I don’t own an iPad, actually I have never seen one in real life. I’m not even sure if I will ever buy one (I probably will).

What I know is that I really would like to design a news application for the device.

Why?
The iPad envisions something that computers or mobile phones don’t. It show us a new platform of interaction.

1. The device is made for consuming instead of producing. Personal computers were never designed for entertainment. The computer was designed for work, it was never designed for fun. People my age will remember how desktop computers invaded our houses. Your dad probably brought one home, because he used it at work.

If you wanted to relax and have fun, game consoles are designed for just that.

The iPad is all about consuming and relaxing. How you hold the device, the weight, the wireless network, the size, everything. It’s the perfect device to enjoy what a connected world has to offer on the couch.

2. No history. This device has no past, the only mistake you can make designing for the iPad is to design for a media carrier from the past, like a magazine or personal computer.

3. Newspapers and magazines love it. They probably do love it for the wrong reasons. I don’t think magazines or books will re-live on the iPad. It’s a new medium and like every new medium this one also comes with its own set of rules.

Why would you want a magazine? It’s a connected device. It’s fully interactive, social and connected. You might like the content, but you probably don’t want the form.

The fact that newspapers and magazines love the device is great though. They are spending money on innovation again and this is a good thing, it will help the platform to develop. Eventually we will find out how to tell or sell a story on the platform.

The device symbolizes hope, revenues and new opportunities. The success of the iPhone makes expectations for the iPad even higher.

This is why I want to design something for the iPad.

I’m leaving the newspaper the Volkskrant. For the last 4 years I designed new interfaces for news platforms and researched the future of news distribution. Besides my work at the Volkskrant I worked on installations, and other little interactive experiments.

I had a great time and am very proud of some of the projects I did. The new direction the newspaper is heading is not attractive for me personally. It’s time to move on and take the next step.

Thoughts
I believe information technology is such widespread that it’s a standard. This means everyone has access to it and knows how to use it.

Gartner has a scheme what they call the Hype Cycle. The Hype Cycle is like a wave, that transforms into a solid line. It says that any new technology has to go through these phases.

In this cycle I think the internet as media is in the last, fifth fase. We had the bubble, and it bursted. Followed by new hope and a strong recovery through Google and social media. Now we reach the productivity plateau. Nobody doubts the web anymore. It is widely accepted and used. Removing it today would be devastating to our economy and culture.

We’re entering the internet of things. You aren’t surprised anymore if your tv, car or house is connected to a network. The network is everywhere. What we need right now are ideas that make a difference and stand out.

I like the shift to a utilized web, where functionality and a good concept are more important then the next technical innovation. My favorite internet things didn’t have much to do with technical innovation. Blogging, social networks, the iPhone. They didn’t thrive on new technology as much as they thrived on good ideas and implementation of technology.

Access to information – through technology – democratizes. This is true for many businesses. It also true for communication and advertising. This information age asks brands to engage, by storytelling, social skills or services. Communication through services is also referred to as “branded utilities”.

For someone who’s driven by making concepts, prototypes and new ideas using design and technology, things only get better. I think the costs of creating something have gone down a lot, at the same time competition has gone up. Creating a space for good ideas to stand out.

SOMEHOW branded utilities

With Marco van Heerde I started SOMEHOW. SOMEHOW is a company that makes interactive services. The company works from concept to project. We create concepts, designs and prototypes. We deliver by working with different technical partners, depending on the technology used in the concept. From concept to project. It’s almost like advertising, only the kind of advertising you like because it helps you.

The company has two type of projects. Personal driven and client driven. We believe in learning by playing and experimenting and research driven and iterative concept development. We learn and play with our personal projects and implement learnings for our clients.

The third pillar is the weblog Medialandschap. We use this place as an open research platform. This is an open group blog exploring trends, art, advertising and technology.

I’m very exited how SOMEHOW will turn out. I strongly believe in a researched based way of working, I like how service design is developing and I admire companies like IDEO.

