7:45pm
Our last meetup of the year is coming up. Join us for an evening of talks and discussions about accessibility & JavaScript, board games & code, designers & the startup world, and… maybe even cookies & mulled wine!
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Chris Ward Why I decided to code a Boardgame (and how tools written in obscure programming languages helped)
Just over a year ago Chris had a great idea for a boardgame where players get to run a computer company in 1980s America. As a programmer of over 15 years, it seemed obvious to him to code the game and this led him down a meandering path of obscure toolsets where he discovered some amazing gems. In this presentation Chris wants to introduce you to the why and how he did this, what he discovered, how it can help you and the digital future of cardboard.
Chris is a developer advocate and Technical Writer. Loves to talk when given the chance and is an Enthusiastic Amateur at just about everything.
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Emanuela Damiani Being a Designer in the Start-Up World
Being a designer in a technology start-up can be stressful. When a new venture starts with a brilliant idea, it’s up to you to guide them through a design process that turns a plan into a much loved product. You need to communicate with stakeholders, collaborate with developers, and solve problems, usually many times a day, just to turn that brilliant idea into something useful people actually need. This talk will share some practical ideas and processes battle-tested with clients to make the design process as stress-free as possible.
Emanuela is a designer aiming to create great user experiences for digital products. Following the eight and a half years she spent working on renowned web projects at MCED, her own web firm in Rome, she took her learnings and joined Berlin’s vivid startup scene. In 2011 she was awarded a full-scholarship to study a Bachelor in Visual Communication from IED — European Institute of Design, where she graduated in 2014. As an ambassador to the user she works closely with product managers and engineers to create both usable and valuable products.
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Melanie Thewlis Better Accessibility with JavaScript
Making the web accessible to people with all abilities is a key social justice issue of our era. Unfortunately, there’s still a lack of commonly adopted best practices. For developers, it can feel like a daunting challenge to sort through all the relevant technical documentation and work out how to apply it. This talk presents practical and easy-to-apply code samples that can significantly improve the web experience for people with a range of disabilities.
Melanie is a co-founder and lead web developer at Little Web Giants, and is experienced in building all sorts of web projects, from e-commerce to CRM integrations to data visualisations. She is an active member of the Berlin tech community, speaker, front end web development teacher, and holds degrees in Creative Computing in Political Science from the University of Melbourne. Melanie has had a lifelong involvement with volunteer and activist work on issues of social justice and the environment.