Category — book

Linked
by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi

This book is technically outside the design realm but it has a lot of relevance to the field of technology and design. Barabasi talks about the growing field of network theory. He gives a good history of these theories and makes it relatively easy for an outsider like myself to be able to follow along. The book starts a bit on the jargon-side in discussing the mathematical theories behind networks and matrices. But he counters this by opening every chapter with a real-world example of the principles he is discussing. His anecdotes prove entertaining and useful in understanding how network theory helps to explain the world around us.

Barabasi see networks helping us understand the nature of order throughout many aspects of life–from genes to the Internet (which is what most of his work is primarily centered around). Briefly, the idea is that we must move away from looking at phenomena in isolation and seeing structures as interconnected networks. One example that comes to mind from the book is his retelling of scientists that were searching for a gene that causes manic depression in different areas. Each group of scientists found different isolated chromosones that were responsible. The reason, Barabasi argues, is that we should not view genes as isolated objects that control things. Rather, they work in a network and act differently under different conditions. This is aligned with my ideas of “systemic design” where designers should not isolate features of design but try to view them as a systemic whole (Malcolm McCullough talks about this in “Digital Ground“).

Barabasi also talks in great detail about the nature of networks and how the Internet is one of hubs and connectors. Again, he explains this well. At times the nature of the material makes it slightly difficult to follow, but he backs up the science with many examples. I often find many non-fiction books to be redundant but in this case the redundancy helps to understand the material. His anecdotes and exploration of the world of network theory makes it easy to abstract from. It’s easy for any reader to relate some aspect of their life to this new(er) way of ordering the complex world. More specifically it’s highly relevant at the dawn of the age of Web 2.0

Small Things Considered
by Henry Petroski

A very light and fun design book for designers in just about any discipline. The historical accounts he gives of the smallest objects such as the the paper cup to the grocery bag illuminates the beauty of design.

I usually read “deeper” design books but this is a refreshing read because it concentrates on design in its simplest form–away from the digital and mechanical. Every chapter essentially tells a story of the evolution of different products. Though, I did disagree with some of his assessments of “what” design is. For instance, one chapter he explains the act of eating out with a group at a restaurant as being a design choice. I disagree as this has more to do with simple decision-making more appropriately described by anthropology, sociology and psychology. This particular chapter I felt could have been omitted altogether.

Aside from that, every chapter stands alone as a thorough account of how design pervades everything. It will be illuminating for non-designers because it exposes the constraints and compromises that are involved in the design process. For designers, it should prove to be entertaining if not a little humorous as Petroski makes it easy to empathize with these accounts. A very entertaining read for those in the field or those who are simply intrigued by what goes into everyday products.

Acting With Technology
by Kaptelinin and Nardi

This is a book that has really changed my mode of thinking in terms of how to think about the effect of design. Most of my education has been based around usability testing–especially in a set laboratory setting. Nardi and Kaptelinin describe in detail how Activity Theory can inform interaction design (ID) to look beyond this close-minded view. This theory seeks to take the focus of interaction design off of the artifact and more towards preexisting activities. They give a great, abridged evolution of HCI over the last 30 years. In this, they show how the 80′s saw HCI based solely around the desktop computer, informed mainly by information processing techniques from cognitive psychology. As computers have gotten smaller and more ubiquitous, so must the theories that inform such designs. Computers can now reach beyond just the desktop and into our daily activities. As a result, designers must look more closely at these activities to find how design can work within these activities rather than create new activities in and of themselves.

This is an academic book and not recommended to a general audience. I would recommend it almost as required reading for those in the field of Interaction Design. I was discouraged to see so much “old-school” HCI this year at CHI and I think this is book is even more important if the field is to enter the new millenium.

The Semantic Turn
by Klaus Krippendorff

This should be required reading for interaction designers. It came out in 2005 and I believe it represents a huge paradigm shift in the field. Krippendorf argues that design should focus more on the semantics and value of artifacts rather than intended use. The idea is that a designer cannot possibly foresee what use somebody might glean from a design. Additionally, different users attach different meanings to the same artifact. He gives a simple example of the Lamborghini. The artifact is essentially a sports meant to be used to drive fast. However, the car takes on different meanings (such as a status symbol) in use. However, this ‘semantic turn’ also takes the stand that there is no real wrong use. It is simply an awareness and forethought that the artifact’s use and meaning will evolve.

The book is filled with quotables and new directions for design. He asserts that “design is fundamentally concerned with innovation, with making changes happen, and designers are especially challenged by common beliefs in what cannot be done” (210). Essentially, Krippendorf tries to illustrate the unique and inherently powerful (although he doesn’t state the latter) role of designers. When he describes his ideas of a ‘science for design’ rather than of design or design science, he tries to reconcile misconceptions of design as being problem-solving 0r in the service of well-defined causes. The above quote shows his belief (and this is echoed previously by Stolterman and Lowgren in Thoughtful Interaction Design) that design is concerned more with ‘creating’ future, or creating the unknown. For this reason, scientific methods of analysis will never fully serve the practice of design because it cannot be defined or systematized.

It is difficult to summarize this book or give it proper treatment. But, it should be known that this will probably become one of the founding writing’s in the field of interaction design. A must-read for practitioners