Keynotes with IA expertise and more
Our theme in New Orleans is making sense and we’ve built a program of talented, creative, brilliant people to share their insights and experience. We wanted our keynotes to be a combination of established as well as emerging voices who have something to say on our theme of sense-making. Here they are…
Our first invited speaker is Abby Covert. Abby literally wrote the book on making sense. Her plain language and common sense approach to information architecture and sense-making focuses on sharing and shaping a common understanding and then taking action. Now a Senior staff information architect at Etsy, I can’t wait to hear what she has to share in New Orleans.
And here is what Abby has to say about her motivation for sharing thoughts on our theme: “The power in the framing of sense making is that it is NOT about the documents that we make or the processes that we follow — it is focused on the result and intention of our actions. I just love that idea, that our work is only good if it makes sense to our users. “
Joining Abby is Cassini Nasir. As a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Dallas, Cassini currently teaches interaction design, web design, and design principles. He also serves as Director of Design and Research for the ArtSciLab, a transdisciplinary research lab helping the arts, science, and technology communities by pursuing initiatives of societal urgency and cultural timeliness.
Co-chair Dan Ramsden explains what we can expect from Cassini:
“I saw Cassini speak at the IA Conference in 2019. I was hugely impressed by his ability to combine theory with practice. He introduced a range of ideas that were new to me. And he showed a talent for talking about theories or concepts I was already familiar with in a fresh way. Cassini is a natural teacher, but when you’re learning from him it somehow doesn’t feel like a lesson. I’m looking forward to learning more from Cassini in April 2020.”
Mutale Nkonde is an AI policy analyst and researcher based in New York City.
She started her career as a 2018–19 fellow at Data & Society, a Research Institute in New York City and works at the intersection of race, technology, and policy. She was part of the team that helped introduce the Algorithmic Accountability Act into the House of Representatives in April 2019, and is currently considering a series of data privacy proposals. She is also the founder of the Dorothy Vaughn Tech Symposium, a briefing series that takes place on Capitol Hill. Her work has been covered in MIT Tech Review, WIRED, Venture Crunch, Muse and PBS News Hour, as well as being a co-author of a report on racial literacy and tech.
Co-chair Noreen Whysel explains why we extended an invitation to Mutale: “Her unique perspective on the use of facial recognition technology, particularly in communities of color, counters well-meaning assumptions around improving the design of these systems. At Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center, Mutale works at the intersection of race, technology, and policy. She has been speaking at events where she challenges designers to expose underlying assumptions about race to help build more inclusive products and policies. This is a sense-making task that can effect design for good on a global scale.”
Mutale’s areas of interest and expertise closely align with our theme of making-sense. And there’s a connection to the mischief and serious damage that can result from intentional and unintentional information architecture — which we also want to highlight at IAC 20.
To close the second day of the main program for IAC20 we’ll welcome Reginé Gilbert. Reginé is a user experience designer, educator, and international public speaker with over 10 years of experience working in the technology arena. She has a strong belief in making the world a more accessible place — one that starts and ends with the user. Reginé is Visiting Industry Assistant Professor at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering, teaching User Experience Design to students in the Integrated Digital Media Program.
In 2019, Reginé’s first book, ‘Inclusive Design for a Digital World: Designing with Accessibility in Mind (Design Thinking) was released through Apress publishing.
Here co-chair Noreen Whysel explains why we’re excited to welcome Reginé to the IAC family: “Regine’s work explores ways to improve accessibility from simple markup decisions to AR/VR environments. Because we design for a world where our users sense things differently, Reginé will offer a fresh perspective on making designs inclusive.”
Our closing plenary speaker at IAC20 will be Christian Crumlish. Here co-chair Sandra Lloyd explains why we’re looking forward to hearing from Christian:
“I had the privilege of meeting Christian Crumlish when I assistant-taught the first-ever UX Design Immersive program at General Assembly in 2013. Christina Wodtke and Aynne Valencia brought in an all-star cast of guest speakers that year–including Christian. Although I was already familiar with his prowess as a speaker and author, I was bowled over by the thoughtful attention he brought to each student’s development, and how he made sure that they had opportunities after the course.
Christian has been there throughout the birth and development of information architecture as a leader, mentor, and an avid participant in our community. He also has a lot of ukuleles which, thankfully, he knows how to play. I’m excited to hear what Christian will have to say in April!”
Our ambition in curating the list of invited speakers at IAC20 was to build the foundation for a program of talented, creative, brilliant people to share their insights and experience. We wanted our keynotes to be a combination of established as well as emerging voices who have something to say on our theme of sense-making. We couldn’t be more proud of the lineup we’ve managed to assemble.
