Jan Borchers

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

• My unused blog.
• Some Travel Disaster Stories

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

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

• CHI 2011 Interactivity Co-Chair
• 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 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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