Tag: books

  • Living in Information by Jorge Arango, book review

    Living in Information by Jorge Arango, book review

    There is a strong parallel between the characteristics and the influences of physical places on our lives and what worlds of information living in immaterial digital existences are having on them.

    Living in Information by Jorge Arango is about designing digital places: information spaces where we act, move, search and request to satisfy our needs in similar and sometimes more complex and powerful ways than the physical ones.

    As designers of interactions, learning, services, products, we need to be constantly aware of the importance of the architecture of a space and its characteristics to create meaningful experiences for the people living in it.

    Jorge Arango, Information Architect, Strategic Designer, writes about the factors involved in designing digital places in this well-structured and flowing text, which should be a reference point for any modern designer.

    The neat organization in chapters provides a systematic structure to sustain a holistic and multi-perspective view of information environments, their influence on humans, and the fundamental properties to consider when designing them.

    A logical sequence of concepts, treated in a fluid and convincing style, tells a story where the two distant actors converge into a unifying theory: the physical and the digital space. The concepts: Environments, Context, Incentives, Engagement, Technology, Architecture, Structure, Systems, Sustainability to conclude with Gardening.

    A systemic and systematic view of digital design empowers a multi-angle and structured vision of designing Information Environments.

    The narration unfolds to focus on the critical question of this book: “How can we design these information environments, so they serve our social needs in the long term?

    Each chapter contributes to stimulating an answer. Chapter 6, in particular, gives a strong point about it:” Architecture: We can intentionally design our environments to better serve our needs. Architecture is the design discipline that is focused on structuring our physical environments, and information architecture is the design discipline that does the same for information environments.”

    I particularly appreciate the expanded and expanding view of Arango when he extends the scope to systems, systems of systems, and ecosystems, increasing the conceptual power and the strength of the framework as he does in Chapter 8. Systems: “Environments are not just structural constructs; many other systems must work in concert to make it possible for them to serve our needs. Architects must consider how these systems work together.

    This takes the discussion beyond the border of the single, closed, independent scope of the artifact, the product, or the service, extending the consideration to a Systems View which entails a long sequence of dynamics and phenomena as well explained in the various Systems Thinking schools: systems change, often unpredictably, usually cannot be controlled and need ongoing stewardship as well described in Chapter 10, Gardening.

    I loved “Living In Information” because it helped me have a more comprehensive, broader, and more encompassing view on design, design thinking, information architecture, systems design, systems thinking, sustainability development, usability, human-centered design, strategic design.

    “Living in Information” is a precious book to be lovingly kept on any designer’s bookshelf.

    Living in Information by Jorge Arango, book review
    Living in Information by Jorge Arango, book review
  • Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. Book review

    Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. Book review

    The best book on humanity I’ve read so far: this book makes me feel bad.

    It makes me feel bad because it makes me realize the amount of violence, ignorance, and stupidity which lead most of the humankind’s action.

    It makes me feel bad because I’ve always hated history in school and this is the book I would have like to read.

    It makes me feel bad because on several occasions the author makes such clear, logical, straightforward conclusions on some of the most powerful events of history where I would have thought even having the slightest understanding of the causes would have been out of reach.

    It makes me feel bad because it’s long and full of stories, anecdotes, and considerations which you don’t want to have enough and, at the same time, frequently, makes me want to cry and run in horror.

    It makes me feel bad because it helped me to find new, powerful questions: not “Who am I” and not even the better “Who do I want to become?” but the scary “What do I want to want?”

  • Learning How to Learn, Book Review

    Learning How to Learn, Book Review

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    Learning How to Learn: How to Succeed in School Without Spending All Your Time Studying; A Guide for Kids and Teens by Barbara Oakley, Terrence J. Sejnowski, Alistair McConville. On Goodreads.

    (This review appeared originally on Goodreads.)

    Learning How To Learn talks about simple and effective practices to improve your ability to learn more efficiently and more effectively.

    Dr. Barbara Oakley, among the many other books authored, is the creator of the most popular MOOC with the similar name “Learning How To Learn,” which I immensely enjoyed and included many of the thinking tools presented in this book.

    I enjoyed being an early reader of this book’s draft as a reviewer, and I was eager to buy the final book when released. Exchanging directly with the author has been a further occasion to learn more and better about the tools and practices.

    Although it is aimed at kids, I tested most of the techniques in the first person: any learner of any age can benefit from them. The approaches proposed by the authors are coming from their field of research in neurosciences and their teaching practices. I was delighted by the effectiveness of some techniques because they are addressing many of my weak spots: memorizing, avoiding distractions, getting the best out of learning materials. Knowing more about the inner workings of our brains helps in understanding why specific learning and organizing techniques are working better than others and why we should take care of aspects and things that might seem unrelated at first.

    For instance, the book explains the importance of reading and summarizing with your own words, taking care of a good dose of sleep, the effect of the environment (the place, the light, the sounds), the immense attention-destruction power of distractions, and how to prevent it.

    I love this book, and I am including many of its suggestions in my teaching, facilitation, and training practices: I am also doing my best to improve the learning capability of my son by suggesting the application of Learning “How To Learn”’s gems.

    Strongly recommended to any human being.