Understanding Agentive Technology

Advances in narrow artificial intelligence make possible agentive systems that do things directly for their users (like, say, an automatic pet feeder). They deliver on the promise of user-centered design, but present fresh challenges in understanding their unique promises and pitfalls. In particular, these systems challenge content strategists and technical, marketing, and support writers, and product managers alike to think in new ways since they deliver value mostly when the user isn’t paying them any attention. Join me, Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler, and my special guest, Christopher Noessel, Global Design Practice Manager for Travel and Transportation at IBM for a free, one-hour discussion about agentive technology. Christopher will introduce us to the concepts from his new book, "Designing Agentive Technology" (Rosenfeld Media, 2017). bit.ly/agentivebook Attendees will learn what agentive technology is (and what it isn't), its history, how it fits in the artificial intelligence mix, and why agentive systems are so interesting and potentially useful. Come prepared to ask questions. About the presenter Christopher Noessel is the Global Design Practice Manager for Travel and Transportation industries with IBM. He teaches, speaks about, and evangelizes design internationally. His spidey-sense goes off semi-randomly, leading him to speak about things from interactive narrative to ethnographic user research, interaction design to generative randomness, and designing for the future. He is co-author of Make It So: Interaction Design Lessons from Science Fiction (Rosenfeld Media, 2012), co-author of About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design, 4th Edition (Wiley, 2015), keeper of the blog scifiinterfaces.com, and author of Designing Agentive Technology: AI That Works for People (Rosenfeld Media, 2017).