My 3rd trip to CHI
Two years ago in Portland I first experienced the craziness that is the annual meeting of the Special Interest Group of the Association for Computing Machinery in Computer-Human Interaction, otherwise known as CHI. My time there was dominated by my participation in the Student Design Competition. Erik, Matt E., Will and I wrote a paper, tossed a hacky sack around to get our game on, talked up our poster, and cheered for our friends. We also felt the floor shake at the Crystal Ballroom, followed Matt’s bloodhound nose wherever it led, danced in a metal bar, left some beer for the housekeeping staff at our hotel, and walked back across the bridge at 2 in the morning after the trains had stopped running. Those were good times, and they all live in my head, as those were the days before my blog was born. Ahhhh….
Last year I was a student volunteer in Montreal, and I got a new camera right before the conference so I took a hella lot of pictures. I also blogged about it some (scroll down past this entry). It was a very good time, and it was perhaps the point wherein the idea that I was becoming a part of an academic and professional community much larger than myself first sunk in.
This year was a test of sorts. I have graduated. Traveled around. Worked in hotels and bars. Formulated new ideas about the scope of my work. Taken a consulting job. Moved to Portland. It wasn’t until quite recently that it was even clear that I was going to be able to go to CHI this year because it was uncertain whether my company would pay for it. And it was strange to not be a student. It was strange to be able to go just for the sake of going and seeing what I saw.
Most of what I saw were people. Dear old friends whom I have been away from for too long. Glorious new friends who remind me that you never know what gifts lie around the next corner. Acquaintances and colleagues who charm me and inspire me and make me glad to be doing what I do.
I have come to an interesting sort of peace with conferences, in that I find them to be very stimulating spaces even though I am often not that interested in the details of the presentations that I see. Somehow the energy is contagious. The sense of accomplishment gets under my skin. The newness of the place and the excitement of networking and the break from routine puts me in a different zone, and I have some good ideas.
This year I took very scattered offline notes, but then a comment from Erik prompted me to come up with an idea for an online prompting/drafting/notetaking system to allow me to build my thoughts up as I go. So I’ve been working on that some, and I hope it bears fruit soon.
In the meantime, here are some highlights from the land beyond words:
