Chatting again with Adam Hecktman

In ITKAN’s previous dicussion with Adam Hecktman, Hsuan-Min Chou spoke to Adam about social media. This time, Adam speaks about his new position,  Microsoft’s view on accessibility and his views on ITKAN’s past, present and future.

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Adam, as always, thanks for your time. Although we talked a while back, can you tell us about your new position at Microsoft and your responsibilities? Your new title, “Director of Technology and Civic Engagement”, was so intriguing to your fellow ITKAN members. What’s the scoop, my friend?

I’m really excited about this move in my career. As you know first-hand, Microsoft is firm in our belief of the empowering potential of technology. As you also know, we live in this rapidly emerging world of devices and services. With those two things as a back drop, we built a new team committed to partnering and helping civic leaders in large urban centers like ours to use technology to solve our biggest challenges and capitalize on the most impacting and inclusive opportunities.

My job is to advise our civic and policy leaders on how technology can be applied to the challenges of a large city, and how it can be used to get our citizens engaged and included. For example, the city faces a demand for efficient and economical services, more engagement with our citizens (especially online), and the cultivation of these great high-tech ecosystems we’ve built in our local economy. So there are many opportunities here. You and I are both passionate and lifelong Chicagoans, so we know that Chicagoans are not content to sit on a challenge. And I’m not going to! 🙂

The Microsoft Technology Center has been working at creating solutions for its clients. How does your title “Civic Engagement” come into play?

While I no longer run the Microsoft Technology Center Chicago, it does have a central role here, both in terms of Civic Engagement and Civic Technology.

Remember, the Microsoft Technology Center (MTC) is all about helping people envision and architect solutions to challenges and opportunities. Yes, we are working most of the time with large companies, as they have interesting problems to solve and prospects to go after. But a city also has much of both, just at a different scale.

Also, what really makes the MTC stand out is that the people who work there are both passionate technologists and passionate Chicagoans as well. So I plan on leveraging them a great deal, both for their creativity as well as their technical acumen.

Microsoft has developed thousands of information technology concepts. One of the hot buttons in IT design right now is web accessibility solutions for people with disabilities. How has Microsoft developed in this sector proactively and reactively? They definitely have a strong pedigree throughout their history in regards to the importance of accessibility to its customers and users.

“Our vision is to create innovative technology that is accessible to everyone and that adapts to each person’s needs” – Bill Gates, Chairman, Microsoft Corporation

I think Microsoft “came of age” in terms of accessibility far before many high tech companies did. In fact, the work started more than two decades ago. I mentioned earlier that we are all about the empowering potential of technology. Microsoft’s mission is to enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential. To really do that, you need to create technology that is accessible to everyone—regardless of age or ability.

To that end, we think about accessibility early on in the software development process when we create new products and services. Accessibility, as part of overall usability, is a fundamental consideration for Microsoft during product design, development, evaluation, and release.

Adam Hecktman,Director of Technology and Civic Engagement at Microsoft

When I speak of this type of technology, I am thinking in terms of many types of challenges. We make accessible technology with features that are helpful for individuals who experience visual difficulties, pain in the hands or arms, hearing loss, speech or cognitive challenges; and individuals seeking to customize their computing experience to meet their situations,l needs and preferences. So it is very broad. In the end, we think early on about accessibility that enables people of all abilities and ages to realize their full potential.

How has ITKAN changed since your initial involvement, and what’s your view on the road ahead?

For one thing, I think we have gotten far more serious in terms of using ITKAN as a forum for professional development. ITKAN members are not shy about saying what works and what doesn’t. From this open and collaborative environment, we’ve spawned some great sessions in which everyone has something to take away. And that certainly includes the technology topics we discuss, but it also includes the less tangible benefits. I’m thinking in terms of things like sessions that improve our professionalism, our job hunting portfolio, and the relationships that build and networking that takes place.

For another, I think that as a group we have grown to know and learn from one another in a very deep and meaningful way. We have built friendships and we take care of one another. My favorite story is how two of our members who live in the same building really got to know each other here at the ITKAN meetings!

