Web Directions Podcast

Tom Hughes-Croucher - Up and Running with Node.js

Sun, 6 Nov 2011 19:26:48 +1100

Learn how to build high performance Internet and web applications with Node.js. In is session Tom Hughes-Croucher will demonstrate how to quickly build a high performance chat server using Node.js. This live coding exercise will provide a real insight into what it looks like to build a project in server-side Javascript. We will also cover how to deploy Node applications in production and look at just how far Node can really scale… A million connections and beyond? Tom Hughes-Croucher is the Chief Evangelist at Joyent, sponsors of the Node.js project. Tom mostly spends his days helping companies build really exciting projects with Node and seeing just how far it will scale. Tom is also the author of the O’Reilly book "Up and running with Node.js". Tom has worked for many well known organizations including Yahoo, NASA and Tesco. Follow Tom on Twitter: @sh1mmer Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

Christopher Giffard - HTML5 Video, Captioning, and Timed Metadata

Sun, 6 Nov 2011 19:12:25 +1100

HTML5 Video has been a hot topic for the last couple of years - but with new additions to the specification, we can now extend it beyond all recognition. In this session we’ll look at basic timed data, closed captioning and more - and as we adventure into more sophisticated uses of the technology, we’ll explore what additional value timed data can provide to your video, with attention paid to how you can implement it today. The key focuses of this session will be accessibility, searchable media, and enriching existing multimedia experiences with timed data, all with a liberal application of flashy eye-candy. And of course we’re using the freshly minted Timed Text Track specification, soon appearing in a browser near you! Christopher Giffard is a full stack web developer at the Department of Education, Employment, and Workplace Relations in Canberra. He’s somewhat new to the government, having a career background as a web guy in graphic design and advertising agencies - but hopes to bring a slice of that mad, informal world to the Australian public service. He gets a kick out of solving problems everybody else avoids, has a soft spot for architecture and design, is particularly interested in electronic music, and the algorithmic generation thereof. His current secret project involves natural language processing--and sarcasm detection. Follow Christopher on Twitter: @cgiffard Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

Julio Cesar Ody - CSS3 and Backbone.js for killer mobile apps

Sun, 6 Nov 2011 18:53:15 +1100

Learn how to build great looking and high performance mobile web applications leveraging CSS3 animations and Backbone.js, along with some cool use cases for geolocation and localStorage. This session will describe in length a boilerplate you can use for developing your own apps aimed at A grade mobile devices and tablets. Julio has been a full-stack software developer for the 12 years of his career, and during this time he went from being a GNU/Linux and Unix sysadmin, to a VoIP PBX architect, and finally a software developer. Since moving to Australia from Brazil, he has worked on startups and companies building software and at the same time, stuck his nose as much as he can into the human side of the software equation, understanding developer productivity, how software companies work, and product development. More recently he grew too interested in design for his own good, and began freelancing under the codename of Awesome By Design, writing a bunch of software which he open sourced on GitHub, giving presentations using his own presentation framework, and building software that not only does the job, but does so in style. Follow Julio on Twitter: @julio_ody Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

Adam Bell & David Peterson - Bringing History Alive: Telling stories with Linked Data and open source tools

Sun, 6 Nov 2011 18:22:12 +1100

The Australian War Memorial is connecting and enriching online archives and collections toward building a platform for telling history. Through Drupal 7 and Linked Data, the Memorial intends to develop tools that designers, researchers and historians can use to help find new ways of building historical narratives. During this session we will demonstrate some early prototypes and experiments, key uses of Linked Data, practical publishing tools and discuss how this work is unfolding inside one of Australia’s major collecting institutions. Adam Bell leads the web production team at the Australian War Memorial, where he works with curators and historians to publish the Memorial’s vast archives and collections online. He has a background as an artist, cultural worker, teacher and printmaker and plays in a rock n roll band. Follow Adam on Twitter: @bumphead David Peterson has been pushing at the boundaries of Web development since 1995; that combined with a background in wildlife cinematography brings fresh insight into what can be a geeky sort of space. He has built a number of high profile sites for the ABC, Australian science groups and many others. David works as a consultant with PreviousNext and lives way down south in cool Tasmania - regularly breathing on his fingers just to tap away at the keyboard. He is busy building Web apps built with Open Source toolkits utilising Java, PHP, Python, Linked Data and the almighty Drupal. He enjoys exploring deep into the guts of the Semantic Web and Linked Data to discover new connections and visualisations that help empower story tellers. Follow David on Twitter: @davidseth Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

Gian Wild - WCAG2 accessibility: the hidden nuggets

Sun, 6 Nov 2011 11:51:18 +1100

WCAG2 is a long series of documents. Gian Wild knows this better than most: she spent six years on the W3C WCAG Working Group writing them. It’s a lot to ask that every developer and project manager read the complete guidelines, including informative content. However there are some very useful - and sometimes hidden - techniques in WCAG2. And some are even at Level AAA. Join Gian to find out what these are. Gian has worked in the accessibility industry since 1998 and consulted on the development of the first Level AAA accessible web site in Australia (Disability Information Victoria). She has worked with the Disability Services arm of the Victorian Government for over thirteen years to keep the four iterations of the Disability Services site (Disability Information Victoria, Disability Services, Disability Online and DiVine), Level AAA accessible. She ran the accessibility consultancy PurpleTop from 2000 to 2005 and built the accessibility tool, PurpleCop. Follow Gian on Twitter: @accessibilityoz Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

Robert O’Callahan - The Open Web Platform in the mobile era

Sun, 6 Nov 2011 11:42:11 +1100

Mozilla is dedicated to ensuring that competition and innovation thrive on the Internet. In the last decade we rescued the Web from a near-monopoly and restored competition to the browser market. Now the standards-based Web platform is evolving rapidly - mostly in a good direction - and is defeating some of its competitors, such as proprietary browser plugins. However, it faces fresh challenges, in particular, single-vendor platforms for mobile devices that are attracting application developers away from the Web platform. In this talk I will describe the work we’re doing to ensure that the standards-based Web wins again - developing new technologies, extending Web standards, and shipping great products on all kinds of devices. I’ll talk about the challenges we face and what people who care about competition and freedom can do to help. Robert O’Callahan has been trying to save the world by contributing to Mozilla since 1999. In 2005 he left a career in computer science research at IBM to move back to New Zealand and work full-time for Mozilla, building up an Auckland development office (which is hiring!). He works on the Gecko engine that powers Firefox, focusing on layout, rendering, and media. He manages the video and media team, but prefers coding. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

Peter Mika - Making the Web searchable

Sun, 6 Nov 2011 11:13:13 +1100

The key idea of the Semantic Web is to make information on the Web easily consumable by machines. As machines start to understand web pages as sources of data that can be easily combined with other public data on the Web, the promise is that search on the Web will move well beyond the current paradigm of retrieving pages by keywords. Instead, search engines will start to answer complex queries based on the cumulative knowledge of the Web. In this presentation, we overview the basic set of technologies that can be used to annotate web pages so that they can be processed by data-aware search engines. In particular, we discuss the RDFa and microdata standards of the W3C designed for marking up data in HTML pages. We look at the ways in which this information is currently used by search engines, including the latest schema.org collaboration between Bing, Google, and Yahoo!, which provides a basic set of vocabulary items understood by all three major search engines on the Web. Peter Mika is a researcher and data architect at Yahoo! Research in Barcelona, working on the applications of semantic technology to Web search. He received his BS in computer science from Eotvos Lorand University and his MSc and PhD in computer science (summa cum laude) from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. His interdisciplinary work in social networks and the Semantic Web earned him a Best Paper Award at the 2005 International Semantic Web Conference and a First Prize at the 2004 Semantic Web Challenge. From 2006 to 2009, he has been a co-chair of the Semantic Web Challenge. Mika is the youngest member elected to the editorial board of the Journal of Web Semantics. He is the author of the book ‘Social Networks and the Semantic Web’ (Springer, 2007). In 2008 he has been selected as one of "AI’s Ten to Watch" by the editorial board of the IEEE Intelligent Systems journal. Peter is a regular speaker at conferences. Follow Peter on Twitter: @pmika Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

Rob Manson - Web standards based Augmented Reality

Sun, 6 Nov 2011 10:54:01 +1100

Augmented Reality lets you peel away the blinkers from your real world eyes to see the rich data and information that exists all around you. But up until now it has relied largely on proprietary tools and standards. Finally, we’re close to being able to augment our world using web technologies. Soon this will be a common part of the web browsing and mobile device experience. Now is the time to look at these future trends and the state of a specific list of API standardisation activities and the forces shaping them. We’ll also look at the current obstacles, risks and issues to explore what may prevent this landscape from evolving as it appears it will. This presentation aims to document the AR standardisation efforts over the last few years as well as what’s possible right now and in the near future from a distinctly web-based perspective. Rob is the Managing Director and co-founder of MOB, an innovative R&D lab based in Sydney. He regularly presents on mobile, AR and future technology developments. He is a co-founder of http://AR-UX.com & http://ARStandards.org and is an invited expert on the W3C’s Points of Interest Working Group. Rob is not just a spectator when it comes to the future of technology, he’s actively working to shape it. And he’s been doing this though building web based startups in Sydney since 1994. Follow Rob on Twitter: @nambor Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

Michael Honey & Tim Riley - Web or native? Smart choices for smartphone apps

Sun, 6 Nov 2011 10:40:09 +1100

Computers are increasingly being held in the hand rather than sitting atop lap or desk. We now have to consider how our products will work underneath a finger instead of a mouse cursor. Increasingly, too, those products are being delivered as native applications, capable of fully exploiting device capabilities. That has ramifications not only for the way those projects get built, but also how we structure the businesses that support them. In this session, Michael Honey and Tim Riley answer the question 'web or native?' from business, product design and development perspectives. They cover the current state of web technology on modern devices and compare it to what’s available through native development platforms. They’ll look at web, native and hybrid strategies successfully employed by Australian and international businesses, and share their own stories as mobile and web developers. Finally, they’ll offer practical guidance on picking a strategy for web or native development that best suits your needs - as either a developer or a client. Tim and Michael are two of the partners behind Icelab, an Australian design and development studio. They’ve trod both the web and native paths through their client work, such as interactive touchscreens for museum exhibits, online photo galleries and mobile tour guides, and also their own projects, like Decaf Sucks, a coffee review community available on the web (optimised for both desktops and smartphones) and as a native iPhone app. Michael founded Icelab after a career as creative director and later, interactive director in an agency environment. He has fifteen years’ experience in design for screen, print, video and exhibition spaces, and has expertise in writing, programming, direction and post-production. He is an experienced coder, with a particular interest in algorithmic animation and datavisualisation. He is also experienced in the development of diagrammatic animations for cultural, engineering, scientific and architectural clients. Michael’s interests include architecture, urbanism, and the environment. Follow Michael on Twitter: @michaelhoney Tim is a partner at Australian design and development studio Icelab, where he builds excellent web and mobile applications using Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, Cocoa, and occasionally out of popsicle sticks. On alternate days he runs Decaf Sucks, an online community for coffee reviews, and RentMonkey, which contains the greatest

Lisa Herrod - Accessibility for web teams: Recategorising WCAG 2 using a role-based approach

Sun, 6 Nov 2011 10:13:31 +1100

The application of web accessibility guidelines in a holistic manner across all roles of a web team continues to encounter resistance. This is often due to a lack of resources and knowledge, or no sense of relevancy in certain web roles. While there is solid support of the guidelines by accessibility activists and many front-end developers, a large percentage of other web practitioners in non-technical roles do not know how to integrate accessible design practices into their daily work, despite wanting to. By re-categorising accessibility guidelines into role-based groupings, such as visual design, content writing and information architecture, guidelines become more accessible to inexperienced web practitioners across a broad range of web roles. The application of accessibility guidelines then becomes more integrated and holistic, thereby reducing project timelines and costs while increasing the overall accessibility of a site from initial design stages. This method enables practitioners to apply skills specific to their role to a narrow range of accessibility guidelines particular to their area of expertise. For example, the visual designer would create a design and evaluate colour contrast before submitting the design to the development team. Likewise, an interaction designer would consult with the Javascript specialist to ensure the menu design satisfies relevant accessibility guidelines. Lisa is the Director and Principal Consultant at Scenario Seven, an Inclusive Design Consultancy based in Sydney. With 15 years experience on the web, the past 10 years of her work has centred on design research, usability, accessibility and inclusive strategies. Lisa is best known for her role based approach to web accessibility, which has seen the re-categorisation of WCAG checkpoints into a user-centred, practitioner-focused grouping for content developers, visual designers, developers and user experience professionals. Scenario Seven specialises in creating accessible, inclusive design strategies that integrate holistically with traditional user research practices. This includes anything from requirements gathering to the review of design documentation (functional specs, wireframes & visual designs), user research and WCAG compliance. We design for diversity. Follow Lisa on Twitter: @scenariogirl Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

Natalie Downe & Simon Willison - Lanyrd: From side project to startup

Sun, 6 Nov 2011 09:57:31 +1100

Natalie and Simon launched the first version of Lanyrd.com while on honeymoon in Casablanca. As the site took off, they realised their side project was destined to become something much bigger. This talk will tell the story of Lanyrd, from a two-week proof of concept to a full-fledged startup via three intensive months of Y Combinator in Silicon Valley. They’ll share the trials, tribulations and lessons they learned along the way. This is the talk they wish they’d heard before they got started! Natalie co-founded Lanyrd on her honeymoon with her husband Simon. Before co-founding a startup, she worked as a senior client-side engineer at Clearleft in Brighton, UK. Today, she juggles leading design, client-side engineering and UX on the project with building the company. If Natalie had any time for hobbies, she would enjoy pottery, yoga, writing and flying her kite. Follow Natalie on Twitter: @Natbat Simon is a co-founder of Lanyrd, and co-creator of the Django web framework. Prior to diving in to the world of entrepreneurship, Simon built crowdsourcing and database journalism projects for the Guardian newspaper in London. Simon is responsible for all of the server-side code on Lanyrd, unsurprisingly written with Django. He is also obsessed with Zeppelins, and hopes one day to build one. Follow Simon on Twitter: @simonw Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

Greg Rewis - Move it! CSS3 Transitions and Animations

Sun, 6 Nov 2011 09:41:22 +1100

Since the early days of the web, the only reliable way to get movement on your site was through Flash, or more recently, Javascript. But now, with WebKit and Mozilla leading the way, transformations and transitions can be done with pure CSS, even on mobile devices. And for those in need of even more movement, CSS3 provides for keyframe-based animations. In this session, we’ll take a look at all of the possibilities and explore what works and where - from the simplest effects, to creative usability enhancements including the combination of CSS with mobile Javascript frameworks. Greg Rewis is the Principal Evangelist for Adobe Systems, focusing on Adobe’s open web products and technologies such as HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript. With over 20 years of computer industry experience, Greg spends in excess of 200 days of the year on the road, talking with customers, giving product demonstrations at seminars, and speaking at industry conferences. Greg has been passionate about the web since putting his first "home page" online in 1994. His career has taken him around the world, from the early days of desktop publishing, to a start-up in Hamburg, Germany, the glory days of the web at Macromedia and finally his current role at Adobe. The original GoLive Cyberstudio Product Manager and former Dreamweaver Technical Product Manager, Greg is the co-author of "Mastering CSS with Dreamweaver CS3" and "Mastering CSS with Dreamweaver CS4" published by New Riders, as well as a regular contributor to industry publications. Follow Greg on Twitter: @garazi Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

Scott Bryant & Simon Wright - Designing for change and disruption

Sun, 6 Nov 2011 09:33:12 +1100

Change is never a smooth process. How do know when disruption is useful and how do you cope with the feedback on it? Recently news.com.au, a national news website with large numbers of daily visitors, underwent a major upgrade which tore down existing and perhaps "expected" ways of presenting news. At the heart of the redesign was a desire for change that motivated and challenged every aspect of the team’s design thinking and process. In this co-piloted session Simon and Scott will fly you over the territories of change they encountered on the project, ones common to many redesign projects. They’ll descend through the experiences that came out of the redesign: fundamentals like stakeholders, requirements and their process for user experience architect and designer working side by side. Sprinkled with some of the twitter and facebook feedback the project received, they’ll touch down on the sticky issues of dealing with feedback and how to suck it up and utilise passionate user and stakeholder feedback. Scott Bryant is a Senior Experience Architect working on online and cross platform news media and classifieds, most recently for news.com.au within the User Standards and Innovative Technology Team for News Digital Media. He spends his time working across product, design and technology teams utilising design and research to create engaging user experiences for news media. His career began as a visual artist before working in university and local government libraries, and finally into new media. He completed two Masters Degrees, in Media Art and Information Studies (while working as a Project Manager, Content Producer and IA). Upon returning from the US working on the Ask Jeeves innovative search interface he concentrated on User Experience, He continues to lecture casually in information and interaction design at the University of Technology, Sydney. Follow Scott on Twitter: @ScotTheLot Simon Wright is the Art Director of news.com.au, leading the design and front-end development team. He’s responsible for the brand’s design and development across all digital platforms, and also works closely with journalists on new ways to tell stories online. As someone who’s passionate about design, the web, media and well-designed chairs, being a part of a news website’s a near perfect fit (if it was possible to do this while climbing up a rockface, he’d never leave). In a previous life Simon was based in Perth and wore the many hats of small business, mostly the propeller-topped one of designer/front-end dev and sometimes the dull beige hat of The Guy Who Does The Finance. Follow Simon on Twitter: @diversionary Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

Mike Kuniavsky - Design [in|for|and] the age of ubiquitous computing

Sun, 6 Nov 2011 09:18:00 +1100

Let’s start with the assumption that computing and networking are as cheap to incorporate into product designs as plastic and aluminum. Anything can tweet, everything knows about everything. The cloud extends from smart speed bumps to exurban data systems, passing through us in the process. We’re basically there technologically today, and over the next [pick a date range] years, we’ll be there distribution-wise. Here’s the issue: now that we have this power what do we do with it? Yes we can now watch the latest movies on our phones while ignoring the rest of the world (if you believe telco ads) and know more about peripheral acquaintances than you ever wanted. But, really, is that it? Is it Angry Birds all the way down? Of course not. Every technology’s most profound social and cultural changes are invisible at the outset. Cheap information processing and networking technology is a brand new phenomenon, culturally speaking, and quickly changing the world in fundamental ways. Designers align the capabilities of a technology with people’s lives, so it is designers who have the power and responsibility to think about what this means. This talk will discuss where ubiquitous computing is today, some changes we can already see happening, and how we can begin to think about the implications of these technologies for design, for business and for the world at large. Mike Kuniavsky is a designer, writer, researcher, consultant and entrepreneur focused on people’s relationship to digital technology. He cofounded Adaptive Path, a San Francisco design consulting firm, and ThingM, a ubiquitous computing design studio and micro-manufacturer. He is the author of ‘Observing the User Experience,’ a popular textbook of user research methods, and ‘Smart Things: ubiquitous computing user experience design,’ a guide to the user-centered design of digital products. Follow Mike on Twitter: @mikekuniavsky Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

Dmitry Baranovskiy - How to be a Web Sorcerer

Sun, 6 Nov 2011 09:05:50 +1100

The Web is a purely magical substance that is built by us, web developers. How can it be that the web is totally technical, yet we all know some kids who we can call magicians of the Web. Some people believe that it’s all about skills, but Dmitry reckons it’s more about bravely, grit and a tiny bit of madness. Do you want to change the Web, not just build it? Do you want to know the secret spells? Do you want to know the source of all this unlimited power? Come and find out. Dmitry has over ten years experience in creating web applications. Having started as a back end developer, more recently he has changed his orientation to front end development and even pure design. He is the creator of Raphaël, the JavaScript Library that simplifies your work with vector graphics on the web, as well as a Optimus, the Microformats transformer. At any given moment he is always working on three secret projects, though no one knows where he gets the time for any of this. Follow Dmitry on Twitter: @DmitryBaranovsk Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

Hannah Donovan - Designing without the browser

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 13:29:01 +1100

Innovation is intensifying off the browser - the things we use everyday are increasingly controlled by touch, gesture and voice. And we, as interaction designers, are faced with a challenge that’s the opposite of our browser-based one-man-shop: there’s suddenly a gulf of production between our concept and the final product; the means of production is as tricky to navigate as a roster of Tolstoy characters; mistakes are expensive; and everyone speaks a different language. Sound dangerous? Sound exciting? Donovan argues the processes for the future lie in our more material-based graphic designer pasts, and our cousin disciplines of industrial design and architecture. After a decade of honing our newfangled browser-based skills, learn how to dust off and sharpen the tools of our roots. Hannah Donovan is a Canadian interaction designer living in London. She led design at Last.fm for five years, and before that worked agency-side designing digital campaigns. Since leaving Last.fm this spring, Hannah’s become an independent product designer focused on ways to make music better on the web. When she’s not busy with new work, Hannah contributes to spacelog.org and plays cello with a real orchestra as well as a comedy orchestra. Read an interview with Hannah in Desktop Magazine. Follow Hannah on Twitter: @Han Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

Damon Oehlman - HTML5 API Soup

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 11:17:28 +1100

Most jaw-dropping apps use multiple HTML5 APIs in creative ways, rather than a single API in isolation. In this session we will explore ways you can implement and combine HTML APIs such as websockets, web workers, local storage, and geolocation to make awesome web apps. Then just for fun we’ll look at how you can dish up something really special by throwing in ingredients like canvas, video and WebGL. Damon Oehlman is an experienced web and mobile applications developer. He has worked with small and large companies to develop software solutions for desktop, web and most recently mobile devices. His first technical book, Pro Android Web Apps, was released earlier this year by Apress. Damon currently runs his own software development and consulting firm Sidelab, which specializes in cross-platform mobile solutions. Damon’s aptly titled tech blog Distractable offers a mix of articles, tutorials and other shiny things. He is a proud dad, husband and one day dreams of owning his own underground lair. Follow Damon on Twitter: @damonoehlman Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

Ryan Seddon - Remote debugging landscape

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 10:35:49 +1100

More and more as front-end developers we are presented with new challenges, with the explosion of the mobile web it has created a whole new territory. How do we test the vast array of devices out there? And what tools can help us make this a painless experience? Testing web apps on mobile devices is a new challenge not yet fully explored. Let’s brush over the beginnings of web application testing and debugging and dive into current solutions for remote debugging. In this session we’ll cover what developers and browser vendors are doing to help tackle this problem, including some of the tools available to use today, and how some of these tools work internally and what the future may hold. Ryan Seddon is a Senior Front-end Developer from Melbourne Australia who has an unnatural obsession with JavaScript and the many places it runs. He also loves to tinker with any new web technology he can get his hands on and loves diving into specs and code to figure out more. In his spare time he’s either playing basketball, writing for his blog thecssninja.com or committing code to github. Follow Ryan on Twitter: @ryanseddon Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

Addy Osmani - Scalable JavaScript Design Patterns

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 10:24:12 +1100

Would you like to learn how to organize your JavaScript applications so they can scale? Be able to write apps that support switching out Dojo or jQuery without rewriting a line of code? Application architecture is one of those aspects to development where minor problems can lead to major issues later on if it isn’t done right. Developers writing client-side apps these days usually use a combination of MVC, modules, widgets, plugins and frameworks for theirs. Whilst this works great for apps that are built at a smaller-scale, what happens when your project really starts to grow?. In this talk, I’ll be presenting an effective set of design patterns for large-scale JavaScript application architecture that have previously been used at both AOL and Yahoo amongst others to develop scalable applications. You’ll learn how to keep your application logic truly decoupled, build modules that can exist on their own independently so they can be easily dropped into other projects and future-proof your code in case you need to switch to a different DOM library in the future. Addy Osmani is a popular JavaScript blogger and a UI Developer for AOL based in London, England. He is also a member of the jQuery [Bug Triage/Docs/Front-end] teams where he assists with bugs, documentation and community updates. His free book, ‘Essential JavaScript Design Patterns’ has been downloaded over 200,000 times in the past year and continues to be expanded in his spare time. For more on Addy’s work, check out his blog AddyOsmani.com for tutorials, his G+ page for his community updates and magazines such as .net for his thoughts and commentaries. Follow Addy on Twitter: @addy_osmani Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

Andrew Fisher - How the web is going physical

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 10:03:03 +1100

In 2020 there will be nearly 10 times as many Internet connected devices as there are human beings on this planet. The majority of these will not have web browsers. When it comes to the "Internet of Things", web designers and developers are uniquely placed to create, connect and produce innovative new ways for these devices to be used. We are used to mashing up disconnected data sets, playing with APIs and designing for constantly moving standards in order to create compelling digital user experiences. "Old school" engineers are struggling to keep pace due to long processes for product and service design but as web creators we understand the value of rapid prototyping, user feedback and quick iterations. As developers, we play daily with a bewildering array of technologies that span networks, servers and user interfaces. As designers, we understand the nature of beautiful but usable technology. These skills, and our innate understanding of how interconnectedness enhances and creates engaging user experiences, mean that web creators will be critical for the next generation of Internet enabled Things in our world. From a potplant that tweets when it needs water to crowd sourcing pollution data with sensors on people’s windows and visualising it on Google Maps these are the new boundaries of the web creator’s skills. Have you ever dreamt of sending your phone to the edge of space to take a picture of a country? Or how about a robot you can control via a web browser? By exploring examples of things in the wild right now and delving into practical guidance for for getting started, this session will demonstrate how easy it is for web designers and developers to build Internet connected and aware Things. Andrew Fisher is deeply passionate about technology and is constantly tinkering with and breaking something — whether it’s a new application for mobile computing, building a robot, deploying a cloud or just playing around with web tech. Sometimes he does some real work too and has been involved in developing digital solutions for businesses since the dawn of the web in Australia and Europe for brands like Nintendo, peoplesound, Sony, Mitsubishi, Sportsgirl and the Melbourne Cup. Andrew is the CTO for JBA Digital, a data agency in Melbourne Australia, where he focuses on creating meaning out of large, changing data sets for clients. Andrew is also the founder of Rocket Melbourne, a startup technology lab exploring physical computing and the Web of Things. Follow Andrew on Twitter: @ajfisher Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

Jeremy Ashkenas - A Cup of CoffeeScript

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 09:45:14 +1100

After a lost decade in the wilderness, JavaScript is starting to change and evolve. We’ll look at CoffeeScript, a little language that compiles into JavaScript, providing concise ways to to write many common JavaScript patterns. We’ll cover syntactic and semantic pain points, polyfills, sugar, and how you can start experimenting with your own flavor of JS. Jeremy Ashkenas is part of the Interactive News team at the New York Times, as well as the lead developer of DocumentCloud, helping news organizations analyze and publish the primary source documents behind the news. He works on CoffeeScript, Backbone.js, Underscore.js, Docco, Jammit, and Ruby-Processing, among other opensource projects. Follow Jeremy on Twitter: @jashkenas Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

Stephen P Anderson - Keynote: Sustaining Passionate Users

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 09:19:30 +1100

Yes, business applications can be made fun and gamelike. No, points, levels and badges are not the way to create sustained interest. While many sites have added superficial gaming elements to make interactions more engaging, the companies that "get it" have a better understanding of the psychology behind motivation. They know how to design sites that keep people coming back again and again. So what are the secrets? What actually motivates people online? How do you create sustained interest in your product or service? Speaker Stephen P. Anderson will share common patterns from game design, learning theories, and neuroscience to reveal what motivates-and demotivates-people over the long haul. Stephen P. Anderson is an internationally recognized speaker and consultant based out of Dallas, Texas. He recently published the Mental Notes card deck to help product teams apply psychology to interaction design. Between public speaking and project work, Stephen offers workshops to help businesses design fun, playful and effective online experiences. He’s currently writing a book about “seductive interactions” that will be published by New Riders in 2011. Follow Stephen on Twitter: @stephenanderson Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

Tom Coates - Opening keynote: A New Network

Sun, 7 Aug 2011 11:01:42 +1000

The work we’re collectively doing-opening up gradually all of human information and media, making it recombinable, helping people create and share their work-is a huge unspoken, sexy, world-redefining mission. It’s a mission that many of us have become blasé about, almost unaware of. It’s a project so large that it’s hard to get a grasp on. And the next few years are going to get even more interesting as the network pervades physical objects and environments, sensing and manifesting information in the real world. It’s time to recognise the scale of the project we have in front of us, the breadth of the material we have to work with, and the possibilities of design within it. All of human knowledge, creativity-even the planet itself-is our canvas. Tom Coates is a technologist and writer who focuses on new product development, the web of data, location services and social software . He’s worked for many of the web’s leading companies, including Time Out, the BBC-where he ran a small R&D team focused on future medi-—and Yahoo! where he was Head of Product for the Brickhouse incubator and developed the Fire Eagle location sharing service. Now independent, he lives in San Francisco and works as a freelance product designer and consultant. Follow Tom on Twitter: @tomcoates Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Douglas Crockford - Server Side JavaScript

Sun, 7 Aug 2011 10:54:50 +1000

We first got server side JavaScript in 1996. This time, we’re going to get it right. Douglas Crockford is an American computer programmer and entrepreneur, best known for his ongoing involvement in the development of the JavaScript language, and for having popularized the data format JSON (JavaScript Object Notation). He is currently a senior JavaScript architect at Yahoo!, and is also a writer and speaker on JavaScript, JSON, and related web technologies. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Addy Osmani - Tools for jQuery Application Architecture

Sun, 7 Aug 2011 10:49:52 +1000

Modern JavaScript development often has to address a number of different concerns ranging from the use of architectural patterns such as MVC to improve code organisation, through to JavaScript templating, cross-browser storage, routing/bookmarking, script loading, feature detection and more. In this talk, JavaScript developer and jQuery Core Bug Triage & Docs team member Addy Osmani discusses tools that can simplify your development process significantly. Addy Osmani is a popular JavaScript Blogger and a senior independent developer based in London, England. He is also a member of the jQuery Bug Triage and Front-end teams where he assists with community updates, releases and bugs. Addy’s passion lies in helping spread knowledge about JavaScript and jQuery best practices, coding techniques and open-source projects in the community. He achieves this through numerous free online talks, articles and resources which he releases each month. For more on Addy’s work, check out his official website AddyOsmani.com for tutorials, jQuery.com for his community updates and magazines such as .NET for his thoughts and commentaries. Follow Addy on Twitter: @addyosmani Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Stephanie (Sullivan) Rewis - CSS3 - the Web’s Swiss Army Knife

Sun, 7 Aug 2011 10:20:42 +1000

Throughout the years, the Swiss Army Knife has been the trusted companion of scouts and explorers alike, and for front-end developers, CSS has been a trusty, if sometimes frustrating, companion. And just as blades, scissors and sundry tools have been added to the Swiss Army Knife, with CSS3, we have new tools and implements of creativity, and some tried and true tools have been honed and sharpened. Of course the key to success is knowing which of the many tools to use and how to wield them in a given situation. Join Stephanie Rewis as she explores some shiny enhancements to favorite old tools like backgrounds and borders, as well as slices and dices with new tools like CSS masks and more! Stephanie (Sullivan) Rewis is the founder of W3Conversion, a web design company with a passion for web standards. A front-end developer, Stephanie created the CSS Starter Layouts in Dreamweaver CS3 and recently updated for DW CS5. Her passion for sharing knowledge has led her to write books and tutorials, pen a bi-monthly column for Web Designer Magazine, train corporate web departments, and speak at numerous conferences. Stephanie is the WaSP liaison to Adobe Systems, working with product managers to ensure the output of its web products continues to move toward today’s web standards. An admitted workaholic who rarely leaves the office, she frequently escapes to talk to the people inside her computer via Twitter. Her hobby, if only she had time? Studying brain function. Her guilty pleasure? Eighties music. Follow Stephanie on Twitter: @stefsull Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Lea Verou - Mastering CSS3 gradients

Sun, 7 Aug 2011 10:15:04 +1000

With most browsers adding increasing support, and the simplicity of providing fallbacks for those that don’t, CSS3 gradients are something we can start to use right now. They benefit our users with faster websites and ourselves with more time in our hands to spend in other things, since they are easy to create, edit and update. A very powerful feature that can also be utilized for a surprising number of design effects, even ones that don’t resemble gradients at all. In this talk, Lea will explore CSS3 gradients in great depth and it’s almost guaranteed that no matter your expertise level, you will walk out having learned new things. Lea Verou is a front-end engineer currently living in Greece. She discovered programming at the young age of 12 (web development a few years after) and it was love at first ...line. In 2008, she co-founded Fresset Ltd, whose websites have attracted a large following in the Greek internet scene, they are currently working frantically on their first international project. Fed up with the lack of proper web development education in Greece, she co-organised a university course which teaches all aspects of modern, standards-based Web development, including CSS3, HTML5 and ES5 as regular parts of its content. During her spare time, she blogs about CSS, JavaScript and web usability at leaverou.me. Follow Lea on Twitter: @LeaVerou Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Brian Suda - Visualising Data

Sun, 7 Aug 2011 10:13:01 +1000

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is estimated to produce 15 petabytes of data per year. This is difficult to store let alone understand! With connected devices quickly out numbering connected people, we are soon going to be swamped with data. Visualising the constant stream of information we are collecting so that it can be better understood is going to be a critical task. In this presentation, I’ll walk you through a quick overview of some basic chart and graph design, then look at how easy it is to write some quick scripts in your favourite language to produce beautiful graphics. SVG is an under-rated technology, but it can be created programmatically and quickly to visualise data. Brian Suda is an informatician residing in Reykjavík, Iceland. He has spent a good portion of each day connected to Internet after discovering it back in the mid-1990s. Most recently, he has written a book on the topic of charts and graphs entitled Designing with Data. His own little patch of Internet can be found at suda.co.uk where many past projects and crazy ideas can be found. Follow Brian on Twitter: @briansuda Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Jonathan Stark - The mobile frameworks landscape

Sun, 7 Aug 2011 10:11:00 +1000

There’s little hotter in the world of web development right now than creating optimized web experiences and applications for mobile web enabled devices like iPhone, Android, iPad and webOS. Luckily, there’s a number of excellent HTML/CSS/Javascript frameworks to help developers create native-like experiences for these devices. In this session, Jonathan Stark takes an in depth look at several of these, including JQTouch, JQuery Mobile and SenchaTouch, comparing and contrasting their approaches, and most appropriate uses. As a developer looking to tailor experiences and applications for the mobile web, this will be an invaluable session. Jonathan Stark is a mobile and web application consultant who the Wall Street Journal has called an expert on publishing desktop data to the web. He is the author of O’Reilly’s Building iPhone Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, is a tech editor for both php|architect and Advisor magazines, and is often quoted in the media on internet and mobile lifestyle trends. Jonathan began his programming career more than 20 years ago on a Tandy TRS-80 and still thinks Zork was a sweet game. Follow Jonathan on Twitter: @jonathanstark Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Michael Mahemoff - HTML5 offline for fun and performance

Sun, 7 Aug 2011 10:08:53 +1000

With HTML5, we can now cache our applications and the data that goes with them. This means our favourite programming platform can now be used to build apps that work offline, survive intermittent downtimes, and gain in performance from cached content. In this session we’ll get hands-on with the application cache to make the app run when it’s not online. We’ll check out the techniques for client-side persistence: web storage and indexed database. Finally, we’ll look at the latest techniques for file access - reading and writing files on the user’s hard drive from a web app is being defined by web standards and implemented in today’s modern browsers. Michael Mahemoff is a Chrome Developer Advocate for Google, based in London, always looking at ways to make the web a more habitable place for users and developers alike. He’s been programming on the web since the mid ’90s, in a range of public-facing and enterprise (Java, what else?) contexts, and is the author of Ajax Design Patterns (O’Reilly, 2006) and a blogger for Ajaxian.com. Server side, he’s mostly a Ruby, PHP, and NodeJS guy and sushi is his preferred coding fuel. Michael holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne, covering software design patterns for improving user experience. Follow Michael on Twitter: @mahemoff Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Bruce Lawson - Native multimedia with HTML5

Sun, 7 Aug 2011 10:04:36 +1000

A much-hyped feature of HTML5 is native multimedia. In this session we’ll look at embedding. We’ll look at the pros and the cons of HTML5 multimedia and see how to write simple controls with JavaScript. Most excitingly, we’ll also look at how HTML5 builds in support for subtitles and captions for multimedia accessibility. And you might pick up a Turkish dancing tip on the way. Bruce evangelises Open Web Standards for Opera. He’s currently working with the British Standards Institution to draft the new Standard for commissioning accessible web sites and writing a book about HTML5. Previously, he’s been front-end technical lead for the Law Society and Solicitors Regulation Authority web sites, tutor to a princess’ daughter in Thailand, a movie extra in Bombay, and a tarot card reader in Istanbul. He blogs at brucelawson.co.uk, drinks Guinness and is training for a blue belt in kickboxing. Follow Bruce on Twitter: @brucel Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Hannah Donovan - Designing without the browser

Sun, 7 Aug 2011 10:02:26 +1000

Innovation is intensifying off the browser - the things we use everyday are increasingly controlled by touch, gesture and voice. And we, as interaction designers, are faced with a challenge that’s the opposite of our browser-based one-man-shop: there’s suddenly a gulf of production between our concept and the final product; the means of production is as tricky to navigate as a roster of Tolstoy characters; mistakes are expensive; and everyone speaks a different language. Sound dangerous? Sound exciting? Donovan argues the processes for the future lie in our more material-based graphic designer pasts, and our cousin disciplines of industrial design and architecture. After a decade of honing our newfangled browser-based skills, learn how to dust off and sharpen the tools of our roots. Hannah Donovan is a Canadian interaction designer living in London. She led design at Last.fm for five years, and before that worked agency-side designing digital campaigns. Since leaving Last.fm this spring, Hannah’s become an independent product designer focused on ways to make music better on the web. When she’s not busy with new work, Hannah contributes to spacelog.org and plays cello with a real orchestra as well as a comedy orchestra. Follow Hannah on Twitter: @Han Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Sebastian Deterding - Closing keynote: Don’t play games with me with me

Sun, 7 Aug 2011 09:59:31 +1000

In 1960, Milton Bradley published "The Game of Life": a capitalist wet dream of a board game, won by the lucky one who retired richest. Today, "gamification" vendors still take Milton Bradley seriously. From losing weight to saving Africa, from watching TV to matching DNA sequences: there’s nothing that couldn’t be made more fun by adding points, badges, and other elements from video games. At least that’s the selling proposition. Yet the debate on gamification is deeply split. On the one hand, marketers dream of customer mind control, on the other game designers warn of digital snake oil sellers and shallow ‘pointsification’. How to design a playful experience that is truly meaningful to users - instead of just creating shallow novelty effects? Which lessons do games really hold for other products and services? What criticism is valid? And how can designers interested in "gameifying" an application steer clear of the worst pitfalls? Sebastian Deterding is a designer and researcher usually flown in for some thorough German grumpiness. He speaks and publishes internationally on gameful design, persuasive technology, and the social contexts of games at venues such as the Gamification Summit, Gamescom, reboot, or Google. His work has been covered by The Guardian, the LA Times, The New Scientist, and EDGE Magazine among others. When not designing, he pursues a PhD on the motivational psychology of ‘gameified’ applications at Hamburg University. Follow Sebastian on Twitter: @dingstweets Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Stephen P Anderson - Keynote: Sustaining Passionate Users

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 12:02:44 +1000

That user who just signed up is about to bail. And a thousand other people just stopped in but didn’t even bother to register. Your product is great, but your users don’t stay long enough to find that out. The first fifteen minutes of your product are the most important and they’re so often squandered. But! We’re starting to figure out what works and what does not. There’s no longer any excuse to give your visitors a poor initial experience. Learn how great user interfaces entice people right out of the gate, then help newcomers get people over the threshold. Then! Great interfaces delightfully provide new users to learn complex systems and become engaged, passionate contributors. Onwards and upwards, friends. Daniel is a user interface designer based in San Francisco by way of Canada. He was the creative director at Digg for several years, he was a co-founder of a startup called Pownce, he continues as an inactive partner at the design firm silverorange, and he’s designing the UI for a game called Glitch. Daniel is passionate about designing web apps with vibrant communities. Lately, he’s especially interested in using game design techniques to engage users, especially as they learn new and complex systems. Follow Daniel on Twitter: @dburka Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Ross Boucher - Quality Control: Testing and debugging your apps

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 15:45:51 +1000

Developers have long been able to use an array of debugging, profiling and other testing tools to ensure application quality and performance. More recently, web developers have started to rely on increasingly sophisticated tools to help test their web sites and applications. But particularly in the mobile space, when developing sophisticated applications with web technologies, testing presents significant challenges. Ross Boucher, one of the developers of Objective-J, the Cappuccino web application framework, the visual development tool Atlas, and 280 slides knows a thing or two about testing sophisticated applications developed using web technologies. In this session, he’ll share some of those secretes, and help you better test and debug your applications. Ross Boucher is co-founder of 280 North, the organization behind 280 slides and the popular Cappuccino and Atlas frameworks. At 280 North, he splits his time between server and client-side code, including the text system in 280 Slides. He has a M.S. in Electrical Engineering from USC. After graduating, he worked as an engineer at Apple on the iTunes Store. His team was responsible for music recommendations, charting, and search. Ross is currently working with his colleagues to create tools that will help everyone build rich applications. Follow Ross on Twitter: @boucher Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Dave Balmer - Rockstar graphics with HTML5

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 15:35:23 +1000

In this session Dave will cover high-performance presentation and animation using HTML5, JavaScript, CSS3 and Canvas. Examples will include mobile-friendly techniques you can use today for creating game effects and "flashy" user experiences across a range of browsers and devices. As a Senior Software Engineer with Palm Developer Relations, Dave is a JavaScript guru currently focused on mobile app development. He is the creator of four JavaScript application frameworks, including Jo, which is a lightweight solution for cross-platform mobile apps. In his spare time, Dave designs and writes games, makes music, and writes. Follow Dave on Twitter: @balmer Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Dave Orchard - Offline Web Apps with HTML5

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 15:32:24 +1000

There’s an old expression, that there are only 2 hard problems in computing: naming, cache invalidation and off-by-one errors. Building offline web apps is all about those hard problems. There are some different ways of storing stuff - such as html5 caching, html5 storage, sqllite, and even native stores such as contacts and calendars - and we’ll sing their praises. But the really hard problems are knowing what to store, whether the stuff is still good or needs refreshing, how much to store, how to resolve conflicts between the client and server, how to integrate with data-specific stores, all in a bewildering cacophony of network and storage limited devices. We’ll spend the bulk of our time on these hard problems, which is probably more useful than api description and sample code. Dave Orchard is Mobile Architect at Salesforce.com and located in Vancouver, Canada. This means being involved in many mobile platforms, architectures, tools, technologies and APIs. Prior to that, he was a co-founder of Ayogo Games and focused on iPhone and ruby/merb/mysql based casual social games. Back further in the mists of time, he was the Web standards lead for BEA Systems for 7 years, including being elected three times to 2 year terms on the W3C Technical Architecture Group chaired by Sir Tim Berners-Lee. Follow Dave on Twitter: @DaveO Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Relly Annett-Baker - Content Strategy for Apps

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 15:30:01 +1000

Dear app makers, I love the stuff you have been putting out recently. Supercool maps, guides, syncing and such make my day. There’s just one little thing. As a content strategist and writer, I’ve noticed that some of your instructions aren’t as clear as they could be. The experience is not as fulfilling as it might be. I know this might not be your favourite part of the process. In fact, they are probably the bits chucked in to get it out the door. And so I have created a session to help ease the pain. I have a framework for you to build on to make sure that your next app is as pithy as it is pretty and elegant to use as it is coded. I’ll even bring a whole virtual suitcase of apps with fantastic snippets of microcopy to inspire you. It’s a pretty simple concept and it’s a bunch of fun to work on, running alongside your app development. In one sentence: it’s about creating a fulfilling experience, one that puts you ahead of your competition, simply through the power of the written word. Relly Annett-Baker lives in a leafy market town with her husband and two small sons. As a result, she eats far too many cakes from Waitrose and can be guaranteed to stand on Lego at least once a day. As well as being content strategist and content writer for Headscape, she is employed as live-in domestic staff by two cats. She also writes articles and jabbers on about copy to anyone who will listen, creates scrapbooks, and continues to procrastinate over the draft for her book, a guide to creating web content for designers and developers, to be published in Spring 2011 by Five Simple Steps. She better finish this biography before her editor spots she isn’t writing her book again. Follow Relly on Twitter: @RellyAB Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Chris Wilson - Keynote: The Convergence of All Things

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 15:27:15 +1000

This keynote will focus on the unique potential offered to web developers - the ability to use the web platform to build compelling applications that reach across different devices, scenarios and environments. In discussing the approaches necessary to deliver great experiences across all these spaces, we will also uncover unique opportunities in a platform that reaches from mobile phones to the biggest display screen in your house. Chris Wilson is a Developer Advocate at Google Inc. He began working on web browsers in 1993 when he co-authored the original Windows version of NCSA Mosaic, the first mass-market WWW browser. After leaving NCSA in 1994 and spending a year working on the AIRMosaic web browser for SPRY, Inc., he joined Microsoft’s Internet Explorer team as a developer in 1995. Over the course of 15 years, Chris represented Microsoft in many standards working groups, in particular helping develop standards for Cascading Style Sheets, HTML, the Document Object Model and XSL through the W3C working groups. He also developed the first implementation of Cascading Style Sheets in Internet Explorer – the first, in fact, in any mass-market web browser. Beginning in 2001, he spent a few years working on the WPF project, but rejoined the IE team in 2004 to lead the IE Platform and Security team, then moved to work on the Javascript engine team in 2009. In 2010, Chris left Microsoft and joined Google’s Developer Relations team, and is currently working on the Google TV project. In his free time, he enjoys photography and hiking with his wife and daughter, and scuba diving in the cool waters of Puget Sound. Occasionally he remembers to share his thoughts on his blog. Follow Chris on Twitter: @cwilso Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Robby Ingebretsen - Get your game on: HTML5 for game building

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 15:22:49 +1000

You’ve seen a lot of demos, but is HTML5 really ready for primetime? We made an HTML5-based pool game with the explicit goal of creating an experience that defies your expectations for what a browser can do. In this session we’ll take you through the challenges and triumphs of working with this new technology. For the experienced HTML5 dev, we’ll share tips and tricks. For the rest of us, it will be a great primer on the exciting potential that HTML5 brings to the web. Robby Ingebretsen is a user experience designer and developer with a singular purpose: making great ideas real. As the founder of Pixel Lab, a user experience consultancy that specializes in Silverlight, HTML5 and mobile technologies, he helps clients make cool stuff - the kind that needs the unique full-bodied blend of a little design love and a little engineering kung-fu. Follow Robby on Twitter: @ingebretsen Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Juliette Melton - Mobile User Experience Research

Sun, 29 May 2011 15:18:39 +1000

Most user experience research takes place sitting behind a computer. And yet these days, most networked experiences are happening on mobile devices. Some common user experience research methods work well in a mobile environment - others don’t. In this talk, Juliette Melton will guide you through how to use some great existing research methods in a mobile context, how to incorporate some new (and fun!) methods into your arsenal, and propose next generation tools and services to make mobile user experience research even better. Juliette has ten years of experience building, managing, and researching digital environments and is a human factors researcher based at IDEO in San Francisco. She’s deeply interested in the intersections between digital culture, learning, and communication. Her work has spanned a broad range of industries including social media, casual gaming, education administration, electronic publishing, corporate banking, computer hardware, and public health. Community education - through workshops, lectures, and writing - is an important part of her work. Remote user experience methods, agile project management, and research program planning are frequent topics. Juliette holds an MEd from the Technology, Innovation, and Education program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education where she focused on developing models for innovative networked learning applications. She also has a BA in Comparative Literature from Haverford College. Follow Juliette on Twitter: @j Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Dan Saffer - Top Ten Things To Tackle Touchscreens

Sun, 29 May 2011 14:27:48 +1000

The average size of an adult human’s finger pad is 10-14mm. The average size of a cursor or stylus tip is 1-2mm. That fact alone means that designing native touchscreen apps is an entirely different thing than designing web, desktop, or even traditional mobile apps. This talk outlines the most important concepts, guidelines, and practices to keep in mind when designing with fingers and hands in mind. We’ll cover interaction zones (where it’s easiest for fingers to reach), touch targets (size and distance apart), kinesiology (how fingers can bend, move, and stretch), and signaling (how users can become aware of gestures). Dan Saffer is an interaction designer and the author of two books: Designing Gestural Interfaces and Designing for Interaction. He is the co-founder and one of the principals at Kicker Studio, a design consultancy in San Francisco that does "interaction-infused" product design. Since 1995, Dan has designed devices, software, websites, and services that are currently used by millions every day. He speaks at conferences and teaches workshops on interaction design all over the world. He and his products have been in BusinessWeek, Fast Company, and Wired, and his design innovations have received several patents. Follow Dan on Twitter: @odannyboy Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Daniel Davis - Widgets in Theory and Practice

Sun, 29 May 2011 14:12:56 +1000

In the absence of a "Widgets for Dummies" book being available at your local bookstore, this presentation will try to bring you up-to-speed with what you need to know to start developing widgets. Split into two parts, we’ll cover the theory behind widgets: * seriously, yet another platform to code for?! - vendor and manufacturer support for widgets & compatible development frameworks * what widgets are good for - save your users (and yourself) time, money and frustration * what widgets are not-so-good for - they’re not a silver bullet! and widgets in practice: * widgets and device compatibility - the good news is also potential bad news * screen sizes - resizing and its headaches * widget distribution and making money - everybody else is doing it, so why can’t we? You’ll get most out of this talk if you: * have heard of widgets but don’t know how to use them * are wondering whether widgets could solve a particular problem you have. (i.e. no specific browser) * have tried making widgets but got stuck and gave up Daniel is the Web Evangelist for Opera’s Japan office based in Tokyo. His previous work experience includes project management, IT training, web development, software development and system administration in both Japan and the UK, his home country. After studying Japanese and Chinese at university, he grew more and more interested in the flourishing field of IT and the web, learning as much as he could by playing and experimenting with internet-related technologies. His current work promoting web standards and cross-device web development at Opera fits in perfectly with his ideology of openness and equality across linguistic, social and socio-economic borders. Follow Daniel on Twitter: @ourmaninjapan Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Daniels Lee (TM) - Designing for the 10 foot UI

Sun, 29 May 2011 13:33:18 +1000

The web platform has already taken a center role in our desktop and mobile computing lives. The next space for the web platform to take over is the biggest screen in your house - the TV in your living room. However, designing for television has its own set of demands, different than designing for desktop and mobile implementations. This talk outlines the most important best practices to keep in mind when designing web applications for TV. We’ll cover issues like directional pad navigation, user interface design for TV, color issues, and zooming, as well as discussing some unique opportunities for TV applications. Daniels is a Developer Programs Engineer who’s had the pleasure of working with several developer communities since he joined the team in 2006. After starting with iGoogle gadgets, he worked closely with advertisers and agencies via Gadget Ads, then onto Geo APIs focusing on V2 to V3 migration, and now Google TV. He’s not afraid to publicly confess his love for JavaScript and recognizes its profound ability to make the web more interactive. With a growing love for HTML5 technology, sky’s the limit. On his off time, he enjoys cultivating authentic relationships while always pursuing a greater sense of self and awareness. Follow Daniels on Twitter: @dannon81 Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Aaron Parecki - Geolocation

Sun, 29 May 2011 13:27:45 +1000

While location-based mobile apps are becoming increasingly popular, they are still relatively new. Special considerations need to be made for battery life and handling large data sets of geolocated data. The good news is there are many services and technologies you can use to assist you in building mobile location-based apps. In this session, Aaron Parecki, co-founder of Geoloqi.com, shows you services you can leverage to do things like nearby business lookups, location-based triggers, nearest intersection queries, and more. Aaron also covers the location services available on the various mobile platforms as well as in HTML 5, and shares some insights on how to deal with battery life. The session concludes with some real-world use cases for real-time location such as turning on and off your lights in your house or notifying your boss if you’ll be late to work. Aaron Parecki is a Portland-based iPhone and PHP developer interested in solving practical problems with technology. In his free time, he enjoys geolocation, linguistics, and building home automation systems and IRC bots with a sense of humor. For the past 2½ years, he has been tracking and visualizing his location every 6 seconds. He created Geoloqi.com with Amber Case in an effort to help people connect in the real world. He has 11 years experience in web app development, database design, and server administration. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronpk Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Divya Manian - Creative CSS3

Sun, 29 May 2011 12:11:44 +1000

Being a front-end designer used to mean pixel hacking and endless rounds of pain while trying to make sites and applications "look the same in each browser". Thankfully, we now live in more interesting times. But as we strive to make our web apps a pleasure to use, the vast array of tools and techniques available to us present their own set of challenges. In this session you will learn to ask the right questions to guide your choice of tools and the design. Find out how to creatively use new features of CSS3 (gradients, multiple backgrounds, generated content, and many more) to give life to your design ideas, make them adaptable and maintainable, and provide the best experience possible on an array of platforms. Finally, you’ll hear how to create a library of simple and ready-to-use design patterns, that you can incorporate into your workflow to bring your designs to life much faster. Divya Manian is a Web Designer in Seattle. She made the jump from developing device drivers for Motorola phones to designing websites and has not looked back since. She takes her duties as an Open Web vigilante seriously which has resulted in collaborative projects such as HTML5 Readiness and HTML5 Boilerplate. Speaker Photo: © Mohini Patel Glanz. Follow Divya on Twitter: @nimbuin Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Dave Balmer - HTML5 Graphics: Canvas Deep Dive

Sun, 29 May 2011 11:49:38 +1000

The Canvas tag has been around for a while, and HTML5 has given it more visibility. It’s now finding its way into most mobile browsers, and even a majority of desktop browsers. This talk will give a solid overview of what the canvas tag is, what it can do, and how it compares with other technologies like SVG and Flash. Several practical code examples will show how you can use it along with CSS3 and other HTML5 goodies to make your web apps more featured, efficient and downright cool. As a Senior Software Engineer with Palm Developer Relations, Dave is a JavaScript guru currently focused on mobile app development. He is the creator of four JavaScript application frameworks, including Jo HTML5 Mobile App Framework, which is a lightweight solution for cross-platform mobile apps. In his spare time, Dave designs and writes games, makes music, and writes. Follow Dave on Twitter: @balmer Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Rachel Hinman - Mobile Prototyping Essentials

Sun, 29 May 2011 11:22:52 +1000

We’ve heard it all before: prototype, prototype, prototype. It’s a standard step in almost any design process - but often the first step skipped in time and budget constrained projects. While prototyping is considered a standard step in any UX design process, it is an *essential* part of the mobile UX process. This talk will outline why prototyping is essential to part of the mobile UX process and how prolific prototyping is a necessary step for designers keen to grow the ruthless editing skills necessary to craft successful mobile experiences. This talk will also cover common and uncommon mobile prototyping tools, methods and techniques that you can apply to your project work. Rachel Hinman is a researcher, designer and a recognized thought leader in the mobile user experience field. Currently, Rachel is a Senior Research Scientist at the Nokia Research Center in Palo Alto, California. There she focuses on the research and design of emergent and experimental mobile interfaces and mobile experiences for emerging markets. Prior to joining Nokia, Rachel was an experience design director at Adaptive Path, and a mobile researcher and strategist for Yahoo’s mobile group. Rachel writes and speaks frequently on the topic of mobile research and design. She is the creative force behind the 90 Mobiles in 90 Days Project and her perspectives on mobile user experience has been featured in Interactions Magazine, BusinessWeek and Wired. She is currently writing a book entitled, "The Mobile Frontier: A Guide for Designing Mobile Experiences" with Rosenfeld Media. Expected publication is late 2011. Follow Rachel on Twitter: @Hinman Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Nicholas Zakas - Mobile web speed bumps

Sun, 29 May 2011 11:06:35 +1000

As browsers explode with new capabilities and migrate onto devices users can be left wondering, "what’s taking so long?" Learn how HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and the web itself conspire against a fast-running application and simple tips to create a snappy interface that delight users instead of frustrating them. Nicholas C. Zakas is principal front-end engineer for the Yahoo! homepage, a contributor to YUI, and an author. Nicholas has written Professional JavaScript for Web Developers, Professional Ajax, and High Performance JavaScript. He has also contributed a chapter to Steve Souders’ Even Faster Web Sites. Nicholas posts regularly at his blog as well as on YUI Blog. Follow Nicholas on Twitter: @slicknet Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Aaron Weyenberg - Realistic UI design

Sun, 29 May 2011 10:32:38 +1000

A new generation of touch devices have proven to be exciting playgrounds for app designers. And with every new product we create, we have the opportunity to offer the most clear and efficient experience for our users. Recent UI trends often lean to realistic, faithful representations of analog controls and features. These designs can offer advantages, but also come with their own set of hazards. In this session Aaron will lead you on a tour of current trends and practices, examining the strengths and drawbacks that realism brings. We’ll talk about things like mental models, innovation and usability as they relate to lifelike UI. Finally, Aaron will share some pragmatic guidelines to keep in mind as you build the next wave of mobile and touch apps. A mixed breed designer/developer, Aaron’s career is built upon a unique blend of creative and technical sensibilities. He began twelve years ago leading interactive initiatives for Colorado’s top design agencies, delivering successful projects for a range of clients including HP, Spyder Active Sports and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. In 2004 he joined ESPN New Media where he provided instrumental leadership in an Art Director role. At ESPN he guided best practices, developed core UI components and designed pioneering real time game and scoring applications. Aaron currently serves as Creative Director for Fanzter, a lean and profitable New England based startup. His work has appeared on Smashing Magazine, Six Revisions, Ajax Rain and was awarded at the 27th annual Sports Emmys. Aaron’s academic background spans three fields of study at three different universities, settling into a B.S. in Scientific and Technical Communication from Michigan Tech. His offline hobbies involve learning about social psychology and human behavior, photography, and a quest to find the perfect iPod earphones. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aweyenberg Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Jason Grigsby - Keynote: Native is easy. Mobile web is freaking hard!

