Transforming Grounds

• Milton Glaser

  My son Adam showed my this short video about the famous graphic designer Milton Glaser. Just watch it. Nothing more to say. [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 8:12am EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• "GOMS: Get out of our head and in situ"

  Number of comments: 0
  This is link to a great video made by two of our wonderful HCId students. Thanks Nina and Anna!! [...]
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  Posted: November 24, 2009, 4:25pm EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• 2nd annual HCI CONNECT at IU

  Number of comments: 0
  [I am posting this on behalf of our program]
  
  Is your organization looking to recruit high-quality User Experience Designers?
  
  Did you know that the School of Informatics and Computing at IU has one of the top Master’s degree programs in the nation in Human-Computer Interaction Design?
  
  Please [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 7:55pm EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• Design Thinking Readings

  Number of comments: 5
  I was recently asked by a friend if I could make a short list of good readings on design thinking. I tried and here it is. This is a first attempt. The criteria for choosing a text has been if the reading has meant a lot to me. I have [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 7:57am EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• Good Interaction Design Magazine web sites

  Number of comments: 7
  false 18 pt 18 pt false false false I have followed a thread on the IxD list about good places on the web to read about interaction design. I collected the suggestions so here is a list. These sites are more like magazines, that is, they are not just personal [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 9:10am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Design and Sketching

  Number of comments: 1
  Anyone doing design knows the importance of sketching. Sketching is in design the tool for thinking. Most designers sketch all the time in different ways and forms. In a short blog post, Spencer Nugent describes the levels of sketching. The levels are related to different purposes and lead to [...]
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  Posted: October 25, 2009, 3:47am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Evolution of interactive technology (again) and Buxton

  Number of comments: 0
  

  In todays technology climate it is easy to believe that everything you have not seen before is also something “new”. This is understandable since it is quite difficult to know the background history of every technological solution and design and even more difficult to know how contemporary applications of that [...]

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  Posted: October 23, 2009, 7:57am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Book review: "Dangerous Games" by MacMillan

  Number of comments: 0
  I am almost finished reading the book "Dangerous Games - The Uses and Abuses of History" by the historian Margaret MacMillan. This is not a book about interaction design or HCI or technology, but it is definitely a book on design, and in this case, the design of history.
  [...]
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  Posted: October 22, 2009, 3:15am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• The Evolution of What Is Easy to Use

  Number of comments: 1
  Today I found this short blog post by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang (thanks to odannyboy who linked to it on twitter). I really liked the post. The author makes a good argument for the dynamic and complex reality of what we consider to be "ease of use" or "user-friendliness". Pang [...]
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  Posted: October 21, 2009, 11:35am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Tim Brown at TED -- and the future of design thinking

  Number of comments: 2
  Tim Brown who is the CEO of IDEO gave a talk at the TED2009 conference. The talk is about 16 minutes and Brown makes the case that designers should think big instead of small. Brown does have a solid and good understanding of design and designerly thinking. [...]
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  Posted: October 17, 2009, 2:41am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Book review: "Design Expertise" by Lawson and Dorst

  Number of comments: 0
  A couple of days ago I got the copy I had ordered of the book "Design Expertise" by Bryan Lawson and Kees Dorst. I have so far only quickly read (skimmed) through the book, but it is obvious that this is one of the best introductions to design theory [...]
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  Posted: October 13, 2009, 5:42pm EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Design Research and the 'coolness' factor

  Number of comments: 0
  Lately I have been engaged in some different forms of evaluations of interaction design research. I have read papers, watched videos and demonstrations. All these forms of research outcomes have their own merits and issues. One thing that I have reflected upon is when I read, watch or experienced these [...]
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  Posted: October 11, 2009, 11:15am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Dropbox

  Number of comments: 6
  I just have to write a few lines about the application Dropbox. It is amazing how much this extremely simple application has changed my everyday life. I am constantly moving between a number of computers and have always struggled with keeping my computers as similar as possible when it [...]
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  Posted: October 09, 2009, 10:41am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• The Complexity of the Particular

