I recently attended an un-conference where the discussion of AR in the classroom quickly turned into a conversation about what kind of screen we will be designing for in the future.  My approach was to fallback on the adage ‘design for your audience’ as no matter what type of technology – or screen in this case – that is available to us (as developers, producers, designers), you will not have a successful product if it does not meet the means, wants, and capabilities of your audience – design and innovation is all about people. So while it may be great to develop an amazing iPhone app to use in classrooms, if you cannot ensure that all classrooms – or even all pupils within one class room – have access to iPhones, then that product essentially fails as it is unable to fulfill its objective. Granted there are exceptions to every rule, and surprisingly, apps and products may fall into an unintended set of hands and become wildly popular; but this is a lucky accident and not planned success – certainly not a a business model anyone wants to fall into.

That said, the conversation eventually concluded that while it is rather feeble to predict what type of screen we will be designing and developing for, the one common denominator is the screen – large or small, we are optimizing our designs for it. And if there is any validity in the above video (a result of the Open Innovation experiment) than the future of screens looks rather beautiful.

What I particularly like about this video is that quite a few of the innovations imagined do not seem so far fetched. While a stretch screen may not be foreseeable by 2014, many of the behaviours of the other screens and devices in the video are advancements of  functions that -for the most part- already exist. For example, the end of the clip shows two friends sharing a document simply by dragging and dropping from one device to another; an idea already in somewhat basic practice (re: Bump, iPhone app).

However the most interesting part of the video is the way we imagine and present the future. The casual use of these tools by the actors in the video reminds us that we are already comfortable with much of this technology, and it’s coming pervasiveness will not scare us – but rather, feel organic and natural (albeit, at the loss of privacy and introspection). Of course, as Myra Phan explained to me earlier this week, demonstrating the casual day-to-day use of future technologies is a popular method of introducing new – and often scary, unorganic – products to the general public to ensure ease of acceptance – which proposes some interesting reflection on how we got to this point in our digital history in the first place.

To me the evolution of technology reads a bit like Inception, wherein a technology is predicted or imagined, made casual, believable and desirable to the public, developed, produced, officially introduced and distributed. (Consider the iPad if you will, which bears remarkable resemblance to the PADD used on Star Trek: The Next Generation over 23 years ago.) The seed is planted by creative people who recognize human behavior, wants, and needs, and imagine new tools (or, in this case, new screens) to enhance or assist our lifestyles.

The way we predict – or imagining our futures – is therefore heavily informed by our current experiences with technology. The devices in this video each utilize some sort of ‘sharing’ feature, pointing to the importance of using technology to enhance our social networks and experiences. As social media and telecommunications continue to drive innovation, these predictions are therefore less shocking and read moreso like expectations. At the heart of it all is an audience that wants to use technology to connect, learn, and share with others. That said, as I mentioned in the beginning of this post, no matter what kind of screen or device we are designing or distributing on, what remains is that our job will always be designing for our audience.

When I was five years old, my parents hosted a birthday party for me. As is popular for children, my birthday party was themed; however, unlike most little girls my age, I opted to out of the My Little Pony, Barbie, and Jem themes – and instead requested a Batman party. At that time I spent every afternoon watching Adam West and Burt Ward save the citizens of Gotham City from psychotic villains such as The Joker and The Riddler. I wore a blue cotton Batman cape almost every day; so much so that the button would often fall off and my grandmother would stitch it back on with green thread. My early childhood was spent playing make-believe; living in a world where I wasn’t the caped crusader – but rather – his friend and ally.

Later in life, my father would nickname me Batcat while telling friends about my childhood obsession. This nickname would spawn two comic book characters (Paul, based on Laura, was named as an Adam West/ Family Guy reference) and later, the best Halloween costumes of life. To this day, my father still refers to me as Batcat in emails, and I have an eye on the ‘batcat.com’ domain.

I suppose that although I was never particularly interested in the comics, the animated show, or even the most recent film incarnations, Batman – or perhaps more appropriately, Batman circa 1960 – has remained a constant hero and fixture in my life.

Thus, this past weekend Toronto was THE place to be for me and my fellow Batman fans as Adam West, Burt Ward, and Julie Newmar were all in town. On Friday night the absolutely amazing guys from the Toronto Underground Cinema hosted a screening of the original Batman movie (1966) – a film with so many self-referential layers it was destined for camp greatness. The screening was followed by a Question and Answer period with Adam West (BATMAN) himself. And on Saturday and Sunday the trio were featured guests at FanExpo (Toronto’s annual nerd convention).

To be honest, I severely lack nerd friends. Aside from a select few, I don’t know too many people in the city who find terrible J-horror films, politically charged sci-fi, and hilarious cult films as entertaining as I do. And since the nerds I do know were all busy, I attended the Friday night screening alone. I do not regret a second of it. Everyone in the audience totally got ‘it’, and I was more than happy to be in their company.

Adam West has become something of a legend in his own right. Following his success with Batman, he went on to be the ultimate post modern superhero; mocking, imitating, and exaggerating himself in various films and TV shows. Adam said during the Q&A that it was simply more fun to embrace his pop culture status and make fun of himself rather than take himself super seriously. After answering a slew of questions (with amazingly quick wit), a performance of the Batusi, and a rendition of “Adam West, Adam West“, he exited the Q&A period, closing to a thunderous applause from an audience of nerds. I smiled for a good three hours straight.

The next day I attended FanExpo, slapping down one hundred dollars of (my father’s) hard earned cash for a photo with Adam West, Burt Ward, and the batmobile. While this year’s FanExpo is going down in history as a terribly disorganized event marred by large crowds, sprawling lines, and rejected ticket holders, my friends and I were able to enter the convention in under ten minutes. No, we didn’t have VIP passes, we were just stealthy and sly; entering through the underground parking lot. I took an early spot in the photo-op line, waiting almost two hours for a 45 second meet and greet with Adam West and Burt Ward. It was a short lived moment, yes, but it was completely worth it; Five year old Dana (currently cohabiting in my 25 year old body) was able to look up, all wide eyed at Bruce Wayne – her friend, partner in crime, and role model – and finally say “You’re my hero”.

A beautiful animated video by Julia Pott. Such a brilliant combination of animation, music, and personal interviews; completely heartwarming.

Touching Strangers is an ongoing project by Richard Renaldi where strangers are photographed in some pose that requires them to be touching.

NotPaper is a great resource for discovering collage artists. Yesterday they published a profile / interview with Jesse Lenz who has a great retro style. He does digital collage and is totally worth checking out.