HN Kansai #8: Kobe

Hello Everyone at HN Kansai,

Our next event is scheduled at the end of May, on the 31st to be precise. Friday evening, as usual. You are welcome to join us at the Coloco event space (see access indication) in Kobe, close to Sannomiya station, from 19h30 to 21h30. Entrance is 500 JPY as usual, and we will provide light food and drinks for the attendees. Kobe Sannomiya station is a major station in Kobe and can be reached via all train lines: JR, Hankyu and Hanshin.

We plan several presentations and topics. So far we have the following:

• Casual Game Design for Language-learning, by Oliver Rose: "I'll introduce a web/iOS game I have designed for studying vocabulary using flashcard data imported from the flashcard website Quizlet (try it online at www.lexwordgameapp.com, or free on the iTunes App Store). It uses various gamification techniques in combination with solid pedagogical support to provide an effective way to study that is more fun than flashcards. I'll talk about the design considerations, process of development, and ideas for further development and promotion.."

• Your Own Simple Electronics, by David Morris-Oliveros: "A lot of people have interest in arduino and want to plug XXX into it to control it somehow. You can breadboard it, or do it better by creating your own PCB's for cheap. I'll show simple basic steps and concepts on how to do that."

• Recognizing reading activities, by Kai Kunze: "I'll be talking about some stuff we did for CHI work in progress, using mobile eye trackers to figure out how you're reading (http://kaikunze.de/2013/04/29/kai--chi/). We also implemented a Wordometer using the SMI eye-tracker and checked what you read using EEG and eye gaze."

• Open Pandora : The Pocket Gaming Computer running Linux, by Raphael Guyot : "I will be presenting this mini-computer made in Germany, called the Open Pandora, equipped with a full keyboard and gaming controls. I will explain how it works and show what it can do in the leisure field and how it performs for more serious applications, too."

We are trying to bring an Occulus Rift to the event as well (the amazing virtual headset with almost no latency, currently in development!) and you may get a chance to try it the day if you join us!

If you have time after, you can join us for a drink nearby.

More details will be announced soon, but don't hesitate to register your participation in the meantime !

See you soon !
The HN Kansai Team

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