  Number of comments: 0
  While preparing for my teaching I am doing some reading and some thinking. I have this reoccurring idea that I know is not new to me but it keeps coming back, and that is the idea of the complexity of the particular. In our book "The Design Way" we use [...]
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  Posted: September 15, 2009, 4:12am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• A brief book review

  Number of comments: 0
  I have for some time had on my desk the book "Design -- history, theory and practice of product design" by Bernhard E. Burdek. I have planned to read it since it seems to give a great overview of design history. So, now I have tried. Unfortunately, I found that [...]
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  Posted: August 26, 2009, 10:26pm EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Design, details and craft

  Number of comments: 3
  Today I found this little video from Peter Belanger who has documented the process behind the design and creation of a cover of the magazine MacWorld. It is a fun and highly interesting video. It shows the high level of craft and detailing that goes into one cover and especially [...]
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  Posted: August 12, 2009, 2:52am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• UXmatters

  Number of comments: 0
  I have not written much lately which is of course a result of the fact that it is summer and I try to relax from work. However, today I found the UXmatters web site. I am not sure if I have seen it before, but I found some really interesting [...]
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  Posted: July 22, 2009, 12:23pm EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• HCI online resources

  Number of comments: 1
  Yesterday while looking for some HCI readings, I found a site called PhilPapers (http://philpapers.org/). It is a new resource for publications in philosophy. I really liked what I saw. It is a thoughtfully structured and designed site and it has a wonderful coverage of philosophical publications. It seems also [...]
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  Posted: June 14, 2009, 4:10am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Natural User Interface (NUI) Design

  Number of comments: 1
  Today I watched a video from the company Stimulant where they show and discuss their approach to design for large interactive screens (the link to the video is on their company first page). I really liked this presentation since it is to the point and built on substantial [...]
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  Posted: April 22, 2009, 4:28am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Limits of Interaction (Patti Maes & Andy Rutledge)

  Number of comments: 1
  I have earlier written about the "cost of interaction" and on that theme I want to recommend you to watch this video from the TED conference by Pattie Maes, maybe some of you have seen this before, it is quite fun and interesting. The demonstration really does, what I [...]
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  Posted: April 20, 2009, 3:44am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Interactive Innovations and Design Spaces II

  Number of comments: 0
  In my last post with the same title as this one, I discussed how new technology and new ideas opens up new design spaces. Today a student of mine, Sarah Reeder, tweeted about another example of new technology that also leads to new explorations when it comes to interaction [...]
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  Posted: April 17, 2009, 9:52am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Interactive Innovations and Design Spaces

  Number of comments: 2
  Quite often I am surprised by some new form of interactive artifact, with a technology, form, or function that I have not been able to forsee or imagine. For instance, today I saw the Moixa Sphere. It is not the thing in itself, even though the Sphere is fascinating, [...]
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  Posted: April 03, 2009, 3:11am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• The Cost of Interaction

  Number of comments: 2
  It is obvious that a growing number of things and environments are becoming increasingly interactive. This means that we as humans in these environments have to interact with these things in a more sophisticated and deliberate way. At the same time we know that any interaction, or interactive session, requires [...]
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  Posted: April 01, 2009, 11:17am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• "The Three Paradigms of HCI"

  Number of comments: 5
  I recently found the paper "The Three Paradigms of HCI" by Steve Harrison, Phoebe Sengers, and Deborah Tatar from CHI 2007. Strangely enough I have not seen this paper before, which is too bad. I very much like the basic idea of the paper and the way they describe three [...]
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  Posted: March 24, 2009, 11:40am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Good Design

  Number of comments: 0
  The latest issue of the magazine "Metropolis" has the theme "What is good design?" with many interesting interveiws and articles. It is interesting to see what the aspects of good design they have chosen discuss, some of them are: sustainable, accessible, functional, well made, emotionally enduring, beautiful, etc. There [...]
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  Posted: March 20, 2009, 8:25am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Reading news for confirmation

