HappyTime 4AR(ie)d: Bernhard Rieder, is giving away a good deal of all you wanted to know about contemporary digital culture- in association to new media design- and you were just afraid to ask!

Bernhard Rieder is Associate Professor of New Media and Digital Culture at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

While still in Paris, he was co-responsible for an MA program in interaction and web design, concluding his Phd research on the social and political dimension of information processing. His background as a web developer, researcher, educator, together with his recent, current position in teaching Media theory, in the university’s Media studies department, (:faculty of Humanities), compose a unique line of experience and flair. Digital communication, society, design, the  information age, issues and problems: here are some basic facts and figures, explained thoroughly, yet effectively by Bernhard Rieder.

Picture above from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/silvertje/7535118470/

Α4D-D4A: We were at the multimedia rush, back in the beginning of the noughties (2000), when we heard that access to digital (personal) data will be maximized , through a common server, running through your (digital) TV, laptop AND mobile phone. Today cloud computing is finally here, how this reality affects the design of new media apps?

Bernhard Rieder: Well, I’ve been a bit out of the loop concerning the latest design practices, but one of the realities is certainly that the necessity to work for different screen sizes and interaction paradigms requires quite a lot of very concrete thinking about device-specific interaction patterns and a lot of highly abstract thinking about how to coordinate between devices, synching data, and so forth. My impression is that design is becoming less about specific technical requirements (including graphical work) - a lot of people can use Photoshop or write some code and outsourcing has become commonplace - and more about what you could call "activity design”, which moves from what happens on a specific screen to the question what people are doing, or what they could be doing. Besides its technical dimension, the cloud is about allowing activity patterns to move from one screen to the next. Apple’s continuity project is a recent example, but so many programs now have a website, desktop app, mobile app, etc. and what holds it together is not a particular interface or design paradigm, but an activity or service. This means that designers need to be concerned with questions that were traditionally asked in the humanities and social sciences.

Α4D-D4A: What is the most common clashes you experience in young peoples debates, during your sessions, regarding computer design?( For instance, the eternal conflict between web designers and web developers always occurs, even in an academic environment like yours?)

B.R: When I taught design or development some years ago, I found that this opposition was beginning to slowly fade away, even if it was slower than what I would have liked. But some of the best designers were beginning to get pretty good at coding, which really also fed back into their design practice.

Α4D-D4A:You once mentioned that you should need NO more than 3 clicks to navigate through an application, in order to reach a function-result, otherwise this app’s interface is extremely inadequate (you used another word but that’s classified info ;-). Have you changed your mind? Do you have any favourite apps , today, that you use regularly?

B.R: It’s of course an overstatement and the slavish following of some usability mantras can really be detrimental to creativity. But what I still like very much about these ideas is that users are not there for the purpose of your app or website. They have their own lives and ideas and struggles and neither the time nor the inclination to learn a badly designed or complicated interface. Things have been getting better, but in particular in Europe, we’ve had so many examples of really badly designed stuff where usability was not of any concern that something like the three click rule had its place. But it’s clear that interface design, in particular, has done enormous strides since mobile appeared and when the activity orientation I mentioned above really kicked in.

Concerning favorite apps, I love the distraction-free writing trend that started some years ago. Stuff like Ulysses on the Mac is really such a boon to writers. I’m still waiting for something to make the email avalanche more bearable, though.

Α4D-D4A: Energy, climate, supplies, science, space, economy, design. Notions that are changing dramatically, succumbing to the necessities of the crisis era. As a programmer, professor and digerati, can you define the most important stakes, regarding the making of the future digital media?

