Embracing Constraints

(Presented at Codemotion Berlin 2017: https://berlin2017.codemotionworld.com)

This talk will explore the relationship between the problems we try to solve, the constraints we encounter, and the solutions those constraints not only allow, but enable us to find. From architecture to accessibility, from computational linguistics to cartography, examples abound: limitations on time, data, and other resources can have an undeniably positive impact on our creativity and problem-solving abilities. We’ll investigate how we can recognize, value, and comply with the restrictions that can help us, yet reject those that are holding us back.

Transcript

1. Embracing
   Constraints
   @AnjanaVakil | Codemotion Berlin | 13 October 2017
   

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2. Hallo!
   I’m
   @AnjanaVakil
   The Recurse Center
   

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3. @AnjanaVakil
   Speaking of
   Twitter...
   

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4. @AnjanaVakil
   Speaking of
   Twitter...
   

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5. @AnjanaVakil
   Constraints:
   How do they affect our work?
   Are they all created equal?
   Which help, which hinder?
   

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6. @AnjanaVakil
   Constraints
   for
   Concentration
   

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7. @AnjanaVakil
   A11y
   Tech for
   everyone
   

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8. @AnjanaVakil
   A11y
   Challenge
   for devs
   Accessibility is
   hard :(
   The A11y Project
   a11yproject.com/about.html
   “
   

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9. @AnjanaVakil
   A11y
   Challenge
   for devs
   Web Content Accessibility
   Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0
   w3.org/TR/2008/REC-WCAG20-20081211
   

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10. @AnjanaVakil
    A11y
    Challenge
    for devs
    Web Content Accessibility
    Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0
    w3.org/TR/2008/REC-WCAG20-20081211
    

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11. @AnjanaVakil
    A11y
    Clarity for
    products
    Web Content
    Accessibility Guidelines
    (WCAG) 2.0
    

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12. @AnjanaVakil
    A11y
    Clarity for
    products
    Content vs. Presentation
    

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13. @AnjanaVakil
    Elm
    elm-lang.org
    

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14. @AnjanaVakil
    Elm
    The joy of
    constraints
    Elm restricts the way you program,
    resulting in maintainable code no matter
    what.
    There are no runtime exceptions so
    debugging is way less of an issue.
    Ossi Hanhinen, Futurice
    “How Elm made our work better”
    futurice.com/blog/elm-in-the-real-world
    “
    

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15. @AnjanaVakil
    Elm
    Types vs.
    Typos
    

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16. @AnjanaVakil
    Elm
    Types vs.
    Typos
    

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17. @AnjanaVakil
    Elm
    Types vs.
    Typos
    

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18. @AnjanaVakil
    Elm
    The joy of
    constraints
    Constraints:
    ● Limit design space
    ● Limit choices
    ● Give guarantees
    Ilias van Peer
    “Elm - The Freedom of Constraints”
    PartialConf 2017
    speakerdeck.com/zwilias/elm-the-freedom-of-constraints
    “
    

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19. “
    @AnjanaVakil
    [There are] barriers that
    lead to breakthroughs.
    Patricia D. Stokes
    Creativity from Constraints
    2006: Springer publishing, New York. p. 7
    

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20. @AnjanaVakil
    Constraints
    for
    Creativity
    

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21. “The power of constraints”
    Phil Hansen
    youtu.be/BgoAFS3xu74
    @AnjanaVakil
    

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22. “
    @AnjanaVakil
    Free to do anything, most
    of us do what's worked
    best, what has succeeded
    most o ten in the past.
    Patricia D. Stokes
    Creativity from Constraints
    2006: Springer publishing, New York. p. xii
    

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23. @AnjanaVakil
    Speech
    to Text
    

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24. @AnjanaVakil
    Speech
    to Text
    /h e ɪ ˈs ɪ r i/
    Acoustic model
    

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25. @AnjanaVakil
    Speech
    to Text
    Trained on
    15,000 hours
    selected from
    30 years(!!)
    of speech
    Olga Kapralova et al., “A big data approach to acoustic model training corpus selection”, INTERSPEECH 2014
    193.6.4.39/~czap/letoltes/IS14/IS2014/PDF/AUTHOR/IS140948.PDF
    

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26. @AnjanaVakil
    Speech
    to Text
    Microsoft
    msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh378476
    < 30
    Apple
    apple.com/ios/feature-availability/#siri
    < 40
    Google
    cloud.google.com/speech/docs/languages
    < 70
    Humans
    .ethnologue.com/guides/how-many-languages
    > 7000
    Languages Supported
    

