| The three-day Changing the Change conference, which is about the role of design research in sustainable change and scheduled for 10-12 July in Turin, Italy, looks to become very interesting indeed.
The list of invited speakers and discussants features Bill Moggridge (IDEO); Geetha Narayanan (Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, India); Lou Yongqi (Tongji University, China); Mugendi M. Rithaa (Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa); Aguinaldo dos Santos (Universidade Federal do Paraná, Brazil); Fumi Masuda (designer, Japan), Chris Ryan (University of Melbourne, Australia); Luisa Collina (Polytechnic University of Milan, Italy); Josephine Green (Philips Design); Roberto Bartholo (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Anna Meroni (Polytechnic University of Milan, Italy), Luigi Bistagnino (Polytechnic University of Turin, Italy); Nigel Cross (The Open University, UK); Victor Margolin (University of Illinois at Chicago, USA); and Ken Friedman (Danmarks Designskole, Denmark) No less than 163 abstracts have been accepted, including our own. Take a look at the titles and the presenters to get an idea of the variety on offer, all within the wider theme of design for sustainability, or read a reflection on the selection by conference chair Ezio Manzini. The topics sound great and I will enjoy attending, but I have to point out that the large majority of the papers come from academic institutions. In fact, there are only a handful of major companies (Intel and Philips) and design consultancies (such as Experientia) involved. This is something bound to be different at another major international conference scheduled in Turin, Italy, the UPA Europe 2008 conference, taking place in December. Conference co-chair (and my business partner) Michele Visciola told me that many major international companies have submitted papers for this conference with the theme “usability and design: cultivating diversity”. More is to follow soon. |
| Posts in category 'Europe' |
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13 May 2008
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13 May 2008
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The UK think tank Demos has launched a new publication, The Politics of Public Behaviour, which explores the role of government in influencing people’s lifestyles and everyday decision-making.
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9 May 2008
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The Guardian reviews a book that argues that our privacy is under threat by increased digital surveillance.
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9 May 2008
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The (UK) Times reports on how you don’t need a computer anymore to browse people’s profiles.
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8 May 2008
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A series of web pages on the France Telecom/Orange site give an insight in how the company moves from the many ideas that come out of R&D, to a product or service that is ready for the market.
In 2005-2006, France Telecom created two structures, the Explocentre and the Technocentre, which work in close collaboration with the R&D laboratories installed all over the world, but are run by the Strategic Marketing Department, which provides the group’s orientations and knowledge of the market. The Explocentre is an “incubator for R&D projects” and “concentrates on nurturing highly innovative concepts with strong potential, but that could be deemed too risky to be placed directly on the market”. The Explocentre determines their feasibility and potential, and tests new uses and technological breakthroughs before market launch. Interestingly, the centre works with “new methods based on co-creation with customers and partners, using design to drive innovation. Ideas for services are investigated, tested and re-worked with customers to find real value potential.” Once explored, the most promising concepts are submitted to the Technocentre, which deals with the implementation of these “mature” projects. The Technocentre is responsible for turning them into products ready for the market, either by industrialising them for a commercial launch or by transferring to a spin-off or joint venture for development. The centre brings together around 30 teams consisting of a marketing specialist, a researcher and a network engineer. So at the one end of France Telecom’s innovation chain there are ideas coming in from R&D, and the company’s industrial partners and employees. Those ideas with high development potential go to the exploration centre, where they are analysed and tested. The integrated strategic marketing in the innovation chain then takes over marketing the product within the technocentre. Finally, agreed projects are integrated into the Group’s Product Roadmap and 3-year plan, which is the other end of its innovation process. |
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4 May 2008
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Last year, The Economist published an article about ethnographic user research at Swisscom. One of the findings it highlighted was that immigrant workers are the most advanced users of communications technology:
That same trend is also present in the United States, with Latinos depending on their cell phones for more services than other [major] ethnic groups, turning to it for messaging, downloading music, surfing the Web and e-mailing, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.
