Some talks that I think about a lot
Or How can you call yourself a human if you haven’t watched these talks?!
Like many of you, I watch and participate in many conferences. They seem to power the technology industry in some weird way and are often the impetus for books, change, and excitement.
Over the last year I had the privileged to see a few talks from some peers that really changed how I perceive our world. They challenged my bias and pushed on my beliefs.
I noticed the other day that I often find myself thinking about these talks. They have continued to challenge me even after the glow of the original viewing ceased.
Because they have impacted me so, I wanted to share them with you.
Here are my favorites:
Christine Sun Kim: The enchanting music of sign language
I know leading with a TED talk is cliche — but Christine Sun Kim’s talk is too bad ass to ignore. Christine is a good friend and often tells me to fuck off. She is one of my favorite people. Her talk is wonderful and reminded me to be conscious of exclusion. In our many worlds of insider vocabulary and action — this was a super helpful talk.
I find that I often forget that people come from all over. In interfaces, products, experiences and building for people — we always forget that people are not us. My favorite part is how she talks about the difference between sound language and non-sound language. Christine reminds us that there are many worlds that we can live in, and it is up to us to connect them.
As an aside, sadly, only a couple of the talks have captions. It is important to make sure that all of our talks are accessible and to help and hold the conference organizers responsible for making that happen.
Jesse Kriss: (Science) Fiction and Design
Jesse wrote his talk up here: https://medium.com/hackerpreneur-magazine/science-fiction-and-design-866178c1739e#.lr1ornqk1
Jesse Kriss and I worked together at the Obama Campaign in 2012. I knew Jesse was amazing, but his talk blew me away. I say this with no hyperbole that Jesse’s talk was the best talk about design that I saw in recent memory. It is also about space — and music — and space. Ultimately it is about the amazing work that JPL did with the hololens. But it touches on a lot of amazing ideas: optimism, public enemy and fiction.
Sara Hendren: Investigating Normal: Technology and Ability
Sara Hendren’s talk on accessibility and technology was one of the more powerful talks I watched in 2015. Jesse (from above) tweeted about it and in a rare event I watched it immediately. It was wonderful. I immediately sent it to my mom, my partner, my friends and everyone I knew and strongly suggested that they watch it.
Sara talks through some really wonderful projects that push the ideas of functionality and accessibility (in MANY contexts). It reminded me that we almost *never* focus on accessibility when building things (anything).
BTW, The festival that hosted Jesse and Sara’s talk is happening soon. You should go.
Elana Schlenker
I recently spoke at a conference in Arkansas called Made By Few. It was a wonderful regional conference (they are the best) and, luckily, I walked in to the conference at the very beginning of Elana Schlenker’s talk.
Elana talked about her work — her projects are amazing. She talks about her truths and how they guide her. Elana’s truths are powerful and reminded me of how important it is to have a foundation for your work. Her Pay what you are paid pricing structure is the thing I think about the most.
Ash Huang
Ash Hang talks about gifs, cute things and the balance between domestication and wildness. She also talked about the power of the roadtrip. I loved the “Introverts going to unintentional parties” part. Her Wild Woman Roadtrip Guide is perfect for preparing for the intentional or unintentional road trip.
I appreciate Ash’s approach to using dares to push her to do new, challenging, and interesting things. I used this motivation in my new hobby. Ash reminds me how much I enjoy traveling and experiences. Also don’t be scared of being a puppyshark!
Artists!
In writing this up — I realized that everyone in the list is an artist. We are often celebrating technology and codes, but we don’t really think about the creative side.
When I give talks, I often quote from a button I received at a Google event: Always Be Creative. I use it to illustrate how important creativity is in technology and business. I was surprised that the talks that have inspired me the most were done by artists. People who have a very serious relationship with creativity.
I want to involve creativity more in technology and business. It is obvious that for us to be successful, a healthy relationship with creativity is needed.
To do this, I am going to spend 2016 listening more to the creative forces in our world/network/etc. Specifically the voices of those who are able to challenge my status quo. I want to change my expectation that technology and creative are different tracks in our combined world.