Sun, 29 May 2011 10:18:48 +1000

No one who advocates for the mobile web wants to admit it, but it is true. Native is easier. It’s easier to sell to stakeholders. Easier to monetize. And most importantly, easier to implement. Argue about programming languages, memory management and reach all you want. There is one undeniable disadvantage that the mobile web faces that native apps don’t - over a decade of legacy code, cruft and entrenched organizational politics. But the web is essential. Even companies whose businesses are centered on native apps need web pages to sell those apps. We can demonstrate time and again that a web-based approach is a smart investment. So how do we sell mobile web projects? How do we work with the systems we currently have to build compelling mobile web experiences? And most importantly, how should we be changing our web infrastructure, tools and workflow for the coming zombie apocalypse of devices. Jason Grigsby was one of the project leads on the Obama ’08 iPhone Application and helped design the user interface for the Wall Street Journal’s Blackberry application. Jason is a co-founder of Cloud Four, a small start-up focused on mobile web development. He founded and organizes Mobile Portland. Jason is currently co-authoring Head First Mobile Web for O’Reilly Publishing. The book will be available this winter. Follow Jason on Twitter: @grigs Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Scott Thomas - Designing Obama

Wed, 1 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +1100

Join Scott Thomas, a lead web designer on President Obama’s electoral campaign, as he explains how to design online communities that resonate and motivate. All too often, discussions of analytics, clickthrough rates, and search engine optimization cloud the important truth that online campaigns and communities are for human beings. Come discover how to use superior design, authentic messaging, and valuable content to deliver resonant messages that connect with your audience through the noise of the Internet. Scott Thomas, who goes by the moniker SimpleScott, lives by the idea that the simplest solution is the best one. Whether he's building a website or singing emails operatically the motivation is always "less is more." Back when SimpleScott had free time he could be found at a letterpress fashioning original prints and collaborating with fellow members of the design collective, The Post Family. All that, and his dream of rationalizing the irrational theory of the golden ratio, came to a halt when he became the Design Director for the Obama Campaign. Soon enough, SimpleScott found himself redesigning WhiteHouse.gov and trying to impress politicos with his Lincoln-like beard. When the historic election ended he felt that he should somehow record his experience. Two years later he self-published Designing Obama, a chronicle on the role of art and design in the political realm. We are all patiently awaiting Obamaʼs rave review. SimpleScott plans to continue working on creative projects that might just one day change the world. (Cue music) Follow Scott on Twitter: @simplescott Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

David Gravina - Design Thinking (and Doing)

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 14:57:49 +1100

Many web professionals practice creative, collaborative and inclusive approaches to our work. As UX designers, information architects, strategists, or programmers - we are all designers, and we are ready equipped with a way of problem solving that can be applied to challenges that are not traditionally those of web practitioners. From the perspective of the digital domain this session will take a look at what Design Thinking is and it’s potential to amplify creativity so that we may embrace and apply our skills to the messy problems that business, government and society face every day. David Gravina is the company principal and founder of Digital Eskimo, a design consultancy that applies the transformational power of design and technology to issues of social and environmental change. He is a founding member of greenUps, the Sydney green networking group, a director of the live local Foundation and was co-founder of the ‘Raise the Bar’ campaign which, as a former Melbourne boy, he’s pleased to say is slowly bringing Melbourne style small bars to Sydney. Follow David on Twitter: @Deskimo Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Lisa Herrod - The Age of Awareness

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 14:06:57 +1100

Inclusive design. It might sound like a rebranding exercise from the Web Accessibility Marketing Team, but it isn’t. For years inclusive design and research practices have been applied to a wide variety of disciplines from industrial design to the arts, the built environment and more. What can we learn from this? And how can we apply it to the digital environment in which we work? Social innovation, service design and even augmented reality are now presenting real and interesting opportunities for us as traditional web practitioners. Combined with inclusive design practices, this opens up a fantastic world of change for both us and the people for whom we design. So starting with the web, we’ll reinvigorate our passion for diversity and inclusion. Let’s declare this The Age of Awareness! Lisa is the Principal User Experience consultant at Scenario Seven with over ten years of hands-on experience on the web. She has a background in standards based design and development with the last 7 years focusing on design research, usability, accessibility and user experience strategy. Lisa believes in an inclusive, holistic approach to user experience design that permeates every layer of a site and every role on a team. Her clients range from small, non-profit organisations through to large multinationals such as Macquarie Bank, Microsoft, Sydney Opera House, Qantas and the Brooklyn Museum NYC. Lisa is an experienced lecturer and conference presenter having spoken at conferences both locally and abroad in the UK, NZ and the US. She's a sporadic blogger and a crazy lover of whippets, with two little ones of her own... Follow Lisa on Twitter: @scenariogirl Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Gordon Grace - More than raw: government data online

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 13:48:49 +1100

The USA and UK governments have made significant progress with linked, open data in recent months. Several fundamental datasets from the Australian Government are on the cusp of being exposed as meaningful, reusable, machine-readable assets, further driving the adoption of linked data within and around government. Making better use of online data offerings using a combination of top-down policy and guidance, together with bottom-up development efforts from agency web teams, would seem to describe a sustainable, organic growth in linked government data. Learn about the path to the first release of data.gov.au; a draft roadmap to future releases; the barriers to linked data and open public sector information (PSI); and the real-world questions this technology aims to solve. Based in the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO), Gordon has been working on whole-of-government websites and Australian Government web policies since early 2006. Gordon likes making attractive, useful things that matter to people. He’s some thing of a ‘plate spinner’, and likes to punish himself by taking on too many projects at once. Gordon can often be found prodding and lifting dirty great big IT systems over usability, accessibility and standards-compliance hurdles, gently preparing them for the hostile, unforgiving and unpredictable web. Gordon lives in Canberra with his wife and two young children, who are rarely hostile, frequently forgiving, and always unpredictable. Follow Gordon on Twitter: @gordongrace Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Paula Bray - Connected digital initiatives and strategies

Mon, 1 Nov 2010 15:00:05 +1100

The Powerhouse Museum has been working towards making its digital initiatives widely accessible and to a broader audience, online and onsite, to enable a connected digital future. With a blossoming of blogging, significant Flickr and Facebook presences the Museum has been developing great connections with a new audience that has led the institution to rethink access with an emphasis on the importance of community connections and participation. This thinking has had an impact on the Museum's Strategic Plan and several digital initiatives are now driving change within the organisation. The Museum has experienced incredible connections, citizen research and innovative digital outcomes such as MOB’s augmented reality mobile app using geo-located historic images from the Tyrrell collection, Paul Hagon’s Google Street view mashup, Digital NZ’s integration of related items from the Museum’s collection and the Powerhouse Museum’s collection download. Releasing data and images under a Creative Commons license has allowed the Museum to make the collection available for use and re-use. Social media initiatives are being adopted and aligned to the right platforms for appropriate audience effectiveness for exhibitions like ‘80s are back’ and ‘Trainspotting’ exhibitions. All these digital projects are allowing the Museum to evaluate, experiment, learn from and progress future initiatives leading to a connected digital future - as well as change the DNA of the Museum itself. Paula Bray is the Manager of the Visual and Digitisation Services department at the Powerhouse Museum that includes: Photography, The Image Resource Centre, The Photo Library and Rights and Permissions and Audio Visuals. Paula is responsible for managing the digital collections to the highest standard whilst coordinating photographic and AV projects for exhibitions, publications, events and the website. Paula runs a blog for the Museum called Photo of the Day and manages the Museum’s two Flickr accounts and numerous public groups. Paula has also worked as a photographer in the Arts for many years including: the Art Gallery of NSW, The State Library of NSW and The Australian National Maritime Museum. Paula has worked as a freelance photographer and had several exhibitions of her work including a solo show at Blender Gallery in 2007. Her work has been collected by the College of Fine Arts and private collectors. Paula studied photography at the College of Fine Arts for 5 years doing a Bachelor of Art and a Master of Art whilst also receiving the Agfa Gevaert award for the most innovative use of photography upon graduating. Follow Paula on Twitter: @paulabray Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Dmitry Baranovskiy - Raphaël: native web vector graphics library

Mon, 1 Nov 2010 14:35:09 +1100

As SVG and Canvas come of age, every developer who loves standards is wanting to use them in production to make eye-popping effects. But then they come up against the inevitable lack of support in IE6 to 8, and promptly give up the ghost. Fear not! Raphaël provides a developer friendly API to create graphics that work in Firefox 3.0+, Safari 3.0+, Opera 9.5+ and Internet Explorer 6.0+. Yes, you read that correctly, IE6. In this session Dmitry Baranovskiy, Raphaël's creator will walk you through its possibilities and will open up new horizons for web graphics that will work in all almost every browser. Dmitry has over ten years experience in creating web applications. Having started as a back end developer, more recently he has changed his orientation to front end development and even pure design. These days he spends his working hours as Software Architect at Sencha. He is also the creator of Raphaël, the JavaScript Library, as well as a Optimus, the Microformats transformer. At any given moment he is always working on three secret projects, though no one knows where he gets the time for any of this. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Silvia Pfeeiffer - HTML5 Audio and Video

Mon, 1 Nov 2010 13:34:55 +1100

With three different audio and video codec formats each supported by the diverse HTML5 capable Web browsers, plus the need to deal with fallback for older browsers, HTML5 media is not the simple solution we have all been hoping for. But on the other hand, HTML5 media will make your life easier, since it offers some features that are hard to get with traditional Adobe Flash, such as a standardised JavaScript API, integrated CSS support, and built-in support for accessibility and internationalisation through captioning, subtitling, and audio descriptions. Additionally, devices such as the iPhone and iPad will only support HTML5 media and not Flash. So for any serious practitioner it's a technology you can no longer ignore. W3C invited expert Silvia Pfeiffer will talk through the big issues on this important topic. Dr Silvia Pfeiffer has worked on novel media technology for more than 15 years and is an internationally renowned expert in new Web video standards. Silvia completed her PhD in Mannheim, Germany, on audio-visual content analysis. She then spent 7 years at the CSIRO developing new video technology for the Web in the "Annodex" project. In 2007, she co-founded Australian video company Vquence which offers consulting and technology services for Web 2.0 video. Silvia is now an invited expert on four W3C video-related working groups. She is making contributions to the new audio and video elements in HTML5, to media annotation standards, to media fragment addressing via URIs, and to video accessibility technology for hearing and seeing-impaired people (captions, audio annotations etc). Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Daniel Davis - Widgets: Why should I care?

Mon, 1 Nov 2010 12:14:04 +1100

When I was a young lad, I had the use of a computer for the Christmas holidays so I typed out my thank you letters and felt super cool. Unfortunately there was no printer. I wrote out by hand what was on the screen and got laughed at by my dad. Despite this, I felt I was ahead of the crowd and at the start of something new and exciting. Thirty years later, I feel we're at the same stage with widgets - at the start of something new and exciting. Daniel is the Web Evangelist for Opera's Japan office based in Tokyo. His previous work experience includes project management, IT training, web development, software development and system administration in both Japan and the UK, his home country. After studying Japanese and Chinese at university, he grew more and more interested in the flourishing field of IT and the web, learning as much as he could by playing and experimenting with internet-related technologies. His current work promoting web standards and cross-device web development at Opera fits in perfectly with his ideology of openness and equality across linguistic, social and socio-economic borders. Follow Daniel on Twitter: @ourmaninjapan Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Dan Rubin - Creativity, design and interaction with HTML5 and CSS3

Mon, 1 Nov 2010 10:39:24 +1100

HTML5 and CSS3 are the newest stars of the web: the cornerstones of progressive enhancement, the future of online video, the easiest way to build web applications for desktop and mobile devices, and a brilliant foundation upon which we can add complex interaction and animation layers with javascript and Canvas; happily - thanks to much-improved browser support - we can now use them. In this session, Dan Rubin will show you who’s already taking advantage of these latest additions to our toolbox, what this means for interface designers, and how you can bring the same techniques to your projects. An accomplished designer, author and speaker, Dan Rubin has over ten years of experience as a leader in the fields of user interface design and web standards, specifically focusing on the use of HTML and CSS to streamline development and improve accessibility. His passion for all things creative and artistic isn’t a solely selfish endeavor either-you’ll frequently find him waxing educational about a cappella jazz and barbershop harmony, philosophy, web standards, typography, psychology, and design in general. In addition to his contributions to sites including Blogger, the CSS Zen Garden, Yahoo! Small Business and Microsoft’s ASP.net portal, Dan is a contributing author of Cascading Style Sheets: Separating Content from Presentation (2nd Edition, friends of ED, 2003), technical reviewer for Beginning CSS Web Development (Apress, 2006), The Art & Science of CSS (SitePoint, 2007) and Sexy Web Design (SitePoint, 2009), coauthor of Pro CSS Techniques (Apress, 2006), and Web Standards Creativity (friends of ED, 2007), writes about web standards, design and life in general on his personal site, Superfluous Banter, and spends his professional time on a variety of online and offline projects for Sidebar Creative, Webgraph and Black Seagull, consulting on design, user interaction and online publishing for Garcia Media, and speaking and teaching at events, conferences and workshops (including An Event Apart, @media, SXSW Interactive, Future of Web Design, Web Directions, and various Refresh and AIGA events) around the world. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Michael(tm) Smith - HTML5 Report Card

Mon, 1 Nov 2010 10:07:40 +1100

Remember how fun it was to do hands-on classroom projects together in kindergarten? Well, this interactive session is going to be like that, but just with bigger people. In the first part of the session, I'll hand out blank report cards, and each of us will -- individually and based on whatever criteria we personally want to use -- use those report cards to assign A, B, C, D, and E letter grades to particular new features that are part of HTML5 and related specifications that are supported to some degree in browsers. Then I'll collect those, and use the info to judge which HTML5 features to focus the discussion on during the second part of the session. During the second part of the session, we'll make a handful of poster-side HTML5 Report Cards together, by taking a look at the HTML5 features we identified during the first part of the session, and then assigning A, B, C, D, and E letter grades to those together -- based on the current quality of the features/implementations, and on criteria such as if/how well the features actually work as expected, as well as on some criteria such as "plays well with others", "areas where improvement is needed", etc. Michael(tm) Smith joined the W3C in 2007. He help with work on W3C core standards related to browsing technologies; in particular, the phenomenon known as HTML5, as well as other standards related to Web application APIs. Michael has been based in Tokyo since 2001. Prior to joining the W3C, he worked for Opera Software, and prior to that, for Openwave Systems - most of that time involved with design, development, testing, and deployment of software for mobile operators. Follow Michael(tm) on Twitter: @sideshowbarker Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Juliette Melton - Running effective remote studies

Mon, 1 Nov 2010 09:20:07 +1100

Remote research can raise the quality and lower the costs of your user research efforts; using a combination of surveys, video, screensharing, and phone, you can connect with a much broader range of users than you could using traditional lab-based usability tests, while using resources more efficiently than you would doing contextual research. In this workshop-style talk, Juliette Melton will cover recruiting sources, technology tools, and caveats you might not have thought of, including managing time zones and participant distraction. We will also address pros and cons of increasingly popular non-scripted research services. Juliette Melton is a user experience researcher and design strategist based in San Francisco. Her background in web development and product management gives her a practical perspective on how to conduct effective user experience research. She advocates building products that delight users while supporting organizational realities. Juliette holds a master’s in education from the Technology, Innovation, and Education program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education where she focused on developing models for innovative networked learning applications. She runs Deluxify, a boutique UX consultancy, writes about her various projects at juliemelton.com, and makes lots of terrariums. Follow Juliette on Twitter: @j Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Shane Morris - Interaction design school 101

Sat, 30 Oct 2010 11:47:33 +1100

When I first picked up Matthew Frederick's book: "101 Things I Learned in Architecture School" I was struck by the number of principles of architecture that can be directly applied to interaction design, but also disillusioned by the fact that Interaction Designers generally do not have a similar body of knowledge to draw on. Sure we have lots of "process", but relatively little "wisdom" of the sort found in this book. The field of Interaction Design isn't very old - If we're talking purely software interface design, then let's say about 25 years old. No surprise, then, that we borrow heavily (and unashamedly) from a range of other, more established, disciplines. We try to compensate for our relative lack of a history, tradition or body of knowledge by leveraging others'. That's entirely appropriate - but how far does it get us? Interaction Design is an essential component of the delivery of virtually any product or service today. Many of us may already be at the point where we interact with more digital products in a day than we do physical products, and many of the most important transactions in our lives are entirely virtual. Maybe Interaction Design needs to be taken a bit more seriously? In this talk I'd like to reflect on my almost 20 years as an interaction designer - the things I've learned along the way, and the things I wish I would have learned at Interaction Design School, if such a thing had existed back then. Along the way we'll review some of the 101 things we all should have learned in Interaction Design School, sourced from ixd101.com (the blog I share with Matt Morphett), and beyond. "Shane Morris is one of Australia’s most respected user experience professionals. Through consulting, mentoring and training he has helped organisations create compelling digital experiences since 1991. In that time he has worked on desktop applications, internet applications, mobile user interfaces, physical devices and web sites. Shane has taught user experience topics around the world and is a key contributor to "101 Things I Learned in Interaction Design School" at ixd101.com. Shane has worked with companies like Microsoft, Lonely Planet, M&C Saatchi, Cochlear, Amnesia Razorfish and Sensis, helping creative and technical professionals collaborate to create services that empower, inspire and reward. His passion is transforming the complex and constrained into the simple and powerful. Not just because it’s valuable endeavour, but because it’s hard - and therefore immensely rewarding. Shane’s experience includes: - Director of Automatic Studio (Formerly Echo Interaction Design) - One of Microsoft’s first User Experience Evangelists world-wide - General Manager and Principal Consultant at The Hiser Group" Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Tatham Oddie - Practicing Web Standards in the Large

Sat, 30 Oct 2010 10:51:53 +1100

Web standards might be second nature to all of us here, but they don't always fly so easily in the enterprise. Obscure browsers and CIOs watching their bottom line can often leave a passionate development team feeling stifled. In this session we'll look at how a number of large scale websites successfully adopted new standards and opened their content to more audiences and devices than ever before. We'll explore techniques for deciding what client technologies to use on your projects, how to drive the adoption of newer techniques and how not to leave your audience behind. We'll even talk about how to make all of this possible with Internet Explorer in the room. Tatham Oddie is a technical strategist and roaming consultant. For the third year in a row he is a recipient of the Microsoft-issued "Most Valuable Professional" award, and a regular presenter and participant at conferences and industry groups throughout Australia, New Zealand and North America. His business experience includes the launch of a successful creative agency, a fashion retail and PR business, and is now focussed on the development of Tixi - a niche ticketing agency. Follow Tatham on Twitter: @tathamoddie Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Paul Hagon - Enriching large data sets

Sat, 30 Oct 2010 10:14:52 +1100

Libraries contain masses of beautifully structured data collected over many years. But these records may have their flaws and might now want to be used in ways, such as location based services, that weren't imagined 30 years ago. How can we use existing API's and web services to enrich this data to enable it to be used in a variety of ways. This data also needs to be exposed for others to use and build upon. With the recent release of the Government response to the Web 2.0 taskforce, how can institutions comply with these recommendations by providing their data in usable forms for the public. What's involved in building an API into our resources and how can our data be given more meaning through semantic linkages like RDFa? Paul is the Senior Web Designer at the National Library of Australia and has been working on the web in cultural institutions since 1999. His job entails a mix of design, coding, and accessibility. He is a thinker and "ideas" man. He finds cultural institutions fascinating because of what they bring to society, they are rich resources of information and provide vast potential for exploring hidden treasures. Paul enjoys making these items available and telling their stories in ways that may not be the most obvious. He likes to use technology in a relevant way to enrich the way we can interact with these resources. In 2010 Paul was named a "Mover and Shaker" of the library world by Library Journal. Follow Paul on Twitter: @paulhagon Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Josh Williams - Keynote: Where are we going?

Sat, 23 Oct 2010 15:08:42 +1100

Today's web is being defined more than ever by buzzwords, catchphrases, fads and trends. Startups are being created for startups sake, standards are being hijacked by so-called "social media gurus," and investors are piling on one after another looking to hop on the next big wave. And we, the designers, developers and innovators actually building the web, are left to wonder if we're still in the drivers seat. During this brisk discussion we'll separate fads from the future, debate native apps versus the mobile web, take an honest look at the hype behind geo-location, then take a step back to ask ourselves where the web-and we ourselves-are going. Hold on, it's going to be a wild ride! Josh Williams is CEO and co-founder of Gowalla, a mobile and Web service that gives people around the world a new way to communicate and express themselves through the everyday places and extraordinary settings they enjoy. Gowalla empowers everyone to capture and share their journey as they go while following the happenings of family and friends. Josh is responsible for building and growing the business while leading the product design team. Gowalla was launched in 2009 and is backed by notable investors including Greylock Partners, Alsop-Louie Partners, Founders Fund, and other prominent angel investors. Josh is a self-taught designer and artist who has been creating online for over 15 years. Josh loves mid-century modern design, architecture, skiing, snowboarding and longboarding. He lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and two young daughters. Follow Josh on Twitter: @JW Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Knud Möller - RDFa everywhere

Sat, 23 Oct 2010 14:26:35 +1100

RDFa is a W3C standard for embedding semantic metadata directly into HTML web pages. While early work on RDFa dates back to 2004, it recently gathered a lot of uptake and traction through the adoption by big players such as Google, Yahoo! and Facebook. This has put the Semantic Web into the attention of a much wider public, setting RDFa out the be the technology to finally bring the Semantic Web into the mainstream. The language gained the status of a W3C recommendation in late 2009 as RDFa 1.0. Since then, the RDFa working group has been established to improve and extend the standard. Eventually, this work will result in a new version of the language, which is set to be released as RDFa 1.1 in 2011. In this talk, an overview will be given of the RDFa technology in general, followed by an outline of its latest developments, such as the RDFa API, or the definition of RDFa Core, which prepares the standard to extend its scope beyond the context of web pages, by allowing it to be included into any other markup language than just HTML. Knud Möller is a post-doctoral researcher at DERI at the National University of Ireland in Galway, where he received his PhD on "Lifecycle Support for Data on the Semantic Web". His work focusses on topics such as collaborative technologies, data lifecycles and networked knowledge, on which he has published and continues to publish in a range of papers. Knud is also a consultant on Semantic Web topics for socialbits.net, and has been involved in the organisation of a number of international conferences as the metadata and semantic technologies chair. He has been a member of the W3C RDFa Working Group since March 2010. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Donna Spencer - Keeping your content alive from cradle to grave

Sat, 23 Oct 2010 14:13:41 +1100

By now we all know that the web is not a publication - that it's a living, evolving thing. But a lot of content I see still appears to be 'published' once and then left alone. This talk is about what happens after content is published. We'll talk about how to: - decide what to create in the first place (and what the best format is) - identify which content types need to be left alone, and which need to be looked after - revive existing content and give it a second wind - check your content is still working for its readers - put it to sleep when it is time - put a process in place so you can do this yourself and with distributed content creators We'll also discuss how this varies depending on your industry, size of site and type of content. Donna’s a freelance information architect, interaction designer and writer. That’s a fancy way of saying she plans how to present the things you see on your computer screen, so that they’re easy to understand, engaging and compelling. Things like the navigation, forms, categories and words on intranets, websites, web applications and business systems. She’s been doing this professionally since 2002, is a regular speaker at Australian and international events and has just completed her third book. Follow Donna on Twitter: @maadona Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Mark Nottingham - Browser Caching and You (A Love Story)

Sat, 23 Oct 2010 13:56:21 +1100

Over time, Web developers have feared, hated and loved Web caching, at times trying to kill it, at others professing undying love. Mark Nottingham (chair of the IETF HTTPbis Working Group and author of its revised Web Caching specification) will examine how browsers (mis)-treat your content today, as well as where your relationship with browser caching might go in the future. Mark Nottingham is a Principal Technical Yahoo!, putting together Web-based infrastructure for sites like Yahoo! Finance, Sports, Tech, TV and Movies. He has spent the last fifteen years designing, debugging, serving and caching Web content, with past stints at Merrill Lynch, Akamai and BEA Systems, along with scars from writing specifications like the Atom Syndication Format, WS-Policy and the WS-I Basic Profile, and chairing both IETF and W3C Working Groups. Right now, his focus is on using HTTP for what the rest of the industry calls Web Services. Past occupations have included being a photojournalist, Volkswagen mechanic, graphic designer, Webmaster, developer, systems administrator, research scientist, standards expert and all-around Web technology guy. He’s married to Anitra, with two sons, Charlie and Bennet. They currently live in Melbourne, Australia. Follow Mark on Twitter: @mnot Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Divya Manian - Active Web Development

Sat, 23 Oct 2010 13:42:54 +1100

Web technologies are evolving at such a frenetic pace that it becomes almost mandatory to learn on your own. A lot of us still depend on other people to do this learning for us, and we tend to use their answers to solve our everyday problems. Inconsistent implementations, rapidly evolving specs, questionable performance impacts and maintenance implications mean we cannot always depend on others for answers but must involve ourselves actively in the process of developing specifications for new Web technologies. But how do we go about it? There are some simple rituals we can all do, which can have us be better-informed and also better inform the people and groups who are most directly involved in the development of new Web technologies. Divya Manian is a Web Designer in Seattle. She made the jump from developing device drivers for Motorola phones to designing websites and has not looked back since. She takes her duties as an Open Web vigilante seriously which has resulted in collaborative projects such as HTML5 Readiness and HTML5 Boilerplate. Follow Divya on Twitter: @nimbuin Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Patrick Lee - JavaScript Sprachraum

Sat, 23 Oct 2010 12:44:12 +1100

Despite being an option on web servers as early as 1995 with Netscape's LiveWire, JavaScript has long been regarded as a language only of the browser. Approaching sweet sixteen JavaScript has evolved in the community and gained acceptance as a general purpose programming language. In this session Patrick will be looking at JavaScript outside of the browser, focusing on how to use it for web server applications. Starting with the old in Helma and progressing through various usages to the most new and exciting with node.js, Patrick will talk about why JavaScript on the server matters right now and show you how to get started using it. Patrick is a computer programmer and interaction designer. Usually at the same time. He thinks JavaScript is an important language. He works for ThoughtWorks. Follow Patrick on Twitter: @boundvariable Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Myles Eftos - Building mobile web apps

Sat, 23 Oct 2010 12:24:21 +1100

There is no denying that the Apple App Store is huge, but who wants to have to deal with Objective-C? Thankfully, technologies like PhoneGap and Sencha allow web developers to work in languages they know (HTML/CSS/JavaScript) while still making them look native. PhoneGap also allows us to port our apps to other platforms, like Android. This session will look at the mobile web development lifecycle from building a prototype in the browser, integration with the phone, app submission and some basic marketing tricks. Myles is a Perth-based Web developer who feels as at home building INNER JOINS as he does calculating the specificity of CSS selectors. He has worked in all the major web languages, with his weapon of choice being Ruby on Rails. During his 8-years in the industry, working under the moniker of MadPilot Productions, he has worked with pretty much everyone in Perth. He started 220, a cooperative workspace in Leederville and currently has a position on the committee of the Australian Web Industry Association. Follow Myles on Twitter: @madpilot Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Michael Mahemoff - HTML5: Online and Offline