  Number of comments: 7
  We are all experiencing a new world of news were we on our own, or within our communities, search for news using new interactive techologies. We are no longer fed news by some institution (commercial or public). Interactivity makes this "search and find" not only a possibility but a prefered [...]
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  Posted: March 19, 2009, 5:01am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• What theory in HCI is about II

  Number of comments: 2
  My last post led to a number of really good comments and they are all helping me to sort this out. This is what I wrote in the last post
  
  "I need to know what are the (common) categories of theories in HCI. So, this is where I need" [...]
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  Posted: March 12, 2009, 4:52am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• What theory in HCI is about

  Number of comments: 16
  I am developing a theory of interaction (!). In the process of doing that, I am trying to categorize my theory. To do that I need to know what are the (common) categories of theories in HCI. So, this is where I need some help. I have decided that the [...]
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  Posted: March 11, 2009, 6:16am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Tangible interaction -- Siftables

  Number of comments: 0
  Well, if you have not seen this yet, take a look at the Siftables. I am always skeptical to presentations like this, but despite the worth of this particular solution and technology, I think this proves that, with some good design, it will be possible to find infinite applications [...]
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  Posted: February 23, 2009, 11:01am EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• iPhone again...and how to understand it...

  Number of comments: 0
  I read today an interesting post on a blog that discussed the design of the iPhone in relation to other phones and especially the relation or difference between seeing a cell phone as a device or as a platform. I think this discussion is of interest to anyone designing [...]
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  Posted: February 20, 2009, 9:53am EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• Buxton and basic research

  Number of comments: 2
  Bill Buxton writes in a recent issue of BusinessWeek about "The Price of Forgoing Basic Research". His major argument is that return on investment is actually higher on basic research than on applied research, "the return on investment goes down as the R&D budget shifts from basic to applied" [...]
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  Posted: February 04, 2009, 5:55pm EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• Rapid Expert Design

  Number of comments: 0
  Lately there has been (and still is) an ongoing discussion on the IxD discussion list about the notion of "Rapid Expert Design". The discussion is about definitions and meanings and the debate is between those who argue that RED is something new and those who says it is the same [...]
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  Posted: January 29, 2009, 4:27pm EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• Relation between concept design and visual design

  Number of comments: 4
  
  In their patent application for the iPhone, it is interesting to see the sketch from Apple that shows the interface. It is very clear that it is the iPhone as we know it, even though it is a very simple sketch without any efforts made [...]
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  Posted: January 28, 2009, 3:13am EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• HCI and Aesthetics

  Number of comments: 0
  Again I want to point to a blog post by my colleague Jeff Bardzell. He has done an excellent analysis of the latest issue of ToCHI (Transaction of Computer Human Interaction), considered to be a top journal in the field. This is a special issue on aesthetics and Jeff [...]
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  Posted: January 20, 2009, 2:44am EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• [Re]Searching the Digital Bauhaus

  Number of comments: 0
  I was happy to find the book "[Re]Searching the Digital Bauhaus" today in my mail. The book is edited by Binder, T., Löwgren, J. & Malmborg, L. and published on Springer in their HCI Series. The book is put together as a dedication to my dear friend Pelle Ehn [...]
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  Posted: January 14, 2009, 8:20am EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• What User Experience is NOT

  Number of comments: 1
  I found this good note on "10 Most Common Misconceptions About User Experience Design" by Whitney Hess. I like the points she is making about what "user experience" is not.
  [...]
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  Posted: January 11, 2009, 6:09am EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• The Year of Interaction!

