The Beacon

Nearly every session I attended was great. There were a few exceptions, of course, but all-in-all there were some really smart people talking about really smart things.

First things first, though. The food was awesome. Enchiladas. Really, that’s all I can say: Enchiladas.

I’m happy to have heard a very well-picked panel including Johnny Cheung Lee (now at Microsoft but probably best known for his amazing work hacking WiiRemotes) talking about where they think user interfaces are going. After starting off a bit stereotypically with a clip from Minority Report they quickly moved in to a very smart discussion.

Lee sort of wrapped things up with a very clear explanation of how he sees the form factors (size and shape) of devices dictating how we will interact with them. Smaller devices require touch because they are too small for keyboards and mice. Desktop computers will likely always have a keyboard and mouse interface while the larger devices loop around and use the smaller devices as inputs. Because of this huge middle section, Lee doesn’t think we’ll ever see a day without the keyboard/mouse interface.

Shiloh and I stopped by a roundtable discussion of Transmedia storytelling which kicked off with a nice little demonstration that had those in attendance racing through a few different websites, making calls and deciphering clues to rescue a poor guy who had been kidnapped by mimes with nefarious intent. The two presenters were very dynamic and have been involved in Alternative Reality Gaming for quite some time now. I can see how this method of storytelling could do a very effective job of investing users with a real sense of urgency to accomplish the goals you set out for them, but am particularly intrigued by the fact that the largest group of people involved in the story are merely observers and may not participate directly in the action of the story, while still getting the message put forward.

A two hour presentation on “The Right Way to Wireframe” turned out to be pretty useless, so Mark and I ducked out early. I’m sure it sounded like a great idea to the presenters, but as an observer, seeing how they wireframe and what design comes out of it was kind of like watching a time lapse video of my own work day.

I hit several HTML5 sessions and am really excited by the prospect of being able to start using the new specification in our work. It will make a good many things a lot easier. I’m especially looking forward to all the browsers supporting the “video” tag and being able to do away with the mess of javascript and object and embed tags used to embed flash just to have a nice video player with controls.

Also, kudos to Michael for moderating a great discussion about Donations 2.0 in the “Will Kiva Kill Your Non-profit” session. All in attendance brought something unique to the discussion. I’m especially proud of the audience who challenged each other via Twitter to fund a project mentioned by a panelist.

I finished out with a session that was like a palette cleansing draught of cool nonsense in which Jerry Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh of DEVO, joined by their label and marketing representatives completely deconstructed and skewered all the Web 2.0 strategy and tech that we’d spent the last five days immersed in. It should be required for all attendees before they head off to the airport and back in to the real world. Duty now for the future!

This has been a great week and I’m so thankful for The Beacon Lounge for being a place I could call home and have a place to put my feet up, hear some great music, and meet some really super people working with non-profits. Now, I’m really looking forward to getting home and back to work, newly inspired and energized.