Usability
Meet other local people interested in Usability: share experiences, inspire and encourage each other! Join a Usability group.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Check out usability events happening today here. These are in-person gatherings where you can meet fellow enthusiasts and participate in activities right now.
Discover all the usability events taking place this week here. Plan ahead and join exciting meetups throughout the week.
Absolutely! Find usability events near your location here. Connect with your local community and discover events within your area.
Usability Events This Week
Discover what is happening in the next few days
Ukulele Club
Ukulele Club is a fun group for all ages and skill levels! There is no teacher, but we all help teach each other. Think of songs you would like to learn, and we can learn them together.
If you don't have an ukulele, we have extra ukuleles
When: *almost* Every Saturday, 10am-11:30am
Admission: food/drink order
Language Exchange
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ストーリーハウスの言語交換会を再開します。
日本語または英語の上達を目指して、ぜひチャレンジしてみてください!ポジティブな気持ちで参加して、お互いに励まし合いながら、集中して成長しましょう。言語交換会は、日本語と英語の半分ずつに分けて行います。他の言語を開催できる場合は、時間を追加します。
使いたい教材があればご持参ください。また、必要に応じてメモが取れるように、ノートも必ずご持参ください。気軽におしゃべりしたり、会話に参加したりしてください。
参加費は無料ですが、カフェでご注文をお願いいたします。
We are reintroducing our Storyhouse Language Exchange.
Push yourself to improve Japanese or English! Come with a positive attitude, and encourage each other to focus and grow. We will split the language exchange into half, between Japanese and English. If additional languages are available, we will add time.
Bring any study materials you want to use. And be sure to bring writing utensils so you can take notes as you need. Feel free to talk and participate in conversations.
There is no participation fee, but please make your order at the cafe.
Usability Events Near You
Connect with your local Usability community
Ensuring Software Quality in the world of AI Developers - Matt Eland
**Important time note:** Please plan on arriving between 5:30 and 6:00 as the elevators lock after 6 and you'll need to message us and we'll need to come get you.
The building address is 4450 Bridge Park
The entrance is 6620 Mooney St, Suite 400
You will need to scan your ID at the door to get a visitor badge.
**Abstract**
Like it or not, AI agents are now capable of turning a quickly written paragraph of requirements into a pull request that is ready to be integrated into real-world production applications and it's now our responsibility to make sure AI doesn't go rogue and take down prod - or corrupt our data by misunderstanding the requirements or our existing schemas. In this session we'll explore strategies to protect our codebases through unit and integration testing, documentation, and code review along with additional ways of providing context and guard rails to our AI agents as they carry out the work we've assigned them to do. By the time we're done, you'll have a firm grasp of the problem and understand some helpful options for protecting your codebase from vibe coding mishaps getting YOLOed into prod.
**YouTube Link**
https://youtube.com/live/BltmWMH1zG0?feature=share
Jules and Jim, the Book!
By popular demand, the group wanted to read and discuss the semi-autobiographical novel by Henri-Pierre Roche, that inspired the Truffaut movie we watched last year.
The book is available through the Columbus Library's interlibrary loan system. They reported there are twenty-eight copies available in the state of Ohio. If you have a library card, you can file an interlibrary loan request here: https://www.columbuslibrary.org/library-services/ . There are also used copies available on Amazon and eBay for under twenty dollars.
You may want to rewatch the movie after reading the book, so we can compare and contrast in our discussion. The Columbus Library has four copies on DVD, and it's streaming on HBOMax.
Prompting Is Not Magic: How to Give AI Better Context
Most people use AI like a search box: they type one sentence, hope for the best, and get frustrated when the answer is generic, wrong, or useless.
But getting better results from tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and other AI systems is not about memorizing magic prompts. It is about learning how to give the AI better context.
In this beginner-friendly session, we’ll break down how to make AI dramatically more useful by improving the way you communicate with it. You’ll learn how to give clearer instructions, provide examples, set constraints, ask for better output formats, and use follow-up questions to turn a mediocre answer into a genuinely useful one.
We’ll cover practical techniques you can use immediately for work, learning, writing, coding, planning, research, and everyday problem solving. We’ll also touch on why these same ideas show up in more advanced AI systems, including RAG, agents, evaluations, and AI workflows.
No technical background required. Bring your curiosity, your questions, and maybe one real task you wish AI was better at helping you with.
