Andy, This comparison with cinema is very interesting.
On Tue, Mar 31, 2009 at 3:48 PM, Andy Polaine <a...@polaine.com> wrote: > I have often wondered why this hasn't happened in our area and the reason is > that what our (broader) community suffers from isn't a lack of role > definition, it's a lack of a single goal and medium. Another reason may be that cinema is over 100 years old, they've had time to work it out. Our fields are still fairly new. However, it's worth noting that even in a field as old as cinema, it does nobody any good to become dogmatic about roles. (Foley artists only appeared after the addition of sound, and the people who wrote title cards became scriptwriters. Many animatronics artists have had to become 3D animators. The role of directors has changed over the years, etc.) The way I see it... What is new in IA (the equivalent of celluloid film in our world) is the understanding that comes from having to resolve the types of design problems posed by digital systems, especially those with large distributed banks of information (like websites). The lessons learned and tools acquired as a result of having to deal with these problems can then be applied to a variety of other design challenges. (Much like we can apply techniques learned from film in other fields.) What is new in IxD is the understanding that comes from having to resolve the types of design problems posed by digital systems, especially those with complex, highly mutable interfaces. The lessons learned and tools acquired as a result of having to deal with these problems can then be applied to a variety of other design challenges. I believe the two fields have much in common: we are using the things we've learned from having to deal with these design challenges that have appeared over the past 20 years or so to re-fashion our understanding of _many_ design fields. (That's why I used the "lens" metaphor in my earlier post.) For example, I think it's perfectly fine that we take an IxD lens to industrial design. I don't think of this as a land grab: I see it as applying new knowledge to old problems. I expect to do the same with IA. Cheers, ~ Jorge ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
