SCHED* SXSW 2011 has ended

Create Your Own Event

SCHED* SXSW 2011

2:00pm CST

How Not to Design Like a Developer

Open source projects, in particular, have long skimped on presentation and packaging (basically, they are the equivalent of "she has a great personality!" in the world of blind dating). This talk is on how designer (graphic, UI & UX, all deft ninjas of the visual and editorial) organize and contribute their visual hacks to open source projects, working in tandem with engineers. Specifically, we'll look at how designers can get involved with Mozilla's Creative Collective, as well as how developers can leverage some of lessons learned by Mozilla's workflow and community-organizing techniques to foster their own design communities and inspire individuals to contribute to other open source projects of all sizes. People who have contributed to or are working on an open source project, do so in an effort to create and distribute free software (free as in “free speech” v. free as in “drinks on me tonight!”*). This is a great opportunity to get involved with a team and movement (or start your own) that making a better and more awesome internet. As a bonus, contributing to open source is also a great way to enhance your portfolio, discover the brightest people, and create career-inspiring opportunities for yourself and your peers.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_IAP000506

Speaker

Marian Christine Brodigan

Web, Write, Walk

Chrissie Brodigan

Engagement LeadMozilla/FirefoxAs for me, don't let the blonde hair or big, goofy smile, fool you. I've been partner to delightful experiences around web content & community for about a decade for sites like HuffPost. Over the past few years, I've worked namely on data-driven conversion... Read More →

Friday March 11, 2011 2:00pm - 3:00pm CST
Austin Convention Center, Ballroom B

Panel, Interactive

Tags Solo, #BetterDesign

3:30pm CST

Social Games: Manipulating Your Brain Chemistry, For Good

Generally speaking, there's an assumption that casual games are a waste of time. What can playing a "meaningless" Facebook game for a few minutes really accomplish, anyways? Do I really need to "rescue" another "sheep"? Another point of view is that they're a little bit sinister, manipulating you into emptying your wallet, or giving up personal information. But perhaps both positions are missing the point. This new genre we call "Casual Social Games" represents a fascinating opportunity to better understand our own behavior, and to direct it, intentionally, for our own benefit, and for the greater good of society.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_IAP5539

Speaker

Jason Brown

VP, Player InsightsZyngaJason Brown is Vice President, Marketing & Player Insights at Zynga. His teams' work is to understand players well enough to deliver the most fun and social game experience. Before Zynga, Jason drove customer focus at eBay, as VP of Consumer Loyalty (North... Read More →

Michael Fergusson

CEOAyogo Games IncMichael is the Chief Executive Officer and founder of Ayogo Games Inc., and is dedicated to the idea that playing is one of the most productive things we can do. He’s been an entrepreneur and innovator on the Web for over 15 years, and the games he has developed... Read More →

Brenda Gershkovitch

CEOSilicon Sisters Interactive IncBrenda Bailey Gershkovitch was previously the C.O.O. of Deep Fried Entertainment, a PSP, DS and Wii development studio in Yaletown, Vancouver. As C.O.O. of Deep Fried, Brenda oversaw all operations of the studio and brought five console games to market... Read More →

Adam Penenberg

Professor/editor/writerPandoDaily

Margaret Wallace

CEOPlaymatics

Friday March 11, 2011 3:30pm - 4:30pm CST
Austin Convention Center, Ballroom B

Panel, Interactive

Tags Panel, #makinggamesbetter

5:00pm CST

Google Doodles: Burning Man to Pac-Man and Beyond

With over 700 fun and geeky custom logos adorning Google’s international homepages, doodles have become synonymous with the Google brand. Through a visual feast of never-before-seen high-res art and outtakes, this presentation will examine the history, popularity, and controversy of Google doodles from the perspective of the small team of artists and developers who create them. This being SXSW Interactive, we will highlight the ingenuity behind special doodles like the playable Pac-Man and animated Rube Goldberg/Fourth of July doodles. We also will take a look behind the scenes of the H.G. Wells mystery doodles, the week that the Sesame Street muppets took over Google, the action-packed Olympics series, and more ways we play on our homepage. Finally, we’ll touch on the feedback we receive, lessons learned, the Doodle4Google children’s art competition, what it takes to be a Google Doodler, and the future of Google doodles.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_IAP8008