**What you’ll learn:**
* Why “better prompting” is really about better context
* How to structure requests so AI gives more useful answers
* How to use examples, constraints, and output formats
* How to iterate when the first answer is not good enough
* How these skills connect to more advanced AI workflows
This meetup is for anyone who wants to move beyond basic ChatGPT usage and start getting more practical value out of AI.
LOGISTICS AND PARKING:
The talk starts at 7:00 PM. The first half hour is reserved for everyone to get set up and mingle. Free pizza and drinks!
The cheapest parking option is to find street parking, which will only cost you a few bucks. Otherwise, park in the nearby veteran's museum lot for $8. It's highly recommended you avoid the nearby $15 garage parking.
Cocoaheads
Come out to Improving for our monthly iOS and Mac meetings.
This Month's Presentation:
Nothing yet. (You should volunteer).
What is Cocoaheads (http://cocoaheads.org/)?
CocoaHeads is a group devoted to discussion of Apple Computer's Cocoa Framework for programming on MacOS X and iOS (including the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch). During monthly meetings, members present on their projects and offer tutorials on various programming topics.
What is BuckeyeCocoa (http://buckeyecocoa.org/)?
BuckeyeCocoa is a group of Objective-C/Swift developers/enthusiasts. We host monthly Cocoaheads and near-weekly NSCoder meetings in Columbus, Ohio. The meetings are free to attend.
Presentations!
Presenters welcome! We are always in need of people willing to present material. Any Swift and/or Objective-C related topic is welcome. Times can be 5 minutes (i.e. lightning talks) to a maximum of 2 hours. Interested? Contact info is on the BuckeyeCocoa website.
To volunteer for a presentation contact us at @BuckeyeCocoa on Twitter.
Follow us on Twitter! @BuckeyeCocoa (https://twitter.com/#!/Buckeyecocoa/) For more information: http://buckeyecocoa.org/
THE BEAST/ La Bête (2023)
In the year 2044, in the age of AI, a woman named Gabrielle (Seydoux) tries to purify her DNA by purging the inherited memories of her past lives. She (re)lives her life in 1910 Paris and 2014 Los Angeles, and as the procedure goes on, the lines between her worlds become blurred. These three timelines have a lot of connective tissue holding them together; certain symbols and motifs appear repeatedly, not to mention Mackay’s Louis, a figure whom Gabrielle seems drawn to in each lifetime.
Feel Good Friday: POWER BALLAD at the Gateway Film Center + SHAKE NO. 8!
Join us as we get together to see Paul Rudd in the latest comedy-drama-musical from John Carney, POWER BALLAD! The film follows a washed-up wedding singer, a fading boy band singer and a stolen hit song. Here’s a description, trailer and plan for this event:
DESCRIPTION: Rick, a washed-up wedding singer, and Danny, a fading boy band star, bond over music and a late-night jam session. When Danny turns Rick's song into a hit, Rick sets out to reclaim the recognition he believes he deserves. Power Ballad is written/directed by John Carney, the master of the modern musical and creative mind behind Once, Begin Again and Sing Street! It stars Paul Rudd, Nick Jonas, Peter McDonald, Marcella Plunkett, Havana Rose Liu and Jack Reynor.
BUZZ & ACCLAIM: The film premiered to rave reviews at this year’s Dublin International Film Festival where critics call it “a sure-fired crowd-pleaser” that “just might be the feel-good hit of the year!” Others say, “Paul Rudd delivers a career-best performance in this charmer” that’s both “hilarious and deeply moving!”
SUMMER OF ICE CREAM, VOL 2: SHAKE NO. 8! Ranked the #1 Ice Cream Shop in Columbus in 2024, this is the perfect place to kick off our Summer of Ice Cream and grab a sweet treat after the show! Their menu features an array of traditional, specialty and vegan shakes, hot cocoa, and more! You can check out their full menu here: [https://www.shakeno8.com/menu.php](https://www.shakeno8.com/menu.php)
PLAN: We’ll plan for a 7pm-ish showing and will meet in the lobby area about 20 minutes before the show. Once showtime is announced, advance ticket purchase is advised! Once you have yours, please list your seat number in the Comments section of this event. We'll head to nearby Shake No. 8 immediately following the show!
Should be a fun one, Dan










