I was lucky enough to be invited to speak at the fascinating Wisdom 2.0 Summit in Mountain View, California in February. A video of my talk is here.

It’s a similar presentation to the one I gave at UX Week last August, but thankfully I have managed to evolve some of the themes in the time between now and then…

While I was running around the University of Colorado in Boulder making sure things weren’t breaking terribly, one of our speakers from the conference stopped me to tell me that he’d heard an interview with Quentin Tarantino once. In this interview, Tarantino apparently said that his favourite thing about directing movies was making the soundtrack. This made a lot of sense to me.

And so, with that in mind, here is the much requested playlist I compiled that was playing in both rooms throughout the conference. Note that the order was randomised, so this list isn’t in any sort of order.

“If You Don’t Want Me To Destroy You” – Super Furry Animals (from “Fuzzy Logic”)
“The Boy With The Arab Strap” – Belle and Sebastian (from “The Boy With The Arab Strap”)
“Kodachrome” – Paul Simon (from “There Goes Rhymin’ Simon”)
“I Wish” – Stevie Wonder (from “Songs in the Key of Life”)
“Rap Tight” – Eliot Lipp (from “Tacoma Mockingbird”)
“She Don’t Use Jelly” – The Flaming Lips (from “Transmissions from the Satellite Heart”)
“City Sickness” – Tindersticks (from “Tindersticks”)
“Red Lights” – Holy Fuck (from “Latin”)
“Lovely Allen” – Holy Fuck (from “LP”)
“Parentheses” – The Blow (from “Paper Television”)
“Here Comes The Sun” – The Beatles (from “Abbey Road”)
“I Was A Teenage Werewolf” – The Cramps (from “Songs the Lord Taught Us”)
“Midnight Cowboy” – Faith No More (from “Angel Dust”, a cover of the original movie soundtrack)
“The Snow Leopard” – Shearwater (from “Rook”)
“He Didn’t” – The 6ths (from “Hyacinths and Thistles”, sung by Bob Mould)
“The One I Love” – R.E.M. (from “Document”)
“My Wife and My Dead Wife” – Robyn Hitchcock (from “Fegmania!”)
“Canal Song (End of Sentence)” – Iain Archer (from “Magnetic North”)
“Down To The River To Pray” – Alison Krauss (from “O Brother Where Are Thou” OST)
“Tomorrow Never Knows” – The Beatles (from “Revolver”)
“I Just Wanna Get Along” – The Breeders (from “Last Splash”)
“Money” – Pink Floyd (from “The Dark Side of the Moon”)
“Kuno-Kuno” – Gypsy Brass Orchestra (from “Boje Boje! Good Lord!”)
“Gradej Kyuchek” – Gypsy Brass Orchestra (fron “Boje Boje! Good Lord!”)
“Ford Mustang” – Mick Harvey (from “Intoxicated Man”, a translated cover of a Serge Gainsbourg original)
“Zebra” – Beach House (from “Teen Dream”)
“Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell” – Das Racist (from “Shut Up, Dude”)
“Misty” – Johnny Mathis
“All Night Disco” – Brakes (from “Give Blood”. In the US Brakes are known as BrakesBrakesBrakes)
“A Minha Menina” – The Bees (from “Sunshine Hit Me”, a translated cover of a Jorge Ben Jor original)
“I Can Change” – LCD Soundsystem (from “This Is Happening”)
“Sun” – Caribou (from “Swim”)
“Remote Control” – The Beastie Boys (from “Hello Nasty”)
“Fahrenheit Fair Enough” – Telefon Tel Aviv (from “Farenheit Fair Enough”)
“Tush” – ZZ Top (from “Tres Hombres”)
“Rudie Can’t Fail” – The Clash (from “London Calling”)
“In The Ghetto” – Candi Staton (from “Candi Staton”, a cover of a song originally made famous by Elvis Presley)
“Kinky Afro” – Happy Mondays (from “Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches”)
“River Man” – Nick Drake (from “Five Leaves Left”)
“Hello There” – Cheap Trick (from “In Color”)
“Gymnopedies: a 2. Lent Et Triste” – Erik Satie (from “La Gymnopedies”)
“Babies” – Pulp (from “His ‘n’ Hers”)
“Stereo” – Pavement (from “Brighten the Corners”)
“Brand New Love” – Sebadoh (from “Smash Your Head on the Punk Rock”)
“Into Your Arms” – The Lemonheads (from “Come On Feel”)
“Friend of the Night” – Mogwai (from “Mr. Beast”)
“Glen Tipton” – Sun Kil Moon (from “Ghosts of the Great Highway”)
“I Used to Say I Love You” – Robyn Hitchcock (from “I Often Dream of Trains”)
“Avril 14th” – Aphex Twin (from “Drukqs”)
“Jailbreak” – Thin Lizzy (from “Jailbreak”)
“Karmacoma” – Massive Attack (from “Protection”)
“Lovesick Teenagers” – Bear in Heaven (from “Best Rest Forth Mouth”)
“Fire In My Heart” – Super Furry Animals (from “Guerilla”)
“If I Can Dream” – Elvis Presley (from “”68 Comeback Special”)
“I Fought The Law” – Mike Ness (from “Under The Influence”, a cover of an original by Sonny Curtis and The Crickets)
