WebVisions

Note: I've combined two previous posts into this single one.

Part One: Before

The posts have slowed a bit as I prepare my presentation for WebVisions. I’m really enjoying the process, gathering pieces and images from the history of technology and trying to fit it into a framework for understanding the history of the button. And of course this will give me a lot of fodder to post afterward.

Here’s a sense of it. In a hundred years, the button began as a novelty, a toy, and will eventually evolve into a concept, where there is no actual button. Instead, we will assume that we can interact with surfaces. The concept of pushing and touching will apply to our entire environment. The physical push-button switch was merely the intermediary to transition our relationship with technology from complete separation to intertwinement (is that a word?).

The button provides the necessary metaphor to convey that surfaces are alive.

Part Two: After

WebVisions is over and was a great event. Saw some great sessions, saw some old friends and made some new ones.

The History of the Button presentation felt like it went well. Thank you everybody who attended or expressed interest in the idea.

Here’s the PDF of the presentation. Note that five movies have been pulled out because, well, it’s a PDF. Also some slides need narration, but you’ll get the idea.