weighing in late here - Dan you're right that "This is not a definition problem (or at least so only indirectly): it's a PR problem."
and to add to Janna's post above, I would like to say that a group of volunteers are working on one aspect of this in what we're calling an Awareness initiative (I prefer Jon's original term, cultural injection.. but you get the idea) This initiative is growing out of the education volunteers, so it has that kind of flavour.. eg Initiative Goal: To develop awareness about IxDA as a potential career path among two key groups: a) K-12 teachers, students, parents and guidance councilors b) Undergraduate faculty and students in programs related to interaction design It has a number of sub-teams working on distinct projects to get us to the short term goal: ways to engage education to build wider awareness. These are: 1. Common person interaction design description. Develop a set of materials that describe, through words, diagrams, pictures, and other elements, what interaction design is to the %u201Ccommon person%u201D %u2013 someone who isn%u2019t necessarily trained in design, art, computer science, psychology, or any related discipline. volunteers: Patricia Barford, Tien Yang 2. Education workshop material. Develop a set of exercises and content aimed at 9th and 10th grade students, in an effort to introduce them to interaction design fundamentals and generate interest and enthusiasm in this as a professional direction to pursue. volunteers: Meredith Noble, Adam Lerner, Tien Yang 3. Capability and aptitude assessment. Develop a set of characteristics (capabilities and aptitudes) that can be used to identify when someone might make a good interaction designer. Can be used as self assessment, or by guidance councilors. volunteers: Jack Moffett, Linda Chen, Camille Moussette we have deadlines for these projects (May 1 for v1, April 1 for progress reports) It goes without saying that people are more than welcome to volunteer to help out here.. please get in touch with either educat...@ixda.org or me or Jon Kolko to put your hand up, we'd love to have your input. cheers! jy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40375 ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