Interestingly, “the cell phone in some cases is being used as the primary computer for Latinos, serving up e-mail and the Internet, in the process bridging what has been called the digital divide that still exists for some minority and disadvantaged groups.” The article mentions many reasons for this: economic (lower mean household income, so less broadband access at home), demographic (family and friends are spread out across the United States and across the border), and cultural (a higher value is placed on staying in touch with family and friends). But even though these ethnic minorities are advanced users, mobile phone marketing companies consider them as only interested in the cheap offers: “Hendrik Schouten, director of marketing for the Hispanic segment at AT&T, said carriers assumed Latino users wanted the cheapest phones and were more likely to use prepaid plans because of limited budgets.” This now seems to be changing. |
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1 May 2008
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Business Week reports on how online aps such as Sports Tracker and Nokia Beta Lab, allow the Finnish handset giant to gather customers’ ideas from around the world, and virtually for free.
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24 April 2008
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24 April 2008
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| Design Flanders and Flanders In Shape organise a one-day conference and intensive training on user-centred design in the Flemish Parliament in Brussels on 22 May.
Experientia’s Jan-Christoph Zoels and Mark Vanderbeeken (the author of this blog) are in charge of the afternoon workshop on ethnography. The event web page explains the importance of empathy in the creation of a successful user experience and stresses the relevance of a user-centred design for small and medium size companies. The day will start off with a series of presentations:
The afternoon will feature four parallel workshops:
Patricia Ceysens, Flemish Minister of Economy, Enterprise, Science, Innovation and Foreign Trade, will provide the closing speech. Programme and registration: www.ucd.be |
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24 April 2008
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The German government just announced a high level initiative for universal and transgenerational design to archive world leadership in the production of innovative products for the elderly including innovation strategies, product and service development, design school projects, and a universal design network.
As stated on the website of the German Ministry of Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, the aim is to enlarge the potential that senior citizens can provide to the economy, by developing new products and services for the elderly, which in turn can secure existing jobs and create new ones, and by making companies (in construction, interior design, technology, information design, tourism, etc.) aware of the enormous opportunities by this future trend and supporting them with new ideas. A press release dated 23 April 2008, gives more detail about the initiatives planned:
The initiative will initially run until 2010. Here are some other German language links: |
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17 April 2008
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17 April 2008
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13 April 2008
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| All videos of the conferences at the Bruce Sterling curated Share Festival that recently took place in Turin, Italy, are now online.
Aside from Bruce Sterling, exhilarating discussants were Massimo Banzi, Julian Bleecker, Donald Norman and Marcos Novak, to name just a few. Manufacturing: From Digital to Digifab Manufacturing Cultural Projects Manufacturing the Streets Dramatic Manufacturing Manufacturing Intelligence Manufacturing Robots Manufacturing FIAT 500 A Manifesto for Networked Objects Manufacturing Digital Art Manufacturing Future Designs Manufacturing Consent From Land Art to Bioart Is Life Manufacturable? Two Architectures: Atoms and Bits Share Prize Ceremony |
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11 April 2008
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On Apr. 9, France Telecom’s Orange mobile, Internet, and TV unit unveiled a service [”Orange Cinéma Séries“], set to be introduced in the fourth quarter of this year, that will let subscribers get premium movies from Warner Brothers and HBO and swap them among their PCs, TVs, and all manner of portable devices, including mobile phones.
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10 April 2008
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Last year’s conference “Innovation Forum Interaction Design” focused on all aspects of interface and interaction design: mobile telephone and media interfaces, problem solutions and product visions, web pages and virtual worlds, art and commerce, business and science.
Speakers included Gillian Crampton Smith, Anthony Dunne, Tim Edler, Frank Jacob, Gesche Joost, Bernard Kerr, Patrick Kochlik, Kristjan Kristjansson, Bill Moggridge, Dennis Paul, Mike Richter and Bruce Sterling. (via Bruce Sterling) |
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10 April 2008
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Clay Shirky, author of the book Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organising without Organisations (see also these posts), argues in a short essay that the future of Europe lies in email:
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7 April 2008
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The Norwegian Design Council is organising a European Business Conference on Inclusive Design, 5-6 May in Oslo, Norway.