Speaker

Ryan Germick

Doodle Team Creative LeadGoogleRyan Germick is the Creative Lead for the Google Doodle Team. He's created and collaborated on Google homepage logos with subject matter as diverse Sesame Street, Akira Kurosawa, Pac-Man, and halloween candy. Recently rejoining the team after a hiatus... Read More →

Marcin Wichary

User Experience DesignerGoogleMarcin Wichary is a senior user experience designer at Google. His latest projects include Chrome, Google Instant, and Google’s real-time search; he also programmed the popular Google Pac-Man and Jules Verne doodles. Marcin also spends a lot of time... Read More →

Friday March 11, 2011 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Austin Convention Center, Ballroom B

Panel, Interactive

Tags Dual, #GoogleDoodle

9:30am CST

Designing Stuff Kids Will Use and Love

PBS KIDS has been designing non-commercial websites and interactive games for kids for over 10 years. Making an interactive product that appeals, engages and is usable by a child is not as simple as using Comic Sans and replacing an “S” with a “Z”. Children's abilities change rapidly and producers need to ensure that products are developmentally accessible. This session will focus on designing for two audiences: pre-readers (3-5) and readers (6-8), through case-studies revealing how and why design choices were made based on experience, user testing and informed guesses.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_IAP6591

Speaker

Chris Bishop

Creative DirPBS KIDS DigitalChris Bishop is the Creative Director of PBS KIDS Digital, where he has designed websites, apps & games for kids since 2000. Most recently, Chris created the concept for the new PBS KIDS brand which launched online & on-air in 2013. He is from Syracuse... Read More →

Silvia Lovato

Dir PBS KIDS GO! InteractivePBSSilvia Lovato manages the PBS KIDS GO! Web site, PBS’s Web destination for elementary school kids. She's been at PBS since 2000, working with media producers on interactive, educational content for children. Silvia started her career in online news... Read More →

Rick Pinchera

Sr Interactive DesignerWGBH Educational FoundationRick Pinchera is a Senior Interactive Designer at WGBH in Boston. He has over 11 years of experience creating new media for many of PBS Kids' premiere shows, such as Curious George, Martha Speaks and Arthur. With a skill set that includes... Read More →

Dan Willis

Dir of Mobile Experience DesignMarriott

Saturday March 12, 2011 9:30am - 10:30am CST
Austin Convention Center, Ballroom B

Panel, Interactive

Tags Panel, #designingforkids

11:00am CST

Your Mom Has an iPad: Designing for Boomers

It’s a cultural phenomenon that most of us didn’t see coming: baby boomers are taking over Facebook, while the millenials are abandoning it like crazy because it is so last year. After all, what 20-something wants his mom to see his status update about last night’s party? This example signifies a trend in technology overall: the assumed late adopters are now joining early adopters as technology becomes increasingly easy and fun to use. Devices such as the Wii and the iPad have overwhelmingly been adopted by the older and less technologically savvy crowd. The trend has significant design implications. As we’re designing for emergent devices, we need to be very aware that we’re definitely not designing for ourselves. User research will become even more critical, with particular attention paid to the more mature crowd as they have different needs from other generations. Security, privacy and ease of use are key attributes for this audience that we may have overlooked, thinking we were designing for younger users. During this session, John will discuss specific case studies of companies that saw the benefits of conducting the necessary user research to understand the needs, goals and motivations of the boomer crowd as well as specific design techniques that appeal to a more mature audience. In addition, he’ll also explore whether there is one, common design language that speaks to the needs of multiple generations.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_IAP6814

Speaker

John McRee

EffectiveUI

Saturday March 12, 2011 11:00am - 12:00pm CST
Austin Convention Center, Ballroom B

Panel, Interactive

Tags Solo

12:30pm CST

Time Traveling: Interfaces for Geotemporal Visualization

Displaying geography alone is easy: interactive maps are more and more a part of our everyday lives. Displaying time alone is easy: we are all familiar with charts and animations that show the passage of time. It is increasingly common to display time and space together in a single visual interface as well, but this combination has raised a number of new questions. There are few conventions or standards for geotemporal visualization, and we are still discovering which approaches are most effective for which datasets. Focusing particularly on historical data, this panel will explore issues in the modeling and visualization of geotemporal information, presenting existing approaches and discussing new trends.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_IAP6627

