A tweet from @whitneyhess about UPA’s value proposition (“I’m sorry, but I’m not renewing my UPA membership. It’s $100 a year, and I don’t get anything for it”) made me acutely aware (again) of this underlying problem with professional associations, and UPA in particular: just what do people want from UPA? What do they want the association to do for them?
And more to the point: what should the UPA *be*? Since I joined in 2000, I have always seen it as an organization that supported people who created user experiences; i.e., not solely the organization for people who *do* usability testing. Do others share this perception?
And since I became a board member in 2004, the question took on more urgency. Unfortunately, I’ve never really heard any definitive answers to these fundamental questions.
So Whitney’s tweet – and it’s not the first one like that I’ve seen (@matto said the same thing a few weeks back) – makes me want to just put the questions out there.
So, UsabilityBlog readers and hopefully visitors via Twitter – what should the Usability Professionals’ Association do for its constituents? For the UX community as a whole? And what should the UPA *be*?
Thanks @whitneyhess and @matto for bringing these questions up.
{ 7 comments }