Sat, 23 Oct 2010 11:29:30 +1100

HTML5 introduces several so-called "offline" technologies: application caching, local storage, and file access, to name a few. But these technologies are not just for purely offline apps; they boost startup performance, overcome network outages, and partition content away from the server. This talk will explain how you can incorporate these technologies into your work today and identify the features browsers will be supporting in the near future. Michael Mahemoff is a Chrome Developer Advocate for Google, based in London, always looking at ways to make the web a more habitable place for users and developers alike. He’s been programming on the web since the mid ’90s, in a range of public-facing and enterprise (Java, what else?) contexts, and is the author of Ajax Design Patterns (O’Reilly, 2006) and a blogger for Ajaxian.com. Server side, he’s mostly a Ruby, PHP, and NodeJS guy and sushi is his preferred coding fuel. Michael holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne, covering software design patterns for improving user experience. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Andy Clarke - Hardboiled web design

Sat, 23 Oct 2010 10:52:20 +1100

Andy Clarke’s Hardboiled Web Design is an uncompromising look at how to make the most from modern design tools and browsers, up-to-date techniques and processes. In this practical, design focussed talk, Andy will discuss the ‘how’ as well as the ‘why’ and will challenge your preconceptions to help you make better work for the web. Andy will demonstrate the most modern, forward-moving and sometimes experimental CSS techniques while emphasising why a forward looking approach to CSS will pay real dividends. Andy Clarke has been called a lot of things since he started working on the web ten years ago. His ego likes words like "ambassador for CSS", "industry prophet" and "inspiring", but actually he is most proud that Jeffrey Zeldman once called him a "(triple talented) bastard". Andy took ten months of his life to write the best-selling Transcending CSS: The Fine Art of Web Design, but his passion is amazing web design. He loves designing for the web, writing about design, and teaching it at workshops and conferences all over the world. Now he is pulling all of those passions together to create For A Beautiful Web, a unique series of web design master classes that cover topics including visual design and best-practice use of technologies. Follow Andy on Twitter: @Malarkey Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Ben Schwarz - Building a better web with HTML5

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 20:48:05 +1100

Devices have caught up; That is, our technology dreams from the mid 90's have finally been realised. However since this time, HTML has lay dormant. We've been through a decade of tech wasteland. It's time to change the status quo and take back the web. During my session we'll look at where the future of HTML lies, including new structural elements. You'll also grasp an introduction to associated technologies that have come into popularity with the steam of HTML5: SVG, Web Sockets, Web Workers, Geo-location and making applications useful offline. Ben Schwarz is a well known Melbourne Rubyist who funds his love of good food (at home) and sake (in bars) by designing sophisticated web applications using standards-based technology. More than anything else, he is driven by a maniacal desire to produce not only elegant code, but also beautiful software in the hands of its users. Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenSchwarz Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Grant Young - Creating platforms for social innovation

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 20:32:56 +1100

People are redefining the relationship they have with the organisations they interact with, empowered by social technologies. They are seeking: - Human-ness: as organisations have grown in size and become more and more depersonalised, people are wanting more human interactions and personal response - Trust: from greenwashing to the GFC, the market's trust has been eroded - people are looking for organisations to say what they mean and mean what they say - Co-creation: people are taking a more active role in developing the products and services that they use. And if they don't find what they're looking for, they will often create it themselves - Responsibility: people want to engage with organisations that are genuinely addressing the complex issues of sustainability and wellbeing Building a brand, service or product offering that resonates in this new "economy of meaning" requires a rethinking of an organisation's relationship to the "market" - their customers, stakeholders and the environment. In this presentation Grant Young will examine how innovative organisations are using social technologies and design methods to create multi-dimensional value - both for the organisational and community - and will explore the themes that underpin the examples with a view to applying them in your context. Grant is founder of social innovation consultancy Zumio. In this role he combines his 15+ years' experience in online and social technology with his passion for sustainability to help organisations harness these increasingly prominent market forces. Zumio helps its clients - spanning the commercial, government and non-profit sectors - build platforms for social engagement that simultaneously deliver organisational value while increasing societal wellbeing and sustainability. Zumio has recently undertaken projects for the Cancer Institute NSW, the Inspire Foundation, VicRoads and Saasu. Prior to founding Zumio, Grant produced projects for award-winning sustainable design agency Digital Eskimo and managed online communications and social media strategy for conservation organisation WWF-Australia, including for the inaugural Earth Hour (2007). He has also developed web applications for the business sector in the areas of financial and carbon accounting (Saasu, Climate Friendly). Follow Grant on Twitter: @grantyoung Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Max Wheeler - Location, location, geolocation

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 20:18:54 +1100

Phones with GPS are now widely available and the growing support for the JavaScript geolocation API means location based services aren't restricted to the realm of native applications. Now is the time to learn how to take advantage of this information and add provide your users with the best personal and contextual experience. This session will take you through building a location-based mobile app using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Including cross-platform techniques for figuring out where your users are, and providing graceful fallbacks options for devices that don't have geolocation support (or users that don't want to tell you exactly). You'll learn about geocoding to a physical address (and the other way around) and look at how to build a mobile-friendly map with local points of interest. Ben Schwarz is a well known Melbourne Rubyist who funds his love of good food (at home) and sake (in bars) by designing sophisticated web applications using standards-based technology. More than anything else, he is driven by a maniacal desire to produce not only elegant code, but also beautiful software in the hands of its users. Follow Ben on Twitter: @BenSchwarz Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Simon Pascal Klein - Setting standards-friendly web type

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 18:43:06 +1100

Web typography has in the past two years seen a resurgence in interest and many would agree only rightly so, with most of the content on the web still textual. However the range of technical options available for setting type on the web is quite broad-not to mention the range of stylistic choices available-and often confusing. This session aims to demystify the current techniques available to set type on the web by comparing and contrasting the various options at hand while offering a set of good defaults and safe advice for not only making it accessible but also pleasurable to read. Simon Pascal Klein is a graphic, web and interface designer, front-end developer, rampant ‘typophile’, UI and accessibility aficionado. Born in Mainz Mainz, Germany - the birthplace of Gutenberg - he now works in Canberra as a freelance designer while studying at the Australian National University. Simon is actively engaged in the Open Source community and local web industry, notably as one of the unorganisers to first bring BarCamp to Canberra. He also co-hosts a podcast on all things web, and publishes occasionally on things type on his site. Follow Simon on Twitter: @klepas Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Matt Balara - Flogging design: best practices in online shop design

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 18:30:37 +1100

Considering how many businesses depend upon the web for their income, it’s shocking how poorly designed most shops are. Not only aesthetically, but also as far as ease of use, retail psychology and user experience are concerned. How can we design better shops? If customers enjoy shopping more, won’t our clients earn more? Can forms be fun? What’s the psychology behind online purchases? How can online and offline buying experiences be harmonised? Matt Balara will share some of his 15 years of experience designing web sites, the vast majority of which have sold something or other. Matt Balara is a freelance web designer, was a child prodigy violinist and is unintentionally bilingual, all of which has been vitally important to his success in designing for the web since 1993. Despite years of experience, he still can’t understand why so many websites are so useless and ugly. Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattBalara Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

James Bridle - Wrangling Time: The Form and Future of the Book

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 18:22:51 +1100

The internet has been around long enough now that it has a proper history, and it has started to produce media and artefacts that live in and comment on that history. James will be talking about his work with writing, books and wikipedia that hopes to explain and illuminate this temporal depth. James Bridle is a publisher, writer and artist based in London, UK. He founded the print-on-demand classics press Bookkake and the e-book-only imprint Artists’ eBooks, and created Bkkeepr, a tool for tracking reading and sharing bookmarks, and Quietube, an accidental anti-censorship proxy for the Middle East. He makes things with words, books and the internet, and writes about what he does at booktwo.org. Follow James on Twitter: @stml Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Craig Mod - How digital affects books and publishing

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 17:08:29 +1100

We need to decouple the idea of 'book' from the mental image we carry around of 'book.' The innovation and benefit that digital brings to books and publishing lies less in how digital affects final artifacts, and more in how digital affects the systems leading up to and extending beyond those artifacts. Craig Mod is a writer, designer, publisher and developer concerned with the future of publishing & storytelling. In 2010 he founded publishing think tank PRE/POST. He is co-author, designer and publisher of Art Space Tokyo. He is also co-founding editor and engineer behind TPUTH.com, co-founder and developer of the story telling project Hitotoki, and frequent collab o rator with Infor mation Archi tects, Japan. He’s lived in Tokyo for almost a decade and speaks frequently on the future of books and media. He is the worst speller you will ever meet." Follow Craig on Twitter: @craigmod Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Steve Souders - Even Faster Web Sites

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 16:41:59 +1100

Web 2.0 is adding more and more content to our pages, especially features that are implemented in Ajax. But our web applications are evolving faster than the browsers that they run in. We don't have to rely on or wait for the release of new browsers to make our web applications faster. In this session, Steve Souders discusses web performance best practices from his second book, Even Faster Web Sites. These time-saving techniques are used by the world's most popular web sites to create a faster user experience, increase revenue, and reduce operating costs. Steve provides technical details about reducing the pain of JavaScript, as well as secrets for making your page load faster in emerging markets where network connectivity is a challenge. Steve works at Google on web performance and open source initiatives. He previously served as Chief Performance Yahoo!. Steve is the author of High Performance Web Sites and Even Faster Web Sites. He created YSlow, the performance analysis plug-in for Firefox. He serves as co-chair of Velocity, the web performance and operations conference from O’Reilly, and is co-founder of the Firebug Working Group. He recently taught CS193H: High Performance Web Sites at Stanford University. Follow Steve on Twitter: @souders Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Aral Balkan - The Art of Emotional Design

Sat, 14 Aug 2010 10:07:31 +1000

Most apps suck. Making an app that doesn’t suck is hard work and requires uncompromising focus. We call apps that don’t suck "usable". However, in the Age of User Experience, making apps that are merely usable is no longer good enough. So how can you go beyond making usable apps to creating exceptional experiences that evoke powerful emotions in users? In this inspirational session, Aral will offer you an impassioned glimpse into his approach of authoring apps that people find joyful and fun; apps that people fall in love with. Delight, story, empathy, character, voice, beauty, fun, and play are just some of the topics that will be covered and illustrated with examples from Aral’s decade-long experience in authoring web, Flash, desktop, and mobile apps, including his latest top-selling iPhone app, Feathers. Aral Balkan is an independent interaction designer and developer with over a decade of experience in creating web, Flash, desktop, and mobile applications. His latest iPhone app, Feathers, was featured by Apple as "New and Notable" and reached #1 in the What’s Hot list in the US. It is often cited as an example of beautiful, emotional design. Aral aims to build beautiful, empathic apps that create joy and delight. He shares his experiences, frustrations, and joys via his blog, tweets, and the numerous keynotes and talks he gives around the world every year. Follow Aral on Twitter: @aral Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Jeremy Keith - Hot Topics

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:27:11 +1000

Continuing a popular @media tradition, the final session for day one, hosted by Jeremy Keith, will feature a handful of speakers discussing questions posed by conference attendees. Wear your flak jacket: there will be controversy! Jeremy Keith is an Irish web developer living in Brighton, England where he works with the web consultancy firm Clearleft. He has written two books, DOM Scripting and Bulletproof Ajax, but what he really wants to do is direct. His latest project is Huffduffer, a service for creating podcasts of found sounds. When he’s not making websites, Jeremy plays bouzouki in the band Salter Cane. His loony bun is fine benny lava. Follow Jeremy on Twitter: @adactio Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Doug Schepers - SVG Today and Tomorrow

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 11:18:25 +1000

Thought SVG was dead? Think again. Once relegated to plug-in status, Scalable Vector Graphics is now spreading rapidly, in browsers, mobiles, and even televisions, with broad native support and graphical script libraries. It’s used on major websites like Wikipedia, Google Docs, and the Washington Post. Whether images or apps, standalone or integrated into HTML, CSS, or Canvas, SVG is a powerful tool in a developer or designer toolkit. With full scripting support, animations, and advanced visual effects, SVG lets you reuse skills you already have. Learn how to use SVG to best effect to add standards-based bling to your webapp or site, see what works and what to avoid, and glimpse where the future lies. Doug Schepers works for the W3C as the Rich Web Clients Activity Lead, and the Team Contact for the SVG and WebApps Working Groups, and participates in several other groups, including HTML and OWEA. He is an editor of the Element Traversal, DOM3 Events, and SVG specifications, and co-chairs the SVG Interest Group. Before joining the W3C Team, he has been a long-time developer of Web applications, with a focus on SVG. Doug works from home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA. Follow Doug on Twitter: @shepazu Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Rachel Andrew - Core CSS3

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 10:59:40 +1000

This session will be a solid introduction to CSS3 by way of practical examples that can get you started using CSS3 on your projects today. Rachel Andrew will take you through some of the core features of CSS3 including advanced selectors, media queries and other features that are being developed and starting to be implemented in browsers. In addition to discovering how CSS3 will change the way that we develop in the future we will explore current and upcoming browser support. We will also see how it is possible to start using some of CSS3 in your projects now, with the help of a little JavaScript to plug the holes in current browsers. Rachel Andrew is a front and back-end web developer and Director of edgeofmyseat.com, a UK web development consultancy and the creators of the small content management system, Perch. She is the author of a number of web design and development books including CSS Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks and Hacks (3rd edition), published by SitePoint and also writes on her blog rachelandrew.co.uk. Rachel tries to encourage a common sense application of best practice and standards adoption in her own work and when writing about the web. Follow Rachel on Twitter: @rachelandrew Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Tom Hughes-Croucher - An introductions to server-side JavaScript

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:14:06 +1000

Server-side JavaScript has really started to take off, with a number of great projects providing different pieces of the puzzle. This talk will introduce server-side JavaScript and provide an overview of the existing projects as well as some ideas about where it’s all going in the future. Tom will look at how the various JavaScript runtimes, such as V8 and Rhino, affect development and provide their own unique features. You’ll also see the standardisation effort of Common.js and why it’s shaping how people write server-side JavaScript. All the leading SSJS frameworks - Node.js, Narwhal, Jaxer - will be discussed as well as some more quirky uses of JavaScript on the server such as CouchDB and YQL. Tom Hughes-Croucher is an Evangelist and Senior Developer in Yahoo’s Open Strategy Group, focusing on Yahoo¹s Web Services and Cloud Platform. Tom joined Yahoo! to work on the Yahoo! frontpage in Europe as a Front end engineer. He brought his experience from contributing to a number of Web standards for the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the British Standards Institute (BSI). Before joining Yahoo! he helped build the online music stores for some of the UK’s largest brands including Tesco, Three Telecom and Channel 4. Follow Tom on Twitter: @sh1mmer Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Mark Boulton - Designing grid systems

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:32:02 +1000

Grid systems have been used in print design, architecture and interior design for generations. Now, on the web, the same rules of grid system composition and usage no longer apply. Content is viewed in many ways; from RSS feeds to email. Content is viewed on many devices; from mobile phones to laptops. Users can manipulate the browser, they can remove content, resize the canvas, resize the typefaces. A designer is no longer in control of this presentation. So where do grid systems fit in to all that? Mark Boulton is a graphic designer from the UK. He’s worked in Sydney, London and Manchester as an Art Director for clients such as the BBC, T-Mobile, British Airways, and Toyota. Mark now runs his own design studio, Mark Boulton Design. A stickler for applied typographic and design theory, Mark is an active member of the International Society of Typographic Designers and writes a design journal at markboulton.co.uk. Follow Mark on Twitter: @markboulton Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

John Resig - Mobile JavaScript testing

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:49:00 +1000

This talk will be a comprehensive look at what you need to know to properly test your web applications on mobile devices. We’ll look at the different mobile phones that exist, what browsers they run, and what you can do to support them. Additionally we’ll examine some of the testing tools that can be used to make the whole process much easier. John Resig is a JavaScript Tool Developer for the Mozilla Corporation and the author of the book Pro JavaScript Techniques. He’s also the creator and lead developer of the jQuery JavaScript library. Currently, John is located in Boston, MA. He’s hard at work on his second book, Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja, due in bookstores in 2009. Follow John on Twitter: @jeresig Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Simon Willison - Building crowdsourcing applications

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:01:14 +1000

Crowdsourcing applications take indigestible tasks and break them down into digestible pieces, enabling a group to help plough through large scale projects in much shorter periods of time. Designing and building crowdsourcing applications incorporates a fascinating range of challenges, from usability, psychology and interaction design to scaling applications for surges of traffic - all the while ensuring that contributors are rewarded, good behaviour is encouraged and the resulting data comes out in a useful format. This talk will discuss lessons learned building serious crowdsourcing applications on newsroom schedules at the Guardian, and playful crowdsourcing features for WildlifeNearYou.com. Simon Willison is a developer, speaker, writer and all-round web technology enthusiast. Simon works for Guardian News and Media as a software architect for guardian.co.uk and the Guardian Open Platform. Before joining the Guardian Simon worked as a consultant for clients that included the BBC, Automattic and GCap Media. Simon is a past member of Yahoo!’s Technology Development team, where his projects included the initial prototype of FireEagle, Yahoo!’s location broker API. Prior to Yahoo! he worked at the Lawrence Journal-World, an award winning local newspaper in Kansas. Simon is a co-creator of the Django web framework, and a passionate advocate for Open Source and standards-based development. He maintains a popular Web development blog at Follow Simon on Twitter: @simonw Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Christian Crumlish - Designing for play

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 12:21:12 +1000

Taking ideas from game design, musical instrument design, and play-acting techniques including improv and bodystorming, Christian will address the role of play in digital experiences and how we can design to foster and encourage play rather than squeeze all the joy out of life one pixel at a time. In game design, you create an arena for play. You establish boundaries and rules and you work to tune game dynamics that yield fun experiences rather than boring, mechanical, or pointless drudgery. Within those boundaries and rules the players create their own unique experience, collaboratively, every time. Again the marriage of strict purposeful constraints with open space and room for human variation creates the best game experiences. Can an enterprise app, maybe one that looks like a spreadsheet and reports to HR ever actually be fun? That’s a stretch but you can absolutely introduce elements of play into the most buttoned-down context. Consider one primitive gesture from games: collecting. Many games offer some form of gather, arranging, and displaying objects. Just so, even an HR portal may offer some opportunity to incorporate a collecting “game” into the workflow. Christian will share techniques for introducing a sense of play into the experiences we’re designing and will exhort the assembled crowd to make life more fun for our users and to thrive while doing so. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Patrick Lauke - Brave New World of HTML5

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 11:05:06 +1000

HTML5 was originally called Web Applications 1.0, but that doesn’t mean it’s only for scripters - there’s plenty for markup monkeys as well as JavaScript junkies. We’ll look at new structural elements in HTML5, and how they can boost accessibility, how to style them (even in IE!). We’ll check out how new semantics can reduce the JS you need to write/copy by adding functionality natively to the browser, and how to add sexy open standard video to your pages with no Flash, no JavaScript, just a big hunk o’ open-web love. Patrick Lauke works as Web Evangelist in the Developer Relations team at Opera Software ASA. In a previous life he worked as Web Editor for the University of Salford, where in 2003 he implemented one of the first thoroughly web standards based sites in the sector. Patrick has been engaged in the discourse on standards and accessibility since early 2001 - regularly speaking at conferences and contributing to a variety of web development and accessibility related mailing lists and initiatives such as the Web Standards Project. Published works include a chapter in Web Accessibility: Web Standards and Regulatory Compliance, released by Friends of Ed in 2006, as well as various articles for .net magazine, where he sits on the advisory panel. Follow Patrick on Twitter: @patrick_h_lauke Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Sandi Wassmer - Inclusive design is for everyone

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:07:36 +1000

Inclusive Design is currently the domain of people who design physical things, like product designers and architects, but Sandi Wassmer is firm in her belief that Inclusive Design applied in the online environment just makes sense. The principles of Inclusive Design encompass so many of the practices, principles and guidelines that web designers are already using - Accessibility, Usability, User Centric Design, Progressive Enhancement and User Experience - but unlike each of these discrete practices, Inclusive Design gives designers the ability to offer choice, as a single design solution will never accommodate all users. Sandi will talk about how the principles of Inclusive Design can be easily adopted by web designers right now. By the end of the session you’ll have the framework for becoming an inclusion activist! Sandi Wassmer is a Human Rights Internet Marketer. Yes, it is a made up term, but that is the way she sees it. As Managing Director of digital agency, Copious, she is healthily obsessed with creating great internet experiences for all and building beautiful, accessible and usable websites When Sandi is not trying to make the Internet a better place, she writes, tweets, blogs and advocates about a whole range of issues from disability rights to accessibility and social inclusion. Follow Sandi on Twitter: @SandiWassmer Licensed as Creatve Commons Attributions Share-Alike 2.0 England and Wales http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/uk/legalcode

Remy Sharp - Browsers with wings: HTML5 APIs

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 09:15:57 +1000

HTML5 is all the rage with the cool kids, and although there’s a lot of focus on the new language, there’s plenty for web app developers with new JavaScript APIs both in the HTML5 spec and separated out as their own W3C specifications. This session will take you through demos and code and show off some of the outright crazy bleeding edge demos that are being produced today using the new JavaScript APIs. But it’s not all pie in the sky - plenty is useful today, some even in Internet Explorer! Specifically we’ll be looking at scripting the video media element, 2D canvas and some of the mashups we can achieve. How to take our web apps completely offline, going beyond the cookie and HTML5’s answer to threading: web workers. Remy Sharp is a developer, speaker, blogger, author of upcoming jQuery for Designers (Manning) and co-author of Introduction to HTML5 (New Riders). He also organises the Full Frontal JavaScript Conference and is one of the curators of HTML5 Doctor. jQuery team member (developer relations, formally evangelism) and the developer on a fistful of JavaScript related apps, Remy loves his JavaScript and he is keen as mustard to share it with other developers. Follow Remy on Twitter: @rem Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Ryan Seddon - Remote debugging landscape

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 17:08:47 +1000

Hannah Donovan - Telling stories through design

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 09:51:08 +1000

Hannah Donovan will talk about the designer as a storyteller - especially in terms of the importance of this role within a team. Improve your output as a designer by taking a closer look at influencing the input. As a visual narrator we help to visualise, inspire and curate for the people we work with as well as connecting scenarios around the larger product saga that supports the interfaces we design. By examining your input, make your output more effective with your team and users alike, paving paths for people to tell their own stories as your product evolves over time. Originally from the icy north, Hannah Donovan is creative director at Last.fm, where she’s worked for the last four years. Before moving to London to work at Last.HQ, she designed websites with Canada’s largest youth-focused agency working on brands such as Hershey, Heineken and Bic. Previous to that, Hannah designed for Street Print, a Canada Research Council funded, open source web app for sharing and archiving printed ephemera. Hannah also plays the cello with an orchestra and draws monsters. Follow Hannah on Twitter: @Han Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Steve Souders - Even faster web sites

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 12:17:18 +1000

Web 2.0 is adding more and more content to our pages, especially features that are implemented in Ajax. But our web applications are evolving faster than the browsers that they run in. We don’t have to rely on or wait for the release of new browsers to make our web applications faster. In this session, Steve Souders discusses web performance best practices from his second book, Even Faster Web Sites. These time-saving techniques are used by the world’s most popular web sites to create a faster user experience, increase revenue, and reduce operating costs. Steve provides technical details about reducing the pain of JavaScript, as well as secrets for making your page load faster in emerging markets where network connectivity is a challenge. Steve works at Google on web performance and open source initiatives. He previously served as Chief Performance Yahoo!. Steve is the author of High Performance Web Sites and Even Faster Web Sites. He created YSlow, the performance analysis plug-in for Firefox. He serves as co-chair of Velocity, the web performance and operations conference from O’Reilly, and is co-founder of the Firebug Working Group. He recently taught CS193H: High Performance Web Sites at Stanford University. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Relly Annett-Baker - All the small things

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 11:45:39 +1000

Microcopy is the ninja of online content. Fast, furious and deadly, it has the power to make or break your online business, to kill or stay your foes. It’s a sentence, a confirmation, a few words. One word, even. It isn’t big or flashy. It doesn’t leave a calling card. If it does its job your customer may never notice it was there. In this session, Relly will show you how you can bolster sales and reflect your company and client’s values through just a few well-chosen words. Designers? Do you get lumped with the interaction copy? Developers? Do you get left trying to make meaningful error messages? Ecommerce managers? Do you want an easy increase in sales? This session will help. It will be a lot of fun. You should definitely come. Relly Annett-Baker lives in Brighton with her husband and two small sons. As a result, she thrives on the sea air and can be guaranteed to stand on Lego at least once a day. As well as being a freelance web copy and content writer, she is employed as live-in domestic staff by two cats who often supervise her typing and make editorial suggestions such as ‘I think it’s dinner time’. In between opening cans of Whiskas and writing for clients, she writes articles for various online media groups and continues to procrastinate over the draft of her first children’s book. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Damien McCormack - Accessibility means business

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:25:04 +1100

Over 4 million people in Australia have a disability. As a result they may use the web in a different way to you: a keyboard instead of a mouse; a screen reader instead of a screen. Accessibility is the way that you can tap into this large and growing audience. In this session, Damien will look at why accessibility matters - not just because it is the right thing to do, or a legal requirement. He will discuss how accessibility leads to more robust, maintainable, searchable and usable websites that meet everyone’s needs. Damien will also explore the opportunities accessibility offers for mobile web design, and provide some practical advice about how to include accessibility in your next project. Damien McCormack is an accessibility expert and manager of Vision Australia’s web accessibility services. Seven years experience working with people who are blind or have low vision has evolved into a passion and drive to make the world more accessible. In this time, Damien has worked with a large number of government departments, commercial organisations and educational institutions promoting accessibility and providing business and technical advice across all aspects of a project. Damien is also responsible for developing the culture of accessibility within Vision Australia and experiences the challenges of delivering accessible outcomes daily. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Gian Wild - WCAG2

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:08:51 +1100

So WCAG2 - version 2 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines as set out by the W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative - has been released as a Candidate Recommendation. What does that mean for Australia? There are many issues that were addressed in WCAG1 which have been left up to policy makers and developers in WCAG2. This session will highlight these issues and talk about what kind of impact they will have on your development and on your audience. From testability, to cognitive disabilities, we’ll go into the nitty gritty differences between WCAG1 and WCAG2 and what you will need to know to make sure that your site isn’t a potential target for litigation. In addition to development principles, we’ll address the current state of play in Australia; what the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) are doing and what each state has decided to do with WCAG2. Gian Wild is the Manager of Usability and Accessibility Services within the ITS Web Centre at Monash University. Gian has worked in the accessibility industry since 1998 and consulted on the development of the first Level AAA accessible web site in Australia. She ran the accessibility consultancy PurpleTop from 2000 to 2005 and built the accessibility tool, PurpleCop. Amongst other sites, Gian has worked as the Accessibility Consultant for the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games and wrote the original and updated versions of the Victorian eGovernment Resource Centre Web Accessibility Toolkit. Gian was a Member of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Working Group from May 2000 to August 2006 (with two notable absences) and completed a peer review of the alternative accessibility guidelines, the WCAG Samurai Errata. She remains actively involved in WCAG2 and also liaises with the Australian Human Rights Commission on the status of WCAG2. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Tania Lang - Using AJAX to enhance UX

Thu, 5 Nov 2009 10:35:27 +1100

AJAX is changing the way that users interact with websites - it has the potential to provide richer and more interactive online user experiences but also introduces its own set of usability and accessibility problems. This session will present views from leading usability experts from around the world from an experienced practitioner workshop conducted at the Usability Professionals Conference in USA. We will also discuss key usability issues we have unveiled through our own usability testing of a range of websites using AJAX over the last 2 years. The session will highlight some of the pitfalls and user frustrations with AJAX as well as how AJAX can be used to enhance the user experience. We will present usability and accessibility issues and common user behaviours with AJAX applications. Finally we will discuss interaction design guidelines for developing user friendly AJAX designs. This is not a technical session and will appeal to designers, developers and anyone working with interactive websites or web applications. Tania Lang is founder and principal of Peak Usability as well as a member of the UPA, WIPA and the Queensland Representative for CHISIG in Australia. She is considered one of the leaders in her field and is passionate about usability. She regularly presents and conducts training workshops to increase awareness and adoption of good usability and UX design practices. With over 10 years experience as a UX practitioner and consultant, Tania has conducted hundreds of usability tests and has learnt a lot about online user behaviour and how this has evolved over the years. She has worked on UX projects for Telstra, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, Suncorp, Flight Centre, iiNet, RACQ, NRMA, Ergon Energy and numerous government agencies. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Deborah Schultz - It's the people, stupid!

