Comments on: Talk at Lift07: Embracing the Real World’s Messiness http://liftlab.com/think/fabien/2007/02/11/talk-at-lift07-embracing-the-real-worlds-messiness/ Fabien Girardin Sun, 21 Mar 2010 15:21:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=wordpress-mu-1.2.1 By: 7.5th Floor » Blog Archive » In My Lift09 Doggie Bag http://liftlab.com/think/fabien/2007/02/11/talk-at-lift07-embracing-the-real-worlds-messiness/#comment-362990 7.5th Floor » Blog Archive » In My Lift09 Doggie Bag Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:58:30 +0000 http://liftlab.com/think/fabien/2007/02/11/talk-at-lift07-embracing-the-real-worlds-messiness/#comment-362990 [...] Some speakers discussed the study of failures (Nicolas Nova) and the acknowledgment of chaos (Fabio Sergio discussed that hope and dreams carried in design only show a perfect world, a world that does not exist, and then had the necessary slide on the Napoli garbare issue) as part of the design process. It was music to my hears after talking about seamful design and mesiness at lift07. [...] […] Some speakers discussed the study of failures (Nicolas Nova) and the acknowledgment of chaos (Fabio Sergio discussed that hope and dreams carried in design only show a perfect world, a world that does not exist, and then had the necessary slide on the Napoli garbare issue) as part of the design process. It was music to my hears after talking about seamful design and mesiness at lift07. […]

]]> By: 7.5th Floor » Blog Archive » MTA officials Said 'Forget About It' http://liftlab.com/think/fabien/2007/02/11/talk-at-lift07-embracing-the-real-worlds-messiness/#comment-360210 7.5th Floor » Blog Archive » MTA officials Said 'Forget About It' Tue, 03 Feb 2009 21:15:57 +0000 http://liftlab.com/think/fabien/2007/02/11/talk-at-lift07-embracing-the-real-worlds-messiness/#comment-360210 [...] the spirit of 2007’s Embracing the Real World’s Messiness and 2008’s Sliding Frictions, the plan to install GPS-ready bus tracking equipment to New [...] […] the spirit of 2007’s Embracing the Real World’s Messiness and 2008’s Sliding Frictions, the plan to install GPS-ready bus tracking equipment to New […]

]]> By: 7.5th Floor » Blog Archive » Cities Are All About Difficulty http://liftlab.com/think/fabien/2007/02/11/talk-at-lift07-embracing-the-real-worlds-messiness/#comment-343222 7.5th Floor » Blog Archive » Cities Are All About Difficulty Sat, 23 Aug 2008 18:17:31 +0000 http://liftlab.com/think/fabien/2007/02/11/talk-at-lift07-embracing-the-real-worlds-messiness/#comment-343222 [...] of urban informatics that echoes well with Sliding Friction, From Sentient to Responsive Cities, Embracing the Real World’s Messiness and Phil Hubbard’s hybrid city. I would add to Adam’s comment that urban informatics [...] […] of urban informatics that echoes well with Sliding Friction, From Sentient to Responsive Cities, Embracing the Real World’s Messiness and Phil Hubbard’s hybrid city. I would add to Adam’s comment that urban informatics […]

]]> By: Larry Irons http://liftlab.com/think/fabien/2007/02/11/talk-at-lift07-embracing-the-real-worlds-messiness/#comment-339296 Larry Irons Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:22:06 +0000 http://liftlab.com/think/fabien/2007/02/11/talk-at-lift07-embracing-the-real-worlds-messiness/#comment-339296 Fabien, I appreciate the mention. Messiness is an apt term for the topic, though I'd suggest the term cuts both ways. The "visionaries" who advocate for seamless ubicomp enviornments, I would argue, consider the user messy and too often aim to take their decisions out of the situation in the name of "personalization". The point of view is implied in the paternalistic concept that seams are just too much information overload for the poor user. A seam is always a point of control, or power. It doesn't take a software engineer to know that seams never disappear in seamless interfaces, they just become unavailable to users. The whole mess is directly analogous to the early expert systems debate about whether those artificial intelligence applications were suited best to give advice to users making decisions, or make the decisions for the users. Fabien, I appreciate the mention. Messiness is an apt term for the topic, though I’d suggest the term cuts both ways. The “visionaries” who advocate for seamless ubicomp enviornments, I would argue, consider the user messy and too often aim to take their decisions out of the situation in the name of “personalization”. The point of view is implied in the paternalistic concept that seams are just too much information overload for the poor user. A seam is always a point of control, or power. It doesn’t take a software engineer to know that seams never disappear in seamless interfaces, they just become unavailable to users.

