Our goal is to attain a standardized and scalable mini-conference model that’s easily deployable, adaptable to local groups worldwide and is clearly and closely connected to the Interaction12 conference experience. We’re excited to announce the cities that are currently participating and planning to host a redux event in their city:

• Atlanta, USA
• Chicago, USA
• Los Angeles, USA
• New York City, USA
• Portland, USA
• São Paulo, Brazil
• Sydney, Australia
• Taipei, Taiwan

This is a list of cities that are currently planning redux events, but it’s our hope that many more cities will get involved and organize their own redux events. Over the past year we’ve been working with local leaders to create documentation that will help interested cities to create the best redux event possible. We’ve started a redux section on the Interaction12 site, and will be updating it after Interaction12.

Afterwards we had lots of requests wanting to know more about our talks and speakers, so find out a little bit about each of them below.

Some useful links

Photos from the Welcome Party
Watch more Defuse Dublin talks on Youtube
Defuse Dublin website

Fiachra Ó Marcaigh: Interacting with Dublin – welcome

fomarcaigh@gmail.com / @fiachra

Fiachra is a director at the internet strategy and communications consultancy AMAS, which has been helping clients to maximise their returns from the internet for over a decade. His clients there include government bodies, corporates and some of the innovative tech companies that drive Ireland’s technology boom.

Fiachra’s not-to-miss in Dublin:
Georgian Townhouse Museum, 29 Fitzwilliam Street Lower
Irish Architectural Archive, 45 Merrion Square

Stephen Howell: Teaching kids to program using Scratch and the Kinect

scratch.saorog.com / stephen.r.howell@gmail.com / @saorog

Stephen is a computer science lecturer with the Institute of Technology Tallaght, where he lectures on Software Development and Interactive Media Design & Development. For fun, he likes to hack together games, digital art and educational materials with his four kids.

Watch Stephen’s talk from IxDA Dublin’s Defuse 2010:

Simon Rand: Big flush or little flush?

simon@iorum.ie / @simonrand

Simon is a director at iorum, a Dublin based firm who create web, mobile and social applications. Holding a degree in Industrial Design, but having programmed since he was 7 years old, he can talk code to the coders, and design to the designers. And music to the musicians.

Watch Simon’s talk from IxDA Dublin’s Defuse 2010

Zanya Dahl: All work and no play…

zanya@artizan.ie / @artizancreative

Zanya Dahl is managing director of interactive design agency, Artizan. Formerly a graphic designer, a 3D animator and a webmaster, she is always interested in the visual and the interactive and how that impacts on our behaviour.

Watch Zanya’s talk from IxDA Dublin’s Defuse 2010

Colin Bentley: Selling online. Choice, freedom and control

colin.bentley@iqcontent.com / @colinbentley

Colin is a user experience designer with iQ Content, building extraordinary customer experiences for smart organizations. He has been working on a long-term engagement with Vodafone, creating and fine-tuning their online sales through workshops, user research, prototypes and testing. Before he joined iQ he worked as a business analyst for very different companies, from a dental software developer, to an e-business consultancy.

Simon Dennehy: Quantitative vs Qualitative; why can’t we all get along?

simon@perch.ie / @Perch_Design

Simon Dennehy has worked in industry for many years, as an industrial and graphic designer. In 2008, he completed a 2-year research masters in Industrial Design, with NCAD and chose ergonomic school furniture as his subject matter. Since completing the study, he has received lots of interest in the IP and product offering. He has received funding from Enterprise Ireland’s, CORD scheme, and “Perch Dynamic Solutions” has been established to bring the products to market.

Ellen Dudley: What are you most afraid of?

ellen.dudley@gmail.com / @meetforeal

Ellen is a biomedical engineer turned startup founder. She’s been hacking socializing for the last few years with her startup, crowdscanner.com, so that awesome face-to-face conversations are more likely to happen between strangers.

Her mission is to make it more natural to talk to new people, about topics that matter, so we learn about ourselves, each other, and the world, and make the most of our short time here.

Outside of conversations, design and startups, she loves speaking on stage, living in new places, Mexican food, exploring, and giving myself a hard time about not meditating enough.

Watch Ellen’s talk from IxDA Dublin’s Defuse 2010

Morgan McKeagney: On hype & bubbles: is UX a ghetto?

morgan@iqcontent.com / @morganmck

Morgan McKeagney is co-founder and Managing Director of iQ Content, a world-class user experience company based in Dublin. Since 2000, Morgan has been helping smart, global organisations use online to become more successful, more customer-focused, more innovative, more profitable and more efficient. Economist by training, entreprenuer by nature, Morgan’s big passions are business, creativity, technology and innovation, and how all four can combine to make the world a slightly better place for everyone.

