Tweaking, details, IA and IxD

This week Seth Godin posted about tweaking. Particularly I liked this comment he made

"What I found fascinating about the email I got is that a large number of web people are still hung up on the technology side, on getting the code just right and, to use the analogy, the typesetting, not the words. The reason for this is simple: there's a lot of horrible web coding going on. There are huge gains to be found by overhauling a site and getting the invisible stuff right.

But that's not the opportunity I was talking about. Instead, I'm talking about turning an arrogant checkout into a useful one by turning off the button that automatically resets to opt in to the spam list every single time I return to the checkout. Or changing the size of the product photo from 144 pixels wide to 500, because making the product the star can triple clickthrough."

This is what I find interesting about the focus of Internet Conferences here in Australia. They focus on the small things that, yes, we all agree need to be fixed but the bigger picture as Seth says is where the value lies.

Next week I'm off to said conference, but not for the conference talks as the content can generally be found from existing talks around the world or is too focused on the details of Information Architecture, Microformats, AJAX, accessibility etc. Where are the visionary speakers that go to eTech or less so Web2.0, that push our boundaries of thinking and help us reach for the stars rather than show us how to build the first few steps or to change the material our current steps are made of.

While I don't doubt that the topics above are of importance to many and, indeed, are subjects we could all skill up on; I would love to hear Bruce Sterling talk Spimes, Matt Webb talk about interactions with ubicomp, AJ Kim talk about the future of games, Will Wright talking about the intersectin between Games, ubicomp and agency, hell, even Chris Messina about barcamps and pulling things together.

The two workshops I am attending are focused on interaction design and iterative app development.

What appeals to me is Dan Saffer's description of interaction design, in which he describes IxD as "Interaction design is the art of facilitating or instigating interactions between humans (or their agents), mediated by products." This is totally captivating to me. Interactions been HUMANS mediated by PRODUCTS. How people interact with products. How products we see now such as mobile devices and can interacted with. And amusingly, how humans interact with people on web services (products) through devices (products)....humans interacting with humans through products in products ;-)

Dan put together a very informative diagram (The consultant in me likes the graphs) which I think sums up the position of IxD and IA well, the more content rich the products, the more IA is needed and the more functionally rich the products the more IxD is needed. Maybe this explains the focus of the conference on IA areas as in Australia there is probably much much much more work available on large corp intranets, media content sites (newspapers etc) than in product focused services and applications. Well worth a ponder.

He also had a post on recommendation systems which would make interesting beer talk given my background and areas of interest. I do agree with his premise that recommendation systems can stifle the serendipity of discovery.

Finally, as a plug, Dan has a book on Designing for Interaction which looks at this future world of Spimes and Blogjects and how humans will interact with this ubiquitous devices (everytime I type this I think of Bruce Sterlilng's Texan drawl saying Uuuubbbbeeeee comp).

Remembering

5 years ago I was living, temporarily, in San Francisco, specifically in my companies offices in the Dogpatch, just south of the baseball park.

I woke that fateful morning oblivious to what was happening on the other side of the world. As usual, I dressed in my running gear around 7am and headed off for a coffee and a quick run to the Bay Bridge and back.

I jogged the couple of blocks to Cup o' Blues, the fantastic coffee spot on 22nd. Walking in I remember seeing a small old TV sitting a vinyl chair in the middle of the seating area showing the WTC with one tower gone and one smoking.

I ordered my coffee and asked what was going on. "The world trade center has been hit by two planes. One tower has fallen and the other is going to".

I never did get my run done that day.

Coffee in hand I headed back to the office to tell Andrew and Kerri Lee what was happening. Knocking on doors trying to wake them. I remember feeling surprised by Andrew's response. He was so emotional about it. But not in a crying upset type of way, more like he was just really emotionally involved in it. I had only known Andrew a little while then but I've seen more of that over the years.

I was filled with aderenaline. Was SF a target? Am I safe being 3 km out of the city?

I rang Suzette. "Biggest terrorist attack ever. On Tv...". "Thanks. Do you know what time it is?" It was late at night in Australia. She went back to sleep. Rang Mum and Dad. Got the answering machine. Left a message. They woke and heard my message. They sat watching the TV for hours. Rang Adam. Left a message. He was already watching.

The day was sad. Nothing much happened. We moved the TV into the office and watched the news broadcast. Nothing much happened.

Nothing much happened at all for months afterwards. I didn't know it at the time, but the nuclear winter for technology had just started.

Afterwards I felt so sad for the children, whose parents had been lost that fateful day. Sadness to those who had wonderful loving messages left on their machines by partners, parents and children, and sadness most especially to those young children who would grow up with out fathers or mothers.

The world did change on that fateful day. From the mundane and annoying baggage checks to the unilateral engagement with imagined foes to the destruction of a comfort and way of life that was enjoyed in various parts of the world prior to Terrorism paying us a visit.

And there are positives too. Many in fact. But I find them postives I would rather have not been developed, skilled up in or found.

My children grow up in world unlike the world I grew up in. But for all the focus on the negatives of the last 5 years today, I think back to the positives of change. How our lives have been improved for the better in the last 10 years and how technology has made such a dramatic and everchanging note upon my life.