Thanks to everyone who joined us for the September meetup! A huge thank you once again to Codeweavers for hosting and supporting the event — their continued generosity makes these sessions possible.
Talk
UX Traps and Triumphs: Common Research and Design Pitfalls
In this session, we’ll explore the most common traps that ensnare even seasoned UX professionals, and derail the best planned UX research and design projects. I won’t just dwell on the negatives, I’ll also share some great tips to help you sidestep these pitfalls and create truly user-centric experiences in your UX research and design projects.
Whether you’re a UX veteran, or involved in any sort of design, or heading-up a project client-side; you’ll walk away with practical tips and valuable lessons learned that you can apply to your next project.
Thanks to everyone who joined us for the August meetup! A huge thank you once again to Codeweavers for hosting and supporting the event — their continued generosity makes these sessions possible.
Talk
Creating a Self-updating README with GitHub Actions
This talk provides an overview of the speaker’s journey in utilising GitHub Actions to create a profile README file that automatically updates itself with recent account activity. This is done with the goal of giving the audience a high-level introduction to the GitHub Actions platform while covering the speaker’s development decisions and considerations in achieving this task.
Thanks to all those who joined us at the July meetup. A huge thanks goes out to Codeweavers for graciously hosting our event once again. Their continued support is genuinely appreciated!
Our speaker, Callum, delivered an insightful talk titled “Frontend mocking, building for speed.” He introduced the concept of frontend mocking and demonstrated how it can help developers build faster and more reliable applications.
During our open discussion session, led by Natasha, we delved into various topics, including CrowdStrike and the current state of AI in development.
Callum presented his talk on frontend mocking, a technique that can help developers build faster and more reliable applications. He introduced Mock Service Worker (MSW), a tool that enables developers to mock API responses and test their applications in a controlled environment.
During the presentation, Callum demonstrated techniques for dynamically controlling mock data at runtime. This approach allows developers to simulate various scenarios and test how their application behaves under different conditions.
He emphasized the importance of adding randomness to mocked data to uncover edge cases and potential bugs. By introducing randomness, developers can identify issues that might not be apparent with fixed, predetermined data sets.
The frontend mocking approach combines the benefits of automated testing with the flexibility of manual testing. It enables developers to quickly iterate on their code and catch issues early in the development process.
By leveraging tools like MSW and incorporating dynamic mocking techniques, developers can build more robust and reliable applications while saving time and effort in the testing phase.
Despite an unexpected change in plans, our June meetup turned out to be an engaging and insightful evening. Unfortunately, our scheduled speaker had to back out due to an injury and recovery process. However, we were thrilled to host another Show and Tell session featuring a talented Staffordshire University student, Jess Twigg, who presented her final year project titled “Utilising AI and Personality To Encourage Exercise As A Way Of Life.”
We wrapped up the evening with our open discussion session led by Fiona. This session, inspired by the Lean Coffee format, allows attendees to collaboratively set the agenda and contribute to the conversation. It provides a platform for participants to share their thoughts, experiences, and insights on various topics related to technology and beyond. The open discussion format never fails to spark engaging and thought-provoking exchanges among our community members, making it a highlight of our meetups.
Talk
Utilising AI and Personality To Encourage Exercise As A Way Of Life
Jess’s project aims to tackle the challenge of motivating individuals to incorporate regular exercise into their lives, promoting fitness and overall well-being. She explored how artificial intelligence (AI) can be leveraged in conjunction with personality insights to create personalised exercise plans that cater to each user’s unique preferences and interests. By tailoring the exercise experience to individual personalities, Jess believes that people will be more likely to embrace and sustain a healthy lifestyle.
The presentation sparked thought-provoking discussions among the attendees, as they pondered the potential of AI in promoting healthy habits and the role of personality in shaping one’s approach to fitness.
Thanks to all those who joined us at the May meetup. We were delighted to host two students from Staffordshire University, Noor-Us Sabah and Ed Barton, who presented their Final Year Projects.
Noor-Us Sabah showcased her project, “SmartRecycle – Home Recycling App,” which aims to simplify home recycling by using AI image recognition to identify objects and offer recycling guidance based on material, as well as upcycling ideas.
Ed Barton, on the other hand, demonstrated his work on “Implementing Software-Controlled Mood Lighting for Smart Bulbs Through Colour Detection in Visual Media,” exploring the intersection of smart home technology and visual media.
These presentations not only gave our group an insight into the innovative projects undertaken by the students but also provided them with a valuable opportunity to hone their presentation skills before the upcoming GradEx event hosted by Staffordshire University in June.
We extend our gratitude to Codeweavers for graciously hosting our event once again. Their continued support is genuinely appreciated, and we look forward to many more engaging meetups in the future.
Thanks, Ian Knight, for photographing the event for us.
Staffs Web Meetup 