IDEA 2006, at least in theory, may be the most interesting, useful and innovative conference for Interaction Designers to date. Organized by my colleague from years long gone by, Peter Merholz, IDEA promises to be a thought fest stuffed with presenters from a colorful array of backgrounds. Here is how IDEA opens its web site:
IDEA 2006 brings together a diverse set of designers, creators, and researchers addressing a fundamental challenge we’re facing today - how to let everyday people take true advantage of the overwhelming mass of information that floods their lives.
There are currently many different kinds of folks working in this space, but they typically don’t talk with one another. For this event, we’ve made an effort to invite presenters across a stunning array of disciplines - museum design, information visualization, librarians, environmental design, user research, engineering, interaction design, product strategy, and more.
It’s important to recognize that this is not airy-fairy theoretical stuff. These presenters are practitioners, people actually doing this cross-channel, cross-media work with complex information. A primary goal of this conference is to give you the confidence to cross boundaries and engage with a wide range of problems.
Any time a leader from the United States National Park Service Interpretive Design Center is going to share information about why their materials and experiences are so tightly integrated, I’m all ears. There will be speakers from the BBC, the Seattle Library, Maya Design, and more; Linda Stone and Bruce Sterling are presenting.
Oh, and to top it off, the conference is happening at the new Seattle Library; the ultimate in neoarchitecture information space geekery! Will I see you there?
Dave…
Interesting topic… I’m working in this industry myself and I don’t agree about this in 100%, but I added your page to my bookmarks and hope to see more interesting articles in the future…
November 3rd, 2006 at 6:26 pm