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What's New - the EPSScentral Reader
 18 February 2002
INTERESTING PERFORMANCE SUPPORT TOOLS AND SYSTEMS

CALL FOR ENTRIES

2002 Performance Centered Design Competition
It's that time again!  EPSScentral will once again facilitate the Performance Centered Design category of the Excellence in E-Learning Awards, sponsored by Online Learning Magazine and brandon-hall.com.  Here's your chance to show your stuff and gain recognition for yourself, your organization, your software, and/or your business sponsor. The PCD category of the Excellence in E-Learning Awards will showcase creative software that best represents the principles of electronic performance support and performance centered design in two categories:  PCD Outcomes (end-user/performer support solutions) and Innovative PCD Tools  and Techniques (for developing performance-centered systems and functions).

Winning entries will be recognized at the 2002 Online Learning Conference and Expo as part of the prestigeous Excellence in E-Learning Awards.  Previous winning entries may be viewed at http://www.epsscentral.com/design_awards.htm).

DATES and DEADLINES:
Submission deadline for OUTCOMES is postmark or uploaded/transferred June 3, 2002.  No exceptions!
Submission deadline for INNOVATIVE PCD TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES is April 15, 2002 and must be submitted according to the rules and guidelines published on http://www.brandonhall.com/public/awards2002/.
Winners will be announced at the Online Learning 2002 conference
Awards will be presented at the Online Learning  2002 Excellence in E-Learning Banquet (September 23-25, 2002, Anaheim, CA).  See http://www.onlinelearningconference.com/), (http://www.brandonhall.com/public/awards2002/).
Select winners are expected to participate in a conference session to demonstrate their systems and respond to questions. The competition's judges will also be present at this session to comment on winning entries and the field of entries generally.  Details TBA.
COSTS:
OUTCOMES:  US $295 non-refundable entry fee must accompany your submission. Checks should be made out to “EPSScentral LLC.”
INNOVATIVE TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES:  US $495 non-refundable entry fee must accompany your submission. Checks should be made out to “EPSScentral LLC.”  
All entries must be submitted according to the guidelines published on http://www.brandonhall.com/public/awards2002/.

SUBMISSIONS & EVALUATION:
You are responsible for the costs of preparing your entry.  The preferable form of submission is to publish it as HTML directly to a designated web server / ftp site (details TBA).  Alternatively, you can submitting it on CD-ROM in sufficient quantities for five (5) judges and the contest administrator – six (6)copies total.
A 30-60 minute presentation to judges will be scheduled via an online collaboration tool (e.g., Webex, Centra) for you to demonstrate your entry.  Details TBA.
Should your entry be recognized, you are responsible for all costs associated with attending the conference, awards presentation, and demonstration session at Online Learning 2002 in Anaheim.

ELIGIBILITY: Your entry must describe either a particular component or feature of an operational performance centered system (PCS) or development tool, or an entire performance-centered system.  Note the word "operational" - please, no design concepts that have not been at least piloted in an operational setting where the business/organizational value has been measured.
OUTCOMES:  (If you have any confusion about the definition of Performance Centered Design see: http://www.epsscentral.com/what_is_epss.htm).   Performance Centered Design (or Performance Support, or EPSS) has performance as its only required outcome. Learning, though often desirable and sometimes inevitable, is not the point. In fact, in many cases a goal of PCD is to reduce or eliminate the amount of learning required for job performance. Designers of performance centered systems  would never think in terms of students, only "performers."  If your proposed entry is learning-focused, please submit it to a category of the Excellence in E-Learning completition at http://www.brandonhall.com/public/awards2002/ other than PCD.  CBT or WBT or any technology-based event that is not embedded in the task context or computer-based activities done in advance of performing the job task are NOT appropriate candidates for PCD.  See  

INNOVATIVE PCD TOOLS AND  TECHNIQUES:  Appropriate entries are new technologies (tools, products, protocol) that were not previously available commercially or otherwise.  Innovative PCD Tools and Techniques are things that faciliate embedding support into other software, act as "agents" to deliver decision support at the time of need, help anticipate and resolve performance challenges, use general inference techniques to eliminate complexity, reduce the need for conventional IT support, replace more conventional means of support, and the like.  These can be new components of existing PCD Tools and Techniques if they are sufficiently unique. Innovative PCD Tools and Technique entries must be submitted via the entry forms found on http://www.brandonhall.com/public/awards2002/.

