Past Event! Note: this event has already taken place.
The Nature of Technological Innovation and the Edison Myth with Bill Buxton
November 1, 2019 at 11:45 AM to 1:00 PM
| Location: | 2nd floor atrium and conference rooms, Richcraft Hall |
| Cost: | Free |
This event is put on by the Collaborative Learning of Usability Experiences (CLUE) NSERC CREATE program and the Faculty of Engineering and Design.
Students and faculty are invited to a public lecture by Bill Buxton, Microsoft Partner Researcher, computer scientist and designer, and pioneer in the field of Human-Computer Interaction. A free pizza lunch will be provided for registered attendees.
Register Here
Abstract
Through this lecture, Buxton aims to stick a pin in the over-inflated myth of the individual creative genius and our cultural obsession to be first. While such stories may inspire, they point the listener down a path that the inspirational heroes themselves did not follow – and would have failed if they had tried. Creativity and innovation can be taught, and can result from a methodology whose foundation goes back at least to the 12th century. Buxton’s lecture will reflect on what he refers to as “the long nose of innovation” and why sourcing old technology from eBay may well be more important than all of the 3-D printers in the world combined for prototyping designs.
Biography
A Partner Researcher at Microsoft Research, Bill has an over 40-year involvement in research, practice and commentary around design, innovation and human aspects of technology. Following a 20-year career as a professional musician, he morphed into a researcher and interaction designer, at the University of Toronto, Xerox PARC, Alias Research and SGI Inc. He has been awarded four honourary doctorates, is co-recipient of an Academy Award for Scientific and Technical Achievement, received an ACM/SIGCHI Lifetime Achievement Award, and is a Fellow of the ACM. Bill has published, lectured and consulted widely, and is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto, and a Distinguished Professor of Industrial Design at the Technical University Eindhoven. Other than his family, mountains and rivers are his first love.