Philosophy
In simple terms: interactive text is important.
From sometime during the late 90's: "The more I thought about interactive computers, the more I developed a sense that we need to become more liquid. The screen, the buttons - what is often thought of as the 'interface' is only a small part of this flow."
The Problem: Vannevar Bush raised the alarm in The Atlantic Monthly way back in 1945: "Thus far we seem to be worse off than ever before...
Manifesto on Liquid.org: When you are liquid you are...
history of the philosophy
Sometime in 1992 or 1993, while studying advertising design at Syracuse University, NY, USA, I was driving home from the Carousel Mall. It was quite late, it was raining, it was the heyday of Mac vs. Windows discussions and I realized that, although I am a Mac user, they were both less than ideal.This realization jolted me so much I missed my turn and spent the next two years thinking more about the fundamentals of computers than about advertising. After digging into the workings of Apple's Advanced Technology Group (ATG) and finding out about XEROX PARC, I read Don Norman's books and spent a good couple of visits in his office at Apple. I felt frustrated that although he graciously gave me his time, he felt Apple was too big to really innovate.
Reaching further back in history I read Howard Rheingold's "Tools For Thought" and came across a reference to Doug Engelbart, in the chapter; "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Thinker". I was amazed. So much done by basically one guy. And so few people knew, or cared.
doug engelbart
Many years later I called Doug Engelbart out of the blue, and got invited to come and see him. We had a truly amazing meeting - my bones felt like electricity was pulsing through them. And we have been talking and working together ever since.
I ended up doing a web based documentary on him; Invisible Revolution, the man and the philosophy: Invisible Revolution.net
Today, the liquid work is all about text, making text deeply interactive. I can tell you one thing; it feels great to finally have something actually useful for people to experience, not just a philosophy of where we should go! Hyperwords.net
"If you tell me, I will listen. If you show me, I will see. But if you let me experience, I will learn."
Lao-Tse
