Chris Aldrich has the most multi-disciplinary resume I’ve ever seen, with a background that includes biomedics, electrical engineering, entertainment, genetics, theoretical mathematics, and more. Chris describes himself as a modern-day cybernetician, and in this conversation we discuss cybernetics and communications, differences between oral and literary cultures, and indigenous traditions and mnemonics, among many other things.

See full show notes at:
https://theinformed.life/2024/05/05/episode-139-chris-aldrich/

Dave Gray describes himself as a possibilitarian. He focuses on helping people and teams realize their creative potential. Dave the author of several influential books, including Liminal Thinking and Gamestorming, which he co-authored with Sunni Brown and James Macanudo. He also founded the pioneering visual thinking company XPLANE. In this conversation, we discuss how to move beyond mental models that constrain us to open up new possibilities.

Show notes

• Dave Gray
• Dave Gray - LinkedIn
• The Connected Company by Dave Gray and Thomas Vander Wal
• Gamestorming by Dave Gray, Sunni Brown, and James Macanufo
• Liminal Thinking by Dave Gray
• Red Herring (magazine) - Wikipedia
• XPLANATIONS
• XPLANE
• Greg Petroff - LinkedIn
• Douglas Engelbart - Wikipedia
• Andy Matuschak
• School of the Possible
• School of the Possible Campfire Calls

Show notes include Amazon affiliate links. We get a small commission for purchases made through these links.

If you're enjoying the show, please rate or review us in Apple's podcast directory:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-informed-life/id1450117117?itsct=podcast_box&itscg=30200

This episode's transcript was produced by an AI. If you notice any errors, please get in touch.

Nikki Anderson is an independent user research consultant, instructor, author, and speaker. Nikki uses her background in education and psychology to mentor people and organizations on the value of user research. And now, she’s written a book to help them build up their research operations. That’s the focus of our conversation today.

Show notes

• Nikki Anderson
• Impact: A complete guide to creating a user research practice at your organization by Nikki Anderson
• User Research Academy
• User Research Academy Substack
• How To Run a Qualitative Usability Test by Nikki Anderson
• Write Kick@ss User Research Goals by Nikki Anderson

Show notes include Amazon affiliate links. We get a small commission for purchases made through these links.

If you're enjoying the show, please rate or review us in Apple's podcast directory:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-informed-life/id1450117117?itsct=podcast_box&itscg=30200

This episode's transcript was produced by an AI. If you notice any errors, please get in touch.

Michael Anton Dila describes himself as a “designer of conversation” and someone with a passion for starting things. Among the things he’s started are ventures in online learning, co-working, and mobile technology. He’s also held several leadership roles in an elite innovation unit in the U.S. Department of Defense. In this conversation, we discuss his latest initiative, Oslo for AI, which seeks to design better processes for governing artificial intelligence.

Show notes

• Michael Anton Dila
• Michael Anton Dila - LinkedIn
• Oslo for AI
• U.S. Department of Defense
• System 3
• OpenAI
• Stone Soup - Wikipedia
• Stuart Candy
• Oslo (film) - Wikipedia
• Oslo (play) - Wikipedia
• The Oslo Accords, 1993
• Inside OpenAI’s Crisis Over the Future of Artificial Intelligence - NY Times
• Computing Machinery and Intelligence by Alan Turing (1950) - PDF
• Projects by IF
• Sarah Gold
• New Design Patterns for AI by Sarah Gold

Show notes include Amazon affiliate links. We get a small commission for purchases made through these links.

If you're enjoying the show, please rate or review us in Apple's podcast directory:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-informed-life/id1450117117?itsct=podcast_box&itscg=30200

This episode's transcript was produced by an AI. If you notice any errors, please get in touch.

