This month's topic: The Latest in JavaFX

Josh will catch us up on the latest JavaFX release, 1.2, which includes lots of improvements to make JavaFX better for real world apps (speed, more controls, charts and graphs). Josh will also give us a sneak preview of features coming in future versions of JavaFX, along with some great demo apps.

Speaker: Joshua Marinacci

Joshua Marinacci first tried Java in 1995 at the request of his favorite TA and never looked back. He has spent the last ten years writing Java user interfaces for wireless, web, and desktop platforms. After tiring of web programming with several large companies in the Atlanta area he joined Sun to work on Java user interfaces full-time, first on the Swing team, then NetBeans, and now on the JavaFX tools team. Joshua recently co-authored O'Reilly's Swing Hacks with Chris Adamson. He also contributes to SwingLabs and writes regularly for Java.net. Joshua holds a BS in Computer Science from Georgia Tech and recently moved to Eugene, Oregon to be with his new wife.

PJUG meetings start with some time to eat and socialize (pizza and beverages are provided), followed by the featured speaker, then Q&A, discussion, sometimes a drawing to give away swag. :)

Though we like knowing how many people to expect, you don't have to RSVP, on Upcoming or otherwise. Go ahead and just show up!

Many people also go for a drink and further discussion following the meeting, at a location determined ad hoc (lately, the Market Street Pub at 10th and Market: http://mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=24 ).

http://twitter.com/pjug http://pjug.org/ (join our mailing list, linked from the website!)

WHO: Corrina Black Corrina Black grew up sketching pictures and cartoons, but didn’t turn to design until she discovered the Web and taught herself to design and code simple websites. She focused instinctively on user flow, interaction, and attractive solutions. Corrina is currently a UX Designer on the Microsoft Developer Division team. To broaden her impact, Corrina pursued a software engineering degree to combine with her passion for user experience design. For Corrina, user experience is what matters. A product that doesn’t solve a problem, is difficult to use, and doesn’t draw the user in, regardless of how amazing the technology, will fail.

TOPIC: Creating Great UX with Expression Blend Corrina will do an intro to Blend and walkthrough the process of creating a great user experience; this will involve SketchFlow because detailing and iterating on user flow, layout, and animations and transitions prior to full-scale implementation is key to great UX design and this is done in tools like SketchFlow. She will also likely walkthrough the process of building a simple application in Blend to show the core functionality of Blend (maybe create a phone application).

Warmup - The Reactive Framework (Rx) in Silverlight At the beginning of the meeting (6pm) our own Eric Sterling of Vertigo will be giving a short introduction to Rx. Have you had trouble writing asynchronous code (including unit testing code)? If so, Rx offers a compelling and syntactically attractive way of handling events.

Interactive is not a goal - it is a way of thinking and approaching problems. Though we have orders of magnitude more power at our fingertips, real interactivity is still illusive - but it need not be.

Interactive applications have been a multi-decade goal. Flex is yet another in a long history of frameworks for delivering interactive applications, but technology alone does not an interactive application make. You need to understand the problems, existing solutions and techniques for solving the problem, and the user of the application. Fast is never enough, because the complexity will grow until the app is not fast enough and pain limits what the user can do, underscoring the perception of your app - what the pain prevents me from doing vs. what the lack of pain enables me to do. Scaling is the name of the game - let's talk about bigger problems than you can imagine.

Speakers

Roy Hall has been writing interactive graphic applications for more than 30 years. Trained in civil engineering and architecture, he started writing 3D interactive apps for stadium roof design on E&S PSII's in the late 70's. He later wrote the rendering pipeline for Robert Abel and Associates (Tron - sucking Flynn into the computer and throwing him back out); was the system architect for Wavefront Technologies (Science and Technology Academy Award for that) - and which through many morphs is now the Maya animation software; was an Assistant Professor at Cornell's Program of Computer Graphics; wrote the 'Joey 3D toolkit' extensions for Microsoft MFC in the 90's; worked on the interaction model for Sketchup; and is now the CTO for Thetus Corporation.