“Telegram Sam” – T. Rex (from “The Slider”)
“Ça Plane Pour Moi” – Sonic Youth (from “Mix Tape”, a cover of an original by Plastic Bertrand)
“White Riot” – The Clash (from “The Clash”)
“Something’s Gotten Hold of My Heart” – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (from “Kicking Against The Pricks”, a cover of an original by David and Jonathan)
“Mr. Blue Sky” – Electric Light Orchestra (from “Out Of The Blue”)
“Sun Is King” – Laura Veirs (From “July Flame”)
“Honky Tonk Women” – The Rolling Stones
“She Sells Sanctuary” – The Cult (from “Love”)
“Loaded” – Primal Scream (from “Screamadelica”)
“Karnobatski” – Gypsy Brass Orchestra (from “Boje Boje! Good Lord!”)
“In A Jar” – Dinosaur Jr. (from “You’re Living All Over Me”)
“Sugarcube” – Yo La Tengo (from “I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One”)
“Les Nuits” – Nightmares on Wax (from “Carboot Soul”)
“007 (Shanty Town)” – Desmond Dekker (from “007 Shanty Town”)
“Wigwam” – Bob Dylan (from “1970 Self Portrait”)
“Being Around” – The Lemonheads (from “Come On Feel”)
“You Said Something” – P J Harvey (from “Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea”)
“I Love You… Nor Do I” – Mick Harvey (from Pink Elephants, a translated cover of “Je t’aime… Moi Non Plus” by Serge Gainsbourg, here sung by Nick Cave)
“Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” – Hayseed Dixie (from “A Hillbilly Tribute to AC/DC”, a cover of an original by AC/DC)
“Here Comes Your Man” – The Pixies (from “Doolittle”)
“This Is A Low” – Blur (from “Parklife”)
“II B.S.” – Charles Mingus (from “Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus”)
“Sex Farm” – Spinal Tap (from “This Is Spinal Tap”)
“All Along the Watchtower” – The Jimi Hendrix Experience (from “Electric Ladyland”, a cover of an original by Bob Dylan)
“White Room” – Cream (from “Wheels of Fire”)
“The Golden Age” – Beck (from “Sea Change”)
“Fat Bottomed Girls” – Queen (from “Jazz”)
“Manifesto” – Gonzales (from “Solo Piano”)
“Stephanie – Buckingham Nicks (from “Buckingham Nicks”)
“F-’Oldin’ Money” – The Fall (from “The Marshall Suite”)
“California” – Luna (from “Bewitched”)
“Desperados under the Eaves” – Warren Zevon (from “Warren Zevon”)
“You Must Be Out of Your Mind” – The Magnetic Fields (from “Realism”)
“From Despair to Where” – Manic Street Preachers (from “Gold Against the Soul”)
“California Stars” – Billy Bragg & Wilco (from “Mermaid Avenue”)
“Born On the Low Wind” – Low Motion Disco (from “Keep It Slow”)
“The Only Living Boy in New York” – Simon & Garfunkel (from “Bridge Over Troubled Water”)
“Sabali” – Amadou & Mariam (from “Welcome to Mali”)
“Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me” – Rocky Horror Picture Show (from “Rocky Horror Picture Show” OST)
“Tangled Up in Blue” – Bob Dylan (from “Blood on the Tracks”)
“Cloudbusting” – Kate Bush (from “Hounds of Love”)
“Bird on the Wire” – Leonard Cohen (from “Songs from a Room”)
“Pale Blue Eyes” – Velvet Underground (from “The Velvet Underground”, the closet mix)
“Angel Echoes” – Four Tet (from “There Is Love In You”)
“Sweet Jane” – Velvet Underground (from “Loaded”, the closet mix)
“Holland, 1945″ – Neutral Milk Hotel (from “In the Aeroplane, Over the Sea”)
“When I Go Deaf” – Low (from “The Great Destroyer”)
“I’m From Further North Than You” – The Wedding Present (from “Take Fountain”)
“A New England” – Billy Bragg (from “Back to Basics”)
“Liferaft” – Bedhead (from “What Fun Life Was”)
“I’ll Be Glad” – Bonnie “Prince” Billy (from “Lie Down In the Light”)
“Jumpin’ Jack Flash” – The Rolling Stones
“God’s Away on Business” – Tom Waits (from “Blood Money”)
“The Crystal Lake” – Grandaddy (from “The Sophtware Slump”)
“The Killing Moon” – Echo and the Bunnymen (from “Ocean Rain”)
“Bales of Cocaine” – Reverend Horton Heat (from “The Full-Custom Gospel Sounds of the Reverend Horton Heat”)
“Over The Hills and Far Away” – Led Zeppelin (from “Houses of the Holy”)
“Night Nurse” – Dean & Britta (from “L’Avventura”)
“Cemetery Gates” – The Smiths (from “The Queen is Dead”)
“Little Honda” – Yo La Tengo (from “I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One”, a cover of an original by The Beach Boys)
“Sinnerman” – Nina Simone (from “Pastel Blues”, a cover of a traditional song first recorded by Les Baxter)
“Single Girl” – Lush (from “Lovelife”)
“Lost Coastlines” – Okkervil River (from “The Stand-ins”)

