Noble Ackerson
Product Lead
Washington, DC
Noble is a product manager at the National Democratic Institute.  He is also a Google Developers Expert for product strategy, international speaker on emerging tech, and a seasoned technical product lead delivering vision camera, web and mobile technologies from abstract concepts to final products. He led the award-winning DC-based Augmented Reality for fitness startup, LynxFit as Product Owner and Co-founder.   Noble sits on the Alumni Leadership Board for the leading online educations startup Udacity. A member of the Alumni Board at his alma mater, Lynchburg College and acts as the Publicity Chair for Ubicomp and ISWC, two top-tier conferences for the internet of things and wearable technology.   When Noble is not focused on product, he is mentoring underrepresented and aspiring founders, developers, speaking at technology events, or spending time with his daughters.
Connect with the author

Citizen Centered: Designing technology solutions for democracy at NDI

It’s amazing what humanity can do with the right tools. If you’ve ever looked up the work of Marshall McLuhan, he talks about how even the basic things we create change our outlook on life, politics and society. He’s also often attributed to having said, "We shape our tools and, thereafter our tools shape us…". The light bulb, for example, changed what time of day we can commune with each other.

I have been developing and designing software for close to twenty years. Since joining NDI, I’ve been thinking about the tools we build and how those tools, in turn, shape the lives of beneficiaries around the world. Human-centered design is the process of designing technology with and around the humans who use it. This process is analogous to building a bridge to connect two worlds. Just like civil engineers, practitioners of human-centered design at NDI must connect technology to the needs of citizens.

Read More…