  Number of comments: 2
  So, we are at the beginning of a new year. I just read a list of dominating trends in information technology development. There was nothing really new on the list. I guess we all understand and can see that the "cloud" takes care of storage, that we are moving into [...]
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  Posted: January 10, 2009, 4:02am EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• Becoming Physical --Blended Competence

  Number of comments: 1
  Around this time of year it is easy to find people trying to predict the new year or a longer future. Everywhere I read about the future of interaction, the same theme reappears. We are moving into the era of "natural user interaction". In most cases this means that the [...]
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  Posted: January 08, 2009, 3:13am EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• Design Thinking in 10 to 20 years

  Number of comments: 3
  In my class yesterday we discussed the future of design, interaction design and HCI. I asked the students about their view about the future for the discipline, profession and for research in the field of interaction design. Then they asked me about my predictions. Of course, I had predictions but [...]
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  Posted: November 26, 2008, 2:29am EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• Grand Challenge for HCI: Growing Ecologies of Interactive Artifacts

  Number of comments: 0
  In a study from the Pew Institute we get numbers on things we all have suspected: people have problems setting up their new technological artifacts. The study shows that:
  
  "Some 48% of technology users usually need help from others to set up new devices or to show them" [...]
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  Posted: November 23, 2008, 8:54am EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• A Design Research Map

  Number of comments: 1
  In the latest issue of ACM Interactions there is an interesting article by Liz Sanders called "An Evolving Map of Design Practice and Design Research". Sanders exmines the status of design research, which I think she sees as the research done by design practitioners as a way to [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2008, 3:43am EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• The broader responsibility of HCI research

  Number of comments: 0
  Lately my mind has been occupied with the question of the purpose and responsibility of HCI research. Why do we reserch, for whom do we do it, what do we expect to ackomplish, and is it important? These are not new questions for me, I have dealt with them all [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2008, 5:59am EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• What is a legitimate argument in HCI research?

  Number of comments: 0
  In these times of CHI reviews (something that many HCI researchers are involved in) I have to point to a post by my colleague Jeff Bardzell. Quite often in these reviews, reviewers use different arguments to make their case. Not seldom using different types of arguments. In his post [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2008, 6:15am EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• Theory Informing Design

  Number of comments: 1
  As I am preparing class for tomorrow I am once again reading Yvonne Rogers chapter on "New Theoretical Approaches for Human-Computer Interaction". And as usual when I read this text I realize how well it serves the purpose of initiating and establishing a discussion on the role of theory [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2008, 8:27pm EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• Design Judgment

  Number of comments: 0
  Since I have not been very productive here lately I can at least link to others who are. My colleague Jeff Bardzell has written a great post on his class blog on the distinctions between "opinion" and "judgment". I really like this post.
  
  The notion of judgment is [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2008, 8:03am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Back on Twitter

  Number of comments: 0
  OK, after a few weeks without Twitter I decided to sign on again. It was in so many ways an interesting experience. It was fascinating how my thoughts changed over time, especially for the first week or two. I thought this would be an interesting experiment, now I know it [...]
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  Posted: October 01, 2008, 2:29pm EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Donald Schön

  Number of comments: 1
  Again I am going to teach about the work of Donald Schön and this time I found a transcript of one of his talks from 1987. It is a great text and here Schön presents his core ideas in a short, clear, and enjoyable way. [...]
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  Posted: September 22, 2008, 11:59am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• "The Craftsman"

  Number of comments: 0
  I just got the new book by Richard Sennett called "The Craftsman" today. I have only read a few pages but I am already convinced that this is an essential book for anyone who thinks about the role and place for skilled practices and craftsmanship. I will continue to [...]
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  Posted: August 27, 2008, 4:50pm EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Criticism and Design (again)

  Number of comments: 1
  Again my colleague Jeff Bardzell has written a great piece on the relationship between critique and design. There is no way to talk about design without talking about criticism. Design is about the creation of particulars and particulars have to be evaluated (critiqued) for their own sake, [...]
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  Posted: August 23, 2008, 6:20am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Concept designs and real designs

  Number of comments: 1
  The argument in a recent blog post by Kontra is that real designers don't focus on concept designs (in the meaning of future possible designs, like concept cars). He also discusses why many large companies, such as Microsoft and Motorola, are great at producing amazing concepts designs but less' [...]
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  Posted: August 13, 2008, 3:11am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Leaving FaceBook