The competition is open to businesses, government agencies, and educational institutions. Vendors are welcome to submit their work but are strongly encouraged to do so in partnership with their clients.

WHAT AND WHERE TO SUBMIT:
To be considered in this year's competition, your submission for OUTCOMES must be uploaded or postmarked on or before June 3rd, 2002 and your INNOVATIVE PCD TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES must be submitted by April 15, 2002 in accordance with the guidelines published at http://www.brandonhall.com/public/awards2002/ under the Innovative Techologies category.
Your submission must include:
Completed submission template, published to a designated EPSScentral ftp site or burned onto a CD-ROM.
One copy of the completed and signed Permission to Publish template (hard copy, signed and mailed).
Your check for US $295 (OUTCOMES) or $495 (INNOVATIVE PCD TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES) to  EPSScentral LLC.
The proper entry form submitted via http://www.brandonhall.com/public/awards2002/.

CD-ROMs, Permission to Publish forms, and checks should be addressed to:
PCD Competition 2001
c/o Gary Dickelman, Principal
EPSScentral LLC
6909 Pacific Lane
Annandale, VA 22003

DETAILS of the submission process, templates, and FTP publishing guidelines will appear on EPSScentral during the month of February, 2002.
When simulation is an appropriate learning or performance support strategy, IST Author provides an excellent learner/performer experience.
During a recent discussion with an e-learning application service provider, EPSScentral was reintroduced to EDT Learning, which we had previously encountered at Online Learning 2001.  EDT's IST Author tool had been voted #1 by the audience of Brandon Hall's Software Simulation Shootout (www.brandonhall.com/public/simshootout/).   The gist of the competition:   Each of 12 simulation tool vendors were supplied with a storyboard prior to the conference.  Teams then built simulations from "scratch" (well...they were given the task months in advanced and were allowed to cut and paste already prepared pieces) with more than 200 attendees watching as they went through the entire development process.  As each team finished their simulation, they made a five-minute presentation to the audience demonstrating their simulation. The audience then rated each in the following four areas:
>Ease of Use
>Speed of Development
>Robustness of Simulation (feedback, guidance, etc.)
> Overall Rating

EPSScentral called EDT Learning and was graciously provided a personalized demonstration of IST Author.  Its strength, in our opinion, is the rock-solid user (learner/performer) experience that it creates.  All of the trappings - from animated mouse movement, dubbed audio, layers of step-by-step explanation - are present in a well apportioned and ergonomic environment.  Learner/performers are treated to pleasurable simulation experiences through their browsers.

The Authoring environment is straightforward and rich in its capabilities for constructing simulation.  Like most such tools, it provides no author support for analyzing or managing processes and tasks, but once an author has completed analysis and design and has collected the necessary pieces (screen captures, annotation text, audio, and the like) IST Author is a great tool.  Construction, after all, was the focus of the Brandon Hall competition.  EPSScentral invites you to review the Brandon Hall Shootout, call EDT Learning, and check out one of the better user experiences around.    Visit www.edtlearning.com.
Epiance:  Innovation in Performance Centered Design
The forerunner of Epiance's Epiplex suite of products, "GuruWizard," was recognized by Online Learning 2000 as "Extraordinary."  Recently EPSScentral had the pleasure of speaking with Gloria Gery, who said the following about Epiplex:  "My clients who have installed it rave about the ease, efficiency and reduced cost of the solution...Interestingly, sometimes people believe the solution is 'too good to be true'. In this case, the usual rule about such a situation doesn't apply. Epiance is both 'very good' and what they say is 'true'." Read the complete quote

