The User Experience (UX) book club was an initiative started by Steve Baty, Principal at Meld Consulting in Sydney Australia.

As Steve pointed out in a recent article on Boxes and Arrows the value in the book club is the opportunity to share experiences through face-to-face interactions with other UX professionals and enthusiasts:

UX Book Club is a fairly simple idea: get a group of people together, choose a book, and agree on meeting details. Go away and read the book. On the date set, come together and discuss the book. Talk about how you might use what you’ve read in your work; how your experiences run counter to the book; an example of how the book is spot on. Have a bloody good argument about it, then go have a drink and talk about it some more.

I started the Ottawa chapter of the UX Book Club a few weeks back and I hope this will provide an opportunity to share experiences and ideas with other professionals and organizations.

I brought about a dozen books to the initial meeting for others to review. The group decided on The Back of the Napkin by Dan Roam . Coincidentally, Mr. Roam was recently announced as the keynote speaker for the 2010 Information Architecture Summit in Phoenix, Arizona.

Our next meeting will be at the umi cafe at 6:00pm on Thursday, November 26th to discuss The Back of the Napkin. Whether you’re a veteran of the field or simply interested in learning more, I hope that you’ll join us!

Please sign up on the Wiki and follow us on Twitter @uxbookottawa.