  Number of comments: 7
  OK, since I just stopped using Twitter, I have also deactivated my FaceBook account :-) I will basically only use LinkedIn now. Is this a bad move? [...]
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  Posted: August 12, 2008, 4:44am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• No more Twitter

  Number of comments: 1
  That's it. I just deleted my Twitter account. No more Twittering. It has been a great experience and I have learned a lot, and I have at several occasions realized new aspects of what this type of application can do and provide. But, for now, it is time to leave, [...]
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  Posted: August 12, 2008, 3:45am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Software Commodification & Zoho

  Number of comments: 0
  It seems as if we are entering the time when everyday basic applications (email, wordprocessing, spreadsheet, presentation tools, conference tools, wikis, etc) are rapidly becoming commodities. Not just in the sense that they are ubiquitous and commonly usd, but in the way they are produced and sold. Zoho is company [...]
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  Posted: August 07, 2008, 3:50pm EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• The Anatomy of Prototypes

  Number of comments: 1
  Protoyping is something that is nowadays an everyday activity in our field. Interaction designers do it all the time. But even if this is the case, prototypes are not well understood, except for the quite crude low-fidelity versus high-fidelity dimension. Together with two colleagues I have just published a paper [...]
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  Posted: August 07, 2008, 10:31am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• More on interaction criticism..

  Number of comments: 0
  My colleague Jeff Bardzell has a new post where he continues to examine the role of criticism in HCI. Again, this is highly important for our field. [...]
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  Posted: August 03, 2008, 3:09am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Looking back..and forward..

  Number of comments: 3
  In the latest issue of the magazine The Atlantic there is a nice article on the "Road to the Information Age". The author discusses some of the accurate predictions made about a world with internet (as we all know there are numerous extremely bad and funny predictions too). It [...]
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  Posted: August 01, 2008, 3:05am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Design Criticism

  Number of comments: 0
  Just a link to my colleague Jeff Bardzell's blog with a new great post on design criticism and its status in HCI. Jeff is pushing the idea of the need for professional criticism done by people who know what and how to do it, and most importantly why they [...]
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  Posted: July 29, 2008, 4:06am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Transforming non-designers and Procter & Gamble

  Number of comments: 0
  One of the most fascinating changes today (in my mind) is the growing appreciation of design thinking and design action as a valid and useful practical approach to complex issues in our world. Here is a recent example where Procter & Gamble is pushing design thinking as a major [...]
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  Posted: July 29, 2008, 3:46am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Slow Interaction

  Number of comments: 4
  Among the different "slow" movements (slow food, slow cities, etc) there is the notion of "slow reading". A quite good introduction by John Miedema can be found here. I have always been fascinated by the notion of "slow", which I guess is has to do with my ability and [...]
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  Posted: July 28, 2008, 4:23pm EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Too many social networks?

  Number of comments: 5
  Well, I have to keep my Linkedin, Facebook, ResearchGate, Plaxo, etc, networks updated and fresh. It is not working. I am not taking good care of any of them. They deterioate over time and finally I leave them. The addition of new forms of social networks for general and specific [...]
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  Posted: July 27, 2008, 3:53am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Fora.tv

  Number of comments: 1
  Today I stumbled upon Fora.tv. They claim to be the YouTube for the thinking mind. I found some really interesting presentations. What was difficult to find was some kind of vision statement or purpose declaration, who they are and how they pick their material. I also had some problems [...]
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  Posted: July 24, 2008, 5:21am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Vanishing Bloggers and Sunstein's "republic.com"

  Number of comments: 2
  There is an ongoing debate about the status of the web, especially the status and health of social networks in all its manifestations, but maybe even more particular the health of bloggning. Here is one page that references some of the debate. To me there are many interesting questions [...]
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  Posted: July 23, 2008, 6:19am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• DRS 08 Conference

  Number of comments: 0
  I am just back from the Design Research Society Conference 08 in Sheffield, England. I am quite pleased with the conference. Good organization, good location and generally a good quality of papers. It is obvious that the DRS conference is becoming a high quality conference with a focus on [...]
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  Posted: July 20, 2008, 9:54am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Interaction Criticism

  Number of comments: 0
  In a wonderful series of posts, my colleague Jeff Bardzell, discusses the notion of "interaction criticism". Interaction design is a field contributing to the imidiate and concrete reality by the creative design of new digital artifacts--as such, it is a field desperately in need of criticism. There is a [...]
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  Posted: June 28, 2008, 4:38pm EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Richard Dawkins and unusual Twitter use..