What's new from Epiance?  Lots.  Their unique capture technology has been improved with support for the IE Document Object Model (hence better support for web-based applications), new and improved Java Adapters, exciting breakthroughs in supporting the native SAP interface, and more.  For those readers not familiar with Epiplex , it captures end-user (performer) workflow through the many applications that comprise their work.  Behind the scenes, the XML capture file stores keystrokes, mouse movement, control metadata (all of the esoteric stuff that the programmers include in the code for buttons, fields, menus, etc.), images, and operating system "messages" (the means by which the user communicates with application via the interface and through the operating system).  This amazing amount of information of captured information is used by four other Epiplex applications to product the gamut of e-learning and performance support interventions:
Documentor - Auto-generates (you heard me, AUTOMATICALLY) generates procedural documentation...and in the language of choice!  By applying "sentence structures" and templates, you can have English, German, and French documentation in a flash.  Great stuff for worldwide ERP rollout!
epiLearn - Auto-generates a "combo object" that includes docs, robust simulation, Guide Me (active cue cards), and Testing.  epiLearn generates the complete blended solution from a single capture file.
epiGuide - Auto-generates active cue-cards that work with the LIVE application.  epiGuide tracks the user, step by step, and provided feedback to ensure that the user is properly completing tasks.
epiGenie - Auto-generates "wizards" (Epiance calls them "genies") that drive a live application or applications through their paces.  This is the very slick means by which Epiplex allows you to replace the native interface of an application, or portions thereof, and embed genies into the application environment.  EPSS professionals have always talked about embedding and integration as the best form of performance support. Epiplex is the only tool that allows you to do this so completely.
Epiplex includes a Visual Project Editor that allows you to assemble any or all of the above interventions and add logic, branching, looping, dialogues, web objects, and the like.  You can literally construct new applications from old ones, integrate learning and performance elements and tie disparate applications together with these tools.  This is what Gloria Gery refers to as "amazing."
In summary, Epiance is the only company that has successfully developed and applied capture technology to e-learning, performance support, business process management, and application integration. Epiplex projects are SCORM-compliant.  Contact R. Shankar at 703-464-0707 x224 or visit www.epiance.com.
This link takes you to the EPSScentral bibliography.
Performance, Security, and Usability

E.Dustin, et. al.

Foreward by Jakob Nielsen

Review at right provided by Amazon.com
"This book was a joy to read. It gives a great overview of quality issues within "Web systems" - meaning Web applications and architectures. The book balances a too-specific look with a too-general look and succeeds quite well in a balanced treatment that will make the whole worth the attention of any quality assurance or quality tester professional in the Information Technology industry.
In particular, the second chapter, on the RSI Approach, is a nice addition as this is something that most practitioners of quality subjects will not find elsewhere and the general subject matter is generally that which is avoided in books of this type. Another topic often avoided in these books is that of usability and accessibility concerns and yet these are covered here in good detail chapter six.
In general, I think the book offered a great amount of detail just where it was needed and gave a lot of "mini best-practices" in each chapter with the use of bulleted lists to highlight specific points. The detail of the book extends to various topics, like performance, compatibility, usability, and security - all topics that are of high concern in the current world of making qualitly Web systems that customers and user respond to. The appendices in the book are also excellent. The "Test Tool Evaluations" section will be a welcome addition to those who wish there are more concise evaluation forms for automated tool solutions.
I highly recommend this book to quality assurance/testing professionals, quality assurance managers, and even those who work more in the project management and development spheres. Those latter will get benefit from the book because the book manages to highlight topics of concern to both groups and also gives them insight into the quality aspects of the projects and products that are developed within an organization."
The ASTD E-Learning Handbook: Best Practices, Strategies and Case Studies for an Emerging Field (McGraw Hill, 2002) is meant to inform, coach, entice, caution, and encourage. Articles were chosen and crafted to help professionals cope with vendors that promise vast multiples of improved cognition via e-learning AND quotes like Clifford Stoll’s: “E-learning is a terrific way to get a third-rate education.” In the Handbook, the authors acknowledge the hype on both sides of the e-learning coin, from those who promise that e-learning will cure all that ails, to those who see a devil trying to take away classroom training. This Handbook attempts progress towards that fruitful, productive middle ground.

What's in the ASTD E-Learning Handbook?

A focus on pressing questions.
A focus on what might keep professionals up at night.
A comprehensive e-learning sourcebook.
Many renowned experts.
Many diverse cases.
A tool for professional development.
The new and improved edition of the intranet bookshelf lists close to 175 (and counting) books picked by contributors for how useful they would be to intranet professionals and decision makers. The books are listed in four main categories--client-side technologies, server-side technologies, overall website design, and business topics, that are then further divided down to eighteen subcategories.