Wed, 4 Nov 2009 11:15:10 +1100

The most interesting problems on the web are social, not technical. Once the open, social stack moves into wide use, the real work is going to be on us to create ongoing experiences that inspire, inform, evolve. Avoid this talk if you want to hear about monetizing community, gaming the newest social site for a quick spike in your user numbers, or how to get a [insert cutting edge social platform] strategy for your brand. Instead, we’ll diagram (sentence-like) real examples of marketing and revising (reviving?) web products for connected consumers. Think of it as Mind Hacks for Web Marketers. We’ll show you how sites like Dogster, Etsy, Moo, Photojojo and others parlay initial passions into deep, sustained, active communities. People-powered thinking extends well beyond messaging. Instead, we’ll preach a connected style of marketing that addresses a range of operational areas, both coming & going. We’ll pay particular attention to what happens after launch, as we think an attentive to and fro is the intimate secret of success. Deborah Schultz is a thought leader and innovator on the impact and adoption of Internet technologies and the power of technology to connect society, culture and business. She speaks and consults on the cultural and economic impact of the Internet, and specifically where our social and technological networks overlap. She currently serves as Procter & Gamble’s Strategic Adviser for Social Media & Emerging Technology and has also consulted with and advised Fortune 50 companies including Pepsi, GE, and Citicorp as well as numerous internet startups and VC firms. She is a regular keynote speaker at tech and business conferences. Previously, Deborah was the Marketing Director at Six Apart, ran her own marketing consultancy firm, was a management consultant at AnswerThink and spent five years at Citibank where she developed many of the global bank’s first internet initiatives. One of her proudest accomplishments was launching the Downtown Info Center, a lower Manhattan community center & online hub to revitalize lower Manhattan after the attacks of September 11th. Deborah is a graduate of Barnard College, Columbia University. The former Manhattanite is now a tireless road warrior and can be found in SF, NYC, or Tel Aviv. But wherever she is, she’s always ‘connected’. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Rob Manson - Pervasive computing

Wed, 4 Nov 2009 09:38:36 +1100

At Xerox PARC in the early 90’s Mark Weiser predicted a fundamental shift would move the user’s experience of computing away from the desktop and out into the "real" world. During the late 90’s the web brought the first wave of pervasive "anytime, anywhere" applications like search and webmail. Over the last few years the mobile web has driven a fresh wave of networked applications like Facebook and Twitter that are being used at the beach, in the car and in bed. QR Codes, Wifi Access Points and 3/4G dongles are everywhere you look. "Pervasive" is a very accurate description. What is driving this accelerating diffusion of networked technologies? How do you really measure or control how "pervasive" something is? Why would you even want to? We’ll introduce you to a practical framework for analysing and measuring your "spatial perception of an activity" and explore what it literally means for an application to be "pervasive", in both an experiential and business sense. At the end of this session you’ll be able to clearly diagram the key change that’s driving this evolution and how it will impact your strategies for technology and business in the future. Rob has been modeling information architectures and innovation driven business models since 1989. Over the last 5 years his focus has been exploring how mobiles and service based APIs are changing our lives. He spends his time helping MOB’s clients and partners explore life after convergence - a place where objects and their interfaces diverge, allowing you to control them anywhere, anytime. He focuses on developing and exploring hands on, real world experiences with new networked technologies. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Kevin Yank - CSS frameworks

Fri, 6 Nov 2009 09:09:13 +1100

With the proliferation and widespread adoption of JavaScript frameworks, smart developers have wondered if a similar approach to smoothing over the rough spots of CSS might work. Thus, CSS frameworks like Blueprint, YUI Library CSS Tools, Boilerplate, and many others were born. In this session, we will survey the landscape of CSS frameworks and consider how each of them deals with the unique challenge of creating generalised, reusable CSS styles. There are a number of different approaches, and some are better than others. Choose the right framework and you’ll save yourself a lot of work. Choose the wrong one, and you’ll find your projects weighed down by restrictive assumptions and masses of code that you don’t understand. When it comes to CSS frameworks, making the right choice is everything. By the end of this session, you might just decide that the right framework for you is no framework at all. As SitePoint’s Technical Director, Kevin Yank keeps abreast of all that is new and exciting in web technology. Best known for his first book, Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP & MySQL, Kevin also co-wrote Simply JavaScript in 2007 and Everything You Know About CSS Is Wrong in 2008. He also writes the SitePoint Tech Times, a free weekly email newsletter that goes out to nearly 200,000 subscribers worldwide, and hosts the SitePoint Podcast. When he isn’t speaking at a conference or writing his next book, Kevin lives in Melbourne, and performs improvised comedy theatre with Impro Melbourne. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Dmitry Baranovskiy - Canvas

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:28:38 +1100

Since the earliest days of the web, perhaps the single biggest missing piece of functionality has been a standards based, browser native way for developers to do 2D (and 3D) rendering. Now, the Canvas element, supported in all contemporary browsers other than Internet Explorer, and part of the HTML5 specification, provides these capabilities, and is being widely adopted in cutting edge websites and applications. In this session, JavaScript ninja Dmitry Baranovskiy takes us into the heart and soul of Canvas, looking at what it does well, and not so well, how well it is supported, and how to use it in cross browser compatible ways. Developers with a good grasp of JavaScript will be able to add another dimension to their web solutions based on what they learn in this session. Dmitry has over 8 years experience in creating web applications. Having started as a back end developer, more recently he has changed his orientation to front end development and even pure design. These days he spends his working hours trying to embrace a wide range of front end technologies while working as a JavaScript Developer for Atlassian. He is also the creator of Optimus, the Microformats transformer, as well as Raphaël, a JavaScript Vector Library. At any given moment he is always working on three secret projects, though no one knows where he gets the time for any of this. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Matt Webb - Opening keynote: Escalante

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:30:19 +1100

The long run to the turn of the millennium got us preoccupied with conclusions. The Internet is finally taken for granted. The iPhone is finally ubiquitous computing come true. Let’s think not of ends, but dawns: it’s not that we’re on the home straight of ubicomp, but the beginning of a century of smart matter. It’s not about fixing the Web, but making a springboard for new economies, new ways of creating, and new cultures. The 21st century is a participatory culture, not a consumerist one. What does it mean when small teams can be responsible for world-size effects, on the same playing field as major corporations and government? We can look at the Web - breaking down publishing and consuming from day zero - for where we might be heading in a world bigger than we can really see, and we can look at design - playful and rational all at once - to help us figure out what to do when we get there. Matt Webb is CEO of the design shop Schulze & Webb, which has a special focus on the social life of stuff. Projects include material prototypes for Nokia, Web strategy for the BBC, and an electronic puppet that brings you closer to your friends. Matt speaks on design and technology, is co-author of Mind Hacks - cognitive psychology for a general audience - and if you were to sum up his design interests in one word, it would be "politeness." He can be found at interconnected.org and in London. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Mark Stanton - Best practices for speeding up your site

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:37:35 +1100

As we pack our pages with AJAX and RIA goodness we often lose sight of the fact that the key to exceptional user experience is the responsiveness of your site. Inspired by the excellent work by Yahoo!’s Exceptional Performance team, this talk will have something that every site can benefit from. You will learn how to analyse what your end users are experiencing and how to reduce your load times by 25-50% using a range of simple techniques. Mark Stanton is a specialist in internet systems design and development. He has a passion for many aspects of the web from usability & information architecture, to HTML, CSS and JavaScript, through to software design & development and languages such as ColdFusion, Java, ASP, PHP, Ruby and Python. Mark is highly regarded within the online community and regularly provides support, consultation and presentations to other web geeks. He is a founding member of the Web Standards Group which aims to promote best practices to web designers and developers through a range of educational forums and activities. At Gruden, Mark’s role is to further the technical capabilities of the company while ensuring a streamlined and efficient approach to development and helping clients maximise the effectiveness of their online projects. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Grant Robinson - Visualising the user experience

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:59:23 +1100

Designing for dynamic web applications and mobile devices poses a new set of challenges. Web designers are increasingly being asked to apply their skills to where the page model no longer applies. We need new ways of exploring the user experience and communicating behaviours involving sub-page changes and movement. Enter rapid prototyping. Widely acclaimed as one of the best ways to create great user experiences, it isn’t without its own pitfalls. This session will discuss the pros and cons of different prototyping techniques, and introduce a new technique called "screenflows" that focuses on visualising the user experience. Discover how to combine the best of paper prototyping, wireframes and HTML prototyping into one simple and effective prototyping technique. Learn how using this method can dramatically decrease the need for documentation, while increasing the speed and agility of the development process. Grant Robinson is the Senior Interaction Designer at Xero. Xero is an online accounting platform, which was awarded one of the Top 10 Application User Interfaces of 2008 by Nielsen Norman Group, and recently picked up two Webby Awards. Grant helped establish and mature the agile design methodology used at Xero, which is centered on rapid prototyping. Grant has gained international recognition for both his personal and professional work on multi-user applications, online games, interactive exhibits and open-air installations. Previously, Grant has worked in New Zealand and the UK on projects for BBC Online, British Telecom, Microsoft UK and multi-award winning site NewZealand.com. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Elliot Jay Stocks - Progressive Enhancement

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:18:55 +1100

In the summer of ‘07 in a flood-soaked Oxford, England, Elliot appeared on stage for the very first time. His presentation, ‘Progressive Enhancement & Intentional Degradation’, looked at how to reward modern browsers with the latest CSS tricks and punish IE by dropping certain site features. Over two years later, what has changed? We’re starting to see the ideology of progressive enhancement — especially with CSS3 — spread throughout the web design community, but more work needs to be done. What can we do to spread the message further and design a better-looking web faster? Elliot will look at how features of the CSS2.1 and CSS3 specs can enhance your websites and he’ll examine the implication of using such techniques. He’ll look at the issues surrounding font embedding and the recent development of the font-as-service; the arguments about browser support; the potentially controversial irrelevance of validation; and how we can attempt to reach the future sooner by writing forward-thinking code. In this motivational presentation Elliot will urge you to embrace the techniques of modern web design and to stop worrying about the so-called restraints. Elliot Jay Stocks is an independent designer whose work is frequently featured in online and offline publications, showcased on various ‘inspiration’ websites, and used as an example to design students around the world of how accessible web design can still look beautiful. A regular face at design conferences around the globe and author of the best-selling book Sexy Web Design (SitePoint, 2009), Elliot can often be found writing about design trends, issues, and techniques for industry-leading publications such as .Net (aka Practical Web Design), Computer Arts, and Computer Arts Projects. His extensive portfolio includes work for clients such as The Virgin Group, WordPress.org, The Beatles, Blue Flavor, Twiistup, EMI Records, and Carsonified. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Rob Mitchell & Mike Williams - Test your JavaScript

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 19:00:59 +1100

Increasingly, web-application behaviour is split between logic running on the server, and JavaScript logic running in the browser. Automated testing of the server-side component is fairly common, but too often the browser-side logic is left out in the cold. Mike Williams and Rob Mitchell will explain why you should test your JavaScript code, what to test, and how to go about it. They’ll talk about full-stack browser-based tests, as well as true unit tests, and explain where each are appropriate. They’ll also discuss integration of your tests into an automated build, and you’ll leave with a burning desire to try it out on your own projects. Rob Mitchell was exposed to Agile Software Development in 2001 and since then has been a strong advocate of automated testing of software, allowing quick feedback. He has extensive experience in writing and testing web applications as well as leading teams to deliver quality software. Mike Williams has been developing software for about 20 years, in New Zealand, the UK and Australia. He became interested in eXtreme Programming and Test-Driven Development in 2001, shortly after moving to Australia, and has been promoting agile approaches to software development since then. Mike was an early contributer to Selenium, a popular web-application testing tool. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Andrew Fisher - Cloud computing

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:17:51 +1100

Infrastructure and service costs are always a priority for any business, whether client-side or agency-side, especially now when we’re all trying to be particularly spend-efficient. A cloud technology can comprise infrastructure (Amazon’s S3, Google Apps for Domain), software services (Salesforce.com, Google Docs) and less tangible application services such as APIs (Facebook Connect, Google Friend Connect, Google Maps, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, etc). Cloud services change the way a business or campaign can operate, increasing flexibility, taking less time to deploy and introducing superb cost efficiencies so that we can redirect finances to where they’ll really pay for us - in innovation, experimentation and planning ahead. With these opportunities, however, come challenges around data and platform security, change management and who "owns" the platform and data you are using. Andrew Fisher is the Technology Director for Citrus, an award winning digital marketing agency. Andrew has been involved in developing innovative digital solutions for businesses across Australia and Europe for the likes of Sportsgirl, Borders, Victoria Racing Club for Citrus and previously for Nintendo, CRAI, Mitsubishi and peoplesound. He’s been solving real business issues for diverse clients using cloud technologies and specialises in helping organisations combine the right technologies together in the most effective manner. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Luke Stevens - Data driven design

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:40:17 +1100

Far from being the enemy, data can be a designer’s best friend. So much so that it just might be the backbone of the next evolution of web design. Data doesn’t mean less creativity and experimentation, it means more. We’ve learned how to design sites that look good, and we know how to mark up our pages with web standards. Now it’s time to figure out what performs best. In this session you’ll learn not just the fundamental concepts of this ‘new web design’, but how you can get started with data-driven design using free tools that are available right now. If you’ve reached a point where you know how to design and build attractive, standards-based web sites and are wondering what comes next, this is the session for you. Luke Stevens is a freelance, Sydney-based web designer with clients in the US, UK and locally in Australia. He has been secretly nerding it up since school, when he started designing Mac BBS interfaces in the mid 90’s, and websites soon after. With a passion for design, some brief formal print design training and a decade of learning new things about the web, he has built sites of all shapes and sizes for clients all over the world. ExpressionEngine has been his weapon of choice since 2004, but he is now refocusing on exciting, new, data-driven ways of doing design, with a book and new business focused on software marketing sites in the works. He’s pretty sure that testing is the future of web design. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Lachlan Hardy - The open web

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:28:57 +1100

The Open Web is an evolving term that encompasses technologies from web standards stalwarts like HTML, to almost-mainstream buzzwords such as OpenID, and on to emerging specifications like PortableContacts, but it’s more than that. It is a philosophy. It is the dream of technical building blocks that mesh together to discover and define identity, authorise accessible data, and validate membership of social or professional groupings. It’s one big personal data party and everybody on the web is invited. Lachlan Hardy will cover specific technologies and their usecases, showing how they plug together to make a cost-efficient open stack. He examines what the Open Web really means, how it works, and how your business can use it to reach more people, more powerfully. Lachlan currently works as a Design Engineer at Atlassian where he builds functional designs into all their products. He is a web standards expert who has worked on numerous high-profile sites for News Digital Media, Queensland Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries, several Victorian government projects and the ticketing system for the Melbourne Commonwealth Games. He leads the team behind the highly successful Webjam events promoting web innovation in Australia and has written for ReadWriteWeb. He’s an advocate of open web technologies and currently very interested in networking the facets of our online identities. His site is Lachstock (http://lachstock.com.au/). Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Pete Ottery - Designing for suits

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:55:27 +1100

Designing websites in amongst the "suits" and their business models, targets, projections and synergies (ha!) can be death by dot point. Or fun. What are manager types actually thinking when they brief (or don’t) you. How do you translate their KPI’s into interface designs that 1. get their point across & achieve their targets 2. contribute to a profitable business 3. are easy to use (who would have thought the users get a say! ;-) Pete gets on their case, video camera in hand, to find out what they’re thinking. *Suits = managers/clients/executives. Dedicated to the Billy Walsh character in Entourage Pete has been designing web sites for about 10 years. Having previously worked as the Head of Design at Fairfax Digital and Creative Director at Daemon, he is now working at News Digital Media as the Group Interface Designer. Recently he has been designing carsguide, truelocal, & iphone.news.com.au. He works directly with site owners and execs (the suits!) to help inform requirements and push product design boundaries. He is daily knee deep in photoshop concepts and html/css code. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Suze Ingram - Would you like service design with that?

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:43:14 +1100

Service design is a new discipline which focuses on understanding what customers want, then designing services which meet their needs. Sound familiar? Web designers have focused on user-centred design for years to create websites and applications that are user friendly. Service design is well established in Europe and North America and there’s already a handful of Australian businesses offering service design. What is it? Does experience in designing for screen interaction translate to designing services too? Will service design be the next big thing? Suze offers insight by drawing on her years of experience as a UX designer and researcher. She shows how service design might fit into your business in the future, who you might pitch it to, and what sort of skills you might need to deliver service design. Suze Ingram is Lead User Experience Consultant with Stamford Interactive, Sydney. Suze has been creating better user experiences for over 9 years with her user-centred design, interaction design, visual communication and information architecture skills. Suze has designed the user experience for applications, software, intranets, websites and online games. Suze also really loves yoga, photography and illustration. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Cheryl Gledhill & Scott Gledhill - Beyond SEO

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:55:14 +1100

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a unique mix of marketing, usability and technology which can often cause confusion on how it is implemented across different organisations. An important part of your SEO strategy is getting the most out of your SEO dollars. This session will explain what your developers, designers, producers, content authors and marketers should all know about SEO to ensure you’re getting the maximum return on your SEO. A lot of SEO work undertaken by external agencies offers common sense advice and basic web standards information – in these tough economic times, are you getting value for your money or just throwing it away while your in-house web team aren’t involved in your SEO strategy? This session will give you the ground rules on setting up your SEO processes and systems within your organization to ensure that SEO is part of the day-to-day development and design of your websites. It will also cover when to bring in an external agency for SEO and what they should be utilised for to make sure you are getting the best value for money. Cheryl Gledhill is the co-founder of Molt:n Digital, an agency specialising in search engine optimisation, web standards development and human centred design. She’s also a member of the pinch/zoom team, a global interactive agency that builds awesome iPhone apps, mobile web applications and web apps. Cheryl has been working in the web industry for 15 years across a variety of industries, from finance to telecommunications to geeky gadgets and one memorable stint developing search strategies for an adult website. Scott Gledhill has been working online for 10 years. These days he works with XHTML, CSS and JavaScript to create easy to use, accessible and web standards compliant websites and applications. Search engine optimisation (SEO) is also one of Scott’s core specialties, which he incorporates into his development and design work, as well as consults on best practice strategies for companies of all sizes such as News Digital Media, Colonial First State and Fox Interactive Media. Scott is co-founder of Molt:n Digital, a Sydney based web agency as well as team member of pinch/zoom, an interactive collective building next generation mobile and web applications. Scott often speaks and writes on subjects such as corporate web standards, web accessibility and search engine optimisation, which can also be found on his blog Standardzilla. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Jeremy Yuille - The social life of visulization

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:46:09 +1100

When visualization is coupled with collective intelligence it becomes a very powerful tool for making sense of the data that is now an increasing part of our personal and organizational experience. But how do you design social web applications so they can use visualization effectively? In this session I’ll present a model for using visualization on the social web; discussing why social settings are a great match for visualization and how more general UX ideas can be applied to the design of social visualization. I’ll also describe 5 interaction design patterns that will help designers and developers make the transition from theory to practical application. Jeremy Yuille is a user experience designer, and academic specializing in the design of systems for online collaboration and real-time expression. Jeremy manages the Multiuser Environments Program for the Australasian CRC for Interaction Design (ACID) where he works with industry to solve thorny Interaction Design problems. He is a co-founder of the Media and Communication Design Studio at RMIT, where he supervises postgraduate students and holds interaction design studios, and is also a Director of the Interaction Design Association (IxDA). Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Donna Spencer - Information seeking behaviours

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:09:38 +1100

When people use websites and intranets they are doing more than just ‘finding’ information. They may be looking for something they know about or exploring something brand new; filtering through large volumes then comparing results; getting an overview of a topic or diving deep. They may even think they want to find one thing, but actually need something entirely different. Each of these information behaviours needs very different approaches to information architecture, information design and page layout. During this presentation, Donna will talk about each information behaviour, its key attributes, key design needs, and show good and bad examples of each. Donna’s a freelance information architect, interaction designer and writer. That’s a fancy way of saying she plans how to present the things you see on your computer screen, so that they’re easy to understand, engaging and compelling. Things like the navigation, forms, categories and words on intranets, websites, web applications and business systems. She’s been doing this professionally since 2002, and she’s a regular speaker at Australian and international events. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Christian Crumlish - Designing social interactions

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:11:11 +1100

Designing for social interaction is hard. People are unpredictable, consistency is a mixed blessing, and co-creation with your users requires a dizzying flirtation with loss of control. Christian will present the dos and don’ts of social web design using a sampling of interaction patterns, design principles and best practices to help you improve the design of your digital social environments. Christian Crumlish has been participating in, analyzing, designing, and drawing social interactive spaces online since 1994. These days he is the curator of Yahoo!’s pattern library, a design evangelist with the Yahoo! Developer Network, and a member of Yahoo!’s Design Council. He is the author of the bestselling The Internet for Busy People, and The Power of Many, and is currently working on an upcoming book, Designing Social Interfaces, with Erin Malone. He has spoken about social patterns at BarCamp Block, BayCHI, South by Southwest, the IA Summit, Ignite, and Web 2.0 Expo. Christian has a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Princeton. He lives in Oakland with his wife Briggs, his cat Fraidy, and his electric ukulele, Evangeline. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Kelly Goto - Keynote: WorldFLOW

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:21:45 +1100

Shift your thinking, alter your process, and create a dynamic of doing rather than spinning. Workflow veteran Kelly Goto leads you through a fast-paced session designed to help transcend obstacles and develop a culture of adaptation, progress and flow. Learn the fundamental principles behind The FLOW Method, an actionable series of steps utilizing new processes and techniques to re-invigorate your organization and team. Whether you are an independent, small business owner or the manager of an in-house web marketing team, you will gain valuable insights and tools to bring back to your organization. As an evangelist for "design ethnography", Kelly Goto is dedicated to understanding how real people integrate products and services into their daily lives. Goto is a sought-after international keynote lecturer and author on the topics of web and mobile strategies, usability, and design ethnography. Her book, Web Redesign 2.0: Workflow that Works has been translated into 14 languages and is an established standard for workflow methodologies and user-centered design principles worldwide. Kelly is principal of gotomedia, a global leader in research-driven, people-friendly interface design for web, mobile and product solutions for clients including Seiko Epson Japan, Adobe, VeriSign, Nokia, WebEx and CNET. For the past 20 years, she has worked in the digital media industry launching brands and initiatives for Toyota, Paramount, Infiniti, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. Online, and Wells Fargo Online. Kelly’s focus on cross cultural studies, mobile devices and interfaces have cumulated in the formation of a global research network with partnerships based on Finland, Spain, New Zealand and China. Kelly is a former President of the AIGA Center for Brand and is a member of San Francisco’s Bay CHI Usability Organization. She is also the editor of gotomobile.com, a highly regarded online publication focusing on mobile user experience. When not tethered to her laptop, Kelly enjoys spending time with husband Skip and new daughter Kirin, working virtually and living free. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Cameron Adams - Keynote: Making Waves

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:57:53 +1100

If you work on the web, it was hard to miss the announcement of Google Wave in May. It was especially exciting because this project, designed to leapfrog current modes of online communication, was developed right here in Australia by a Sydney based team. Wave’s interface designer - Web Directions favourite, Cameron Adams - will give us some unique insights into the challenges of bringing such an innovative product to fruition, the problems you face in designing a desktop application in the browser, and how to nurture a startup culture inside a large company. Cameron has given some truly memorable presentations at previous Web Directions - this keynote drawing from his experiences as part of the Google Wave team will be no exception. Cameron Adams - The Man in Blue, and interface designer at Google Wave - melds a background in Computer Science with over nine years experience in graphic design to create a unique approach to interface design. Using the latest technologies, he likes to play in the intersection between design and code to produce innovative but usable sites and applications. In addition to the projects he’s currently tinkering with, Cameron writes about the Internet and design in general on his well respected blog, and has written several books ranging in topics from JavaScript, to CSS, and design. His latest publication "Simply JavaScript" takes a bottom-up, quirky-down approach to the basics of JavaScript coding. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Ben Galbraith - The state of developer tools

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:56:41 +1100

For many years, developing for the web left quite a bit to be desired when it came to the tools at developers disposal, particularly in comparison with the sorts of development environments available for desktop applications. But the rise of browser native tools, in Safari, Internet Explorer and Opera, browser based add-ons like Firebug, web based tools and more mean that developers have a vast array of powerful tools to help develop, debug, profile and otherwise improve their applications. But, just what’s out there? And what can be done with them? In this session, co-founder of Ajaxian.com, and The Ajax Experience conferences, and now head of Mozilla Foundation’s new Tools team Ben Galbraith will take us on an expedition through the developer tools landscape. Learn what’s out there, and what they can do to make you more productive, your sites and applications better and faster, and your life as a developer more enjoyable. Until recently the CIO of MediaBank, a well-funded software start-up in the advertising industry, and General Manager of Feature50, a boutique software production company, Ben Galbraith, along with Dion Almaer, now heads up Mozilla’s new developer tools team. Ben has long juggled interests in both business and tech, having written his first computer program at six years old, started his first business at ten, and entered the IT workforce at twelve. He has delivered hundreds of technical presentations world-wide, produced several technical conferences, and co-authored over a half-dozen books. Prior to his current roles, Ben acted as CEO of Ajaxian.com, a media property and related conference series he co-founded. He has enjoyed a variety of other business and technical roles throughout his career, including CIO, CTO, and Chief Software Architect roles. He lives in Draper, Utah, with his wife and four children. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Mark Pesce - Closing keynote: This, that, and the other thing

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:59:51 +1100

This is what it feels like to be hyperconnected: a new kind of community - pervasive, continuous, yet strangely tense and tenuous, like a balloon inflated to the point of bursting. The limits of the neocortex meeting the amplifier of the Human Network. That creates unique opportunities: we can come together at a word, self-organize around or against a blog post, a live-streamed video, an automated reply from a faceless, rent-seeking organization. Nothing can stop us. We can’t even stop ourselves. But what do we want? And the other thing? You’ll need to be at Web Directions South, for the closing keynote, if you want to find out. Known internationally as the man who fused virtual reality with the World Wide Web to invent VRML, Mark Pesce has been exploring the frontiers of media and technology for a quarter of a century. The author of five books and numerous articles, Pesce has written for WIRED, Feed, Salon, PC Magazine, and The Age. For the last three seasons, Pesce has been a panelist on the hit ABC show The New Inventors. From 2003 to 2006, Pesce chaired the Emerging Media and Interactive Design Program at the world-renowned Australian Film Television and Radio School. In February he received an appointment as an Honorary Associate at the University of Sydney, and has gone on to found FutureSt, a Sydney media and technology consultancy. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

David Peterson - Semantic web for distributed social networks

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 14:28:58 +1100

Hear how Drupal, Semantic MediaWiki and other bleeding edge tech were enlisted along with pixie dust, FOAF, RDF, OWL, SPARQL, Linked Data (basically all the Semantic Web stuff) to build a distributed social network. The focus will be not on evangelism (I don’t really care about that) but how disparate open source platforms can talk and work together. This stuff actually works and makes development more fluid. These technologies make local development easier, but when it is time to broaden your scope, classic search is still king. How can you leverage this? Newcomers such as Yahoo Searchmonkey can play an important role in the creation of a truly distributed information system. David Peterson has been a web developer since 1995. He works way up north in the tropics of Townsville, about as far from any tech as possible. Currently he is Head of Research at BoaB interactive and is working hard to kickstart the Semantic Web down under. Not only that, but he is an Advisory Committee representative to the W3C. Wow. His wonderful family, making lovely photographs and searching for the perfect espresso keeps him happy. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Ruth Ellison - Integrating accessibility into design

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:02:25 +1100

When developing websites or web applications, we often follow the principles of web standards, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and other accessibility guidelines. But is this enough? In this session, Ruth will look at how we can develop accessible web products by taking a holistic approach to web accessibility. She will look at different ways of incorporating accessibility into the design process to produce accessible and useful user experiences. This presentation will focus on the user experience design process by drawing on examples and learnings from Ruth’s work in Government. Ruth Ellison is an interaction designer and user experience practitioner. She is extremely passionate about creating accessible and useful user experiences. Ruth has over six years experience working on a number of accessibility and user-centred design projects across the Government and private sectors. She is currently a senior consultant at Stamford Interactive, a usability and user-centred design consultancy. She takes a holistic approach to her design work, drawing upon her background of accessibility, usability and human-computer interaction. In her free time, Ruth can be found out and about taking photos, renovating her house and making music. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Douglas Crockford - Ajax security

