Minds Behind Maps

April Speight leads the Spatial Computing Cloud Advocacy team at Microsoft. This team focuses on helping developers understand technology & raise awareness, mostly with the Mixed Reality team, most famous for the HoloLens.

We talk about April's work at Microsoft, but also about her journey from the the fashion industry, to entering the field of Tech in general. We touch on fashion and branding, and what the Tech world can take away from them. Finally, this is also a conversation about Augmented & Virtual Reality, on the privacy aspects of these technology and how they go hand in hand with technical literacy & education. 

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Find previous episodes and other show notes at mindsbehindmaps.com

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About April:

• Website
• Twitter
• LinkedIn

Time stamps:

• 02:37 - Conversation begins, April presents herself
• 6:25 - Aprils’ journey from Fashion to Tech
• 18:22 - Entering the Tech industry with no Tech experience
• 27:25 - Dealing with impostor syndrome
• 30:48 - April’s current role: Spatial Computing Cloud Advocacy Lead at Microsoft
• 33:27 - Defining Mixed Reality
• 35:02 - The impact of covid on the public’s perception of Augmented & Virtual Reality
• 39:02 - Building virtual worlds
• 44:53 - Should we implement limitations on virtual environments?
• 47:02 - Privacy implications in virtual spaces
• 54:47 - How should users & developers think about privacy?
• 1:01:23 - Digital Literacy
• 1:04:52 - What Tech can learn from the fashion industry
• 1:10:12 - The Importance of Branding
• 1:13:35 - Creating content for developers
• 1:18:04 - Media & Book recommendation

Shownotes:

• Microsoft HoloLens
• Media Recommendations:
  • Business of Fashion
    • Unpacking Fashion’s Latest Waves of NFT Sales
  • The Little Prince
  • LingoPie

Please feel free to reach out!

• My Twitter
• For news about the podcast
• Website