Speaker

Ana Boa-Ventura

Co-Foundermedia shotsAna Boa-Ventura works in the digital humanities and in new media for social action as both an academic and, more recently, as an entrepreneur. As an academic, she works on time and space representations of a non Euro-centric vision of the Middle Ages with an international... Read More →

Adam Rabinowitz

Asst ProfessorUniversity of TexasAdam Rabinowitz is Assistant Professor of Classics and Assistant Director of the Institute of Classical Archaeology at the University of Texas at Austin. He holds a PhD (2004) from the Interdepartmental Program in Classical Art and Archaeology at the... Read More →

Nicholas Rabinowitz

nickrabinowitz.comNick Rabinowitz is a web developer and information management consultant with over 15 years of experience working on interactive projects for non-profit, academic, and UN organizations. He holds a Master's degree from the UC Berkeley School of Information, where... Read More →

Irene Ros

Senior Open Source Data Visualization DeveloperBocoupIrene is an open source senior developer at Bocoup, where she focuses all her time and passion on data visualization. Her love of news and journalism has led her down the rabbit hole of storytelling with data and she's currently... Read More →

Ryan Shaw

Asst ProfessorUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel HillRyan is an assistant professor in the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research looks at how events might be used as conceptual structures for digitally organizing... Read More →

Saturday March 12, 2011 12:30pm - 1:30pm CST
Austin Convention Center, Ballroom B

Panel, Interactive

Tags Panel, #timespace

3:30pm CST

Social Media Data Visualization: Mapping the World's Conversations

As individuals and companies across the world rely more and more heavily on social media, data visualization has become sine qua non in not only displaying analytics and metrics, but also in understanding macro and micro trends by platform, network and individual. This panel will explore information design, data visualization, relationship mapping and statistics -- and how they all fit together to create compelling infographics, data visualizations and dynamic dashboards in hot pursuit of the holy grail of information design: make it more digestible and more human. Proposed by well-known data visualization firm JESS3 (see especially: The Conversation Prism and The State of the Internet), the panel will not only share insights into what makes a good infographic or social media data visualization, but also seek to explore the significance of these graphics in relation to the expanding reach and uses of social media as not just tellers of social media stories, but part of larger content-based communications strategies.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_IAP7771

Speaker

Adam Bly

FounderVisualizing.orgAdam Bly founded Seed, ScienceBlogs, and Visualizing.org, and is the editor of "Science is Culture: Conversations at the New Intersection of Science + Society" (HarperCollins). He has lectured at the World Economic Forum, The Museum of Modern Art, Harvard, MIT... Read More →

Eric Friedman

Dir of Business DevFoursquareEric Friedman is Director of Business Development at Foursquare. Eric was formerly at Union Square Ventures, a venture capital firm focussed on early stage web services and technology companies. He also spent three years working at Reprise Media, a full... Read More →

Robin Richards

Information Design DirJESS3Born on St Helena Island, in the South Atlantic Ocean, Robin studied in Colchester, Essex, UK, before returning to St Helena, where he worked as a teacher, ordnance surveyor and in local media. While on the island, Richards started and ran his own design... Read More →

Benjamin Wiederkehr

Managing DirInteractive ThingsBenjamin is User Experience Designer and wholeheartedly passionate about making things understandable. He is founding partner and managing director of Interactive Things, a design and technology studio based in Zürich, Switzerland. He has helped clients... Read More →

Saturday March 12, 2011 3:30pm - 4:30pm CST
Austin Convention Center, Ballroom B

Panel, Interactive

Tags Panel

5:00pm CST

All These Worlds Are Yours: Visualizing Space Data

At the intersection of video gaming technology, open government and citizen science are new applications making it easier and more fun for the public to explore space data. Get an inside look at virtual environments incorporating real-time spacecraft data and images. Become an armchair astronaut and travel through the cosmos from your personal computer. Ride along with NASA spacecraft, hazardous asteroids and distant planets, or just experience the vastness and beauty of space. All these worlds are yours... including Europa.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_IAP7004

