TALKS /

Bend The Fish While It Is Still Wet

Technologies are of little consequence until they are surfaced through an acceptable interface. And since consumer products operate in the context of the society in which their users live, a good virtual or physical interface must be one that aligns with the accepted norms and practices of the users' societal fabric.This talk will explore the phenomena of mobile technology in East Africa to see what it teaches us about the nature of technology adoption and how to build consumer products that interface with society as a technology platform.What the mobile phone has done in countries like Tanzania and Kenya is permanent disruption. The reach and impact of mobile technology in these places is not hype. For millions of farmers, taxi drivers, and teachers, mobile money is a reality of everyday life in East Africa.These developments have been well documented, but it may surprise us to consider that the mobile money revolution in East Africa was not built on smartphones. It was built on dump/feature phones that existed before the first iPhone came into market, and there are useful lessons to be learned in this.

• Back

TALKS /

Dream Big, Think Small

Hoverboards, jetpacks, holograms, and "the next big thing:" none are everyday technologies not because we can't envision them, but because we haven't yet put together the capabilities to make them consumable technologies.The buzzing, blinking, and beeping atmosphere mediated by our ever-on, ever-connected, and ever-present devices has made it clear that computer technology revolutions will be grounded in making computing more humane (UX). But what the next lifestyle shaping and culture-making product will be is almost impossible to say. It's very hard to invent the future, but it is our job—and within our reach—to enable it. And the key to this is solving smaller problems.We'll consider how solving small and hard problems is what brings about capabilities, and it is capabilities—more so than vision—that is the link between our imagination and reality.

• Back

TALKS /

Designing Interfaces That Think

We are in a consequential shift in design as it relates to human-computer interaction. Design, at its core, has never been primarily about creating objects; it is fundamentally about solving problems. Aesthetic and functional forms and patterns—be they visual, cognitive, or tangible—are the product of problem solving. One of the most formidable problems that we will face when designing user interfaces in the emerging paradigm of ubiquitous computing, is how to manage the limited bandwidth of user attention.This talk addresses the need to extrapolate new models and metaphors of interaction in order to manage the burgeoning volume of features and signals in the software that mediates so much of our lives. In this world, user interfaces must become more transparent and unobtrusive. This means that they will need to do more than simply present features and information, they will also need to be able to know when to hide these things from us as well. Interfaces will have to be designed to proactively think ahead of us, and anticipate what we need before we need it.

• Back