Many of you will already know that Interaction12 is just over a month away in Dublin, Ireland. With over 75 speakers this is a great opportunity to meet with and hang out with some fantastic interaction designers from all around the world.

Head over to the Interaction12 web site for more details.

See you in Dublin!

Hooray! The first UX Melbourne Book Club for 2012 is coming.

This month the book is “Envisioning Information” by Eward Tufte. You can compare prices for the book at Booko, which calculates all online prices including postage.

When is it?

Tuesday 21 February
6.00 for 6.30 start

Can I come if I haven’t read the book?

Of course! All welcome.

New venue this month!

Rue Bebelon
267 Little Lonsdale Street
Melbourne VIC 3000

We’re looking forward to trying out our new venue, come and let us know what you think.

The December UX Book Club meeting was a great end to the year. Thanks to Jeremy Yuille for offering a super space at RMIT to host. Thanks to all those who brought something yummy to eat or drink.

We had a great mix of regulars and newbies, even someone who’d only been in Australia for 2 days! Obviously the UX Book Club is a ‘must go to’ event…

For those who couldn’t make it here is a brief idea of the night…

The text was a blog post: worrydream.com/ABriefRantOnTheFutureOfInteractionDesign/ Which included a Microsoft ‘Productivity Vision’ video.

The reactions to the post were varied, they included:

• Agreement that the lost of physicality in our day to day lives is not good.
• This is a long and broad trend, including: industrialisation, urbanisation, modern educational systems, westernisation (see www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html)
• Opinions that the video wasn’t all bad. The integration of devices was cool.
• There was a broad feeling that the post was more a Rant Against Futuristic Videos. That the video’s vision (Microsoft’s) was pretty narrow, and that the actual evolution of interaction should (hopefully) be more imaginative, more varied and more …interesting.
• And if it isn’t, well, we only have ourselves to blame.

It was also noted that the Microsoft video was very similar to an ad by Corning “A Day Made of Glass”

It was felt that a new language was needed to support new paradigms of interaction, the new modes of interactivity that will develop and new visions for the future.

Two names that came up were Edward Tufte and Carol Dweck, you might want to check them out.

We have some great plans for UX Book Club Melbourne in 2012. Watch this space for upcoming announcements.

Have a great Christmas.

Come and join the last UX Book Club for 2011!

We thought an article rather than a book would be the best approach
given the short notice, so the article is: A Brief Rant On The Future Of Interaction Design. (Please read the Responses and Follow Up at the end of the post too.)

Some things to think about…

• Do you share Bret Victor’s frustrations?
• Do you think his concerns are new?
• Do you think they are being addressed?
• Do you think there are more interesting issues when contemplating the future of Interaction Design?

Where is it?

Level 2, Building 9, RMIT City Campus.
Enter off Bowen St, close to Franklin St.

When is it?

Tuesday 6 December
6:00 PM for a 6.30 PM start

How much does it cost?

Nothing, just turn up and be nice!
(Drinks arrangements to be advised…)

Want more?

For those who are really keen you could also check out the other
suggested ‘reading’:

• Marc hassenzaal’s entry on user experience
• Radio National: The Internet – Prophecy and Reality

See you there!

This month we’re showing a presentation by Bill Buxton – head of Microsoft Research – on the intersection of Design, Technology and Business. Bill shares his thoughts on how the entire culture of an organisation needs to support good design.

“…a great design team is necessary, but it is not sufficient … it needs to be part of an ecosystem, part of a culture.”

Bill Buxton is Principal Scientist at Microsoft Research and the author of Sketching User Experiences: Getting the Design Right and the Right Design. Previously, he was a researcher at Xerox PARC, a professor at the University of Toronto, and Chief Scientist of Alias Research and SGI Inc.

When is it?

Wednesday, 9 November 2011.

Come down to the bar when you finish work, we’ll roll the film at 6:30 PM.

Where is it?

Horse Bazaar
397 Little Lonsdale St
Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia

How much does it cost?

Nothing, it’s absolutely free. (Just turn up and buy something from the bar to thank them for their support of UX Melbourne.)

Tell us you’re coming

Tell us you’re coming by emailing rsvp@uxmelbourne.org – it helps us heaps if you do.

And then tell your Twitter followers that you are coming…
I’m going to the next Melbourne UX Movie Night.