Our guest of this episode, Halimat Alabi, has been many places and done many things. Listen as she brings us along on her journey through video game design, film and television, and research and teaching, with lots of laughs and poignant moments. She also gives advice for achieving work-life balance, including balancing family and career, and gives us insight into cutting edge visual analytics research.

Guest: Halimat Alabi (Twitter)

Formally trained as an engineer, Halimat describes herself as an interactive visualization designer. After receiving a degree in Acoustical Engineering from Purdue University she went into news, working in the newsrooms of PBS, FOX and CBS stations. Later she obtained a master’s degree in Television, Film and New Media Production and later an M.Ed. in Mathematics, Science, Social Studies & Technology Education. From there, she went on to work in console game development for Sony and THQ. She has worked on PSP, PS2, PS3 and Wii games. This experience and love of all things entertaining has forever shaped her perspective as a designer and her expectations for interactions with visual analytics.

She is currently an instructor for the Art Institute and doing visual learning analytics research at Simon Fraser University. She received a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grant for her research, and has published a book chapter called “A Language and a Space: Visualizing Learning Online” in the learning analytics textbook, “Developing Effective Educational Experiences through Learning Analytics.”

For a full transcription of this episode, click here.

Relevant Links:

• 3-2-1 Contact
• Accessibility, Innovation, and Mobility project
  
• Amazon Alexa
• Halimat on LinkedIn
• Halimat's website
• Dr. Marek Hatala, School of Interactive Arts and Technology, SFU
  
• Pozole

Hosted by: Danniele Livengood (@livengood)
Theme Music: “Positive and Fun” by Scott Holmes
Produced by: Vanessa Reich-Shackelford