This week, the Wook & Lattuada gallery will host the opening of Blue Chips. Andrew Schneider and I have been invited to install out 'Single Channel' television objects piece for the exhibition. If you are in the area stop by the opening reception this Tuesday (5/13) between 6:00-8:00pm:

Wook & Lattuada Gallery
50 West 36th St., 3rd Floor
New York, NY

More information is also available on their web site.

Two years ago Mike Bukhin and I kicked off the WayMarker project. The project has a had a good run of publicity especially for an ongoing part time media art project. Most recently the technology was used as part of the Olafur Eliasson exhibition at MoMA. Users are encouraged to participate in the exhibition. From the Take Your Time web site:

"Each weekday during the course of Take your time: Olafur Eliasson, MoMA and P.S.1 lend selected visitors special cell-phone cameras to wear as necklaces. These devices take pictures at random intervals, documenting the visitors' journeys through the exhibition in a candid and experiential way. Selected images from these visitor experiences later appear in the background of the online exhibition."

More info can be found on the Olafur Eliasson exhibition web site. Exciting stuff!

Part of my struggle as an interactive designer has been the desire to create something which withstands the test of time. I used to think that the desire to create something that lasts is somewhat inedible. I wanted to make my mark on the world. In some way or another we all want to be remembered. Some design professions like product design and Architecture are better positioned to create things that stick around. While a product's life cycle is generally shorter than the life span of a building, both typically have some amount of longevity. Fundamentally product design and Architecture create artifacts as the result of their design process. The end result is tangible. For a long time I was very jealous of this tangible end result.

On the other hand, music embodies a purely temporal experience. We listen to the song, we enjoy the moment and its over. We go on to the next song, we move on to the next moment in time. We go on our way. With the progression of digital media to an online state, the artifact of how consumers purchase music has become arguable negligible. As a DJ for many years I've also enjoyed creating and playing music but always recognized it as the creation of a fleeting moment.

I used to think that the intent of what I created as and interaction designer was to produces web sites and interactive experiences that would withstand the test of time. And sometimes they do, but usually they become dated due to the accelerated aesthetic progression of design online. Through my experience of designing and producing interactive experiences I have come to the realization that designing online experiences is more like creating music than it is like product design or Architecture. As with all of the above mentioned disciplines, the intent is to craft an experience that will engage us, captivate us, and enable us. Be it with a song, in their hand, in their home or online. However as with music, the online experience (or the portion of it that one is responsible for creating) will occupy a discrete amount of time and the experience will come to an end. In this way, designing for online experiences is temporal and more closely related to music than it is (form the users perspective) related to product design and architecture. There is no artifact, we experience the moment and go on our way.

Oscar took the rooster winning the final round over at The Morning News! Apparently the book has been praised in literary circles for quite some time. But hey I'm not in literary circles so this was a nice sunrise for me. I am curious about Remainder, the book Oscar battled in the final round. It will probably be on my reading list next.

And, on a much more depressing note, one reader wrote in pointing out a similar post she made to the Fidelity/Genocide debacle. With a bit more research, it turns out I was being too kind in giving Fidelity the benefit of the doubt.

Today, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao beat The Savage Detectives in the Zombie Round over at The Morning News. The win in this round of the fiction battle means Oscar is going to the finals! Sweet! A book I stumble upon in the airport happen to make it to the finals in a book battle at one of my favorite news web sites. Kinda crazy if you ask me. I haven't read The Savage Detectives but I know for damn sure that The Brief Wondrous Life is a fine read. I sure am looking forward to the finals to see if Oscar goes the distance (which he deserves)!

Author's Note: I don't think I've been as excited about a book since Were The Wild Things Are.

This morning while taking the mail to the door, I casually looked over the proxy ballot my wife received from Fidelity Investments. She holds Fidelity Diversified International Fund in her 401(k). By law they are required to confirm new board members by a vote of the shareholders. Sometimes companies slip in 'pork belly' votes on the proxy ballot too. Nothing too shocking or that really really has to do with business. This one was different. The second question after confirming the board read:

THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES RECOMMENDS A VOTE AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

5. Share holder proposal for Fidelity Canada Fund, Fidelity Diversified International Fund, Fidelity International Discovery Fund, Fidelity Mid-Cap Stock Fund, and Fidelity Overseas Fund concerning Board oversight procedures to screen out investments in companies that substantially contribute to genocide.

Wow! I had to read that twice. So, let me get this straight, the Board is against screening out companies that substantially contribute to genocide. Well I don't know about you but I for for one have always been against genocide. So (and this is where I believe they tried to pull a sneaky Pete) I voted for the oversight. Can you really argue that genocide is ok as long as we're making money? Come-on-people! Genocide is not ok! Genocide is not even close to ok. Even for billions and billions of dollars. People should not be legally allowed to own shares of, partner with, or even look at companies that substantially contribute to genocide (And I love too how how they slip in 'substantially' as a safe guard. I can hear the lawyers arguing already, 'Its really not a substantial amount of genocide. Its a small genocide really that we feel provides a high valuation for us.'). Genocide is bad. End of story. If you knowingly invest in companies that contribute to genocide I will not be a part of it.

The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz is bar far the best book I have read in a long time. The tale of 300+ Dominican uber nerd is compelling and complex. The nuances of life that Diaz captures continues to amaze me as the pictures he paints stay fresh in my mind. Throughout the text, the emotional qualities of the characters are portrayed in such a way that compels the reader to continue reading to find out what happens to this family and its disparate pieces. With a writing style similar to that of David Foster Wallace and a cultural connection to Latin and Dominican culture Diaz brings to life a wonderful, sexy, scary, and renowned piece of fiction. I was also left with a new understanding of the Dominican Republic and Latin culture. I was skeptical at first having stumbled across this book in an airport bookstore but am happy and pleasantly surprised that I did.

This book also recently battled another piece of fiction on The Morning News.