BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 X-WR-CALNAME:HCI Seminar Series Fall 2008 Events BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=US/Eastern:20081203T110000 DTEND;TZID=US/Eastern:20081203T120000 URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.csail.mit.edu/events/eventcalendar/calendar.php?show=event&id=1948 SUMMARY:Enhancing Creativity with Toolkits LOCATION:32-G449 Patil/Kiva Seminar Room DESCRIPTION:Series: HCI Seminar Series Fall 2008\nSpeaker: Saul Greenberg\, University of Calgary\nHost: Rob Miller\, MIT CSAIL\nContact: Michael Bernstein\, (617) 253-0452\, msbernst@mit.edu\nRefreshment Time: 10:45AM\nRelevant URL: http://pages.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/~saul/wiki/pmwiki.php\nInterface toolkits in ordinary application areas let average programmers rapidly develop software resembling other standard applications. In contrast\, toolkits for novel and perhaps unfamiliar application areas enhance the creativity of these programmers. By removing low-level implementation burdens and supplying appropriate building blocks\, toolkits give people a ‘language’ to think about these new interfaces\, which in turn allows them to concentrate on creative designs. This is important\, for it means that programmers can rapidly generate and test new ideas\, replicate and refine ideas\, and create demonstrations for others to try. To illustrate this important link between toolkits and creativity\, I describe example toolkits we have built and how people have leveraged them to create innovative interfaces. \n\nThe presentation should be accessible and of interest to both computer science and media lab members.\n\nSpeaker Biography:\nSaul Greenberg is a Full Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Calgary. While he is a computer scientist by training\, the work by Saul and his talented students typifies the cross-discipline aspects of Human Computer Interaction\, Computer Supported Cooperative Work\, and Ubiquitous Computing. He and his crew are well known for their development of:\n§ toolkits enabling rapid prototyping of groupware and ubiquitous appliances;\n§ innovative and seminal system designs based on observations of social phenomenon;\n§ articulation of design-oriented social science theories\, and\n§ refinement of evaluation methods.\n\nHis research is well-recognized. He holds the iCORE/NSERC/Smart Technologies Industrial Chair in Interactive Technologies. He also holds a University Professorship\, which is a distinguished University of Calgary award recognizing research excellence. He received the CHCCS Achievement award in May 2007 and was also elected to the ACM CHI Academy in April 2005 for his overall contributions to the field of Human Computer Interaction.\n\nSaul is a prolific author who has authored and edited several books and published many refereed articles\, as listed at http://grouplab.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/papers/. He is also known for his strong commitment in making his tools\, systems\, and educational material readily available to other researchers and educators. END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR