Why I love the web…

by | Thursday, March 12, 2009

I don’t know if anyone has been following the back and forth following my posting about the Periodic Table of Typefaces (see Yet another periodic table…). In brief, I was quite critical of the design of this table and made that point in no uncertain terms. Imagine my surprise at receiving a wonderful note from the Camdon Wilde (the designer of the table) which led to quick back and forth between us. It was a wonderfully pleasant conversation and I am very appreciative of Camdon’s grace.

I was telling my wife about this, reading through my posting, and the comments back and forth… and it struck me just how cool this entire episode was. To connect with another person, someone I have never met, building on mutual respect and openness, was beautiful in being unexpected. And it could not have happened without this wonderful technology called the Web! How very cool is that.

Topics related to this post: Blogging | Design | Good | Bad Design | Psychology | Science | Stories | Technology

A few randomly selected blog posts…

On merging with our technologies (Unpacking McLuhan 4/3)

On merging with our technologies (Unpacking McLuhan 4/3)

This is the fourth of what was supposed to be a three post-series about how media influence our thinking. The first post, uses the invention of writing and print to unpack the meaning of McLuhan’s statement, “The medium is the message.” The second post, focuses on a...

Mishra, Nicholson & Wojcikiewicz (2001/2003)

Mishra, P., Nicholson, M., & Wojcikiewicz, S. (2001/2003). Does my wordprocessor have a personality? Topffer’s Law and Educational Technology. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. 44 (7), 634-641. Reprinted in B. C. Bruce (Ed.). Literacy in the information...

Algorithms, Imagination & Creativity

Algorithms, Imagination & Creativity

Is music a craftOr is it an art?Does it come from mere trainingor spring form the heart?Did the études of Chopinreveal his soul's mood?Or was Frédéric ChopinJust some slick "pattern dude"?~ Douglas Hofstadter Ed Finn is the founding director of the Center for Science...

Leigh’s awesome acceptance speech at AACTE

As I had written earlier, the EPET Program received the 2013 Best Practice Award for the Innovative Use of Technology, awarded by the  American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education  (AACTE).  This is an incredible honor and makes all of us (faculty, staff, and...

3 super-short stories

3 super-short stories

Students in my EDT180 class spent some time yesterday writing short stories. Super short stories, trying to tell a complete story in just 55 words! As it turns this (55 Fiction) is actually a thing – as a simple google search will reveal. Seeing my students engage in...

When is a picture of a sandwich more than a sandwich?

The answer is that when that picture has been taken by someone you know and it ends up on the NYTimes Freakonomics blog! Long story short, a picture of a sandwich taken by Leigh Wolf has been used by the cool people over at Freakonomics to illustrate a story. Check it...

Tactical creativity in sports

Tactical creativity in sports

Daniel Memmert is Professor and Executive Head of the Institute of Exercise Training and Sport Informatics at the German Sport University Cologne. A lifelong sports player and enthusiast, Memmert’s research is at the intersection of human movement science, sport...

The loneliness of a long distance migrant

“On bad days, I do feel lonely in a way that I can’t explain,” so says Dilip Ratha, a World Bank economist who studies the economics of migration. The article, a profile of Ratha's life and work, is worth a read, but what really stood out for me was the above quote,...

June 18 or June 25, 1178?

In my summer teaching I often start the day with some examples of interesting things that happened that day in history. It is a fun way to start the day, and I seek to find examples that connect with things/issues we are covering in class, often related to technology,...

6 Comments

  1. Cam

    HER… I mean HER! haha

    Reply
  2. Cam

    E-mailed Leigh. Of course I’d love to talk to him.

    Reply
  3. Punya Mishra

    This is getting way beyond cool! If the interview is archived I could see it as something I could use in my teaching as well. Make it happen, Leigh 🙂

    Reply
  4. leigh

    If you have time Cam – email me — I would love to do a skype chat/interview for my students (and the world at large) sometime if you can work it into your schedule!
    gravesle@msu.edu

    Reply
  5. Cam

    I keep telling trying to express to Punya how much this conversation has meant to me personally. As of right now I’ve got approximately 29,000 views on the original posting of the design on Behance.net, countless blogs linking to the large version hosted on me and my partners business site, other blogs linking to those blogs referring to the design, a Cal Tech professor wanting to include the design in next year’s 5th edition of “Visual Communication Images with Messages” text book (sorry Punya, that fact probably has you squirming! haha), librarians wanting to have prints for their walls, and countless e-mailed requests for prints and the most memorable part of this whole ordeal (yes, it is now starting to become an ‘ordeal’) is Punya’s critique and our subsequent conversation.

    Thank you too, Leigh for your comment. I’d be hard pressed to figure out when I’ve ever been a “stellar example” for anything and it makes me feel fantastic to hear something like that and be part of “required reading!”

    Punya, you said above exactly what I’ve been thinking. Funny too is the fact that I dragged my wife over to the computer to read your post and our talk. Very very cool indeed.

    Reply
  6. leigh

    You know I love the web too — and this is exactly why.

    This exchange of ideas took place out in the open, in the past, I would have never had the opportunity to participate (even as just a fly on the wall) in this exchange. There is an even better chance that this exchange may have never happened at all!

    Your conversation with Camdon is a stellar example of how to give and take criticism. It is now on my required reading list for this summer. So often criticism, even well constructed criticism, is seen as a threat. Camdon embraces and responds to the criticism masterfully, letting us in on the design process and issues he struggled with as a designer. He also mentions the overwhelming positive response to his work — many would rest on their laurels saying “well, everyone else loves it” — but Camdon “I was really digging and searching for the negative postings just so I wouldn’t feel like I was crazy!” This is the spirit I want to foster with my students.

    Thank you both for allowing me to be a fly on the wall!

    As a funny interconnected side note – Camdon’s table was featured on Lifehacker this morning 🙂
    http://lifehacker.com/5169304/periodic-table-of-typefaces-schools-you-on-font-basics

    Reply

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