InfoCamp Berkeley

03/15/2019

It's almost InfoCamp 2019!! A limited number of tickets are still available - buy yours while you still can!

For more details see: https://berkeley-infocamp.org/ or https://tinyurl.com/infocamp2019tickets

We’re introducing our speakers for "Tangible Interfaces" below

About the Talk - Tangible Interfaces
What if our interfaces transcended our screens? What if we could leverage the full potential of our senses to interact with technology? We’ll explore how new perspectives in interface design are redefining our relationship with information through embodied cognition, ubiquitous computing, and the art of research by design.

Speakers
Dr. Tico Ballagas
Current Position: Senior Manager of the Immersive Experiences Lab at HP Labs
Bio: Dr. Rafael ‘Tico’ Ballagas is the Senior Manager of the Immersive Experiences Lab at HP Labs. The Immersive Experiences Lab is explor­ing the intersection of people, their practices, and the future of interaction. Tico focuses on blended reality experiences that blur the lines between XR, AI, and 3D printing. Prior to HP, Tico was the co-founder of Kindoma, the award-winning creator of the mobile communication services around shared activities, like reading and drawing, that help families meaningfully connect with children when they can’t be together. His work consistently gathers worldwide media attention with articles featured in the New York Times, The Guardian, and USA Today. He earned his Doctorate in computer science at RWTH Aachen University in Germany, and he also has degrees from Georgia Institute of Technology and Stanford University.

Noura Howell
Current Position: PhD candidate at the School of Information at UC Berkeley
Bio: Noura Howell is a PhD candidate at the School of Information at UC Berkeley, advised by Professor Kimiko Ryokai. She specializes in combining critical and speculative design research, tangible embodied design research, new materialist lenses that foreground the agency of materials, biosensing technologies, and materiality of information representation. Previously she worked at Intel Labs, MIT Media Lab, and Microsoft. Her research combines a beautiful blend of affective, critical, and technical rigor that questions how we interact with data.

03/15/2019

We're one day away from InfoCamp 2019!! A limited number of tickets are still available - buy yours while you still can!

For more details see: https://berkeley-infocamp.org/ or https://tinyurl.com/infocamp2019tickets

We’re introducing our panelists for "Understanding Users - Techniques and Considerations" below

About the Panel:
What if we could have better frameworks to understand people’s interaction with technology? Whether you call them a “user”, “customer”, or “visitor”, all technologists seek to understand a problem space and deliver value to people. But, how does this work in practice? How do technology professionals gather meaningful insights in order to design and create products that deliver on core needs? In this panel, we discuss current and emerging techniques that designers and product owners use to gain insight into their users’ problem spaces and deliver solutions.

Panelists:

Emon Motamedi
Current Position: Entrepreneur, Former Senior Product Manager at Reddit
Bio: Emon Motamedi is an entrepreneur and former senior product manager at Reddit. As one of Reddit's early product managers, he created, launched, and grew Reddit's video platform. After the successful launch of video, Emon led 2 teams to launch Reddit's desktop redesign. Finally, Emon built and ran a team dedicated to Reddit's direct-to-consumer monetization initiatives (subscriptions and digital goods). Prior to Reddit, Emon was in private equity, working to found an investment firm to acquire stakes in large private equity companies. He has worked at DBO Partners (a boutique investment bank), Deloitte Consulting, and Amgen, and has advised companies like Visa and Twilio in consultative roles. Emon received a B.S. in Business Administration, B.A. Cognitive Science, and minor in Computer Science from UC Berkeley in 2014.

Eric Schlakman
Current Position: Product and Marketing Content at Stripe
Bio: Eric heads up the Writing team at Stripe, creating product interfaces and marketing communications that aim to “help increase the GDP of the internet.” Prior to that, he’s built and led content teams for companies including Uber, Apple, and Nike-via-R/GA. Eric is also passionate about initiatives and technologies for accessibility, health & fitness, and aging populations. When not at work, he enjoys burritos and personal projects, which have been featured in publications ranging from The Onion to Time Magazine. (To be clear, it’s his projects, and certainly not his burrito selections, that have been press-worthy.)