The last few months have been particularly busy and, now that Interaction 11 is over with, I finally have a small chance to note what has been going on.

• Taught a semester-long module in service design on the MFA Interaction Design course at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, along with my lovely co-teacher Phi Hong Ha
• Still on the teaching theme, begun what is still an ongoing relationship as thesis advisor to two of those students, Katie Koch and Mike Katayama, both of whom will graduate later this year
• Wrote another article for Interactions magazine, on the whole solitude meme
• Gave an interview on the same topic to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s “Sparks” radio program that was broadcast in February of this year
• Ran a workshop in Toronto, replaced a passport in Ottawa, went back to Ottawa to get another visa (there’s a Canadian theme emerging here)
• Covered Kicker’s wonderful Device Design Day for Core77
• Helped to organise and run the aforementioned just wrapped Interaction 11

…and finally, I also – most recently of all – made a very happy jump to land at Method in San Francisco as a director of user experience.

Phew.

This summer, I have been mostly:

- writing an article based on my SxSW panel for Core77, which one can read here
- at UX Week in San Francisco, giving a reduced version (10 minutes, which I believe one might refer to as a “double Ignite”) of the talk I gave in Savannah in February
- writing an article for Interactions magazine based on that talk that should be published in November
- being honoured to be chosen as faculty for the MFA in Interaction Design at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, where I will be co-teaching the Design for the Service Experience module with the lovely Phi Hong Ha
- covering Kicker Studio’s Device Design Day, also for Core77

…alongside other bits and pieces. Like, you know, designing stuff.

Phew. I might need a bit of a lie down.

The fine people at the SxSW Interactive festival have been busily posting podcasts from the various panel discussions that took place during this year’s festival, and have got around to the panel I moderated, “Design for the Dark Side.” You can grab it here.

Listening to it just reminds me of what a great discussion my panellists managed to produce, even with the shock requirement of having to sound intelligent at 9.30 in the morning. So, once again, a big warm thanking hug to Rachel Abrams, Liam Young and Jason Nunes.

A video of the talk I gave at Interaction 10, “Designing for Solitude”, is now available at the new IxDA.org.

Thanks so much to everyone who came along, for all of the feedback I’ve received since, and especially for the question and answer session at the end – it seems like a topic which resonated, which is all I could really ask for.

Look out for an article soon (hopefully in Interactions Magazine) which will build on some of the themes I started to explore here.

During and after Interaction 10, I had lots of comments and questions about the background music that was playing in the Theater (and in the other locations, most of the time) between speakers. So for those that asked, here’s a complete list of all the songs that were on that playlist.

Notes: this was mostly thrown together at 1am the morning that the conference started – hopefully that excuses any, er, “aberrations”. There was no real theme, it’s just a bunch of things that I thought would have a (sort of) universal appeal. And sound good coming out of really big speakers.

In total, this playlist ended up being about 8 and a half hours of music, shuffled randomly.

