Doctor's Note

A mix of essays and commentary about design, innovation, technology, society, coaching, personal and leadership development. Since 1996.

apple Design desktop_metaphor expose gui_design interaction Interactivity interface interface_design macosx Research Technology university_of_toronto visual_metaphor

An Interface Too Far

I was interested to see this video on YouTube for the BumpTop interface that mimics a ‘real’ desktop. Interested but disappointed. The whole idea of …
Andy Polaine
Andy Polaine
bauhaus bauhaus_universitaet_weimar Education General Germany gestaltung Interactivity josef_albers media newmedia paul_klee semacode teaching uni_weimar vassily_kandinsky walter_gropius weimar Work

Starting as Gastprofessor at the Bauhaus

I’m off to Weimar tomorrow to start a six-month stint as Guest Professor “Gestaltung medialer Umgebungen” at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar in …
Andy Polaine
Andy Polaine
berlin conference Culture Education General Germany OCN Omnium Research Work

Online Educa Berlin 2006 workshop

My colleagues and I from The Omnium Project will be conducting a workshop at the Online Educa 2006 Conference in Berlin on the 29th November and it will be …
Andy Polaine
Andy Polaine
Culture General google googlemaps-mars Technology

Google Mars

As most regular readers (yes, you there) will know, I have a fascination with Google’s mapping activities. So it’s such a pleasure to see Google …
Andy Polaine
Andy Polaine
mobile network Technology

Mobile and Home phone convergence

So, Orange just announced their new Orange Unique service, a convergence of home phone, mobile phone and broadband. The question is, will their customer service …
Andy Polaine
Andy Polaine
mobile Rants Technology

Why people hate mobile phone companies

It really can’t be that hard, smart customer service from mobile telcos. Have these people learned nothing? Here was my experience of Vodafone and …
Andy Polaine
Andy Polaine
Blogging Culture General socialnetworks tagging Technology

The Brain Behind Del.icio.us

I’m not sure how old this interview with Joshua Schachter, inventor of del.icio.us, is but it’s a fascinating insight into the Wisdom of Crowds. It …
Andy Polaine
Andy Polaine
Culture Design environment General google googlemaps government Interactivity interface OCN Omnium Technology UN

Google and UNEP Map Environmental Change

Google and the United Nations Environmental Programme last week launched an addition to Google Earth called the Atlas of Our Changing Environment, which allows …
Andy Polaine
Andy Polaine
Culture Design General interaction Interactivity socialnetworks society Technology

Be A Good Friend

What a joy to discover Steven Blyth’s My Social Fabric project (thanks to Mike Coulter at Digital Agency). Essentially the My Social Fabric project gives …
Andy Polaine
Andy Polaine
apple Design Interactivity Play

Insights into Jonathan Ive

Businessweek have a great selection of in-depth articles about Apple’s Senior Vice-President for Industrial Design, Jonathan Ive and they give a real …
Andy Polaine
Andy Polaine