I’ve seen so many good things come about from this group, from learning about Socrata’s data transparency for citizens to beehives falling from the sky.

From your perspective, Adam, what true success stories have you seen with ITKAN?

Everyone in this group is a success story. Everyone in this group has benefited from knowing ITKAN and participating. So I can only speak with authority for myself. I am fortunate in that I am not managing a disability. Yet I think that I have gotten the most out of this group. I have learned new perspectives.

I’ve come away with a multi-dimensional way of thinking through a problem – through the eyes of smart, compassionate people who manage their way around the city in ways that are different from mine. And I have built friendships that will last a lifetime. That is my success. What is yours, Bill?

Well, mine has been taking a concept that was far away from me to standing right next to it in my career. I have learned so much from all facets of what makes our networking group unique to anywhere in this country. It truly revitalized my thoughts and made me realize that there is so much tapped and untapped talent in the information technology/disability partnership.

Organic career paths usually lead to successful career paths, and because of Patrick Maher’s mentorship and your insight, time and providing the best playing field any IT networking group in Chicago can have, I think ITKAN will continue to grow in unexpected and very positive directions. Thanks again, Adam!

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“Getting to Know” ITKAN Members – Dan TeVelde

Creative leaders in technology take different paths, but it doesn’t necessarily call for a certification or degree to achieve their goals (of course it helps speed their progress). The booming growth of the I.T. field calls across all educational parameters, including ones that wouldn’t come quickly to mind.

Many people in information technology today come from fine arts, specifically in the field of music. The study of music emphasizes creativity, timing and performance, and this compliments a career in information technology very well. Ask our featured “Getting to Know” ITKAN Member, Dan TeVelde.

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Name: Dan TeVelde

Home: Forest Park, IL

Involved and Interested in IT – 22 years as a  Programmer & Analyst, McDonald’s, Oak Brook, IL

Education:  M.F.A. in Music, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL

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Thanks for your time, Dan.  Can you tell me how did come to the realization that IT was for you? 

I heard about a program to teach computer programming to the disabled.  I was working at another job and felt like it wasn’t going anywhere.  I had always wanted to learn how to use a computer so I took a chance on the training program.  After a year the school placed me in my current job.

Where do you think the information technology field will be in the next five to ten years, Dan?

I think the emphasis in IT will keep shifting away from just coding to more use of communication skills.  People will be working together to enhance their companies’ role in the economy.  As people become more sophisticated computer users, there won’t be as much of a need for IT people to do tech support or application development.  I think we will see more use of social media and mobile applications.  Everyone in a company will be collaborating rather than having their own spheres of influence.

People will also need to be more flexible when the priorities of a business change and must be ready to take on new roles and responsibilities.  Desktop computers are disappearing and I think the same may happen to laptops.  There won’t be a distinction between mobile and traditional operating systems.  Everyone will be using some kind of interchangeable mobile device.

As you are an employee of McDonald’s, can you offer insight on working with such a great company in regards to diversity and inclusion?

None of Us Is As Good As All of Us: How McDonald’s Prospers by Embracing Inclusion and Diversity

McDonald’s has had a forward-thinking outlook on social responsibility.  All types of employees are valued for their unique contributions to the company.  There are always opportunities for any company to expand the scope of what diversity means.

ITKAN has been gaining traction in various areas with its mission. What do you think about this dynamic group, and I’d love to hear your views on your participation on the new Visionary Innovation Team! 

I think what ITKAN is doing is great.  I would like to see more participation by businesses to send people to represent their companies at our meetings.  This would help connect people with jobs and other opportunities.  It would also be helpful to have other technology companies involved.  It’s great that Microsoft is being such a good host, and we need other tech companies like IBM, Oracle and others to participate in our meetings.

As far as my involvement with the visionary team is concerned, I think there is a lot of potential to make a difference.  We will need to find software developers who can work within the parameters we determined at our last meeting.  It would also be helpful to have some engineers there at the meeting who could interact with us about how to develop and deploy new hardware and software.

