About the Usability BoK
The Usability Professionals’ Association (UPA) has initiated a long-term project to collate a comprehensive Body of Knowledge (BoK) for the usability profession, which will provide an authoritative source of reference and define the scope of the profession.
Preliminary work has started: intended audiences and subject areas have been agreed, a format for documenting usability methods has been defined, and work has started on documenting the more common methods.
Mission
The Usability Body of Knowledge project is dedicated to creating a living reference that represents the collective knowledge of the usability profession. Such a collection of knowledge for the usability profession will necessarily be broad and inclusive in scope, because our profession is inherently multidisciplinary and draws on a wide range of other practices.
We recognize that the BoK should be derived from published literature, conference proceedings, and the experiences of practitioners accumulated over many years. It is not possible or desirable for this project to duplicate all of the existing resources. Rather, the outcome will be a guide that contains core material supplemented by pointers to existing resources, and continues to evolve as the practice of usability evolves.
Defining such a guide is an important step in our development as a profession because it represents a broad consensus regarding the profession itself and the range of knowledge, skills, and methods that should be mastered by practitioners in the field.
Goals
The guide to the Usability Body of Knowledge will:
- Define the knowledge underlying the usability profession.
- Describe and provide pointers to methods, knowledge, and skills that are important for usability professionals.
- Promote the advancement, understanding, and recognition of the usability profession among those who interact with the usability community.
- Facilitate professional development for usability practitioners at any stage in their careers, as well as people who come to usability from other backgrounds/disciplines.
- Provide the basis for future curriculum development.
- Provide support for professional development and any future certification schemes.
- Promote integration and connections with related disciplines.
Learn More about the BoK