What is the IDEA Conference?

The IDEA Conference looks at the intersection of physical and information space and wonders how you design experiences for that. Erin and I have been granted a double session so that we can combine a straightforward presentation of the ideas in Designing Social Interfaces with an interactive quasi-workshop activity involving play-testing a prototype card game we’re designing to teach and provide playful contexts for exploring the dynamics of the social experience design pattern language we’re developing.

Beyond our own time slot, I’m very excited to see the other speakers at IDEA, which has earned a justified reputation as a murderer’s row of keynotes in past years. Bringing men and women from across a range of disciplines (architecture, game design, journalism, academia, information design, and so on) makes IDEA extremely “nutritional” for the mind and the creative spirit.

But it’s not all blue sky and horizons. We’re sharing practical advice, based on hard-won experiences. I happen to know that my colleague, Luke Wroblewski wants to share some things learned at Yahoo! from years of experimenting with various social (friendship, connection, and contact) models.

I’m also pretty excited about taking Nathan Curtis’s Modular User Experience Design & Deliverables workshop, which will directly help me in my work as a curator of patterns and design components.

From the people already showing interest in coming to IDEA I’m pretty sure the “real world” social networking will be a highlight as well. Good, smart people working on similar problems, meeting informally over dinner or drinks (or karaoke) – that’s the secret of a great conference.

Some other possible related posts

1. Slides from our mini-workshop at IDEA 2009 Designing Social Interfaces: 5 steps, 5 principles, 5 anti-patternsView more...
2. Slides from Designing Social Interfaces at IA Summit 2009 Erin Malone and I introduced some of the fruit of...
3. New Presence patterns in the Yahoo! Pattern Library We just published two new social patterns in a...
4. Talking patterns and social design at the IA Summit If you’re interested in interaction design patterns or in the...
5. Social design patterns talk at BayCHI next week Next Tuesday (April 8, 2008) I’ll be speaking at BayCHI...