During the past month the ISSIP User Experience Special Interest Group (UE-SIG) has focused our attention on reviewing Service Design research and identifying Service Design conferences that the group should monitor and consider participating in.  As a group we reviewed and commented on “Toward a Science of Service Systems: Value and Symbols” by Jim Spohrer and Paul Maglio of IBM which looks at service science as a transdiscipline based on symbolic processes that can be used to compute the value of system interactions.  We began our discussion and planning for a whitepaper on the role that design thinking and user-centered design methodologies play in the construction and deployment of service solutions and future directions for research and study on the applications of these methods in new and innovative ways.

The UE-SIG continues to seek additional members with similar interests as well as those who are interested in expanding our current areas of focus.  Please send me a note at chair-uesig@issip.org  if you would like to learn more.