What a giant question, David. (And thanks for the blanket compliments.) I was part of the founding class, and I'd say the things that made it the thing what it was for me are:
1. A spirit of entrepreneurship. They were still making it up when we walked in the door. The constraints and pressures of the new school meant we had to decide what we wanted and make it happen despite the chaos, and much of the faculty recognized and supported it. I made a poster with the IDII building flying in the sky with the X-Files-esque caption "I Want to Believe" and a number of other students and faculty said they felt the same. 2. Deep pockets. Telecom Italia was the original sponsor for the program, and rumors ran that they were hoping to turn it into an IP farm. They were eager to have interaction design expertise flourish in Italy generally, and were prepared to front lots of money for it. 3. The inclusion of business in the curriculum: RCA and ITP both were (and still are) working fantastic programs that focused on art. IDII included real-world business as an equal partner in the curriculum. This was attractive to employers who felt students had exposure to business strategy and thinking, and obviously encouraged graduates to act on their own business ideas. 4. Well-connected faculty: Gillian picked the multicultural faculty carefully for subject expertise, pedagogical eloquence, and/or industry experience. Through them we had a stream of fantastic lecturers and adjunct professors, even though we were in a small Italian town a couple of hours from the nearest metro. 5. Culture clash: There was a clash between the different cultures participating. I recall some deep discussions between the students on the merits of the USofA-esque, aggressive style of being a student, and the more passive expectations of the European-esque-educated students. We learned a lot from each other, and I at least was constantly inspired by the intersections. Additionally, and this is a little nuanced, but I think the fact that we had to up-level our English helped a lot as well. Native speakers couldn't rely on idiom and slang, and we had to think about what we were saying and get very used to explaining and re-explaining ourselves. This forced us to examine and iterate our ideas quite a bit. 6. Isolation: This worked against us part of the time because it was hard to find materials and services to support our work. (Not to mention the constant need for interpreters for those of us whose Italian was middling at best.) But it also kept us free from distractions and focused on creating and nurturing the internal culture. We even lived in the same strange underground apartment block, reinforcing this interdependence and sense of like-it-or-not family. 7. Connected locals: I'm not sure this would need to be replicated in another school, but in Italy it was vital to have staff who were "in" with the locals. This is MHO. I'd love to hear from other IDII veterans. What did I miss? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=34678 ________________________________________________________________ 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