The whole mess is directly analogous to the early expert systems debate about whether those artificial intelligence applications were suited best to give advice to users making decisions, or make the decisions for the users.

]]> By: 7.5th Floor » Blog Archive » The Hybrid City by Phil Hubbard http://liftlab.com/think/fabien/2007/02/11/talk-at-lift07-embracing-the-real-worlds-messiness/#comment-336619 7.5th Floor » Blog Archive » The Hybrid City by Phil Hubbard Tue, 13 May 2008 05:04:49 +0000 http://liftlab.com/think/fabien/2007/02/11/talk-at-lift07-embracing-the-real-worlds-messiness/#comment-336619 [...] that new technologies may not be more profound than those which preceded them and as previously argumented and published: The tendency to talk of new technologies in hyperbolic terms in unfortunate. One [...] […] that new technologies may not be more profound than those which preceded them and as previously argumented and published: The tendency to talk of new technologies in hyperbolic terms in unfortunate. One […]

]]> By: 7.5th Floor » Blog Archive » A Pure Sliding Friction Moment http://liftlab.com/think/fabien/2007/02/11/talk-at-lift07-embracing-the-real-worlds-messiness/#comment-333207 7.5th Floor » Blog Archive » A Pure Sliding Friction Moment Sun, 30 Mar 2008 13:11:34 +0000 http://liftlab.com/think/fabien/2007/02/11/talk-at-lift07-embracing-the-real-worlds-messiness/#comment-333207 [...] to my thesis: I now ditched the argumentation on messiness, but keep enjoying observing and recording moments of sliding friction. In that sense, this [...] […] to my thesis: I now ditched the argumentation on messiness, but keep enjoying observing and recording moments of sliding friction. In that sense, this […]

]]> By: links for 2008-03-09 : ITP AlumniBlender http://liftlab.com/think/fabien/2007/02/11/talk-at-lift07-embracing-the-real-worlds-messiness/#comment-331680 links for 2008-03-09 : ITP AlumniBlender Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:34:44 +0000 http://liftlab.com/think/fabien/2007/02/11/talk-at-lift07-embracing-the-real-worlds-messiness/#comment-331680 [...] 7.5th Floor » Blog Archive » Talk at Lift07: Embracing the Real World’s Messiness "I rather preferred taking the role of the observer of the current integration of sensor technologies in our everyday life in order to question the seamlessness and calmness visions in ubiquitous computing." [...] […] 7.5th Floor » Blog Archive » Talk at Lift07: Embracing the Real World’s Messiness “I rather preferred taking the role of the observer of the current integration of sensor technologies in our everyday life in order to question the seamlessness and calmness visions in ubiquitous computing.” […]

]]> By: 7.5th Floor » Blog Archive » Ubiquitous computing: visions, failures and new interaction rituals http://liftlab.com/think/fabien/2007/02/11/talk-at-lift07-embracing-the-real-worlds-messiness/#comment-328564 7.5th Floor » Blog Archive » Ubiquitous computing: visions, failures and new interaction rituals Thu, 17 Jan 2008 18:33:31 +0000 http://liftlab.com/think/fabien/2007/02/11/talk-at-lift07-embracing-the-real-worlds-messiness/#comment-328564 [...] Relation to my thesis: a collaborative follow-up from last year’s monologue at LIFT. [...] […] Relation to my thesis: a collaborative follow-up from last year’s monologue at LIFT. […]

]]> By: 7.5th Floor » Blog Archive » Questioning Ubiquitous Computing http://liftlab.com/think/fabien/2007/02/11/talk-at-lift07-embracing-the-real-worlds-messiness/#comment-319550 7.5th Floor » Blog Archive » Questioning Ubiquitous Computing Mon, 24 Sep 2007 19:48:51 +0000 http://liftlab.com/think/fabien/2007/02/11/talk-at-lift07-embracing-the-real-worlds-messiness/#comment-319550 [...] to my thesis: This paper proved to be a rather timely reading (in continuation to train of thought started earlier this year at LIFT). From what I have seen in Innsbruck, these topics are still [...] […] to my thesis: This paper proved to be a rather timely reading (in continuation to train of thought started earlier this year at LIFT). From what I have seen in Innsbruck, these topics are still […]