If there’s a category I didn’t get to, just find me or tweet me @coryannj. Happy eating!

Important – how the location info works

Actual address information is pretty unwieldy, so instead each place has an area name – you’ll then need to rely on old google for the details.

The area names are borrowed from this image – apologies in advance as it may hurt your eyes:

As you can expect it’s not totally accurate – but will give you a sense of where you need to go.

That annoying place that fits in every category

Fallon and Byrne (Georges St – fallonandbyrne.com) – It’s a foodhall, deli, coffee bar, wine bar, and restaurant – just go.

Coffee

3fe (Capel St & Docklands South – 3fe.com) – The place to go if you weigh and grind your coffee before making it in your Aeropress.

Bald Barista (Camden St – thebaldbarista.com) – Owned by a Kiwi (don’t let that turn you off*). Also stocks amazing pies and food from The Gallic Kitchen.

Clement and Pekoe (Grafton St – clementandpekoe.com) – The type of place I’d expect to find the phrase “purveyors of tea” on the menu – but great coffee too.

Gastropubs

The Exchequer (Georges St – theexchequer.ie) – Long beer list, more classy than casual pub grub and roast to order every Sunday.

Against the Grain (Camden St) – Specialises in craft beers and hearty food.

L. Mulligan Grocer (Stonybatter – lmulligangrocer.com) – Slightly outside the city centre (7 euro taxi ride) but great range of beers and the type of menu someone has put a lot of love into.

Bull and Castle (Christchurch – bullandcastle.ie) – Bit less gastro, more pub, but decent pub food upstairs and a restaurant downstairs.

Hole in the wall

Bottega Toffoli (Christchurch) – If you can find it and get a seat (fits 12-ish max), it’s the best pizza in Dublin.

Japanese

Kokoro (Capel St – kokorosushibento.com) – More take-away than sit down, but dazzling array of sushi as well as hot food.

Yamamori (Capel St & Georges St – yamamori.ie) – More sit down than take-away, with decent enough sushi.

Asian

Hop House (O’Connell St – hophouse.ie) – Mostly Korean, with a doorbell on each table for service and an interconnecting reggae/sports bar next door (seriously).

Hi lan (Capel St) – Bit of a mish mash with korean bbq, hotpot and mainstay korean/chinese dishes. Also spend €100 get free karaoke!

M&L Szechuan (O’Connell St) – Secret chinese menu, €2.50 beers – go!

Good World (Georges St) – Smaller secret chinese menu, good for a sit down meal, open late.

Cafe-type places

The Cake Cafe (Camden St – thecakecafe.ie) – Located behind the Daintree paper shop, it’s all freshly-baked sweet and savoury goodies.

The Pepperpot (Grafton St – thepepperpot.ie) – Sister of the Cake Cafe, more centrally located with equally yummy food.

Eastwood and Mays (Georges St – eastwoodandmays.com) – New-ish cafe doing lunch and dinner, great food including a Secret Dinner for €12.95 with glass of wine, and named after pugs!

Vegetarian/Vegan

Blazing Salads (Grafton St – blazingsalads.com) – Mostly for the lunch crowd, salads, soups, hot food and baked things.

Bistro-y

Green Hen (Grafton St – greenhen.ie) – Tough to get a booking but worth it if you can.

The Pig’s Ear (Trinity College – thepigsear.ie) – Beautiful food that’s also seriously nyom, Irish with a twist.

Coppinger Row (Grafton St – coppingerrow.com) – Has the best cocktails in Dublin to go along with the mediterranean-style food.

The Winding Stair (Capel St – winding-stair.com) – Bookstore downstairs, restaurant upstairs, with hearty, warming food and a great early bird menu.

Fancy places you probably won’t get a booking in

Pichet (Grafton St – pichet-restaurant.com) – Famous for its quirky blue bucket chairs and brilliant french food.

Chapter One (O’Connell St – chapteronerestaurant.com) – Brilliant food and equally brilliant service without the stuffiness.

Thorntons (Stephens Green – thorntonsrestaurant.com) – The place for ‘wow’ looking food, but for taste you can probably do better…

Patrick Guilbauds (Merrion – restaurantpatrickguilbaud.ie) – You know, the one with *that* star.