Speakers include Maria Benktzon, Professor/Industrial Designer, Ergonomidesign, Sweden; Julia Cassim, Senior Research Fellow, Royal College of Art Helen Hamlyn Centre, UK; Jeremy Myerson, Director/Professor, Royal College of Art Helen Hamlyn Centre (Keynote speech: “Discovery Through Design: How design methods take you closer to the customer at the front end of innovation”); Akihiro Nagaya, General Manager Design Development Division, TOYOTA, Japan (Keynote speech: “Aiming at a sustainable society”); Rama Gheerawo, Innovation Manager and Research Fellow, Royal College of Art Helen Hamlyn Centre, London; Alison Wright, Managing Director, Easy Living Home Ltd, UK (on creating and marketing inclusively designed kitchens and bathrooms); Matthew White, Design Manager, B&Q, UK (on inclusive product innovation); Jarmo Lehtonen, Design Research Manager, Design for All, Nokia, Finland (on design for all); Clive Grinyer, Cisco Systems/Orange, UK (on inclusive service design); and Toshimitsu Sadamura, President/Director GA-TAP, Japan (on the inclusive design project of the Fukuoka City Tube Nanakuma Line). (via the product usability weblog) |
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6 April 2008
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Luca Chittaro (blog), a professor at the University of Udine, covers the CHI 2008 conference in Florence for Novà, the innovation supplement of Il Sole 24 Ore, Italy’s business newspaper.
He is already at the pre-conference workshops where he is publishing interviews faster than we can read them: Playing with brain-computer interfaces The disappearing desktop Intercultural interaction design Exertion interfaces Computers for mental health |
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1 April 2008
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It’s all over the Italian press (the winners) and the Turkish press (the losers), and on a small number of international news outlets: Milan will host the 2015 Universal Exposition (a.k.a. “Expo” or “World Fair”).
In a day and age when Universal Expositions are no longer the top international events they used to be one hundred years ago, Milan is nevertheless totally excited about the nomination. I am not yet, but then these events tend to galvanise people and decision makers, and can push things forward quickly. Since Italians are famous for pulling their act together at the very last moment — faced with the prospect of otherwise making a “brutta figura” (a rather poor showing) — I wouldn’t underestimate the power of the 2015 Expo either. World Fairs have over the last decades become platforms for nation branding:
The quote above is from Wikipedia, and the current Fair at Zaragoza, Spain is a case in point. I presume the same nation branding thing will happen when Shanghai gets the honour in 2010. The 2015 Expo will surely be an opportunity to help crystallise a discussion of the future direction of Italy (which is already starting with the Italy 150 celebration in 2011) - and this in itself is a good thing. Here some lines from the Reuters story on the nomination:
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25 March 2008
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In a few months, Turin will host the World Congress of Architecture, the top architecture event in the world.
They have an interesting programme, with some speakers I really like. They are called “Relatori” on their English website, which non-Italians should obviously know means “Speakers”. A small detail, of course, because they got names like Peter Eisenman, Massimiliano Fuksas, Adam Greenfield, Jeffrey Huang, Nicolas Nova, Dominique Perrault, Renzo Piano, and Hani Rashid. To name just a few. Registration is cheap. 100 euro. So I want to go. But then the trouble starts. First you go to the website where any button “Registration” is missing. OK, you find out that it’s actually called “Participation”. This is getting terribly irritating. I guess the system requires me to be a “registered member” of myself. So now I have to register even more personal data, such as my identity card or passport number. I also need to select a country (not sure which one: country of citizenship or country where I live). I choose Italy. Now I also need to select which “Professional bodies of architect” (sic) I am from. It’s obligatory. But what comes up is a bit baffling: a list of Italian provinces and the word “Nessuno” which I know to mean “None”. Good luck, German or American! Perhaps, I was just stupid enough to list Italy as my country of residence. Once I have done gone through all of that (remember that I registered as an individual), the system asks me again to “add partecipants”. Yes, I know: the spelling. I don’t want to “add partecipants” anyhow. By now, I figured out that this stupid system requires me again to click on “Registered members” in the left menu, and discover that I am now a registered member of myself. But how can I pay? It’s baffling. I managed to figure it out this afternoon — after 20 minutes of deep frustration. Now I tried again in order to write this post, using a different email address, but for the life of me, I can’t find the solution anymore. I CAN’T PAY. I have no clue at all anymore on how to do it. The procedure I managed to find this afternoon has disappeared. I remembered that I somehow found a check box next to my name, which was the key to get into the actual payment system, but that’s gone now. Guys, this is hopeless. How can you manage an international congress this way? And an interesting one at that! Your registration process is horrible. HORRIBLE! No wonder you have so few registrations. YOU HAVE TO FIX THIS IMMEDIATELY!!! In short, I am more than just a little angry. (And can someone now remove my duplicate pre-registration, so that I don’t get all your emails twice?). |
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