Gifts of knowledge to humanity There are many commonalities we can admire in these endeavors: the dazzling leap of imagination, the broad scope of applicability, the founding of a new paradigm. But let’s focus here on their form of distribution. These are all things that are taught. To “use” them means to learn them, understand them, internalize them, perform them with one’s own hands. They are free to any open mind. In Hamming’s world, great achievements are gifts of knowledge to humanity. Bret Victor, The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn knowledge
Hamming-greatness Hamming-greatness is tied, inseparably, with the conception of science and engineering as public service. This school of thought is not extinct today, but it is rare, and doing such work is not impossible, but fights a nearly overwhelming current. Bret Victor, The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn
Up and Down the Ladder of Abstraction An Essay by Bret Victor worrydream.com The most powerful way to gain insight into a system is by moving between levels of abstraction. Many designers do this instinctively. But it's easy to get stuck on the ground, experiencing concrete systems with no higher-level view. It's also easy to get stuck in the clouds, working entirely with abstract equations or aggregate statistics. This interactive essay presents the ladder of abstraction, a technique for thinking explicitly about these levels, so a designer can move among them consciously and confidently. From a roving viewpoint abstractionunderstandinginteraction
The Ladder of Abstraction An Essay by Bret Victor worrydream.com Collaborative Information Architecture at Scale informationthinkingcommunicationabstraction
A Brief Rant An Essay by Bret Victor worrydream.com Like, just a post complaining that screens should be better designtechnologywwwinteractionbody
The Future of Programming A Talk by Bret Victor worrydream.com programmingcodetechnologyinteractionsoftware
Man in the Middle: The Designer A Book by C. Wright Mills www.carlosvieirareis.com The old unityDefining craftsmanshipThe central value for which they standThe star systemAs if it were an advertisement+3 More designsociety
The old unity The most fundamental splits in contemporary life occur because of the break-up of the old unity of design, production and enjoyment. life
Defining craftsmanship By craftsmanship I refer to a style of work and a way of life having the following characteristics: In craftsmanship there is no ulterior motive for work other than the product being made and the processes of its creation. In craftsmanship, plan and performance are unified, and in both, the craftsman is master of the activity and of himself in the process. The craftsman is free to begin his working according to his own plan, and during the work he is free to modify its shape and the manner of its shaping. Since he works freely, the craftsman is able to learn from his work, to develop as well as use his capacities. The craftsman’s way of livelihood determines and infuses his entire mode of living. For him there is no split of work and play, of work and culture. His work is the mainspring of his life; he does not flee from work into a separate sphere of leisure; he brings to his non-working hours the values and qualities developed and employed in his working time. craftwork
The central value for which they stand What I am suggesting to you is that designers ought to take the value of craftsmanship as the central value for which they stand; that in accordance with it they ought to do their work; and that they ought to use its norms in their social and economic and political visions of what society ought to become. designcraft
The star system The distributor is ascendant over many producers who become the rank-and-file workmen of the commercially established cultural apparatus. The star system of American culture – along with the commercial hacks – tend to kill off the chance of the cultural workman to be a worthy craftsman. work
As if it were an advertisement He designs the product itself as if it were an advertisement, for his aim and his task – acknowledged by the more forthright – is less to make better products than to make products sell better.
The Big Lie “We only give them what they want.” This is The Big Lie of mass culture and of debased art, and also it is the weak excuse for the cultural default of many designers. culture
The Fetish of human life To understand the case of America today, one must understand the economic trends and the selling mechanics of a capitalist world in which the mass production and the mass sale of goods has become The Fetish of human life, the pivot both of work and of leisure. Existing commodities must be worn out more quickly for as the market is saturated, the economy becomes increasingly dependent upon what is called replacement. It is then that obsolescence comes to be planned and the economic cycle deliberately shortened. economics
The big split The big split among designers and their frequent guilt; the enriched muddle of ideals they variously profess and the insecurity they often feel about the practice of their craft; their often great disgust and their crippling frustration. design