(Don't forget to purchase from Amazon via EPSScentral.  We donate our Amazon Associate Program royalties to various charities.)
New from the International Society for Performance Improvement!
"Training and Performance Technology work appears to be very similar and so the differences may not be noticable at first." is the first callout to catch your eye in ISPI's exciting new publication - from the lead article, "Do Trainers Need to Use Performance Technology?"

If you have questions or comments about Performance Xpress, please contact Gary Dickelman at EPSScentral or April Davis, ISPI's Director of Periodicals at april@ispi.org.
eLearn magazine is published by ACM, a not-for-profit educational association serving those who work, teach, and learn in the various computing-related fields. Founded in 1947 as the Association for Computing Machinery, ACM's stated mission is to advance the arts, sciences, and applications of information technology. It is the oldest and most respected organization of its kind. eLearn is ACM's first Web-only publication. It will build on ACM's reputation by serving as the most accurate and unbiased source for news, information, and opinion on the now-flourishing field of online education and training. It also offers a community hub for e-learning professionals on the Web, providing a wealth of public forums for the free exchange of ideas.

Content is culled from two distinct sources: News and features written by professional journalists with expertise in education and technology, and columns and tutorials by industry leaders and stars of academia. Our targeted readership includes both providers and consumers of online learning, with a special emphasis on teachers, managers, and administrators working to develop educational programs or classes on the Web.
Usability-Tested E-learning?  Not Until the Market Requires It
Predictions for 2002:  E-learning visionaries share their thoughts
This link takes you to previous articles on this topic linked from EPSScentral.
PCs do not need to be commodities: a focus on quality can differentiate both products and services. Software has great potential for getting better, as shown by an under-appreciated feature in Windows XP that can save users $2,000 per year.
The Marines learn that technology can't solve everything on the urban battlefield
Guidelines to help you develop and design your own wizards

Building on the concepts presented in her first developerWorks article, "Crafting a wizard," Jodi Bollaert dives deeper into the art and science of developing effective wizards. The first half of this article covers tips and tricks related to the wizard development process; the second half includes more insights about wizard interface design.

Droves of shoppers at Staples Inc.'s retail Web site, Staples.com, last year began abandoning the site's registration process midstream, leaving behind online shopping carts of unpurchased office supplies—and concerned Staples officials. While other companies facing a similar challenge might have rushed to the nearest Web design guru for a site overhaul, Staples went directly to its customers to expose problems with the site that developers originally missed. Members of the company's usability team combined their own expert review of the site with formal usability tests with consumers to pinpoint the roadblocks in the site's registration section. After Staples revamped the section in April last year based on the testing results, the number of shoppers dropping out of the registration process decreased by 53 percent. Read the story
Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox:  Field studies should emphasize the observation of real user behavior. Simple field studies are fast and easy to conduct, and do not require a posse of anthropologists: All members of a design team should go on customer visits.
Most site maps fail to convey multiple levels of the site's information architecture. In usability tests, users often overlook site maps or can't find them. Complexity is also a problem: a map should be a map, not a navigational challenge of its own.

Advertising-supported websites will soon be a thing of the past. As I predicted a year ago, sites began charging for services in 2001. Although most sites are still not handling payments right, two innovative European projects hold much hope for 2002.
One widely held idea is the notion that "ergonomics is just common sense." However, it is much more than that: ergonomics is a discipline that brings into play scientific knowledge from the fields of physiology and cognitive psychology. This knowledge ranges from perception to the mechanisms involved in cognitive processing of information.
The best way to fight complexity is to strive for simplicity, which leads to functionality and longevity.
This link takes you to previous articles on this topic linked from EPSScentral.

For those e-learning developers who deal with the ol' help development environment, here's news about the latest version of an old standard.  ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 6.0 is now available for purchase as a physical product through a secure online order center, as well as electronically through a secure online Web Store.   
Big names from outside the training world are lining up to become the 800-pound gorilla in the e-learning market. Who will emerge with the biggest bunch of bananas?  Accenture?  Ernst and Young Intellinex?  Docent?
Online communites made up of customers and staff can generate ideas that light up profits.