B.R: That’s a big one. My main worry is that complexity in all areas is growing, but our willingness to adequately deal with it is not. By that I mean first of all that the attractiveness of the quick fix, the slogan, the hip shot diagnosis, or the fast thinking is growing rather than diminishing. Things have to go fast and there is little time for introspection and deep deliberation. But most relevant problems today are not only complex in the sense that they have many different components, but also because they have complicated histories and engage increasingly diverse people and ideas. That means that we would actually need a lot of time to unpack the problem, to hear each other out, and to think through a number of lines - and there’s rarely time for that. In my research area, which basically concerns the political dimension of information processing, the people concerned with critique or policy have rarely a robust understanding of technology and the technologists are oblivious to the political dimension of their work. They come together in research projects or conferences and I constantly hear one group complaining about the other - if only the computer scientists were more open, if only the social scientists were less vague, etc. Understanding the other’s ideas not only takes willingness, but years of exchange and the time to learn about sometimes fundamentally different ways of looking at the world. But since everybody is so busy, exchange risks becoming superficial, petty, and thus ultimately frustrating. It’s maybe a naive wish, but I hope that we’ll be able to pause a bit more, to take a bit more time, and maybe to become a bit more prudent.

Α4D-D4A: A kid/young person comes to you, asking your advice; he/she wants to be a hypermedia architect, a designer of intelligent digital systems. Which steps he/she should follow, to realise this, and to overachieve?

B.R: Go broad. With things like codecademy, stack overflow, etc. there’s really no excuse any more to not learn how to code, at least a little. Maybe you won’t become a developer, but at least you’ll be able to be part of a productive conversation about technical specs. And if you have a more technical background, go to the museum, look at a design magazine, read a novel, see a play. You’ll maybe never become an artist, but you’ll hopefully develop a wider appreciation of culture and human diversity. There is nothing more depressing than hearing from somebody in the first sentence of a conversation what they are *not*. To both I’d say to stay up to date on digital culture - there are so many great sites out there that do quality reporting on stuff from gadgets to NSA spying and that’s the larger context every designer or developer now works in.

Α4D-D4A: Thanks so much for your time Bernhard!

Enjoy more of Bernhard Rieder’s  views, ventures, articles and research on:

http://thepoliticsofsystems.net | http://rieder.polsys.net | https://www.digitalmethods.net | @RiederB

WDC 2014: Speaking of which....

The recent reality of political alliances -as A4D-D4A stated in the previous post, (with the implementation of B.R.I.C.S forthcoming summits to contemporary design reality), relates to the first global event, concerning design disciplines. Cape Town is the new World Design Capital 2014, with a series of exciting, interesting, innovative projects. Engraving the new Design World map? Certainly yes, the countdown to the next decade 2020-2030, has already kick-started, with the rise of a new Design, regime. For all updates and ventures, check the official website:
http://www.wdccapetown2014.com

SHIFT OF POWERS??? - The Design [New] World Map (post-Cold War no2).

Key figures, people of power, old associations, large governmental organisations, refreshed policies, unexpected circumstances, new alliances. There is a  new world balance, and it affects design, as much as everything else. Fundamental desicions and change of routine in Europe and overseas, define a new landscape, about to emerge, concerning creativity, education, industrial production and economy. Here A4D- D4A lists some essential facts and personalities, combining the elements of a new design era.
1.Turmoil in Europe? There is certainly some policies undertaken, which thicken the design plot. The
 German Universities Excellence Initiative, enlarged the list of "elite" universities in the country, to a total of twelve, (including the famous Munich School of Architecture, which joined the list in 2006). Allthough the official authorities denounce the term "Ivy League" for this new structure, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the German Research Foundation , succeded in attracting the best young minds, in what is seems to be Europe's  new, best, university network, that covers all the disciplines related to the design field.
2. In the always, education-wise, competitive and design-savvy UK , Michael Gove, former Secretary of State for Education (until July 2014), expanded the curriculum of five core subjects (English, maths, two sciences, a foreign language, history or geography), to include arts and technology, Praised by the craft and  design world in the UK, M.Gove's  initial scheme was to prevent a generation of potential artists, designers and meakers casting adrift, in an era where the creative industries are far more promising, economically.
In Finland, the ministry of Education and Culture (OKM) continues to show the way, by adopting now cloud technologies in education, and furthermore: the Finnish diagnosed the cause of unemployment due to the recession, being the set-up of false priorities in education. People cannot find a job anymore, most propably, because of lack of innovative tools and new technologies, needed to be infiltrated, in the educational system, early on.