]]> By: Echelle 1:1 et représentation grandeur nature « Cartographier les nouveaux territoires http://liftlab.com/think/fabien/2007/02/11/talk-at-lift07-embracing-the-real-worlds-messiness/#comment-209253 Echelle 1:1 et représentation grandeur nature « Cartographier les nouveaux territoires Mon, 30 Apr 2007 21:48:32 +0000 http://liftlab.com/think/fabien/2007/02/11/talk-at-lift07-embracing-the-real-worlds-messiness/#comment-209253 [...] N’oublions pas que Borges mentionne deux états de la carte à échelle 1:1 : le projet abouti de l’empereur et les ruines qu’a laissées celui-ci après son abandon. La carte 1:1 numérique est un projet. Ce projet procède du mouvement naturel d’Internet qui est, comme l’écrit D. Kaplan décrit dans un autre texte très juste, de tout connecter et de descendre dans l’espace physique pour doter chacune de ses composantes d’une “aura numériqueâ€?, en interaction potentielle avec toutes les autres”. Mais, comme il le montre, ce projet de l’interconnexion parfaite, censé produire un ordre technologique rationnel, est maintenant assez avancé pour qu’on devine qu’il n’est vraisemblablement qu’un rêve (ou un cauchemar). On a nommé les computers des ordinateurs en français car la fonction supposée de ces nouvelles machines était de mettre de l’ordre dans le monde. Ils ont pourtant contribué, autant sinon plus, à l’émergence de désordre, d’inattendu et d’irrationnel. Peut-on vraiment considérer les sociétés du temps de l’informatique comme plus ordonnées et plus prévisibles que celles qui les ont procédées ? Fabien Girardin dans sa communication à la conférence Lift 2007 et Hubert Guillaud dans le billet d’Internet Actu qui en rend compte questionnent la possibilité de construire des systèmes informatiques sans couture, sans coupure et sans panne. Ils mettent aussi en doute notre souhait profond de vivre dans un monde lisse, piloté par une technologie omniprésente, invisible, parfaite et sans bruit. Il est donc fort possible que dans les “empires” de demain cohabiteront plusieurs projets de Cartes Numériques Démesurées et Dilatées toutes inconciliables entre elles, ainsi que les ruines de nombreux autres projets inaboutis et abandonnés. Et cela ne sera pas forcément un mal. [...] […] N’oublions pas que Borges mentionne deux états de la carte à échelle 1:1 : le projet abouti de l’empereur et les ruines qu’a laissées celui-ci après son abandon. La carte 1:1 numérique est un projet. Ce projet procède du mouvement naturel d’Internet qui est, comme l’écrit D. Kaplan décrit dans un autre texte très juste, de tout connecter et de descendre dans l’espace physique pour doter chacune de ses composantes d’une “aura numériqueâ€?, en interaction potentielle avec toutes les autres”. Mais, comme il le montre, ce projet de l’interconnexion parfaite, censé produire un ordre technologique rationnel, est maintenant assez avancé pour qu’on devine qu’il n’est vraisemblablement qu’un rêve (ou un cauchemar). On a nommé les computers des ordinateurs en français car la fonction supposée de ces nouvelles machines était de mettre de l’ordre dans le monde. Ils ont pourtant contribué, autant sinon plus, à l’émergence de désordre, d’inattendu et d’irrationnel. Peut-on vraiment considérer les sociétés du temps de l’informatique comme plus ordonnées et plus prévisibles que celles qui les ont procédées ? Fabien Girardin dans sa communication à la conférence Lift 2007 et Hubert Guillaud dans le billet d’Internet Actu qui en rend compte questionnent la possibilité de construire des systèmes informatiques sans couture, sans coupure et sans panne. Ils mettent aussi en doute notre souhait profond de vivre dans un monde lisse, piloté par une technologie omniprésente, invisible, parfaite et sans bruit. Il est donc fort possible que dans les “empires” de demain cohabiteront plusieurs projets de Cartes Numériques Démesurées et Dilatées toutes inconciliables entre elles, ainsi que les ruines de nombreux autres projets inaboutis et abandonnés. Et cela ne sera pas forcément un mal. […]

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