  Number of comments: 0
  OK, I was fooled by the name. After I wrote about a twitter text from what appeared to be Richard Dawkins, I learned that it was not the "real" Dawkins :-) Here is a great blog about that. So, I decided to remove my post since it does not [...]
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  Posted: June 17, 2008, 4:49am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Nicholas Carr "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" and Sven Birkerts

  Number of comments: 2
  In a recent article in the Atlantic, with the title "Is Google Making Us Stupid?", Nicholas Carr explores the idea that new technology and especially web technology is "destroying" peoples ability to read longer and more dense texts. The exploration starts with his reflection on his own reading ability [...]
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  Posted: June 15, 2008, 4:54am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Interaction, Outcome, and Experience

  Number of comments: 0
  There is an interesting relationship between interaction and outcome. It is possible to think about interaction as the activity a person is involved in when "using" a digital artifact, that is, 'doing interaction' with an artifact or system. It is also possible to think about the result from the activity [...]
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  Posted: June 14, 2008, 5:34pm EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• The Gartner Challenges Again...

  Number of comments: 3
  Ok, I got a very good comment from Phoebe Sengers on my post about the seven grand challenges for IT research and development. I claimed that the Gartner report was based on some obvious assumptions that was not spelled out. She wrote and asked if I could say what these [...]
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  Posted: June 08, 2008, 10:59am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Gartner: Seven Grand Challenges for IT

  Number of comments: 2
  Gartner has formulated seven Grand Challenges for the development of IT in the next five to twenty years. These kind of studies are always interesting and gives you a possibility to compare with your own reflections about the always present future. It is intersting the the seven challenges are [...]
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  Posted: June 05, 2008, 11:47am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Universal Remote

  Number of comments: 2
  I wrote earlier on this blog about one of the most difficult interaction design challenges -- the design of a simple and useful remote control. Well, here is a new attempt. It looks good, but some comments noticed that why not use the iPhone as a universal remote? With [...]
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  Posted: June 03, 2008, 6:13am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Sketching

  Number of comments: 0
  In the March-April issue of ACM Interactions there is a great article on sketching that I hope all hci and interaction design students will read! It is titled "Pencils before Pixels" and is written by Mark Baskinger, CMU. You can also download worksheets from the author! Read and enjoy!! [...]
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  Posted: May 22, 2008, 12:56pm EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• "When users 'do' the ubicomp"

  Number of comments: 2
  In the March-April issue of ACM Interactions I found a short text that I really liked. The title was "When Users 'Do' the Ubicomp" by Antti Oulasvirta. I liked it because it was one of the first ubicomp papers I have read that has a perspective based on [...]
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  Posted: May 22, 2008, 12:40pm EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Human Computer Interaction (HCI): towards a critical research position

  Number of comments: 0
  Together with Anna Croon Fors, one of my colleagues, I have worked on a paper with the title "Human Computer Interaction (HCI): towards a critical research position". The paper has today been published in the Design Philosophy Papers journal.
  
