Ignite Seattle!

Usability Beyond the Classroom – Jon Bell

Randy Stewart — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:23:06 +0000

It wasn’t until Jon Bell spent a year at Frog Design as a developer that he realized everything he learned in art school was either wrong, outdated, or only told half the story. Jon Bell condenses 10 years of design myth-busting into this action-packed talk.

About Jon Bell

During the day, you can find Jon Bell as an interaction designer at Frog Design. You can also find him on his personal site, blog and on Twitter. You can find the slides from Jon’s talk here.

Submission Deadline is Friday, February 5th

Justin Martenstein — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:29:01 +0000

If you are thinking about submitting a talk for the next Ignite Seattle (March 4th), make sure you get it in by this Friday. We already have a great crop of submissions, but we would love for you to add your own to the mix!

Eugene Lin – iPhoning My Way to Retirement

Randy Stewart — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:15:16 +0000

I often rewrite someone’s pitch better fit the blog, but in Eugene’s case, I thought it best left intact. Here’s Eugene’s pitch for his highly entertaining, “iPhoning My Way to Retirement” talk.

I want to be rich. Steve Jobs promised it. App after app, the Apple gods got angry with me. Until finally, with nothing but an accelerometer, two dozen naked women, and the nation of Japan, I had a story to tell.

About Eugene Lin

During the day, you can find Eugene Lin working for a large software company on the east side and you can find Software by Eugene’s iPhone software here, some of which are NSFW.

Submit a Talk for Ignite Seattle 9

Justin Martenstein — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 23:33:21 +0000

Do you have an idea for a 5-minute talk that’s been burning inside of you, crying to get out? Or do you have an idea that you think is a little bit crazy, but you’re figuring “what the hell, I’ll submit it anyway”. Today is your lucky day! Submissions for talks at the next Ignite Seattle are open today. We are looking for the next batch of lightning-fast, 5-minute, 20-slide presentations.

If you haven’t been to an Ignite yet, you can check out some of the previous talks on this blog, or at the Ignite Show podcast.

The next Ignite Seattle will be held on March 4th, as a part of Global Ignite Week. There are already 40 Ignites scheduled to be happening world-wide that week, with more still being added. Keep checking back here for more updates. See you in March!

If you haven’t been to an Ignite yet, you can check out some of the previous talks on this blog, or at the Ignite Show podcast.

Photos from Ignite Seattle 8

Randy Stewart — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:00:32 +0000

Photos from the Ignite Seattle Group Pool on Flickr. If you took pictures at Ignite Seattle 8, please add them to the pool with the tag “is8” and they’ll show up here.

Additionally, you can view pictures from all the previous Ignite Events on our Photos page.

Ignite’s Recession Buster

Justin Martenstein — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:04:47 +0000

We’re doing a special recession-themed icebreaker tonight, inspired by the Ten Thousand Cents art project. We’ll be handing out sheets of paper with a dollar bill on them (front or back), broken in to a 4×8 grid. Each team of 2 to 3 people will be responsible for re-creating one of the 64 grids. We’ll be providing paper and some drawing materials, but you’re encouraged to bring your own stuff, if you can.

Once the 30 minutes are up, we’ll collect all of the grids, and divide everyone up into two teams, one for each side of the bills. You’ll have 30 seconds to assemble all the grids and tape them to the wall. We’ll leave the drawings up for the rest of the evening so everyone can admire the art work.

We’re starting promptly at 7:30, so make sure you and your team are there on team, and ready to draw! Looking forward to seeing everyone tonight!

TONIGHT! Speaker Line Up for Ignite Seattle 8

Randy Stewart — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:30:01 +0000

Ignite Seattle 8 is tonight! As always we have a cornucopia of speakers talking about a variety of geek topics. The doors to the King Cat Theatre open at 7:00. The talks start at 8:30 PM. It makes “cents” to bring your art hat for tonight’s warm-up that starts at 7:30pm.

Here’s the line up (in order of appearance):

Eugene Lin – iPhoning my way to retirement, $.70 at a time
I want to be rich. Steve Jobs promised it. App after app, the Apple gods got angry with me. Until finally, with nothing but an accelerometer, two dozen naked women, and the nation of Japan, I had a story to tell.

Arianna O’Dell (arianna) How to Sneak into Bars
I am a 19 year old student at the University of Washington. Most people don’t know this because they never ask. I’ve been attending networking events all summer and most people think I’m out of school and already graduated.

Benjamin Franklin – Intellect: without an outlet in the world
Do we remain in awe of Ben Franklin’s capacity and accomplishments or do we take on his mantle of “Doing the best with what we have” and look at our issues and do something about them? Better yet, WWBFD? [Brady's note: This is going to be a presentation by someone done as Benjamin Franklin. You can learn more on his site.

Wendy Chisholm (wendyabc) Challenge your assumptions. Innovate. Change the world.
Most designers are taught to design for the average user and as a society we hold many assumptions about the characteristics of those users. However, products are used in unexpected ways and by unexpected audiences.

Jeremy Bingham (captain_tenille) An Astronomical Viewing Shelter on the Cheap
Using your telescope in the city can be frustrating with all the stray light all over the place. You can’t do much about the skyglow, but you can shield yourself from stray light sources nearby.

Jon Bell (jonbell) Usability Beyond the Classroom
It wasn’t until I spent a year at frog design as a developer that I realized everything I learned in art school was either wrong, outdated, or only told half the story.

Peter Wilson (peterwil) Google vs. Microsoft: An Insiders Guide
Google vs. Microsoft: where will the battles be fought, how will each companies strategies and blind-spots impact the outcomes, and who will win? The speaker spent 9 years at Microsoft and 4 at Google, and so thinks he knows something about this…

Scott Berkun (berkun) Everything you need to know about philosophy in 5 minutes
I’m the sad owner of a philosophy degree. I’m convinced i can give people a better education in philosophy (and make them realize how much they already know and love philosophy) in 5 minutes than I got in 4 years.

Part 2

Mike Tyka – Cubes in the Sky
We went through about 10 designs each trying to achieve the same goal of somehow raising the 15×15x15ft Groovik’s Cube, weighing near 4000 lbs 10 feet in the air within a fairly tight budget.

Richard Bailey – More blink in less time? Manufacturing electronics for art projects.
The Groovik Cube required a custom surface mount circuit board for each of the 56 facets. Early estimates showed that this would require well over 150 hours of time to accomplish. The Groovik electronics team created an assembly line and produced 90 boards in one day.

Sarah Schacht (sarahschacht) Overcoming Cacophony: Making Gov 2.0 Work for You
What can you do, as an individual to make your voice heard in the lawmaking process and what tools do you use? Learn how to make your email float to the top of a pile of thousands, how to stand out from the crowd, and how to do so without losing your sanity.

Veronica Sopher (Shih_Wei) Jewelry: It’s What Geeks Know!
Elizabeth Taylor and Ivanka Trump may have their own jewelry lines, but it’s geeks like you/us who are the experts in jewelry. Yes, it takes a real geek to know jewelry, cut through the salesperson’s bs, and shop like a pro. Let me show you why.

Norman Guadagno (thinktone) Amazon Archaeology OR Swimming In Our Own Clickstream
Every time we buy from Amazon, we give their algorithms a little more information about ourselves (or at least the things we buy). But, do we have our own algorithms to help us make sense of purchase after purchase across time? What can we learn about ourselves through the things we buy?

Dylan Wilbanks (dylanw) Everyone Core Dumps: Death and Loss For The Geek
We are all going to die. But handling loss is something geeks struggle with. Learn three things you should do when a friend dies, three things you shouldn’t do, and ways you can preserve your existence online.

Greg Dunlap (heyrocker) How to not suck at pinball
Pinball is hard. Luckily, getting better at pinball, not great but respectable, is actually pretty easy.

Jason Carmel (defenestrate99) Defamation and Twitter – A Practical Guide to Covering Your Ass
I will provide a few practical ways that might protect your right as an American to roast the bejeezus out of the asshats of the world, without getting sued into oblivion.

Ron Burk (ronburk) Three Strange Definitions of Computer Programming Legendary computer scientist Edsger Dijkstra once said: “Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.” But if programming is not about the computers, what IS it about?

See you there

We’re excited about Ignite Seattle and we hope to see there. If you are tweeting about the event, use #is8 and if you are taking photos, please add them to our Flickr group and/or Facebook page.

