In 2007, I Co-Vice Chaired the local Human Factors group, CapCHI, with my friend and colleague Alan Frank. On my flight home from the third annual Interaction Design conference in Savannah Georgia, I was asked to give a presentation on Information Architecture.

After some thought I decided on a broader topic, one that would shift the focus back on the importance of understanding the perception others have about us, and the emotional qualities that make us social creatures by nature.

The ideas shared in this presentation are a combination of feedback from the hundreds around the world I’ve interviewed and mentored, as well as the insights shared by of other thought leaders in the User Experience (UX) fields.

In addition, I share personal experiences from many years working in the Health Care field helping people recover from Traumatic Brain Injury, teens in group homes, and pre-kindergarten children with learning disabilities.

I believe that all of the “UX” related disciplines have far more in common than some are willing to admit.

If we learn to balance our data obsessed corporate culture with an equal amount of creativity; compassion; and understanding the processes others value; I think we might just get back some of our humanity in the digital age.

As the result of many requests, you can now download an iPhone format of my talk. Please note, the file is 399mb in size as the result of the video being an hour in length.

Being Human is NOT Quantifiable from Jeff Parks on Vimeo.

Special thanks to Martin Polley over on Johnny Holland, publisher of Johnny TV, for adding this talk to their list of presentations.

Thanks to the incredible generosity of Mad*Pow I had the opportunity to attend the third annual Interaction Design Conference and interview thought leaders and students from around the world!

Audio Podcasts from discussions described in this post are now available on Mad*Pow Podcast page.

My first discussion was an interview with Amy Cueva, Chief Experience Officer at Mad*Pow and Will Evans, Principal of Semantic Foundary. We talked about the many issues facing the American Health Care system and how technology and the sharing of data could aid in the recovery of patients.

Thanks to the efforts of my colleague and founder of The UX Workshop Chris Palle, we were able to record a video conversation on Research Design with a world renowned group of UX professionals I gathered on short notice; all of whom I’m honored to call friends.

From left to right in the photo above:

* Steve Baty Principal at Meld Studios in Sydney Australia;
* Eric Reiss Partner and Founder of FatDUX in Copenhagen Denmark;
* (yours truly),
* Daniel Szuc from Apogee Ltd in Hong Kong;
* Chris Avore UX Consultant and Principal for Erova LLC. in New York; and
* Indi Young who is one of the founders of Adaptive Path and author of Rosenfeld Media’s Mental Models.

This was a wonderful, unscripted dialogue that shared experiences and ideas from different cultures, projects, and conversations with both users and professionals alike.

The future, as the picture below would indicate as we stare into the sun, looks very bright for the design community. I wanted to focus on those who will be leading the way for our communities, regardless of title or process.

I was very fortunate to find four students attending the conference who took time to share their ideas and insights with me. In the photo above, from left to right:

* Anahi Bagu Msc Design for Interaction at Delft University of Technology.
* (yours truly)
* Vincent Steurs Masters in Interaction Design at Delft University of Technology.
* Katie McCurdy University of Michigan HCI grad student, user experience designer
* Laura Rodrian Interaction Designer and M.S.I. student studying Human Computer Interaction and Incentive Centered Design at the University of Michigan.

In an impressive demonstration of the brilliance that exists outside the speakers at any conference, these young designers shared ideas including:

* Designing to support the largest generation in North American history while simultaneously helping the Environment.
* Embracing the diversity of experiences outside traditional mediums to innovate like never before.
* Taking a leadership role to mentor high school students about what they are learning at college.
* Unimpressed by the “rock star” mentality of some and the hope that the biggest names in the design community will eventually reach out to students before they enter the field.

Then to wrap up the conference I had the pleasure of interviewing Greg Vassallo from Moment in New York City.

Greg gave an emotionally powerful talk entitled “10 Things I Learned About Being a Design Consultant While Living in the Hospital for a Year“.

In a true demonstration of courage, Greg shared the story of his newborn son Luca who was diagnosed with a rare form of Leukemia, AML. He went on to describe how these experiences impacted his life personally, and his subsequent outlook as a designer, professionally.

I’m thrilled to let the community know that Luca has recovered and is a healthy, active little man, enjoying life in the Big Apple!

Thank you again to Mad*Pow for allowing me the opportunity to share with others and to Morgan Kaufmann who has generously agreed to sponsor the podcasts.