[Sigia-l] Edge design

[Todd Roberts]

One way to think of any interface is as an edge between two things -
between two people, between a person and a data repository, between
two data repositories, etc. The idea of the interface as a reef is
interesting and perhaps provides some ecological support for
user-created/altered interfaces. (I'm sure someone is doing research
from this approach and I'm just behind the times ;)

What would be more viable - a reef coated in epoxy to freeze it at a
certain point in time, or a living reef that can adapt to changing
conditions? The prior may have been the optimal reef when it was
frozen, but over time it would fall victim environmental changes. The
living reef can continuously alter its structure to fit the needs of
the environment (within some set of parameters, just as no interface
can be infinitely altered).

Accordingly, interfaces that are not frozen in place by the creators
should be more viable than static interfaces. Within the boundaries of
flexibility, the interface could change as the environment changes.
E.g. del.icio.us is not bound by a controlled vocabulary, so it
remains useful even as lingo/terminology changes over time.

Are there examples of interfaces that would suffer from such
malleability? Even in the healthcare-related system I work on, which
on its face would seem to require pretty rigid input, there are
inefficincies created by said rigidity. Concepts change, workflows
change, and these changes are a big pain to deal with in the fixed
system we have.

On 3/14/07, Andrew Boyd <facibus at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi folks,
>
> an idea for discussion.
>
> One of the principles of Permaculture is that biological systems are
> richer along edges - where the nutrient rich current hits the reef, or
> the land meets the sea.
>
> Is there any application of this to design? Can we create "artificial
> reefs" for information to grow upon? Is the flood of tagging into a
> rigidly hierarchical taxonomy a real example?
>
> Cheers, Andrew
> ------------
> IA Summit 2007:  Enriching IA
> Rich Information, Rich Interaction, Rich Relationships
> March 22-26, 2007, Las Vegas, NV
> www.iasummit.org
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