“Hello, my name is Lauren and I will be maintaining your fire for you this evening.” That was one hell of an auspicious start to an evening. We were at a restaurant in Atlanta and the idea of US service was brought home with a bang. A while later, now marooned by the E15, I had a very dissimilar encounter. “Wow you are marooned and can’t get back to London? Man, I didn’t know you had Volcanoes in London!” Both of them were full of action. Dedicated to bringing me what I wanted. They were at different ends of the spectrum but both were a whole lot better than me having to figure any of it for myself. Both were dedicated to delivering an experience to me. They thought about what I had asked for and they went away and got it done. I was full of admiraTion. Tion! You know – Innova-tion. Produc-tion. Transforma-tion. Applica-tion-Tion. Making the verb the noun - the result of doing something. Everyone literally doing things, busy busy. It's life, it's work, we all do the Tion. The new buzz phrases in the on-line world are going to include large amounts of Tion. Creation, Facilitation and Ideation coming soon to a lexicon near you - with added on-line fever – be prepared to embrace - Curation, Mediation and Excelleration.
Genuine Authentic Service in the On-Line World - CURATION.
Spending any time in the US reminds anyone of the idea of service. Love it or loathe it it's a much bigger idea than in the UK for sure. From your early morning Starbucks greeting to the student who whisks your car to the Valet lot - even if you don't want it. The idea of service and delivery is deeply ingrained over here. The Concierge. Whether you find it shallow and patronising, embarrassing or you love it, it’s about caring about the audience - the receiver of it - to differentiate a commodity. The fact that it is sometimes delivered by a robot who cares very little misses the point of the idea. As we move into the Semantic world online this will be even more important to get right. Being English I find some of the service techniques unpleasant but preferable to no service – and no delivery? - just plain unacceptable. Gone are the days of deluge. Receiving a deluge of images or words is like anything deluge like - it's a deluge. Bad service is but a deluge of bad service. Probably unhelpful, irritating, lobotomy inducing and likely to be ignored - all in equal proportions. Why do it? Well because we could. Now we don’t have to. We know that if ‘stuff’ is unsolicited or badly delivered it will be ignored or tossed into the nearest trash can. If its solicited and deluge like then the question is - "do you care that I engage with this - ever?" The world we are moving to equates to a virtual service world of everything. Curated with care. Seen through the lens of the digital screen/device we can easily perceive a world where human intervention has been replaced by self service and rich experience. Not to everyones taste I know. But it’s what's happening - so get used to the idea. Infographics are a major revelation for most people. The art of taking large amounts of information and data, and through design, creating far easier more delightful access to viewers - encouraging them to understand the meaning of the data within the visual interpretation Through curation of information from much larger ‘databases’ of content - enter the Curagraphic.
The applications we will see emerging will be designed to improve our ability to get at what we want, when we want it. We can already see this making massive differences in the way we consume everything. Books, magazines and reference materials of all types. Improving each specific function – augmenting more smartly what happens in the real world. Curated. Intelligently brought to us. Pulled. Access to the right information, meaningful explanations and smarter hints at the touch of a button - easily navigable. Your whole life through one dashboard view. Whatever color you like. Wherever and whenever you need it.
Opening sections hold immediate fascination. Impact – a series of easily accessed headlines, pointers to easily readable documents, articles, images and films. Applications that make it directly possible to access intelligently ‘curated’ information set within beautifully designed visual interfaces. Visually compelling views that themselves contain smaller scenes, stories, captions - these scenes contain yet more meaning, intrigue and ease of access. Because each wipe, click or gesture exposes yet more clarity and expression - designed to deliver a valuable experience - you will find what you are looking for, you will find things that delight you and you will be constantly surprised. All of this ‘served’ in a powerful way that tells you the machine has finally caught up with what you actually want and need. A ‘curagraphic’ experience. Meaningful. Beyond this it is possible to open or access yet more content with still more meaning and at varying interest levels. People you invite – friends – clients - will be able to hold conversations with you. You will develop and design in ways you cannot imagine. By simple methods of direct connection you can collaborate and build more communities and ideas as you become more creative and innovative with how you show up. In the world of iPAD's and similar technologies we have a potential for elegance or blithering idiocy. Rather like desk-top publishing, everyone and their cat will be on the appwagon. Holy confusion Batman! If design was ever in vogue then now is that time – but who will maintain my fire. 
can't we just have IONs? as opposed to TIONs? the world is already full of ions of course.
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