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SUMMARY:Un-Computing: Shaking off the ‘Computer’ Baggage - Sarah Galla
 cher\, University College London
DTSTART:20150220T100000Z
DTEND:20150220T110000Z
UID:TALK57943@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Microsoft Research Cambridge Talks Admins
DESCRIPTION:I learned at an early stage in my computer science research ca
 reer that when relatives and friends ask me what I do\, I shouldn’t try 
 to give them a literal explanation but instead keep it brief\, answering w
 ith a few simple words...’computing’ or ‘computer science’. Howeve
 r\, very often this is met with the response “Oh I don’t like computer
 s\, I can’t use them!”. My internal reaction is “Really? But don’t
  you own a smartphone and an iPad and a Pebble…etc”\, (which they exhi
 bit no issues with when fluidly video chatting\, browsing\, social network
 ing or navigating around a city). What is interesting is how the modern fo
 rm of a computer has become so hidden behind other form factors and consum
 er terms such as ‘phone’\, ‘ tablet’ and ‘watch’ that the term
  ‘computer’ has been left behind on the same shelf as the desktop PCs 
 from what Weiser called the personal computing era. \nIn a sense we are 
 ‘un-computing’ - shaking off the computer term and all its baggage as 
 an often challenging tool\, and replacing it with other terms and familiar
  objects through which we engage\, consume and entertain ourselves. In thi
 s talk I look further at ‘un-computing’ and discuss several of my rece
 nt works that fall under the realms of tangibles and IoT\; two fields that
  are dramatically rethinking what a computer for the 21st century looks an
 d acts like.\n
LOCATION:Auditorium\, Microsoft Research Ltd\, 21 Station Road\, Cambridge
 \, CB1 2FB
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