CHI 2011, Bill Buxton, and the Buxton Collection: Explore 35 years of interactive devices, online!

Bill Buxton is a researcher at Microsoft who focuses on Human-Computer Interaction and is known for his work in user experience design and natural user interfaces such as multi-touch surfaces.   His talk at the recent CHI 2011 conference, held in Vancouver, Canada, was an overview of the Buxton Collection, an on-line historical archive of interactive input devices spanning over the past 35 years.  


It was interesting to note that at the time of the presentation, the Vancouver Conference Center, where the conference was taking place, was having serious problems with the network/internet connections, and as a consequence, Buxton was not able to demonstrate the on-line version of his collection as planned.  

Not to worry.  The physical version of the Buxton's archive was on display during the conference, along with Buxton, who was happy to tell the story behind every device and gadget in the archive, with much enthusiasm. The slideshow below provides a glimpse of the Bill Buxton archive displayed at CHI 2011:

My Buxton Collection Slideshow, CHI 2011, Vancouver, Canada

Buxton's archive of gadgets comes with a rich history, accumulated over the years. Much of this history, until now, has resided in Buxton's head.   Holding and touching the items in the archive while listening to Buxton's passionate stories about each one, was unlike anything I had ever experienced.  His archive is a labor of love, and the interactive, on-line version of the Buxton Collection is his way of sharing his knowledge with the world.


During his talk, Buxton pointed out that in computer science programs, students are not required to have much exposure to the "history of ideas" in the field.  Huge chunks of work are often ignored in the literature,  and in some cases, the wheel is unknowingly reinvented, and this is something that must be addressed within the CHI community, according to Buxton. 


I agree.

RELATED
Previous IMT posts about Bill Buxton
Bill Buxton's Presentation Video: "A Little Tale about Touch" (Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, 2010)
Two good articles by Bill Buxton: The Mad Dash Towards Touch Technology; The Long Nose of Innovation
Buxton Collection
Buxton Collection, PivotViewer
Back to the Past: Bill Buxton Shows Off 36 Years of Tech Devices
Microsoft News Center, 5/9/11
Microsoft's Bill Buxton exhibits gadget collection 35 years in the making
Donald Melanson, engadget, 5/9/11
Bill Buxton's Haptic Input References (pdf)
Bill Buxton's website
Multi-touch Systems that I Have Known and Loved (Bill Buxton)
CES 2010: NUI with Bill Buxton

On Engineering and Design: An Open Letter Microsoft Research Principal Scientist Bill Buxton calls for engineers and user experience designers to learn to appreciate one another

Bill Buxton, Bloomberg Businessweek, 4/29/09

CHI 2011! - Today's Highlights from the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

I'm happy to share that I was approved for a press pass for the CHI 2011  conference I'm attending in Vancouver, Canada.   (I was one of the organizers for a pre-conference workshop held on Saturday, "Child Computer Interaction: Workshop on UI Technologies and Educational Pedagogy" and will share more information from the workshop in future blog posts.)


The press pass will provide me the opportunity to meet a number of key thinkers/researchers related to the field of Human Factors/Human Computer Interaction.  Here are a few of today's press highlights:


A conversation with ...Howard Rheingold
CHI 2011’s opening session features Howard Rheingold, an acknowledged authority on mobile communications, discussing the evolution and future of social media in teaching and learning. Rheingold, the author of Smart Mobs, innovator, and Stanford University lecturer, explains, "use of social media in higher education teaching sessions can provide opportunities for innovative and meaningful interactions that extend far beyond the traditional face-to-face classroom experience." -CHI 2011


A conversation with...the "PaperPhone Team"
Hang up the iPhone - here comes the paper phone: Bending the device will allow users to make calls and play music Gillian Shaw, Vancouver Sun, 5/5/11
UltraThin 'PaperPhone' bends to user's will Emily Chung, CBC News, 5/5/11


An Interview with Conference Organizers and Interaction Researchers ...
Desney Tan, Conference Chair and Microsoft Research
Bo Begole, Technical Program Co-Char and XEROX Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)
Wendy Kellogg, Technical Program Co-Chair and IBM


I can't wait until 4:00 PM - a special tour of the interactive demonstrations - here is the information I received from the CHI 2011 PR coordinator:



SPECIAL PRESS PREVIEW of the Interactive Demonstrations 4:00 - 5:30 PM  INTERACTIVITY PRESS TOUR
"This event will be highly visual & interactive http://chi2011.org/program/interactivity.html Press Release: Interactive Technologies Showcased at ACM Conference on Computer-Human Interaction http://chi2011.org/press/presskit/interactivity.html"


I'm sure this will be interesting:
Collecting the History of Interactive Devices
"An exhibit of interactive devices from the past 35 years that point to ways of interacting with computers in the future. First shown at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 2004 (and updated for 2011), the collection documents the history of pen computing, pointing devices, touch technologies, and illustrates the nature of how new technologies emerge." - CHI 2011


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