When you stumble out of a pub at 3am

Zaytoon (Temple Bar & Camden – zaytoon.ie) – Best kebabs in Dublin.

Rick’s Burgers (Georges St) – You get a spoon and fork with your burger, that should tell you everything.

Iskanders (Georges St) – Second best kebabs in Dublin.

*I’m Australian, just fulfilling my obligatory Kiwi joke quota.

If you have a Day Pass, you can only pick up your armband on the morning of the day you’re registered for.

Wednesday, Feb 1

Registration open from 9:00am-3:00pm:
Workshops @ IADT Dun Laoghaire

Registration open from 7:00pm-9:00pm:
Welcome party @ Dining Hall, Trinity College

Thursday, Feb 2 – Saturday, Feb 4

From 8:00am (Thu & Fri) or 8:30am (Sat)
@ Convention Centre Dublin

You can download this info as a PDF or browse the information online. We’ll also be sending and posting more info over the next few days on what to do once you’re here and how to get to your workshops, the conference, as well as the to-dos.

Got any questions? Tweet us @ixdconf or ask us on Facebook ” we’ve got locals on standby to help.

Last minute hotels – come stay at The Morrison with us!

The Morrison (our official conference hotel) has opened up a few more spaces – you can book online through our Manage Your Registration facility, or contact Abbey Conference and Planning at +353 1 648 6130 or email via register@interaction.ixda.org.

Connect with your fellow attendees

Why wait till next week to start networking? Join Crowdvine and find people by location or interest, or ask any question you like about Dublin or the conference.

Check after the jump for details

Grand Prize

• Paid internship with Thomson Reuters design team in London
• $75 gift certificate from Blurb
• A one-year mentorship from any and all of the Rosenfeld Media authors
• $100 gift certificate from Core77′s Hand Eye Supply store
• Silverback license, courtesy of Clearleft
• Yahoo! schwag

1st Runner-Up

• Complete set of Rosenfeld Media books
• A subscription to all the UIE Virtual Seminars between now and June 30 (15 seminars, a $1729 value)
• $30 gift certificate from Blurb
• $100 gift certificate from Core77′s Hand Eye Supply store
• Silverback license, courtesy of Clearleft
• Yahoo! schwag

2nd Runner-Up

• Adobe CS Design Premium
• $30 gift certificate from Blurb
• $100 gift certificate from Core77′s Hand Eye Supply store
• Silverback license, courtesy of Clearleft
• Yahoo! schwag

Honourable Mention

• $30 gift certificate from Blurb
• $100 gift certificate from Core77′s Hand Eye Supply store
• Silverback license, courtesy of Clearleft
• Yahoo! schwag

• Elizabeth Bacon, Chief Design Officer at Devise and Product Manager at Providence Health & Services (@ebacon)
• Peter Boersma, Digital Product Designer, peterboersma.com (@pboersma)
• Dana Chisnell, Independent researcher, UsabilityWorks (@danachis)
• Abby Covert, Information Architect at The Understanding Group & Executive Producer of the Information Architecture Summit 2012 (@Abby_the_IA)
• Janna DeVylder, President of IxDA, Co-founder and Principal, Meld Studios in Sydney, AUS (@jdevylder)
• Carla Diana, Associate Director, Interaction Design, Smart Design (@carladiana_)
• Suzanne El-Moursi, Conference Chair – Interaction|2013 & Creative Director, Experience Design, SapientNitro (@suzelmoursi)
• Rachel Hinman, Senior Research Scientist – Mobile User Experience, Nokia Research Center (@hinman)
• Jonas Löwgren, Malmö University
• Matt Nish-Lapidus, Design Director, Normative Design/Board of Directors, IxDA (@emenel)
• Esteban Souto, Global Head of Design & User Experience, Thomson Reuters
• Jared Spool, Founding Principal, User Interface Engineering (@jmspool)

stay tuned for some exciting news on the prizes our finalists will be competing for!

Axure is one of the big guns. Because it can do so much it can also be intimidating to learn. But if you’re an Interaction12 attendee, you’re in luck (well, in MORE luck… you’re already going to an awesome conference)! I’ve been using Axure since 2005, teaching it since 2007, and I’ll be giving a free (as in TOTALLY FREE!) three-hour introductory workshop on Wednesday, February 1 at 1:30pm! If you’ve ever wanted to learn it, now’s your chance.

