A great start to Imagine 2011 at Microsoft! I'm waiting for the afternoon sessions to begin.

During the break, there were several quotes from industry leaders scrolling on the big screen.  Several of them jumped out to me.  The common theme of these were that we need to Think Big.  We need to Think Big and use technology in ways we have never thought about in the past.  It is creating our future. 

This is why I am interested in the forum Digital Design: Its Delights and Discontents hosted by Linda Tischler, Senior Editor of Fast Company.

In my position at Microsoft, friends and family often ask me where we are headed with technology and the internet.  They often are amazed at what technology is delivering today.  But I feel that we are in a transition.  Even though there have been huge advancements in technology and solutions which have changed our world lately (Facebook, twitter, and more); I think we are at the beginning of a much bigger transformation. I can’t wait to find out and be a part of the journey. 

In this session, Linda brought some of her closest friends to talk about how technology and creativity have really pushed the limits of what is available today. It was not your typical forum with a discussion of ideas; but a series of examples of where others have pushed the boundaries to create and deliver messages.

The panel included Jake Barton, Founder & Principal of Local Projects, and experience designer for the National September 11.  John Maeda, President, Rhode Island School of Design; and Owen Rogers, Partner at IDEO and head of IDEO’s Consumer Experience Design business community.

Jake Barton took the audience through a few examples of how real human experiences can create something much bigger than anything one person or group could create by themselves.  Starting with the example of the StoryCorps program which uses public participation to create thousands of stories to create a national oral history documentary one conversation at a time.  The examples he showed were emotional and showed a true connection.   For me, it was an example of how technology really made it easy for every days individuals tell their story and together created something very powerful.  While, so simple, it was a creative way to document history in a way never imaginable.  

Jake’s next example was of the 9/11 memorial.  He talked about how instead of a curator telling the story of 9/11, it would be everyone around the world telling their story.  Where they were and how it affected them.  With people telling the story, it allows open access to content that was not available from previously documented history.  It will magnify and exponentially grow the content available.  It also makes the story much more personal, allowing visitors to connect with it on their level.  I think this creative solution will pull people in, connecting with them in ways much deeper than ever before.  Genius!

Owen Rogers with IDEO, came prepared to highlight how he has witnessed technology and creative solutions changings lives.  His examples were focused on 7 key themes: Education, Politics, Money, Home, Friendship, Disaster, Art.  The examples assured me that we are in a transformation and on the forefront of something much bigger.  These creative solutions were all very recent from Facebook in Lybia to how technology has allowed paralyzed individuals become artist.  

His next example showed how a simple video camera has disrupted the current education paradigm by allowing hundreds of thousands of people access classes through YouTube.  It was an excellent example of how a creative solution to a simple idea, can really change the world.  

Patch illustrated a great hyper-local example.  It allows professional journalist, local governments, and the community to come together. It’s real news, real local and relevant. 

Finally, Linda welcomed John Meada; President of the Rhode Island School of Design with a discussion of his lessons of bringing technology to RISD.  What I thought was the most interesting was that while technology is all around us, his belief was that technolgy is not a replacement for the real relationship.

He often referred to an analogy of spray glue vs Elmers glue (Elmers being manually spread where needed).  Where a lot of what we are involved with today is spray glue.  The social platforms today allow us to create many relationships quickly.  They are “fast, sticky, but don’t hold over time”.  Real relationships take time, work, and are hard to scale.  He made a point that people are busy and can only take in so much.  Creative solutions need to take this into consideration.

Linda’s forum was a great example of how important creative solutions are.  They can bring new ideas using existing technology, proving huge results.  These big new creative ideas are also shaping where technology is headed and what we will be able to do in the future.  For me, another example that we are just in the beginning of huge change to come.  I look forward to what’s next! 

Thank you!


Scot Pettit

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