The 2010 UX “Unconference”
Posted: January 25, 2010 » by Lead Architect » in News and Events; Web Development
This weekend, I had the pleasure joining around 100 of the DC area’s foremost thinkers and practitioners of User Experience for the 2010 UX Camp conference. The purpose of the gathering: to define “user experience,” to “explore the interactions of experience design,” and to share the “big ideas that inspire”.
Wikipedia describes an “unconference” (or BarCamp) as network of open, participatory workshop-events, whose content is provided by participants. So, it’s an event where the content is totally audience generated and the agenda is spontaneous, often not created until everyone arrives. This leads to quite a unique experience, both from an attendee and planning perspective. (This format was really a challenge for my organized and scheduled mind, but I saw real value in enabling audience members to address their specific interests at this precise moment in time. It’s a neat concept.)
The Program Grid
There were 45 sessions to choose from and a wide variety of topics: everything from how Frank Lloyd Wright’s “destroying the box” architecture influenced the user experience, creating unique Photoshop brushes, measuring UX, audience research methods, UX on mobile devices, to a demo of the new toys in the MIT Media Lab.
Rachel Pastirik - Listening to How an Unconference Works
Attendees were required to participate to some degree: either by leading a discussion, showing a demo, sharing information, or by creating another type of collaborative session. The conference was specifically for web designers, user experience practitioners and information architects.