Why Design is Conversation and Why Conversation for Every Design
Quote above: An approach to interface design based on Heinz von Foerster’s Ethical Imperative where “choices” are distinguished from “options” — options are anything that is possible, while choices are only those options that are viable and well-suited to this user in this moment. More and more, today’s AI makes the world we see and the …
Continue reading “Cybernetics, AI, and Ethical Conversations”
(Diagram after Dubberly Design Office) That’s not a typo — A Turning Test. For Conversation. We all know the Turing Test for Intelligence — when a human will judge if a machine is “intelligent.” I want a machine that will judge if a conversation is “intelligent.” That’s right, “intelligent” — the quotes mean it’s ambiguous and …
Is it possible to ‘compute conversation’? I mean — is it possible to write heuristics that respond in surprising and stimulating ways, enabling a back-and-forth exchange among intelligent participants? Gordon Pask not only thought so, he designed and built a series of machines that did so, as far back as 1953. Sure, some of those …
I was invited to give a presentation about Gordon Pask and his Conversation Theory at the annual conference of the American Society for Cybernetics in June 2016. My great friend and colleague, Jude Lombardi, has kindly produced and edited a video of my hour talk, which begins with an introduction to Pask as an experimentalist and …
To understand conversation is to understand how we learn about the world and how we communicate and collaborate with others. Products and services can benefit from a better understanding of conversation. Designers benefit from understanding conversation better, because they can design for better conversations.
In the Fall 2016 Semester, CCS MFA Interaction Design is introducing a new elective, Frameworks for Interaction and Conversation. It’s an in-depth course that explores cybernetic models of effective action that apply to design of software, services, products, entertainment, or organizations.
Paul Pangaro, Chair of MFA Interaction Design, led a design class in a course called Information Design Theory and Critical Thinking, part of the Information Design and Visualization MFA program at Northeastern University. Twenty grad students in the course and other undergrads and faculty joined in the conversation. See these links for more about Paul’s approach to conversation …
The paper “Cybernetics and Design: Conversations for Action” [PDF] has recently gone to print in a peer-reviewed journal. It offers a rationale for the position that design is conversation; perhaps a surprising idea, but the logic in the paper is rigorous. Cybernetics offers a foundation for 21st-century design practice, here is the core of it:
We converse every day—so why would we need a model of conversation? (First, you might want to review something about models.) If you want to improve something—that is, engage in an act of designing—then it’s extremely helpful to understand well what it is your trying to improve. So, if you’re trying to improve conversation—whether in an …
“Designing for Conversation” is a rich phrase with multiple interpretations—does it mean, designing to foster conversation? Why would that be a good thing?