Speaker

Douglas Ellison

Founding AdminUnmannedSpaceflight.comA graduate in Multimedia Design I started my career as an animator then multimedia producer for a medical e-learning company in Leicester, England. In 2004 I founded UnmannedSpaceflight.com - a forum for sharing and discussing images made by amateur... Read More →

Kevin Hussey

MgrJet Propulsion LaboratoryKevin J. Hussey Kevin is currently the Manager of Visualization Technology Applications and Development at NASA/Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). His most recent achievements use video game technology to immerse the general public and JPL mission... Read More →

Veronica McGregor

News & Social Media MgrNASA Jet Propulsion LaboratoryVeronica McGregor tweets to millions of people each day while channeling her inner robot. She manages the award-winning news and social media operations at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, overseeing accounts and campaigns across... Read More →

Miles O'Brien

PBS

Saturday March 12, 2011 5:00pm - 6:00pm CST
Austin Convention Center, Ballroom B

Panel, Interactive

Tags Panel, #RealSpace

9:30am CDT

Creative and Effective Leadership in Design Environments

A search on Amazon shows 62,000+ books on leadership but almost nothing to help creative team leaders build and sustain a creative environment. Creativity and innovation can be delicate and emotionally fraught processes. Leadership theories are helpful, but what do you do when your star designer suddenly starts mailing it in? Or a project team is frozen in infighting? Or one of your designers just can't find their footing in a new project? When you got your big promotion for being an amazing designer, no one told you that you needed an entirely new skill set. Sink or swim, baby. For this session, Sarah B. Nelson gets practical on the topic of creative leadership. From vision development to team alignment, from bottom-up empowerment to top-down intervention, Sarah will inspire you with practical ideas to motivate your team and rouse them to greatness. She will draw on her extensive experience leading creative teams at Adaptive Path and Hot Studio -- and inform the discussion with research and interviews from organizational psychologists, experienced managers, and successful creative leaders.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_IAP5778

Speaker

Sarah Nelson

Principal, User ExperienceHot StudioSarah has nearly 15 years of experience in interactive media, designing kiosks, mobile, and online experiences for clients in a variety of industries. She has a particular passion for practice development, conducting research into methods for improving... Read More →

Sarah B Nelson

PrincipalTapir & TineSarah B. Nelson (@sarahbeee) is the Chief Instigator and Igniter of Passions at Tapir & Tine. Tapir & Tine helps organizations transform from process followers into design leaders through disruptive training, coaching and facilitation.

Sunday March 13, 2011 9:30am - 10:30am CDT
Austin Convention Center, Ballroom B

Panel, Interactive

Tags Solo, #CreativeDesignLeadership

11:00am CDT

Dork Intervention: Bringing Design to Agile

Agile is broken. How can designers help deliver products that users will love while grappling with the constraints of agile in corporations? With large companies rapidly adopting agile methods, it is crucial that these teams include designers to create great products. But the agile framework available to larger companies doesn't take into account the work style of design team members. Agile, by its nature, shortcuts the design process without considering the value that design brings, not only in providing on-the-fly design solutions but also when crafting the vision of a product that the team can build towards. We are designers with agile team experience in the corporate world. These are our stories of triumph and tragedy. Come hear what worked for us and share your own war stories.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_IAP6299

Speaker

Kris Corzine

ConsultantN/AKris brings a background in anthropology and writing to user experience. She spent several years working in mobile startups creating content and providing user experience design management. A concern for her friends trying to keep their small businesses going during the... Read More →

Karl Nieberding

Interaction DesignereBayKarl is an interaction designer at eBay, where he works in an agile team to design how casual users will easily and enjoyably sell their items online. He developed a strong focus on using an iterative design process to fulfill real customer needs while earning... Read More →