This month's topic: JavaFX 2 is the future of RIA development

JavaFX 2 is the future of RIA development. It takes the power of a modern scene graph, adds rich animation and multimedia capabilities, and extends to the web and beyond with seamless portability. At the same time, it leverages the power and breadth of the Java language and platform, allowing full access to existing Java libraries and integration with Java client technologies like Swing.

This session will introduce you to the JavaFX 2 platform from the perspective of a seasoned Java developer. The breadth of JavaFX APIs will be explained through several examples that we will build out during the course of the session. In addition, we will showcase SceneBuilder, the new JavaFX-based GUI building tool for rapid application development. If you have heard about JavaFX before, but were not sure about taking the plunge, now is the time to see what you have been missing out on.

This talk will provide a theory of operations, systems description and possibly a demo of a live system. All code will be made available on Github.

Speaker: Stephen Chin

Stephen Chin is a Java Evangelist at Oracle specializing in UI technology and co-author of the Pro JavaFX Platform 2 title, which is the leading technical reference for JavaFX. He has been featured at Java conferences around the world including Devoxx, Codemash, OSCON, J-Fall, GeeCON, Jazoon, and JavaOne, where he twice received a Rock Star Award. In his evenings and weekends, Stephen is an open-source hacker, working on projects including ScalaFX, a DSL for JavaFX in the Scala language, Visage, a UI oriented JVM language, JFXtras, a JavaFX component and extension library, and Apropos, an Agile Project Portfolio scheduling tool written in JavaFX. Stephen can be followed on twitter @steveonjava and reached via his blog: http://steveonjava.com/

PJUG meetings start with some time to eat and socialize (pizza and beverages are provided), followed by the featured speaker, then Q&A, discussion, sometimes a drawing to give away swag. :)

Though we like knowing how many people to expect, you don't have to RSVP, on Upcoming or otherwise. Go ahead and just show up!

Many people also go for a drink and further discussion following the meeting, at a location determined ad hoc.

http://twitter.com/pjug http://pjug.org/ (join our mailing list, linked from the website!)

Welcome to World Information Architecture Day 2013! Please register for this event on Eventbrite.

Come learn about what Information Architecture means and about some of the challenges facing Portland's leading practitioners.

Ideal for: Anyone interested in technology, creative tech, business of tech, industry pros, students and everyone in between. 

Thanks to our sponsors: AIGA, IxDA, PDX Web and Design Meetup, Northwest Creatives Social Club, People's Sandwich of Portland and Floyd's Coffee

Our speaker lineup is amazing!

10am: Jeanne Turner-Walmart Labs  Cultivating Good Will in the Digital World When we have to wait 20 minutes for service after being seated at a restaurant, or when a grocery store is disorganized and the clerk is distracted and unhelpful, then we know that something is wrong with the situation. In the physical world, lack of information and poor interactions are obvious. In the physical world, we know how to make improvements that increase customer satisfaction. How can we translate this understanding to the digital world? What do we need to understand about human nature to improve digital experiences? In this talk, Jeanne Turner will discuss concepts and techniques that allow us to cultivate good will in the digital world.

11am: Patricia Colley-Interactionflow Civilizing Information Architecture: A meditation on systems design What is the scope of information architecture practice? To design optimal architectural structures, we know we must empathize with its inhabitants, and apply deep expertise in organization, language and flow. But we've learned, this alone will not ensure a design's success. As we dive deeply into the churning sea of design and technology trends, tools and methods, we often forget how we orient to design practice, and its increasingly complex problems, as thoughtful human beings. Will our apps, widgets and gadgets come to serve us, or will we lose ourselves in a wilderness of unmitigated digital distractions and breakdowns? To civilize our digital future, we are compelled to take a systems view of design practice. We are compelled to shift our perspectives and spark grander dialogues.This session will examine the origins and evolution of the IA role, the current and emerging climate in which our products reside, and put forth a few principles and methods to help answer the call to broaden our vision and expand our influence in a changing world.

12p: Huston Hedinger-Wikisway Networks as a User Interface The mathematics of graph theory and its many applications via network science in sociology, bioinformatics, intelligence, and even physics, represent a paradigm shift in how we study and consider information. Over the last 30 years, machines have allowed us to structure data in such a way that allow us to analyze the complex interactions between the individual actors in networks. These interactions turn out to reveal patterns that are both predictable and obedient to mathematical laws- many in the academic community are just beginning to grasp the power an the importance of these claims. The ability to visualize networks allowing the researcher/user/customer to quickly understand the structure and behavior of a network is the main focus of this talk.

1p: Matthew Baranauskas and Noah DiJulio-Ziba Meeting the Challenges of Innovating on Top of Existing Platforms Information architecture is the keystone of every digital experience. It's where consumer needs and desires often collide with a brand's hopes and dreams. The danger for companies as they grow is figuring out how to integrate new features into their customer's existing experience. Using real world examples and personal anecdotes, Matthew and Noah will discuss how they navigate the challenge of innovating on top of existing platforms using a consumer-centric approach. You'll gain perspective on where to look for inspiration and insight, how to prioritize features into something that is meaningful and authentic, and how not to lose your mind in the process.

2p: Joel Barker and Michael Sulis-Wordlions and Summit Energy Tech, respectively Capture, Tagging and Release of Institutional Knowledge: Delivering Information in the Real World When creating a system to deliver institutional information outside of the organization, the success of the project rests on understanding the requirements and work process of all stakeholders. In this case study, Summit Energy Tech and Word Lions collaborated to collect, organize, and make available the mission critical institutional knowledge that was the foundation of our client’s relationship with their customers. This presentation will cover not only our solution, but the points where understanding the client capacity makes the difference between implementation and project failure.

3p: Alison Stump-The Social Wall Visualizing Insight: Getting Started in Information Architecture Information Architecture has only recently been given the respect it deserves by those outside the realm of User Experience. Often the designs we build are so elegant they appear simple. The average person on the street knows that a menu bar probably goes at the top of the page. In most cases its "common sense". It is positioned on the top of the page because an Information Architect thought about all the options, considered the usability and user research data and delivered a product that just works.That is what information Architecture is. So how do you do it? We will discuss a basic schema, various tools and resources to help you get started as well as key terms and phrases that will allow you to escalate your career.

4p: Dedrick Sprick-OHSU Progressive Content Strategy: A content commitment model There are a lot of hurdles to overcome for managing content well on any site. Managing content well includes knowing your website, scheduling tasks, getting the resources together, staying on top of trends and responding to visitor needs. Learn how to tackle this monumental task one step at a time, so your team can grow with your website.  

We can have only 80 guests/session, so it's all first come, first served, so make sure you're on time! 

Also, food and drink is allowed, but not provided. Please go to Floyd's Coffee across the street or People's Sandwich of Portland to find food, or bring your own.

Afterparty @Backspace 'til whenever. Please register through Eventbrite for this. http://worldiadaypdx2013.eventbrite.com/

Hope to see you all here!  

Shake off the winter blues with Amy Dubin, who will present on the myriad considerations all designers face in their roles as visual information disseminators.

Being a designer means taking into account an enormous array of factors, which includes the business and marketing plans that drive demand for your product. Coming up with a product that fits the whole picture will make you not only competitive, but in demand. The tough part is-how to gain this knowledge when 'business' just isn't your thing? This talk offers practical resources to help you understand how big the 'whole picture' really is, where you fit, where you may lack particular skills and how to get them in the most painless way possible. Knowing who to ask for help, and when, is a key strategy and we'll uncover tactics to help you design your career, as well as your products, successfully.

Apologies for shifting the date on this one... the second Thursday was Valentines day.

Thanks to Vitamin-T for providing food; Thanks to Webtrends for the space; Thanks to Amy for presenting an interesting topic!

-Eric Redmond, Organizer of meetup.com/pdxweb

How it works:

Come have a beer and (if you want to) play some ping-pong:

Do you work for a tech company in any way, shape, or form (developer, marketing, design, admin, tech student, etc.)? Do you want to be more involved in the Portland tech community? Come by and play some Ping-Pong! Or, just come by for some good conversation and a beer. Headbands, wristbands, and other such attire are encouraged.

Please RSVP so we can get a head count. How it works:

Come have a beer and (if you want to) play some pong:

Do you work for a tech company in any way, shape, or form (developer, marketing, design, admin, tech student, etc.)? Do you want to be more involved in the Portland tech community? Come by and play some Ping-Pong! Or, just come by for some good conversation and a beer. Headbands, wristbands, and other such attire are encouraged.

Please RSVP so we can get a head count.

Come have a beer and (if you want to) play some pong:

Do you work for a tech company in any way, shape, or form (developer, marketing, design, admin, tech student, etc.)? Do you want to be more involved in the Portland tech community? Come by and play some Ping-Pong! Or, just come by for some good conversation and a beer. Headbands, wristbands, and other such attire are encouraged.

This event is free but please RSVP so we get a head count: http://www.meetup.com/PDX-Tech-Pong/events/111313612/

. . . .

(Also coming soon....)

June 5th Tech+Pong tournament with two brackets:

Winners take all. More details can be found here:

http://www.meetup.com/PDX-Tech-Pong/events/111321222/

Come have a beer and (if you want to) play some pong:

Do you work for a tech company in any way, shape, or form (developer, marketing, design, admin, tech student, etc.)? Do you want to be more involved in the Portland tech community? Come by and play some Ping-Pong! Or, just come by for some good conversation and a beer. Headbands, wristbands, and other such attire are encouraged.

This event is free but please RSVP so we get a head count: http://www.meetup.com/PDX-Tech-Pong/events/111321962/

. . . .

(Also coming soon....)

June 5th Tech+Pong tournament with two brackets:

Winners take all. More details can be found here:

http://www.meetup.com/PDX-Tech-Pong/events/111321222/

Come have a beer and (if you want to) compete in the Ping-Pong Tournament:

June 5th Tech+Pong tournament with two brackets:

1) The Best of the Best (for pongers who can smash, hit, and rock their way through a pong game).

2) The Best of the Worst (for rookie pongers who just want to have fun and the thought of "spinning a slice shot" seems like something having to do with a pizza parlor). More details can be found here:

http://www.meetup.com/PDX-Tech-Pong/events/111321222/

Do you work for a tech company in any way, shape, or form (developer, marketing, design, admin, tech student, etc.)? Do you want to be more involved in the Portland tech community? Come by and play some Ping-Pong! Or, just come by for some good conversation and a beer. Headbands, wristbands, and other such attire are encouraged.

This event is free but please RSVP so we get a head count: http://www.meetup.com/PDX-Tech-Pong/events/111321222/

AppNexus is hosting a Tech Event to talk about JavaScript! Come see how we use this language for automation, command-line tools, and more!

Please learn more and RSVP at the link below.

http://appnexustechtalk.splashthat.com

Tech folks getting together to pong it up.

Year-end tournament not to be missed!

Two Tournament Brackets:

1) The Best of the Best (for pongers who can smash, hit, and rock their way through a pong game).

2) The Best of the Worst (for rookie pongers who just want to have fun and the thought of "spinning a slice shot" seems like something having to do with a pizza parlor).

Camp Optimization's mission is simple: provide a casual, fun and informative forum for digital marketers and technologists to share optimization best practices, challenges and wins. Camp Optimization is hosted by roboboogie.

Roboboogie is a Portland-based digital experience optimization agency partnering closely with brands to improve conversion rates, nurture brand advocacy and increase customer value.

Camp Optimization welcomes Thom Hines!

Thom makes things easier, like Bzzy--a simple and smart to-do list app for individuals and teams who need to get stuff done. He also teaches Interaction and Web Design at Portland State University.

This month's discussion topic: Optimization is not all sales and email sign-ups.

