OPINION THE WAY I SEE IT
There is another side of this
new transmedia: co-develop-ment, co-creation, co-ownership.
In this new world, we all produce,
we all share, we all enjoy. Teacher
and student learn together
achieving new understanding. Reader and writer create
together. Game player and game
developer work together. This is
the age of creativity, where everyone can participate. Everyone can
be a designer. Everyone can be
involved.
The personal computing revolution has been both liberating
and restricting. We have gained
access to powerful technologies
for communicating with one
another, for creating art, music,
and literature. Everyday people
could now do extraordinary
things. At the same time, we
became trapped by the confines
of a keyboard, mouse, and screen.
Instead of actively engaging the
world, we spent our days in front
of keyboards and screens, typing
and pointing.
Today we are moving beyond
the constraints of the mouse,
screen, and keyboard. Now we
can merge all the benefits of the
information revolution with the
benefits of movement and activ-
ity. We can post notes on build-
ings where only the intended
receiver can see them, or we can
let everyone see them, whatever
we wish. We can play games or
hold meetings with people all
over the world, moving, gestur-
ing, and acting.
Photograph by Niklas Pivic
Products were once designed
for the functions they performed.
But when all companies can
make products that perform
their functions equally well, the
distinctive advantage goes to
those who provide pleasure and
enjoyment while maintaining the
power. If functions are equated
with cognition, pleasure is equated with emotion; today we want
products that appeal to both cognition and emotion.
Consuming versus Producing:
Spectator versus Creator
There is a major difference
between the experience of con-
suming and producing, or if you
will, between being a spectator
and being a creator. In the tradi-
tional view of media, most of us
are consumers. Artists and com-
panies produce, while the rest of
us consume. We are spectators.
There is nothing the matter
with being an audience member,
a consumer, or a spectator. It is
how we have come to enjoy the
great works of art and literature.
We go to galleries to view, the-
aters to watch, libraries to read.
We can be casual or engaged,
watching from a distance or
becoming deeply embedded
in the events of music, opera,
a painting, a video, or a book.
We can become emotionally
involved, weeping or laughing as
the scenes unfold.
But there is a great difference
when we are actually engaged in
• Most IKEA
furniture is
designed to be
assembled by
the consumer—
an effort that
reflects the
creativity of the
manufacturer,
not the user.
January + February 2010