A few days ago I asked here for proposals for what could be considered to be Interaction Design Grand Challenges. These challenges can be either problems that are caused by interaction designers or new technology and use of that technology. Challenges can either be seen as problems or as new opportunities that have not yet been exploited and developed.
Tyler Pace has, in a comment, suggested four challenges, he writes:
"1) Sustainability. I'm not the best person to post on this topic, but we all know it should be a chief concern for interaction designers.
2) Identity. It's fractured and seeping into and out of so many mediums that it's almost impossible to grasp.
3) Expectations of Work and Play. I'm not sure how to lump this into interaction design, but I feel/know that the expectations for work as separate from play are changing and I think the digital workforce has a large part to do with it.
4) Bleeding lines between producer and consumer and the resulting downstream issues of copyright, intellectual property, etc."
I think these are four good proposals, they are all consequences of our new interactive reality. They look and can easily be framed as problems, but can also be framed as enormous opportunities for radical and innovative interaction design.
More proposals anyone?
Tyler Pace has, in a comment, suggested four challenges, he writes:
"1) Sustainability. I'm not the best person to post on this topic, but we all know it should be a chief concern for interaction designers.
2) Identity. It's fractured and seeping into and out of so many mediums that it's almost impossible to grasp.
3) Expectations of Work and Play. I'm not sure how to lump this into interaction design, but I feel/know that the expectations for work as separate from play are changing and I think the digital workforce has a large part to do with it.
4) Bleeding lines between producer and consumer and the resulting downstream issues of copyright, intellectual property, etc."
I think these are four good proposals, they are all consequences of our new interactive reality. They look and can easily be framed as problems, but can also be framed as enormous opportunities for radical and innovative interaction design.
More proposals anyone?
Comments
New and "better" technologies (web 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 ... 9.3494) are still largely developed with accessible, universal design as an afterthought. As our population ages (including young techies) and comes to terms with the effects of age (vision, hearing and mental losses), we're going to see an explosive growth and opportunity for delivering accessible content.
Taking the responses to the SWOT analysis and then evaluating our programs awareness of and aptitude towards each area would be an interesting exercise!
Alexis DeToqueville posed the idea in "Democracy in America", written in the 1830's, that it was the township that formed effective citizens who then were able to participate in national governance. In Chapter 5, he states that "The native of New England is attached to his township because it is independent and free; his co-operation in its affairs ensures his attachment to its interest; the well-being it affords him secures his affection, and its welfare is the aim of his ambition and of his future exertions. He takes a part in every occurrence in the place; he practises the art of government in the small sphere within his reach; he accustoms himself to those forms which can alone ensure the steady progress of liberty; he imbibes their spirit; he acquires a taste for order, comprehends the union of the balance of powers, and collects clear practical notions on the nature of his duties and the extent of his rights."
Today's online communities bear much more of the qualities of the 1830's American township than today's townships do. Can we design virtual communities that serve as the "new townships" which socialize their citizens to be simultaneously better citizens of the physical national and world community?
Thanks for all your input. These are great comments. The diversity of the comments shows the complexity of the issue. It is also interesting to see how the proposed challenges can be seen as depending or not on each other. Maybe they all derive from one fundamental challenge...so, what would that be? That fundamental challenge might be what would constitute the core of our discipline.
Erik