This month Camp Optimization explores the role of effective UI design in improving productivity and engagement. Thom will share his perspectives on how engaging experiences help users get things done, and keeps them coming back for more.

Meet us at the Assembly Lounge bar at Revolution Hall (Second Floor) for for some beer and casual networking. We'll end the night on the rooftop with a few games of Corn Hole. First round of drinks are on us! Make sure to spread the word and don't forget to RSVP. We hope to see you there!

Don’t look now, but your life depends on user experience design. Smartphones lead us around by the hand, we strap computers to body parts like it’s going out of style, and autonomous cars are already on the road. Thankfully, Mark Wyner is determined to humanize those experiences. As a user experience designer, Mark has architected software for the US Army, Nike, Intel, Chrysler, and more. He has eloquently addressed the need for interfaces we understand and trust, both in writing and as a speaker at events like Webvisions. Come hear about his efforts to work with the machines, before they take over for good.

IxDA Portland is delighted to welcome Jared Spool to the Pacific Northwest, to present his UX Tipping Point talk. Doors open at 6pm for drinks, snacks, catching-up with friends, and checking-out Wacom's swanky new "Experience Center" in the Pearl District. Jared's talk will then span ~45min, with time after for Q&A. We'll also be raffling-off books, and offering a discount code for UIE's upcoming Portland workshop series!

———

The UX Tipping Point

For the longest time, making a great experience for the user was a business-strategy luxury item. A great product only had to work and ship. A great experience was a nice-to-have, not a requirement. Times have changed. The cost of delivering a product is no longer a barrier to entry. Quality is no longer a differentiator. What’s left? The user’s experience.

Every part of the organization must be infused with an understanding of great design. Your organization has to cross the UX Tipping Point. You must increase everyone’s exposure to users, communicate a solid experience vision, and install a culture of continual learning. With that, design will become your organization’s competitive advantage.

Jared will show you and your team:

• Which path organizations take to become design-infused • How a centralized UX team is a stepping stone to a more UX capable organization • Why the market needs to demand a better experience before it will matter • What your organization will need to do to cross the UX Tipping Point

————

Jared M. Spool is a co-founder of Center Centre and the founder of UIE. In 2016, with Dr. Leslie Jensen-Inman, he opened Center Centre, a new design school in Chattanooga, TN to create the next generation of industry-ready UX Designers. They created a revolutionary approach to vocational training, infusing Jared’s decades of UX experience with Leslie’s mastery of experience-based learning methodologies.

You’ll also find him as the conference chair and keynote speaker at the annual UI Conference and UX Immersion Conference, and he manages to squeeze in a fair amount of writing time. He is author of the book, Web Usability: A Designer’s Guide and co-author of Web Anatomy: Interaction Design Frameworks that Work.

You’ll find his writing at uie.com. You can also follow his adventures on the Twitters at @jmspool, where he tweets daily about UX design, design strategy, design education, and the wondrous customer service habits of the airline industry.

Interested in learning skills and tactics for understanding and designing User Experiences? Join LaunchCode and UX Night School's Principal Instigator, Amelia Abreu for an evening of learning all about these crucial details that can make or break your work.

We'll have snacks, beverages, and a hands-on usability audit exercise to work through together. Bring your UX questions and quandaries, and we'll sketch, socialize, and catch up.

While you're here, learn more about UX Night School's course offerings and how to hire apprentices with LaunchCode.

Hi everyone! This is the very first event in a new series of meetups for independent/alternative designers in Portland. Come on by and meet some folks! Let's talk about what we can do with a group like this.

// ABOUT THIS GROUP //

Work alone? Freelance? Self-taught? Only designer on your team? Only developer who cares about UX? You might be an indie designer.

The goal of this group is to build community by sharing space, stories, process, techniques, and skills. We aim to help people feel more fulfilled, supported, and connected in their work. ALL people working or interested in design are welcome but most especially women, nonbinary folks, LGBTQA+, POC, and any others who are not well supported or represented in the tech industry.

