Data General equipment

"Downtime is the worst of all possible times... Data General, the company that engineered the anxiety out of computers" 

The EMC Westborough Data Centre closes; EMC acquired Data General in 1999 (link).

An earlier model, the Eclipse MV/2500 operating microcode diagnostics; courtesy of Stephen Merrony (link).

Some video footage of a Data General Nova and disk assemblies in operation; courtesy of Andre Schaefer (link).

Running CEO on a Data General MV/4000. CEO (Comprehensive Electronic Office software) was a productivity suite (word processor, mail, display, print, calendar, filesystem, etc); courtesy of Tommy Mademark (link).

This ad from the archives highlights the crucial role that Data General computer systems had in issues of national importance in Ireland; courtesy of Internet Lurker (link).

Kenneth Meates has one of the most awesome responsibilities in all of Dublin, Ireland...

Ken Meates had a career in both industry and in academe. As a Guinness employee at St James’s Gate Brewery he worked as a systems analyst on multiple generations of some of the first computer systems installed in Ireland. As a high regarded member of faculty of the UCD College of Business Ken created and managed the Masters in Project Management up to his retirement. 

https://techarchives.irish/anniversaries-1866-1969/

A nice example - 'sunk costs'

Elon Musk provides what I think is a nice example that captures 'sunk cost', aka NRE (non-recurring engineering) expenses.
From the 10:50 mark in "Revenge of the Electric Car" (2011).

Musk "I'm ecstatic, this is fantastic, awesome day, it feels like victory..."
"This is the first production roadster.."

The 'first copy' or sunk costs of a new product.

At 12:50

Musk: "Well so far this is a very expensive car (nervous laugh). Call this the 50 million dollar car (nervous laugh), because that's about the amount of money I've invested in Tesla (nervous laugh). So (pause) it's kind of expensive."

IxDA Dublin presents - Designing Block-chain

 IxDA Dublin presents - Designing Block-chain  - New Products and Experiences - 28th of Sep

Designing Blockchain - New Products and Experiences. 

Blockchain has been dominating the media for the past few years now. It's hailed as the next big thing - and it's poised to change our lives in ways we can't even imagine. However, what are the implications of the blockchain when it comes to design?

How can designers take advantage of blockchain and related technologies to improve experiences and imagine new possibilities? To find the answer we invited a couple of designers to share their thoughts on the topic.

Cóilín Hegarty - Blockchain's Impact on Digital Design - 
Discussing what opportunities blockchain may provide for the design community.

~

Nur Karadeniz - Designing digital ID system with Blockchain
Case Study: ID2020 United Nations
 

---

• Date: Thursday, September 28th, 2017
• Time: 18:30 - 21:00
• Location: NCAD, 100 Thomas Street, Dublin 8
• Price: Free, but booking is essential from our event page

---

Huge thank you to our event partners - NCAD and Microsoft for their generous support!

We look forward to seeing you on the night. 

All the best from the IxDA Dublin team,

Filip, Chris, Laura, and John.

Shared Calendar for upcoming relevant events

In response to a suggestion, I would like to share a calendar for upcoming MSc DI relevant and related events.

See Diginno - MSc Digital Innovation calendar in Google Calendar

IDEO - Creative Confidence

Reimagining the Shopping Cart (ideo.com)

In what is now recognised as a seminal inside account of IDEO's design process ABC's Nightline broadcast this documentary video circa 1999. )
Search to view online - inside ideo abc nightline shopping cart - (the full video is around 22' long or posted in 7' parts).

Some key quotes from the video have become canon...

"The only thing that matters in software is the experience of the user"
"It's impossible that the boss is going to be the one who has had the insightful experience!"
"Trying stuff and asking forgiveness instead of asking permission"
"Fail often in order to succeed sooner"

---

The Kelley brothers of IDEO have also published on their approach
Creative Confidence

"Too often, companies and individuals assume that creativity and innovation are the domain of the “creative types... each and every one of us is creative."

http://www.creativeconfidence.com

---

Some questions:

• What is focused chaos?
• Is this a sane way of working?
• Is management control necessary? If so why? What forms of control are present here? When is control present? Who controls the process?
• What problems do you foresee with this kind of organising?
• If watching this video for the third or fourth time - try to notice the features that didn't belong in typical 1990s workplaces? Features that may be mainstream in today's high-tech workplaces.
• If you wanted to introduce this style of working into your own organisation: how would you justify it? how would you try to implement it?

Are you interested in what product designers actually do in a shared project workspace? Have a look at this time-lapse video of a week in 2 minutes (link).