How Social Games about Farms Ruin Your Life – Erica May

Do you sit at work saving up your virtual currency for a Shetland Pony? Do you create Facebook profiles for your cats, dogs & infants just so that you can ensure your crops are properly hydrated? What has our world become when people actually decorate their virtual barns for Christmas? Did you pre-order Farmville for Dummies on Amazon.com? Let’s take a peak at the illusive look at how virtual farms are ruining your life and pretty much the entire planet one virtual seed packet at a time.

About Erica May

Erica works for PopCap Games where she manages the channel strategy for their social games. You can check her out on the web at ericamayexist.com or follow her on Twitter @ericaannemay

Ignite Seattle 15 – Call for Speakers

Fremont Outdoor Cinema

We want YOU to speak at the next Ignite Seattle. Got an idea for a talk? We’d love to have you to give a talk at our next event. Submission deadline is July 15, 2011, so SUBMIT YOUR TALK IDEA NOW.

A Very Special Ignite

We like it when speakers hack our format (within our normal rule set, of course) and we encourage you to submit talks that might take advantage of our lovely outdoor location at the Fremont Outdoor Cinema space.

  • it’s outdoors
  • it’s all ages

One caveat

We’ve never really limited the kinds of topics at our events, but we are going to be outdoors and an all-ages show, so it presents some special considerations. Given that the show will be all ages, we’ll likely not accept talks that aren’t acceptable for an all ages show.

See you in August

Ignite Seattle 15 will be held on Saturday, August 20th. Speakers will go on stage at 8:00. Watch for future announcements of special pre-event activities that we are actively planning now.

Ignite Seattle 15 – Outdoors and All Ages!

The next Ignite is going to be OUTDOORS on SATURDAY, August 20th at the Fremont Outdoor Movies space. We intend for this to be a family friendly event and we’ll be looking for under 18 speakers. This is our first ever outdoor event. Please come out in droves and make it our best one yet.

Submit your talk ideas now!

Ignite Seattle 14 is TONIGHT!

Here’s our schedule:

7:00pm: Doors Open.
7:30pm: Icebreaker game. As always, this is optional, but definitely a lot of fun! This time it should only be about 15 minutes.
8:00pm: Talks start!
8:45pm: 15 minute intermission.
9:00pm: A surprise! We’re only having 8 speakers this time because Brady has an awesome surprise for us. We’ll be ending around the normal time though, so don’t worry about being out too late!

Ignite Seattle 14 Speaker List

Teresa Valdez Klein (TeteSagehen) The art of subvertising on Facebook
All of us have been conditioned from birth by our families, our friends, and marketers to want (or not want) certain things. And while I’m a big fan of Facebook, I have this theory that it reinforces social conditioning in some pretty insidious ways.

In this talk, I’ll explain how I used Facebook’s self-serve advertising platform to combat the social pressure cooker.

Geoff Smith (lookatlao) How To Shoot Better Food Porn
Why: With the advent of food-focused social media and celebrity chef bloggers—not to mention understaffed magazines—food photography is everywhere. Everybody is taking photos of what they eat and very few are doing it right.

What: I would like to identify the four major enemies of good food porn and offer simple solutions on how to avoid them. The presentation will show real-world examples of failed attempts at shooting good food porn and the necessary steps and equipment needed—both purchased and improvised—to make your food porn better.

This presentation will be funny and informative and there will be immediate take aways as well as a few hints on how to take things to the next level for those so inclined.

Mehal Shah (mehals) Sociopathic Boardgaming: Fun for everyone.
You like board gaming, but lately the fun has gone out for you. Maybe you have a closet full of board games that never get played anymore. Maybe you have an hyper-competitive jackass attending your board game nights, who you feel ruins the fun for everyone. Maybe you just hate following a bunch of silly rules in your games and the fun goes away after half an hour. Let’s re-examine what makes board gaming great and see how we can modify existing games to make them fun again, and how turning up the hostility is often the best way to turn up the fun.

Sarah Novotny (sarahnovotny) living the OG lifestyle – Original Geek, that is
geeks have lead the most recent evolution of our society and some do it better than others. i’ve been incredibly curious about how geek praxis outside of a professional setting has contributed to geek success and would like to share a few ways i’ve found that geeks harness their obesssions and obsessive natures for fun and profit.

As a young geek i know said “feel free to make fun of me now, i’ll forgive you and maybe even hire you when we’re adults”.