In what is so far the largest merger to take place in the e-learning industry, SmartForce, a Redwood City, Calif., e-learning provider, will acquire Centra Software, a Boston virtual collaboration company for $267 million.
The first certification body for e-learning courseware gave its first stamp of approval to four courses in January: one each from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, DigitalThink, KnowledgeNet and Ninth House Networks.
Press Release from Bill Horton:
Boulder, Colorado, USA. 1 January 2002 -- "Tools and standards, like XML and SCORM, have given designers containers for reusable content. Now we need methods to fill those containers," says William Horton, whose company announced its Development Methodology for Knowledge Products, which "guides in planning and designing e-learning, Websites, online documents, and other knowledge products--without sacrificing creativity or innovation." Instructions and forms used in this methodology are available for free preview, sale, and immediate download from horton.com/places/kproduct.htm.
Developed and used by William Horton Consulting over the past 12 years in North America and Europe, this methodology provides techniques and design-aids to plan and precisely specify reusable components (knowledge objects). Products for sale include a 134-page development guide and 25 design forms, which are available in Microsoft Visio format and in Acrobat PDF.
Advantages of this methodology are that it:
Separates planning and design from building, so technology does not swamp creativity.
Prompts for all major decisions early enough that they can be implemented economically.
Completely articulates a design, providing thorough project documentation and captures knowledge for use on future projects.
States design intent precisely enough that it can be carried out by specialists, yet leaves specialists room for creative contribution.
Creates designs that are independent of any authoring package, design philosophy, browser, or operating system.
William Horton Consulting advises large and small organizations on developing online training and information and has developed e-learning and knowledge-management solutions for companies in the U.S. and Europe. You can learn more about them at horton.com.
This link takes you to previous articles on this topic linked from EPSScentral.
This article concerns the Information Society literature and is set in the context of teaching and learning about it, particularly in educational technology settings. In spite of the infancy of the Information Society phenomenon, a large literature has emerged in recent years that discusses its nature. Not surprisingly, the literature does not present a uniform view; rather, there are differences of opinion as to the nature and significance of the Information Society. We argue that the literature constitutes an educational problem for those teaching and learning about this complex territory. The discussion visits the complexity by constructing a comprehensive map that charts 1) topics, 2) perspectives, and 3) root metaphors. Mapping the literature helps both teachers and learners find their way in a potentially confusing field of study. Special emphasis is devoted to root metaphors - philosophical views about the nature of reality that in turn help teachers and learners become more sensitive to critical, underlying features of the Information Society discussion. We argue that some root metaphors are more helpful than others for understanding literature about the Information Society.
This paper is an analysis of how Norwegians use television and the Internet in their leisure time. It sets up a taxonomy using the degree of engagement in the mediated information on one axis and the degree of sociability on the other. Within this matrix one can examine the similarities and differences between the two media and also differences between the generations. The analysis is based on 15 in-home interviews with Oslo-based families.
Bigchalk, inc. is a comprehensive education destination for the K-12 learning community, with both subscription-based and free learning tools for educators, parents and students. Bigchalk's vast array of library resources, supplementary curriculum, and assessment professional development Web products provide access to unparalleled instructional resources.

Among the bigchalk suite of tools is bigchalk Library, a research database designed for ease of use and breadth of content, providing access to more than 2,000 full-text magazines, newspapers, reference books, and TV, radio and government transcripts, plus thousands of maps, pictures, and streaming audio and video. Other research products include the acclaimed ProQuest® products, each of which provides uncompromising coverage for every research need, and eLibraryTM, an easy-to-use Web reference tool for students of all ages. Bigchalk has superb curriculum products designed for subject comprehensiveness and ease-of-use. In particular, ClassMateTM Earth Science, Language Arts and U.S. History, and bigchalk's Integrated Classroom provide excellent solutions for classroom needs. Complete information about bigchalk's product line can be found on the company web site.
Companies waste billions on knowledge management because they fail to figure out what knowledge they need, or how to manage it. In his latest book, Thomas A. Stewart explains how to answer both questions.
An Information Model provides the framework for organizing your content so that it can be delivered and reused in a variety of innovative ways. Once you have created an Information Model for your content repository, you will be able to label information in ways that will enhance search and retrieval, making it possible for authors and users to find the information resources they need quickly and easily.
Kevin Werbach, the editor of Esther Dyson's Release 1.0 (http://release1.edventure.com), wrote an excellent issue on Knowledge Management that's much in accord with what we've been blathering on about. Further, he says he's writing about "Post Modern KM" and we here at JOHO are such suckers for anything POMO that we once paid a guy at eBay an extra $25 because he offered to say the uninterruptible power supply we'd bought was in fact post-modern. So, we put the question to Kevin:

 What is postmodern knowledge management?
This link takes you to previous articles on this topic linked from EPSScentral.

