Attention versus distraction? What that big NY Times story leaves out » Nieman Journalism Lab

And that, I’d wager, is the root of Vishal’s academic problems: not that he’s not smart — indeed, again, “one of their brightest students” — and not that he’s the victim of a mass outbreak of web-borne distraction (again, that A in film critique). His problem is both simpler and more serendipitous than that: He just doesn’t care about algebra.

great counter-argument by megan garber.  she doesn’t poke holes in mr. carr’s piece, instead getting to the root that isn’t obvious to a lot of people:

What distinguishes Vishal’s apathy, though — and what makes it more anxiety-inducing than that of the algebraic apatheists in whose footsteps he follows — is that he is coming of age in the digital era. And the digital era is bringing a new kind of empowerment not just to interest, but to aversion. The web is a space whose very abundance of information — and whose very informational infrastructure — trains our attention to follow our interests. And vice versa. In that, it’s empowering information as a function of interest. It’s telling Vishal that it’s better to spend time with video than with Vonnegut — simply because he’s more interested editing than in reading. Vishal needs needs no other justification for his choice; interest itself is its own acquittal. While formal learning has been, in the pre-digital world, a matter of rote obligation in the service of intellectual catholicism, the web-powered world is creating a knowledge economy that spins on the axis of interest. Individual interest. The web inculcates a follow your bliss approach to learning that seeps, slowly, into the broader realm of information; under its influence, our notion of knowledge is slowly shedding its normative layers.

establishment is the last thing an evolving society should have regard for, rightfully so.

SXSW 2011 PanelPicker - No Excuse: Web Designers Who Can't Code

In a recent interview, Jonathan Ive said “It’s very hard to learn about materials academically, by reading about them or watching videos about them; the only way you truly understand a material is by making things with it.” He’s talking about product design, but the principle is just as relevant to the Web (if not more so). “The best design explicitly acknowledges that you cannot disconnect the form from the material—the material informs the form…. Because when an object’s materials, the materials’ processes and the form are all perfectly aligned…. People recognize that object as authentic and real in a very particular way.” As our industry grows and roles get more specialized, it’s possible to become a “web designer” without more than a cursory understanding of the fundamental building materials of the Web: the code. Is this just the price of progress? Are the days of the web craftsman soon to be in the past? Or is a hybrid approach to web design and development something worth preserve?

my perspective on “south by” and if i’ll ever actually go aside, this panel rings true to me. not because i design for the web or code for the web. sure, i’ve done both and both together but it’s not my formal profession. it’d take many more years of practice and application to get to that point.

however, the road that’s taken me to where i am now started with both coding & designing for the web. learning absolute building blocks of something, today, that’s so much more to so many people. part of my job is understanding attention and helping people find what they’re looking for. on the surface, “academically,” it seems relatively simple. you tweet? you’re on facebook? you can read a web page? SIGN HERE. but that’s half the story, i think. you’re attacking a problem from the outside - in, instead of of the inside - out. does this mean i’m smarter than someone who doesn’t have a history of code & design for the web? no. does it mean i can do my job better? no. does it mean i have unique insight and perspective? yes.

that’s a huge point of difference. your final product, no matter what it is, will always reflect from where it came from.

what’s your starting point?

Leave a little to the reader

It goes beyond music too. The best moments are those Kathy Sierra ones where we think “Aha! Yes! I kick ass”—and those usually happen not by following instructions but by connecting the dots between the instructions.

discovery and learning are immensely empowering, persuasive and equitable.