Contact:cdent@burningchrome.com
Shedroff, N. (1999). Information interaction design: a unified field
theory of design. In R. Jacobson (Ed.), _Information Design_ (p.
267-292). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
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It is telling that the majority of my margin notes for this article
are in the first half, prior to the Interaction Design section. Here
are the highlights:
The introduction of the article makes it feel like something we have
to read to justify all the abstract stuff in the class. As in "here,
let me help you make this applicable." (I think that is a shame; see
what follows).
p. 270 Be willing to say it: information design is the foundation for
other design--it's all information. Representation is at the bottom of
all communication.
p. 271 Words that matter for effective understanding:
organize
transform
present
represent
compare
contrast
synthesize
synergize
categorize
classify
compose
decompose
interpolate
extrapolate
contextualize
integrate
p. 272 While it is true that effective communication is the
transmittal of information, not data, it must be remembered that the
transformation of data to information to knowledge to wisdom is a
political act. To be free, critical thinkers we must put ourselves in
the stance as accepters only of data use our brains to make the
adjustments further down the path. In effect we say, "that may be
knowledge for you, I'll evaluate it for myself". This can be an
enormous cognitive task which is why we must enhance our tools of
comparison so we may quickly categorize and transform data into our
information matrix.
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