Keynote Speakers

Steve Krug

For years (starting in 1987), usability expert Steve Krug labored in pleasant obscurity, helping clients like AOL, Apple, and Lexus develop products and Web sites that people could actually use and enjoy. But since his book Don’t Make Me Think! appeared in 2000 and sold 200,000 copies, he’s had to settle for relative obscurity. A second edition was published in August, 2005.

Nowadays he spends most of his time teaching usability workshops, lecturing, and doing expert usability reviews of Web sites and sites-in-progress. His consulting firm, Advanced Common Sense (just me and a few well-placed mirrors) is based in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

Keynote Description:

Everything You Need to Know about Usability

Higher education has some unique challenges—and, oddly enough, one or two significant advantages—when it comes to developing a useful Web presence. Using examples drawn from the Penn State Web world, Steve will explain why making your Web sites and applications more “user friendly” is actually much easier—and much harder—than you think.

Town Meeting

This year we are trying something different for our closing keynote presentation. Rather than the usual general session that closes the conference at the end of the day, Kevin Morooney, Vice Provost for Information Technology at Penn State will moderate a Town Meeting. Panelists will include our invited speakers from HighEdWeb including Mark Greenfield - Director of Web Services, University at Buffalo, Daniel Frommelt - World Wide Web Coordinator, University of Wisconsin-Platteville, Steven Lewis - Web Manager / Information Security Coordinator at The College at Brockpost, State University of New York, and Matthew Winkel - Communications Officer for Web and New Media at The College of New Jersey. Conference attendees will have an opportunity to submit questions to the panel. Audience participation will be essential!