This is a community-driven event and so the format, process, and schedule of this series is still in flux. Things to think about: What do you need? How can we (this group) help?

See Facebook event page for more details.

The topic for this meetup is: Design Workflow & Tools What's your design or front-end coding workflow like? What are some of your favorite tools? Share and learn.

Venue: we'll be in the back room at Beer on Stark St.

We get together every two weeks to hang out, drink beer, meet new friends, and do a variety of design-related activities including discussions, workshops, skillshares, and hack days. Come join us and talk design!

This is a community-driven event, so if you have ideas for future meetup topics, let us know. During the meetup please buy something to eat or drink to support our awesome venue.

// ABOUT THIS GROUP //

Do you freelance? Are you still learning? Are you the only designer on your team? Only developer who cares about front-end? You might be an indie designer.

The goal of this group is to build community. We aim to help people feel more fulfilled, supported, and connected in their work. ALL people working or interested in design are welcome but most especially women, nonbinary folks, LGBTQA+, POC, and any others who are not well supported or represented in the tech industry.

This topic of this meetup is: Money Any topic is game. Negotiation, salaries, rates, strategies, and also freelance/small business taxes (happy April!). Talking about money can always be difficult, so please be compassionate in your conversation.

Venue: side room at Shut Up and Eat in SE Portland

We get together every two weeks to hang out, drink beer, meet new friends, and do a variety of design-related activities including discussions, workshops, skillshares, and hack days. Come join us and talk design!

This is a community-driven event, so if you have ideas for future meetup topics, let us know. During the meetup please buy something to eat or drink to support our awesome venue.

// ABOUT THIS GROUP //

Do you freelance? Are you still learning? Are you the only designer on your team? Only developer who cares about front-end? You might be an indie designer.

The goal of this group is to build community. We aim to help people feel more fulfilled, supported, and connected in their work. ALL people working or interested in design are welcome but most especially women, nonbinary folks, LGBTQA+, POC, and any others who are not well supported or represented in the tech industry.

Join us June 13 for the first meetup in our new format, featuring Zach Babb, Principal Technologist from Daimler's moovel divison sharing a view into their Conversational Experiments. Following Babb will be a tour of Cognigy's Conversational UI platform.

Doors will open at 5:30pm for beer by Baerlic Brewing, soda, pizza and conversation

6:30pm – 7:00pm Zach Babb, Principal Technologist at Daimler moovel will share a view into their lab efforts specific to conversational interfaces such as Alexa and Facebook Messenger, why they shelved them and why now might be the perfect time to pick them up again. Checkout the latest news about the Daimler/BMW mobility merger which includes moovel, Reach Now and many more https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/28/business/daimler-bmw-car-sharing.html

7:00pm – 7:30pm Demonstration of Cognigy’s Conversational AI platform http://www.cognigy.com which allows for rapid development and deployment of experiences across Slack, Alexa, Facebook Messenger and more

7:30pm – 8:00pm Discuss topics and interesting presenters for future meetings

Lecture Details Sometimes when we share research findings, we hear back, “We already knew that.” In this talk, I’ll examine why that happens, and what we can do about it. Sometimes, it’s a cognitive bias, called hindsight bias and also known as the “knew it all along” phenomenon. But there are other causes and we can adjust our approach to research to try and limit this all-too-common challenge.

About Steve Portigal Steve Portigal is an experienced user researcher who helps organizations to build mature user research practices. He is the author of Interviewing Users: How To Uncover Compelling Insights (now in a second edition) and Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries: User Research War Stories. He’s also the host of the Dollars to Donuts podcast.

Website: portigal.com/

Happiness can feel elusive when we have to deal with matters such as team politics and corporate dysfunction. In this talk, Lizz will share some of her insights about the art of building great solutions, focusing on how fostering positive “heartsets” (like mindsets, but emotional states) can help sustain our souls and improve our teams’ outcomes.

About Lizz Bacon Having been in the field of digital product design and development for 25 years, Lizz Bacon knows that the work can be very challenging. Devise Consulting