Fragments of Ricocheting Thoughts

"Intolerance for ugliness is not in itself enough. You have to understand a field well before you..."

Thu, 24 May 2012 17:59:54 -0400

“Intolerance for ugliness is not in itself enough. You have to understand a field well before you develop a good nose for what needs fixing. You have to do your homework. But as you become expert in a field, you’ll start to hear little voices saying, What a hack! There must be a better way. Don’t ignore those voices. Cultivate them. The recipe for great work is: very exacting taste, plus the ability to gratify it.”

- Taste for Makers - Paul Graham

“plus the ability to gratify it,” if only more people had that ability, the world would improve faster.

Close Your Loops!

Thu, 24 May 2012 11:55:00 -0400

Close Your Loops!:

Which is to say: the loops are left open. The reading-enjoying-sharing-engaging-reading loop can’t be closed when your platform doesn’t have universally, publicly accessible points.^[3] And right now, those points — to be truly universally accessible and pointable — need to be web based. It’s our lowest common denominator of pointability.

So that feeling: if a text isn’t online, then it doesn’t exist. This needs a little amendment: If a text isn’t online and publicly pointable, then it doesn’t exist.

If you want an idea to spread, give it an address. The addressability of a permalink closes the viral loop. (via @craigmod)

T-55: Pick Yourself

Wed, 23 May 2012 11:29:00 -0400

Part of the MFA Interaction Design Weekly Thesis Blog series - 10 of 64

“Pick Yourself” was the theme of Seth Godin’s all day seminar last Wednesday, which I had the privilege to attend because I was a student volunteer. It echoed many of the themes of last semester’s entrepreneurial design class, with a slightly more personal twist.

Seth’s premise is similar to Gary and Christina’s; the world is changing from an industrial based economy to a networked based economy. The nature of scale is changing, and the barriers to making a dent in the world is lowering. Power of the traditional gatekeepers are growing weaker. Therefore, don’t wait for a gatekeeper to give your permission, don’t clamour for a kingmaker to crown you. Pick yourself.

Pick yourself

From here, Gary and Christina asked us to think entrepreneurially. That involves running experiments, proving out ideas, and putting yourself out there. At “Pick Yourself” Seth focused more on the psychology of getting started, and the power of a compelling story in a connection-based world. Here are my big take aways from Seth’s seminar.

Confront the Lizard Brain

Seth referred to the pitfalls of our lizard brain, that part of our brain that whispers our doubts and fears. Humming and hahing and delaying decisions using seemingly rational excuses. We fight back by asking the obligating question. Is there an objection which, when answered, will compel you to actually start working? Or will you simply find another objection to hang on to? The obligating question clarifies whether we have legitimate concerns, or whether we are simply fearful. Seth emphasized that it is ok to fear, but we ought to recognize it, and evaluate it clearly. Mistaking fear for rationality won’t do.

Be Un-well-rounded

With the internet, you can broadcast to almost the entire world. To get your idea off the ground though, you only need the support of a small group. You do, however, need their fervent support. That requires a compelling, outstanding and genuine story. Your story must bring together a dedicated following - what Seth refers to as your tribe. The idea therefore is to be yourself; the most outstanding, undeniable version of yourself that brings together your tribe, even if it repeals some others. After all, you don’t need the world to love you to succeed.

Reflections

With regards to “Be Un-well-rounded” he’s essentially advocating for us to become the embodiment of the ideal we are most passionate about. Seth laid out a very convincing case for why that is powerful in a networked world, and Seth himself is a testimony of the power of that approach. Nonetheless I think it requires a level of dedication and sacrifice that is extraordinary, and shouldn’t be taken on lightly. I am not sure it works for everyone.

The idea of confronting the lizard brain and picking yourself, however, I find very appealing. It gets at in a much clearer way what I want to advocate in my thesis proposal - that everyone ought to take responsibility for their own lives, no matter the circumstance. Our new tools and networks are making this easier everyday, and we have fewer and fewer excuses not to pick ourselves.

