I stared at my friend’s washing machine. It has a million buttons, a big wheel, a digital display and a pile of little red and orange lights, with the odd green thrown in. I consider myself not a complete idiot, but have little patience with domestic appliances. They are here to make our lives simpler.
So I started thinking: over the years, how many different washing machines have I used? How many laudromats? Hundreds, easily. I have moved alot. And yet, every time I use one, I must take some time to figure out how it works. Read the rest »
I travelled in South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand back in the dark ages before the internet. I remember my brother told me before I left, that in the future, I could use any computer anywhere in the world to talk to him. Back then I thought, but why would I want to? (self, at 21, on Fraser Island, Queensland, Oz) Read the rest »
Looking for a university in USA, preferably California, that have a master programme that I like.. Bachelor in digital media. Specialising from that, you should think was pretty easy to find these days. Oh, what adventure!
I am thinking around information architecture, interaction design, human-computer interaction, infographics. You’d think that would be reasonably easy to find. Nah.
Some classify HCI under psychology, some see infographics as either arts or engineering. Some see it as information technology, but then from a programming perspective. Some see it as art, but then with crayons and brushes. Some see infographics as library studies or mathematics. Or “informatics”. In some cases, “information” is bundled with “education”, and on top of that is classes in pedagogy. With pictures of teachers and little children.. Read the rest »
So what was that bachelor thesis all about? I have had that question a few times, and now that I have room to breathe again, I will elaborate.
At the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Washington D.C., they have a programme that’s been going on for a number of years; The Human Origins Program. This is to bring evolution and research out there, mainly via the exhibition Hall of Human Origins. In the US, this is considered politics. I venture to say that in Europe this is considered history. So as the americans need to do sensible research, they also to a certain extent need to step carefully. Interesting, bizarre and a wee bit disturbing to me; this tip-toeing.
Scientists argue. Scientists have specialities, and some are extremely specialised in very detailed, at times small and obscure fields. Sometimes they want to share, sometimes not. Sometimes they dislike other scientists definitions, sometimes the overlap of fields can be enriching or frustrating. They work on projects, and they create the tools they need. It seems that they, for all sorts of reasons, creates their own databases; gather their data and information in forms that suits them best there and then. Not necessarily very sustainable, but if you don’t want to share your findings, well, I suppose you could have it inscribed on scrolls under your bed. Read the rest »
And so three years ended. Higher education. Just as I got good at playing the game, it is over. It was a mixed kettle; these three years. Most of the courses seemed exciting on paper, and a good handful of them turned out to be dreadful. Pointless. Insulting. Yes, digital media production is a new-ish branch, and my university college a small one, but dmPro is clearly the stepchild of the IT department. A good deal of the lecturers there would rather not have us meddling in their pure, proper information technology. The sign of small minds. Read the rest »
D.C. is a strange city; it feels like a bubble. It is a smallish, administrative city in a very very large and powerful country. It is rather anonymous. It seems, in this city of administration, power and museums, people live here for a few years, and it gives the city a neutral feel. I am sure the masses of security forces helps too. The city have some lovely, quirky neighbourhoods; places I could live. A little outside the centre, there is life. The city centre is over-dimensioned with bizarre architecture. A mish-mash of styles and taste. Sometimes it works, sometimes it is awful. A new nation cherry-picking world history. Read the rest »
We have this medium: it is free, it is flexible, it is far reaching. It is relatively new.
We should play with it. We should make things that are broken, we should break things that works. And then fix them. And then develop them. Then throw them in the bin, and go play with something else. Then build something out of broken parts and see what happens. Duct tape and superglue. Read the rest »
I study digital media. I was born in the early 70′. I am a dinosaur. My fellow students are 15+ years younger than me – born in another era, on a different planet. We learn roughly the same things from opposite directions; we each hold an end of the stick, so to speak. But we see everything in different shades. Some things comes naturally to me; they are lost. Sometimes the shoe is on the other foot.
Been awfully bad at writing, these last few months, so I start carefully with a font-post. A sans-serif is not just a sans-serif! All the trad ones are there, with some odd ones thrown in for entertaninment. I don’t get a lot of response on the fontthing, but hey – I like it. Which one is the pretty one?
I have been given a peer-award for my blog. Linda, over at The task at hand found me a deserving recipient for the Arte Y Pico award. I am of course honoured. That someone reads what I write is flabbergasting; an award is mystifying. Read the rest »
This blog was initially ment as a school related project, but I am a fickle person, it seems. There are so many other things that interests me, and expanding connections, ideas and thoughts simply seems more fitting to the blog format instead of a record of day-to-day minutiae.
Besides, I also use it as an experiment in how the Great Web works. Read the rest »
Not sure I’d do so well at guessing these fonts myself. I imagine I’d get about half of them right. And which one do I like the best?
It certainly is not number eight….
Go oooon – guess! Read the rest »
A conference of fontfaces, deciding if Zapf dingbats should be given membership. Ransom interfers, and have taken Courier and Curlz prisoner, threatening to slash off their serifs. And what face saves the day?
I have been reading Design Observer on and off for a few years. Sometimes it’s desperately navel-gazing, sometimes is preaching to the already converted, sometimes it’s talking to a few insiders. Sometimes, it is good. The last time I scrolled through, though, made me feel despondent. Read the rest »
