Amber Case studies the interactions between humans and technology, and how technology affects culture.
Case is an internationally recognised design advocate and speaker, and the author of four books, including Calm Technology and A Kids Book About Technology. She spent two years as a fellow at MIT’s Center for Civic Media and Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society and was a 2021 Mozilla Fellow.
Named one of Inc. Magazine’s 30 under 30 and Fast Company’s Most Influential Women in Technology, she was named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer in 2012 and received the Claude Shannon Innovation Award from Bell Labs. She was the co-founder and CEO of Geoloqi, a location-based software company acquired by Esri.
Case is the founder of The Calm Tech Institute, a foundation that exists to establish new standards for designing harmonious human-tech interactions that improve our lives. She works on design, governance, and AI through her position as a Research Director at the Metagovernance Project.
Designing Calm Technology
In a world where attention is our scarcest resource, how do we create technology that enhances rather than disrupts our lives? This talk explores the principles of calm technology – a design philosophy where devices know when to step forward and when to fade into the background. Drawing from historical concepts and modern challenges, we’ll examine practical approaches to designing technology that respects human attention while maintaining its utility. Attendees will learn strategies for creating products that strike the right balance between automation and human agency, ensuring technology fulfils its original promise of augmenting our capabilities without demanding constant engagement.