Post script

This reminds me of a blogpost I have yet to write. A friend challenged this idea that “everyone should take responsibility for their own lives, no matter the circumstance” as being a very privileged point of view. I wanted to argue, but I had no good answers for that one. I still don’t, because I know that I am indeed very privileged.

Not sure what to think about it yet. What do you think?

All kinds of amazing. Insightful thinking, simple visualization.

Tue, 22 May 2012 01:26:58 -0400

All kinds of amazing. Insightful thinking, simple visualization.

Steve Blank on the Dearth of Hard Science Innovation in Silicon Valley

Sun, 20 May 2012 12:47:24 -0400

THOMPSON: But you think Silicon Valley is screwed, whether Facebook lives up to that valuation or not. Why?

BLANK: I teach science and engineering. I see my students trying to commercialize really hard stuff. But the VCs are only going to be interested in chasing the billions on their smart phones. Thank God we have small business research grants from the federal government, otherwise the Chinese would just grab them.

THOMPSON: But there are some people doing interesting, daring things, like Vinod Khosla.

BLANK: He is. But think about this. The four most interesting projects in the last five years are Tesla, SpaceX, Google Driving, and Google Goggles. That is one individual, Elon Musk, and one company, Google, doing all four things that are truly Silicon Valley-class disruptive.

The best framing of “when to pivot” I’ve heard...

Sat, 19 May 2012 15:25:12 -0400

The best framing of “when to pivot” I’ve heard yet, from David Binetti of Votizen.

Surveys, A/B testing, landing pages, etc. are all good ways to find a local maximum for a given set of assumptions (i.e. you current business model)

If you’ve hit that local max and your model still isn’t a sustainable business, it’s time to restate your assumptions (i.e. to pivot)

Note the difference between incremental improvement and radical change. We can test our way to incremental improvement and optimization, and find a local maxima. Unfortunately, incremental iteration is not guaranteed to find a global maxima. Iterating myopically might get you stuck at the top of a short hill.

Pivoting is finding a new hill, which you can only find when you zoom out, think holistically, and survey the landscape broadly.

"In each case, we have resources that were once dedicated to advertising instead being used to..."

Fri, 18 May 2012 16:45:58 -0400

“In each case, we have resources that were once dedicated to advertising instead being used to enhance a customer’s experience, and proving far more beneficial both to the customer and the business. Traditional advertising grew up in an industrial age world dominated by mass-manufacture and products. As we shift into a connected age built on services and customer relationships, savvy businesses are those that recognize money is best spent not cramming messages down people’s throats, but tirelessly figuring out how to enhance the service experience.”

- Why UX is better marketing than marketing (via Findings.com)

T-56: GitLaw

Fri, 18 May 2012 01:18:25 -0400

Part of the MFA Interaction Design Weekly Thesis Blog series - 9 of 64

A few days ago a blogpost proposing a git style platform for legal documents hit the front page of Hacker News, and generated quite a bit of discussion. Several friends who have heard about my thesis idea forwarded it to me. My thesis proposal for a digital, participatory repository for legal code is not a new idea; people have been thinking about trying to increase accessibility and transparency in the legislative domain for a while. Quite a few programming-minded people have hit upon these ideas about version control before, and that blogpost gathered a treasure trove of perspectives for me.

It’s worth highlighting some of the push back on Hacker News.

Who is allowed to “patch” laws, in a GIT metaphor? You can’t actually take the metaphor of contributing to laws that far, because the process of putting laws on the book is much, much more time consuming than deploying software. The feedback cycles are inherently long and difficult. The access to the raw legal “code” is exclusive and limited.
Git is a completely different mental model than how legislators usually go about thinking about law. It is exceedingly difficult to change the mental models of these legislators.
A merely superior process doesn’t overcome bureaucratic inertia. There are vested interests in keeping the status quo.
A GitLaw is a technical solution to a people problem. Bad laws get passed not because the tools are inadequate, but because some people want those laws to pass.

