For those who have been reading the latest happenings in the web community these last few weeks you will see that there is a lot of debate going on about semantics. No, no well-formed markup and such, I mean verbiage, titles, roles, and technology.
Honestly clients have a hard enough time trying to figure out which web company to hire to fix their web site. Buzzwords, poorly named technology, acronyms, industry hype, etc. It all can be a bit overwhelming if you just want to get something done, let alone need to hire someone or partner up with a company.
It seems every time you get a bunch of academics in the same room as practitioners you get a debate. Heck, any time you get more than one practitioner in a room you get a debate. A debate about what something is and what something is not. A debate about semantics. I should know, I have been just as guilty of this as anyone else. So who am I to say? Well, I started to think about it from the perspective of client who, quite frankly, don’t really care what you title yourself or what you call the work you do, they just care that you can do what it is they need you to do.
It’s time we start letting go of our exclusive circles (i.e. designers can’t be IAs, usability is not IA, interaction design is different than information architecture, etc.) and start looking at the bigger picture. We need to think about how we are going to make the world a better place and the first step isn’t to debate how we’re going to do that. The first step is just getting something done.
We need to see more prototyping of new ideas, we need to see more research studies on new ways of doing things, we need to see more people doing and less people debating. To steal a quote from Christina Wodtke, it’s time to shut up and dance. Real change is done by those who go out and make stuff.
No, Nick, you’re wrong. It’s time we be quiet and boogie. colon close parentheses
Tight lip and tango? Any way you dice it, it’s all the same.
Talking business language is different than tech-talk. Most of the times we fall into their business buzzwords! we’re not the only people. A marketing head or a financial head that needs a solution would use his own acronyms and words, so it’s just raining, on both the sides and we all are just drawning in the see of information that is sticky!
There’s a business-communication science. Is there any technology-communication or any clearer tech-buz-communication? That’s the question.
Too many ropes to dance on! I’ll choose moon-walker :)
Great post and comments. I agree with so many points, especially the statement that “It’s time we start letting go of our exclusive circles…and start looking at the bigger picture.”
I also agree that we are still a rather fractioned group of professions that tends be united mainly by our own self importance.
The paradox is that we are important, we just having figured out why. I love the comment that we “need to think about how we are going to make the world a better” but I disagree with the idea that we shouldn’t start by “debating how we’re going to do that…”
We are just begin to realize that there actually a bigger picture and that we have an increasing important role in some major changes. In other words, context finally being considered (actually, a better description is the start of a trend, as it appears to me of course).
We have, until recently, focused so much energy on defining who we are and how we do our work in a very young industry that doesn’t have the guidelines of other, established fields.
Another way to put it is that we have been looking at half the picture only. Now, we are beginning to discuss “why.”
I believe that begins by opening our eyes and minds, asking questions and be willing to learn and change because the context of the era in which will live, a very complex one, has somehow put us in a business that we know little about: the people business.
Yes, we work in the tech sector, the IT industry, and so on; this is in addition too, not in replace of these areas. It is, however, the most difficult to master. The place to start is, of course, communication.
We are an incredibly talented, brilliant and dedicated group of professional. Unfortunately one of our greatest talents is in our communication, messaging and choices of very self defeating terms, such as “Web 2.0”
I mention the term to friends and the first thing I see is that look, you know…”Oh god, not again.”
The importance of the continuing growth and maturity of our work and role it and we are playing in the rapidly changing world gets overlooked by our suggesting, through the simple choice of a term,that the hype is back.
The last thing we need is to thought of as hype; this perception was one of a number of factors that nearly decimated our industry not so long ago.
To rap up, forget about “Web 2.0” We need to take “Communications 101” because the question of “what” we are communicating and “how” we are doing this can make or break us.
Thank you again.
The jargonism and over-specialization seems routed in the twins of insecurity and competition. Among independents, the most visible folks in UX/design/whatever ciricles, there is the belief that what they call themselves helps them stand out against their rivals. There is a cycle of behavior, among most consultants, that hype and seperatation are assets. Hard to stop this, as most consultants in any field practice it.
The people that “shut up and dance” are harder to find: their voices come through in their work, not in their white papers, slogans and rants. Many of the best designers/IAs/whatevers I know are entirely unknown in the world of blogs, despite how many thousands of people use the designs that they make.
So the trick, I think, is to find better ways to reward those that shut up and dance, since they’re not going to self-select themselves (submit papers, etc.). How about an annual blue flavor sponsored “shut up and dance” award?
And same goes for rewarding unifiers: who are the great leaders in bringing everyone together under the same tent? How can people help make those tents stronger and bigger? Given that we’re talking about designers, you’d think we’d have an easier time learning how to make this happen.
HI Nick,
I wrote a response to your posting here on my blog at <a href=”http://synapticburn.com/comments.php?id=104_0_1_0_C” rel=”nofollow”><a href=”http://synapticburn.com/comments.php?id=104_0_1_0_C” rel=”nofollow”>http://synapticburn.com/comments.php?id=104_0_1_0_C</a></a>
Ever consider turning on trackbacks? Makes the whole collaboration through the blogsphere a bit easier.
Besides the article I posted itself, I’d like to posit that people are arguing about semantics because we are still young, still undefined, and we are soooo focused on design that we don’t give ourselves time to define what it is that we do.
Semantical debates will never cease, but in our case, we argue about the big stuff. It’s the eqivalent of arguing over what is a doctor and what is surgeon. That debate was incredibly importand and the practitioners of that field knew they could not formalize a career and profession around themselves without doing that debate. We still have so many of these debates to do. Debating semantics is not a bad thing, so long as it isn’t all you are doing.
So funny, when I saw the title “Shut up and Dance” I thought it meant … Just get to work already!!! I didn’t think about the metaphor of dancing together. IMHO, it is just a given that we need to collaborate, and be more wholistic. I see a lot more people out there who are just doing it like Jim Leftwich than I see people who are not. Mainly because so few of us in practice have a choice but to do everything. But is that really dancing? Is that co-mingling, collaborating, learning from one another, coordinating events, etc. etc.? So when you say Dance, it just sounds like you are telling people to get over it, instead of dealing with the real disciplines. (more in that article length posting linked above)
Dave,
I think you are reading too much into this. I am not saying we can’t have people who do different things in this profession. I think what I am saying is that our profession is a lot like a recipe.
For example, there are many ways to make a salsa dip, but it doesn’t always include the same ingredients. Pick the right ingredients for the job and move forward and actually show me some damn salsa. Don’t debate why your salsa is the “real” salsa and why some other Joe’s salsa is poorly crafted or not “the real thing.”
To use your example, doctors wouldn’t really be heard saying “oh, he’s a veterinarian, he’s not really a doctor” …sure yes, he doesn’t operate on people he operates on animals, but what if they guy talking wasn’t psychiatrist… should I stand up and say “hey, but wait, you don’t operate on people either” …no, just let him do his thing. In the end the patient isn’t going to care who does what so long as his problem is solved.
We need to recognize that there is always going to be overlap and common shared interest in various subjects and skills. Learn to work together, not apart. That’s the point of my post.
Let’s go and invent a new medicine or a new way of healing people, what do you say?
The crazy part is that we (designers and such) are really the only ones that care what we are called or what title we have. The customers just need someone or someplace to address their needs and deliver a good product.
It’s like when you hire a contractor to build you a home. As the soon-to-be homeowner do you really care what the people the contractor hires are called or that they can build your house? From my experience, clients just want “the house” built and not a laundry list of titles of the people that built it.
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