OTC: Not (Yet) Explaining Information Architecture

OTC (Ontology—Topology—Choreography) doesn’t explain Information Architecture. Rather, it explains how the things we address when we work on an information architecture get their thingness: through involvement in human inhabitation of places (choreography), by way of their being situated in inhabited environments (topology), and on account their belonging within a nexus of afforded and appropriate uses (ontology).

Read more

Learning from Charles Moore’s Condo at The Sea Ranch

In addition to preserving Moore’s literal menagerie of toys, architectural models, trinkets, and idols, the condo was equipped with several books about Charles Moore. In one of those books, I came across these 5 design principles. What a treat, to spend time in a place that resulted from these very principles becoming operative in the world. In the statements that follow, try swapping-out the word “buildings” for the phrase “digital products + services.”

Read more

Marvin Minsky at TEDMED3: what we need from artificial intelligence

In the time I set aside today to keep working on my biography of Richard Saul Wurman, I pulled some videos off of a CDROM that was shipped to attendees of RSW’s third TEDMED conference, in 2003. The image and sound quality are what you’d expect from analog-to-digital conversion circa 2003. But the content is as good as it gets.

Read more