The discussion has been helpful in thinking through my thesis. It is clear that the tool can’t focus on changing how laws get made. I am not sure law makers want better tools, since so much of the power structure in Washington is built around its dysfunction.

Who might want better tools? Researchers, who analyse and scrutinize bills as they go through congress, and writers, who work to get policy issues into the public consciousness. These people need tools to make analyzing and publicizing legal proceedings easier. My hunch is that tools we need are not about changing the mechanics of how laws are written, but about changing how legislative issues are discussed.

This blog post makes me wonder if GitLaw is the right metaphor. Maybe it should be a Reddit for law, which aggregates ideas and directs attention. Maybe it should be a Youtube for law, which allows people embed legal code so to respond to it, while referencing a central source.

What might be the right metaphor?

"Maybe your company shouldn’t scale. Maybe you shouldn’t focus on making things that are different,..."

Thu, 17 May 2012 10:59:00 -0400

“

Maybe your company shouldn’t scale.

Maybe you shouldn’t focus on making things that are different, new, novel, disruptive, and with broad appeal. Maybe, instead, your company should try to be appropriate, simple, quiet, useful, and focused.

”

- A Focus on Scale | Austin Center for Design (via Findings.com)

Questioning the metrics of success. Do success require scale? What does scale burden you with?

"But because they never really take the leap and quit their job, they can give up their dream at any..."

Tue, 15 May 2012 13:15:24 -0400

“But because they never really take the leap and quit their job, they can give up their dream at any time. And 99.9 percent of them will actually give up their dream. If they take the leap, quit their job, go do it full-time-no matter how much it sucks-and convince one other person to do the same thing with them, they’re going to have a much, much higher chance of actually getting somewhere.”

- Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days by Jessica Livingston (via Findings.com)

"Haidt says that our emotional side is an Elephant and our rational side is its Rider. Perched atop..."

Tue, 15 May 2012 12:33:36 -0400

“Haidt says that our emotional side is an Elephant and our rational side is its Rider. Perched atop the Elephant, the Rider holds the reins and seems to be the leader. But the Rider’s control is precarious because the Rider is so small relative to the Elephant. Anytime the six-ton Elephant and the Rider disagree about which direction to go, the Rider is going to lose. He’s completely overmatched.”

- Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath, Dan Heath (via Findings.com)

Designing in the Browser

Fri, 11 May 2012 17:50:31 -0400

Heads up, the following is a technical reflection blog post. I do a lot of web development after all.

Launched the SVA MFA Interaction Design Thesis Festival website on Tuesday. Another foray into responsive design, using Andy Clark’s 320andUp framework. From receiving the basic identity and content structure to launch, the site took about five days.

The website is relatively straight forward, just a list of thesis profiles, plus a couple ancillary page. Since the site was so simple, I took the opportunity to try out some new approaches. Firstly, I went straight for a responsive design, and secondly, I decided to completely skip designing in photoshop, and went directly to design in browser.

I must admit I flailed around a bit before landing on a workable iterative process. As usual, I began with thinking through content hierarchy, and main flows of experience through the site.

The two main scenarios in my head were focused on visitor browsing through the thesis projects, and festival attendees looking for event information. According to these scenarios I built out a basic content hierarchy.

The next task was to write the HTML. True to what I try to teach others, I began strictly with HTML content first, making sure that each page template will read write without styling or layout. This was particularly important since I was taking a mobile-first approach. Forcing myself to put together the content hierarchy first ensured the site communicates clearly.

Basic typography came next, and this is where I began to run into trouble. I had no strict forward process for this, except to address each device size, from small to large, and circle back as inspiration leads to changes and iteration. From typography I expanded outwards, polishing the layouts and making small aesthetic and usability adjustments. Throughout this process there was a rapid back and forth between CSS changes and browser refreshes. The responsive.html file Andy included in 320andup was very valuable here. (As was a second monitor.)

Designing in the browser was great for evolutionary, iterative improvements. For a project this small, with such a short turn around time, this approach worked well. I stuck to a tried-and-true two-column layout above 768px, and simply polished it as best I could while keeping with responsive design principles. I imagine in a bigger, more extensive project, I would want to experiment with more radical variations. I am not sure those variations would be as quick to do in the browser as it would be through a graphic program.

There is one big flaw in this process. All the testing I did were hallway tests, mostly with other interaction designers. I guess I will walk around the thesis festival and see how (and if) people visit the site on the mobile phone as I imagined. The other big down fall for the site is the lack of a responsive image strategy, since the imagery is such a big part of the site. I need to read up on what is the latest in responsive image delivery soon - anyone have good suggestions?

The thesis festival is tomorrow, May 12th. My seniors have done some really awesome projects. Will you come and hear from them? Check out their projects here: http://interactiondesign.sva.edu/festival/2012.

barbaradewilde: Physical Computing Project created by myself...

Thu, 10 May 2012 10:51:00 -0400

[Flash 10 is required to watch video.]

barbaradewilde:

Physical Computing Project created by myself and Tony Chu. A indoor wind chime that moves by sensing the motion of the wind outside. SVA coursework with Rob Faludi.

Thanks Barbara!

Another example of the diverse course work at SVA IxD. In the same weeks we were running around shooting these videos, making Arduinos work, we were also trying to get entrepreneurial design assignments done and making popcorn machines activated by Foursquare.

T-57: Meaning finds you, if you listen for it

Wed, 09 May 2012 17:08:05 -0400

Part of the MFA Interaction Design Weekly Thesis Blog series - 8 of 64

This past weekend marks the fourth Financial Literacy for Youth conference, and the first one I did not attend. Flipping through the photos on Facebook was a bittersweet experience. I miss the young ones I mentored, and I am immensely proud of what they’ve achieved.

Almost four years ago, two friends of mine approached me with the idea to start a financial literacy organization. Over the next three years we built an organization and a culture around the idea of promoting financial literacy among teens. We ran three conferences, in which I did everything from writing curriculum, mentoring teens, to folding pamphlets and cleaning floors. Not a single moment of that would I consider lost or wasted.

It goes to show that, sometimes, you don’t find meaning, meaning finds you. To be completely honest, before the start of FLY, I had never thought about financial literacy at all. Now it is one of those issues I care deeply about. It also goes to show that the narrative of life only makes sense in hindsight. That afternoon I had no idea how much this endeavor would mean to me today, nor all the people it would bring into my life.

I am carrying this feeling with me as I approach my thesis project. Thesis right now still feels vague and far away. From watching my seniors in the program struggle through the final weeks of thesis, I can see how much this project now means to them. The look in their eyes a mix of exhaustion and determination. If the project didn’t mean much to them last year, it certainly does now.

What’s the lesson? Stop trying to find meaning. Invest in an idea, invest in the people around it, and it will become meaningful.

Related: David Brook on finding yourself and finding meaning, “It’s not about you” (via Erin Tao)

"Most successful young people don’t look inside and then plan a life. They look outside and find a..."

Wed, 09 May 2012 13:05:49 -0400

“

Most successful young people don’t look inside and then plan a life. They look outside and find a problem, which summons their life.

Most people don’t form a self and then lead a life. They are called by a problem, and the self is constructed gradually by their calling.

Today’s grads enter a cultural climate that preaches the self as the center of a life. But, of course, as they age, they’ll discover that the tasks of a life are at the center. Fulfillment is a byproduct of how people engage their tasks, and can’t be pursued directly. Most of us are egotistical and most are self-concerned most of the time, but it’s nonetheless true that life comes to a point only in those moments when the self dissolves into some task. The purpose in life is not to find yourself. It’s to lose yourself.

”

- David Brooks, “It’s Not About You” (via The New York Times)

Amen.
(via erintao)
So, have patience to listen for that call, and have courage to answer that call.

Chen Guangcheng has a posse and Ai Weiwei is everywhere: Memes as dissent in China » Nieman Journalism Lab

Tue, 08 May 2012 18:21:00 -0400

Chen Guangcheng has a posse and Ai Weiwei is everywhere: Memes as dissent in China » Nieman Journalism Lab:

Memes in China as decentralized cultural resistance against political repression. Once again, this is why we have to protect the internet, and protect digital public spaces.

Balance and Pace

Tue, 08 May 2012 00:08:24 -0400

I struggle with balance a lot. I have a habit of going to extremes, particularly when it comes to achievement. I am a serious workaholic. My nickname among several social circles is either “machine”, or “robot”. It is not a mark I wear with pride.

What does it mean to be balanced anyways? Some of my friends advise me to do “normal people things” like watch more TV, or go out more, or just don’t work so hard. That kind of advice wears on me a bit. I don’t want to watch five hours of TV a day, go out and drink two nights a week, and have two and a half children. Balanced, in my mind, ought not to mean average.

So maybe I don’t need balance after all? That’s clearly not true. I’ve lost ten pounds since I moved to New York. I am constantly working late into the night. I am doing the best work of my life, and opening new doors every day. I am meeting lots of people all the time. I am certainly living a life of extremes, and while I don’t feel the wear and tear much now, I suspect it is take a toll.

What should balance look like for me? I am not sure, but I do have a hypothesis, which I will test this summer. Balance for me might mean living at the fastest sustainable pace. I was recently talking with a friend and mentor, and she mentioned how I am firing on all cylinders, all the time. That can be great for a while, but it shouldn’t be a continuous thing. I ought to find a way to pace myself.

This requires a mindset switch. Instead of asking how I might be the most productive person I can be now, I ought to ask how I might be the best person I can be over time. Instead of investing in work that has clear immediate benefits, I ought to invest in more speculative, playful activities. Perhaps this means I should spend some time studying great movies, instead of keeping up with Hacker News. Perhaps this means going to events and meetups that are not strictly design or technology related. Perhaps this means means doing what I feel like doing, instead of what I think I ought to be doing.

What does balance mean to you? How do you keep it?

Eight Months of Graduate School

Thu, 03 May 2012 10:31:53 -0400

It’s been said that life’s trajectories only become clear in hindsight, and that’s certainly how I’ve felt about this year. My teenage years of painting lessons, my college major studying computer science and psychology, and my odd kinship with commerce students all strangely map to aspects of what I am studying in graduate school in interaction design. It’s only now, however, that I begin to see the linkages between all these fascinations, and how it’s prepared me for all that I learned here in New York.

Reflecting on Learnings

So, eight months of graduate school, what did I learn this year? Zooming out and looking at the whole year, the first lesson is about the landscape of the interaction design field, and its adjacent disciplines. I stumbled into web design and development by accident, driven by a desire to make things and fortunate predispositions to graphics and computer science. Coming to the program was like getting a map to this territory I’ve been hurtling through for the first time.

Technology is Still My Home Base

On the technical side, I was introduced to the vast world of creative coding by Amit, who taught me to see code-as-art, in addition to my past conceptions of code-as-engineering and code-as-mathematics. I was also introduced to the world of creative electronics by Rob and Jeff. Did it ever cross my mind that I might build a popcorn machine that responds to Foursquare checkin’s? Never. It became fairly evident that my affinity with the technical is a gift. It also revealed itself to be a trap, since it was so easy to simply keep doing what you’re good at.

