John Archambault:
Digitalist
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| August 12, 2009 |
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| Creativity, Rapidity & Connectedness | |||
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In late April I attended an iPhone Developers Meetup that was hosted by The Boston Globe. I went to high school directly across the street from The Globe, and as this was my first visit to the venerable newspaper, I reflected upon how our society’s rapid assimilation of digital technology has been so disruptive to the newspaper industry’s business model; walking through the newsroom felt like being in a museum. By hosting this event, The Globe was hoping to get some perspective on how digital technology could help it survive.
Eight developers gave ten-minute demos of their recent projects. Several were interesting, but the highlight was Anna Callahan’s demo of rapid-prototyping techniques. In the days before the meetup, Anna brainstormed some ideas, built some simple apps, and put respectable skins on them. But what impressed me most was how freely she was able to use her creativity to develop applications that challenge the norms of what digital technology should be. The most interesting application she developed was a google mapish tool that one could use to see and notate the presence of potholes in and around the Boston area. I overheard one technical staffer at The Globe say that he was "blown away" by her presentation. Anna was a professional jazz singer for ten years before becoming a software engineer, and I feel that her experience as a musician makes rapid prototyping easy for her; the process is a bit like improvisation, after all. After the presentations, she and I talked about how bringing an artistic mindset to one’s job leads to innovation, no matter what the field. Having a creative spark, and the ability to channel it, is at the heart of inventiveness. About a month ago I read this article about a newly-released iPhone app, looking just like the one Anna demoed, and which can be used to report potholes directly to Boston’s City Hall. The full application was developed by a firm called Connected Bits, but I suspect that Anna’s idea was the seed that led to the flower . . . it amazes me how quickly her application went from concept to reality. More and more, digital technology is becoming an ad hoc tool for the formation of inter-community connectedness, and with each passing day there is a growing need for each of us to possess the skills required to create such technologies. No matter what profession (or what stage of life) one is in, one needs to form relationships with others. The more quickly one can create new digital mediums, the more quickly one can connect with others in meaningful (and unique) ways. I guess it’s time to improvise . . . |
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