Noise Between Stations

Month: October 2004

  • Debate commentary

    Katharine Q. Seelye’s live commentary of the presidential debate is better reading than the debate itself…

    9:33 p.m.
    Bush should probably not laugh in response to a question about why health care costs so much.

    She must be there, or watching a non-delayed feed, as her comments come up before the candidate’s answer. It’s a great way to view what they’re saying through an expert analyst’s point of view.

  • MBA class experience

    I attended an MBA class last night at New York University’s Stern School of Business. I was both interested in the topic of the class and as an observer of the professor’s teaching style and MBA students in general. I noticed:

    • Students were predictably clean cut. Diverse ethnically as you’d expect in New York or in a good MBA program, but in many ways not very diverse.
    • They served free coffee in the classroom.
    • Each student had a little nameplate they carry with them and position in front of their seat, like at the United Nations.
    • I pulled out my laptop to take notes and looked around to notice not a single other person with a laptop (the room did offer sufficient electrical outlets, ethernet jacks, and wi-fi). This could be explained in several ways, such as the idea-heavy rather than fact-heavy nature of the lecture. But it surprised me; I thought all the hip, well-to-do kids would be doing everything digitally.

    Update: David reports that students are explicitly asked not to use laptops in the classroom, a guideline he feels is vital to the educational experience.

  • Symbiosis

    Symbiosis is a dependent relationship between two organisms. There are three basic kinds: parasitism, in which one partner (the parasite) benefits and the other (the host) is harmed; commensalism, in which one partner (the commensal) benefits and the other partner (the host) is indifferent, and mutualism, in which both partners benefit. These three states are evolutionarily related to each other: parasitic relationships tend to evolve into commensalistic relationships, and commensalistic relationships tend to evolve into mutualistic relationships. This makes perfect sense. Any accidental genetic change in the host which reduces the harm (or causes benefit) from the parasite would certainly be favored by selection; any accidental genetic change in the parasite which keeps its host, upon which it depends, healthy and alive longer would also be favored. So the selective pressure on both sides is toward less and less damage to the host.

    From Life Together: The Origin of Mitochondria and Chloroplasts

  • Interaction design talk in NYC

    David Heller will be giving a free talk at the Parsons Design Lab this Thursday:

    What is Interaction Design (IxD)? Placing IxD in the context of Product Design and User Experience (UX) Design
    7pm
    Parsons Design Lab
    55 W. 13th St., 9th Floor
    NYC

  • The Campaign for Real Beauty

    Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty battles the definition of beauty offered by mass media and seeks to raise women’s self-asteem. I’ve come to regard similar campaigns skeptically, after having been sucked in by a powerful ad only to reveal commerical intentions sprinkled with a touch of social activism. What I think makes Dove’s effort more geniune is the focus on customer interaction: a study, a forum, a poll… the whole thing is about generating dialog, not a company monolog.

    Woman with a whole lotta freckles

  • The Future of IA retreat

    The Future of Information Architecture retreat was simply amazing, one of the top three professional events I’ve ever attended. Wonderful people, setting, format, discussion… everything. There’s already plans for more.

  • A New Zeldman

    Congratulations to the parents of Ava Marie, one child who will never hunger for lack of website knowledge.