Jan Borchers

Sabbatical: I will be on a research sabbatical in the U.S. from Apr 1 to Sep 30, 2012, and not available for meetings, reviews, or exams during that time.

Prof. Dr. Jan Borchers Head Office location:   Room 2311 Office hours:   By appointment only. See my basic schedule. Telephone:   +49 241 80-21050 Email:   borchers@cs.rwth-aachen.de

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My vCard (internal access only).

Jan Borchers is full professor of computer science and head of the Media Computing Group at RWTH Aachen University. With his research group, he explores the field of human-computer interaction, with a particular interest in new post-desktop user interfaces for smart environments, ubiquitous computing, interactive exhibits, and time-based media such as audio and video. Before joining RWTH, he worked as assistant professor of computer science at Stanford University for two years, and briefly at ETH Zurich. He received his PhD in computer science from Darmstadt University of Technology in 2000, and is a member of ACM, SIGCHI, BayCHI, and GI.

For urgent matters, please contact his assistant, Clarissa de Gavarelli.

Research pointers

• LumiNet: An organic illumination network
• My Top Ten list of books on Human-Computer Interaction
• Hardware prototyping toolkits for HCI: An overview
• The Sweet Spot and Baroque Phase of Interactive Technology Lifecycles: A manifesto for simple technology, and a rant against feature-bloat. Published in the March/April 2008 issue of interactions.

For students

• A must-read when you join our group as Diploma/Master thesis student or HiWi.
• Tips for taking oral exams (Vertiefungsfachprüfungen / Prüfungen Praktische Informatik) at our chair.
• How I run the student mentoring program (in German)
• How to write your Diploma thesis.
• What makes a good doctoral student?
• Materials about student selection programmes (in German): StudierendenAuswahl

Useful hacks

• CHI Pages Template: An Apple Pages document template for archival Papers and Notes for the ACM CHI Conference Proceedings
• Function Keys: UI scripts to toggle between hardware and software function key mappings on Mac OS X
• Purple Surfer: How to tether your iPhone as an EDGE modem with your Mac.
• Easier German umlauts on a US keyboard for Mac OS X

Administrative stuff

• Information related to my role as building coordinator for the CS department: Baubeauftragter
• Faculty Lunch at the RWTH Computer Science Department

Personal

• Portrait pictures for press use (borchers_7154.jpg, borchers_5126.jpg)
• My unused blog
• Some Travel Disaster Stories
• Ina Rixen's homepage

More information on my old Stanford homepage.

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Publications

Published book: A Pattern Approach to Interaction Design

For a list of all published papers see Jan Borchers' Publications Page.

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(Very) Selected Talks and Presentations

2012

• Jan 25, 2012: "From Personal Fabrication to Personal Design". Invited Speaker, 18. Handelsblatt-Tagung, Munich

• Jan 16, 2012: "Campus im Vergleich zu den Universitäten in Hamburg und München: Welche Stadt braucht die Universität? Welche Universität braucht die Stadt?", Discussion Panel Member, Aachen Fenster, SuperC Building, Aachen.

2011

• Nov 7, 2011: "Making Things Usable". Invited Speaker, TEDx Conference, University of Hasselt
• Oct 12, 2011: "Dorkbot: People Doing Strange Things With Electricity in Aachen", Opening Speech, Dorkbot Maastricht
• Sep 14, 2011: Invited Speaker, Telekom Deutschland, Bonn
• Jul 30, 2011: "Personal Fabrication for HCI and HCI for Personal Fabrication". Sketching In Hardware 2011, Philadelphia
• Jun 30, 2011: "Von Smart Spaces und Dummen Dinge(r)n". Invited Speaker, Telecooperation Research Group, Technical University of Darmstadt

2010

• Usability bei interaktiven Geräten: Das Horrorkabinett des Professor B., Keynote Speaker, Computer Mediated Communication Conference, University of Mainz, Germany, Nov 12, 2010.
• Benutzerfreundlichkeit elektronischer Geräte, RWTH Science Night (Wissenschaftsnacht), RWTH Aachen University, Nov 12, 2010.
• iOS Development & iTunes U, Keynote Speaker, Apple Leadership Series for Higher Education, KTH Royal University of Technology, Stockholm, Oct 21, 2010.
• Teaching iPhone Development. Invited Speaker, Apple Education Leadership Series, Mumbai / Bangalore / Delhi, July 26-30, 2010.
• Benutzbare Technik erkennen: Wie wir uns vor mürrischen Mikrowellen und rüpelhaften Radioweckern schützen können (in German). Senior Study Program (RWTH Aachen, AH IV, Ahornstr. 55, July 7, 2010, 3:45 pm)
• User Interface Design: Schluss mit nervigen Geräten! (in German), Ringvorlesung: Was ist Informatik? for high school students, Aachen, June 30, 2010 (PDF slides)
• From Zero To Hero: Der Einstieg in die iPhone- und iPad-Programmierung. Invited talk, REGINA e.V. Mitgliederversammlung, Technologiezentrum am Europaplatz, Aachen, May 5, 2010 (video)
• Learning With Apple Technologies. Invited talk, Apple Education Leadership Series, London, Jan 14, 2010. (PDF, Audio)