3. Promotion, funding, unions and professional infrastructures of current design organisations, are coming to a point of refreshing, to say the least. In Japan and the USA, these structures date sometimes from the mid 50's , combining the creative with the commercial aspect, bulding up the  local design communities and scheduling export policies. Still, in Netherlands, the flexible and agile
Premsela,  supports Dutch design and fashion industries, providing a security net for european exports in general, with a healthy surplus. Spain, Italy and France follow up, aiming at the re-instated legal framework for intellectual rights protection, patents and innovative products in Europe (new enlarged, office service , is  starting up soon in Alicante, Spain).

4. Recent developments in Russia, (regarding the counry's sanctions, applied by the E.U), started spreading the rumours of a "new Vkhutemas", emerging, with the blessings of president V.Putin. This time, the russian authorities, also visualize a strong co-alition with the other BRICS members, -China, Brazil, India and South Africa- concerning the areas of industrial production, creative arts, IT technologies and textile industry, respectively. At the same time, the rest of Africa, apparently leads a more independent way. Nicolas Sawalo Cissé, pioneer Senegalese designer and architect, founder of African Designers Association, is the father-figure of a design generation, standing out from design cartels, representing the psyche of the continent, with a whole new bunch of ideas and techniques.

Study the  design New World map, is helpful to know and understand the New design World or the New World map or Both!!!

Faithfully yours
A4D-D4A

AKEA 2nd ANNUAL MEETING OF YOUNG ARCHITECTS: 21-24/8, Stamos Stournas Hostel, Pelion, Greece.





Always interesting and eclectic,(even if you are not a communist party affiliate), Akea 2nd Annual Meeting  of Young Architects, offers food for thought, and a unique opportunity to attend a program of lectures, workshops and concerts, around contemporary architectural issues and new urbanism. Escape Athens, open up your mind and prepare to debate.

 

http://akea2011.wordpress.com/2014/07/28/programaekdiloseon2/

FAIR & SQUARE: A4D-D4A means to support fair trade design for food, cosmetics,clothing,objects, artefacts,buildings,media...check out our big time faves for this summer!

Picture bellow (top row: 1,2,3- bottom row: 4,5,6)

1.http://www.urtekram.dk
The danish Ultimate eco-friendly prototype of a factory (almost every system in the production area,
has a recycling program applied), producing organic and fair-trade cosmetics and foods, continues
to excel beyond Scandinavian territories. The manufacturing model of the future, coming from the near past.

2.www.toms.com
Tom's founder Blake Mycoskie, (after re-inventing contemporary marketing with a Social Responsibility-centred company, mainly manufacturing shoes), joins the world of Fair-trade coffee, with a similar concept. Over-accused of hiding two many skeletons in the closet, Blake just does what he knows best, and what society, currently imposes: he provides a good quality product,trying to give something back to the local community.

3.https://www.facebook.com/rhowholesomefoods
RHO, a Wholesome Food company in Greece, makes raw Kale chips in their workshop, in downtown Athens. Urban, tasty, post-climate change foods, made with advanced techniques (dehydrating under 45o C), light, full of nutrients and energy, aiming to feed a generation, destined to live with much less.

4.http://www.whomadeyourpants.co.uk
A collective, run like a mainstream business, following all rules and regulations of ethical commerce? Yes, it exists. Apart from designing and manufacturing the hottest knickers in Europe, Whomadeyourpants supports a number of extremely important causes and organisations.


http://www.labourbehindthelabel.org/

5.http://www.rush3studio.com/kebo
Good design, aesthetically, but most important, functionally? Rush3studio presents Kebo, the bottle opener for single-handed people. Handicap in design is strictly remote from this intelligent team of designers. Pay attention.

6.http://www.csao.fr
The amazing CSAO, more than just a concept store, a whole commercial network, operating under ethical and sustainable distribution and manufacturing policies, counts more than 16 years already. One visit, and it becomes a shopping addiction, for all the good reasons;amazing design and crafts, fair prices, great space, transparent service, recycled materials, tradition embracing avant-garde.

Discover more on the actual websites- happy design-thinking!!!