  In the paper we argue that HCI researchers [...]
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  Posted: May 19, 2008, 12:16pm EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• "Being Human -- HCI in the year of 2020"

  Number of comments: 3
  Recently a report has been presented by Microsoft Research that outlines the future of HCI. The report is built on a workshop with a group of highly respected HCI researchers, and is edited by Richard Harper, Tom Rodden, Yvonne Rogers, and Abigail Sellen. The report can be downloaded here.
  [...]
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  Posted: May 14, 2008, 5:59pm EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• The Nature of Design Practice and Implications for Interaction Design Research

  Number of comments: 3
  For a long time I have been working on a paper about the need for interaction design research to be grounded in a better understanding of design practice. This paper has finally been published in the International Journal of Design and if your are interested the paper can be [...]
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  Posted: May 05, 2008, 1:49pm EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Good interaction makes a difference..

  Apple has increased their sales of Macs the last quarter and it is clear that more people are realizing that there is an alternative to the Windows Vista solution. New York Times believe that this is a sign that people are starting to appreciate a good OS. Maybe it [...]
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  Posted: April 24, 2008, 3:57am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Widgets for everything....

  Number of comments: 2
  I am sitting at my kitchen table in the morning working. The weather outside is sunny and beautiful. Right behind me is a window with an outdoor thermometer. Instead of turning and reading the thermometer outside my window, I pull up my widgets and get the correct temperature.
  
  There [...]
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  Posted: April 24, 2008, 2:50am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Finding your desktop after three years...

  Number of comments: 2
  A few days ago I came back to my "old" office that I left three years ago and in the office was my Mac I used before I left. I started the computer and the desktop appeared, exactly as I left it three years ago! It was a strange experience. [...]
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  Posted: April 15, 2008, 5:42am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Missing CHI 2008

  Number of comments: 1
  This year I can't got to CHI in Florence due to family issues. When I am thinking about what I miss, it is obvious that the value of being at any conference is not so much in individual papers or presentations, but the sense of direction of the field [...]
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  Posted: April 05, 2008, 6:33am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Outsourcing my digital life

  Number of comments: 7
  These last days I have experimented with the idea of making myself more or less independent of my own digital artifacts. I have increased my use of Google, Box.net and other online possibilities. This also means that I am increasing the opportunity to use my iPhone to do more of [...]
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  Posted: March 30, 2008, 7:33pm EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• PicLens

  If you have not tried PicLens yet, download it and try it! It is quite an experience! [...]
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  Posted: March 12, 2008, 5:25pm EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Interaction Paradigm Breaking Down...

  In a recent article in New York Times the reporter John Markoff writes about the changing world of interaction. Unusually insightful for a text in a major newspaper. [...]
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  Posted: March 12, 2008, 5:11pm EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Twitter

  We had a seminar around Twitter last week and three of our phd students are doing a great study of Twitter. As usual I learned a lot and has since discussed Twitter with a lot of people, and I think increased the interest and number of people signing up [...]
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  Posted: March 07, 2008, 10:23am EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• I am surprised...

  that no one has commented on the post below "Visualization is easy...". I thought that would raise some comments :-) [...]
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  Posted: March 01, 2008, 11:34am EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• Cell Phone Design and High Fashion

  Number of comments: 1
  Here is an interesting article from NY Times. It is about the struggle phone companies are facing today when it comes to the design of new cell phones. The approach that seems to be popular is some kind of a customer centric approach, that is, the companies are developing [...]
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  Posted: March 01, 2008, 11:13am EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• Visualization is easy - Interactivity is difficult

  Number of comments: 11
  After having seen a lot of amazing commercials and trailers of TV, and after having seen amazing visualizations on the web of complex information and data, I think it is fair to say that designing interactivity is difficult in relation to visualization. In a way it is the shift from [...]
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  Posted: February 07, 2008, 11:17am EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• Interaction Criticism and Judgment

  Number of comments: 2
  In a recent blog post, my colleague Jeff Bardzell writes about the need for a more developed understanding of interaction criticism. He writes the post in reply to someone who reviewed one of his paper recently who did not understand the notion of "judgment" and questioned its nature and [...]
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  Posted: February 06, 2008, 3:43pm EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• Design research -- paradigm shift

