In a packed auditorium the Cyprus University of Technology welcomed last week Rajiv Arjan, User Experience Researcher of Google UK, as the keynote speaker at the annual event for World Usability Day organized by Cyprus Interaction Lab. The audience included a total of over 300 participants, including several undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, academics, teachers and professionals from many sectors in the Economy and Technology industries.
During his welcome speech, the Dean of the School of Fine and Applied Arts, Professor Panayiotis Zaphiris, touched on the modern trends in user-centered design and underlined the continuous need for a global and multidisciplinary range of methods in the design of end products and services that are both usable and accessible to everyone. Rajiv Arjan in his presentation “User Experience at Google” highlighted the basic principles of human-centered design practiced at Google, the full implementation of which contributed so decisively to the company being in top rank in modern world research and technology.
The Conference, organized in collaboration with the Pedagogical Institute of Cyprus and the Cyprus Computer Society together with the contribution of Cyprus SIGCHI, also included interesting talks and presentations from the lab’s researchers: Christina Vasiliou and Andri Ioannou on «User Experience in an Information Ecology for Collaborative Design », Andri Ioannou and Stalo Antoniou on « Peacemaking in School Contexts Using Interactive Tabletops”, Antigone Parmaxi, Christina Vassiliou and George Lambrou on «Womenpower: A Community Platform Linking Women Mentors and Mentees» and Alexis Geratziotis on «Improving Web Accessibility for Deaf Users ».
Following the presentations, participants had the opportunity to approach the speakers and discuss issues related to the activities and work of the Cyprus Interaction Lab, which offers opportunities to young researchers as well as creative collaborations with organizations within and outside Cyprus. As a result he Lab is processing the possibility of developing certain cooperation programs with Google UK, which will open up prospects of employment and / or internships for Cypriot researchers and students.