True, Kontra, but the challenge comes from a different angle, generally erring on the side of less change, more conservatism. This is why I keep raising the specter of what happened with the industry-norming of journalism degrees, which are not doing the field any favors.
Industry-norming is not the best direction for a field to take, if it has any intention of being on the leading edge of innovation. Instead, it would lead the field to permanent "follower" status, always teaching dated status quo (as you say, that's already a pitfall in academic programs, so consider this "dated status quo squared"). Has anyone encountered stakeholders or clients who actually challenge you to be MORE out of the box than you already are, instead of less? Regarding failed businesses etc... I'm just speaking from my own experience over many years, but have y'all seen the remarkable number of badly run businesses that have no business still being in business, yet they still make money, IN SPITE OF a series of repeatedly insanely stupid business decisions? I shouldn't be surprised by it anymore, but it still boggles my mind. Success or failure of a business is not the best indicator of good business practices, in any industry sector or discipline. In another part of the thread, someone (sorry, I forget who, Dave I think), raised a contrast between "cranking out designs" and higher level design skill, noting that if the field's main demand is for the "crank out" variety, high level preparation can be overwrought or overkill (hope I'm summarizing accurately). That raises an interesting problem of status for designers, and for positioning the field in general. Do we position the profession toward higher level design discussions, and let employers find their design-crank fodder bodies elsewhere, or do we see the demand for design-crank fodder as something we should try to meet by encouraging programs to produce students for this level of work only? Again, the same problem with journalists, where there are two distinct tiers operating in the US, and it is very difficult to cross between them, once you get tracked on one side or the other. One is higher status and higher level reporting and writing, without having to track instantly to management before you start making real money. It is generally fed from Ivy League liberal arts majors with lots of prep school-type connections. This upper class of journalists also sets the national thought agenda for the nation (think Pravda). The other is fed directly from a majority of bread-and-butter state university journalism programs, and the jobs are low wage, for nearly assembly-line type of cranking out "stories" fodder (the same way one might "crank out designs"). Those local stories fill the AP news river, and the AP news river allows the majority of corporate-owned chain newspapers and TV stations to operate with teeny staffs of assembly line journalists who do little more than rewrite and repurpose existing AP copy (in design, think design templates and design patterns). They get to do little actual "reporting," although they may cover local stories, with an overt imperative not to break anything controversial, because only "real" reporters are allowed to do that, meaning top tier (many of whom never took a formal press law course in their lives). [this is a massive shift from even 25 years ago, btw] So I ask all of you, is a corporate-industry imperative leading us to stratify this field? Industry pressure is to keep wages as low as possible for the type of work at hand, so the more IxD work can be made into design work that can be "cranked," the more positions to do that can be filled with lower cost workers, younger workers, an army of them. Yet that very army's existence, once it does exist (as Dave points out, it doesn't yet), will lead to the disappearance of higher level design jobs, by the conservative force of industry cost-cutting. It will also be a force against innovation (although I tend to be against innovation for the sake of innovation, which can be more gratuitous than functional). Take that movement a step further (and I only bring this up to raise flags, not because I think this will happen), and you have a field that could become like journalism, that would eat its young as fodder for design-crank jobs, with no possibility of advancement, no natural motion into higher wage positions, except to leave the field for something else. I'm just cautioning against this, against turning a field into the "assembly line" factory workers of the Information Age, destined to be laid off by age 50 or sooner, if you don't leave the field of your on volition before then, whenever your annual salary increases reach a certain level. I'm not saying anybody is doing this. I'm just warning of the pitfall. Chris On Fri, Jun 20, 2008 at 6:35 PM, Kontra <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > But it doesn't match the rigor of true in-depth intellectual study and > analysis and, just being challenged by a professor or students *in your > face* to heighten/deepen your understanding of the history, theory, issues, > etc. > > Nothing matches the rigor of an actual workplace and the deadline to > ship product. > > Fact: a huge number of failed businesses are led by MBAs, > Fact: some of the most spectacular success stories, especially in our > industry, are led by college drop-outs (cf. Gates, Jobs, Dell, > Zuckerberg, etc), > Fact: educational institutions have failed to produce curricula > relevant to fast changing workplace demands, > Fact: many degreed but ineffectual designers have been spotted in the wild, > Fact: so have non-degreed but excellent designers. > > Conclusion: It's silly to set these rules and expectations without > individual contexts. > > -- > Kontra > http://counternotions.com > ________________________________________________________________ > 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 > ________________________________________________________________ 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