As most experts would see it, the systems life cycle falls into the following phases:
1. Initiation or Inception
2. Analysis and Requirements Definition
3. Design
4. Construction
5. Installation or Deployment
6. Maintenance
And, optionally, the last phase, which may or may not be included in the actual life cycle: Remove from Service/Obsolescence.
This month's Intranet Journal toolkit looks at five tools that can assist you in analyzing Web sites, in particular your Web site and competitors' Web sites. These tools will give you an idea of how your competitors are building their Web sites to increase traffic— which will lead to higher revenues. We recommend that you test out the majority of the following tools to see which software best fit your needs.
What happens in a Technographed meeting is as different from a conventional meeting as writing on a computer is as different from a typewriter.

On a typewriter, you have to get everything more or less organized before you type the first letter. And from then on it's pretty much no-take-backs. You have to start with the whole picture and then fit the pieces in, one-at-a-time, in order, from first to last. This is how most meetings are run, except usually no one has the whole picture from the start.

When you're writing on a computer, you can record whatever comes to mind - facts, notes, observations - in whatever order they happen. Then you can simply cut-and-paste, drag-and-drop until everything falls into a cohesive, logical, grammatical, spell-checked and formatted whole.

Writing on the computer is like doing a jigsaw puzzle - first you get all the pieces in one place, then you look for the fit, until cluster by cluster you create the whole picture.
ENTERPRISE APPLICATION INTEGRATION
A new category on EPSScentral.
What are Web services and what do they mean for your business? Web services can provide a new foundation for your enterprise's IT infrastructure and extend your investments in existing systems.
Enterprise Commerce Management is an umbrella covering ERP, CRM, and B2B technologies. Recently, eAI Journal asked John Burmudez, senior vice president with AMR, to help explain what's really happening with ECM and where it's taking us.
This link takes you to previous articles on this topic linked from EPSScentral.
Screen mapping tools are more intelligent, dynamic, and robust than their screen scraping predecessors. Screen mapping employs a three-tier approach to Web-enabling the legacy environment, and in effect turns legacy data fields into components.
The User Interface Domain seeks to improve all user/computer communications on the Web. In particular, the Domain is working on formats and languages that will present information to users with more accuracy and a higher level of control.
CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS, PRESENTATIONS, ETC.
Gloria Gery at Boston University, APRIL 9, 2002
Take a Seminar from A Pioneer in Performance Support Systems, and Inductee into Training Magazine's HRD Hall of Fame...
Location: Boston University Corporate Education Center
Date: April 9, 2002
Cost: $499 includes workshop, lunch, materials **
**15% discount for groups of 3 or more...
Take a Seminar from A Pioneer in Performance Support Systems, and Inductee into Training Magazine's HRD Hall of Fame!
Location: Boston University Corporate Education Center
Date: April 9, 2002
Cost: $499 includes workshop, lunch, materials **
**15% discount for groups of 3 or more...

First International Conference on Usage-Centered Design
25-28 August 2002 Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA
A Conference on Usage-Centered, Task-Driven, and Performance-Centered Design
for Software and Web Applications
Conference Theme: Design that Works

Conference Chairperson: Larry Constantine, Constantine & Lockwood, Ltd.
Program Chairperson: James Noble, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Industry Liaison: Helmut Windl, Siemens AG, Germany

Usage-centered design is coming of age as a proven, scaleable, and flexible approach for designing world-class user interfaces. Interest in this and related systematic techniques for user interface design has been growing rapidly around the world.

forUse 2002 will be the first conference of its kind devoted exclusively to usage-centered, task-driven, and performance-centered design for software and web-based applications. The conference will feature keynote and invited presentations by leading figures in usability and user interface design along with a full complement of tutorials and short presentations.

In addition to proposals for regular presentations (1.5 hours), we are also seeking proposals for special sessions (also 1.5 hours), such as panels or demonstrations, as well as full-day tutorials (6 hours) on both basic and advanced topics related to the conference focus. Presenters will get free registration for the full conference, publication in the proceedings, and publicity on the conference Web site. In addition, each regular session will earn a stipend of $500, and each all-day tutorial will earn $1500.

