Protocol 7 » assorted musings on life, interaction, design, and beer

Fly Me to CanUX!

In early 2009, thanks to the generous donations of friends and family, I attended the 2nd annual Interaction Design conference in my hometown of Vancouver. The three day event was exhilarating, educational, and inspirational. The hands-on workshops afforded insight and instruction from top practitioners in the field, the speakers challenged us, and the attendees were brilliant, approachable, inspiring, and kind. Amongst the community I found kinship, friendship, and mentorship – solidifying, beyond a doubt, that I had found my field and my tribe.

It might seem a bit odd to begin an appeal for sponsorship to CanUX by talking about IxD09, but the conference experience is vitally important to people like me – working professionals incessantly seeking education, improvement, inspiration and community, but unable (at least for the time being) to make a full-time commitment to school. And IxD? Well, other than in heated discussion-list threads, IxD and UX are kindred spirits, the former fully encompassed by the latter in any Venn diagram worth its salt. For me, the opportunity to attend CanUX means an opportunity to expand the nascent connections I made at IxD09. It means an opportunity to gain new skills, meet new folks, and be inspired by an entire community of passionate professionals.

By day I am a freelance front-end designer and developer working with non-profits, artists, educational organizations, and small businesses. Throughout the lifetime of a project I strive to incorporate UX methodologies whether explicitly called for or not. For me, UX is the glue that gives meaning to intangible and often abstract creations in the digital space, the bridge that connects people to things. One of the more concrete things I hope to take away from CanUX is the ability to articulate and incorporate UX practices more formally into my work. And less concretely I think that UX, decoupled from products and services, plays a vital role in conceptualizing how the world might be (though in this incarnation the term ‘user’ seems almost anachronistic).

I am not a seasoned UX practitioner, but I’m passionate and want to learn. While I may attend CanUX more of an educational capacity *this* year^[1], in future years I see myself in the role of an educator, and if time and opportunity are kind, that of a leader. For me CanUX is not a one time event, but the beginning of a long-term experience. And from what I’ve heard, once you attend CanUX, you just can’t stop.

Either way the cookie crumbles, many thanks to nForm for providing a fully sponsored opportunity to attend CanUX, whomever the recipient may be!

1. to be totally honest, I can’t afford to attend without the sponsorship of nForm, so attendance in this respect is contingent, but you get the point… [↩]