During the i-Design conference there was a lot of discussion about the way the internet is used, how this affects the purpose of print (in particular newspapers) and what the future of digital will mean for the internet as it is now.

Without getting in to the full discussion, what I think is the obvious advantage of the internet in terms of news is it’s instantaneity, the opportunity for discussion and it’s editable nature. It is possible that journalists could take something from how news is presented on the television and the radio, and discuss news topics online, with the advantage of being able to update the discussion anytime there is an new development. Essentially the stories would be documented live on the internet as a newspaper journalist might do their research, from the first traces of the story.

What I am thinking is something along the lines of how messages are displayed on the iphone or msn. This would lead to the facility of being able to trace the full discussion, which could work alongside larger articles once more evidence or details were known. Each journalist’s piece would be displayed as it flowed, but could also be searched through by point of view or side of an argument. So if there was a particular part of a story you wanted to know more about you’d be able to search through the piece and to find journalists who had focused on that point.

Twitter has been broadcasting information faster than news sites can react, but if the whole point of the site was that they released snippets of information, which they then built on, they might be able to keep up.

Mapping and city navigation is a big topic at the moment, especially with all the iphone apps going about. Here are a few thoughts I’ve had around the topic:

Street view offers a whole new dimension for potential visitors to a city, that I don’t feel has been fully taken advantage of as yet. With extra elements added in to the current format it could be great way to view the city and plan where you want to go. ‘Signposts’ could be added to direct users to local attractions, potentially targeted to the user’s interests. Comments and reviews could also be tagged to places as you ‘travel’ past, in a similar way to the how augmented reality city apps work on iphone. Tours could also be done, so you could be guided around the best places in that neighbourhood whilst getting much more of a real vibe of what the place looks like before you go. Or maybe I do far too much research in to cities before I visit!

Although I do find all the augmented reality city apps very exciting, I do feel that it may interrupt the actual feel of the city to a degree. Following from a post by Russell Davies along the same lines, I started to think of how you could be guided around the city without it disturbing your experience. One idea I had for an actual navigation tool would be a vibration on your phone that directed you. So you could set up your phone to direct you to your destination, and each time you needed to turn it would vibrate a certain way. To turn left it might be a solid “buzz — buzz — buzz — buzz” and to turn left “b — buzz — b — buzz — b — buzz”.

Information overload in cities as been mentioned a lot as well. Initially this idea may appear to contradict that thought, but it would eliminate the information for half of the day, when essentially it isn’t necessary. Directions to nightlife venues could be advertised in street lights - essentially creating shadows to form the lettering. This could also be used for public notices that are more necessary at night such as for warnings about using crime or maybe even taxi ranks.

Another thought is for interactive sign posts, obviously this is isn’t really necessary for the smartphone group, but as the majority of people don’t use them at the moment it may still have some relevance. Signs could have digital displays that would change according to what events are on at that time. But also, if someone was looking for a particular event, they could text the sign post and it would turn to point in the direction. Obviously this could essentially done by a touch-screen computer, but I thought the signs might be something a bit nicer than a screen people have to crowd around, as there could be multiple sign-arms and they seem a bit more human.

Matt Cooper, senior designer at AIG, is a regular contributor to the interactive community Dynamo London.  He posted up a list of predictions for 2009 which I found quite inspirational.  Read the full post here.

-    Apple will release some sort of ‘Touchscreen-Netbook-Newton-Big iPhone-Thing’

Matt suggested it will be a combination of an A5 sized iPhone device with a MacBook - Nano.  The software would be managed through the app store, or wirelessly from another computer (as in the MacBook Air).

He also predicted it would be cheap, although I am not sure I agree with that, unless they initially sell it at a massive loss.

On a similar note, I have also recently read about the likelihood of a mass emergence of ‘empty’ phones or devices that you download software on to, to suit individual needs.

-    The commercialisation of Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a fantastic resource, that has developed in to a complex mass of information.  But I think that a lot more could be made of it.

If it was commercialised it would undoubtedly improve its operating system and overall design, but it sparks the eternal question - would the improvements out-weigh the advertising and biased commercial influence?

-    Digital paper

Matt predicted digital paper will come and go.  This may indicate a lack of experience on my part in comparison to Matt, but I think it could revolutionise the online experience, to make it less ‘online’.  I think it could make the internet a much more integral part of our lives, a step further than the MacBook Air.

Online information could be viewed on the ‘paper’ with a wireless connection to a computer, or device that can connect to the internet.  The keyboard could be abandoned through a touch screen that would allow users to write search terms (or whatever) directly on to the digital paper.

At the i-Design ‘08 conference Brendan Dawes, Creative Director of Magnetic North, spoke about how physical representations of ourselves are beginning to be lost to our hard drives.  CDs, usually on display in our homes are being replaced by downloads on iTunes.  When a visitor comes to our home, they will lose the sense of who we are.

