David Zach, futurist

Data Visualization, Data Complexity

I keep thinking there's got to be a better way than just more and more data for us to plow through. Here's an example of Visual Complexity via Gizmodo.com of fascinating data visualization that offers some hope, especially with sense that design applied to data should reveal refinement and a sense of the aesthetic. 

Can data be beautiful and give us a sense of "Ah!" as opposed the the growing sense of "Ugh!" — one can only hope and encourage the information architects to focus not just on measurement, but whimsy as well. 

Designing Interactions by Bill Moggridge

An interesting website about this book Designing Interactions, Bill Moggridge the founder of the design firm IDEO. Lots of good notions of how we interact with designed things. The interviews are interesting. We take so much for granted regarding the depth and complexity of design in everyday things

Business Week: The Future of Innovation

Well, it would seem that this whole futurist thingie is taking off and even Business Week is asking futurists for their opinions. The writer Damian Joseph asked what sorts of innovations and inventions will come about because of the recession. I read somewhere along the line an article suggesting that the USA will get through this economic mess faster and better than other economies because we've got so many people who know how to start over and reinvent themselves. They're not as held back by legacy concepts. I'm certain that people here can reinvent themselves but today with so few connections to the past and any sense of enduring principles, I wonder if they can still reinvent themselves with any endurance. It's one thing not to be bound by history. It's quite another to dismiss it. If someone reinvents themselves are they basing the invention upon something specific or upon whatever has caught their attention most recently? 

Lily Tomlin once said that, When I was growing up I always wanted to be somebody. Now I see that I should have been more specific. 

Pop-up Businesses is one idea (so named by Damian Joseph) that I'm having fun with - as are a few reporters knocking on my email door wanting to know more. The basic idea is that because of improvements with logistics, technology, systems management and a strong sense amongst youth to constantly change what they pay attention to - that we may see in the future businesses that identify a need (or want) in the marketplace, gather together people and resources to fulfill that need and then just as quickly disband and move on to something else. How will that all work? I haven't the faintest idea, but I'm willing to bet that there are people out there who will know how to do it. 

I first started playing with this idea after working with the Self-Storage industry. Temporary space usage for more than just storage may be ideal for this sort of business model. Take a look at storage facilities and you'll now find a lot more than just sheds with garage doors. 

For each objection that someone can identify that would prevent the Pop-up Business notion from being successful, find alternatives around each roadblock. The sort of problem solving that designers are taught is the key here. Don't think of how it can't work, think of what will be necessary so that it can work. What are the upsides? What are the downsides? 

Microsoft: the Future of Computing

And, for what it's worth, computing in this future is also a description of life in the future because in this scenario the two are inseparable. Resistance is more or less futile, but we're going to love it so I guess it's OK. 

As I have been a devoted companion to my new Amazon Kindle 2, and find myself carrying around three sleek devices (Kindle, iPhone and MacBook Air - four if you count my iPod Shuffle) my mind has now been effectively trained to be immediately dissatisfied with whatever I have right now because I just know that the next version is going to be soooo much better. As cool as I think the Kindle is, I can't help but imagine what it's going to be like as a Kindle 3. And what about color, larger touch screen, a better (a much better) keyboard.

Microsoft imagines what this future of upgraded devices will be like. Watch the video on this page here: 

CNET: Microsoft's glimpse of the future

One of my big concerns is that we wrongly keep thinking that the Age of Information is about more information. It is not. It is about less information, as in taking all that information, processing it, filtering it and refining it so that it passes into either knowledge or wisdom. Most of the information needs to go behind the scenes, bypassing humans and just be machine to machine. If it makes it out of that loop it need to be run through the mill of elegance and eloquence. By the time it gets to me, I should be able to say "Ah!" not "Ugh." Information should not bother me unless it's cool and actually has something to say. It should not steal my attention away, it should barter for it. 

Still the video as they present it is pretty cool. I love the idea of being able to seamlessly pull and push information from device to device, to reach out and touch it and move it around. I just worry that information has clearly addictive qualities. 

As Eric Hoffer said, You can never get enough of what you really don't need.

Failure Magazine

As there seems to be some truth to the notion that those who succeed have also failed — and failure can be a marvelous teacher, check out Failure Magazine. 

David Zach interview on Future Innovation

Last Spring I did an interview with Deb Malewicki, a professor at UW-Whitewater in their MBA program. The topic was the future of innovation. I just learned that it's been posted. It's a 30 minute video interview, free for the viewing. Here's the link: http://onlinemba.uww.edu/temp/dzach/

The Future of Manufacturing

A regular topic in my talks is how manufacturing could eventually return to not only the United States, but to your neighborhood and drop right into your back bedroom. If you have a printer back there, what are the chances that someday you'll have a 3D printer there, where you print up such things as wrenches, dinnerware, keys, jewelry, or even larger items such as chairs or mattresses. The novel The Diamond Age by Neil Stephenson has this sort of "oven" that cooks up things like mattresses. 

Manufacturing on Demand: The Future is Now is an article explaining this emerging technology with a link to the marvelously inventive and mathematical artwork of Bathsheba Grossman. (I bought her Star Map Crystal Cube while in Finland.)

(And, sorry for not posting much - but Typepad changed their interface and I'm finding it rather difficult to post graphics and in particular, find it impossible to post videos. Don't know why, and am in my busy season for talks, so am busy enough right now, so am not taking the extra time to learn what's wrong. Am working on replacing my whole website and plan to integrate the blog right into the website. Time will tell.)

A School Designed for Children

This is an article handout that I wrote a few years ago in response to the closing of an absolutely amazing school. Why? Because it was designed with children in mind. Stunning concept, I know. Download schoolforchildrenzach_1.pdf

Digital Inspiration

Digital Inspiration is a website that gathers articles and other websites on how to use technology and access the digital world around you. Check out the TimeTube that makes a timeline of your search terms as they have shown up on YouTube. What becomes more and more obvious is that as the flood of innovation continues, and we get the feeling of being more and more overwhelmed, that these innovations will drive other innovations in design of interface and presentation.

Elegance and eloquence should rule the day. The goal of the Age of Information is not more information, it is less information, or perhaps all the information filtered, refined, aged (think of fine wine, not old newspapers) to the point where what actually reaches you has more style than it does bulk. It is beauty that should kill the beast.

Volvo to end Death and Injury by 2020?

Saw this on Drudge linked to Reuters about Volvo having the plan to end death and injury in their vehicles by 2020. I've been impressed by what I'm seeing from Volvo innovation, such as the blind-spot sensors, and I do like this goal.

My concern is not with the design, but with the um, design of humans and their personalities. As with the notion of with hubris comes nemesis – how is human behavior likely to be affected by the notion of being impervious to injury? Most likely to take more risks. Then again, I would feel safer with the typical Volvo driver [i.e. my brother] taking more small risks than say some of the drivers of behemoth SUVs who believes their beast has built-in right-of-way. Just as youth take more risks because they have little sense of mortality, adding speed and power to that sense may not bode well for those who get in their way. This sort of thing can be seen with extreme sports, with easier recovery, better medicine and safety equipment, more people take risks to see how far the notion of extreme can go.