Lou Fuiano
WDS Fall 2006
Duff

Shaping Understanding

The reading by Nathan Shedroff covers the grand and virtually uncharted topic of information and interactive design. Impressive until you realize these observations have been with us a long time. One of the more illuminating statements he makes is that of his comparison of the interactive experience to dinner conversation with a friend. He points out that creating an experience with technology attempts to match the energy and interactivity of this common practice. It's kind of like the study of robotics needing the worlds best thinkers and millions of dollars in grant money to get a mechanical arm to pick a pencil up from a table top. How we design and work with technology is always scrambling to match the experiences we've been familiar with since the beginning.

Let's be honest though, it is shaping our world right before our eyes. It brings to mind a great ad campaign that ABC put together five years ago. One copy line read "World Wars Before Television: 2. After Television: 0". Maybe it was a lovable way to get people to feel better about watching T.V., but it also happened to be true.

Blogs, e-mail, YouTube and the like has made how we access and create media a greater range of possibilities. In turn, enhancing our understanding of the world. I like to think that these forms of interaction through technology helped to change the face of our current administration. It doesn't hurt that the White House is front loaded with what seems to be the most notoriously arrogant staff in the nations history - But much of how the world saw them allowed everyone, not just the editors and professional humorists, to respond and be heard. Writers, designers, photographers, videographers and musicians were able to create and contribute. When the message is strong, the medium tends to disappear. Racist politicians, callous commentators and letters from the front were all accessible and added to the mix through online interactivity.

However, not unlike dinner conversation, there is also a morass of gossip and complaining to weed through. I suppose that's the nice thing about being able to create a profile.

Overall, I found it very helpful that Shedroff created the various figures; The Experience Cube, The Continuum of Interactivity and Sensorial Design. I especially like his provocative close: "This is really not a conclusion as much as it is a beginning".

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