Design is More Vast Than I Ever Imagined

In terms of design, I learned that I had no idea what the word “design” even meant prior to coming here. I only had the vaguest intuition what design might be about. It was incredibly enlightening to have the philosophy and the process of design laid out and made legible. (Thanks Liz!) From the nitty gritty of typography, hierarchy and sequence (Jason), to the explicitly iterative process of learning and refinement (Paul, Josh), to the methodologies of design research (Nate, Carla), to the art of storytelling and narrative (Clay, Jill), this year has been a crash course in what the act of design encompasses.

Yet Design Itself is in a Larger Context

Of course, there’s the systems and strategic side of the program. Paul Pangaro’s class, John Zapolski’s class and Gary and Christina’s class were some of my favourites this year. Coincidentally they were also the classes over which I agonized the most. These three classes really helped set the context in which we as designers and makers operate. They taught me to ask the questions, “What is the role of design in the world?” “What is my role in the world?” “How will I make an impact?” The conceptual framework I walk away with from these classes has uttered changed how I see my work, how I communicate, and how I look at the world.

Meta-Lessons Emerges

The second big lesson is on the depth of the learning still to come. Even as I push to learn more, I have given up all hope of mastering any one of the disciplines I studied here. Whether it is electronics, typography, or strategic innovation, all I’ve learned this year points to the vast wealth of knowledge I simply will not get to master. The most you know, the more you know that you don’t know.

The follow on lesson from that is the importance of collaboration. I had the privilege of working in some incredible collaborations this year, and it is obvious that the work was only possible through a compliment of strengths. It is increasingly obvious that in order to do any good, significant work, I must learn to collaborate with people in a wide range of disciplines.

The final big lesson was the value of time and space. This idea began in conversation with Tom, when we reflected on how much we got done during the 24 hours of the GOOD hackathon because we dedicated the time and space to it. This year at SVA as a whole is similar. It is incredible how much I’ve learned and how my thinking has progressed because I have devoted the time and space to it.

All in all, this has been an incredible year. I am simply grateful.

entrepreneurdesigners: One the last day of our Entrepreneurial...

Wed, 02 May 2012 18:22:05 -0400

entrepreneurdesigners:

One the last day of our Entrepreneurial Design class, we asked the students to share what they learned with the class. This is what they wrote.

Lessons and takeaways from Entrepreneurial Design, by far the most challenging and empowering class this semester. This is the class that’s got me writing so much this past couple months, a habit which I plan to continue.

So much gratitude goes out to Gary, Christina, and all my wonderful classmates who struggled with thinking entrepreneurially this semester.

T-58: A Plan for the Summer

Wed, 02 May 2012 17:38:34 -0400

First year of graduate school ended Monday, and so my summer begins. In the spirit of working in public, I want to share with you my plans for the summer. Last week, I’ve proposed two ideas for my thesis project next year, both of which revolve around the idea of a networked and social approach towards information distribution problems. This summer I plan to interview lots of people, conduct experiments to validate hunches, and build networks around these ideas.

The first idea is around education and career planning. My hypothesis is that young adults crave a more authentic picture of careers and work to help them choose how they educate and equip themselves. What might career counseling in the 21st century look like, if we leveraged the networked technologies of our world today? In my initial, blurry vision, we might bring together people telling stories of their messy career paths, giving their audience a sense of where they came from, and how they go there.

My second idea is around legislation and democracy. My hypothesis is that the average citizen is too far removed from the legislation being passed in their name to effectively stand up for their rights and interests. How might we use networked technology to bring a larger subset to the public to the legislative process? I am inspired by the open source software movement, and social news sites like Reddit. I wonder if we can make the “source” of the bills more accessible to the public, and build social hooks around the bills to making sharing and commenting on bills more commonplace.

Still with me? Would spare a couple minutes and help me out? After reading about these two ideas:

Who is the first person that comes to mind that I should talk to?
What is the first book that comes to mind that I ought to read?
What is a project I simply must see?

So far, my research/talk-to list for the education idea:

And my research/talk-to list for the legislation idea:

Who else should I know about? Suggestions or comments on the thesis ideas? I’d love to here it!