Transforming Grounds

Ok, I am trying a software called Designrr . What they do is a tool that helps you to compose one or many blogposts into an ebook in a very simple way. I just did a very small test and collected a few of my latests posts related to the term "design thinking". The ebook comes out in the form of a PDF. I have not put any effort really into layout or even fixing any language issues. I just wanted to see if it worked and I think it did. I might look more into this as a way of collecting and composing shorter writings into something longer and more substantial. Here you can download the pdf.

I am reading the book " The Burnout Society " by Byung-Chul Han. It is a very short book, only about 50 pages. Han is a Korean-born philosopher, now active in Germany. He has published a series of short books.  I read this book as a serious critique of our modern society which Han gives different names, for instant 'the achievement society'. He argues that modern society has developed a culture where we believe we can do anything, “yes, we can”, where we are measured based on our achievements. He makes the case that people get sick and depressed not because they are burdened by what he calls disciplinary responsibility "but the imperative to achieve: the new   commandment   of late-modern labor society". People get burnout because of "creative fatigue and exhausted ability". We suffer from the "violence of positivity” that “does not deprive, it saturates; it does not exclude, it exhausts.” Han argues that we need more 'negativity'...

I am reading here and there in Vilhem Flusser's book "The shape of things--a philosophy of design". Flusser is a thoughtful scholar with deep knowledge of the classics in many areas. I was just struck by a section where Flusser elaborates on what design is. Flusser uses the notions of 'deception and trickery' as core in his definition. He says that when we design we create something, a machine, that tricks nature in our attempt to 'making a new form of culture possible'. With the use of technology and design we can create machineries that make the impossible possible, things that nature can't produce. But with this ability to deceive nature, comes responsibility. And this is where I found the quote that in a brilliant way describes the role of humans as designers. "This is the design that is the basis of all culture: to deceive nature by means of technology, to replace what is natural with what is artificial and build a machine out of whi...

Well, the production of our new book is under way. Janlert, Lars-Erik & Stolterman, Erik. (2017) Things That Keep Us Busy -- the elements of interaction MIT Press. It builds on these articles, but is much developed and extended. Janlert, L. E., & Stolterman, E. (2016). The Meaning of Interactivity—Some Proposals for Definitions and Measures.  Human–Computer Interaction , (just-accepted). --> Janlert, L. E., & Stolterman, E. (2015). Faceless Interaction—A Conceptual Examination of the Notion of Interface: Past, Present, and Future.  Human–Computer Interaction ,  30 (6), 507-539. Janlert, L. E., & Stolterman, E. (2010). Complex interaction.  ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI) ,  17 (2), 8. Janlert, L. E., & Stolterman, E. (1997). The character of things.  Design Studies ,  18 (3), 297-314. If you are interested in reading them, just let me know and I will email them to you.