EDIT: one song that isn’t included in the list as it was played right at the end:

My Way – Sid Vicious

For the rest of the conference:

Disco Farah – Salvatore
Picture in a Frame – Tom Waits
Short People – Randy Newman
Everytime We Say Goodbye – John Coltrane
She’s The One – Caribou
Out There On The Ice – Cut Copy
I’m On Fire – Electrelane
Teen Age Riot – Sonic Youth
Strange Overtones – David Byrne and Brian Eno
Frenchy’s – Holy Fuck
Rock Steady – Aretha Franklin
Baby, Let Me Follow You Down – Bob Dylan
Cloudbusting – Kate Bush
Audax Powder – Polygon Window
Superfly – Curtis Mayfield
Hoppípolla – Sigur Rós
Motorcycle Emptiness – Manic Street Preachers
Knee-Deep In The North Sea – Portico Quartet
You Are My Sunshine – Norman Blake
Batyar (Bigmouth Strikes Again) – The Ukrainians
Fahrenheit Fair Enough – Telefon Tel Aviv
Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd
Desperados Under The Eaves – Warren Zevon
Fire In My Heart – Super Furry Animals
Things Are Gonna Get Easier – Low Motion Disco
Heartbeats – Jose González
Winter Love – Robyn Hitchcock
American Music – Violent Femmes
Are You Lonesome Tonight – Elvis Presley
I Think I’m In Love – Spiritualized
Fall On Me – R.E.M.
Cosmik Debris – Frank Zappa
In The Neighborhood – Tom Waits
Sinnerman – Nina Simone
Reasons to Quit – Phosphorescent
Slack Motherfucker – Superchunk
Les Nuits – Nightmares On Wax
My Banjo And I – Hanggai
Step On – Happy Mondays
Mountain In The Night – Abdullah Ibrahim
Mockingbird Diet – Karl Blau
Goodbye – Ulrich Schnauss
Up With People – Lambchop
Paris Is Burning – Ladyhawke
Bird on a Wire – Leonard Cohen
Je T’aime… Moi Non Plus – Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin
Papa Was a Rodeo – The Magnetic Fields
Gymnopedies: La 1. Lent Et Douloureux – Erik Satie
Something’s Coming – West Side Story
Friend Of The Night – Mogwai
Collapsing At Your Doorstep – Air France
Dundas, Ontario – Caribou
Jump -Aztec Camera
Since ’76 – RJD2
So What – Miles Davis
By The Time I Get To Venus – The Juan Maclean
I Wish – Stevie Wonder
The Boy with the Arab Strap – Belle & Sebastian
Hang Up Your Hang Ups – Herbie Hancock
Blindsided – Bon Iver
Highway To Hell – AC/DC
Little Honda – Yo La Tengo
Gogol – Gonzales
Ramblin’ Man – Lemon Jelly
Root Down – The Beastie Boys
A Minha Menina – The Bees
Do You Remember The First Time? – Pulp
Something Changed – Pulp
The Milkman Of Human Kindness – Billy Bragg
Big Time Sensuality – Bjork
Impossible Germany – Wilco
Sunday In Savannah – Nina Simone
Knuddelmaus – Ulrich Schnauss
Multiply – Jamie Lidell
Surf Solar – Fuck Buttons
Photographs Are Not Memories – Victor Bermon
Stoner Hill – Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band
Get Together – Tony Allen
Afternoon Speaker – The Sea And Cake
Channel 1 Suite – Four Tet Remix (of a Cinematic Orchestra track)
Fake Empire – The National
Starálfur – Sigur Rós
This Lamb Sells Condos – Final Fantasy
He Didn’t – The 6ths (& Bob Mould)
Wow! It’s Now! – Luke Vibert
You Can’t Always Get What You Want – The Rolling Stones
Your Hand In Mine – Explosions In The Sky
The Outdoor Type – The Lemonheads
Blue Monk – Thelonious Monk
Unfinished Sympathy – Massive Attack
Jackson – Brakes
This Charming Man – The Smiths
Train In Vain – The Clash
Jailbreak – Thin Lizzy
City Sickness – Tindersticks
Holy Thursday – David Axelrod
Stephanie – Buckingham Nicks
Rudy (A Message To You) – Dandy Livingstone
Continental – Robin Guthrie
It Ain’t Me Babe – Bob Dylan
What’s In the Box? – The Emperor Machine
Kennedy – The Wedding Present
A Girl In Port – Okkervil River
Sugar Mountain – Neil Young
Stereo – Pavement
007 -Desmond Dekker
Hey – Pixies
As The Stars Fall – The Cinematic Orchestra
Woodcat – Tunng
La Grange – ZZ Top
Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt – DJ Shadow
VCR – The xx
Heart Skipped A Beat – The xx
And Your Bird Can Sing – The Beatles
River Man – Nick Drake
Breathless – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Movin’ On Up – Primal Scream