See www.forUse.com/2002/ for topics and further guidelines. Proposals (by email only, submissions@foruse.com) should include:
proposed title
type of session (regular, tutorial, panel, demonstration, etc.)
300-500-word abstract
100-200 author biographical sketch
full contact information for all presenter(s), including all email addresses

Multiple presenters and multiple proposals from the same presenter(s) are
acceptable.  Preliminary decisions on program content will be made early in 2002; the
precise conference planning schedule along with further details will be
released in December.

Watch for more details at www.forUse.com/2002/ .
MORE CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS, AND PRESENTATIONS
Implementing the full e-learning development process from prototyping, creating and building courses to web hosting.  This three-day blended online and hands-on workshop enables participants to experience how to set-up an e-learning program. At the end of the workshop, participants will have completed their mini-e-learning projects.

Nielsen Norman Group's User Experience 2001-2002 conference offers four exciting days, including: Web Usability Today, a full conference day of enlightening short talks from industry experts; one day of exclusive NN/g seminars; and two days of informative tutorials. Each of these days gives you the chance to Match wits with the sharpest minds in usability theory and practice. Soak up seminars, tutorials, and presentations that will help you build smarter interfaces, save your development dollars, ensure successful user experiences. Protect your budget. Pay for only the days you need. The more days you attend, the deeper the discount. Meet, share tactics, trade cards, munch bagels with UI pros. Our conferences draw experienced UI professionals from all markets.

Part One Training: Performance Support Mapping®
Part Two Training: Performance Centered Design Hands-On™

TechKnowlege 2002, February 4 - 7, 2002
Las Vegas
ASTD

Adam's Mark Hotel
Clearwater Beach, Fla.

Training 2002/Presentations 2002, February 18 - 20, 2002
Georgia World Congress Center
Atlanta

OnLine Learning 2002 Europe, March 5 - 6, 2002
London

ISPI 2002, April 21 - 25, 2002
Adam's Mark Hotel
Dallas, Texas U.S.A

Centra Summit, April 30 - May 3, 2002
Westin Copley Place Hotel
Boston, Mass.

World Education Market May 21 - 24, 2002
Liboa Congress Centre
Lisbon, Portugal

ASTD 2002 June 2 - 6, 2002
New Orleans

Hypertext '02 June 11th - 15th, 2002
University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
Connecting the World, One Learner at a Time
Session Types Include ...
Keynotes · Featured Sessions · Breakout Sessions · hands-on Learning Labs · Workshops · Special Events

Co-Located Events
E-learning in Higher Ed Conference · E-learning Industry Outlook (A Symposium for Suppliers, Venture Capitalists, Analysts and Industry Observers) · Click2learn User Conference

Special Session Tracks
Online Learning 101 · Simulations · Streaming Media · How to Buy E-learning Products and Services · Case Studies · Performance Support 2002


REPORTS and STUDIES
To have a high-performance software organization, you must have high-performances teams, staffed with high-performance software engineers. The SEI has developed the Personal Software ProcessSM (PSPSM) and the Team Software ProcessSM (TSPSM) to provide a roadmap for organizations and individuals to follow on this road to high performance.
While the Capability Maturity Model® (CMM®) focuses on what organizations should do, it does not specify how to reach those goals. The PSP provides specific guidance on how individual engineers can continually improve their performance. The TSP provides specific guidance on how PSP-trained engineers can work as effective team members as part of a high-performance team. All of these technologies can work together to allow organizations to produce quality software on schedule.
Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMISM) models have evolved the Capability Maturity Model (CMM®) concept, established by the Capability Maturity Model for Software (SW-CMM), to a new level that enables the continued growth and expansion of the CMM concept to multiple disciplines. Like the SW-CMM, EIA/IS 731, IPD-CMM, and other process improvement models, CMMI models are tools that help organizations improve their processes. This CMMI model is designed to help organizations improve their product and service development, acquisition, and maintenance processes. Concepts covered by this model include systems engineering, software engineering, and integrated product and process development as well as traditional CMM concepts such as process management and project management. Each CMMI model is designed to be used in concert with other CMMI models, making it easier for organizations to pursue enterprise-wide process improvement at their own pace. This CMMI model has a staged representation, which focuses on measuring process improvement using maturity levels. Maturity levels apply to process-improvement achievement across the organizational unit using the model.