I can’t think of a time when the need has been more critical to develop better computer interfaces for the blind.  This is very important and timely.  Failure to do so would allow the IT field to completely pass us by and most blind people would either lose their jobs or not be able to find new ones.

What are your top 5 most visited Web sites? 

That’s a hard question to answer but the ones I can think of now are The American Foundation for the Blind, the American Printing House for the Blind, the American Council for the Blind,  Google and Facebook.

You have a knowledge and love for music. Can you tell us about that and does that compliment your occupation today? 

I’ve always had a love of music I grew up hearing it, studied piano in grade school and high school, and majored in it in college.  I was going to teach at the college level but things didn’t work out that way.  I would say where music relates to what I do now is that it is part of my ministry at my church and it provides a conversation piece with people.  I once had a manager who said he would recruit IT people from the music departments of colleges.  There’s a relationship in how the brain handles music and also logic for IT work.

Any closing remarks, Dan? 

I appreciate the opportunity to put myself out there and try to make a difference.

ITKAN’s Visionary Innovation Team Blazes Another Trail

ITKAN’s mission is stoking the fires of passion and technology without limits for students and professionals with disabilities. The spectrum of disability ranges far and wide, and after an outstanding ITKAN monthly discussion about the creative possibilities of Microsoft’s X-Box Kinect gaming product, ideas and passion came together. 

The new Visionary Innovation Team will explore current and emerging technologies that can impact the lives of people with vision loss and blindness, to improve  their careers and lives as well as how society views and interacts with them.

Through the Team’s efforts to follow ITKAN’s mission of promoting the development of passionate technology leaders with disabilities, the Team ultimately wants to make a difference through analysis, discussions and solutions to the quandaries that they face.

Kathie Topel, founder of Impact Insights

Led by Kathie Topel, the founder of Impact Insights and author of POWERSHIP, along with Pat Maher, the managing director of nAblement, and Adam Hecktman, the director of Microsoft Technology Center Chicago, the members of ITKAN focused on its mission of passion, exploration and knowledge of technology in another vein.

Would you like to be a part of this engaging group and make a difference? Want to find out more about ITKAN and it’s members and supporters? Join us at our next meeting on May 17th at the Microsoft Technology Center and you’ll see that we have the setting, the people and the ideas to get the Chicago technology industry listening. (Email here to RSVP)

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Coming next week,  ITKAN’s “Getting to Know”  feature will focus on Dan TeVelde, an Associate Programmer (and ITKAN Visionary Team Member) at McDonald’s World Headquarters in Oakbrook, IL.

“Getting to Know” ITKAN Members – Joseph Blasi

As the Information Technology Knowledge Ability Leadership Network (ITKAN) continues through 2012, we have focused on displaying our membership and their skills. This week, Bill O’Connor focuses on our first member interview, Joseph Blasi.

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Name: Joseph Blasi

Home: Des Plaines, IL

Involved and Interested in IT – 10 years

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Hello, Joe.

“Call me Joseph.”

Sorry, Joseph…Some questions for you as an I.T. professional…What 3 factors do you bring to the table in IT?

¨     “I have worked on various projects building and repairing hardware and configuring software and PC systems.

¨     “I really enjoy keeping up on technology, especially new releases of Microsoft products.

¨     I enjoy participating in technical forums. They allow me to look into different aspects of technology and be proactive in helping people with current problems and solutions.

Pretty solid background, Joseph. Where do you think technology will be in the next ten years?

“It really depends on the big players. How will Apple continue gaining of market share? Will Microsoft’s release of Windows 8 be a game changer? Will Linux build a general standardization in their niche? Even Internet service providers will havetheir say, as will the verdicts regarding network neutrality issues.”

What are the 5 Internet sites that you go to the most and why?

VP Forums – www.VPForums.org – This is a site that talks about virtual pinball. Pinball overall looked dead, but it seems to be having a rebound! 

Slashdot – www.slashdot.org – Good tech discussions, stories and articles. 

