[Sigia-l] Programming IAs was: Little things an IA MUST know/do

[Richard_Dalton at Vanguard.com]

dan saffer wrote:
> I think an IA should know enough about the medium/environment she works
> in (Java, HTML, Flash, C++, etc) to know what is possible, although
> knowing how to accomplish (i.e. program) this need not be part of her
> skill set.
>
> Chris Crawford, in The Art of Interactive Design, is decidedly in the
> other camp, however, and is adamant in his belief that IDs/IAs should
> know how to program. To whit:
>
> "There are at least 23.7 scads of reasons why the lead designer must be
> able to program...Programmers always use trumped up technical excuses to
> influence the design process. {You] must understand the technical
> strengths and weaknesses of the target platform to best fit the design
> to that platform...The prime reason...is simple: interactivity design is
> an ambassadorship between user and computer; anyone who does not speak
> both languages will fail."
>
> He goes on to say that "the programming ability is so fundamental to
> interactivity design that, within 10 years, this requirement will have
> asserted itself in Darwinian fashion."

Dan - i'm very much with you.

I agree with Chris with his thought that "interactivity design is an
ambassadorship between user and computer; anyone who does not speak 
both languages will fail", however, I don't think you need to know 
how to program to know the language and communicate, just as you don't
need to be able to perform the user task to design for it.

 - Richard Dalton