the framework age
DESCRIPTION
Emphasis has shifted from editor to reader, stories have gone from individual to social, people are relying on patterns rather than interfaces. But as we move from designing artifacts to designing systems, are there new guidelines at work? We want users to be able to control their own experiences, but how do we ensure they have the right tools to do so? In this session from Webstock 08, Liz Danzico explored what it means to design in the age of frameworks and investigated their governing principles — learning from existing models as diverse as jazz music and oral cultures.TRANSCRIPT
Blues
BeBop
Jazz FusionAncient
DIGITAL
SwingBAROQUE
Free-form Jazz
Classical
SwingRetro FunkBebop
BeBopDIGITALFree-form Jazz SwingRetro Funk Something
ModalClassical
DIGITAL
SwingBAROQUE
Free-form JazzClassicalTango
RomanticSwing
ImprovisationLatin Jazz
BAROQUE
Ragtime DanceRetro Funk Folk Music
DIGITAL
BAROQUE
Avant-Garde JazzSwing
Retro Funk
ClassicalFree JazzHard bop
DIXIELAND
Classical JazzClassical
Classical
Acid Jazz
Swing
Classical
Big Band
Ballet
Third StreamRetro Funk
MIDI
Hard bop
SOUL
The Framework AgeNotes on detecting, adapting, & improvising
Liz DanzicoWebstock 2008
Me: Information architect Happy Cog
Editor Rosenfeld Media, A Brief Message
Educator The School of Visual Arts
Board member AIGA, IA Institute
Emeritus Boxes and Arrows
You
DetectableDetectable
Present Additive Performance
Defining frameworksWHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
1
As we made the transition from print to web, we took some of the principles with us.
Because we’re designing for the web, we’ve let go of some of that control.
http://pieaia.org
We’re not designing artifacts.
We’re not designing artifacts.We’re designing frameworks.
We’re not designing artifacts.We’re designing frameworks.And frameworks require users to adopt, to adapt, to improvise.
Framework:Provides uninscribed and detectable cues that loosely govern a set of actions or interactions
Interfaces are no longer telling the story; they must provide places that enable storytelling to happen.
Thus: users mustadapt, adopt, improvise.
This is a story about people and technology. This is a story about people and technology. With music.
A!ordances in musicLEARNING FROM JAZZ
2
An aside:
An aside:Jazz music was a reprieve from Classical music which had dominated the last centuries.
Classical composition:
Classical music composition didn’t leave room for participation.
Jazz notation:
Courtesy dancohen, YouTube (youtube.com/watch?v=2kotK9FNEYU)Courtesy Dan Cohen
http://youtube.com/watch?v=2kotK9FNEYU
Modal jazz leaves spaces between the notes for artists to improvise. Liberally.
Q Q Q
V4
4
q qq q q q
“You will hear something close to pure spontaneity in these performances.”
— Bill Evans, Kind of Blue, pianist
“Creative Instability”
Before the advent of writing, epic storytellers relied on music patterns to pass along stories =oral tradition
“Composition in performance”
“We are witnessing the reemergence in electronic form of oral patterns that have been hiding
in plain sight for generations.”
— Alex Wright, Glut: Mastering Information Through the Ages
3 Designing for improvisationONLINE EVIDENCE
Whether sidewalks, music, or the oral tradition, there are unscripted frameworks that allow improvisation to happen.
DetectableDetectable
Present Additive Performance
Detectable, or “a lot with a little”
1 2 3 4
http://basecamphq.com
http://backpackit.com
http://geni.com
“That’s when I know WordPress is doing its job:
when people aren’t even aware they’re using it because
they’re so busy using it!”
—Mark Jaquith, Automattic
http://markjaquith.wordpress.com/2007/02/21/engine-awareness/
http://wordpress.org
Present, or “in real-time”
http://subtraction.com/archives/2006/0929_ripped_from_.php
http://signalvnoise.com
http://boxesandarrows.com
Additive, or “part of a whole”
http://abriefmessage.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/
24 HOURS4,000 unique tags 19,000 total tags500 comments
Performance, or “the audience is always right”
“Miles Davis presents ... frameworks which are exquisite in their simplicity and yet contain all
that is necessary to stimulate performance with sure reference to
the primary conception.”
— Bill Evans, Kind of Blue
http://virb.com
http://murdersandmysteries.com
http://weightshift.com
DetectableDetectable
Present Additive Performance
4 Tools and principles for useHOW DO WE DO IT?
“All art is performance art, which is to say that it is first and foremost
activity. It is the act of art … that is important, not the created object.”
—Christopher Small, Musicking
Contextual inquiry Participatory design Agile development User-centered design Participatory design Persona creation Agile development User research UCD models User-centered design Throw it against the wall Participatory design Agile development Contextual inquiry Participatory design Persona creation User research UCD models Participatory design Agile development User centered design Persona creation Agile development User research UCD models User-centered design Agile development Participatory design Contextual inquiry Persona creation Agile development User research UCD models User centered design Participatory design Agile development Persona creation Intuition Agile development User research UCD models Paper prototyping Persona creation Persona creation Contextual inquiry User research UCD models User-centered design Participatory design Agile development Contextual inquiry Design design Persona creation Agile
Contextual inquiry Participatory design Agile development User-centered design Participatory design Persona creation Agile development User research UCD models User-centered design Throw it against the wall Participatory design Agile development Contextual inquiry Participatory design Persona creation User research UCD models Participatory design Agile development User centered design Persona creation Agile development User research UCD models User-centered design Agile development Participatory design Contextual inquiry Persona creation Agile development User research UCD models User centered design Participatory design Agile development Persona creation Intuition Agile development User research UCD models Paper prototyping Persona creation Persona creation Contextual inquiry User research UCD models User-centered design Participatory design Agile development Contextual inquiry Design design Persona creation Agile
User-centered design:The needs, wants, and limitations of the end user are given extensive attention at each stage of the design process.
Participatory design:Actively involves users in the design process to help ensure that the product designed meets their needs and is usable.
“In a world that is not predictable, improvisation and evolution
are more than a luxury: they are a necessity.”
—Elisa Giaccardi and Gerhard Fischer, Creativity and Evolution: A Metadesign
Solution
All the focus has been on the design process.
Design Release Use
Not on how design evolves with use.
ReleaseDesign Use
Compose
This is not unlike the tension between print versus the web.
Transmit Interpret
Or how we communicatedprior to the advent of writing.
Compose
Transmit
Interpret
Brandon Shauer, IA Summit 2006
Businessrequirements
Structure Design Test Build Launch
User needs
User story
Rules of
Beta Observeand Interact
Re-Build and
Group and user needs
Designing for improvisation:Requires a co-adaptive process between users and systems — a democratization of the creative process.
Improv
Time
Modal Jazz
Bebop
Classical Music
Music: Transition to frameworks(A gross generalization)
Classical Music?
User Participation
User participation: Transition to frameworks
Amazon Yahoo!
Time
Flickr
BloggereBay
Yahoo! Del.icio.us
Wikipedia
Web 2.0
User Participation
Amazon Yahoo!
Time
Flickr
BloggereBay
Yahoo! Del.icio.us
Wikipedia
Web 2.0
Build process: Transition to frameworks(Another gross generalization)
Development Frameworks
Time
User Participation
Flickr
Wikis
Yahoo! Directory
Brochure Sites Portals
Citizen Journalism
Design process: Transition to frameworks
Users?
Participatorydesign
Designing for improvisation
User-centereddesign
UserSophistication
Time
Improvisationfacilitators?
1 Learn from familiar models—cities, music, traditions.
2 Create frameworks that are perceptible, present-focused, additive, communal.
3 Consider new ways of working for new kinds of a!ordances.
