"So what is it that sites like Findings and Readmill do? I would say that they enable asynchronous interactive digital commentary. That's a mouthful; it's a lot easier to say that they "make reading social." But easier in this case is definitely not better. All these digital possibilities are turning the old and familiar experience of reading on its head, and the language we have to describe the changes hasn't even begun to catch up. It needs to start."

"Discussion with colleagues here at the design school about “screenless interaction design” led me to present some projects that I find interesting in the field. It seems that there’s starting to be a cluster of projects that aim at creating playful and digital interactions with less emphasis on the visual senses. Some examples I find interesting:

[1] SAP (for Situated Audio Platform) a “Barely Game prototype” by Russell Davies…

[2] Oterp by Antonin Fourneau (development by Kevin Lesur)…

[3] Papa Sangre…

It seems that there’s a continuum based on the degree to which the user need to look at his or her own device: from no need to do this to a quick glance once in a while. Interestingly, this connects to another interest of mine: asynchronous interactions between the user and digital realms… which led me to this kind of design space (teku teku angel is a Nintendo DS game in which you have to walk with a pedometer to raise so tamagotchi-like creature)…"

"a totally online learning community, offering courses that usually run for 5 weeks, w/ 5 live sessions & ongoing asynchronous discussions through forums, blogs, wikis, mindmaps, & social bookmarks. In my 30 years of experience online & 6 years teaching students face to face & online at UC Berkeley & Stanford, I've learned that magic can happen when a skilled facilitator works collaboratively w/ a group of motivated students. The first course, "Introduction to Mind Amplifiers," ran in 2 sessions in January-March, 2011. Live sessions include streaming audio & video from me & students, shared text chat & whiteboard, & my ability to push slides & lead tours of websites. Future classes will cover advanced use of personal knowledge tools, social media for educators, participatory media/collective action, social media issues, introduction to cooperation studies, network & social network literacy, social media literacies, attention skills in an always-on world."

"In Situated Technologies Pamphlets 5, Julian Bleecker and Nicholas Nova argue to invert this common perspective and speculate on the existence of an “asynchronous city.” Through a discussion of objects that blog, they forecast situated technologies based on weak signals that show the importance of time on human practices. They imagine the emergence of truly social technologies that through thoughtful provocation can invert and disrupt common perspective."