First, some entertainment.
I like to read but I don’t really like books. So I spent a few minutes questioning the assumptions we generally hold about books.
The future of books – So I’m going to keep the reading and words parts of books but I might kill the paper, booky part of books. Paper is limiting, linear, and uncomfortable with all the flipping and constant re-adjusting required. Seriously, I can never get comfortable reading books.
I usually read for information. When I do, I don’t want to waste time reading all the stuff I don’t really care about just to get to the stuff I do care about (I heard a stat once that only 11% of books are real content). This is the problem that I would really want to focus on. But I wouldn’t have even thought of this issue had I not questioned my assumptions about books. Now I can brainstorm about how to get rid of the pages/paper part of books without recreating the monstrosity that is the Kindle…
Just some extra small tips about brainstorming. When I do it, I do a quick and messy one in the beginning to just empty out my thoughts, but then I do a brainstorming around the different levels of abstractions about the topic. Like for books, the highest, most general abstraction level, I would always ask, what is the “purpose” of the book. Then at the lowest, most specific level, I ask what are all the ways present technology can meat these needs. In between in all the social and environmental aspects that related to the purpose to the physical formation of the product.
Feel free to ask me in class for a quick sketch of what I’m talking about.