Exclusive Concepts Unveils Community Blog for World Usability Day

Waltham, MA (PRWEB) November 8, 2007 -- To support World Usability Day (http://www.worldusabilityday.org/) on November 8, 2007, Exclusive Concepts, Inc. (http://www.exclusiveconcepts.com/), an online marketing firm known for expertise in driving sales, has created a Community Blog (http://build.exclusiveconcepts.com/WUD-Blog/) for the World Usability Day Website that will foster collaboration and sharing of resources for the global participants in the event.

The Community Blog is based on an Exclusive Concepts offering called Speak Up!? - an innovative communications platform that captures multiple voices from an organization to create a rich conversation with both internal and external constituencies. The World Usability Day Community Blog will allow participants to share resources, post articles, submit comments, and participate in the global conversation surrounding usability and health.

On November 8, 2007, towns and cities around the world will focus on a common global concern - Healthcare and Usability. Through 180 events in more than 40 countries, World Usability Day will bring together volunteers from corporations, organizations, and universities to focus on how healthcare is impacted by design. World Usability Day was founded in 2005, an initiative of the Usability Professionals' Association (UPA) (http://www.upassoc.org/worldusabilityday/index.html), to ensure that the services and products important to life are easier to access and simpler to use.

"We created Speak Up! as a platform for all kinds of organizations and businesses to engage multiple voices in a rich, multidimensional conversation. While some may harbor the misconception that a blog is a soapbox for a lone ranter, we are proving the opposite to be true, leveraging the power of social media to enable many voices. We are proud to have created such a forum for World Usability Day," said Scott Smigler, president and founder of Exclusive Concepts.

According to World Usability Day founder and director Elizabeth Rosenzweig, the first two World Usability Days have been a tremendous success, and the significance of the day continues to grow as a way to bring the world together towards a common goal of making life easier. This year's campaign is expected to attract an even larger audience than previously. In 2006, World Usability Day events attracted more than 40,000 people from 35 countries around the world.

"Usability affects everyone everyday, and this year's healthcare theme brings the significance of usability closer to home regardless of where you live," noted Rosenzweig. "This is not just about improving the quality of life; it's about potentially saving lives. When it comes to our health, it's not just nice to have products and processes work better; it's absolutely essential."

This year's events will draw attention to some of the key challenges and opportunities in healthcare today, from closing the gap in access inequity to decreasing the number of unnecessary deaths from medical errors. The day will kick off with a video taped "hello" from New Zealand that will be posted to the World Usability Day web site and You Tube and the day's activities will come to a close via Webcast from Microsoft in Redmond, WA.

This year's sponsors include Adobe, Apogee, Avenue a razorfish, Axure, Catalyze, Constant Contact, Creative With Direction, Dell, Different, E Software, Eventbrite, Exclusive Concepts, FatDux, Google, Human Factors International, IMC2, Intuit, Microsoft User Research, Mitsue-Links, OneSpring, Ovo Studios, PayPal, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Servigraphics, Sir Valuse, Techsmith, Texas Tech University, UC Berkeley School of Information, Usability Sciences, Usability.ch (http://usability.ch/), VKI Studios, and Weber Shandwick Worldwide.

For more information and a complete list of World Usability Events and Webcasts, visit www.worldusabilityday.org.

About Exclusive Concepts

Based in Waltham, Mass., Exclusive Concepts specializes in generating cost-effective online sales for business executives and entrepreneurs. Through expert online marketing services, Exclusive Concepts maximizes the Web's potential to meet and exceed clients' strategic marketing objectives. For more information, visit www.exclusiveconcepts.com.

Press Contacts:

Catherine Marenghi

Exclusive Concepts

781.449.8591

Caryn Saitz

World Usability Day

617-905-5691

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