Date: Wednesday 15 Feb 2012
Time: 18:30 – Tea 6:00pm for 6:30pm start
Speaker: Jennifer Sheridan – Director – BigDog Interactive www.bigdoginteractive.com
Location: AS124, Coventry University
Abstract:
Jennifer G. Sheridan is co-Director and owner of BigDog Interactive (BDI – www.bigdoginteractive.com), a small company of creative Computer Programmers and User Experience experts who develop mobile applications and interactive installations for the creative industries. BDI’s company objective is to promote knowledge transfer from Computing to the public through engagement with the Arts. In this talk, Jennifer will chart her journey with BDI and discuss her new mobile start up company and Apps which already have the attention of tens of thousands of users in over 100 different countries. Jennifer holds a PhD in Computer Science from Lancaster University, a Master of Science in Human-Computer Interaction from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a BA from the University of Waterloo, Canada.
BDI has extensive experience in software engineering, user interface design, networking and hardware development for a diverse set of user groups including gifted children, children with special needs, artists and scientists. Their portfolio includes large-screen interactive projections, mobile apps, emotional avatars, eye-tracking and tangible and wearable computing. BDIs works with global clients such as Nokia and UBS and their work has been exhibited internationally in North America, Europe and Australia, at venues and festivals such as the Science Museum London, the London Design Festival, the Vintage Festival and the Nuffield Theatre. Their innovations have received a number of awards – most recently an ICTomorrow Digital Innovation award at the BAFTA (2011) and Best Interactive Experience at the British Computer Society�s annual group conference on Human-Computer Interaction (2011).
BDI is an industrial partner on the £5M Media Arts and Technology Training Centre at Queen Mary University of London and their research and development work has been funded by the EPSRC, Technology Strategy Board, HEFCE and national initiatives such as Horizons, part of the Research Councils UK £40 million investment in the Digital Economy Programme. The Directors sit on a number of editorial boards, such as the International Journal of Performance Art and Digital Media, are long-time members of the Association for Computer Machinery and regularly review for international conferences such as CHI, UbiComp, HCI, TEI among others. BDI has published numerous articles and journals on computing and the arts for established publications such as the IEEE.
BDI is headquartered in London’s ‘Silicon Roundabout’ and regularly takes part in initiatives such as the UK Trade & Industry’s ‘TechCity’ and London’s Tech Hub.