Identity in the Age of Cloud Computing: a MUST read book!

Published
by
Mahmoud Keshavarz
on May 15, 2009
in Books, Communication, Culture, Media and Research
. 1 Comment

According to Smart Mobs’s report:

“Recently, The Aspen Institute has published an eBook which some say is possibly the best report on cloud computing ever published. Written byJ.D. Lasica, Identity in the Age of Cloud Computing: The next-generation Internet’s impact on business, governance and social interaction. is the result of the Seventeenth Annual Roundtable on Information Technology which included 30 experts in identity and technology with notable contributors such as: John Seely Brown and Esther Dyson. This is a MUST read for anyone attempting to decipher and understand the ramifications of the cloud on a societal level.”

When you read abstract, you will attract to read it completely:

“Identity in the Age of Cloud Computing: The next-generation Internet’s impact on business, governance and social interaction” examines the migration of information, software and identity into the Cloud and explores the transformative possibilities of this new computing paradigm for culture, commerce and personal communication. The report also considers potential consequences for privacy, governance and security, and it includes policy recommendations and advice for the new presidential administration. Written by J.D. Lasica, the report is the result of the Seventeenth Annual Roundtable on Information Technology. _ from abstract

Download e-book

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P.S: I hope Iranian industrial design students turn round their views from a segregated stand point of view to interdisciplinary approach to design. They should know more about sociology, philosophy, network science and today culture for being a professional designer that faces to human needs in this complicated world. Just I hope…

Cradle to Cradle in my hands

Published
by
Mahmoud Keshavarz
on April 29, 2009
in Books and Sustainability
. 2 Comments

When I was in Eindhoven for SIDeR ‘09, all the time I was thinking of buying some books that I couldn’t buy here in Iran. I didn’t have enough time due to our busy programs, but at last I could skip and went to city for catching new things. Except good experiences, I found “Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the way we make things” by Michael Braungart and William McDonough.

A part of bookshelf in my room

A part of bookshelf in my room

I know that it isn’t a new book in design and sustainability issues, but it was amazing for me that all the time I’ve checked new publications just via the internet.

Now I have it and I’m really busy on that. Discovering their ideas, it’s my task of nowadays! They’ve written their ideas really simple, unique and creative.

Interactive Persepolis at SIDeR 09

Published
by
Mahmoud Keshavarz
on March 26, 2009
in Conferences, Interaction Design and Research
. 1 Comment

After spending about two months on re-writing of my thesis project idea, “Interactive Persepolis”, from Sep 08 up to end of Oct 08 with two of my friends and co-workers also, “Mahsa Ranjbarian” and “Ali Dehghanpour” , as a joint project at VIXD , now it has been accepted by the SIDeR 09 : A Challenge for Interaction conference with the main theme of “Flirting with the Future”.

One of our slide in design explaination

One of our slide in design explaination

Interactive Persepolis will be present at Eindhoven University of Technology , Eindhoven, Netherlands, as a part of the fifth Student Interaction Design Research (SIDeR 09) conference between 15th up to 17th of April. For SIDeR 09, twenty of the submissions have been accept and our work is one of them. “Gerard Kleisterlee” CEO of Philips will open the Conference and one of keynote speakers will be “Tobie Kerridge” from Goldsmith University that I’m realy like his M.A dissertation at RCA: “Foolish Technology”. 

Interactive Persepolis is in my works page , although the new version which we wrote is quite different from this version, but the main idea is the same. you can take a look at it.

20 years of Interaction Design in Academic Environments

Published
by
Mahmoud Keshavarz
on February 2, 2009
in Education, Interaction Design and Research
. 4 Comments

The culture of Interaction Design was originally born in California, Silicon Valley and has now expanded to various cultures and sub-cultures due to different education centers in whole of the world.

I remembered the day in the first months of my going to University as an Industrial Design student in fall of 2003. The day which many of students, faculties and staffs in the field of ID in Iran had gathered together to celebrate the 20thanniversary of Industrial Design Programme as an independent course in art universities of Iran.

Now I am writing a text to celebrate the 20th birth anniversary of Interaction Design education. 20 years ago, in 1989, Gillian Crampton Smith established a new department in Royal College of Art (RCA) which called: “Computer Related Design (CRD)” department, the first academic independent department in IxD. Although before, in 1983 she joined Saint Martin’s School of Art, where she set up a new postgraduate course, Graphic Design and Computers for Practicing Designers but CRD was the first academic independent course in the field of IxD which now there is as “Design Interactions” Programme.

From two and half years ago, I searched and checked most of IxD schools and MA IxD programmes in the world. From my point of view I can rank these schools as the best ones due to practical and research basis of education:

Note: I didn’t write Interaction Design Institute Ivrea (IDII) (To me, after the RCA, It was the best center for IxD, Research approach and practical, both of them, where Gillian Crampton Smith was director of) in the list, due to IDII is gone from 2006 and most of faculties and lecturers moved to CIID.

1- MA Design Interactions | Royal College of Art (RCA)

2- Master of Design in Interaction Design | School of Design, Carnegie Mellon University

3- MA Interaction Design | Umea Institute of Design (UID), Umea University

4- MA Interaction Design | Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design (CIID) (now as pilot year)

5- MA Interaction Design | School of Arts and Communication (K3), Malmo University

6- Interactive Product Futures | Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication

7- Interface Design | Interaction Design Lab, Postdam University

RCA Building

RCA Building, Courtesy of RCA

RCA Building | Courtesy of RCA

Even you don’t have a plan to take a master programme in IXD, These are the best source for being update to IxD today. Hope to help you as lovers of IxD.

My Digital Home, From GOCA to DAHT

Published
by
Mahmoud Keshavarz
on January 18, 2009
in Diary
. 9 Comments

This is my new digital home on the net after blogging for 6 years. My former blogs “Genealogy of Contemporary Art- GOCA” and after that the renamed one “Genealogy of Industrial Design - GOID” (both of them were available only in Persian) were the main inspiration source for launching a website with more functions than a regular weblog however with a blogging spirit.

After two years of having the idea of more functional weblog, now you are here on “Design as a Humanist Tool” or DAHT, a digital home for everything about my thoughts and works.

I should tell to my former Persian readers that I am going to write in Farsi language in next months, although the contents of English blog and Farsi blog are different generally. But before that you can download my papers which are written in Farsi in Papers section.

I’m in early steps of DAHT, and surely it will be better days after days. Don’t leave me without your comments and advises.