One of my goals this week is to start collecting cell phones to use in the upcoming World Usability Day activities. We’ve hooked up with a recycling company that will take donated phones and refurbish them for charity, or recycle them in an environmentally responsible way (cell phones are just loaded with stuff like mercury, lead, and cadmium). Got an old cell phone you don’t want any more?

The goal of World Usability Day is to promote the fields of usability engineering and user-centered design. We aim to do this by encouraging, organizing, and sponsoring activities at the local level around the globe, all occurring on November 3, 2005.

The international World Usability Day team is already on our way to the goal of raising awareness of the importance of easy to use technology and user centered design for all. There are confirmed local events in dozens of cities around the world. Here in Tucson, we’ll have an afternoon of activities highlighting the usability of kits, cell phones, web sites, and more. Maybe even tea bags.