Incubating a humane dynamic medium
December 21, 2017 8:21 AM Subscribe
Dynamicland is an attempt by Bret Victor and Alan Kay to enable Douglas Engelbart's ideals with a physical space.
(I've shown up at the place like twice by invitation, and at the CDG and at HARC when they were futzing around with it)
posted by hleehowon at 9:52 AM on December 21, 2017
posted by hleehowon at 9:52 AM on December 21, 2017
Dynamicland, seeing spaces, and design studio talks about the social nature of spaces being a crucial element of Dynamicland: it's not (just) a place to build things, but a place to come to shared understandings.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 10:56 AM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 10:56 AM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
This seems neat and it's filled with keywords designed to appeal to me. "Every scrap of paper has the capabilities of a full computer, while remaining a fully-functional scrap of paper," sounds pretty cool.
But, after reading the whole thing, I have no idea what it actually *is.* The extremely high ratio of graphics to actual detail sure rings crackpot warning bells. The FAQ doesn't inspire confidence.
posted by eotvos at 12:31 PM on December 21, 2017
But, after reading the whole thing, I have no idea what it actually *is.* The extremely high ratio of graphics to actual detail sure rings crackpot warning bells. The FAQ doesn't inspire confidence.
posted by eotvos at 12:31 PM on December 21, 2017
I've really enjoyed the little peeks I've seen on Twitter -- last time I was on that coast I even trekked over to Oakland in hopes of seeing it in person (but had missed the notice they had stopped community hours, ah well). I'm excited for the note in their FAQ that they might be hosting more community events.
I'm less excited by their response to "Is Dynamicland open source?"
A primary design principle at Dynamicland is that all running code must be visible, physically printed on paper. [...] That said, the pages of code physically in Dynamicland are not in a git repository.
In isolation I would probably read it as just being very on brand, but in conjunction with the answers to other questions like "Can I set this up in my space?" ("We'll then create experimental sites" and "Our goal is to eventually set up dynamiclands") it feels like it's an answer carefully constructed to avoid having to say "Nope, we would like to retain control of the creation of dynamiclands." That Realtalk, the Dynamicland OS either is or was on GitHub but isn't publically available now is likewise disheartening. I would take less issue with that if they weren't associating themselves with openness ("Dynamicland shares many core values with the open source movement and in some ways goes beyond them.")
I think they're doing interesting work and I donated in hopes that my impression of their marketing is incorrect. There's a lot of possibility in these concepts and I hope they -- or a truly open-from-the-start project in the same space -- can make good on the assertion they end with:
The dynamic medium belongs to everyone.
posted by jdherg at 10:39 PM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm less excited by their response to "Is Dynamicland open source?"
A primary design principle at Dynamicland is that all running code must be visible, physically printed on paper. [...] That said, the pages of code physically in Dynamicland are not in a git repository.
In isolation I would probably read it as just being very on brand, but in conjunction with the answers to other questions like "Can I set this up in my space?" ("We'll then create experimental sites" and "Our goal is to eventually set up dynamiclands") it feels like it's an answer carefully constructed to avoid having to say "Nope, we would like to retain control of the creation of dynamiclands." That Realtalk, the Dynamicland OS either is or was on GitHub but isn't publically available now is likewise disheartening. I would take less issue with that if they weren't associating themselves with openness ("Dynamicland shares many core values with the open source movement and in some ways goes beyond them.")
I think they're doing interesting work and I donated in hopes that my impression of their marketing is incorrect. There's a lot of possibility in these concepts and I hope they -- or a truly open-from-the-start project in the same space -- can make good on the assertion they end with:
The dynamic medium belongs to everyone.
posted by jdherg at 10:39 PM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
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posted by hleehowon at 8:28 AM on December 21, 2017 [2 favorites]