2009

• Kommunikation mit Technik: Zeit für eine Revolution. Keynote, 10 Jahre Technikkommunikation, Aula I, Main Building, RWTH Aachen University, Nov 20, 2009.
• Mobile Usability. Invited talk, ATEC 2009 Aachen Entrepreneurship Conference, Rahe Castle, Aachen, Nov 25, 2009.
• Lust und Frust – Benutzerfreundliche Technik im Alltag. Keynote, World Usability Day 2009, Technology Center, Aachen, Nov 12, 2009.
• Designing the Urban Tourist Experience: From Serious Gaming to Locative Narratives. iDiscover Inspiration Day, Gallo-Roman Museum & University of Hasselt, Belgium, Oct 26, 2009.
• 20 Years of HCI Design Patterns: From Values to Formats, and Back Again. Invited talk, First International Summer School on Theories of Creative Design for Innovation in Science and Technology, Marie Curie Project DESIRE, Palazzo Feltrinelli, University of Milano, Sep 20-26, 2009.
• Tactile Motion Instructions. Invited talk, PhD School (Graduiertenkolleg) "Advances in Digital Media", Dept. of Computer Science, University of Bremen, Sep 17, 2009.
• LumiNet: Prototyping Organic Physical Networks (and hacking Arduino in the process). Invited talk, Sketching In Hardware 2009, London, July 17-19, 2009.
• Lust und Frust – Benutzerfreundliche Technik im Alltag. Uni im Rathaus talks, Aachen city hall, June 25, 2009.
• Wieso geht das nicht? Der Weg zu benutzbarer Technologie. Invited talk, BayKomm Communications Center, Bayer AG, Leverkusen, May 10, 2009.
• Sweet Spot Products: Why I Love My GPS. Distinguished Seminar, Dept. of Computer Science, Queen Mary College, University of London, Feb 11, 2009.

2008

• Baroque Technology. Keynote Speaker, Adaptive Hypermedia 2008, Hannover, August 1, 2008.
• Sweet Spots and Baroque Stages of Interactive Technology. Ignite Session, O'Reilly ETech 2008, San Diego, March 2008.
• Connectivity & Tools in Hardware Sketching. Sketching In Hardware 3, Providence, Rhode Island, July 26, 2008.
• Physical User Interface Prototyping Toolkits, Ubiquitous Computing / Campus Of The Future Research Group, UCSD, California, Jan 23, 2008

2007

• "The Media Computing Group at RWTH Aachen University: A Research Overview", CogSci 120 Class on Human-Computer Interaction, UCSD, California, Nov 29, 2007
• "The Media Computing Group at RWTH Aachen University: A Research Overview", Dept. of Cognitive Science, UCSD, California, Oct 10, 2007
• "The Media Computing Group at RWTH Aachen University: A Research Overview", Dept. of Computer Science, UCSD, California, Oct 9, 2007

2006

• "How To Make Sure Nobody Can Figure Out Your Interactive Art" (keynote speaker), Digital Art Weeks '06, ETH Zurich, Switzerland, July 13, 2006
• "eLearning mit Podcasts, eBeams und Xgrids" (invited speaker), Apple Podcast Server Technology Briefing, RFH Köln, Germany, June 23, 2006
• "MICON: A Music Stand for Interactive Conducting" (paper presenter), NIME'06 Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, Paris, France, June 7, 2006
• "Personal Orchestra" (invited presenter), Computer Science Year Local Event, Gesellschaft für Informatik, RWTH Aachen, May 5, 2006, and Univ. Münster, Germany, May 13, 2006
• "The Aachen Media Space: Multiple Displays in Collaborative Interactive Environments" (workshop presenter), CHI 2006 workshop on "Information Visualization and Interaction Techniques for Collaboration across Multiple Displays", Montreal, Canada, April 22, 2006.

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Selected Professional Activities

• Engineering Patterns Workshop Organizer, ACM EICS 2012, Copenhagen, June 25, 2012.
• Pervasive Health 2012 3rd Int. Workshop on User-Centered Design of Pervasive Healthcare Applications (UCSD, May 2012): Technical Program Committee Member
• HCI Journal Reviewer
• ACM CHI 2012 Papers Associate Chair, Interaction Techniques and Devices
• ACM UIST 2011 Papers Reviewer
• Pervasive Health 2011 2nd Int. Workshop on User-Centered Design of Pervasive Healthcare Applications (Dublin, May 2011): Technical Program Committee Member
• Engineering Patterns for Multi-Touch Interfaces 2011 Workshop Organizer, ACM SIGCHI Symposium on Engineering Interactive Computing Systems, 2011
• ACM CHI 2011 Interactivity Co-Chair
• ACM Ubicomp 2010 Papers Reviewer
• ACM UIST 2010 Papers Reviewer
• PEICS Patterns Workshop Program Committee, ACM SIGCHI Symposium on Engineering Interactive Computing Systems, 2010
• CHI 2010 Papers Associate Chair, Interaction Techniques and Devices
• CHI 2010 Student Research Competition jury
• Editorial Board, "Smart Healthcare Applications and Services: Developments and Practices" and "Human-Centered Design of E-Health Technologies: Concepts, Methods and Applications" (Book editors: Carsten Röcker, Martina Ziefle), 2010
• MobileHCI 2009 Program Committee Member & Posters Chair
• CHI 2009 Reviewer for Full Papers and CHI Notes
• ETH Digital Art Weeks 2007 Steering Committee Member
• FLAIRS'07 Program Committee Member
• UIST 2006 Papers and Technotes Reviewer, and Demo Committee Member
• MEIS Workshop Program Committee Member, GI Informatik 2006
• NIME 2006 Reviewer
• CHI 2006 Interactivity Co-Chair and Notes Reviewer
• UIST 2005 Posters Co-Chair
• CHI 2005 Interactivity Co-Chair

See my old home page for earlier activities.

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