Sunday March 13, 2011 11:00am - 12:00pm CDT
Austin Convention Center, Ballroom B

Panel, Interactive

Tags Dual, #Agileisbroken

12:30pm CDT

No Excuse: Web Designers Who Can't Code

Some of the most important design decisions happen in code. In 2009, I gave a talk at the Build conference in Belfast with what I thought was a fairly uncontroversial premise: web designers should write code. Since then, the subject has sparked more than a few debates, including a particular heated pile-on when Elliot Jay Stocks tweeted that he was "shocked that in 2010 I’m still coming across ‘web designers’ who can’t code their own designs. No excuse." In a recent interview, Jonathan Ive said "It's very hard to learn about materials academically, by reading about them or watching videos about them; the only way you truly understand a material is by making things with it." He's talking about product design, but the principle is just as relevant to the Web (if not more so). "The best design explicitly acknowledges that you cannot disconnect the form from the material--the material informs the form.... Because when an object's materials, the materials' processes and the form are all perfectly aligned.... People recognize that object as authentic and real in a very particular way." As our industry grows and roles get more specialized, it's possible to become a "web designer" without more than a cursory understanding of the fundamental building materials of the Web: the code. Is this just the price of progress? Are the days of the web craftsman soon to be in the past? Or is a hybrid approach to web design and development something worth preserve?
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_IAP6358

Speaker

Jenn Lukas

Interactive Dev DirHappy CogJenn Lukas loves coffee, kittens, and is a leading authority on structural semantic markup and CSS. She has been coding the Internets since 1999 and is currently the Interactive Development Director at Happy Cog. Over the last year, you might have seen... Read More →

Ethan Marcotte

ethanmarcotte.comEthan is an independent designer and developer in Boston, Massachusetts. Over the years, he’s been fortunate to work with such clients as New York Magazine, Stanford University, Mozilla, and the World Wide Web Consortium. Recently, he created “responsive web design... Read More →

Wilson Miner

Head of DesignRdioWilson is a designer and web developer. He's currently head of design for Rdio, a new social music service. He was the co-founding designer for EveryBlock, which the New York Times called "one of the most ambitious hyperlocal news sites." He worked on the first comprehensive... Read More →

Ryan Sims

Lead DesignerRdio

Sunday March 13, 2011 12:30pm - 1:30pm CDT
Austin Convention Center, Ballroom B

Panel, Interactive

Tags Panel, #noexcuse

3:30pm CDT

Solr Power FTW: Make NoSQL Your Bitch!

Solr is an open source, Lucene based search platform originally developed by CNET and used by the likes of Netflix, Yelp, and StubHub which has been rapidly growing in popularity and features during the last few years. Learn how Solr can be used as a Not Only SQL (NoSQL) database along the lines of Cassandra, Memcached, and Redis. NoSQL data stores are regularly described as non-relational, distributed, internet-scalable and are used at both Facebook and Digg. This presentation will quickly cover the fundamentals of NoSQL data stores, the basics of Lucene, and what Solr brings to the table. Following that we will dive into the technical details of making Solr your primary query engine on large scale web applications, thus relegating your traditional relational database to little more than a simple key store. Real solutions to problems like handling four billion requests per month will be presented. We'll talk about sizing and configuring the Solr instances to maintain rapid response times under heavy load. We'll show you how to change the schema on a live system with tens of millions of documents indexed while supporting real-time results. And finally, we'll answer your questions about ways to work around the lack of transactions in Solr and how you can do all of this in a highly available solution.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_IAP7455

Speaker

Grant Ingersoll

Member, Tech SvcsLucid ImaginationGrant Ingersoll is a founder and member of the technical staff at Lucid Imagination. Grant's programming interests include information retrieval, machine learning, text categorization, and extraction. Grant is the co-founder of the Apache Mahout machine-learning... Read More →

RC Johnson

Dev MgrBazaarvoiceRC has worked on a variety of database and search engine backed web applications for the last seven years. His experiences at both National Instruments and Bazaarvoice have given him a breadth of experience in writing and maintaining applications of varying sizes... Read More →

Sunday March 13, 2011 3:30pm - 4:30pm CDT
Austin Convention Center, Ballroom B

Panel, Interactive

Tags Dual, #SolrNoSQL

9:30am CDT

How to Personalize Without Being Creepy

After seeing the backlash over Instant Personalization from Facebook, many people have been nervous to approach the subject. But invariably, as we move forward into an increasingly data-driven society, personalization will need to become a larger and larger part of how we communicate with customers, site visitors, and consumers of online content. So the question is, how do you personalize content without making people feel violated and uncomfortable? Is it just a question of people’s preferences changing over time as they "come around" to the idea of personalization, or is it an implementation question? What's the degree of personalization that is acceptable to most consumers? This panel will look at how to preserve users’ trust while personalizing content to them. It will also discuss some acceptable practices for personalizing content to individual users' data, and shifts in the societal acceptability of content personalization over time & by demographic.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_IAP7975

Speaker

Mat Harris

Prod MgrSproutMat Harris is the product manager for Sprout - the leading platform for creating mobile HTML5 rich media advertising. Sprout is headquartered in San Francisco, CA and was recently acquired by InMobi - the world's largest independent mobile ad network.

Jennifer King

PhD CandidateUniversity of California at BerkeleyJennifer King is a social technologist who draws upon her training in the social sciences and human-computer interaction to investigate the issues that arise when technology and society collide. Most recently as a researcher at the... Read More →

Hugo Liu

Chief ScientistHunchHugo Liu is the Chief Scientist of Hunch - an internet personalization engine. Hugo is also a taste researcher at MIT, where he has taught courses in Philosophy and Artificial Intelligence. Previously he has worked in trend predictives, computational food, and... Read More →

Vijay Ravindran

Vijay Ravindran joined The Washington Post Company as senior vice president and chief digital officer in February 2009. In his role, Ravindran focuses on digital news product development. Ravindran founded and leads WaPo Labs, which develops experimental news products, including the... Read More →

Noah Weiss

Prod MgrFoursquareNoah is a Product Manager at Foursquare. Before joining foursquare, Noah spent two and a half years at Google working in search and display ads. Previously, he worked at Fog Creek Software, Cooliris, and Acumen Fund. Noah holds a bachelor's degree in Science, Technology... Read More →

Monday March 14, 2011 9:30am - 10:30am CDT
Austin Convention Center, Ballroom B

Panel, Interactive

Tags Panel, #seenocreepy

11:00am CDT

Your Data in the Cloud: Privacy, Ownership, Convenience

There’s no topic with more buzz around it than the “cloud.” However, for all the aspects of our social and commercial lives we entrust to the cloud, at the same time we surrender our data, and increasingly our memories and finances, to others. Who controls that data, who protects it and who ensures our privacy? There are however possibilities for creating one’s own cloud, and retaining a measure control over off-site data and services, both software and hardware based. We’ll explore a number of solutions to the notion of a personal cloud, and the trade-offs inherent in that choice.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_IAP7059

Speaker

Daniel Putterman

CEOCloud Engines IncCloud Engines is Dan’s fourth start-up adventure and the culmination of his experience running technology companies paired with his passion for consumer branding and gadgets. Previously, Daniel founded Mediabolic in 1999 and served as CEO until its sale to Macrovision... Read More →

Monday March 14, 2011 11:00am - 12:00pm CDT
Austin Convention Center, Ballroom B

Panel, Interactive

Tags Solo, #personalcloud

12:30pm CDT

Thunder in the Clouds

After many years there now appears to be agreement from traditional software vendors to web-based companies that we are now shifting from the desktop to the cloud. Is there truly harmony in the industry or are there still disagreements over how the cloud is delivered and utilized? This panel of cloud pioneers and experts will debate the state of cloud computing and where its future lies. Where does the cloud stand for consumers vs. the enterprise? How do mobile, social and open trends impact the cloud? And what is the future of the cloud – will one cloud win out over all others or will there be seamless data sharing across multiple clouds of a customer’s choice?
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_IAP7119

Speaker

Peter Coffee

Salesforce.com

Michael Cote

AnalystRedMonk

Parker Harris

FounderJunto Global

Javier Soltero

N/A

Monday March 14, 2011 12:30pm - 1:30pm CDT
Austin Convention Center, Ballroom B

Panel, Interactive

Tags Panel, #cloud

3:30pm CDT

Better Living Through Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is finally coming out of the trough of disillusionment along the hype cycle. Is it really possible to live your life in the clouds? Can you ditch the desktop? Can you buck the backup? Come learn about the state-of-the-art in untethered cloud computing services that will lighten your life and make any computer personal.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_IAP7646

