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.