The Kurty D Show

062 - Keep Calm with Amber Case

Episode Summary

In this episode, Amber and I explore our experiences in the tech industry, Amber's startup, Geoloqi, which Esri acquired, and our collaboration while we were both at the firm. Amber’s main focus in recent years is Calm technology, a type of information technologywhere the interaction between the technology and its user is designed to occur in the user's periphery rather than constantly at the center of attention. In 2015 O’Reilly published her book 'Calm Technology”. This episode is all about the need for human-centered design in technology, and celebrating Amber’s launch of the Calm Tech Institute.

Episode Notes

Episode Highlights:

The evolution of technology
The Importance of Understanding History in Law and Tech
The Role of History in Technology and Design
The concept of calm technology, its principles, and the need for historical context in product design.
The importance of long-term tech design and changing the narrative on what's considered cool.
Amber's journey in founding Geoloqi, the challenges faced, and the early development of location-based technology.
The importance of understanding the history of technology and innovation, and its impact on product development.
Geoloqi's mascot and privacy-first approach
The significance of long-term thinking, learning from history, and the impact of small problems in business.
Amber's personal journey, early experiences in entrepreneurship, and the impact of economic constraints on decision-making.
Discussion on trusting oneself and persevering in the tech industry amidst challenges.

Tweetable Quotes:

“It's really hard to build something when everyday life doesn't look like the thing you're building yet.” - Amber
“It's OK if it takes a while and it's OK if these things are informed by something in the past.” - Amber
“Everybody should be able to make their own thing instead of just assuming that just one culture makes something.” - Amber
“I think things are going so much faster and we seem to have linear time instead of slow time is that we keep thinking that we're moving forward and that we're modernizing in some way. But I think we're more like Victorian 2.0 times.” - Amber
“But the more stuff we look at online, do we remember at the end of the day, what we actually looked at?” - Amber
“Abstraction is actually causing us a lot of pain.” - Amber
“Humans are social creatures and we’re always comparing status.” - Kurt
“Hospitality does not necessarily feel like what a shiny ad for technology looks like.” - Amber
“Every company and every start-up, everything is hard or it can be really fun.” - Amber
“People overestimate what can be done in a year or two, but they radically underestimate what can get done in five or 10.”- Kurt
“A lot of people don't live their lives with enough slack to handle the turbulence when it comes up, they're, they're on the margin because they don't leave any moment unpacked and it's not really a huge risk..” - Amber

Links Mentioned: