Information Architecture, User Experience & Other Obsessions
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There are already quite a few pics from IA Summit attendees on Flickr. Look for the “iasummit2007” tag.
Or just go here: http://flickr.com/photos/tags/iasummit2007/
Here’s one of my contributions from last night. Crummy quality of the phone cam actually gives it an ethereal haze… makes it more mysterious in a way.
I’m trying out Flock, a very cool tool for uploading and generally mashing photos, blog posts, youtube action, etc.
Let’s see how a picture does.
I must seem Second-Life obsessed… there really are other things going on in my life. (Getting over a horrible horrible cold, for one.)
But this seems to be the week of Second Life. They just hit a million registered users … and their media coverage has hit the tipping point. It’ll be amazing if they really have the hardware to keep up.
I had the pleasure of going to a big-time media event last night. The W Hotels company was promoting their Virtual Aloft hotel prototype thing, and it was in partership with Sony promoting Ben Folds’ new album. I lucked into a ticket in their ‘lottery’ and got to go chill on the new Aloft island (and the new Sony Media island). Apparently only about 60 people were able to go (mainly because of limits on how many avatars a given ‘sim’ or region in SL can handle at a time).
At first there was dancing to your basic dance stuff, and then Ben Folds showed up and they played music from his new album. He didn’t perform it or anything, he just introduced songs and danced with us. They had some sound issues here and there, but he was a blast — he really got into the zaniness of having an avatar that allows you to do whatever you want. (Like run around shirtless with a can of Duff beer, falling all over the floor, then attacking people with a lightsaber.)
We all got to give questions to a guy beforehand that he’d ask him (they were doing the interview live at Sony BMG in NY and streaming it). Since I kept telling myself I wished my kid could see this, I put one in that I thought my daughter might ask — who is Ben’s favorite character in Over the Hedge, the movie he did the soundtrack to. Turns out it’s Hammy :-)
Pictures (click for the big version): First one shows Ben Folds on stage greeting everyone, and me in the bottom left evidently pretending I’m a bouncer or something. Second one is a closer look at BF. Third is BF after some partying, having ‘slain’ a fan with a lightsaber somebody handed him.
What’s very strange to me about all this is that it doesn’t take long to feel like you’re really there. The avatar eventually blends into your sense of self in a powerful way, and it’s like you really did ‘go’ to an event like this.
More SL related stuff:
The Infinite Mind public radio program has had a series going on:
The Infinite Mind programs
We here at The Infinite Mind relished the opportunity to enter the 3D arena of virtual technology and within eight weeks had constructed our own 16 acre virtual broadcast center in Second Life. From our virtual studios we went on to produce live broadcasts with guests including author Kurt Vonnegut; singer/songwriter Suzanne Vega; internet visionary Howard Rheingold; and world-renowned designer John Maeda, of the MIT Media Lab, along with others who plan, build, live, work and play in on-line “virtual worlds.” The series was taped for broadcast, in front of a live audience, from inside The Infinite Mind’s virtual studios and broadcast center on Second Life.
I haven’t heard it, but I’ll listen to the podcasts (hm, I’m not sure if they have them though).
To support Suzanne Vega’s visit, they got an SL resident to construct a beautiful guitar model for her that will supposedly help her look as if she’s really playing it along with her performance. Here’s a pretty amazing video of the guy building it in-world … I suspect this is tricked out animation wise, because I can’t see that he could possibly build that fast, no matter how good he is. Still… it’s very pretty to watch: http://secondlife.com/showcase/ (that may not work later, when another showcase item is up, and they didn’t have a permalink… but you should be able to see the Quicktime version here.)
A friend sent me a link to some info about the house that’s almost as much fun as the house itself. The page on the DuPont Castle website (which has lots of info on other American castles, it seems) has a picture of the house along with tons of emails with various wildly differing stories about the house and its history.
There are some bits of information that sound more accurate than others.
It’s located on the corner of Cagle Rd and Hwy 140 in Roswell, GA.
I looked it up in Google Earth, and lo and behold, found it. Here’s a snapshot from Google Earth (links to the bigger version in my flickr stream).
From the overhead picture, it’s now clear that yes, indeed, there is a real swimming-pool moat around the whole structure.
I loved this bit… the guy really looks like a gruff hermit type. Which makes the sign seem a little menacing. Like, don’t feed the introvert, or something.
My daughter and I visited the Tate Street Festival last weekend, in Greensboro, NC. Tate Street is a wonderful little college-towny strip of businesses right next to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (the campus of which has gotten a lot fancier since I went there 10 years ago).
It was a great time. There are a few more pics in my Flickr feed.
My kid trying on costumes at Target. I’ll dub her… Darth Corrigible!
Check out my quick movie clip of the 2005 BlobFest “Running out and Screaming” :-)
BJ is fine, but The Bear is in critical condition. … Actually this is a wrecked semi I passed on my drive from PA to NC. I think it had happened just a little while before, because there weren’t any police or EMS people yet. From what the radio said later, it didn’t sound like anyone was actually hurt. Not even any chimps from 1979 tv shows.
Every time I see one of these, I find it somewhat jarring. (Pictured is one of those “If you’re asked to pay something other than this amount, call this number” signs outside a Taco Bell drive-through window.)
What it tells me is: the people inside cannot be trusted — so much so that we don’t want you just to ask them to revise the amount they say you owe, but to call us and rat them out, because they’re essentially criminals on probation.
It’s like one of those sex-offender electronic ankle devices, only for a whole taco joint.
I honestly don’t think I’m overstating the case — at least not for myself. It really does make me think of all of these things.
It’s basically an architectural element, one which shapes the environment in a very particular way. No matter how friendly or responsible your particular fast-food window helper might be, this sign makes sure you question their honesty, even if for just a moment. That you, essentially without your consent, join a sort of police force that’s keeping them in line from outside their enclosure.
If I can’t trust the amount of money they’re asking of me, something I can actually verify by checking the prices on the menu, why should I trust that the food itself is safe and uncorrupted?
If I were a true pomo nerd, I’d start quoting Foucault. As it stands, I’ll just get my Nacho Grande and stop thinking so much.
I was digging through lots of old discs of photos today and found these from my 2002 venture out to Asilomar as part of the wacky little contingent that worked on whether or not a professional organization for information architects would be a good idea, and if so, what would it be?
In this whiteboard shot, we’re figuring out what to call it — which was of course dependent on what sort of organization it would be to begin with.
I realize the Asilomar Institute for Information Architecture was too clunky for the long term, but something about being there was magic. I think in part because the place is so beautiful and simple, and relaxed.
I have a whole set of pics up from 3 years ago in my flickr album. Go check them out!!
I took this with my camera phone while hanging out in a pet store with my daughter. It’s a baby macaw (yeah, just a baby, but still its head is bigger than a softball)
And I sent it to Flickr with my phone, where it was added to the inkblurt album. And now, from there, I hit “blog this” and type this entry, and it goes straight into my blog!
I know a bunch of people already know about this, but some don’t. (And I just now used it for the first time — and I’m easily amused.)
Welcome to inkblurt, the online home of Andrew Hinton. Read something, drop a comment, or say hello!
BTW I also tweet at @inkblurt.