Scott Ruthfield (scottru) How to Go to Kindergarten
When I was a kid, you started Kindergarten down the street, or maybe the Catholic school a few blocks away. Today, though, Seattle parents have an incredibly complex system of both public and private schools – and parents don’t know how to navigate it (or that there’s even anything to navigate).

If you might have a kid entering Kindergarten someday, and you’re the kind of person who builds a 10-column spreadsheet to pick the next flat screen TV, you might want to know how this process works – and how to optimize for your own family.

Nathalie Molina Niño (globalmisfit) Life lessons from a [recovering] Alpha Male
Since launching her first internet dot com at 21, Nathalie’s been neck deep in high-tech, masculine, start up juice. She recently left Seattle, her dream home and a $100M business she helped found in order to chill out, meditate and continue her path as a recovering Alpha Male in relaxing New York City. During her first return to her beloved Seattle as a special guest at SIFF 2011’s opening GALA, hear Nathalie as she comes out publicly about her personal experience as a global business misfit and how it took nearly killing someone for her to realize she needed to rethink how businesses work.

Dominic Holden (dominicholden) The Tunnel

Erica May (ericaannemay) How Social Games about Farms Ruin Your Life
Do you sit at work saving up your virtual currency for a Shetland Pony? Do you create Facebook profiles for your cats, dogs & infants just so that you can ensure your crops are properly hydrated? What has our world become when people actually decorate their virtual barns for Christmas? Did you pre-order Farmville for Dummies on Amazon.com? Let’s take a peak at the illusive look at how virtual farms are ruining your life and pretty much the entire planet one virtual seed packet at a time.

See you there

Looking forward to seeing everyone at 7pm at the King Cat Theater! Tickets are $5 at the door, and bring a friend!

Jeremy Bingham – Your Moral Panic Over Triceratops is Wrong

There was a lot of wailing and tooth gnashing recently about how Triceratops wasn’t real, because it was just a younger form of Torosaurus. You can all rest easy; there are rules to naming dinosaurs, and scientists have to follow them. You may be laying awake at night worrying about your favorite dinosaur being taken away, but they didn’t rename that dinosaur from your youth just to be mean. If you know how paleontologists name dinosaurs, you’ll finally be able to rest easy.

About Jeremy

When he’s not wresting around with telescopes or spreading the word about dinosaurs, Jeremy Bingham does the behind the scenes tech stuff at Daily Kos.

See also: Frank Catalano’s talk: How Science is destroying my childhood.

Kevin Moore – The Art of Engineering

Kevin Moore is an Iowa native and a 10-year resident of Seattle. He is a partner at the design and engineering consultancy Pixel Lab – http://thinkpixellab.com — where he loves crafting software. He tweets as @kevmoo.

Science, Art, Engineering, Design are the four corners of creative culture, but they represent terms that are often misused and misunderstood.

I’d like to explain their relationship. It clarifies and distinguishes what are often blurred differences while also freeing us from the bagage of degree programs and job titles.

Using anecdotes from some brilliant and diverse friends along with some lewd humor from famous physicists, I paint a pretty compelling picture.

Or at least funny and entertaining one.

Jonathan Evans – Infants- The Terrifying Danger of a UX Edge Case

Those of us in the UX world focus on how to satisfy users. However, when we use the term “user experience,” we ignore one persona: Age less than 2. They are the ultimate edge case; approximately 3% of the population, but with a grand scheme to take over the planet. Right now, millions of babies are growing up in a world that appears actively user-hostile. Using my own daughter as a test subject, I’ll show you how to minimize their rage and lingering resentment and make the world a better place for the people who will be changing our bedpans in fifty years.

About Jonathan

Jonathan wandered across the US and, as a vampire, found himself enjoying the climate in Seattle. He’s not quite sure how he ended up with a wife, child, and dog, but he’s quite happy with the whole scenario. While trying to improve user experience in people’s lives, he decided to focus on his daughter for a little while, and thought he should share his findings with the good people of Ignite Seattle.

Frank Catalano – Science is Ruining My Childhood

Frank Catalano loves science. As a kid, he marveled at planets such as Pluto, wanted to see a real dinosaur, and enjoyed mysterious sea creatures. His love of science spawned a career including stints as a science and tech reporter, science-fiction writer and, most recently, analyst and consultant for digital education and consumer technology companies. But science is slowly erasing his childhood, and Pluto was just the start. It appears no planet – or creature – is safe.

About Frank

Frank Catalano is an author, consultant, and veteran analyst of digital education and consumer technologies. He consults via Intrinsic Strategy and tweets @FrankCatalano, and also writes the Practical Nerd column for GeekWire.com.