DSL Reports www.dslreports.org – Discussions on new sites and, like Slashdot, good dfiscussions about tech 

Simtropolis – www.simtropolis.com – This discusses the game SimCity, and I always want to keep up on it. The possibilities are endless with the program!

Mame World – www.mameworld.info – This talks about vintage arcade games, game simulation, and being able to play hundreds of arcade games on your PC. Awesome! 

What do you think about ITKAN? It’s a budding group, but what makes them special and productive?

It’s an interesting group. You’re focusing on people that have a lot of talent in the IT industry, but each one of them is really unique. It’s a tough job market, but these people need to be examined more closely. It’s a good idea, and hopefully, the members of the group will get some exposure. 

Thanks Joseph! Anything else?

Yeah, Bill, I’d like to be interviewed again! 

You bet, Joseph!

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Coming next week, we meet with Brendan Ginty, an IT Security pro in Chicago.

ITKAN Chat – Interview with Adam Hecktman

Adam Hecktman, Director, Microsoft Technology Center

Using social media to foster broad, interactive dialog:
A chat with Microsoft’s Adam Hecktman

By Hsuan-min Chou, hsuan@jumpbean.com

Adam Hecktman, a native Chicagoan, leads Microsoft’s Midwest region as Director of Technology where he builds relationships with the city’s Fortune 500 companies.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Mr. Hecktman consulted at Andersen Consulting as a rank-and-file employee. Mr. Hecktman’s next assignment at Andersen was two years in Grand Rapids, Mich., while Microsoft was ready to send him to Hawaii for a sales meeting. An easy decision, no doubt!

Mr. Hecktman is active in the non-profit industry, sitting on the advisory boards of Chicago Children’s Museum and Northwestern University’s Family Institute. Despite his busy schedule, Mr. Hecktman was able to answer a few questions regarding his engagement with ITKAN/SPR and how he uses social media at Microsoft.

Tell me about yourself, and your role at Microsoft?

Adam Hecktman: I am a lifelong Chicagoan. Chicago and Technology are my two passions. I love them both. So my role as the Director of the Microsoft Technology Center Chicago is kind of tailor-made for me. I have been with Microsoft for almost 20 years. I’m one of the few people I know of that can say with conviction that every day at work has been a fantastic day!

What led you to become involved with ITKAN/SPR? 

AH: I was involved with SPR before ITKAN. Microsoft has a close, long-standing relationship with one of the SPR companies (MPS Partners). It was through that, years ago, that I met Pat Maher. Pat runs another SPR company (nAblement) and is also the leader of ITKAN.

Pat has had a very powerful impact on my way of thinking about a lot of things. One of those things is the potential that people with disabilities bring to the workforce table.  And a second is the obstacles that they must overcome to participate in that workforce.

Having now been part of ITKAN, I have made friendships with some very talented people that any company would be lucky to have on their staff.

Why are you so invested/interested in social media, and in what types of social media do you engage? Blog, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn? How do they help you?

AH: I am invested in social media, and yes, I use Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn regularly. However, I might not be your typical social media user.

I mean I do love user-generated content, and I love how that informs broad interactive dialogue. But the social media that I use regularly are the social networking tools internal to my own company, Microsoft. Let me give you two examples:

We have an internal feed that we call OfficeTalk. It is micro-blogging internal to the company. Think of it like you would an internal Twitter. I am not using it so much to broadcast news or topics. I am using it for what I think is a higher purpose—to recognize broadly people’s accomplishments. Whenever I see someone who has done something to make other’s great, I post a little note on OfficeTalk. That way, potentially everyone in the company can see this person’s accomplishments.

In that same vein, we have a tool called Kudos. This is a peer-recognition service that allows you to thank people at Microsoft, and track who has recognized you for something. Since it is a cloud service, it is available to me when I am on or off the corporate network. Oh, and it sends a message to your manager so that you are recognized up the chain. :^)

This is how I get value from social media. I know that everyone has their own reasons for using it or not using it; this is mine.

How have you used social media, and what has been your greatest challenge?

AH: My greatest challenge is understanding how to filter social media tools in the most efficient way possible. Tools like TweetDeck help. But the content you see is only as good as the content people post.