Jessica Strick
Current Position: Lead Exhibit Developer at the Exploratorium
Bio: Jessica is a Lead Exhibit Developer at the Exploratorium where she creates exhibits, from initial concept, through all phases of prototyping and design, to final fabrication. Her work is driven by visitor experience and the long held principle that the best exhibits are the ones that engage people deeply and promote behavior that evidences this. While at the Exploratorium, Jessica has worked on a wide variety of exhibit projects, from classic perception and physics to social psychology exhibits dealing with challenging topics like race and gender identity. She’s also worked with museum partners like the Smithsonian American History Museum, and Helix, a small community science center, expanding ideas about how the Exploratorium style of exhibit development can be applied. In addition to exhibit development, Jessica has been deeply involved in exhibit research projects, most recently as a core team member of EDGE (Exhibit Design for Girls’ Engagement).

03/14/2019

InfoCamp 2019 is only a few days away -- have you gotten your tickets yet?

Check out the event page for more details about the schedule. We hope to see you all there! :)

03/17/2018

InfoCamp has started!!

Follow along on twitter and feel free to tag the account and/or use on any of your posts.

https://twitter.com/infoberkeley

03/15/2018

Introducing another awesome AR/VR panelist - Ross Finman, AR Mapping Lead at Niantic, Inc.

Ross is leading the vision and development of augmented reality (AR) mapping at Niantic, Inc., an innovative company building cutting-edge planet-scale AR technology that can be leveraged to create “real world” interactive experiences that foster exploration, exercise, and social interaction. Some examples include Pokémon GO and an upcoming Harry Potter AR mobile game.

Obsessed with everything connecting the physical and digital worlds, Ross founded Escher Reality in 2016 to focus on exploring the intersection of digital and physical worlds, augmented reality (AR), and computer vision, which was which was acquired by Niantic in 2018. Prior to founding Escher, Ross spent seven years on his graduate research at MIT in 3-D perception and mapping. He received his Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering with a focus on Robotics at Carnegie Mellon University in three years.

InfoCamp is just a couple days away (!!!) so make sure to grab your ticket and join Ross this weekend at the AR/VR panel!
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/infocamp-2018-tickets-42729120951

03/09/2018

Introducing one of our fantastic Academic Speakers - Morgan Ames, lecturer and postdoctoral scholar with the School of Information and the interim associate director of research for the Center for Science, Technology, Medicine and Society at UC Berkeley.

During her talk 'Accounting for Social Class in HCI,' Morgan will discuss the role of social class, or ‘socioeconomic status’ (SES), in technology design and evaluation. While studies along socioeconomic lines are common in the social sciences, such approaches are more rare in human-computer interaction and technology design where “middle-class” has long been the invisible default. This research challenges the tendency to design for users whose lives resemble designers’ by discussing issues of power, culture, and resource access.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/infocamp-2018-tickets-42729120951

03/06/2018

We are so excited to introduce the InfoCamp Opening Keynote Speaker - Marisa Gallagher, Head of UX & Design at Amazon Music!

Marisa is responsible for evolving the company’s design approach to streaming music, to make the best use of voice, personalization, and great programming across mobile, TV, home, car, and work and around the globe. Prior to Amazon, Marisa ran the Digital Design team at CNN and the California UX crew for Razorfish, worked in both start-ups and mass advertising. She studied at Notre Dame (Anthropology and Film & Media Studies) and UC Berkeley (Haas MBA).

Grab a ticket and join Marisa at InfoCamp 2018 on March 17th! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/infocamp-2018-tickets-42729120951

03/03/2018

InfoCamp Early Bird tickets end MIDNIGHT TONIGHT! Grab a ticket before the price goes up!

WHAT IS INFOCAMP? InfoCamp, in its 9th year, is the premier student-run conference for the information community. Held on the UC Berkeley campus at the School of Information, InfoCamp is a day-long event that aims to educate, inform, and inspire new ways of thinking among the information community.....

02/28/2018

GOOD NEWS!! The InfoCamp 2018 Early Bird ticket deadline has been extended! The new deadline is *March 2nd at 11:59pm*

Share the news with your friends, and get a ticket before the price goes up!

WHAT IS INFOCAMP? InfoCamp, in its 9th year, is the premier student-run conference for the information community. Held on the UC Berkeley campus at the School of Information, InfoCamp is a day-long event that aims to educate, inform, and inspire new ways of thinking among the information community.....