blog.shrub

the execs at the telcos (perhaps the same people whose secretaries print their emails — who knows) have this great idea to make money off the internet: meter everything.

their argument is that google is getting a “free ride” on their network. well, no, they aren’t. they are paying for bandwidth at their end, and you, the end user, are paying on your end as well.

that’s like at&t saying they should get 5% of the profits of every telemarketing call. sigh.

for a great overview of this, listen to Burnie Burns’s SXSW keynote and read Brad Templeton’s essay. (Scot Hacker has notes from Burnie’s talk.)

Sally Carson, a designer I met at SXSW, put together a thoughtful examination of what happens when people are intimidated by technology:

I think that instilling confidence into our audience — whether on the web or on an electronic device — is an important component of good interface design. Something about Phil’s phone intimidates him, and eventhough he is embarrassed when his phone rings so loudly (keep in mind, embarrassment is a strong motivational tool) he doesn’t even attempt to change the settings himself because he is sure he won’t be able to figure it out.

A lot of the smart, interesting people I’ve met lately have come frm Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU and the School of Information at UC Berkeley.

What other interesting information- and design-focused grad schools are out there?

Update: Symbolic Systems at Stanford.