Geek Generation – Lauren Bricker @brickware

Randy Stewart — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:02:35 +0000

Don’t call Lauren Bricker a teacher, she’s more of a “Geek Generator.” For the last two years she’s been teaching computer science at a local private high school. It’s incredibly interesting, rewarding, and yes, a lot of work.

Lauren talks about her experiences teaching CS to high school kids and tells us how we can help generate more geeks.

About Lauren Bricker

Lauren Bricker teaches AP Computer Science to high school students (10-12th grade) and has a software consultancy, Brickware. You can find her on on Twitter @brickware.

How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Counterfactuals – Daniel Westreich

Randy Stewart — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:28:13 +0000

When looking at data regarding Web site user behavior or in Daniel Westreich’s case, epidemiology, we have to be remember that correlation does not imply causation. That is, just because two events were observed close together in time, it is false to assume that one caused the other. Causal inference is hard.

With great examples, Daniel Westreich presents counterfactuals, causation and correlation at a pragmatic, hands-on level.

About Daniel Westreich

Former Microsoft developer, Daniel Westreich is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Department of Epidemiology at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he leads the Causal Inference Research Group.

Life’s Too Short To Eat Bad Food – Vanessa Fox

Randy Stewart — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:00:21 +0000

Between working long hours, working on geek side projects (and at least in my case, raising kids), putting together a dinner party seems like a lot of work.

Coming from someone who spends more time on the road than in her house, search engine optimization expert, Vanessa Fox gives us her tips on throwing a successful, yet simple dinner party for foodies.

About Vanessa Fox

When Vanessa isn’t talking about food, you can find her working on SEO projects at Nine By Blue. You can find Vanessa Fox on her blog, on Twitter @vanessafox or hosting Office Hours on Webmaster Radio.

Creating Communal Creative Space – Willow Brugh

Randy Stewart — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 22:19:38 +0000

The experience of building a maker space from scratch is certainly a project, Willow Brugh talks about her experience in doing so, what advice others have shared with her, and what spaces like this (Hackerbot, Saturday House are already available in Seattle.

About Willow Brugh

You can find Willow on her blog, on Twitter @willowbl00. You can find more information about Jigsaw Renaissance at http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/, the hacker space mentioned in Willow’s talk.

I Wish I Was Taller – Elan Lee

Randy Stewart — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:22:06 +0000

Software and hardware developers spend a lot of time combing through the flaws and defects that their products have. But what about their own flaws and defects? Is it as simple as filing a bug?

Elan Lee had always wanted to be taller. Here’s his story of the attempts to fix his bug.

About Elan Lee

Game designer and storyteller, Elan Lee has made a career keeping people entertained. He is a founder of Fourth Wall Studios, where he currently serves as Chief Designer. When he’s not creating Alternate Reality Games, you can find him on Twitter at @elanlee

Elan gave the talk “Life – if you’re bored, you’re doing it wrong” at Ignite Seattle 4.

Lies to Ignore – Jessica Hagy

Randy Stewart — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:02:34 +0000

With her familiar charts, graphs, diagrams and deadpan humor, Jessica Hagy indexes Ignite Seattle.

About Jessica Hagy

A recent transplant from Columbus, Ohio, Jessica Hagy writes (and draws) the popular blog, Indexed. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, the BBC Magazine and has won numerous awards. A collection of Indexed was published last year.

You can find Jessica on Twitter @jessicahagy.

Addiction! Staying afloat in the stream – Mónica Guzmán

Randy Stewart — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:00:23 +0000

Glued to email, your RSS reader or Twitter? Has your hand grown by 133 grams — the approximate weight of an iPhone? The Web is a stream, and it’s easy to drown. Mónica Guzmán returns to the Ignite stage to offer tips, tricks and cautionary tales to guide you through the perils of an always connected lifestyle.

About Mónica Guzmán

Mónica Guzmán is a reporter for the Seattle PI’s Big Blog You can find her on Twitter @moniguzman or organizing the next Big Blog meetup, which is this Wednesday, November 11th from 5:30 – 7 pm at Cupcake Royale in Ballard.

Mónica gave the “how to be a better news commenter” talk at Ignite Seattle 5 and Ignite Gnomedex.

Ignite Seattle 8 Speakers

Randy Stewart — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:00:23 +0000

We’ve got a great line up for our next event, held once again at the King Cat Theatre on December 1st at 7pm. Here is the list of speakers for Ignite Seattle 8 (in no particular order). We look forward to seeing you there.

