Tonight At Curiosity Club: Calm Technology with Amber Case

Tonight at the Hand-Eye Supply Curiosity Club we welcome thoughtful writer, innovator and tech-head Amber Case, giving the talk "Designing Calm Technology." Starts 6pm at the shop and streaming on the Curiosity Club homepage!

We cannot interact with our everyday life in the same way we interact with a desktop computer. Technology shouldn't require all of our attention, just some of it, and only when necessary. How can our devices take advantage of location, proximity and haptics to help improve our lives instead of get in the way? This presentation covers the history of calm technology, wearable computing, and how designers can make apps "ambient" while respecting privacy and security. We'll look at ambient notifications, compressing information into other senses, and designing for the least amount of cognitive overhead.

Amber Case is an entrepreneur and researcher helping Fortune 500 companies design, build, and think through their roadmap for connected devices. She is the former co-founder and CEO of Geoloqi, a location-based software company acquired by Esri in 2012. She spoke about the future of the interface for SXSW 2012's keynote address, and her TED talk, "We are all cyborgs now", has been viewed over a million times. Named one of National Geographic's Emerging Explorers, she's been listed among Inc Magazine's 30 under 30 and featured among Fast Company's Most Influential Women in Technology.

Case is the author of An Illustrated Dictionary of Cyborg Anthropology and Designing Calm Technology from O'Reilly Books (Fall 2015). She is a passionate advocate of privacy and the future of data ownership, and is interested in furthering the ideas of Calm Technology, wearable computing, and the future of the interface. Her current work as Managing Director of Existence at Healthways involves predictive analysis and wellness. Amber lives and works in Portland, Oregon; you can follow her on Twitter @caseorganic and learn more at caseorganic.com.