Comments on Interactions 08 in the Garden of Good and Evil

Eric Reiss — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 22:42:58 GMT

The Savannah event was one of the most interesting conferences I’ve attended in years – you, David Malouf, and the entire committee are to be congratulated on your well-deserved success. But to say that interaction designers merely “design behaviour” is both simplistic and limiting. Something like saying UX designers merely facilitate “endorphin and dopamine release.”

Curiously absent in Savannah were both IA and usability sessions. Hopefully, the recipe for future conferences will include all four of the UX foodgroups you mentioned earlier – HCI, design, IA, and usability.

Richard Dalton — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 19:40:51 GMT

The AK47 metaphor is actually Andrew Hinton’s … see his Communities of Practice presentation.

David C Dunkle — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 01:39:24 GMT

I chuckled at Dan’s metaphor, “The IxDA is definitely the AK47 of the UX world!” To extend it a bit more, perhaps each is a powerful tool in the hands of a willful revolutionary; a vehicle designed to break the oppressive shackles that limit mankind.

But it’s not a “perfect” metaphor, is it? Clearly, there are object differences. IxDA membership, for example, is not discouraged in the UK, and the organization has an effective range far beyond 200 meters. There’s also that pesky legacy of the weapon to deal with. “AK47. When you absolutely, positively have to kill every [person] in the room.”

I suggest a different metaphor; one with healing attributes. “The IxDA is definitely the polio vaccine of the UX world” Hmmm… Maybe, ”...the Muscle Milk™ of the UX world” or, ”...the Baby Einstein™ of the UX world”?

Perhaps an Interaction 08 lightning session could select the best.

Happy Holidays to all.