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IDII Summer Camp 2005
This is a golden opportunity for people interested in design at large and more specifically interaction design. Not sure if design is your thing? Are you thinking about studying interaction design, or pursuing a career in this industry? I for one had a hard time when it came to choosing my future, mainly because I had no clue what was out there.
The Future
As many of you know I have a graduate degree in economics, but even at the age of 18 — freshly out of high school — I was wondering if design would be my thing... Yet, only 5 years later it became blatantly apparent: design is my life. Now, I am extremely grateful for having a degree in economics, but sometimes, secretly, i would have wished falling in love with design a few years earlier. However, in retrospective, I can now combine business knowledge with a solid understanding of design — I strongly believe design is the differentiator in this millennium!
Interaction Design
Interaction design is still very much in its infancy as an industry and academic field and many of us come from different backgrounds, creating a rich mixture of expertise. Multidisciplinarity is what makes interaction design so fascinating. This is also your chance to become part of this evolution and be an agent for change — define the industry!
Multidisciplinarity is what makes interaction design so fascinating.
Different academic institutions around the globe are offering undergraduate and graduate degrees in interaction design, such as Interaction Design Institute Ivrea, but also Carnegie Mellon University, Institute of Design Illinois Institute of Technology, ITP New York University and the recently announced Stanford Institute of Design. Things are moving forward at an incredible pace, creating new exciting opportunities. Businessweek is writing about it, FastCompany is writing about it, The New York Times is writing about it. And it gets better, because we ain't seen nothing yet — this is just the beginning.
Interaction Design Summer Camp 2005
So why a Summer Camp in Italy? Do I really need to ask that question? Seriously though, I think this is a great opportunity and if you are curious, have a desire to explore the world of technology and future scenarios and have a good dose of creativity, this is probably for you. The official website has more information and a great picture of James in the electronics lab, a fellow student here at IDII. Besides, if you think a motion sensor in an Apple PowerBook (or accelerometer, to be more precise) is wicked, well, we have better...
What Do You Think?
Going back to interaction design as a field in general, I see things moving. I am not quite sure what direction (except it is going forward), but I can feel (and experience firsthand) that interaction design is at a crucial stage — an evolution from "new kid on the block" to a recognized field. Yes, there is more work to do and as I mentioned I think we are still in an early phase, but I, for sure, am delighted to be part of it. What are your thoughts on interaction design? Where are we going as an industry? What does interaction design mean to you? Have you considered it as a career?
Discussion is open — there are 
9
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1 
27 March 2005 18:20
Looks amazing. I’ve looked into the field of interaction design heavily after talking to many people who have worked for Apple on various devices.
If only I had the cash. :(
2 27 March 2005 23:53
The Camp is really nice way to introduce the industry to a potential future students. As far as I can see, all relevant fields are covered. I almost want to drop by this summer, just to see how it looks like : )
@Brian Rose: If only I was between 18 and 20 :(
3 28 March 2005 13:11
Can I borrow your life, please? :-)
I’ll get my degree in Economics and Cybernetics in 1 year, and then I’ll move on to someting more to my liking, just like you, only that I think it won’t be design-related.
All in all, I’m a bit of a voyeur in the design world (I do mostly programming, XHTML and standards-compliant stuff, and I just love to see good graphic design, or interaction design, since you mentioned it)
4 30 March 2005 04:48
Been a long time since your last post. :) Summer already? Will any of the students be there too?
I agree that this is a very important time for interaction design. It really needs to be recognized and more formal. Its good to hear that there are other institutes out there that are following. But as of now, interaction design from where I am is close to none. We still see it as a luxury than a need. I wish that would change soon.
5 30 March 2005 18:47
It turns out I got the age range wrong, you do not have to be between 18 and 20, just older than 18 (for obvious reasons). So, even if you are a little older, no worries!
6 19 April 2005 05:21
I need a help from people of Rotterdam or those who have spent sometime there.
Here is my post about a statue in Rotterdam. Please let me know what you think about this. Added help will be if you can direct some residents of the city to comment. Here is the post:
http://sajshirazi.blogspot.com/2005/04/powerful-paradigm.html
7 01 June 2005 17:37
Crikey - EUR2,500 for 10 days! (and that’s before travel costs)
It’s a golden opportunity for people with money to burn.
9 08 October 2005 16:35
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27 March 2005