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:45:01 +1100

Security design is an important, but often neglected, component of system design. In this session, Douglas Crockford, creator of Javascript Object Notation, will outline the security issues that must be considered in the architecture of Ajax applications. The design of the browser did not anticipate the needs of multiparty applications. The browser’s security model frustrates useful activities and allows some very dangerous activities. This talk will look at the small set of options before us that will determine the future of the Web. During this session, attendees will: - Learn why effective security is an inherent feature of good design; - Experience a real-time demo of a Ajax client/server system based on sound security principles - See how to apply secure design to rich web applications. Douglas Crockford is a product of the US public school system. A registered voter, he owns his own car. He has developed office automation systems. He did research in games and music at Atari. He was Director of Technology at Lucasfilm. He was Director of New Media at Paramount. He was the founder and CEO of Electric Communities/Communities.com. He was founder and CTO of State Software, where he discovered JSON. He is now an architect at Yahoo!. He is the world’s foremost living authority on JavaScript. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Myles Byrne - Internationalization - a guide to dealing with the web’s favorite 20-letter word

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:37:25 +1100

So, you’ve decided to tap into a whole new world of business oppportunities by stepping outside the anglocentric world. That’s great! But the process of internationalisaton can be a genuine minefield for the unitiated, so take a few tips from someone who’s been there before. In this talk Myles will cover what internationalization is, when to do it, and how to implement it. Topics include: localization, organising your content for translation, finding and managing translators, and dealing with the unexpected technical issues that inevitably arise. Myles is the founder of Duck New Media, a Sydney web development and consulting firm. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Myles Eftos - Web APIs, Oauth and OpenID: A developer’s guide

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:20:34 +1100

Online web applications are big business, with many people relying on the cloud for data storage and workflow. These days, an API is an essential part of any online system, but this presents authentication and authorisation issues for the humble web developer. Learn how to create Web APIs, how OpenID and Oauth works and what you need to do to implement them. Myles is a Perth-based Web developer who feels as at home building INNER JOINS as he does calculating the specificity of CSS selectors. He has worked in all the major web languages, with his weapon of choice being Ruby on Rails. He is a big advocate of semantic CSS, and unobtrusive JavaScript. He has a weakness for code double dares, many of which have resulted in crazy experiments, such as @baggygreen: a twitter cricket commentator and a version of Super Mario Bros. written entirely in HTML, CSS and JavaScript. During his 8-years in the industry, working under the moniker of MadPilot Productions, he has worked with pretty much everyone in Perth. He has also been on the committee of the Australian Web Industry Association since it’s inception, currently residing in the role of event coordinator. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Daniel Burka - Changing successfully: Adapting your interface over time

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:37:57 +1100

User interface design is an iterative process - the design of Digg and Pownce have been a study in evolution and adaptation. This talk will inspect the why and how of these iterations by looking at specific case studies from the two projects as well as previous client work Daniel has tackled. The case studies will examine specific user interface challenges that have arisen and will chop them up into their various bits. How do I identify a challenge? What is the best approach for getting started? How do I solve the problem conceptually and technically? How will I know if I solved the challenge successfully? Case studies have been selected that are especially pertinent outside of their specific contexts to help you in your everyday UI design. The presentation will focus on design inspiration, decision-making processes, technical solutions, and learning from missteps as part of a designer’s iterative process. Daniel is the creative director at Digg, a founder of Pownce, and a founder of the Canadian web firm silverorange. At silverorange, Daniel worked with a wide range of clients including Mozilla, Ning, Revision3, and Sloan. He’s since been lured to San Francisco after Kevin Rose dangled the prospect of In ‘N Out burgers and the opportunity to develop the user experience for the social news website Digg. As Digg’s creative director, Daniel has helped the site grow from a niche technology news site into one of the leading media services on the web with a massive and passionate community. Recently, along with Leah Culver and Kevin, Daniel helped found Pownce - a social network that lets you share files, events, messages, and links with your friends. Daniel works on feature development and the user interface of Pownce. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Diana Mounter - Custom V CMS - don’t take sides

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:43:15 +1100

When I was introduced into the role of managing web projects, I naively believed a Content Management System would solve all my problems. Growing my little empire of content authors I had little idea of what was to come- before I knew it I had created a monster. I went searching for a white knight to slay this monster and was tempted by the delights of custom builds, agile development, and ruby on rails. And off I went following the trail of breadcrumbs into the forest eating them as I went, but then oh, how do I get back to my old friend CMS? Hmmm. This session will help you know how to make the choice between the sweet delights of custom builds and the faithful workhorse CMS. How to get them to play nice, grow gracefully, and present together as a seamless front-end user experience. Diana Mounter combines her 10 years of experience in graphic design, IT, database management, and marketing to approach web project management creatively and with a fine-toothed comb. In her role at the Local Government and Shires Associations Diana designs, coordinates, and supports the Associations’ many websites, giving her experience working with both a CMS and custom build applications. A notable example is the success of the 2008 Cultural Awards website, which allows council officers and artists to showcase their cultural projects online. This year she has introduced her enthusiasm of the web further into this sector by co-founding the Local Government Web Network. The network is designed to promote learning amongst government web coordinators, with the aim of improving the quality of Council websites for the benefit of their communities. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Michael (tm) Smith - A jungle cruise through the wild regions of HTML5 and surrounding territories

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:46:07 +1100

You’re invited to join a narrated exploration into the exotic regions of HTML5 and surrounding territories. Your journey will begin with a preparatory briefing about what to expect from HTML5 - what’s different, what’s new, what to look forward to, what to watch out for. During the cruise, we’ll make some short excursions into surrounding territories adjoining HTML5, and you’ll learn a bit about their history and relationship to HTML5. Michael (tm) Smith is co-chair of the W3C HTML Working Group (helping develop the next version of the Web’s core language, HTML5) as well as one-half of a tag team of W3C rowdies who do the grunt work for the Web Applications Working Group. Mike’s been involved in design, development, testing, and deployment of Internet applications for more than 10 years - from carrier-grade e-mail delivery systems and server-side content-transformation technologies to Web browsers deployed across a range of devices. Before joining the W3C, he worked on systems for mobile operators in Japan - at Openwave Systems (whose mobile browser has shipped on more than one billion handsets) and at Opera Software (whose mobile browser was the first "full" browser to ship preinstalled on handsets in Japan). At the W3C, he started as the Asia lead for the Mobile Web Initiative before shifting to his current focus on work related to core browser technologies. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Laurel Papworth - The business of being social

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:33:17 +1100

It’s not true that there are no proven monetisation models for online communities; in fact, there are distinct revenue streams that have been successful over many years. This session looks at the soft returns on investment for engaging with user generated content, communication and collaboration with the consumer and then moves into how social networks earn money for their investors and developers. The aim of this session is to limit the slapping of banner ads on every niche community online - you might be surprised to learn that the least profitable revenue model is… Advertising! Come, spend an hour on the Dark Side, and find out which social networks are making money, how much and by what means and learn about the business models in this growth industry. Laurel teaches social media and marketing and public relations courses at Universities and Colleges here in Australia and overseas (Saudi Arabia). She also runs workshops with major media companies such as publishing houses, television and music companies on their social network strategies. Laurel consults with companies ranging from global electronics companies to dating communities to Australian Government departments on all things communication, collaboration and community. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/).

Jina Bolton - Creating sexy stylesheets

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:13:51 +1100

Being a CSS expert is about more than just memorizing selectors. It’s also about working to improve the maintainability and efficiency of your style sheets, planning for the future, and mastering your workflow. This session will look at pushing the limits of CSS to create stunning interfaces using clean, meaningful markup. We’ll also look at CSS 3 and at what the future of Web design could look like when CSS 3 finally becomes mainstream. Jina Bolton is a designer and artist, working and residing in Silicon Valley. She is excited to be involved with the CSS Eleven, and has spoken at conferences in North America and the UK. Jina is a co-author of The Art & Science of CSS, and has also written articles for publications including SitePoint, .net Magazine, and Vitamin (of which she is an advisor). Jina has consulted for various agencies and organizations including the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative and Mass.Gov. She holds a BFA in Computer Arts and Graphic Design from Memphis College of Art. Jina enjoys traveling, is learning Italian, and considers herself a sushi enthusiast. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Jeffrey Veen - Designing our way through data

Wed, 1 Oct 2008 15:12:12 +1000

The hype around Web 2.0 continues to increase to the point of absurdity. We hear all about a rich web of data, but what can we learn from these trends to actually apply to our designs? You’ll take a tour through the past, present, and future of the web to answer these questions and more: - What can we learn from the rich history of data visualization to inform our designs today? - How can we do amazing work while battle the constant constraints we find ourselves up against? - How do we really incorporate users into our practice of user experience? Jeffrey Veen is an internationally sought-after speaker, author, and user experience consultant. As a consultant, Jeffrey has been involved in designing the leading blog and social media applications on the web, including Blogger, TypePad, Flickr, and more. Jeff also led the creation of Measure Map, the well-received blog analytics tool acquired by Google in 2006. After five years with Adaptive Path, where he was a founding partner, Jeff moved to Google, where he where he lead the redesign of their Analytics product and managed their web apps UX team. He left Google in May, 2008, to work on personal projects. Previously, Jeffrey served as the Executive Director of Interface Design for Wired Digital and Lycos Inc., where he managed the look and feel of HotWired, the HotBot search engine, Lycos.com and others. In addition to lecturing and writing on web design and development, Jeffrey has been active with the World Wide Web Consortium’s CSS Editorial Review Board as an invited expert on electronic publishing. He is also the author of the acclaimed books The Art & Science of Web Design and HotWired Style: Principles for Building Smart Web Sites. In 1998, Jeffrey was named by CNET as one of the "First Annual Web Innovators" and has won the Communication Arts Interactive Annual award for his work on Wired News. Other clients include Technorati, Creative Commons, Macromedia, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and National Public Radio. Jeffrey specializes in the integration of content, graphic design, and technology from a user-centered perspective. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

August de los Reyes - Predicting the past

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:25:18 +1100

A new inflection point in human-computer interaction is upon us. Along with other technologies, Microsoft Surface marks a departure from graphical user interface or GUI into the world of Natural User Interface or NUI. This talk begins with discussion of emotional design and its importance in the future of society. The lens shifts to how one design team is thinking about designing for a new era in which emotional intent and intuitive interaction are the imperative. Using theoretical models drawn from a mix of history, science, philosophy, and even video game design, this presentation reveals principles behind experience design for Microsoft Surface and beyond. August de los Reyes is the Principal Design Director for Microsoft Surface. August applies his research work in emotion and design to shipping products at Microsoft. August is a graduate of the Advanced Studies Program at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He was a 2007-2008 Visiting Associate at the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford. As a guest faculty member at the University of Washington, he will lead the graduate seminar in design this winter. He is currently writing his next book, entitled The Poetics of Everyday Objects. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Nick Bolton - The evolution and commercialisation of online video

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 12:08:31 +1100

Internet video has come a long way from the postage stamp generic media player to the commercial success it is today. This session looks at this journey, and examines the multitude of online video options available. We will look at content creation (simple single piece, to multi-platform, and user generated), distribution methods and publishing strategies. Then once the video is published, how do you justify it (the ROI), commercialise it (leverage the content) and monetise it through syndication, advertising, sponsorship, or pay-per-view/subscription. There will be real time demos and case studies. Since Nick ran his first live webcast in 2000, he has managed several hundred webcast productions for most of the top corporates, publishers and broadcasters in Australia. Key highlights include Australia’s first live medical operation on the web, the Australia 2020 Summit and World Youth Day. Nick regularly speaks at conferences here and overseas on online video creation and distribution, and is also an avid short film maker, actor and theatre producer. Nick is on the NSW committee of AIMIA - the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Jeff Croft - Elegant web typography

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:43:00 +1100

Even in our day of web videos and podcasts, text is still the king of content on the web. Great typographic sensitivity is one of the hallmarks of sites that exude a professional confidence. From type sizing and coloring to leading, kerning, and measures to proper usage of quotes, dashes, and bullets, to choosing appropriate typefaces, this session will demonstrate using CSS and other modern web technologies to display type on screen with elegance and impact. Jeff Croft is a web designer and developer at Blue Flavor, an experience and design consultancy in Seattle. Beyond his work for Blue Flavor, Jeff is a blogger, speaker, critic, and industry thought leader. Prior to joining Blue Flavor, Jeff was a Senior Designer at World Online, an online journalism outfit responsible for a host of award-winning websites and the place of origin for Django, the Python-based open-source Web framework for perfectionists with deadlines. Jeff has been designing and developing web sites nearly as long as there have been web sites to design and develop. He created his first web page in 1994 and got his first web-related job in 1995. Although Jeff possess many technical skills, his true passion lies in visual design, user interface, communication, and social media. Jeff has recently co-authored two books, Pro CSS Techniques, published by Apress, and Web Standards Creativity, published by Friends of ED. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Hurol Inan - Informing experience architecture with quantitative insights

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:40:16 +1100

Quantitative insights gathered through online analytics can contribute greatly to the design and optimisation of online experience architectures. Analytical techniques can be used to understand - Who is really using the site - What they are using it for - How well the site responds - What needs changing to enhance the experience These insights not only provide you with behavioural profiles of users for consideration throughout the design process but also can help you make important decisions on content classification, labelling, page layout and interaction design. During the design process, you don’t need to rule out all design options to reach a single solution. Through multivariate testing (MVT), it is possible to test various options real time (and with real users) to find the optimal solution. The success of an Experience Architect depends on the business impact of their architecture. Quantitative techniques can be used in benchmarking before and after performances of a website demonstrating the impact of the new architecture. Hurol Inan is a sought-after consultant, speaker and author. He is widely recognised as a global authority on online analytics and research, and has authored two books on the subject – Measuring the Success of Your Website (2002) and Search Analytics (2006). Hurol has also written numerous articles for print and online publications. Hurol is the Managing Director of Bienalto Consulting, a specialist consultancy based in Sydney that enables its clients to realise the full potential of online marketing and website performance. Bienalto provides web analytics, customer experience architecture and online marketing services to some of Australia’s leading businesses. Prior to founding Bienalto, Hurol consulted with Accenture and Deloitte for 11 years. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Gabriel White - Sensing context in mobile design

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:36:21 +1100

Mainstream mobile devices are being loaded with sensors. These devices can be used to create experiences that are tailored, adaptive and responsive to the way people live and work. Location-awareness allows devices to respond to place, networked address books enable socially rich communication experiences, and motion and gestural sensors empower designers to respond to context of use. All these elements are creating a ’sensitive ecosystem’; mobile devices that adapt gracefully to context and use. This presentation will explore some of the design and technology trends that are shaping design for mobile devices, show examples of devices and services that are starting to take advantage of these trends, then explain how designers need to rethink design problems to take advantage of this technological ground-shift. Gabriel is a seasoned interaction designer and world traveler. Currently Interaction Design Director at Punchcut in San Francisco, Gabriel was a Principal Designer at Frog Design, led design teams at Motorola China, visited Microsoft’s Research Lab in Beijing, and consulted in Australia. With ten years’ experience in the design industry and a deep understanding of the mobile space, Gabriel is passionate about creating meaningful products and services that help improve people’s lives. He has written for ACM Interactions Magazine, and publishes regularly through his mobile design blog, Small Surfaces. Gabriel was the interaction design lead for Motorola’s MotoFone, a phone designed specifically for poor, non-literate people in developing countries. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/).

Grant Young - Strategies for social media

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 12:07:54 +1100

With so many social networks blooming, all with different participants and methods of interaction, it can be hard to determine where to invest your energy, time and $$. The session will provide ideas and a "background briefing" to help you answer the question: - why is social media important to my organisation? - what is the ROI for social media? - how can I evaluate which approaches are right for me/my organisation? - what sort of activities can/should I undertake in these spaces? This is not a technical session and although we will briefly touch on some popular sites, the focus will be on how you and your organisation can effectively and authentically engage participants in the social media world. Grant has worked for over a decade in web and media roles, more recently focusing on social media and networking opportunities for non-profits. Grant recently founded Zumio, a consulting business with an emphasis on online strategy development. Since starting Zumio earlier this year Grant has advised a number of organisations including WWF-Australia (Earth Hour 2008) and Amnesty International on social media and campaign development. Previously Grant held the role of Online Communications Manager at WWF-Australia, and worked as Senior Producer at award-winning design agency Digital Eskimo. In these roles he advised on and produced projects incorporating a variety of social networking tools and approaches, including weblogs, wikis, Flickr, YouTube, MySpace and Facebook. Grant has also developed web applications for the business sector in the areas of financial and carbon accounting. He presented on the topic of social media in the financial services sector at the Investor Weekly Branding conference in March 2008. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Pete Ottery and Tim Lucas - Developing for iPhone

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:05:34 +1100

The release of Apple’s iPhone brings new opportunities for web sites and web apps on handheld devices, though not without its share of challenges and best practices. Tim and Pete will look at the best examples out in the wild and share their experience creating iphone.news.com.au - one of Australia’s largest news sites, news.com.au, tailored to the iPhone. Pete has been designing web sites for about 9 years. Having previously worked as the Head of Design at Fairfax Digital and Creative Director at Daemon, he is now working at News Digital Media as the Group Interface Designer. Recently he has been designing truelocal.com.au, careerone.com.au & iphone.news.com.au. He works directly with site owners and execs to help inform requirements and push product design boundaries. He is daily knee deep in photoshop concepts and html/css code. Tim Lucas, aka toolmantim, is a software developer and web technologist known in the Aussie web community for his involvement in events such as Work at Jelly, Webjam and the Sydney Ruby on Rails group. Tim’s been building connected software for as long as he can remember, recently helping craft the iphone version of news.com.au and the new VOIP platform vtalk. Tim combines his passion for quality with his human approach to software development as co-founder and senior developer at Agency Rainford, a web agency collaborating with brilliant individuals to create kick-ass solutions to problems that matter. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Kay Smoljak - Starting & Running a Web Development Business

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:17:11 +1100

Working for yourself is a dream that many web designers and developers have. You can pick and choose your clients, work in your pajamas, and sleep in until 10am every day if you want to. But there’s a more serious side to starting a business, and lots of factors to consider if you decide to head out on your own. Kay will share the story of Clever Starfish’s journey from a seed of an idea to a thriving small business, with lots of handy hints for both things to do, and things not to do, along the way. Kay has been working with the web since the dark days of the last millennium. She left full time employment to start Clever Starfish with her partner and two overly bossy cats in 2006, and does not miss commuting in the slightest. Because she’s a sucker for volunteering, Kay sits on the committee of the Australian Web Industry Association (AWIA) and is one of the organisers of the WA Web Awards. She has three separate blogs (at last count) and also writes on ColdFusion for SitePoint and Fusion Authority. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Dmitry Baranovskiy - Start using web vector graphics today

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:30:48 +1100

With the growth of interactivity in web applications we are pushing Javascript to its limits, not to mention the limits of HTML and CSS. And so we spend our days resorting to Flash, waiting for that distant time when browser support for CSS3 will come to our rescue and allow us to create the UIs we dream of. But this is not the way it has to be: there is a little known secret weapon right here in most modern browsers. Yes, even in IE6. Dmitry Baranovskiy is here to tell you about Canvas, SVG and VML. Come along and be amazed by standards based UI wizardry you can start implementing in projects right here, right now. Dmitry has over 8 years experience in creating web applications. Having started as a back end developer, more recently he has changed his orientation to front end development and even pure design. These days he spends his working hours trying to embrace a wide range of front end technologies while working as a UI Developer for Atlassian. He is also the creator of Optimus, the Microformats transformer, as well as a Microformats based conference scheduler creator. At any given moment he is always working on three secret projects, though no one knows where he gets the time for any of this. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Lynne d Johnson - Opening keynote: New media - new business

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:47:52 +1100

Lynne will set the tone of the conference this year with insights into the future of media drawn from her wealth of experience in business, media and online communities as Senior Editor at Fast Company. Lynne d Johnson is the Senior Editor/Community Director for FastCompany.com, a leading website and community for people passionate about business ideas that also offers the complete content of Fast Company magazine. She also writes Digital Media Diva, a technology blog following web, media, and consumer trends for FastCompany.com, and has recently served as a guest blogger or columnist for TheDailyVoice, techPresident, Black Web 2.0, Rushmore Drive, IAC’s online community for African Americans. Lynne also serves on the Board of Directors of the Literary Freedom Project, a nonprofit arts organization, which seeks to empower communities of color through literature, creative thinking, and new media. Prior to joining Fast Company, she was the General Manager, New Media for VIBE, SPIN, and VIBE Vixen where she she managed marketing, editorial, production, business development, and sales operations for the magazines’ websites and mobile properties. Her personal blog, Lynne d Johnson || music, media, my life, which launched in July 2001, is the recipient of the 2006 Black Weblog Awards Black Blogger Achievement Award. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Social computing for knowledge management - Matthew Hodgson

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:20:43 +1000

The world is abuzz with social computing: Facebook, My Space, YouTube, Flickr, Wikipedia, blogs, wikis and other spaces powered by Web 2.0 technology. It’s a social revolution, empowering individuals to communicate, share what they know online, and help others locate information that is important to them in both their private and working lives. Some see all this as a big waste of corporate time, but is it? Is there value in handing over control of collaboration and sharing knowledge to individuals, rather than hoarding it in records systems, knowledge systems, and thousands of network dive folders? Is there a way you can harness this social revolution to help improve our organisation’s knowledge management practices? Is there actually a solid business value proposition for social computing? Matthew will look at knowledge management in modern organisations, and how you can benefit by learning from the principles of social computing and Web 2.0 technologies. Matthew will look at case studies in government that demonstrate successful and not-so-successful ways of employing social computing tools, the factors that contributed to their success, and the pitfalls to watch out for. In particular, he will look at the issues in relation to corporate culture by drawing on recent research in blogs and wikis that is based on the theory and work in organisational psychology by Hofstede. Matthew Hodgson is regional lead for Web and Information Management at SMS Management & Technology in Canberra. He has over 10 years experience in e-business strategy, information architecture, information management and knowledge management, working with the government and commercial sector to deliver innovative solutions to difficult web problems. Matthew has published papers in the areas of social psychology, has lectured at the University of Canberra on social computing, and is passionate about the way in which technology can positively impact on social change through facilitating interpersonal communication and knowledge sharing. Matthew’s experience is underpinned by a comprehensive applied knowledge of government and international web and information standards, degrees in organisational psychology and knowledge management, and an intimate understanding of Web 2.0, from folksonomies to wikis and blogs. Matthew blogs at Matt’s Musings and is a contributing author at The AppGap. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Web mapping - exploiting location based information through eGovernment - David Hayward

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:01:24 +1000

Government has huge amounts of information but how can this be effectively managed and delivered through the web? This session will ‘lift the lid’ on web mapping technology and identify some of the key issues that must be addressed to achieve a successful outcome. The NSW government SIX Viewer web mapping portal will be used as a case study to demonstrate how terabytes of data can be integrated and delivered via the Internet. David is the national lead for spatial (location based) solutions for the consulting group Ajilon Australia. He has over 15 years experience with spatial technology working extensively within Government and the mining industry. Focussed on leveraging the web to support the integration of spatial information within mainstream IT, he has led the development of a number of high profile web mapping sites including the NSW government SIX Viewer web mapping portal. David believes that the increasing demand and awareness of the benefits of locational information will result in spatial technology becoming ubiquitous within IT. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Usability: more than skin deep - Lisa Herrod

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:48:47 +1000

Web Usability is far more complex than user testing and interaction design alone. And while interface design is an important consideration, there’s more to a usable site than what’s on the surface. We all know the importance of accessibility and web standards, so let’s take that knowledge one step further and into the realm of usability. In this session Lisa Herrod will redefine the common definition of usability by introducing a greater focus on accessibility and web standards. By taking a more holistic approach you will soon see why usability is more than skin deep. Lisa Herrod is the Principal Usability Consultant at Scenario Seven. The primary focus of her work is web usability, which she believes incorporates much more than just user testing. Drawing on a variety of disciplines, Lisa takes an holistic approach to web usability incorporating user research, accessibility, interaction design and web standards development. Having started in the web during the last century, Lisa is occasionally caught making jokes about font tags, layout tables and shims. Nobody ever laughs. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

One paper clip, a box of matches, and some JavaScript - Patrick Lee

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:03:17 +1000

Whoever you are, if you’re writing JavaScript, there’s some aspect of your development that you would love to change if you had the chance. But the reality is you’ll never find yourself working in this ideal environment: dealing with legacy browsers, platforms and content management systems will be your constant as a developer. Patrick Lee is going to show you some tools and techniques that will help you make your peace with this fact. This session will explore how you can find ways to do the cool stuff you really want to do with JavaScript whilst working in the real world. And you won’t even have to sell your soul in the process. Patrick was involved with entrepreneurial web pursuits before joining News Digital Media in what now seems like the distant past. When tasked with deciding his job title he jokingly suggested JavaScript Ninja. The title stuck and that’s now what the business cards say. Patrick spent some time being an engineer when he really wanted to be a philosopher. Somehow the little scripting language with a soul, that we all misunderstood, is a happy medium. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

GovDex - Collaborating online in a secure environment - Ralph Douglas

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:57:39 +1000

This session will look at the government collaborative tool Govdex, how it is currently used by agencies, what it provides, and how you can use it for your projects. GovDex is managed by the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) in the Department of Finance & Deregulation. AGIMO is working with agencies to measure how GovDex can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their information technology investments, and to thereby generate a savings dividend to the Australian economy. GovDex is a key enabler to a whole of government approach to IT service development and deployment, featuring collaborative workspace, governance, tools, methods and re-usable technical components that agencies can use to assemble and deploy information services on their different technology platforms. Ralph Douglas manages GovDex on behalf of AGIMO and previously worked as a Policy/Budget Analyst within the Budget Group at the Department of Finance and Deregulation. He has developed website content for several Australian government department websites, and has a background in the IT recruitment sector and Finance/IT publishing industry in Sydney and Canberra. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Opening up government data - Jenny Telford

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:57:53 +1000

Mapping and other mashups have taken the web world by storm - driving innovation in business and government alike. While much of the focus has been on the actual mashup applications, without the data to mashup, we have no mashups. Government, from local to Federal level, collect and manage a significant amount of data, across a very broad range of areas. But giving access to this data to web application developers has technical, policy and legal challenges. In this presentation, Jenny Telford of the ABS looks at these issues from their experience of opening up data from the Australian Census. Jenny Telford is currently the Director of Census Products and Services at the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Jenny has worked in the government sector for over ten years in roles focused on the delivery of data and information through the internet and other channels. The ABS is one of the largest information providers in the country and freely provides data through the website on a range of social, economic and environmental issues. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Real world web standards - Scott Gledhill

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:44:39 +1000

Those initial stages of converting your company to web standards are much like trying to score that first kiss with the princess. You seduce them with the business benefits of web-standards development, and the rest of the arguments we have all read, written, and preached to anyone who will listen. But getting corporate web standards in place is just a sign that the real relationship is about to begin. The honeymoon is over, and now it’s time to figure out what has gone wrong and why the prince and princess now seem to be constantly bickering - when they were meant to live happily ever after. Scott draws on his experiences leading the development of eight large media web sites for News Digital Media to examine the ideals of web standards and how they translate within a large organisation. Learn how to make web standards work for you, when rules must be broken and how to deliver a final product that meets deadlines and still keeps project teams happy. Scott has had over 6 years experience developing websites in large corporate environments. Most recently, his role was Web Technology Strategist at News Digital Media (NDM) in Sydney, involving the strategy and education of best practice web development across the company. He has lead several major redesigns of NDM websites, converting them from legacy table based layouts to standards compliant, accessible and search engine friendly websites. In a company of over 500 employees this can incorporate its share of challenges and rewards. Scott’s current role is co-founder of molt:n digital, a Sydney based web consultancy. In his spare time he finds time to blog about SEO, accessibility and all things web standards on his website, standardzilla.com. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Improving Government through better use of the Web - José Manuel Alonso

