What If Space Isn't Neutral?

While the name Christopher Alexander is familiar to everybody in digital (patterns!), most of the mappings that've been made from his work into interaction, interface and user experience design have been made by way of analogy and metaphor, on the basis of two of Alexander's best-selling books from the 1970s.

Michigan-based information architect Dan Klyn has spent hundreds of hours studying and learning from the later 40 or so years of Alexander's teachings, and will share research findings, archival discoveries, and photographs he's taken at three of Alexander's most significant built projects in the process of elucidating Alexander's theory, which Klyn believes is directly and powerfully applicable to UX, IxD and IA work.

The presentation will conclude with a case study based in Dan's recent client work, demonstrating how typical UX tools and tactics can be adapted to Alexandrian ways of thinking and making.

Bio:
Dan Klyn is an information architect from Grand Rapids, Michigan and is co-founder of The Understanding Group (TUG). He’s interested in planning, strategy and architecture for places made of information, likes coffee an awful lot, and teaches information architecture at the University of Michigan School of Information. In April 2016, Klyn began serving a 2-year term as President of the IA Institute.