I had the luck to stand next to Paola Antonelli for 5 minutes and hear some
thoughts on how they got their first set of games selected for MoMA’s
design collection.
This week I saw some musing about the software canon. The big ideas in
human-computer interaction are embodied in hugely successful software
“products”. They are major works and tell us about how offices work, how
art happens, how people communicate (missing from the lists – email stuff).
Here are some other questions about software:
What is charismatic software like? It’s not clippy the MS Office character.
What is opinionated software? The way Google suggests.
What is inspiring software?
Which software accesses your emotions? The games excite mostly, few are
like music or Klimt’s kiss or Adele Bloch-Bauer.
In fact on these topics I think there isn’t a blockbuster product you can
easily volunteer. There are hobbyist indie projects, some amazing (Flying
Toasters?). But try making a canon for those.