Design Thinking Digest

Vote for your favorite panels at SxSW 2009

There a number of panels that I'm excited about at SxSW this year. Let SxSW know what you think of the following ideas. Know of other great panels that are worth a look? Promote them here in the comments. Those of us that know and love SxSW know that panel selection can be a crazy process. Are you submitting a similar idea? Passionate about a similar area? Drop a line and let me know at chris.bernard@microsoft.com

I love all these ideas but in terms of naming I've got to give props to David Crow and Nishant Kothary for their creative naming conventions. :)

The panel picker is located at: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/

Session Title: Why Do Web Sites All Look Alike-
Organizer: Sean Seibel

Session Title: Crossing Over- Web Services in the Physical World
Organizer: Sean Seibel

Session Title: Mobile 2.0- The Next Frontier
Organizer: Chris Bernard

Session Title: Check the Mousetrap- Is the Mouse Dead, Yet-
Organizer: Chris Bernard

Session Title: Robots Rock- Human-Robot Interaction
Organizer: Will Tschumy

Session Title: Living in Glass Houses- Life Without Privacy
Organizer: Will Tschumy

Session Title: Battle of the Browsers- Round 2
Organizer: Chris Wilson

Session Title: Browsers Have Your Dirty Secrets
Organizer: Chris Wilson

Session Title: Math + Design = Art
Organizer: Chris Harrison  

Session Title: More than Pantones- Today’s Web Designer
Organizer: Nishant Kothary

Session Title: Why the F#$k Should I Care About RIA?
Organizer: Scott Barnes

Session Title: Finding Inspiration
Organizer: David Crow

Session Title: The World Isn't Flat - Building the Next Silicon Valley
Organizer: David Crow

Session Title: How to Demo Like a Demon
Organizer: David Crow

Session Title: Blame Canada - Innovation Beyond Government Programs
Organizer: David Crow

The return of the PhizzPop Design Challenge

The PhizzPop design challenge will be returning in both physical and online forms this year. More details coming soon but in the US will have events in Chicago, Las Angeles, New York City, Miami, Minneapolis, and Seattle.

Venues and dates are still being selected but plan on regional events occurring from November to February with a Finale in New York City during Internet Week.

We'll be showcasing last years winners and this years competitors at events across the country. Do you want to compete in the PhizzPop design challenge? Are you a creative services or technology firm that differentiates through great interactive design? Drop me a line at chris.bernard@microsoft.com

The Olympics Tipping Point: Why Television will never be the same.

I think the 2008 will be looked at as the year that television and how we think about broadcasting begin to alter into something that would be unrecognizable only a few years ago.

The catalyst for this? NBC's broadcasting strategy for the 2008 Olympics. It's easy to look at what's disappointing about this effort (The lack of access to this great tool outside of the US and the somewhat challenging process of identifying your local NBC broadcaster but the benefits of NBC's actions and consumer demand will, I suspect, make these constraints go away in the future too.

NBC is basically conducting the largest online media event that has EVER been done on the Web. They'll offer up over 3,600 hours of video coverage and highlights that will reach tens of millions of viewers and enable hundreds of thousands of viewers to CONCURRENTLY watch events live or after the fact in the most mainstream Web browsers available for Windows PCs and the Mac. Below is a screen capture of the enhanced player with LIVE commentary.

The site is about far more than just streaming video. Enhanced modes in the player provide a wide screen experience, picture in picture and what I like to call the 'Elvis' mode which lets you go into a control room and watch 4 events at one. This is couple with commentary integration and a rich interactive navigation structure that lets truly see how much content is available.

There are three ingredients that were necessary to make this happen. One was a business rationale and way to monetize this experience. Truthfully this is where the regulatory structure of broadcasting and business models have work that must continue and it's also where existing online models fall short. The cost of the infrastructure and bandwidth and the regulatory environment of broadcast rights have been historical barriers. More cost effective technology and new service-focused advertising scenarios are what rationalized this effort for NBC.

The second was the technology that can make it happen. In this particular case NBC chose to use Silverlight because it was the most cost effective and scalable media presentation technology that could be used for this event. Silverlight made what NBC was attempting to do possible where just a year a ago it wouldn't have been possible from a cost and scalability perspective. Just like Tivo changed how consumers consume and watch traditional broadcasting I think Silverlight has the ability to change how we consume content as a connected social community online.

Finally, NBC focused on the experience and brought the 'long tail' of the Olympics to consumers. Gymnastics clubs across the US for example can now see everything that occurs at the Olympics, from training and trials and warm-ups to the entire event without having it crosscut with other competing events.

If you want to see the Olympics and everything that makes it a truly breathtaking event check it out at http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/

If you like what NBC is doing let them know about it at feedback@nbcolympics.com

I'm speaking at Webmaster Jam Session 2008

Want to get up close and personal with some of the best designer and Web developers in the country? Want to be inspired and get away from the same, old conference prattle? Then check out Webmaster Jam Sessions in it's new Atlanta home this year. Sean Seibel (Peer UXE) and myself will be talking about using the Web as a stepping stone for new ideas and concepts around social media by looking at the influence of gaming, imaging and robotics.

This is a nice conference where you truly get to interact with the speakers during the sessions and during the 'seams' of the event.

This is an accessible and reasonable event that I had a wonderful time at last year, it's even more of a no-brainer if you take advantage of a special discount code. Want to attend Web Master Jam Sessions and save 30%? Use the code 'MSOFT' when you register at https://2008.webjamsession.com/register/

I'll be at the Sarasota International Design Summit

Want to hear a variety of opinions on what's next for the Web? How social media should/could influence you as a marketer today and tomorrow? All those topics and more will be covered at one of the premier educational and design summits in Sarasota from October 27-28th. We'll talk big picture about design and it's business value and why we think RIAs (Rich Internet Experiences) will play off big-time in the future.

Break's over. Need a job?

So, coming off shipping the second version of Expression and enjoying a great Chicago summer it's time to start thinking seriously about designers, developers, and great user experience for software and the Web again. One might argue, "Chris, we've been doing that all summer. What have you been doing?"

That would be a great question that has, I hope, great answers. First of all I've spent a great deal of time this summer working with my peers in Microsoft to understand what worked well for us last year versus where we can improve and we've focused on the following.

• Getting designers in front of executives at Microsoft for two-way conversations around the value of design and our commitment to UX.
• Making some massive investments in offerings for design focused agencies, Web developers and (in an area dear to my own heart) start-ups!
• Growing our capabilities to engage and work with design and standards-based Web communities in both events (PhizzPop) and people (More user experience evangelists and folks that are dedicated to working with design partners)

I'll be talking a lot about the specific investments we're making in all these areas in the coming weeks and providing a detailed calendar of where we'll have these conversations.

What can you do right now?

Join us next week at Adaptive Path's UX Week, one of the premier UX events in the country.

Leverage your passion for UX by applying for one of three great UX roles we have in the US right now.

If you're passionate about design and want to work at a company where you can still have an enormous impact on the power that design, great experiences and that rich platforms can bring to software and the Web look at the opportunities we have in LA, Austin and NYC.