Speaker

Jon Wiley

Lead Designer for Google SearchGoogle Inc

Monday March 14, 2011 3:30pm - 4:30pm CDT
Austin Convention Center, Ballroom B

Panel, Interactive

Tags Solo, #bettercloud

5:00pm CDT

OAuth, OpenID, Facebook Connect: Authentication Design Best Practices

Authentication on the web wasn't simple even when it was mostly usernames and passwords. Now, with 3rd-party authentication services like OAuth, OpenID, and Facebook Connect, creating good user experiences has gotten a little weirder and a little harder. I'll give some examples, and present a pragmatic approach to designing identity and authentication on the web.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_IAP7650

Speaker

James Reffell

Dir, User ExperienceWebrootJames Reffell is a designer. He lives near the beach in San Francisco. Currently he's a Director of User Experience at Webroot, where he helps make security less scary for normal people. He's also designed things at wee startups and big web companies like... Read More →

Monday March 14, 2011 5:00pm - 6:00pm CDT
Austin Convention Center, Ballroom B

Panel, Interactive

Tags Solo, #authenticationdesign

9:30am CDT

Made It So (Interface Makers in Movies)

To conclude their trilogy of successful presentations at SxSW about the analysis of interfaces in science fiction, the authors of Make it So will invite a collection of production designers who have been responsible for on screen interfaces to share and discuss their work. (This panel had to be canceled last year. Consider it a comeback.)
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_IAP5462

Speaker

Mark Coleran

Visual Designercoleran.com

Michael Fink

Visual Effects SupervisorMike's Pixel Hut Inc

David Lewandowski

animated graphics cognoscentiN/A

Chris Noessel

Sr ConsultantCooper

Christopher Noessel

Managing DirCooperIn my day job as a Director at Cooper, I design products, services, and strategy for a variety of domains, including health, financial, and consumer. In prior experience I've developed interactive kiosks and spaces for museums, helped to visualize the future of counter-terrorism... Read More →

Tuesday March 15, 2011 9:30am - 10:30am CDT
Austin Convention Center, Ballroom B

Panel, Interactive

Tags Panel, #madeitso

11:00am CDT

Can Design and Technology Fix America's Education Problem?

In the US, 75% of students graduate high school. Our national college graduation rate is even lower at approximately 54%. And those students who aspire to go to college are faced with a rising tuition cost, which has increased more than any other major good or service for the last twenty years. Looking ahead to the next 20 years, students will pay $221,722 to drop out of a state school, and close to $450,000 to try their luck at a private school in hopes of getting a higher education. These unfortunate statistics don't even begin to describe the current university system's neglect to harness experiential and digital approaches to open-source educational models. We are facing an education crisis in the United States. This panel will explore the future of education, examining the roles of design, technology, and human beings in reshaping the way we teach and learn. While the panel is diverse, the speakers all share unconventional views of learning, a passion for design and creativity, and an entrepreneurial commitment to driving change through both action and technology.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_IAP5992

Speaker

Jon Kolko

DirAustin Center for Design

Dennis Littky

Co-Founder/Co-DirBig Picture LearningDennis Littky, a founder of The Met School, Big Picture Learning, and College Unbound, has spent 40 years as an educator in rural, urban, and suburban districts working from kindergarten through college. Big Picture now has more than 60 Met-like... Read More →

Steven Tomilson

Action

Steven Tomlinson

Dir of Faculty DevActon School of Business

Tuesday March 15, 2011 11:00am - 12:00pm CDT
Austin Convention Center, Ballroom B

Panel, Interactive

Tags Panel, #sxsw_edu

12:30pm CDT

Real Tech Rockstars: Engineers or Designers?

User interface (UI) and design are crucial to any software’s success. But, many startups ignore UI, relying fully on back end development. But UI is more than just a pretty face; it can instill consumer confidence in your startup and differentiate you from the competitors. Such was the case with leading online personal finance site Mint.com. Though founded by an algorithms engineer with expertise in the deepest technology, from the early stages of development, the Mint team designed easy to understand charts and graphical representations of people’s finances, making the previously intimidating and frustrating task of money management quick and painless. Early challenges included bringing meaning to an unknown brand in a security-sensitive industry, differentiating from the dullness and palette of banking sites while respecting the seriousness of people’s money, and creating an experience free of negative emotions often associated with budgeting and financial management. Each decision has been intentional, down to the hue of the logo (which was lightened in order appeal more strongly to female users). This dual presentation will feature Aaron Patzer, VP/GM of Intuit Personal Finance Group and Founder of Mint.com, an algorithms engineer with several patents at the core of his product who also recognizes the value that perfectly pixilated, easy-to-understand charts and graphics brought to Mint. Along with web design expert Jason Putorti and moderated by Fortune Magazine's Jessi Hempel, the presentation will discuss the value of design to both early stage startups and developed companies, how to successfully merge front end and back end development and specific design advice.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_IAP6851

Speaker

Jessi Hempel

Sr Writer Co-chair Fortune Brainstorm TechTIME IncJessi Hempel covers technology and the Internet as a senior writer for FORTUNE. She also co-chairs FORTUNE's annual technology conference, Fortune Brainstorm Tech, and is a seasoned speaker and panel moderator.

Aaron Patzer

VP/GM Personal Finance GroupIntuitAaron Patzer is the VP and General Manager of the Intuit Personal Finance Group, managing the Mint.com and Quicken brands. He is also both the visionary and technical mind behind Mint.com, acquired by Intuit in fall 2009. Aaron designed Mint to meet... Read More →

Jason Putorti

Co-founderVotizenJason is Votizen’s founding product designer and leads on product vision, visual design, and brand voice. Jason was the first designer hired at Mint.com in 2007 and held the leading role until Mint’s acquisition, when he became a Designer-in-Residence for Bessemer... Read More →

Tuesday March 15, 2011 12:30pm - 1:30pm CDT
Austin Convention Center, Ballroom B

Panel, Interactive

Tags Panel, #rockstar

3:30pm CDT

Lean UX: Getting Out of the Deliverables Business

Traditionally User Experience Design has been a deliverables practice. Wireframes, sitemaps, flow diagrams, content inventories, taxonomies and "The Spec" defined the practice of UX Designers (IxD, UX Design, whatever, etc). While this work has helped define what UX Designers do and the value our work brings to the business, it has also put us in the deliverables business - measured and compensated for the depth and breadth of our deliverables (instead of the quality and success of the experiences we design). Enter Lean UX. Inspired by Lean Product and Agile development theories, Lean UX is the practice of bringing the true nature of our work to light faster, with less emphasis on deliverables and greater focus on the actual experience being designed. This talk will explore how Lean UX manifests in terms of process, communication, documentation and team interaction. In addition, we'll take a look at how this philosophical shift can take root in any environment from large corporation to interactive agencies to startups.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_IAP5362

Speaker

Jeff Gothelf

PrincipalNeoAuthor of www.leanuxbook.com, designer, product team leader, dad, musician

Tuesday March 15, 2011 3:30pm - 4:30pm CDT
Austin Convention Center, Ballroom B

Panel, Interactive

Tags Solo, #LeanUX

5:00pm CDT

Curb Your Experience: Pushing the UX to Extreme

“You have to start with the most complex, and find a simple solution. Then you have to make it work.” – IM Pei The critical path to excellent usability design begins with a fundamental understanding of how an application or interface is broken. In a variety of ways, UX designers take their cues from organizations like Consumer Reports which for example, use machines and robotics to repeatedly pound luggage to test for durability with the overall objective to try to make it rip, tear or break. UX engineers persistently attempt to ‘break’ the application, by often pushing it to its most extreme edges in order to find a solution for the fix. This presentation will extend beyond the physical design, Web or digital application interface and venture out into the world of human interactions and interpersonal communications, the original source where all interaction is based and inspired. The presentation will use video clips from the comedic series, Curb Your Enthusiasm, where Larry David, the protagonist of the show is shown to persistently test, provoke and extreme push society and conventional behavior to humorously illustrate where human interactions are broken and ways that they can or (why bother?) be fixed.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_IAP6395

Speaker

Jenine Lurie

Consultant, UX Business StrategyN/AI am a Business Solutions consultant specializing in Strategic Usability Design for both internal b2b and consumer facing applications. I champion the user in the process, and advocate for the customer as team member in the product development cycle... Read More →

Tuesday March 15, 2011 5:00pm - 6:00pm CDT
Austin Convention Center, Ballroom B

Panel, Interactive

Tags Solo, #CurbExperience