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(at)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

• Helpful tips when you join our group as Diploma/Master thesis student or HiWi.

• How to write your Diploma thesis.

• What makes a good doctoral student?

• Materials about student selection programmes (in German): StudierendenAuswahl

Useful hacks

• 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

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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Professional Activities

• 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.