  Number of comments: 1
  Today I was made aware of a position paper on the state of art of design research by Kees Dorst (I reviewed his book a couple of days ago, see below). The paper is published in Design Studies and the title is "Design research - a revolution-waiting-to-happen". It is an [...]
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  Posted: February 06, 2008, 3:06pm EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• "Understanding Design"

  
  In my last post I recommended a book that consists of many small truths about architecture and design. Another book with a similar format is "Understanding Design -- 175 Reflections of Being a Designer" by Kees Dorst. This is a great book! Each [...]
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  Posted: February 05, 2008, 11:20am EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• 101 Things I Learned in Architecture School

  
  I have just read the book "101 Things I Learned in Architecture School" by Matthew Fredrick. It is a lovely little book. As someone who teaches design and design thinking I found the book highly insightful, beautiful, and relevant, even though I am not [...]
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  Posted: January 31, 2008, 3:54pm EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• "Design Research Now"

  Number of comments: 1
  
  I just got a new book that I had ordered, it is called "Design Research Now" edited by Ralf Michel. It is new book and a beautiful book! It is with excitement that I am looking forward to read it since some of my [...]
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  Posted: November 30, 2007, 11:42am EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• The Amazon Kindle

  Number of comments: 4
  Jeff Bezos and Amazon.com offers a new digital book reader tool. It is called the Amazon Kindle. Just by looking at the descriptions and videos you get quite a good idea about the design. I think this is a design that deserves examination. The Kindle has some new technology, [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2007, 9:37pm EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• My iPhone .....after a while...

  Number of comments: 3
  Well, I have used my iPhone now since August. It is becoming more clear all the time that it is a great design for me. It is so nice to use. Of course, I have realized some things that I miss, but I am convinced that those functions will be [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2007, 3:28pm EST
  by Erik Stolterman

• HCI and Human Robot Interaction

  Number of comments: 5
  These last weeks I have met people from the Human Robot Interaction research field (Jodi Forlizzi, CMU and Peter Kahn, UW, and our new colleague Matthias Scheutz, IU). It has been highly interesting and I have learnt and realized things that I had not thought about. It [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2007, 9:53pm EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Don Norman: "The Design of Future Things"

  Number of comments: 2
  Today I got the new book by Don Norman, "The Design of Future Things". After having read the book tonight I have some words about it. As usual, the book is a typical Norman. It is easy to read, full of good stories and great examples. It also addresses issues [...]
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  Posted: October 31, 2007, 9:42pm EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• HCI theory and HCI practice

  Number of comments: 5
  This semester I am teaching a course on philosophy and theory of design. The course also covers theories in HCI and how they can be understood from a design perspective. The more I work on this, the more I realize that the field is not paying enough attention to the [...]
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  Posted: October 31, 2007, 11:39am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Real world design by game designers

  It is fascinating to read this little story. In the new Nissan GT-R there is a new multifunction dash display designed in collaboration with the game designers behind the game Grand Turismo. So, is this the first case where game designers move their design skills into the real world? [...]
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  Posted: October 25, 2007, 9:12am EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• The history and genealogy of interactive artifacts

  Number of comments: 4
  It is time that someone writes the history of interactive artifacts. I would love to find books similar to what is available in architecture, product design, and art. Large wonderful books with beautiful pictures covering the important and significant exemplars in our field. In these books we would be able [...]
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  Posted: October 24, 2007, 9:10pm EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Cooking -- scientific design and design space

  In a recent article in Wired magazine, "the father of molecular gastronomy" is portrayed. This is a really interesting text. First of all it is fascinating to see how you can approach cooking as a scientific enterprise. Herve This is the scientist who invents new dishes based on scientific [...]
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  Posted: October 24, 2007, 8:49pm EDT
  by Erik Stolterman

• Design-driven business

  Number of comments: 2
  There is today a growing interest in how design thinking can change the way businesses approach their challenges. Design is becoming the new "thing" in some innovative business schools. This is also being recognized in media, see for instance this article in Business Week, and here is one from [...]
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  Posted: October 11, 2007, 10:35pm EDT
  by Erik Stolterman