Alan Richardson has over twenty years of professional IT experience: as a programmer, tester and test manager. Author of 3 books and several online training courses to help people learn Java, Technical Web Testing and Selenium WebDriver. He works as an independent consultant, helping companies improve their use of automation, agile, and exploratory technical testing. Alan posts his writing and training videos on SeleniumSimplified.com, EvilTester.com, JavaForTesters.com, and CompendiumDev.co.uk.

Have you ever wondered how how a study of magic and prestidigitation can improve your software testing? Alan Richardson did, and that’s why he talked his way into the Magic Circle in London; and for a year was able to access their reference library and weekly lectures, a privilege normally reserved only for professional magicians. This enabled Alan to learn how to reverse engineer the process of observing the performance of magic and develop techniques which he applied directly to improve his Technical Testing process.

 

Have you ever wondered how a study of cognition could improve your magic performance? Gustav Kuhn did, and as a Cognitive Psychologist he explores ways in which magicians allow you to experience the impossible. His research lab uses magic to study a wide range questions about human cognition. For example, why is your mind so easily tricked? How can magicians misdirect your attention, and why is your experience distorted by perceptual, attentional and other more general cognitive illusions?

 

In this workshop, co-presented by Gustav and Alan, they will explore the wonder of magic and cognition and map it on to the process of testing, understanding, and manipulating systems.

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Co-Presenter Gustav Kuhn, Goldsmiths University of London, UK