Josh, I'd like to tie this back to the mission of the IxDA and highlight two of the points from that statement: * Evangelism* - Promoting awareness of the discipline, craft, and value of interaction design and design research among businesses, academia, consumers, and colleagues
*Innovation* - Advancing the discipline of interaction design On the surface of it at least it would seem that the US National Design policy - and specifically the involvement of the IxDA as a professional association in the formative and developmental stages of that policy - are consistent with those two objectives. What better way to demonstrate the relevance and importance of interaction design to a broader audience than to become actively involved in such an initiative. I recognise that the IxDA's membership will not benefit equally from involvement in such a program. As an Australian member of the IxDA the benefits would be much more indirect than they would for US members. However, I recognise the leadership role the US plays in public policy on a global stage; the influence of US on Australian government policy-making is clear. Similarly, raising the profile of IxD as a discipline with the ability to tackle "big problems" can only help practitioners in all parts of the world. So, with some call for caution with respect to the allocation of overall resources of the IxDA, I would support our involvement. Best Regards Steve 2009/2/19 Josh Seiden <[email protected]> > Folk, > > Recently, a group of leaders from various US design organizations > came together to discuss the question of a US National design policy. > This summit meeting resulted in 10 design policy recommendations, > which can be found here: > http://www.designpolicy.org/usdp/policy-proposals.html > > (The full report on the summit meeting can be found here: > http://www.designpolicy.org/usdp/summit-report.html) > > After the summit meeting, the leaders of this initiative contacted > IxDA to ask for our participation and endorsement. In turn, the Board > has asked me to reach out to you--the community--to help us decide how > (or if) IxDA should participate. > > The Board finds much to support in the 10 policy initiatives. In > particular, the spirit of optimistic patriotism is welcome, and we > certainly support the efforts of those who are motivated by that > spirit. That said, the 10 policy proposals include some items that > the Board strongly disagreed with as well. The Board finds itself > similarly split on whether or not the very idea of design > organizations partnering with government is a good idea. > > What do you think? Should IxDA get involved? Are there specific > initiatives that YOU would like to support by working alongside your > IxDA peers? Are there alternative ways you would like to see IxDA > proceed? > > For quick reference, here are the the 10 recommendations: > > 1. Formalize an American Design Council to partner with the U.S. > Government. > > 2. Set guidelines for legibility, literacy, and accessibility for > all government communications. > > 3. Target 2030 for carbon neutral buildings. > > 4. Create an Assistant Secretary for Design and Innovation > position within the Department of Commerce to promote design. > > 5. Expand national grants to support interdisciplinary community > design assistance programs based on human-centered design > principles. > > 6. Commission a report to measure and document design's > contribution to the U.S. economy. > > 7. Revive the Presidential Design Awards to be held every year and > use triple bottom-line criteria (economic, social, and environmental > benefit) for evaluation. > > 8. Establish national grants for basic design research. > > 9. Modify the patent process to reflect the types of intellectual > property created by designers. > > 10. Encourage direct government investment in design innovation. > > > What do you think? How do you see IxDA's role relating to this? > > Thanks, > Josh Seiden > -- Steve 'Doc' Baty | Principal | Meld Consulting | P: +61 417 061 292 | E: [email protected] | Twitter: docbaty | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stevebaty Blog: http://meld.com.au/blog Contributo: Johnny Holland - johnnyholland.org Contributor: UXMatters - www.uxmatters.com UX Australia: 25-27 August, http://uxaustralia.com.au UX Book Club: http://uxbookclub.org/ - Read, discuss, connect. ________________________________________________________________ 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
