Before Tom Lehrer got to the part about the 3-D glasses, I was thinking: when is advanced holographic technology going to be available to the everyday person? I think that a lot, and believe that is the next step. But let's talk iPad…
The You Tube video stopped mid-way, but I get the point about how revolutionary the iPad is. Logically I knew this, but being able to SEE it helped, too. (I really need to get one). I can see how the way we think about our design is, naturally, going to change. The more I get to use iPads and similar technology, and the more second-nature they become, I can see how my design planning process will evolve. Please note I said, "evolve", not completely change. Yes, a plethora of new opportunities are on the horizon, but the tried and true foundation of design will remain quite relevant. I am counting on them to help bolster me on to these foreign mediums.
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First off, I must say I LOVE how robust the iPad can make a book (re: Penguin books to iPad). Fabulous!
One concern I have with some of the features of the iPad books, and really, any electronic device, is that people may be so consumed by them (especially children, who are practically born with a computer in hand) that as a culture, and perhaps as the human race, we may lose touch with creativity and analytical thinking.
[This is perhaps a larger topic than is appropriate here, but I move on…]
The children's Spot, book, for instance, had a color page where you can help color Spot in. I've seen these types of "art" programs before. The problem I have with them is that the "creativity" is usually limited to 1 or 2 outlets. In this case, your color choice. But once you pick one of the very few color options available (no mixing here!) you click and the picture space automatically fills with a solid (no texture of the pencil on paper, for instance) and neatly within the lines. Not so much creativity going on for the child, if you as me.
I question whether a mass saturation of this kind of technology on children, hell, everyone, is necessarily healthy. I absolutely embrace the benefits of technology like the iPad. I just pray that devices like it don't further "dumb down" our culture and discourage independent thought. I hope we, as a race, as a culture, practice a balance between the technology and our "human-ness" (<----is that a word?)
My two cents.
