Pick, Click, Flick! Some Stories about Interaction Techniques
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When people use technology and devices, like a computer, smartphone, tablet, watch, game console, set top box, or other consumer electronics, Interaction techniques (IxTs) are the low-level reusable building blocks out of which their user interfaces are constructed. An "interaction technique" starts when the user performs an action that causes an electronic device to respond, and includes the direct feedback from the device to the user. Examples include physical buttons and switches, on-screen menus and scrollbars operated by a mouse or finger, touchscreen widgets and gestures such as flick-to-scroll and pinch-to-zoom, text entry on computers and touchscreens, input for virtual reality, consumer electronic controls such as remote controls, game controllers, input for virtual reality systems like waving a Nintendo Wii wand or your hands in front of a Microsoft Kinect, interactions with conversational agents such as Apple Siri, Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa or Microsoft Cortana, and adaptations of all of these for people with disabilities. This talk will explain what Interaction techniques are, why they are important and difficult to design and implement, and the history of a representative example: the story of Cut, Copy and Paste. This talk will be based on Brad Myers’s university courses and his new book on this topic, see https://www.ixtbook.com
About Brad:
Brad A. Myers is the Charles M. Geschke (SCS 1973) Director of the Human-Computer Interaction Institute and Professor in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, with an affiliated faculty appointment in the Software and Societal Systems Department. He was chosen to receive the ACM SIGCHI Lifetime Achievement Award in Research in 2017, for outstanding fundamental and influential research contributions to the study of human-computer interaction, and his most recent book, "Pick, Click, Flick! The Story of Interaction Techniques" won a 2025 CBI Human-Computer Interaction History Prize. He is an IEEE Life Fellow, ACM Fellow, member of the CHI Academy, and winner of 19 Best Paper type awards and 6 Most Influential Paper Awards. He is the author or editor of over 550 publications, including three books, and he has been on the editorial board of 8 journals. He has been a consultant on user interface design and implementation to over 90 companies, and regularly teaches courses on user interface design and software. Myers received a PhD in computer science at the University of Toronto where he developed the Peridot user interface tool. He received the MS and BSc degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during which time he was a research intern at Xerox PARC. From 1980 until 1983, he worked at PERQ Systems Corporation. His research interests include user interfaces, programming environments, programming language design, end-user software engineering (EUSE), API usability, developer experience (DevX or DX), interaction techniques, programming by example, mobile computing, and visual programming.
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Content Design Leadership
UX Researcher
Online Meetup
Attendance is free.
No IxDF membership required.
Meet people who love design as much as you do. Together we learn new skills, grow our networks, and discover new job opportunities.
Join us to make lifelong friendships over coffee and a shared love of design! ❤️
An IxDF Local Group is a meeting point for people with a passion for design in your city.
You don't need to be a designer, just passionate about great design and how it can improve your work and career.
Meetups are the heartbeat of IxDF Local Groups, whether we meet at a café, a creative space or a local company. There's nothing quite like the magic of meeting face-to-face to share ideas and inspiration.
We also host regular IxDF Design Dinners, where we enjoy great food and help each other learn and grow. Even a simple coffee meetup in a café can ignite collaborations and friendships that last a lifetime.
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Simply put, we learn together and smile together.
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Remember: Your network is your net worth.
Your IxDF Local Group is led by an IxDF Local Leader and serves as a vibrant hub where you can network, learn and grow.
Here's what you can expect:
A community of professionals from all walks of life, who share a passion for great design and how it can benefit their career, their company, and society in general.
Meetups are the heartbeat of IxDF Local Groups, whether we meet at a café or a creative space. There's nothing quite like the magic of meeting face-to-face to share ideas and inspiration.
We also host regular IxDF Design Dinners, where we enjoy great food and help each other learn and grow. Even a simple coffee meetup in a cafe can ignite collaborations and friendships that last a lifetime.
You don't have to be a designer, just passionate about great design and how it can improve your work and career. Design skills make you valuable - in any job and any industry.
You'll also have a private and exclusive online forum where you can openly get help and career advice.
We help each other find new career opportunities and jobs.
We also host more formal workshops to share knowledge and learn from each other, e.g., case studies, success stories and practical experiences.
We have ongoing conversations about current design topics and local opportunities, which can help you stay ahead of industry developments and identify career opportunities.
And lastly, peer-led sessions focused on specific design challenges that will help you build expertise and sharpen your problem-solving skills.
In other words, we learn together and smile together. We lift each other up.
Yes, absolutely!
IxDF Local Groups are for everyone, regardless of your professional background.
Design skills make you valuable. In any job and any industry. That's why our IxDF Local Groups are not just for professional designers. They're communities of professionals from all walks of life, who share a passion for great design and how it can benefit their career, their company, and society in general.
No matter what your job currently is, you'll find a supportive community to connect and grow with.
Each meetup is a chance to grow, learn, and connect with passionate professionals like yourself. Even small gatherings create big opportunities for personal and professional growth.
In a world that's getting more artificial, lonely, and competitive, IxDF brings the heart back.
We're a community with heart and soul, so you never have to face the job market alone. At IxDF, we lift each other up, learn together, and spark friendships that grow your career.