Helping others is very important to me. This is why I love my job as a User Experience Researcher, but I always feel I could do more and so I volunteer in my spare time too.
July 2023 - Present
Zopeful are trying to do two things. Create a carbon removal portfolio, which actually removes carbon from our atmosphere and allows people to really offset the carbon they use. And create user friendly educational material to help people learn more about climate change and what they can do about it, without overwhelming them.
As a Climate Researcher (UX) on the volunteer team, I went through the data they had collected from their online course about what people would like to know more about, why they did the course and more, to give the team some real insight so they could build something that would really meet the ‘users’ needs.
November 1998 - Present
I have been giving blood since I was old enough to do so. I came very close to needing a blood transfusion when I was a child and vowed I would give blood when I was old enough. After all if you do not donate [if you can] you can not expect there to be blood if you or your family ever need it.
In March 2022 I made my 60th donation.
May 2016 - May 2024
I started attending LTUX London events back in 2014 and before long I found myself helping out at events and looking after their twitter feed.
I then joined the main team to help organise in-person events when they restarted in September 2022. My main responsibility was event communications via social media and email, but also helping on the day of the event with whatever was needed.
These event's helped me start out on my UX journey, so it was great to give back to the community by helping to organise them for others who might just be starting out too.
July 2022
As a Route Marshel, I spent seven hours out on the race route directing runner from the different races: 10K, 20K, 50K and 100K. I cheered each and every one on and told them the two most important things possible. 1. turn left here. And 2. You've got this, only a couple of miles to go.
At the end of 2020, my plan had been to run the 50k race. And I still hope to. But while I build up my running again, the next best thing than racing is supporting other runners to race.
October 2014 - Feb 2020
UXPA UK run an event or set of workshops each month. I helped out with the registration desk, setting up and tidying up at these events. I have also taken photos for the flickr page and written blog posts of the events I attend.
Due to Covid and events going online I had to give up volunteering, but still attend as many of the virtual events as possible.
August 2016 - December 2018
Electronic devices are a really important way to give visually impaired people more independence and freedom.
As a member of the Technology Support Squad for the RNIB I helped visually impaired people with the issues they might be having with their electronic devices. It might mean helping them to get started with a new device, set up new software or help with issues when a screen reader could not pick up the error message.
It was only a few hours a month, but it made a huge difference to the people that I helped.
January - September 2018
On 23 September 2018 I ran the Baxter's Loch Ness Marathon to raise money for Salisbury District Hospital Stars Appeal.
Thanks to the support of my friends, family and colleagues I managed to raise £835 for a charity which is very close to my own heart.
May 2015
As a Race Marshal, my role at the 5k Race for Life was to make sure the participants knew where to go, make sure they did not trip on the big pot hole I was guarding, but more importantly to encourage them to keep going. I also helped with litter picking between the races and helped clear up once the second race finished.
October 2013
The festival takes place over two weeks in October. I helped with various tasks including selling books, looking after authors - keeping the green room tidy, keeper of a roving mike and helping members of the public.
June 2013
Raised £290 by running 5km Race for Life with my sister.
January 2010 - August 2015
The group meets once a month and is made up of University staff, students and members of the public. I chaired the meetings, booked the room and set (optional) homework each month.
September - November 2004
I raised £2,500, before spending five weeks in Ecuador, four weeks of which were in the rainforest. We spend our time doing surveys of the birds and wildlife in the forest, as well as helping the local people to learn English. The idea being to create a tourist area where people could come to see the amazing wildlife and so stop the forest from being destroyed.
November 2003
I raised £1,500, before spending 10 days in Namibia. The group was split into two and so for the first five days I helped with the creation of an elephant 'dam', which was finished by the second group while we went trekking in the desert to see wild elephants. The 'dam' was to encourage the elephants to drink here instead of disturbing the nearby village when trying to find a water source.
If you have any questions about my work please feel free to contact me.
Email me on peneloperance@gmail.com or find me on Twitter or Linkedin.
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