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27. @AnjanaVakil
    Speech
    to Text
    constrained
    Innovations in machine learning
    Siri Team, “Improving Neural Network Acoustic Models by Cross-bandwidth and Cross-lingual Initialization”,
    Apple Machine Learning Journal, Vol. 1, Issue 2, August 2017. machinelearning.apple.com/2017/08/01/cross-initialization.html
    

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28. @AnjanaVakil
    Speech
    to Text
    constrained
    Innovations in machine learning
    Siri Team, “Improving Neural Network Acoustic Models by Cross-bandwidth and Cross-lingual Initialization”,
    Apple Machine Learning Journal, Vol. 1, Issue 2, August 2017. machinelearning.apple.com/2017/08/01/cross-initialization.html
    the hidden layers learn feature
    transformations that are less
    language-specific and instead
    generalize between languages
    “
    

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29. @AnjanaVakil
    Map
    Data
    

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30. @AnjanaVakil
    Map
    Data
    constrained
    mapbox.com/
    telemetry
    

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31. @AnjanaVakil
    Map
    Data
    constrained
    Map
    Data
    constrained
    Innovations in data collection
    @AnjanaVakil
    

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32. @AnjanaVakil
    Map
    Data
    constrained
    Map
    Data
    constrained
    Innovations in data collection
    @AnjanaVakil
    

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33. @AnjanaVakil
    Map
    Data
    constrained
    Map
    Data
    constrained
    Innovations in location services
    mapbox.com/telemetry
    @AnjanaVakil
    

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34. “
    @AnjanaVakil
    Creativity thrives best
    when constrained.
    Marissa Mayer
    bloomberg.com/news/articles/2006-02-12/creativity-loves-constraints
    

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35. “
    @AnjanaVakil
    But constraints must be
    balanced with a healthy
    disregard for the
    impossible.
    Marissa Mayer
    bloomberg.com/news/articles/2006-02-12/creativity-loves-constraints
    

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36. “
    @AnjanaVakil
    [Some constraints]
    preclude the surprising &
    promote the expected
    Patricia D. Stokes
    Creativity from Constraints
    2006: Springer publishing, New York. p. xii
    

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37. @AnjanaVakil
    Constraints
    for
    Conformity
    

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38. @AnjanaVakil
    “Java”
    Script
    the language must
    “look like Java”
    “
    Netscape to
    Brendan Eich
    1995
    brendaneich.com/2008/04/popularity
    

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39. @AnjanaVakil
    “Java”
    Script
    The Java influences,
    especially y2k Date bugs
    but also the primitive vs.
    object distinction
    (e.g., string vs. String),
    were unfortunate.
    “
    Brendan Eich
    2008
    brendaneich.com/2008/04/popularity
    

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40. @AnjanaVakil
    Pipe
    Lines
    True diversity means
    better teams, better
    financial returns, better
    companies and a better,
    more innovative world.
    “
    Project Include
    projectinclude.org
    

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41. @AnjanaVakil
    Pipe
    Lines
    

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42. @AnjanaVakil
    Pipe
    Lines
    

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43. @AnjanaVakil
    Pipe
    Lines
    NPR Morning Edition, “When women stopped coding”, 21 October 2014
    npr.org/sections/money/2014/10/21/357629765/when-women-stopped-coding
    

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44. @AnjanaVakil
    Pipe
    Lines
    

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45. @AnjanaVakil
    Pipe
    Lines
    The worst kind of group for
    an organization that wants to
    be innovative and creative is
    one in which everyone is
    alike and gets along too
    well.
    “
    Professor Margaret A. Neale
    Stanford Graduate School of Business
    gsb.stanford.edu/insights/diverse-backgrounds-personalities-can-strengthen-groups
    

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46. @AnjanaVakil
    Consider your
    constraints
    

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47. Question
    constraints
    @AnjanaVakil
    

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48. Reject
    constraints
    for conformity
    @AnjanaVakil
    

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49. Embrace
    constraints
    for concentration
    @AnjanaVakil
    

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50. Embrace
    constraints
    for creativity
    @AnjanaVakil
    

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51. @AnjanaVakil
    Let constraints
    work for you
    

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52. Vielen
    Dank!
    Thanks to:
    Mozilla TechSpeakers
    Havi Hoffman & Denise Graveline
    Mapbox
    Young Hahn & Lauren Budorick
    Codemotion Berlin organizers
    SlidesCarnival.com
    @AnjanaVakil
    anjana.vakil@mapbox.com
    

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