prototypes - a lingua franca?
prototypes have been on my mind for a host of reasons. i just started my class, prototyping methods; i just spoke at the professional model makers annual conference; and my phd student's dissertation will be on how prototypes mediate evaluation of new ideas. oh yeah, and i'm "collaborating" with jed wood on a weblog-iki about prototypes, http://www.protolithic.com.
its is hard to over emphasize the value of prototypes and easy to dismiss taking the initiative to make one. why do you think that is? my main goal in studying prototypes is to move them from the realm of craft to an actual discipline.
if you have any principles about prototyping you'd like to share, please post. also, if you have any research questions you think would be interesting to answer, post that as well. a great question can drive very interesting research work!
Great to see a post from you, Chris! I wrote about prototyping ideas as a way to evaluate them in research specifically in FreshMeat - http://www.portigal.com/FM/fm18.htm - and worth checking out especially is the article from the Apple folks from years ago mentioned in the appendix to that piece...
Posted by: Steve Portigal | Sep 16, 2004 at 10:08
http://www.protolithic.com doesn't seem to be working for me, but I'm looking forward to it. You don't explicitly state your scope is limited to artifacts, so I'm hoping you'll address prototyping other kinds of ideas too.
Posted by: victor | Mar 24, 2005 at 22:08