90 mobiles in 90 days is over…or is it?
by Kate Rutter
Last night there was a party at Adaptive Path for the completion of Rachel Hinman’s 90 Mobiles in 90 Days blog project.
Rachel started the 90 Mobiles in 90 Days project last June as means of “creative recovery.” There’s more detail on the project site, but the short story is this: Rachel blogged every day for 3 months about mobile ideas, insights, observations and imaginings. Each day, every day. When on the road traveling, when sick, when tired, when inspired. Each day, every day. Finishing this successfully was definite grounds for a party.
The party was fun, with classy sweet nibbles, champagne and interesting people to talk to. We also heard from Rachel about the project: what it meant, how it worked, how it felt to be done. Jesse interviewed Rachel and party guests asked questions. I was inspired by Rachel’s open and articulate comments about the challenges and opportunities of mobile experiences, her thoughts on sustained creativity and the act of making a project.
It’s easy to say “Wow, great project, now it’s done.” But I think really, it’s only started. I see other stages in the life cycle, and we’ve only ended the first.
The beginning: Making The Thing
It was fun to read 90 Mobiles in 90 Days as it blossomed: each day had a new little nugget of thinking, and over time, themes emerged. It was like living vicariously in her brain for 90 days, seeing with her eyes and thinking along with her. Each day was like a sweet little surprise. Some days were better than others. There was a natural ebb and flow of the length of the postings, the images, the completeness of the ideas. Being able to follow along as it unfolded was cool.
The middle: It’s There, But Kinda Dormant
I think the next stage for the site is low-grade activity and dormancy. Thanks to the wonders of Google, new folks will find the site, and additional comments will probably accrue over time. Rachel will most likely keep weeding and gardening, but that’s just bare-bones maintenance.
The stride: Extending the Concept
There are other meta-activities that can happen outside the actual project, now that it’s done. Rachel can extend the experience by speaking about it at meetings, events and conferences. She can write about it on other blogs, in articles, and be interviewed about it. She could write a CHI paper. There’s a lot of space for talking about the thing when the thing is done. Maybe others will take up the meme and do projects for 90 chairs in 90 days, or 90 smiles in 90 days. There is a lot of space for the idea to expand.
The future: The Power of the Time-Capsule
Here’s what I’m looking forward to: What will 90 Mobiles in 90 Days be like in 5 years? When we look back at these ideas, what will these concepts mean to us then? Which ones will we see as harbingers of the new technologies, mobile experiences and devices that we’ll be using then. I think about the videos of future kitchens, in particular the 1967 movie clip from 1999AD and the 1956 Design for Dreaming (kitchen scene starts at timestamp 3:20.) These futuristic concept clips have many elements that seem laughable now, yet there are core ideas that lurk inside them that have become real and part of our daily lives.
So congrats to Rachel, and I’m looking forward to 2013, and seeing how the ideas in 90 Mobiles in 90 Days project foreshadow the changes to come.