The Speakers

Greg Dunlap (heyrocker) How to not suck at pinball
Pinball is hard. Luckily, getting better at pinball, not great but respectable, is actually pretty easy.

And for an Ignite first, similar topic, back-to-back presentations:

What Makes the Greenest Cab? – Gregory Heller

Randy Stewart — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:51 +0000

Green transportation is all the rage these days, especially hybrid and electric vehicles. Popular wisdom may lead some, including civic leaders and politicians to believe that the greenest vehicle is a hybrid. NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg has been fighting to “Green” the Yellow Cab fleet in that city by forcing all new cabs to be hybrids. The iconic New York City taxi cab often sets the pace for the rest of the country’s cabs.

Would hybrids in NYC really make green cabs? And would the rest of the country’s cab industries follow suit? The answer may surprise you.

About Gregory Heller

Gregory Heller is a partner at Civic Actions, an internet strategy and web development consultancy dedicated to empowering social change organizations.

You can find Gregory on his blog and on Twitter @gregoryheller. Gregory also writes about food on his @hungryseattle Twitter feed. You can find the slides to his presentation here.

60 Minutes in Whale (and How I Learned to Use a Machete!) – Mandy Sorensen

Randy Stewart — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:48:11 +0000

Ever wondered what to do with a half-alive beached whale on a remote island in the Pacific? Veterinarian Mandy Sorenson recounts her experience of dealing with this very problem while visiting the Pacific island of Rarotonga in 2006.

After a remarkable and significant attempt to keep a beached juvenile beak nosed whale alive, Mandy was left with the very dirty duty of performing a full scale necropsy (autopsy) while learning how to most effectively use a machete and a rock as her primary surgical tool.

NOTE: Some of the images in this video are fairly gruesome. If you’re squeamish, you might consider not watching.

If you didn’t watch the video, I’ll give you the moral: plastic bags have no place in the ocean.

About Mandy Sorenson

When she’s not performing whale autopsies, you can find Mandy Sorenson in her day job as a “surfing veterinarian” here in Seattle. Follow her on Twitter at mandercrosby.

How I Learned to Appreciate Dance Being Married to a Ballerina – Todd Sawicki

Randy Stewart — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:02:40 +0000

At past Ignites, we’ve learned that being married to a geek or startup jock can be rough and finding that geek girl can be tough but rarely, do we hear the geek’s side of the story.

Todd Sawicki takes us on a trip into his married life and shares what he has learned being married to a former professional ballerina. Most of us couldn’t tell the difference between a first and fifth position and a Plié vs. a Passé.

In this passionate talk, we learn that even a geek can learn to appreciate and love classical dance.

About Todd Sawicki

Todd Sawicki is a veteran of numerous tech startups, but lately, you can find him around Cheezburger HQ (purveyors of I Can Has Cheezburger and Fail Blog) as Chief Revenue Officer. When he’s not saying “OH HAI” to advertisers, you can find him on Twitter, on his blog or talking shop at Hops and Chops.

Confessions of an Ignite Speaker

Randy Stewart — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:30:44 +0000

Scott Berkun, an Ignite Seattle regular and fantastic public speaker has a new book coming out out on public speaking, “Confessions of a Public Speaker.” The book will be on bookshelves on November 6th, 2009 but in the mean time, here’s a PDF preview and a trailer he put together for it.

Full disclosure: I gifted a couple of images that appear in the book and O’Reilly, one of sponsors, is the publisher.

That said, I can’t imagine a more appropriate book to pimp for anyone considering speaking at a future event

Where Goldfish Come From – Lee LeFever

Randy Stewart — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:42:29 +0000

Everyone knows goldfish and koi, but very few have ever thought about where they come from – how they are bred, raised, transported, etc. Lee LeFever knows these things like the back of his hand.

Since 1965, the LeFever family in North Carolina has owned and operated one of the largest fish hatcheries in the US. Blue Ridge Fish Hatchery raises and sells tens of millions of goldfish and Koi a year.

About Lee LeFever

When Lee isn’t telling fish stories, he and his wife, Sachi run Common Craft, makers of the “In Plain English” series of videos. You can find Lee at his blog, on Twitter @leelefever or helping you plan to survive a zombie attack.