different search environments
      Field test - Evaluation of an experimental laser cockpit display during night time maneuvers
      Statistical analysis - Analysis of Canadian Air Traffic Control operating irregularities
      Software development - Development of Air Traffic Services Fact Finding Board database system (dBase III+) to allow online analysis of incident statistics by Canadian Air Traffic Services investigators
      Field test - Relationship between pilot’s mental models and mental workload and their dynamic instrument scanning behavior
             

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    Academic employment  1980-2003

      Contract Faculty 1990-2003
    York University, Department of Psychology (under contract)
    Developed and taught full-year courses:
     - Descriptive & Inferential Statistics (8 years)
     - Advanced Research Design in Psychology (3 years)
     - Introduction to Research methods (1 year)
      Graduate Teaching Assistant 1980-1990
    York University, Department of Psychology (under contract)
    Teaching support for full-year courses:
     - Descriptive & Inferential Statistics (3 years)
     - Advanced Research Design in Psychology (7 years)
      Psychological Laboratory Research Assistant 1978-1984
    University of British Columbia & York University (under contract)
    Conducted research with human subjects:
     - Sensory deprivation
     - Visual perception and attention
     - Cognitive individual differences in visual attention
     - Development of short-term memory and motor control
     - Divided and focussed auditory attention

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    Education1975-1990

      Beginning in 1982, my academic specialization was in Human Factors Psychology, a discipline which “discovers and applies information about human behavior, abilities, limitations, and other characteristics to the design of tools, machines, systems, tasks, jobs, and environments for productive, safe, comfortable, and effective human use (Chapanis, 1985).”

      Doctor of Philosophy - 1990
    Experimental Psychology
    York University, Toronto, Canada
    Specialization:
    - Human Factors psychology
    - Psychological research methodology
    - Human perception, attention, and cognition
    - Univariate and multivariate statistics
    - Computer programming
    Dissertation: Mental models, mental workload, and instrument scanning in flight
      Master of Arts - 1981
    Experimental Psychology
    York University, Toronto, Canada
    Thesis:Cognitive-style and fixation-field effects in visual backward-masking:A process-structural account
      Bachelor of Arts - 1979
    Honours Psychology, First-class
    University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
      Associate in Arts and Sciences - 1977
    Major in Psychology
    Capilano College, Vancouver, Canada

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    Professional affiliations

      Member This link opens another browser windowInteracting with Computers (Elsevier Science Journal)
    Human Sciences Special Editorial Board
    Coordinate refereeing of manuscripts submitted for publication. Make publication decision for Senior Editor. Recommend manuscript changes to submitting authors. 1995 to present
      Member - This link opens another browser windowAssociation of Internet Marketing and Sales
      Member - This link opens another browser windowUsability Professionals' Association
      Member - This link opens another browser windowToronto Usability Professionals' Association
      Member - This link opens another browser windowTorCHI Toronto Special Interest Group for Computer-Human Interaction
      Member - This link opens another browser windowYork Technology Association
      Adjunct Faculty - Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Guelph (Guelph, Ontario) - 1996 to 1997.
      Member - ACM SIG-CHI This link opens another browser windowSpecial working group on Educational Resources in Human-Computer Interaction
    Contributed to team developing educational resource strategy for academic/ professional society. 1996 to 1997

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    Awards Most recent first

     
    • US Patent (US06237138) and This link opens another browser windowCanadianPatent (CA2190043)-Buffered screen capturing software tool for usability testing of computer applications-2001
    • IBM First-patent Application Award-Development of UCDCam-1997
    • Major Teaching Development Grant, York University. Awarded to develop the course-Software Usability: Issues and Methods ($11,000)-1995
    • IBM Canada Team Achievement Award-Development of IBM
      User-Centered Design-1994
    • IBM Canada Team Achievement Award-Application Development suite-1993
    • IBM Canada Appreciation Award-ILE C/400 usability evaluation project-1993
    • IBM Canada Achievement Award-CODE/400 usability field-evaluation project-1992
    • Visiting Fellowship in a Canadian Government Laboratory-Defence and Civil Institute of Environmental Medicine. Awarded to conduct research on human factors in military technological systems. (I declined the offer to accept a position at IBM)-1990
    • Alphonse Chapanis Award, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society-Best student paper-1990
    • Ontario Graduate Scholarship-1983/84
    • N.S.E.R.C.* Postgraduate Scholarship-1982/83
    • N.S.E.R.C. Postgraduate Scholarship-1981/82
    • N.S.E.R.C. Postgraduate Scholarship-1980/81
    • York Scholarship, York University-1979/80
    • Dean's List, Capilano College - 1976/77

    * Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

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    Don Hameluck's publications & presentations

      Internet related - 1999 to date (Prior to 1999 see publication summary below)

    Oct 2002 End Users, Can't Live with Them, Can't... Practical Life Views from Three Experts. Toronto Special Interest Group on Human-Computer Interaction (TorCHI)
    May 2001 Creating an effective web site for independent financial advisors. Morningstar.ca
    Apr 2001 Achieving supreme customer self-service through a positive user-experience. International Quality and Productivity Center conference "E-CRM for Financial Services," Scottsdale, AZ. 3-hour workshop.
    Jan 2001 Using online research to gain feedback to enhance the usability of your site. Institute for International Research conference: "Web Based Surveys & Online Market Research," Holiday Inn, Toronto.
    Dec 2000 How user friendly is your web site? Analyst evaluates sites.
    Published in print and online versions of "Investment Executive: Canada's Newspaper for Financial Advisors"
    Nov 2000 How usability makes or breaks your site (and what to do about it). Invited speaker at Bowne's "EDGAR update seminar," Detroit.
    Sep 2000 Poor site usability equals lost revenue. Find out what users want, analyst urges. Published in print and online versions of “IT World Canada," Sept 8, 2000
    Aug 2000 Enhance your site's effectiveness with a usability evaluation strategy. Immersant e-Business Breakfast Seminar, with Forrester Research: "How Usability can make or break your Financial Services site." Sheraton Centre, Toronto.
    May 2000 Designing an Effective Home Page. Four hour workshop and interactive tutorial Canadian Information Processing Society annual conference "Informatics 2000," Toronto Convention Centre.
    Jan 2000 Create Winning Web Sites with an Online User-Research & Feedback Strategy. International Quality and Productivity Center conference "Web Based Surveys & Online Market Research," Toronto.
    1999 to 2000 Optimizing Home Page Designs. Conducted extensive research with 25 end users on 16 corporate home pages. Results were presented at industry conferences by Immersant's Interactive Architects and myself at:
    - Sep 2002 - WebBuilder - Las Vegas
    - May 2000 - Canadian Info. Processing Society - Toronto
    - May 2000 - New Media - Toronto
    - Apr2000 - Bank Advertising News (article)
    - Mar 2000 - Web Chicago - Chicago
    - Dec 1999 - builder.com - New Orleans
    - Nov 1999 - MCC - Toronto
    Apr 1999 Usage Analysis for Next-generation e-business. Results ’99 The First Annual This link opens another browser windownet.Genesis Worldwide User and Partner Conference, Cambridge, MA.

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      Human Factors publications - pre 1999 Full publication list available by request

      Published several IBM internal reports, including IBM sponsored research on
    This link opens another browser windowuser-interface instrumentation for usability analysis    .
      Published 10 contractor's reports on Human Factors research in military and civil aviation issues. This link opens another browser windowSample abstracts in Canadian Defense archives.
      Presented 17 papers at international conferences on Human Factors.
    This link opens another browser windowSample references on Google    .
      Published 21 academic & professional papers (peer reviewed) in the Human Factors literature, including:
       

    - Ergonomics
    - Proceedings of the Cognitive Science Society
    - Proceedings of the Human Factors Society
    - Proceedings of the Human Factors Association of Canada
    - Proceedings of the Biennial Conference on Aviation Psychology

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    Last update: May 20, 2003
    (c) 2003 Don Hameluck Usability Consulting Inc.

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    I have been studying human cognition and behavior in psychological labs, software usability labs, and in field settings since 1978.

    Let me put my experience to work in your technology project.

    Contact me