"Treesigners" -- -- Tree-Shaped Designers














Steve Mann, (Eng.+ArtSci+Forestry, UofT)
2013 December 5,   10:30am,   Keynote Address, eLeo Symposium, OCAD University
Acknowledgements: Thanks to S. Diamond (Banff 2002!!!) and T. Barker for invitation... Ongoing

T-Shaped Skills and T-Shaped Designers

Conceived by David Guest in 1991 ["The hunt is on for the Renaissance Man of computing,", The Independent, September 17, 1991. ]

Popularized by Tim Brown, CEO and president of IDEO

Pi-Shaped Design Team, ... University as a design factory.

Buy and sell people like commodities: assemble for productivity.

Could we re-create Leonardo da Vinci with a team of 3 people?
It would be like composing a symphony orchestra by committee!

Let me introduce something I call the *-shaped designer.
The "*" symbol in UNIX is a symbol for anything
Shapeshifters -- -- Any-Shaped Designers...
The X-Shaped Designer

Introduced by Rooke&Torbert. 2005. Refined by Smith 2008.

• I-Shaped 36% of designers: 1 area of speciality.
• T-Shaped 30% of designers: Broad + Deep in 1 area.
• H-Shaped 11% of designers: 2 areas of speciality.
• X-Shaped 03% of designers: “Me” at the center.
Art, Science, Engineering, and Business.
Rooke, Torbert, and Smith define X-Shaped People
as loners and sociopaths.

Allege that X-shaped people are not a good fit for Western society!
[Harvard Business Review 2005, Interkannections 2008.]

Collaborative effort to "revive" the X-Shaped Designer:
T. Barker, S. Diamond, and S. Mann

"Cross fittings" are useful for connecting work flow among people

Let's rescue the X-Shaped Designer from extinction -- -- X2.0

Tinquiry and Praxistemology

Educational framework for Tree-Shaped Designers

Praxistemology = Praxis of Existential Technology: Self-determination, Authenticity, ...

Tinquiry = Tinkering as a form of Inquiry: Maktivism...

Grant proposals, ongoing collaboration, etc..

WearComp/WearCam... When I was 4 years old...

Digital Welding Glass to help people SEE BETTER!...

Founding of the MIT Wearable Computing Project: Early 1990s

MannGlass 1998 (15 years ago):


Thin strip of metal wraps around the head;
No hinges: 1-piece construction.
35 years of Digital Eye Glass

MannGlass 1978 and GOOGlass 2013
Both of these are Generation-1 DEG
Many inventions come from research labs.

But WearComp, DEG, SixthSense, HDR, etc., are inventions that came from my everyday life.

In this respect these technologies are very much in and of the real world, not just the lab!
Hunched over a desktop metaphor.
Implantable camera system:
Vision system for the blind
and partially sighted.
Canadian Pat. 2313693, July 2000, S. Mann

Hydraulophone

Hydraulophone



Toronto: Home of the world's largest hydraulophone!!!
•Main centerpiece in front of landmark architecture site;
•Water conservation: sophisticated recirculation system;
•Permanent public art installation open 24 hours a day.
Universal access: Age, Ability...
Outdoor Classroom:
Forest of Tree-Shaped Designers!

Pierre Bataille with Terrometer

Previously unpublished work...
Body of work: SeatSale, Griefcase, DECONference 2002, etc..

Pierre Bataille with Terrometer

         Conclusions: "Treesign"

                    •Both rhizomic AND deeply-rooted;
                    •A "Forest" of Treesigners!
                    •Create new fields or new BRANCHES of existing fields...
                    •Centre for Nature+Tech.+Health; Join me in grantwriting...









For more information, see: http://eyetap.org/publications/
•WearComp: http://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/wearable_computing.html
•Spaceglasses: spaceglasses.com