I just started tumbling down a new rabbit hole, and loving it. For the news fans, don’t worry I’m still looking how to redesign news ;)

Contact me
E-mail me at hypernarrative@gmail.com, connect to me on LinkedIn or Skype me at
wilbertbaan if you want to meet, talk or just drink a beer.

The leading Dutch design weblog Fontanel asked me (and some other guys I really admire) to write down our thoughts for 2010.

The article is in Dutch. For the English readers you can try to read it using Google Translate.

In 2010 vermengt internet zich nog meer met apparaten, apparaten die weer aangesloten zijn op diensten. Het web grijpt op deze manier veel dieper in op ons dagelijkse leven, op het gebied van gezondheid, productiviteit, afspraken en vermaak. 2010 is het jaar van het omnipresente internet.

Mobiel
Internet op mobiel is geëvolueerd tot een markt die qua veelzijdigheid inmiddels ver voorbij de ringtonemarkt is. Op de mobiele markt is de technologische race – even – voorbij en is er ruimte voor verdieping. Wat kun je nu eigenlijk met GPS, bewegingssensoren en internet. Met welke diensten maakt je iemands leven beter én wat maakt je als bedrijf interessant in een markt met honderdduizend applicaties waarbij er per persoon slechts enkele dagelijks gebruikt worden.

Slimme apparaten
Technologische vooruitgang en prijs werken naar elkaar toe. Dit heeft inmiddels een punt bereikt waarop je RFID in speelgoed kunt stoppen, WiFi in een weegschaal, of een draadloze energiemeter in je meterkast. Informatie voegt waarde toe. Hoe meer informatie je kunt maken hoe meer waarde je toe voegt aan het product dat je (al) verkoopt. Nike+ maakt de schoenen niet beter, wel de loopervaring. Hoe? Door informatie op te slaan en te duiden.

Acceptatie AR
Augmented reality is geland in 2009. Mede dankzij het Nederlandse Layar heeft de techniek een gezicht gekregen en zit Nederland in de voorhoede. Augmented reality is van zijn science fiction imago af en tastbaar geworden. Dit maakt het eenvoudiger voor mensen om er toepassingen mee te bedenken. In 2010 is augmented reality de hypefase voorbij en zullen we nog heel erg veel nieuwe praktische toepassingen gaan zien.

Privacy
Paradoxaal genoeg zijn we zelf het grootste gevaar voor onze privacy. Via Location Based Services (LBS) gaan we steeds meer informatie over onszelf geven. Waar we zijn, wat we er van vinden en met wie we er zijn. In 2010 zullen er diensten komen die uit de veelheid van verschillende sociale netwerken heldere analyses kunnen maken en deze informatie perspectief kunnen geven. Wat betekenen al jouw sociale activiteiten in tijd? Naast scepsis, zal uiteindelijk het voordeel winnen want zo’n dienst kan door efficiency en patronen ons dagelijks leven verbeteren. Informatie is waarde.

Informatie
2010 is het jaar van de interface designers en informatiespecialisten. Als je weet hoe je extra waarde aan informatie kunt maken en zinvol kunt ontsluiten maak je relevante diensten. De creatieve sector zal zich steeds vaker in een positie zien dat ze in plaats van campagnes functionele diensten aan het ontwikkelen zijn.

Lees ook wat Victor D. Ponten, Luis Mendo en Marcel Kampman schreven.

This is the fifth year we’re making lists and the fourth year of the Eclectro election widget. The widget is grown up and out of development by now. It has proven itself year after year. Last year we collected almost 70.000 votes.

Crowdsourced
This year we asked the readers of Eclectro on Twitter, Facebook and the blog to submit tracks. And people submitted. We’ve got over 300 dance tracks produced in 2009, with only space for a selection of 100.

Collaboration
We asked some experts to look at the list to make sure we’ve got all important releases. All this was done using Google Docs. People searched audio files, checked if the files really were produced in 2009 and linked to images. Tasks were distributed and within a week from making the decision to do an election this year it’s here. And all of this was done without a single meeting. Amazing.

