This is one of the first readings that feels very “current” in the sense of my daily work. In the world of web development, the work of designing user interfaces (UI) has given way to a much better conversation about designing user experiences (UX). To me, this is what Brenda Laurel was getting to with […]
Author: Phil Norman
About Phil Norman
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Poo-tee-weet?
Listen: Bill Viola has come unstuck in time. Admittedly, my mind leaps to Vonnegut often, no matter the subject, but Viola’s “Will There Be Condominiums in Data Space?” immediately brought to mind Slaughterhouse-Five and the Tralfamadorian understanding of time: ‘The most important thing I learned on Tralfamadore was that when a person dies he only […]
Discussion ideas for Ted Nelson
For those who may read this before this afternoon’s seminar and want to think ahead and/or for reference during our discussion, here’s a few things that feel to me like good starting places: No More Teachers’ Dirty Looks This section of Dream Machines was, for me, the most thought-provoking — particularly given that our discussions […]
re: No More Teachers’ Dirty Looks
Ted Nelson said “Let the student control the sequence” forty years ago. Though Nelson gets no credit here, this article from Wired feels very connected to his ideas about teaching and learning: http://www.wired.com/2013/10/free-thinkers/all/
An endless exponential augmentation
“The complexity and urgency of the problems faced by us earth-bound humans are increasing much faster than our aggregate capabilities for understanding and coping with them.” – Douglas Engelbart What I take away from reading Engelbart’s “Augmenting Human Intellect” is not just his forethought and foresight into the future of computing, but his drive to […]
We must value leisure.
I propose that unemployment is not a disease, but the natural, healthy functioning of an advanced technological society. – Robert Anton Wilson, the RICH Economy This week’s readings were fascinating in contemplating what the past-futurist’s sense of what we technology could do and also what we should not do. Mankind’s relationship — and work — […]
Stuck on the Jetsons
I spent the last few days at the very enjoyable EdUI conference in Richmond, focused on the work and tools of higher-ed “web” professionals, where the opening speaker was Matt Novack, author of the Paleo-Future blog that studys the history of futurism. Seems fitting to our seminar reading and discussions. Specifically, he brought up the […]
We can enormously extend the record, yet we can hardly consult it.
Thoughts on Vannevar Bush’s essay, “As We May Think“ “Presumably man’s spirit should be elevated if he can better review his shady past and analyze more completely and objectively his present problems.” Bush saw the 20th century’s exponential explosion of information and the progress it could bring. His mental model could only imagine a walnut-sized-camera […]
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