I have wondered about this before, and although these new technologies are fantastic, we’re in some way losing our individuality.

As a response I’ve come up with a few ideas as how these new technologies could be visualised in our homes.

iTunes Objects

Physical objects in our homes could display music or films we regularly listen to.  A digital wall could display the last cds we listened to, lining them up as a block of their covers.  The same, in a cheaper format, could be a lamp, wired up to the computer.

Digital CD Shelf

Our iTunes collection could be digitally stored on a shelf, with touch-screen interactivity, so cds could be selected and sorted through.

Holographic Ornaments

Many of the speakers at i-Design spoke about growing online communities, and how technology was becoming more feminine.  Holograms of objects could be displayed in the home as traditional ornaments are, and different objects could be sent from friends.  If a relative went to New York, for example, they could send a hologram of the Statue of Liberty.

As part of London i-design I went to the portfolio clinic, for recent graduates and students.  There was the opportunity to speak to some major London-based digital companies, including some of the speakers from the day.  It was very busy, and pretty much a free-for-all, but I did manage to speak to Imagination, AIG and Tribal DDB.

The majority of my feedback was positive, to keep working on the sort of projects I had been doing, and keep building up my portfolio.  Imagination did mention that the way I presented my work wasn’t very concise.  As I had a range of different programs showing my work (flash player, quicktime, acrobat) they suggested I could present each piece as a pdf, with a brief explanation, and then show the piece in its actuality.  I think this could really help me, as I’m not the most natural public speaker, and when nervous I can lose drift of what I’m saying.   However, in an actual interview I would show my work in a portfolio, and then go to the piece on my computer, but there wasn’t room for this at the portfolio clinic.

I showed each company the work I was doing at the moment, and received some really useful insights in to how I could expand the projects.

Pixel City:

Tribal DDB suggested I make adding more emotional searches to it, as in ‘turn-it-up’, ‘turn-it-down’, relating to how heavy a night you wanted.

I did originally think of having options like ‘cool’, ‘happy’, to filter what sort of vibe you wanted the venue to have.  However, that brings up the issues of personal opinions - what some people consider to be ‘cool’ isn’t what others consider it to be.  Although I did think that the sort of Agnys Dean scene (sorry!) is generally recognised as being cool, even though its not what I’m in to.

Malcolm Garrett at AIG suggested different formats the map could be in, as in what landmarks to look out for nearby, as I had done in the way-finding section of the Virgin in-flight screens.

Virgin In-Flight Screens:

AIG liked how the screens offered a practical alternative to the usual selection of mediocre films available, and thought Virgin was a great choice as they are a relatively innovative brand.  They mentioned how cameras had been placed under the plane before, but combined with the google earth view it gave it relevance and perspective.  The overall vibe I got from AIG was to be quite experimental about the ideas, I had been designing it quite clinically - exactly how it would look and work including designing the page where movies and other existing entertainment would be accessed.

The BBC reviewed the day, including the portfolio clinic and a little picture of me whilst I was speaking to Tribal DDB.

My website was also featured in the gallery, unfortunately I wasn’t named, but I did get a nice comment.

Last Wednesday during a short trip to London, I attended i-Design ‘08, hosted by Dynamo London as part of London Design Week.  It was a fascinating day, with some great insights into the future of interactive design.  It worked as a series of speakers, and panels, discussing their own practices and design issues.

The main issues that emerged from the day was the community-based generation of the internet, and how design and technology were now communicating with a mass-audience on a new level.  The introduction of the wii and the iPhone have created invisible, intuitive user systems.   The Nintendo DS has attracted a new audience to gaming, and interactive design as a whole is beginning to become much more friendly, and less technologically sterile.

Another issue, brought up mainly by Alexander Deshamps-Sonsino of Tinker, was the possibility that design could be taking a backseat to technology, designers are allowing technologists to teach them.  The speakers as a whole encouraged designers to develop coding skills and be very much involved in the whole process.

The final speech, by Timo Veikkola of the Future Laboratory, was something I had been looking forward to, and was indeed very interesting.  He outlined various emerging trends and creations that were shaping the future.  These included;  the Perceptive Pixel ‘Multi-Touch Collaboration Wall’; the ‘Musion Eyeliner Holographic Projection System’; Adrian Cheok’s huggy ‘Internet Pyjama’; and a virtual snow game to help the recovery of burn victims.  Also mentioned were virtual environments that display over the real world - London streets could be made to look like Blade Runner.  Earlier in the day there had been speak about virtual online avatar environments, SecondLife being the best known.  Although these are incredibly popular, I personally find them a bit unnatural, and can’t help but feel they may not be very socially responsible.  Perhaps there could be something in the combination of the two, so the virtual world is not so separated from reality, but enhances it.