To everyone who helped, thanks. Feel free to share the widget and vote as much as you want.

Video of the voting widget in action

Thoughts about how and what will change in news distribution in the next 10 years, by extrapolating some movements that are happening right now.

Let me know how you think about this, and please correct me if you think my assumptions are wrong.

1. Display advertising revenues will keep fading.
Banner supported is not a sustainable business model for news websites. Pageview prices are declining, inventory goes up and banner blindness is very real. News “engagement” is shifting to social networks.

At the same time brands are looking for brand experiences involving customers. They are building their own or public platforms to connect with customers. Display advertising is not adding enough value, even when it’s cheap.

NGO’s are practicing, funding or hosting journalism. They not only hire journalists they are hosting and distributing the stories themselves.

2. Television will take revenge.
With internet enabled television sets, the tv becomes a more interesting medium. There is always something to watch. Social layers will make live events more interesting. Especially news and sports events. Television interfaces need to change. We need new interface thinking for televisions. We need what the iPhone interface did to the mobile interface design thinking of all mobile phones.

3. Mobile becomes the #1 internet device.
Phone users outnumber computer users. Technology fits in phones and the lifecycle of a phone is shorter compared to a computer. The phone is a personal device, most computers aren’t. It’s the #1 communication device and this makes it the best device to share news. Todays modern mobile phone can do most things a computer could do in 2007.

4. Serendipity redefined.
Serendipity was something that belonged to newspapers and magazines. Serendipity was about the stories you found by accident in newspapers and magazines, small surprises. The web brought a new kind of serendipity, you found stuff by browsing. Social networks enhanced this experience. You find stuff because of your network. The “new” serendipity isn’t captured in media, it’s in the people. This is serendipity on a completely new level, it’s personal.

5. Databases become public
I don’t want to go into a discussion of when or if we ever will get a semantic web. What you can see is that more information becomes public and it is more structured. When databases go public more people can combine information to make new information, more people can practice database journalism.

6. Information availability and accessibility explodes
The web is still growing and it will probably never stop. As interfaces, global coverage and search evolve more people get easy access to all of this information. More information is a good thing, all you need is good filters. Those filters can be computers or human.

7. The real time web, we are all continuously connected.
Continuously connected, sharing more and more personal information. Maybe for safety, for fun or for voyeurism. Sharing creates online existence. Everything you do is information, combine this with point 5 and 6.

8. News agencies will no longer lead the discussion
They will keep losing the signaling function, because everyone is a (re)broadcaster in his or her own network. And they will find it difficult to control, lead or own the discussion. Discussions become fluid, you can start them, but you can’t own or host them.

Conclusive thoughts:
News is and will be a more social experience.

Your (social) network will be important to help you make order out of information chaos.

News outlets will act like hubs for people sharing the same ideas.

The media- or informationlandscape polarizes, like magazines. More media will engage on the same level, making them working great together or strong competitors.

Information will be free. All you have to do is connect the dots instead of creating them.

News will be about guiding and analyzing, almost like a curator. If you’re a good curator, you add value.

Curators are often people.

The news eco system will be much more decentralized, making it stronger.

The system how news distribution works right now is just not made for the media of tomorrow. The traditional ecosystem for news will be disrupted.

The new eco system will inform us better.

Some sketches I made a while ago to illustrate what I think a web-based twitter client could look like. I really like the Tweetdeck application, because it integrates lists in the most obvious way, showing all the posts like a dashboard. I think the basics of Tweetdeck could be very well made into a web-based dashboard.

What it would look like in your browser

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The entire page

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Photographs and other media links should be displayed inline. Like Twitstat does.

Reply and retweet should be inline as well.

It’s been a while since I have posted something on Hypernarrative.com. The next weeks I’ll try to pick it up again and write about why the experimental news system EN.nl stalled and where it stalled, and what I learned from it. And I will write about some new private projects I’ve been working on in the last months.