Now, I won’t be able to cover everything (that takes two and-a-half days), but I will cover a few big topics. First I’ll introduce you to Axure’s basic concepts and orient you to its user interface. Next we’ll talk about wireframing in Axure. This includes setting up grids and page formatting, laying out and formatting wireframe elements, and using a feature called Masters to make you efficient. You will, of course, be building your own wireframe as you go. In the next section you’ll make it interactive. You’ll make it do simple things like linking to pages and slick new things like on-page tabs and dynamically adding items to a list.

Please keep in mind that this workshop is for absolute Axure beginners. If you’ve been using Axure for some time and you want to do stuff that is Really Awesome, I encourage you to sign up for my other workshop. Jeff Harrison and I are co-presenting Prototyping Native Mobile Apps in Axure, in which you’ll learn how to prototype native mobile apps that even enjoy limited gesture support on mobile devices.

See you in Dublin!

Learn more about Fred Beecher

We managed to find four wonderful and inspiring entries among all the bounty of goodness we received from around the world. Look after the jump for their entries, and our winners are (in no particular order)

• Diksha Grover – National Institute of Design, India
• Siri Johansson – Umeå Institute of Design, Sweden
• Jaime Krakowiak – Austin Center for Design, USA
• Priscilla Mok – Carnegie Mellon University, USA

Head on over to the design challenge blog to see these winning entries, and stay tuned to hear about our on-site competition, mentors and jury in the next week!

This year IxDA launched an important and ambitious new program: the inaugural Interaction Awards, sponsored by Google, and celebrated at this year’s Interaction12 Conference in Dublin. We created the awards to celebrate excellence in our field, and to encourage the global interaction design community to share our work. The excitement for this kind of exposure is palpable. We received over 300 entries from across 33 countries for the 2012 Awards.

The awards, open to any professional or student projects completed within the past two years, started with an initial evaluation of the work across the criteria of context, impact and craft. An international panel of peer reviewers chose the top 72 projects for the Shortlist of entries that were then presented and reviewed by our carefully selected Awards Jury.

The Jury review, led by Jury Chair Robert Fabricant of New York, USA, took place over 2 days in New York City last month, was comprised of high-profile designers and thinkers from around the globe including: Massimo Banzi (Milan, Italy), Janna DeVylder (Sydney, Australia), Matt Jones (London, UK), Younghee Jung (Bangalore, India), Jonas Löwgren (Malmo, Sweden), and Helen Walters (New York, USA).

These esteemed jurors were chosen for their experience, domain expertise and strong opinions on good design. And they didn’t disappoint. Over long days of intense discussion and debate, they evaluated essays, interrogated prototypes, and reviewed entrant’s videos representing each design project. Push pins and post-its strewn the room as they compared the contexts, impact and craft behind products and services as diverse as in-car dashboards, installations, and wayfinding systems and games. Daunting as it may sound, they expertly narrowed the 72 shortlisted projects to 26 finalists, and then chose top honors in each category and overall.

The Finalists just announced on ixda.org will be awarded honors in 6 interaction categories: Optimizing, engaging, empowering, expressing, connecting, disrupting. Interaction categories? We deliberated about these categories. Platforms, industries and domains say very little about what we actually do. For a while we considered having no categories at all, but we opted for categories that would challenge us to think about the intentions of the work and the nature of the interactions IxDA creates, and how these sit across platforms, domains, and cultures.

Later this month, we’ll launch an online gallery of all shortlisted projects and open voting for the People’s Choice of best project for the year. This award empowers the community to take part in the process and engage in constructive conversation about the best representations of our growing field for 2012. At the awards ceremony, at 8:00 p.m. on February 3, 2012 in Dublin, we will honor the 26 finalists, and award the prizes for top honors in each category, as well as an overall winner for the year. We hope the conversation started – by the awards, in the online gallery, at the ceremony – will extend far beyond February’s celebration of interaction design. Our ultimate goal is for the Interaction Awards to start a dialogue, inspire designers and businesses alike, raise the profile of interaction design, and demonstrate its value in the global economy.

This is an exciting time for our field, and we’re thrilled about the impact the awards will have as a showcase and demonstration of the breadth and depth of design excellence to be found across our diverse community. Check out the online gallery (when it launches), come to the party, and enter next year’s awards, opening in June 2012.

The Interaction Awards take place on Friday the 3rd of February 2012 in Dublin. Entry to the Interaction Awards is included as part of the Interaction12 conference package. Register for Interaction12