Jay Morgan wrote: >> A lecture-based conference with alcohol-based social activities is >> not a realistic preparation for our working environments. A competition is.
Maybe e-mail removes some of the intonations in your statement, but this appears to me to be a dismissal of the real value of a conference. The reason to attend a conference is not the content, per se. It's the conversations that come out of experiencing that content together. These conversations and interactions, yes, even during "alcohol-based social activities," are things we can take back to the office on Monday help us serve as thought leaders in our space. That said, the concept of a competition to hone our skills is a great idea. It's not a replacement for a conference, but a complement. There are other options out there as well, including workshops like the Design Studio Liya Zheng and Jeanine Harriman ran at Interaction '09. These are great ways to hone some of our skills. But I cringe a little at the thought of a competition consisting entirely of designers as a realistic work environment. Where are the higher ups with their own ideas and biases of how things should run? Art directors who miss your concept entirely? Or project managers and engineers who want to butcher your spec to get your product "to market on time"? A design competition provides a forum for people in our field to hone their skills, and it's a nice way to instill confidence. But let's not kid ourselves and say that this prepares designers for a realistic work environment. It'll hone your skills and make you more competitive, sure. But it will also teach you how to communicate with and convince still more designers, not the people we have to convince in the real world. I like the playful attitude the UX Challenge takes-- I don't think you guys are "insane," as the former subject line implied. Just want to make sure we cleared up the frame around the conference vs. contest concept. Looking forward to live reports from the "X-treme environment"-- Rawwwk on! :-) - Nasir ________________________________________________________________ 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