Ideas
In a very interesting piece called World Building web artist Jonathan Harris is comparing online experiences with fast food culture. I can very much relate to what he writes and reading his essay-like story is definitely worth some your time.

City ideas have to do with a particular moment in time, a scene, a movement, other people’s work, what critics say, or what’s happening in the zeitgeist. City ideas tend to be slick, sexy, smart, and savvy, like the people who live in cities. City ideas are often incremental improvements—small steps forward, usually in response to what your neighbor is doing or what you just read in the paper. City ideas, like cities, are fashionable. But fashions change quickly, so city ideas live and die on short cycles.

The opposite of city ideas are “natural ideas”, which account for the big leaps forward and often appear to come from nowhere. These ideas come from nature, solitude, and meditation. They’re less concerned with how the world is, and more with how the world could and should be.

The development of and on the web is mostly iterative. We make small steps fast, and as a result our creative focus narrows, making bigger steps less likely. It’s also happening in our communication. Open communication like Twitter lowers the barriers to talk to someone, not only are the costs near zero, the social barrier is also very low. I can ask you something. And even easier, I can directly respond to something you share.

Open source software and the thrive to continuous communication with customers makes product development public and iterative. As a results it connects better to demands and minimizes risks.

Iterative culture
I don’t judge this culture. I don’t think you can. It’s the effect of a time. I don’t think you can judge it right or wrong, it’s a fact, something that’s happening right here, right now.

Personally I like the iterative structure the web is in. I also feel it’s blocking me from taking bigger steps. It’s difficult to take some distance from something that’s always moving.

If you do take some distance and ask yourself how will this be in five or ten years you will get a pretty clear focus and you will be able to think in leaps instead of iterative steps.

For me, my best and personal most successful and satisfying projects are those where I took some distance and time to research.

Despite RSS, Twitter feeds and Facebook fanpages, newsletter are still pretty nice. Below are some of my favorite newsletters. Please add your favorites in the comments.

Artkrush
My favorite newsletter about art, design and architecture.

About: art
Every: twice-monthly
Subscribe: http://artkrush.com/current/

Gvenk Daily (Dutch)
Every morning Dutch developer Gerard van Enk makes a daily tech update on Twitter. You should definitely follow @gvenkdaily (it’s in Dutch, but most links are English. You can also subscribe to the updates via e-mail.

About: technology news
Every: day
Subscribe: http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=gvenkdaily

Springwise
“Springwise and its network of 8,000 spotters scan the globe for smart new business ideas, delivering instant inspiration to entrepreneurial minds. Time to start the next big thing!”

Springwise always surprises you.

About: great ideas
Every: week
Subscribe: http://springwise.com/newsletter/

Dexigner
“Weekly roundup of design news and competitions from the #1 portal for design related information.”

A collection of design related news links nicely ordered by field of interest.

About: design, architecture
Every: week
Subscribe: http://www.dexigner.com/newsletter/

Flavorpill Daily Dose
“Flavorpill’s Daily Dose is a jolt of cultural inspiration, delivered fresh to your inbox every weekday morning to help jump-start your day. Our mission is simple: to provide a quick look at what’s new in music, print, art, film, and online, by offering worthwhile culture to explore right from your screen.”

About: a daily dose of arts, music and culture
Every: day
Subscribe: http://flavorpill.com/signup

Photojojo
Photography tips and tricks. It’s a real feelgood website/newsletter about what you can do with photography.

About: photography
Every: twice-a-week
Subscribe: http://photojojo.com/

Sandbox
“Sandbox is a trusted global network where extraordinary young achievers under 30 come together. It’s an inspiring meeting place where a selection of young thinkers and doers connect, exchange ideas and talk about innovation.”

It’s not really a newsletter kind of newsletter, because the newsletter is also about updates to Sandbox, but the content is really good.

About: updates on the Sandbox Network and inspirational links
Every: month
Subscribe: http://www.sandbox-network.com/contact/

Share your favorite newsletters
Leave it the comments, send me a tweet or e-mail me at hypernarrative@gmail.com.