About
The USiT Team is the dedicated “User Standards and innovative Technology” group within News Digital Media. The team works on the design of a wide range of web, mobile and internal applications.
You can find out more about each team member below.
Christopher Khalil
Director of User Experience
Chris has over 12 years experience in the field working on anything from the design of complex desktop applications and intelligent collaborative agent systems to RIA’s, websites and virtual worlds such as Second life. Over the years he has turned his hand to a few interesting design problems such as thermonuclear power plants control panels, immersive augmented reality enviroments, seismic simulators, intelligent agent interactions, websites and virtual worlds such as Second Life.
He has presented at a variety of international conferences and published numerous papers in the field. Prior to arriving in NSW Chris was the CHISIG leader for Victoria.
As well as his work at NDM he has designed solutions for clients such as BHP Billiton, CGU, Goodyear/Dunlop and Schlumberger and worked on HCI research at both Loughborough University and XeroxParc Europe, Cambridge (both in the UK).
Chris has a degree in Electronic Systems Design, a Research Masters in Telecommunications and a PhD in Human Computer Interaction. His thesis was on Auto-Adaptive Multimedia Interfaces.
He was behind the experience design of news.com.au and thepunch.com.au amongst other things.
Chris is an avid fan (tragic) of Liverpool FC.
You can read more of his musings on User Experience on his blog.
Twitter: chris_khalil
Scott Bryant
Senior Experience Architect
Scott began his career as a visual artist before working in university libraries and local government, and finally into new media over 13 years ago. Along the way he completed two Masters Degrees, in Media Art and Information Studies (while working as a Project Manager, Content Producer and IA). After a return from the US working on the Ask Jeeves innovative search interface he concentrated on user experience design working as Information Architect and lecturer in information and interaction design University of Technology, Sydney.
Sophie Ellis
Senior Experience Architect
Soph dived into the digital space more than 10 years ago, starting out as an Online Producer and then specialising in the area of information architecture and customer experience design.
Before joining the team at News Digital Media she worked for a number of organisations in Sydney and London driving user centred solutions for a clients including the Commonwealth Bank, Virgin Money, Vodafone and ecommerce retailer Marks & Spencer.
These days, Soph divides her time between USiT and kid-wrangling. When not in the office, she is likely to be found on the swings in the playground.
Angus Fraser
Senior Experience Architect
Angus is a Visual Artist turned Web Developer turned Information Architect. Since the mid nineties (with a recent detour via film school and media production) he has been hooked on designing for user experience. His past roles include Head of User Experience at 3 Mobile, Information Architect on numerous dot com bombs, Katoomba based freelance Web Developer and Bushwalker.
Patrick Kennedy
Design Research Lead
Patrick is responsible for the team’s user research activities. He has over ten years experience in the digital media and web industry, with expertise covering user research, user experience design, information architecture and best-practice web design.
As both a consultant and in-house practitioner, Patrick has delivered successful projects in a variety of different environments, including marketing and advertising, media, IT, manufacturing, not-for-profit and the public sector. He has worked with a variety of organisations, both in Australia and the United Kingdom.
Patrick holds a degree in Computer Systems Engineering from UTS and a nationally recognised training qualification (TAA40104 Certificate IV in Assessment and Training). He regularly speaks at industry conferences (including OZCHI, Open Publish, OZ-IA, webDU) and has published many articles on user experience related topics.
More of Patrick’s ramblings can be found on Pat’s Point of View, his personal blog. Follow him on Twitter using @patrickkennedy
USiT Alumni
Former members of the team who make an appearance on this blog, include:
Stephen Cox
(former) User Experience Director
Alun Machin
(former) Senior Experience Architect
Patrick Lee
(former) JavaScript Ninja
Louisa Cameron
(former) Senior Experience Architect
[...] making my maiden trip to Canberra. The speaker lineup looks great and good to see fellow NDM UX USiT team members Patrick Kennedy and Stephen Cox also made the [...]