Andrei, I cannot think of any part of interaction design (NOT User Experience Design) that would not contain a micro-chip at some level of the equation these days.
The fact that I feel equally strongly that mentioning the word digital in an organizational definition is unnecessarily limiting. By its very nature IxD is form agnostic. I should be able to move between designing the entire interface of a mobile computer system (http://tinyurl.com/2ltawl - Motorola Wearable Enterprise Computer) -- the software and the outside interfaces and then also move on to designing iTunes. Now if in your world all aspects of this design eco-system fit under digital, then great. But when you say digital, and then start talking about #'s of people doing web/software it sounds like you mean digital = software and wouldn't even include things like tangible interfaces, VUIs, location-based interactions, ambient interactions, etc. But this is why the word "digital" is so unnecessary if not unnecessarily divisive. We can be a larger and more powerful group if we include more designers than exclude. And you know, you may be right. Maybe we will be merged into a bigger "D"esign organization like ICSID, which actually just merged with ICONOGRAD to form an even bigger design alliance called IDA (w/ fashion design in there as well). But that is just because as you keep raising the lens to higher altitudes the differences fall away. I would much rather have SIGs within IxDA on web, on even enterprise web and hardware design and services (I like the POS system example, Dan) then to limit the nature of interaction design is at a foundational level. Now, I do not make the decision for the organization except through my own voice. I think it would be sad to create an IxDA that wouldn't really include everything, b/c I think there is so much that web designers can and should learn from the hardware IxDs who quite frankly have been doing IxD a lot longer (having coined the term in the 80's). A great example of IxD work that I use in my history of IxD slides where digital isn't there, is the behavioral and system design of the communication system between the bridge on a large ship and the engine room. There is a merging of voice, graphics, and tangible interfaces throughout, yet not a single microchip or transistor until about 50 years ago. The rules of IxD that you used in building Photoshop & the suite of graphics and communications tools under the Adobe banner are the same ones used by those who designed that system at an Human Factors/Ergonomics level, but also at the level of behaviors to meet goals and motivations. Buxton's work on the Portfolio Board (I think I have the name wrong) is all about taking analog systems of a design studio and moving them to the digital. But the analog systems are still strong in his model. If your vision of digital can include the design of a Razor as well as the design of Songza it is so broad that it well, is unnecessary, so why focus on it at all? It just creates limits that may not (probably won't) be there as we move forward, or even if it is other new divisions will occur that are even more important. But "behavior" & "interaction" will always be there. I.e. what happens when digital gets replaced with biological? Will the behavioral and interactive theories loose their core essence? Sure, they will evolve, but there will be behavior at the core. Technology distinctions like "digital" are inconsequential to IxD, so is focusing on them. -- dave -- dave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=24685 ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
