Hello Bruno, This sounds like an interesting experience. Can you share more details about the APPU's accreditation system? For example, how long have you been doing it? What is the proportion of accredited members to trainees? How has the APPU gotten the client community to recognize the value of your "seal of approval"?
Thanks, -- Jorge Arango On Nov 4, 2007, at 4:01 AM, Bruno Figueiredo wrote: > In Portugal I'm the President of the Usability Professionals > Association (APPU) and we had this problem in mind since the start. > Unfortunately it's very common in Portugal to see people without any > skills in a particular field to offer services within. Like everyone > is a sort of a handiman, "Sure, I know how to fix your car AND the > plumbing in your house". > > So when we started APPU we outlined the membership requirements so > that only people with at least minimum knowledge of the field are > full members. All of the other ones are sort of "trainees" until > they get more experience. That worked out quite well. > > Then, to prevent the problem with companies offering up services they > don't know nothing about we develop an Accreditation system. Only > companies with a full APPU member on their payroll and that prove to > incorporate HCI methods in their development process can have this > seal of approval. > > In the US, all of the Professional Associations, let anybody in. > That's good to popularize the field but has this kinds of drawbacks. > > I believe that eventually in the end, costumers will be able to > figure out if a company knows what it's doing or not, but we are > still far from that. > > > . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . > Posted from the new ixda.org > http://gamma.ixda.org/discuss?post=21962 > > > ________________________________________________________________ > *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* > February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA > Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ > > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe ................ http://gamma.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://gamma.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://gamma.ixda.org/help ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://gamma.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://gamma.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://gamma.ixda.org/help
