Cybernetics as Language for Design
Interaction design, user interaction, user experience, experience
design, etc.—but then, what do we mean when we say 'interaction'
or 'design' or even 'experience'? Are there any useful frameworks
we can use to help think about these concepts, and thereby create
better products and services, interfaces and experiences?
Using models from cybernetics—the science of feedback and
goal-driven systems—Paul Pangaro will offer a discussion about
the nature of human interactions, and how to improve the design—and
design processes—when creating products, services, or organizations.
Paul Pangaro received a B.S. in Computer Science with a minor in
drama and thesis in film criticism from MIT. He worked in Negroponte's
lab and was the first Ph.D. student there, but left the program
in order to study cybernetics with Gordon Pask in England. After
receiving a Ph.D. with Pask on conversation theory, Pangaro established
a software company, building information browsers that measured
fine-grained interactions with the user to provide an experience
with some of the features of human conversation. Moving to Silicon
Valley in the midst of Web 1.0, Pangaro was chief technology officer
in nascent startups and also created product roadmaps, strategy,
and organizational designs for large and small startups including
Netscape, Sun Microsystems, and Idealab's Snap.com. He has taught
a Stanford University course in cybernetics as language for design
since 2001. His work in applying the frameworks of cybernetics to
product design can be sampled at http://pangaro.com/ue.
A tasting menu of his publications and presentations can be found
at http://pangaro.com/.
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