I spent the majority of yesterday packing for the move to the new space and working on my essay on QR codes, mobile computing and annotated space. I tried timing myself to see if that would help my concentration and it did. I would set a timer on my phone for one hour sprints and then take a break and walk around the room or go look at art. Over the last week the essay had gone from 4 pages to 12. Which makes sense to me considering the enormity of the subject matter. But does not work AT ALL for a paper that is supposed to be only 4 pages long. (Absurd. Who can write that little?)

So I ripped out the first four pages and created a new document. Which was the one I worked on all day yesterday. By the end of the day it was up to 6 pages. Christ. This is just not going to work.

(Idyllic Futuristic Technology is Always Best Sold With Demure Pretty Women BTW)

Image from Ministry of Tech

The more I write, the more I ramble and the more I ramble the more questions I have about what I am working on. My current curiosity has brought me full circle back to My Favorite Book of 2007: Ambient Findability by Peter Morville

In an effort to not make this blog post go on and on like my writing style in general appears to do I have decided not to paraphrase Morvilles’ work, NOT that I could possibly be more succinct and straightforwardly readable than this book could ever be. Instead I present an excerpt of his writing here:

“Hypermedia technologies permeate our environment, shaping a bizarre hyper-reality that delivers information and commands attention. And even as we complain of information anxiety, we’re about the elevate intertwingularity to a whole new level with the advent of “ubiquitous computing.” The late Mark Weiser, formerly chief technology officer at Xerox PARC, coined the term in 1988 to define a future on which PC’s are replaced with tiny, invisible computers embedded in everyday objects. So whether we call it ubiquitous, pervasive, mobile, embedded, invisible, ambient, or calm computing, the vision is nothing new. Whats new is the rapid transformation of the vision into reality. It’s really happening, right now. Where Moore’s Law meets Metcalfs Law, we’ve reached a tipping point, and there’s no going back…..”

Peter Morville, Ambient Findability, Sept 2005. page 65 (reprinted without permission—Sorry! Don’t beat me up I think you are AMAZING)