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Lauralee Alben

Lauralee Alben
 

1997 Winner

 

At the 2nd International Conference on Design Management in the Digital Environment (May 7-9 in Minneapolis), Lauralee Alben gave the first Muriel Cooper Memorial Lecture, At the Heart of Interaction Design: Humanizing Technology.

 

Established in honor of the late Muriel Cooper, director of the MIT Media Lab’s Visible Language Workshop, the lecture is given each year by an individual selected on the basis of original thinking and future promise in the field of digital environments. Muriel Cooper was cofounder of MIT’s Visible Language Workshop (VLW), an early member of the Institute’s Board of Directors, a superb teacher, and a much-admired mentor. Cooper’s intellectual vigor, open style of teaching, and personal charisma inspired her students and colleagues to question and explore digital environments. She would often talk about her “profound disdain for answers... we do a lot of groping here. I don’t think there are answers. I think there are thoughts.”

 

This annual lecture has been established to be a lasting tribute to Muriel and will exemplify the spirit of exploration she so valued. DMI will sponsor the Cooper Memorial Lecture each year at its annual Digital Environment conference and will publish an expanded version of the speech in the Design Management Review. Following this year’s conference, the Institute will issue a CD-ROM featuring Alben’s keynote speech, background on Muriel Cooper’s work and vision, and other supplementary material. The CD will accompany the summer Review, which will feature Alben’s speech as its keynote article. Lauralee Alben exemplifies Muriel Cooper’s spirit of exploration.

 

A principal of Alben+Faris, Lauralee takes a human-centered approach to her work, much of which involves the design of interactive experiences. This year, I.D. Magazine chose Alben+Faris as one of the I.D. Forty, their pick of “the most important design innovators from the West Coast.” Lauralee Alben lectures regularly at professional organizations and universities such as Yale, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, and RISD.