What has been your strategy for creating visibility to yourself? For Microsoft? For ITKAN?

AH: I like to think that everything I do helps me represent Microsoft and the organizations I work with like ITKAN.

So it can be as broad as discussing a technology on the TV news, or as narrow as a discussion with someone I met on the El [Chicago’s elevated train system]. It all reflects on you, your company, and your organizations. Beyond that, I really do not have a strategy for creating visibility for myself.

Tell us about some of the people you’ve met while working in social media.

AH: There are some people who have really mastered the art of generating great content in social media. One of my favorites is Dr. Mark Drapeau, who edits the site http://Publicyte.com .

This is a social media play that takes a theme of public interest and riffs on it. He has a great term for it: Civic Innovation. Recent themes have been around connectivity, and the public interest and policy surrounding it. Other themes have included cybersecurity, etc.

Probably the master of social media in Chicago is Howard Tullman. Howard runs Tribeca Flashpoint Academy, which is a fantastic two year digital media school right here in the Loop. It is a very forward-thinking, push-the-envelope kind of school that is building the next generation of digital media talent.

But the driving force behind it is really Howard himself. What makes him such an icon in this space is the way he can take a story, and combine so many different types of social media to surround it. He is one of the people in the city that I admire most.

Where do you see your involvement with ITKAN going? 

AH: That is a good question. Right now, I support them by providing them with a space to meet, access to interesting and (hopefully) helpful speakers, and of course my personal friendship. I’m really happy with that involvement.

But what I want to see is more people recognizing the potential that each of these members possess. The company that recognizes that—to the point where they engage with one of the members on a career level—is going to be a far better company for it.

What do you so when you’re not involved in social media?

AH: My job is not really social media. It is really about running the Microsoft Technology Center so that we can work with our customers and help them envision solutions that meet their business needs.

I love my job and I put my heart into it. And when I am not having fun with my colleagues, partners, and customers… I am spending time with my family and enjoying this fabulous city we call home.

Thank you again, Adam, for agreeing to answer some questions for the ITKAN blog.

You’re welcome, Hsuan.

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NEXT WEEK: An interview with a ITKAN member, Joseph Blasi

ITKAN – Exploring a Passion for Technology without Limits!

Welcome to ITKAN – the Information Technology Knowledge Abilities Network! We’re excited to launch our site, share our mission, strengthen relationships with key partners, forge new partnerships and express our passion for technology and the many opportunities that harnessing it can provide to our members.

Who we are:

Speaking of our mission, ITKAN is a member-driven professional growth and networking organization dedicated to strengthening opportunities for members of the disability community with a passion for technology to achieve meaningful careers in the industry, be exposed to developing technologies and trends, and generally explore that passion. We are proud to be a 2012 Computerworld Honors Laureate! We are affiliated with the Illinois Technology Foundation, the academic partner of the Illinois Technology Association, and share their strong commitment to academic growth and passion for technology.

What we do:

ITKAN members commit to active support of our committees – Membership, Communications or Development. Additionally, they commit to a high level of participation in our monthly meetings – which is easy since we meet at the Microsoft Technology Center on Chicago’s beautiful lakefront – a haven for techies! Our monthly meetings are chock full of immersive programs with subject matter experts in leading edge technologies and platforms that impact all of us. Recent programs have explored:

·      Mobile technologies and their value to – and challenges for – the disability community; an agnostic discussion

·      Yong Kim – Creating your IT Career Path, a Personal Journey

·      Windows Mobile 7 – a hands-on tutorial by Evangelist Dave Bost on developing, and profiting from, mobile application development

·      Kinect – an immersive experience with Evangelist Krishna Kumar –  its application to and potential to impact the disability experience

Finally, as members of ITKAN we are all committed to exposing our rich talents and passion to the business community!

Connect with us!

Why not join us and help grow our community of talented IT professionals with disabilities? You can find us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and of course right here! Don’t forget to join us at the MTC the 2^nd Thursday of every month from 5-7PM!

ITKAN – Exploring a Passion for Technology without Limits!