Dave Elfving is an experience designer and educator. He spent eleven years at apple, where his last role was as Head of Interactive Strategy. These days, he’s my colleague teaching interaction design at the California College of the Arts. He’s also co-chairperson at Gray Area, a San Francisco-based nonprofit interdisciplinary cultural incubator. Gray Area is fostering fascinating work, and I wanted to discuss it with Dave.

Show notes

• Dave Elfving - LinkedIn
• aught.io
• Gray Area
• Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
• Projection mapping - Wikipedia
• Arduino
• TouchDesigner
• MadMapper
• Raspberry Pi

Show notes include Amazon affiliate links. We get a small commission for purchases made through these links.

If you're enjoying the show, please rate or review us in Apple's podcast directory:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-informed-life/id1450117117?itsct=podcast_box&itscg=30200

This episode's transcript was produced by an AI. If you notice any errors, please get in touch.

Joey deVilla describes himself as an experienced, engaging, accordion-playing, golden-voiced developer advocate looking for a new role. He’s had a long career in the technology space and writes about his experiences in two long-running blogs, The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the Twenty-First Century and Global Nerdy. Recently, Joey became one of the many people in tech who’s lost their job in the last couple of years. That is the subject of our conversation today.

Show notes

• 🪗 Joey (Accordion Guy) deVilla - LinkedIn
• The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century - Joey deVilla’s Personal Blog
• Global Nerdy : Tampa Bay techie Joey deVilla on software, hardware, and everything in between.
• Laid off in 2024, part 1: The 15 worst minutes of 2024, followed by 15 more : Global Nerdy
• World IA Day
• Cory Doctorow - Wikipedia
• Up in the Air (2009) - IMDb

Show notes include Amazon affiliate links. We get a small commission for purchases made through these links.

If you're enjoying the show, please rate or review us in Apple's podcast directory:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-informed-life/id1450117117?itsct=podcast_box&itscg=30200

This episode's transcript was produced by an AI. If you notice any errors, please get in touch.

Elizabeth McGuane is a UX director at Shopify and the author of Design by Definition, a book about the impact of language in user experience. As you might imagine, that’s a subject I’m keenly interested in, so I was excited to speak with Elizabeth about it.

Show notes

• Elizabeth McGuane - LinkedIn
• Elizabeth McGuane – Medium
• Design by Definition by Elizabeth McGuane
• Shopify
• Intercom
• Eames chairs

Show notes include Amazon affiliate links. We get a small commission for purchases made through these links.

If you're enjoying the show, please rate or review us in Apple's podcast directory:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-informed-life/id1450117117?itsct=podcast_box&itscg=30200

This episode's transcript was produced by an AI. If you notice any errors, please get in touch.

Pierluigi Dalla Rosa is an interaction designer at Humane, the makers of the AI Pin. But that isn’t the focus of our conversation today. Instead, we discuss novel computer interfaces in general, and interactive environments in particular. This is a subject that’s near to my heart, as it points to exciting possibilities for future digital experiences.

Show notes

• pierdr - Pier’s website
• Pierluigi Dalla Rosa - LinkedIn
• pier dr (@pierdr) - Instagram
• IxD Research (@ixdresearch) - Instagram
• Humane
• California College of the Arts
• Joshua Walton — Sensory.cc
• Tramontana
• Enrico Gueli (@ris8_allo_zen0) • Instagram photos and videos
• An exploration in collective interfaces by Pierluigi Dalla Rosa et al
• Douglas Engelbart
• Loren and Rachel Carpenter
• Mark Weiser
• Marshall McLuhan
• Hot and cool media (McLuhan)
• Dynamicland
• WIRED 1.02: Gossip is Philosophy (Interview with Brian Eno)
• Apple Vision Pro
• The Void
• Meow Wolf

Show notes include Amazon affiliate links. We get a small commission for purchases made through these links.

If you're enjoying the show, please rate or review us in Apple's podcast directory:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-informed-life/id1450117117?itsct=podcast_box&itscg=30200

This episode's transcript was produced by an AI. If you notice any errors, please get in touch.