What a month. Interaction 16 & Bosch ConnectedExperience in the can. The Good Home taking shape. A client workshop to round it out.
And to top it all off, the company turned two!
In self-directed stuff…
ThingsCon: Lots happening indeed as our program for local community events is slowly rolling out. Here’s a (final draft version of) our ThingsCon Community Event Guidelines. We’re also about to relaunch the website so it’s easier to track where the local events will be taking place. Besides Brussels (back in February) and Amsterdam (Salons ongoing regularly, plus a big event in December) it looks like we’ll be seeing Shanghai, Shenzhen, Rotterdam, and a handful more. Good times!
The Good Home is making big strides towards Fuori Salone, the satellite program of the Milan Design Fair that takes over Milan for a week in April. We’ll be bringing the first real installment of the Good Home there for an exhibition plus a series of workshops. Can’t wait. The short time we have between now and then is heads-down for prototyping and production.
Dearsouvenir is headed full steam towards issue 2 titled #TGIF. Very excited about this one. Final touches on the contracts for spinning it off into its own company (and as such, the first official spin-off for The Waving Cat) are and it’s all ready to go. Also, new website about to launch!
Interaction 16 is a wrap. Here are some of my impressions. We got incredibly kind feedback. To give you just a few ideas:
Things that weren't complained about at #ixd16: food, wi-fi, diversity, venue capacity, lines. Bravo @samin, @peterbihr, @IxDA, and team!
— alysha naples (@alyshanaples) March 4, 2016
I think it's clear that #ixd16 was a world class event and definitely the best design conference in Finland ever. Final keynote crowned it.
— Teppo Kotirinta (@teppo) March 4, 2016
probably the most creative and thought provoking industry conference i've been to in a while @peterbihr @ixdconf
— Caroline Sinders (@carolinesinders) March 6, 2016
@peterbihr @ixdconf OR 'the most relevant and engaging exploration of what's next in design, technology, society and business'
— Jason Mesut (@jasonmesut) March 6, 2016
In client work…
Bosch ConnectedExperience happened and was, I’d say, a full success. I was most involved in the conference track and thoroughly enjoyed it, and it seemed like there was lots of hacking & conversations going on as well.
Other ongoing client work includes a workshop at publisher WoltersKluwer with a good old friend, some lightweight policy and consulting work with Google HQ, and I’m supporting Bosch for an internal professional advancement program for their management.
Upcoming
Last year Prof. Dr. Christoph Bieber and I wrote a bit of research and policy recommendations around connected cities with a focus on citizens and their empowerment for the German federal government. Our research was to be part of a large annual report on global megatrends that shape society. The final publication date was recently announcent for late April. Good!