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 09:35:27 +1000

It’s no secret that just as the web has revolutionised business, the media, and many other parts of our lives, it is also revolutionising how governments and citizens interact, and how government provide services. But how to do it well is still something of a black art. In this keynote presentation, the lead of the W3C’s eGovernment initiative, José Manuel Alonso, looks at the opportunities the web provides governments, the challenges, old and new, the web poses, and the role of the W3C in helping to develop underlying, interoperable technologies with which to build these services. José’s presentation will cover best practices and methodologies for providing eGovernment services, and look at case studies of how governments and communities are connecting via the web around the world. José is the eGovernment Lead at the World Wide Web Consortium. Prior to joining the W3C, he was the Manager for the W3C Spain Office for three years and also served as the Advisory Committee Representative for CTIC (host of the Spain Office). José has broad experience in project management, software integration, customer relationship, PR and IT consultancy. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and a Masters in Enterprise Application Integration, both from the University of Oviedo, where he also worked at the Research and Innovation departments as a researcher, developer and lecturer. Previously he worked as consultant and even founded his own web company back in 1997. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

The essential elements of great web applications - Robert Hoekman Jr

Wed, 4 Jun 2008 11:37:58 +1000

Most great web applications have a few key things in common. But can you name them? Better yet - can you achieve them consistently in your own projects? In this closing keynote, Robert Hoekman, Jr., author of the Amazon bestseller Designing the Obvious (New Riders) describes the seven qualities of great web-based software and how to achieve each and every one of them by learning to communicate through design. See why it’s important to build only what’s absolutely essential, apply instructive design, create error-proof interactions, surface commonly-used features, and more in this informative session that will change the way you work and enable your users to walk away from your software feeling productive, respected, and smart. Robert Hoekman, Jr., is the founder of Miskeeto, a product development and web design consultancy focused on socially-conscious projects that improve the world. He’s a passionate and outspoken interaction designer, writer, and user-experience evangelist who has written dozens of articles and has worked with Adobe, Automattic, United Airlines, DoTheRightThing.com, Go Daddy Software, and countless others to create superior user experiences for a wide range of audiences. He also gives in-house training sessions and speaks regularly at industry events like Adobe MAX, Flashforward, SxSW, Future of Web Design, and others. Robert is the author of the Amazon bestseller Designing the Obvious, which focuses on seven guiding principles of great web-based software and how to leverage them in any real-world project. Learn more about Robert through his blog at rhjr.net. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Web visualisation: do you see what I see? - Jeremy Yuille

Wed, 4 Jun 2008 11:35:33 +1000

The web is packed with information and knowledge, but too often our efforts to understand what’s important or relevant are stymied by antiquated methods of presentation. At the same time, more and more libraries, widgets and services are being released to help us present information visually. Problem solved? Not really. In this session Jeremy Yuille from ACID looks at information visualisation from a user experience perspective, overviewing new and old examples and how they can help (or hinder) the experience of using the web. You’ll see what kinds of amazing things you can do within the browser platform these days. More importantly you’ll learn why (and when) you’d want to use visualisation at all. Jeremy Yuille is a senior lecturer in Communication Design, digital media artist and interaction designer specializing in interactive audio visual systems. He has a background in Architecture, web design, music, and a masters exploring interactive sound designfrom RMIT’s Spatial Information Architecture Laboratory. Jeremy manages the Multiuser Environments program at ACID, the Australasian CRC for Interaction Design, researching Interaction Design (IxD) for remote presence and socially driven knowledge environments. On faculty at RMIT Communication Design, he coordinates IxD undergrad initiatives, supervises graduate students in research projects involving IxD and other related design fields. He is also a director and secretary of the Interaction Design Association. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

The mobile web user experience - we’re starting to get it right! - Oliver Weidlich

Wed, 4 Jun 2008 11:32:26 +1000

Historically the mobile web has been a terrible experience, but things are starting to change. Really! We are now at the point that the mobile web is becoming easier to access, both on-deck & off-deck, there’s useful & tailored services out there, and killing some time on the train home doesn’t cost more than your weekly train ticket. We’ll check out the latest and greatest in the world of mobile web and what makes them different from the others. We will also cover the important things to keep in mind for making a better mobile web customer experience. Oliver draws on a background in psychology, experience in usability and understanding of mobile technology to identify key issues for client business strategy, and customers, and to recommend & design solutions through his consultancy Ideal Interfaces. He has consulted to clients such as Hutchison, Optus, Telstra, ninemsn, Orange, Holden, and Motorola. He has a wide range of experience evaluating and improving the end-to-end customer experience with mobile devices, including 2G, 2.5G and 3G devices, portals, applications and content. He has conducted field research into future mobile usage and the interaction between the mobile device and other technologies. Ideal Interfaces is a founding member of the AIMIA Mobile Content Industry Development Group and Oliver is playing a key role in the design and project management of the Australian Mobile Phone Lifestyle Index which looks at mobile content usage in the local market. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Delivering user experience to the inbox: designing for email - Mathew Patterson

Wed, 4 Jun 2008 11:28:03 +1000

So you’ve designed a fantastic website for your client, tested in all the major browsers and everything looks great. Now they want to send an email newsletter to all their customers, using the new design. No problem right? Just need to test in Outlook 07, and 06. Yahoo and Hotmail too, of course. Oh, and Gmail, Lotus Notes, AOL... Of course, the design may not work that well for an email anyway, and isn’t there some kind of anti-spam laws? Like it or not, HTML email is here to stay and the responsibility for doing it right belongs to web designers. Learn how to plan, design and build an email newsletter that will provide a great user experience to the recipients, and great value to your clients. Mathew is the community manager at Freshview, the team behind the popular email newsletter web apps, Campaign Monitor and MailBuild. In past lives he was a web designer for the Australian Stock Exchange and Priceline Europe among others. He runs Designers Inhouse, the list for web designers in non-design firms, and recently spoke at the Future of Web Design in New York. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Converting research findings into business speak - Jackie Moyes

Wed, 4 Jun 2008 11:24:13 +1000

Getting your company to adopt a user-centred design approach can be an uphill struggle. The first stage typically is to get them to agree to incorporate usability testing in to the development process, at a stage early enough to actually implement any design recommendations. The second stage is to convince them to do more ethnographic style research to understand the larger context of the task that the site is trying to support. The biggest challenge comes last - how to help the business owners make the mental leap between the in-depth findings from the research and the implications and opportunities it presents to your core business strategy and product roadmap. This is the challenge that the User Experience team at News Digital Media have been addressing. In this presentation, Jackie will discuss this issue in more depth and present examples of ‘design tools’ the team have been experimenting with to try and bridge this gap and help the business develop more user-centric strategies. Jackie graduated with a PhD in Human-Computer Interaction in 1995 and since then has been conducting user research and interaction design for clients in the UK, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and the US. In 2005 she established and still currently heads up the User Experience Team at News Digital Media - in two years moving the company culture from one that either outsourced or ignored experience design to one that now employs one of the largest and most highly qualified, in-house user experience teams within Australia. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Analysing user research data - Steve Baty

Wed, 4 Jun 2008 11:16:22 +1000

In our efforts to better understand the end users of the sites & applications we design, we generate a great deal of data. That data is useless to us until it has been analyzing and interpreted. This presentation looks at some of the methods & techniques we can use to make sense of user research data in a meaningful & rigorous way. The presentation will look at some of the common types of quantitative data collected during user research, and the statistical analysis methods we can employ to make the most of our data-gathering efforts. The session covers practical examples such as task completion rates, time-to-completion, page view comparison, as well as some basic concepts in statistics. Founder & Principal Consultant at Meld, Steve has over 13 years’ experience in the design and delivery of e-business services. Steve is a well-known practitioner in the area of experience strategy and architecture, writing articles for industry publications and presenting at local conferences. During his career Steve has completed over 300 Web projects & thousands of smaller tasks. Steve has, over the past four years, led user experience teams to develop online strategies and experience architectures for clients across a broad spread of industries including: tourism, travel, transport, consumer electronics, manufacturing, government, and the arts. These include projects for the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage & the Arts; an expert review for Maersk Line - the world’s largest container shipping company; oneworld Alliance - the world’s leading airline alliance; YHA Australia; and Fuji Xerox Australia. Steve holds post-graduate degrees in electronic commerce (M.Ec) and business administration (MBA) from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management; and a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics (Physical Mathematics & Applied Statistics) from the University of Technology, Sydney. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Getting content right - Donna Spencer

Mon, 2 Jun 2008 20:54:50 +1000

We all know that great content is a core part of the website user experience. So why is it so hard to find content that isn’t dull, lifeless and uninteresting - blah, blah, blah? Web content can be vibrant, interesting and fun. It can draw you in, fill your head and make you learn without having to think. And it’s not really hard to write. Three simple tricks can turn poor content into a great experience - remember that readers care more about themselves than you; write in real words with authentic voice; play show and tell. This presentation will discuss these principles, with plenty of funny and not-so-funny examples. You’ll go away with practical steps to make your writing kick-ass. And you won’t even have to think. Donna Spencer is a freelance information architect, mentor, writer and trainer. She has 8 years experience working in-house and as a consultant doing strategic and tactical design. She has designed large intranets & websites, ecommerce & search systems, business applications, design patterns and a CMS. Donna is an experienced speaker who has taught workshops and presented sessions at local and international conferences, on information architecture, interaction design and whatever else crosses her mind. She spends her (little) remaining time on the board of IAI and writing a book on card sorting. Sometimes she even gets time to weave and sew. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Designing the experience curve - Andy Budd

Mon, 2 Jun 2008 19:27:44 +1000

These days people expect more from a website than a handy set of tools and a pretty interface - they want an experience. From the moment somebody enters your site they’ll be judging you on everything from the way the site looks to the tone of your error messages. And they won’t just be judging you against other sites. They will be judging you on every customer experience they have ever had, from the rude man at the train station to the lovely hotel clerk that checked them in on holiday. So in order to compete, we need to up our game and look at experiences both on and off-line. In this session Andy Budd will look at the 9 key factors that go into designing the perfect customer experience. By taking examples from the world around us, Andy will discuss how we can turn utilitarian experiences into something wonderful. Andy Budd is an interaction designer and web standards developer from Brighton, England. As the user experience lead at Clearleft, Andy spends his time helping clients improve their customers online experience. Andy is a regular speaker at international design events such as SXSW, An Event Apart and Web Design World. He also runs the popular dConstruct conference, which takes place in Brighton every year. Andy has helped judge several international design awards and currently sits on the advisory board for .Net magazine. Andy wrote the best selling book, CSS Mastery and blogs at andybudd.com. Never happier than when he’s diving some remote tropical atoll, Andy is a qualified PADI dive instructor and retired shark wrangler. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Movement (Closing Keynote) - Matt Webb

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:42:36 +1000

We’ve always had metaphors to understand and design for the Web. The original conception of the Web was as a library of documents. Our building blocks were derived from spatial ideas: "breadcrumbs", "visits" and "homepages" were used to understand the medium. Website-as-application was a new and novel metaphor in the late 1990s. The spatial concept of navigation was replaced by concepts derived from tools: buttons performed actions on data. These metaphors inspire separate but complementary models of the Web. But the Web in 2008 has some entirely new qualities: more than ever it’s an ecology of separate but highly interconnected services. Its fiercely competitive, rapid development means differentiating innovations are quickly copied and spread. Attention from users is scarce. The fittest websites survive. In this world, what metaphors can be most successfully wielded? Matt takes as a starting point interaction and product design, with ideas from cybernetics and Getting Things Done. He offers as a metaphor the concept of the Web as experience. That is, treating a website as a dynamic entity - a flowchart of motivations that both provides a continuously satisfying experience for the user - and helps the website grow. From seeing what kind of websites this model provokes, we’ll see whether it also helps illuminate some of the Web’s coming design challenges: the blending of the Web with desktop software and physical devices; the particular concerns of small groups; and what the next movement might bring. Matt Webb is a principal of the creative design consultancy Schulze & Webb where his work has included material prototypes for Nokia, Web strategy for the BBC, and exploration into the future uses of RFID. S&W works in near-term product R&D and, as embodied in the USB puppet Availabot, has a special focus on the social life of stuff. Matt speaks on interaction design and technology, is co-author of Mind Hacks, cognitive psychology for a general audience, and builds polite social software and Web toys. He can be found at Interconnected and in London. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Better Gmail: How Google Opened Gmail’s Web Interface to Any Developer Who Cares (And Why You Should) - Gina Trapani

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:39:45 +1000

Last year, Google released an experimental Greasemonkey API for Gmail: coding hooks that let anyone add CSS and Javascript to Gmail that enhances how it looks and behaves. Why would you want to do this? Why wouldn’t you? Hear how Google’s using Greasemonkey to distribute Gmail development amongst independent web developers - and how those developers are integrating their own product into Gmail - resulting in a Better Gmail for everyone. Gina Trapani is a web developer and the founding editor of Lifehacker.com, the 2006 Wired Rave Award-winning daily weblog on software and productivity. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Five Essential Composition Tools for Web Typography - Kimberly Elam

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:35:37 +1000

Have you ever seen a web site so clear, logical, and exquisitely composed it made you stop in your tracks? Have you wondered how the designer achieved such a stunning and cohesive design? In this presentation, Kimberly Elam, designer and author of the best-selling "Geometry of Design" and "Typographic Systems" will reveal the mysterious relationships between proportion, visual systems, composition and aesthetics. Too often excellent conceptual ideas suffer during the process of realization, in large part because the designer did not understand the essential visual principles. This presentation explores these elements and how they work by examining how the use of visual principles informs, even creates, beauty in typographic design, but, more importantly, how you can use these techniques to create cohesiveness in your own design. The wide range of visual examples are both informative and insightful, and any designer can benefit from learning or revisiting the rules governing the basics of typographic design. Kimberly Elam is a writer, educator, and graphic designer. She is currently the Chair of the Graphic & Interactive Communication Department at the Ringling College of Art + Design, Sarasota, Florida, where she has developed an academic minor in the Business of Art and Design. Her first book, Expressive Typography - Word as Image, identifies and analyzes methods by which words can transcend didactic meaning and become images. Geometry of Design - Studies in Proportion and Composition, visually illustrates the connection between classic proportioning systems and modern graphic design, industrial design, illustration, and architecture. Grid Systems - Principles of Organizing Type puts forth a clear methodology for understanding and learning the grid system of composition. Her most recent book, Typographic Systems - Rules for Organizing Type presents an innovative series of nontraditional, rule-based, visual language systems for typographic composition. Her current work focuses on the development of a series of innovative ebooks and print-on-demand books for design education on her website, StudioResourceInc.com. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Bedroom to Boardroom - Josh Williams

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:30:47 +1000

What happens when a designer decides to quit his day job, hang his shingle, and wakes up seven years later nowhere remotely close to where he imagined he would be? This frank, semi-informal discussion on the pros, cons, and potential progressions of a designer’s career will explore the following: - Niching your design services - Crafting a salable product - The Web Designer of Tomorrow A serial designer-entrepreneur, Josh Williams is the founder and CEO of several well known web related companies and communities including Firewheel Design, Blinksale, and IconBuffet. He is an authority on visual design techniques for rich web applications and an expert iconographer. Recently Josh has served as the design director for Project Agape (Causes on Facebook) and currently he in the process of launching another secretive iconic web company. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Working with Ajax Frameworks - Jonathan Snook

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:57:17 +1000

It seems like there’s a new Ajax library or JavaScript framework coming out every week, and there probably is! Which is the best one to pick? Will you be up the creek without a paddle if you choose the wrong one? "Working with Ajax Frameworks" will delve into some common Ajax design patterns and how various frameworks can be used to meet those needs. We’ll also take a look at how we can keep our own code flexible as we bridge the gap between it and the various frameworks. Jonathan Snook is currently a freelance web developer based in Ottawa, Canada. A Renaissance man of the Web, he has programmed in a variety of languages, both server-side and client-side. He also does web site and web application design. Jonathan worked for more than seven years with web agencies, getting to work with clients such as Red Bull, Apple, and FedEx. He made the leap to freelance back in January 2006. Jonathan likes to share what he knows through speaking, writing books, writing for online magazines such as Digital Web and Sitepoint, and writing for his own popular blog at Snook.ca. He is the co-author of the acclaimed Accelerated DOM Scripting with Ajax, APIs, and Libraries, and of The Art and Science of CSS. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Real World Accessibility for Real People - Derek Featherstone

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:05:10 +1000

When we follow the principles of web standards, we write valid HTML and CSS, unobtrusive JavaScript and follow WCAG and other accessibility guidelines. This simple act goes a long way to creating an accessible web site, application or service. At the same time, many sites that don’t utilize all that is good and wholesome about web standards perform surprisingly well when they are used by people with disabilities. How can we get the best of both worlds to create standards-based solutions that are highly usable for real people (including those with disabilities) in the real world? In this session, we’ll dissect several examples from real sites and apps to learn about accessibility problems that arise from design and development decisions and what we can do to create a more accessible user experience for all people, regardless of their ability. Derek Featherstone is a well known instructor, speaker and developer with expertise in web accessibility consulting. Derek delivers technical training that is engaging, informative and immediately applicable. A high-quality instructor, he draws on his background as a former high school teacher plus seven years running his web development and accessibility consultancy Further Ahead. His experience includes hands-on development, web accessibility consulting and training. He advises many government agencies, educational institutions and private sector companies, providing them with expert accessibility testing and review, and recommendations for improving the accessibility of their websites to all people. As a member of The Web Standards Project, Derek serves on two task forces: Accessibility/Assistive Devices and DOM Scripting. He is a dedicated advocate for standards that ensure simple, affordable access to web technologies for all. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Developing with Adobe AIR and Microsoft Silverlight - Andre Charland and Walter Smith

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:00:24 +1000

Crash Course in Adobe AIR There comes a time when web developers need to reach beyond the browser to allow users to go offline, use local files or get rid of the hideous browser chrome. The Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) is an up an coming runtime technology that allows desktop applications to be developed with HTML, JavaScript, Flash or Flex. The AIR runtime and SDK are completely free so anyone can get started immediately. Andre Charland will will give an overview or AIR, the APIs you get access to and how to build a simple Flex and HTML application with it. From there we will explore some of the tools available to make AIR development easier and faster. We’ll finish up with a few important usability guidelines and real world case studies of AIR projects. A real world overview of Silverlight Seattle-based Jackson Fish Market helped deliver the Silverlight based search engine Tafiti, one of the earliest commercial Silverlight applications. In this presentation, Jackson Fish Market co-founder Walter Smith will give us a detailed overview of Microsoft’s RIA technology Silverlight. We’ll learn from Walter’s first hand experience the strengths and weaknesses of the platform, and see real world examples of what Silverlight can be used to achieve. If you are looking to evaluate RIA frameworks, or just get a sense of the emerging RIA landscape, this session will prove invaluable. Andre Charland Andre Charland is the co-founder and CEO at Nitobi Inc. He’s been involved in Internet software development for almost a decade. As an advocate for usability and user experience, he speaks regularly on Ajax and web usability. Most recently Andre presented at MAX, the Adobe AIR Bus Tour, and the Ajax Experience. Andre is the co-author of "Enterprise Ajax", published by Prentice Hall this summer, and maintains his own blog. Andre also plays with a ski blog in his spare time and will be buying beers for anyone who can keep up at Whistler during the ski trip :) Walter Smith Currently co-founder of Jackson Fish Market, Walter spent over a decade at Microsoft as a developer, architect, and development manager on a wide variety of projects, including Internet Explorer. Prior to his time at Microsoft, Walter spent 8 years at Apple working on the groundbreaking Newton project. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Where’s Your Web At? Designing for the Web Beyond the Desktop - John Allsopp and Dave Shea

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:53:09 +1000

Since the advent of personal computing, we’ve been tied to one place - typically sitting at a desk, with a keyboard and mouse, and in isolation. Even the advent of the web and the wifi-enabled laptop hasn’t much changed this quarter century old paradigm. But with the rise of mobile phones and devices like the Nintendo Wii and PSP featuring first class web browsing, our experience of the web will change dramatically over the coming years. In this context, which design and user experience patterns and techniques we’ve developed over the last 15 years hold up? And... which break? In this session, Dave Shea and John Allsopp consider the challenges we’ll face as the web devolves onto a myriad devices, and the web is "always on" wherever we are. John Allsopp Successful software developer, long standing web development speaker, writer, evangelist and expert, John has spent the last 15 years working with and developing for the web. As the head developer of the leading cross platform CSS development tool Style Master, and developer and publisher of renowned training courses and learning resources on CSS and standards based development, John is widely recognized as a leader in these fields. As a presenter and educator, John speaks frequently at conferences around Australia and the world. His idiosyncratic blog Dog or Higher covers a broad range of subjects, particularly in technology and innovation, and is widely read and referenced. Dave Shea Dave Shea is the creator and cultivator of the highly influential web site csszengarden.com, and co-author of the recently-published Zen of CSS Design (New Riders, 2005). The founder and design lead of Bright Creative in Vancouver, BC, Dave also writes for a large global audience of web designers and developers on his popular weblog, mezzoblue.com. His sites have won multiple awards, including Best of Show 2004 at the South by Southwest Interactive conference in Austin, TX. He speaks internationally at design and technology industry conferences, on top of being an organizer of Web Directions. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

The 3 Stages of Dynamic Systems - Boris Mann

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:48:03 +1000

Content management systems have all but replaced the former art of publishing static HTML pages. From letting clients edit and add content, to content like calendars and forums that defy the "page" convention, dynamic interactive websites keep visitors coming back. At some point your website goes beyond just a site filled with HTML pages and actually becomes a full-fledged web application. From these features, we extract three stages of content management - simple content management, beyond the blog, and building your own web application. We’ll cover some of the products and approaches appropriate for each stage - Wordpress, MovableType, Expression Engine, Drupal, and Ruby on Rails will all be familiar terms when we’re done. As well, we’ll explore the following concepts: - the challenges of designing for dynamic systems: the need to think about template and interaction design - choosing open source: can you afford to choose an open platform? - the wild world of plugins and modules: get new functionality "for free" and what that actually means - frameworks vs. products: the build or buy decision Whether you have some experience with content management systems and are simply looking for new tools you can add to your repertoire, or if you’re trying to decide on the software you’ll implement when building new sites, this session will provide a solid grounding in the options available to suit your needs, budget, and level of technical expertise. A bona fide infovore, Boris co-founded Bryght in 2004 after convincing two of the world’s best Drupal developers to help build Bryght’s solution for turnkey online communities. Boris is one of the founding organizers of Northern Voice, one of the first North American blogging conferences, now heading into its 4th year. He also is active in many developer communities, helping put on BarCamps and the Open Source CMS Summit on multiple continents. Although Boris does all that CEO stuff at Bryght, his knowledge of user communities and the intricacies of online publishing also keeps him knee-deep in development and design architecture. He’s inspired by the team of people he works with and is driven by a passion to create "web tools everyone can use". Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Serious Business: Putting Social Media to Work - Anil Dash

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:43:45 +1000

You know what blogs and wikis are, and you know your YouTube from your Facebook. But do you know how to make a compelling business case for these technologies? Social media and social networking tools are poised to have as much of an impact on business as they’ve had on the way we communicate with our friends and family online. Anil Dash, a blogger since 1999 who’s helped thousands of businesses make use of social media through his work at Six Apart, shares real-world examples of how companies are using social media to build their business. Six Apart is the world’s biggest blogging company, behind such platforms as Movable Type, LiveJournal, Vox, and TypePad. And even more important than where technology has been is where it’s going: Learn about cutting-edge technological initiatives like OpenID and OpenSocial, and how these aren’t just about new ways to poke your Facebook friends - they’re business opportunities. Finally, no change this big happens without thinking about the social and political realities of the business world. What works in convincing your company, your coworkers, or your boss to spend their time and money trying new things? This session will lead a conversation to find out. Anil Dash is Chief Evangelist at Six Apart, Ltd, the world’s leading independent blogging company. Dash is a recognized expert on blogs and web technology, having founded one of the earliest and most popular weblogs on the Internet, and been named as one of MSNBC’s Best of Blogs. A frequent keynote speaker, Dash has given presentations around the world about the future of social communication online, the relationship between blogs and traditional media, and business blogging. Dash’s work has been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Wired, MSNBC, CNN, ABC News, and on television, radio, print and blogs around the world. He has also had his work showcased in museums including the New Museum of Contemporary Art, and lectured at universities including UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Columbia University’s School of Journalism, and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Prior to joining Six Apart as its first employee, Dash worked in online communications and technology development for the publishing and music industries. When he’s not traveling, Dash lives in New York City with his favorite dog, cat, and human. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Mobile Web Design & Development - Brian Fling

Fri, 4 Apr 2008 11:44:21 +1100

Mobile technology is poised to revolutionize how we gather information. By 2010 half the population of the planet will have access to the internet through a mobile device, making the mobile web an essential part of our lives. Yet the mobile industry has few if any resources to help would-be mobile developers from diving in other than applied experience from within the industry. Brian Fling is here to discuss the mobile ecosystem in Canada and abroad, how you go about developing an integrated mobile web strategy, mobile design and development principles and best practices, and most importantly, practical techniques and information to start creating mobile websites today. Brian Fling is a leader in interactive strategy and both the web and mobile fields. He has worked with several Fortune 500 companies to help design and develop their web and mobile experiences. Brian is a frequent speaker and author on the issues on mobile design, the mobile web and mobile user experience. He has authored the dotMobi Mobile Web Developers Guide, the first free publication to cover mobile web design and development from start to finish. Brian also runs one of the largest online communities focused on mobile design. When he isn’t discussing mobile, Brian serves as co-founder and Director of Strategy of Blue Flavor, an interactive agency based in Seattle USA. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

The Why and How: UI Case Studies - Daniel Burka

Fri, 4 Apr 2008 11:38:48 +1100

Government 2.0: Architecting for Collaboration - Tara Hunt

Fri, 4 Apr 2008 11:35:24 +1100

What does Web 2.0 mean and, specifically, what does it mean for the future of governments? Tara Hunt has been speaking all over the world, talking to government audiences on this subject. She believes that Web 2.0 has very little to do with the technology and everything to do with people. Her talk will cover the main tenets of Web 2.0: openness, collaboration and community and what it means for government. "Miss Rogue" defines herself as a customer first, marketer second. In 2005, Tara became the marketing director at Riya, where her community marketing theories resulted in huge gains, such as national news mentions before launch and over one million photos uploaded within 24 hours of launch. She doesn’t believe in PR, only in the power of building relationships with a community. She co-founded Citizen Agency in 2006 with the mission of teaching her clients how to work more effectively with the communities they serve. Tara has over seven years experience in non-traditional marketing planning. She maintains a successful blog over at HorsePigCow. Speaking of community, Tara is a community-based movement evangelist, spending all of her free time on Barcamp, Coworking and Winecamp. She is also a supporter of the Open Source movement, the EFF, Creative Commons and the Intelligrid. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

AJAX Security - Douglas Crockford

Fri, 4 Apr 2008 11:29:27 +1100

Security design is an important, but often neglected, component of system design. In this session, Douglas Crockford, creator of Javascript Object Notation, will outline the security issues that must be considered in the architecture of Ajax applications. The design of the browser did not anticipate the needs of multiparty applications. The browser’s security model frustrates useful activities and allows some very dangerous activities. This talk will look at the small set of options before us that will determine the future of the Web. During this session, attendees will: - Learn why effective security is an inherent feature of good design; - Experience a real-time demo of a Ajax client/server system based on sound security principles -See how to apply secure design to rich web applications. Douglas Crockford is a product of the US public school system. A registered voter, he owns his own car. He has developed office automation systems. He did research in games and music at Atari. He was Director of Technology at Lucasfilm. He was Director of New Media at Paramount. He was the founder and CEO of Electric Communities/Communities.com. He was founder and CTO of State Software, where he discovered JSON. He is now an architect at Yahoo!. He is the world’s foremost living authority on JavaScript. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Information Visualization as a medium - Eric Rodenbeck

Fri, 4 Apr 2008 11:25:06 +1100

Information visualization is becoming more than a set of tools and technologies and techniques to understand large data sets. It is emerging as a medium in its own right, with a wide range of expressive potential. Stamen’s work in visualization and mapping is among the most high profile online today, with the live dynamic displays at Digg Labs and Cabspotting being just two of many examples. The studio’s approach is deeply pragmatic, always starting with real data and aiming to work with graphics on screen as soon as possible. Though all analysis is a work in progress, a project is usually finished when it shows something nobody has seen before, or builds a vocabulary for describing a system, or offers more questions than answers. And then the process begins again. Rodenbeck will provide an overview of the studio’s recent projects, and insight into the studio’s working process. Eric Rodenbeck is founder and creative director of Stamen Design. He is a 10-year veteran of the interactive design field, and has spent this time working to extend the boundaries of online media and live information visualization. Eric led the interactive storytelling and data-driven narrative effort at Quokka Sports, illustrated and designed at Wired and Wired Books, and was a co-founder of the design collective Umwow. He has lectured and spoken at Yale University, the University of Southern California, numerous O’Reilly technology conferences, Esther Dyson’s PC Forum, and South by Southwest, among others. Eric studied architecture at Cooper Union in New York City and received a B.A. in the History and Philosophy of Technology from The New School for Social Research. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

The Future of Web Interfaces - Cameron Adams

Fri, 4 Apr 2008 11:14:22 +1100

We’re at an exciting time in the development of web-based interfaces - along with a maturing front-end toolkit (CSS & JavaScript), there are so many technologies, trends and exciting ideas emerging that are enabling us to push the boundaries of interface design. Author, designer and code cowboy Cameron Adams will explore some of these areas and how they will apply to our development of online interfaces, including: the possibilities of front-end customisation, application interfaces, browser-native vector graphics, and the general duty of all web developers to make things interesting. Cameron Adams (The Man in Blue) melds a background in Computer Science with over eight years experience in graphic design to create a unique approach to interface design. Using the latest technologies, he likes to play in the intersection between design and code to produce innovative but usable sites and applications. In addition to the projects he’s currently tinkering with, Cameron writes about the Internet and design in general on his well respected weblog, and has written several books ranging in topics from JavaScript, to CSS, and design. His latest publication "Simply JavaScript" takes a bottom-up, quirky-down approach to the basics of JavaScript coding. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Think like a mountain - Andy Clark

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 11:59:11 +1100

Once seen as unsophisticated, childish and of low artistic value, comic-book art and culture has inspired artists and designers for generations and are now are often untapped resource for web design inspiration. In this session, designer and author of Transcending CSS, Andy Clarke will examine comic book layout, conventions and colour in the context of making inspirational designs for today’s web. Andy Clarke has been working on the web for almost ten years. He is a visual web designer based in the UK and started his design consultancy Stuff and Nonsense in 1998. As lead designer and creative director, his clients include national and international businesses, charities and government bodies. Andy is a member of the Web Standards Project where he redesigned the organization’s web site in 2006. He is also an invited expert to the W3C’s CSS Working Group. Andy regularly educates web designers on how to create beautiful, accessible web sites and he speaks at workshops and conference events worldwide. He writes about design and popular culture on his blog, All That Malarkey and is the author of Transcending CSS: The Fine Art of Web Design. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa-nc/3.0/).

A new life for old standards - revisions to HTML, CSS and others - Bert Bos.

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 19:16:07 +1100

CSS level 2 became a standard in 1998. The last revision of HTML4 dates from 1999. That’s long time ago in Web years, but they aren’t forgotten: after several years of work, CSS is close to a revision and browser support is better than ever. It’s necessary, because CSS needs to grow: vertical text, columns, print support, complex layouts and much more is increasingly demanded. Likewise, there is a big effort to revise HTML. Interest is so high, the W3C is trying a new process, to let more people participate in the editing work. There are also new forms, standards for combining SVG and HTML and new work on the security of forms. Bert’s here to tell us: we haven’t seen the end of the Web page yet. Bert Bos was, in 1994, one of the original authors of CSS. He joined W3C in 1995 to set up W3C’s internationalization activity and was part of the groups that created HTML and XML. He is now coordinator for W3C’s style sheet and math activities. Bert studied mathematics in Groningen, The Netherlands, and holds a PhD from that university. He is co-author with Håkon Wium Lie of the book "Cascading Style Sheets: designing for the Web" (3rd ed., Addison-Wesley, 2005). Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa-nc/3.0/).

E is for everywhere: mobile content, services and commerce strategies in Australia - Alex Young and Rob Manson.

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 19:32:28 +1000

In 1998 the American Dialect Society voted "e-" (as in electronic) as the "word of the year". This signified how important the internet had become in our world. Almost 10 years later we’re undergoing an even larger change. Only this time the "e-" prefix stands for "everywhere". Mobile content, services and commerce are changing the way we communicate, work and do business. And these changes are building upon the already massive revolutions brought about by the internet - only faster and made more pervasive. This presentation will look at the strategic issues facing managers and developers as they strive to adapt to this literally "moving" target. The session will be highly interactive in nature so make sure you bring your mobile device! Alex Young has been involved in online for over a decade, moving from instructional design, visual and interaction design through to project and people management within the education, training, TV and telecommunications fields. This journey has instilled a sense of purpose to strive for an optimal user experience for every solution or challenge that presents itself. As part of Mobile Online Business, Alex is focused on how to help companies communicate better with their customers by understanding the pervasiveness of emerging technologies and the ways to best utilise these to communicate with their customers. Rob has been modeling Information Architectures and IA driven business models since 1989. As the technology landscape evolved he moved from digital pre-press, to interactive media, to network applications and finally to pervasive computing. Now he has joined Mobile Online Business (MOB) and is focused upon exploring life after Convergence - a place where objects and their interfaces Diverge allowing you to control them anywhere, anytime. His primary goal is to provide MOB’s clients with hands on, real world experience with this intangible new world. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Is SEO evil? - Scott Gledhill.

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 18:43:58 +1000

There can be a feeling in the web development community that "SEO is evil" - Scott Gledhill cuts through the hype to focus on how developing accessible, standards compliant websites is the first step in creating search engine friendly websites - and also talks about what is being done in the industry to make websites more findable, sometimes at the cost of making them less usable. SEO is big business and it’s attracting a whole new breed of web practitioners into our industry. Learn the advantages that we have as web standards developers when it comes to the practice of search engine optimisation, as well as some of the disadvantages, and how to overcome them. We will discuss how to handle overzealous search engine marketers, how to find your way through the hype and buzzwords of the industry and, most importantly, how not to compromise your websites’ integrity, best practice development and usability when being confronted by SEO. Scott Gledhill is Web Technology Strategist at News Digital Media (NDM) in Sydney. He has lead several major redesigns of NDM websites, converting them from legacy table based layouts to standards compliant, accessible and search engine friendly websites. His current role involves strategy and education on search engine optimisation, accessibility and best practice web development across the broad network of NDM websites. Scott believes and practices a holistic approach of usability, design, development and findability, and communicates the end result across all areas of the business. Scott also moonlights as co-founder for molt:n digital, a Sydney based web consultancy. In his spare time he finds time to blog about SEO, accessibility and all things web standards on his website, standardzilla.com Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Mashups, web apps and APIs - Raul Vera.

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 18:40:32 +1000

Hear all about the exciting possibilities created by these technologies from Google Australia. Raul has been involved in digital-media technology (video animation, graphics, image processing, printing) for over 25 years, as software developer, architect, entrepreneur, and team leader. He recently joined Google Australia where he is helping to build and manage the growing Engineering team. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Learning to love forms - Aaron Gustafson.

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 18:33:48 +1000

Forms. We all have to make ‘em, but few of us love ‘em. Aaron Gustafson believes that this is because we don’t understand them. In this session, we will explore forms from top to bottom, examining how they work and how their components can be incorporated with other elements to maximize accessibility, improve semantics, and allow for more flexible styling. You’ll get to see the complete picture with forms, including error, warning and formatting messages, styling and its implications, as well as best practices for manipulation with Javascript and Ajax. After getting hooked on the web in 1996 and spending several years pushing pixels and bits for the likes of IBM and Konica Minolta, Aaron Gustafson decided to focus full-time on his own web consultancy, Easy! Designs LLC. Aaron is a member of the Web Standards Project (WaSP) and the Guild of Accessible Web Designers (GAWDS). He also serves as Technical Editor for A List Apart, is a contributing writer for Digital Web Magazine, and is quickly building a library of writing and editing credits in meatspace. He has graced the stage at numerous conferences including An Event Apart, COMDEX, SXSW, and The Ajax Experience and is frequently called on to provide web standards training in both the public and private sector. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/).

Trends and predictions in web technology - John Allsopp.

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 11:38:43 +1000

Web designers and developers are a very practical bunch, often too busy with today’s challenges and workloads to find time to keep up with developments over the horizon. In this session John Allsopp looks at what trends that are important for web designers and developers and innovators generally - what future versions of browsers have in store, what devices people will be using to access the web, and more. A perfect complement to Bert Bos’s focus on coming web standard technologies. Successful software developer, long standing web development speaker, writer, evangelist and expert, John has spent the last 15 years working with and developing for the web. As the head developer of the leading cross platform CSS development tool Style Master, and developer and publisher of renowned training courses and learning resources on CSS and standards based development, John is widely recognized as a leader in these fields. As a presenter and educator, John speaks frequently at conferences around Australia and the world. His idiosyncratic blog Dog or Higher (http://blogs.westciv.com/dog_or_higher/) covers a broad range of subjects, particularly in technology and innovation, and is widely read and referenced. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Mob rules - Mark Pesce.

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 23:37:54 +1000

Sometime shortly after Web Directions South concludes, somebody (probably a somebody in the "developing" world) will become the three billionth mobile phone subscriber. Good for the providers, of course - but the effects of the network on human social organization are far more profound. From the dhows of Kerala to the cities of China to the beaches of Cronulla, we’re all coming into contact with - and learning how to master - the subtle skills of spontaneous self-organization which are the essential fact of life on the network. We can get in front of this spree of self-organization - or get run over by it. Either way, mob rules are the new laws of business, politics, and culture. Known internationally as the man who fused virtual reality with the World Wide Web to invent VRML, Mark Pesce has been exploring the frontiers of media and technology for a quarter of a century. The author of five books and numerous articles, Pesce has written for WIRED, Feed, Salon, PC Magazine, and The Age. For the last three seasons, Pesce has been a panelist on the hit ABC show The New Inventors. From 2003 to 2006, Pesce chaired the Emerging Media and Interactive Design Program at the world-renowned Australian Film Television and Radio School. In February he received an appointment as an Honorary Associate at the University of Sydney, and has gone on to found FutureSt, a Sydney media and technology consultancy. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Pushing beyond design - Justin French.

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 20:20:18 +1000

You’re a great web designer. You craft beautiful interfaces, you’ve nailed standards based design, and you’re at the top of your game. So now what? Based on real world experiences, this presentation encourages you, the modern web designer, to ignore the title on your business card and to start thinking about your real role in the development process - what you have to offer, what your team really needs, and what you could do to dramatically increase your value on a daily basis. Justin French is a graphic-designer-turned-web-application-developer currently enjoying life working with the Ruby on Rails framework on a daily basis as a Senior Developer at Melbourne startup RedBubble, following a few years with US host TextDrive and many years contracting both locally and internationally. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Human Traffic - George Oates.

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 20:16:43 +1000

If there’s one thing about Web 2.0, it’s that we’re realising that there are actually people using the internet. It’s no longer about Human to Computer interaction, but rather Human to Human. Discover some of the user experience ideas and strategies behind the design of flickr.com, one of the richest Human to Human places on the web today. George Oates joined a company called Ludicorp back in the middle of 2003, having moved from Australia, where she had enjoyed a successful career in the web industry. At the time, Ludicorp was making a hilarious online game called Game Neverending and George jumped in, helping design game elements, the GNE universe, and how players interacted. It wasn’t long before Ludicorp shifted gears somewhat and decided to enter the photo-sharing space. The entire team were torn between wanting to keep doing fun game things and the need for money. So, they managed to find a way to blend the two, and Flickr was born! Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Making useful things no one knew they needed: building ethnography into the design process. - Stephen Cox.

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 19:19:04 +1000

Working in usability and user experience can give you some great insights into the product design process. Yet few organisations know how to take advantage of this information silo. As a user experience expert do you sometimes wish you could have more input into product ideas handed down from above? Ever wanted to have the ear of business strategists? Even be best friends with marketers and sales people? Stephen Cox explores some of the exciting things that can happen when the disciplines of usability and user experience are allowed to seep out into the realms of strategic and tactical design innovation. He approaches the field of ethnographic design research in practical terms illustrating how News Digital Media has come to embrace the idea of extensive customer research, and the benefits that this has brought to different levels of the organisation. You’ll see real world examples of what the team has achieved and learn how to connect some of the more esoteric and theoretical findings of research with tangible real world design solutions. Stephen Cox is the Design Research Lead at News Digital Media (NDM) in Sydney. His job involves working with the business to help extend the work of the user experience team from the reactive day-to-day project work into the areas of strategy and innovation. The design research team utilises a range of techniques and theories from the social sciences to help capture and understand the motivations of real people. Working with the user experience team, business units and business strategists, the design research team helps create practical, effective and innovative design solutions. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/).

The future of web based interfaces - Cameron Adams.

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 19:11:22 +1000

Ajax brought about a host of new possibilities in online interfaces, but where are we going next? Cameron Adams will look at the evolution of dynamic interfaces; interfaces that truly meet the needs of all their users. Through the careful use of Web Standards, client-side scripting, and server-side intelligence, it’s possible to create interfaces that shape, adapt to, and predict a user’s needs. Cameron will also be examining how the emergence of browser-based technologies such as Canvas and SVG will change the way we think about interaction on the Web. Cameron Adams - The Man in Blue - melds a background in Computer Science with over eight years experience in graphic design to create a unique approach to interface design. Using the latest technologies, he likes to play in the intersection between design and code to produce innovative but usable sites and applications. In addition to the projects he’s currently tinkering with, Cameron writes about the Internet - and design in general - on his well respected weblog (http://www.themaninblue.com/), and has written several books ranging in topics from JavaScript, to CSS, and design. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Usability: more than skin deep - Lisa Herrod.

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 18:21:56 +1000

Web Usability is far more complex than User Testing and Interaction Design alone. And while interface design is an important consideration, there’s more to a usable site than what’s on the surface. We all know the importance of accessibility and web standards, so let’s take that knowledge one step further and into the realm of usability. In this session Lisa Herrod will redefine the common definition of usability by introducing a greater focus on accessibility and web standards. By taking a more holistic approach you will soon see why usability is more than skin deep. Lisa Herrod is the Principal Usability Consultant at Scenario Seven. The primary focus of her work is web usability, which she believes incorporates much more than just user testing. Drawing on a variety of disciplines, Lisa takes an holistic approach to web usability incorporating user research, accessibility, interaction design and web standards development. Having started in the web during the last century, Lisa is occasionally caught making jokes about font tags, layout tables and shims. Nobody ever laughs. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/).

Managing agile projects within large organisations - Ben Winter Giles.

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 18:16:07 +1000

So you work at enterprise level. Lots of stake holders, lots of competition for time, need to deliver to multiple demands that ...POP up. All projects incur change over time, that’s the way of the world. Using a benefits driven approach to delivery rather than a process driven or methodology governed approach frees the team to think laterally, and be responsive to client demands. Agility is more than a project management approach, it’s a way of operation and culture that enables and manages rather than constrains change. Ben will unpick how a fluid agile team can be established and run within a constrained environment, AND deliver quality responsive services to a large organisation. Ben will present real world case studies and examples of how he has used agility cultured teams to deliver creative solutions to complex problems, without burning out the fun in our work. He will also demonstrate techniques on rapid modeling which can save you hours of labor over low yield tasks. All of which will give you the freedom to work more creatively and dynamically while meeting the highly regimented needs of your enterprise or Government clients. Ben Winter-Giles is a Consultant with SMS, is currently engaged at the Programme Management level of a whole of Government initiative with the Department of Treasury. Ben has over 10 years experience in Web, Design and Programme Management in the Government ICT sector. Ben also has specialties in enterprise level Human Factors Integration and user centered design for software. Recently Ben has focussed his efforts on the development of integrated management and tactical solutions. Aiming to free creativity and promote responsiveness and flexibility as a way forward for delivering effective design and development solutions within the highly contained Federal Government environment. Ben’s previous clients include, Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, Medicare Australia, Australian Taxation Office, and a large number of local government and Private sector clients. He is currently developing a Human Factors Integration assessment and blueprinting toolset. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Wikis and community collaboration - Angela Beesley.

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 18:10:29 +1000

Wikipedia has brought the concept of a wiki to many people’s attention and now Wikia is aiming to broaden that concept. If you think of Wikipedia as the encyclopedia, then Wikia is the rest of the library. Wikia hosts 3000 openly editable wikis that are built up by communities of fans who are passionate on topics that range from solar cooking to Neopets. In this session, Angela Beesley will explain how Wikia is not only hosting but actively developing wikis and creating hundreds of thriving communities. The methods and processes that have led Wikipedia to be the world’s largest encyclopedia can be adopted for any type of wiki use, including educational and business communities. Using examples from successful online wiki communities, Angela will explain how to enable a wiki community to manage itself, and how to minimise the common problems that wikis have, including ways to deal with unhelpful or unreliable information, lack of adoption of a wiki, and the problems of malicious edits on open wikis. Angela Beesley is a founder of Wikia, the community-focused wiki hosting site which is developing over 2500 wikis. Angela is the Vice President of Community for Wikia and manages a remote team of community support staff located across five continents. Additionally, Angela is Chair of the Advisory Board of the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organisation responsible for Wikipedia, Wikibooks, Wikinews, and the other Wikimedia projects. She contributed a chapter on managing wikis to the book Wikis: Tools for information Work and Collaboration which was published in 2006, and has been involved with Wikipedia since early 2003. Her blog can be found at WikiAngela (http://wikiangela.com/blog/). Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

RedBubble: Building a site for people with big imaginations - Mark Mansour.

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 00:07:12 +1000

RedBubble is a social networking platform and marketplace, not to mention a successful homegrown web app. In this session RedBubble’s software architect Mark Mansour will present the challenges the team has faced, and talk through some of the solutions they’ve discovered, during the building and scaling one of Australia’s largest Rails applications. Along the way you’ll learn RedBubble’s tenets for software design, the what’s and how’s of their database and web servers, plus processes that made their team more effective. If you’re a developer dreaming of going out on your own and building a successful online business around a web app, don’t miss this session. Mark Mansour has been hacking software since computers had 64k of memory. During his professional career Mark has worked for startups in Silicon Valley and Melbourne building artificial intelligence applications and social networking platforms. Mark has also spent more than a few dark years in the brokerage and banking world both here and in New York. Currently, Mark heads up the software development group at RedBubble but for fun photographs street art, tinkers with microformats and builds geospatial applications. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Social networks and mobiles - Laurel Papworth.

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 23:55:09 +1000

It’s not just about email and Twitter: industry analysts agree, virtually every online social network application will develop a mobile feature in the next year or two. From Flickr pre-installed on Nokia phones to an up-to-date map of your buddies locations, mobile devices are ready to come pre-loaded with new friends for you to play with. Before you tune out to listen to music tagged and delivered to your mobile by your social network, or press SEND on a stinging critique of the Web Directions dining hall food to restaurant review mobile sites, why not attend an informative yet fun session about the latest and greatest in GPS and location based services connecting online communities on your mobile? For those who want to focus on the business model not the technology. Laurel Papworth runs a consultancy specialising in educating companies in how to maximise value from social networks, user generated content and web 2.0 technologies. In the past she had lead roles in digitising Fairfax Newspapers and establishing Optus Convergent media and now Laurel lectures on marketing into social networks at the University of Sydney and advising clients such as Channel 10 (developing online communities around shows such as Australian Idol) and Mobiles2Go (world leader in location based mobile services). Laurel frequently presents on Web 2.0 technologies and how they can best be used at a business level including corporate blogging, RSS feeds, user documentation wikis and vibrant customer communities. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Social media and Government 2.0 - Sebastian Chan.

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 12:30:52 +1000

More than ever before there is an enormous amount of publicly held data about our community, our culture, and citizens. How can government respond to the opportunities of Web 2.0? How can government websites and databases become more citizen-centric, and more responsive by leveraging social media? In 2006 the Powerhouse Musuem, a NSW State Government institiution, opened its core information asset - its collection and research database - to public tagging, and dynamic user-driven recommendations. In the same year the Museum launched a range of public-facing blogs, inviting comment from visitors and audiences. Sebastian Chan will discuss why the museum has made these very successful forays into social media, and how a small in-house web development unit was able to push through and launch a project which is counted among Australia’s top web 2.0 applications. If you work in a large organisation and have dreams of social media, do not miss this session. Sebastian Chan is currently the Manager of the Web Services Unit at the Powerhouse Museum. Coming from a background in social policy, journalism and media criticism as well as information technology, he has been building and producing websites and interactive media since the mid 1990s. At the Powerhouse he has been responsible for driving a strong user focus in design, usability and content, as well as expanding the scope and reach of the museum’s suite of online projects. In the last financial year his team was responsible for tripling visitation to the Museum’s online resources and a large suite of innovative experimental projects. He is known as a cultural sector specialist in social media and Web 2.0 applications, as well as web analytics. A regular speaker in Australia who has also delivered workshops and presentations in the USA, Canada and UK, Sebastian’s other interests include electronic music and digital art. He has directed and curated large scale national and international events and festivals, and also produces related media from radio broadcasts to print. At the Powerhouse he runs the internationally popular Fresh + New blog covering issues and new ideas around digital media and museums. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

AJAX or Flash: what's right for you? - Jonathan Boutelle.

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 12:30:51 +1000

The web is finally moving beyond simple html. How can you make rich web-based user experiences that don’t surprise or aggravate your users? When should you use AJAX, when should you use Flash, and when should you mix the two? What are the opportunities and pitfalls when creating richer web interfaces? In this talk, Jonathan will argue that Flash and AJAX are complementary tools in the web developers’ toolbox, and that building effective web experiences often requires a blending of the two technologies. Jonathan Boutelle is the CTO for Slideshare.net, a social site for sharing PowerPoint and other types of slideshows. Built on Ruby-on-Rails, SlideShare makes generous use of both AJAX and Flash. Prior to this, Jonathan was the the technical architect of MindCanvas, a rich online survey application for design research that also relies on both AJAX and Flash. Jonathan specializes in architecting rich web experiences, using whatever technologies are most suitable for the task. Jonathan’s introduction to computer science was working in the lab of Andy Van Dam (the pioneering computer graphics researcher at Brown University), where he learnt how building stunning experiences meant thinking about both art and technology. His experience has included working in data visualization systems and business to business e-commerce. Jonathan writes an occasional rant on his blog (http://www.jonathanboutelle.com/). Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

The perils of popularity - Rashmi Sinha.

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 12:30:46 +1000

Can web-based social systems with their wide reach, user-generated and user-filtered content harness the wisdom of crowds? Duncan Watts’ recent experiments reveal how popularity based web social systems can throw up fickle, random trends that are essentially unreplicable, and only tangentially related to quality. However, popularity as a way to filter information continues to rise in popularity - replacing hierarchical menus, overtaking tags, and even used in lieu of relevance. Rashmi will link decades of psychology research on group decision making and social influence to what is happening on the web today. She will discuss different models of popularity based filtering such as Digg and YouTube. What are ways to avoid the Watts dilemma - including Google’s model of sociality, tag-based social systems, and object-based social networks. She will present some principles for the design of web social systems and how there were used in the design of SlideShare and discuss how SlideShare as an evolving social system handles popularity. Rashmi Sinha is a designer, researcher and entrepreneur. She is the CEO for SlideShare, a rapidly growing site for sharing slideshows. Rashmi writes a blog at rashmisinha.com. Rashmi received a PhD in cognitive psychology from Brown University in 1998. After moving to UC Berkeley for a PostDoc, she fell in love with the web, and realized that many issues that web technologists think about are problems of human psychology. She switched departments and worked on search interfaces & recommender systems at the Information School, UC Berkeley. Deciding that she enjoyed practical problems more, she co-founded Uzanto, a user experience consulting company. Lately Uzanto has focused on products - their first product MindCanvas (released Nov 2005) - reshapes traditional research techniques like card-sorting, and divide-the-dollar into game-like experiences for remote research. In Oct 2006, Uzanto released its second product - Slideshare, a website for sharing presentations. Now, Rashmi is focused on the business side of things but is still intimately involved with design for both products. Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Web Directions Podcast

Tom Hughes-Croucher - Up and Running with Node.js

Christopher Giffard - HTML5 Video, Captioning, and Timed Metadata

Julio Cesar Ody - CSS3 and Backbone.js for killer mobile apps

Adam Bell & David Peterson - Bringing History Alive: Telling stories with Linked Data and open source tools

Gian Wild - WCAG2 accessibility: the hidden nuggets

Robert O’Callahan - The Open Web Platform in the mobile era

Peter Mika - Making the Web searchable

Rob Manson - Web standards based Augmented Reality

Michael Honey & Tim Riley - Web or native? Smart choices for smartphone apps

Lisa Herrod - Accessibility for web teams: Recategorising WCAG 2 using a role-based approach

Natalie Downe & Simon Willison - Lanyrd: From side project to startup

Greg Rewis - Move it! CSS3 Transitions and Animations

Scott Bryant & Simon Wright - Designing for change and disruption

Mike Kuniavsky - Design [in|for|and] the age of ubiquitous computing

Dmitry Baranovskiy - How to be a Web Sorcerer

Hannah Donovan - Designing without the browser

Damon Oehlman - HTML5 API Soup

Ryan Seddon - Remote debugging landscape

Addy Osmani - Scalable JavaScript Design Patterns

Andrew Fisher - How the web is going physical

Jeremy Ashkenas - A Cup of CoffeeScript

Stephen P Anderson - Keynote: Sustaining Passionate Users

Tom Coates - Opening keynote: A New Network

Douglas Crockford - Server Side JavaScript

Addy Osmani - Tools for jQuery Application Architecture

Stephanie (Sullivan) Rewis - CSS3 - the Web’s Swiss Army Knife

Lea Verou - Mastering CSS3 gradients

Brian Suda - Visualising Data

Jonathan Stark - The mobile frameworks landscape

Michael Mahemoff - HTML5 offline for fun and performance

Bruce Lawson - Native multimedia with HTML5

Hannah Donovan - Designing without the browser

Sebastian Deterding - Closing keynote: Don’t play games with me with me

Stephen P Anderson - Keynote: Sustaining Passionate Users

Ross Boucher - Quality Control: Testing and debugging your apps

Dave Balmer - Rockstar graphics with HTML5

Dave Orchard - Offline Web Apps with HTML5

Relly Annett-​​Baker - Content Strategy for Apps

Chris Wilson - Keynote: The Convergence of All Things

Robby Ingebretsen - Get your game on: HTML5 for game building

Juliette Melton - Mobile User Experience Research

Dan Saffer - Top Ten Things To Tackle Touchscreens

Daniel Davis - Widgets in Theory and Practice

Daniels Lee (TM) - Designing for the 10 foot UI

Aaron Parecki - Geolocation

Divya Manian - Creative CSS3

Dave Balmer - HTML5 Graphics: Canvas Deep Dive

Rachel Hinman - Mobile Prototyping Essentials

Nicholas Zakas - Mobile web speed bumps

Aaron Weyenberg - Realistic UI design

Jason Grigsby - Keynote: Native is easy. Mobile web is freaking hard!

Scott Thomas - Designing Obama

David Gravina - Design Thinking (and Doing)

Lisa Herrod - The Age of Awareness

Gordon Grace - More than raw: government data online

Paula Bray - Connected digital initiatives and strategies

Dmitry Bara­novskiy - Raphaël: native web vector graphics library

Silvia Pfeeiffer - HTML5 Audio and Video

Daniel Davis - Widgets: Why should I care?

Dan Rubin - Creativity, design and interaction with HTML5 and CSS3

Michael(tm) Smith - HTML5 Report Card

Juliette Melton - Running effective remote studies

Shane Morris - Interaction design school 101

Tatham Oddie - Practicing Web Standards in the Large

Paul Hagon - Enriching large data sets

Josh Williams - Keynote: Where are we going?

Knud Möller - RDFa everywhere

Donna Spencer - Keeping your content alive from cradle to grave

Mark Nottingham - Browser Caching and You (A Love Story)

Divya Manian - Active Web Development

Patrick Lee - JavaScript Sprachraum

Myles Eftos - Building mobile web apps

Michael Mahemoff - HTML5: Online and Offline

Andy Clarke - Hardboiled web design

Ben Schwarz - Building a better web with HTML5

Grant Young - Creating platforms for social innovation

Max Wheeler - Location, location, geolocation

Simon Pascal Klein - Setting standards-friendly web type

Matt Balara - Flogging design: best practices in online shop design

Relly Annett-Baker - Content Strategy for Apps

Dmitry Baranovskiy - Raphaël: native web vector graphics library