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Eighty students and faculty members took part in a three-day design workshop on the theme of ‘lightness’. This was the first step in preparation of this year’s Doors of Perception conference (Doors 6) which takes place in Amsterdam on 1--12 November. The Doors team also visted several companies and organisations in the area in search of possible projects that might be undertaken in the future. The organisations visited included the SEWA , the nationwide self employed womens association which is using the internet to connect makers and consumers; Amul, the national milk distribution cooperative which is a world leader in physical distribution of short-life produce and now wants to use the internet to enhance this system; and the Indian Institute of Management, which is developing advanced knowledge management to distribute the tacit expertise of farmers, artisans and other pastoral workers. The Doors team included Derrick de Kerckhove (director, McCluhan Programe, University of Toronto); Jouke Kleerebezem, an editor of the Doors website; Marco Susani, director, Domus Academy Research Centre and a co-ordinator of the European Commission’s i3 priogramme; Hans Schreuder, chairman of O2 Nederland, the international network of ecodesigners; Ranjit Makuni, XeroxPARC; Kristi van Riet, general manager of Doors; Michael Douglas, design research manager, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technoiogy; and your correspondent, John Thackara (Doors chairman). Speakers from the NID side included professors S Sethuraman and M P Ranjan, and Nina Sabnani, who is setting up a new interaction design programme at NID. Another keynote speaker was Sugata Mitra, director of the Centre for Research in Cognitive Systems at the National Institute of Information Technology (NIIT) in New Delhi. The Doors seminar was initiated by Jogi Panghaal, a frequent speaker at Doors events in Amsterdam, and an alumnus of NID. Professor Vikas Satwelakar, NID’s executive director, was host and chairman of the week-long events. Participants in the two-day seminar on design strategies for the internet came from all parts of India - many travelling up to two days to get there. Among the delegates present were groups from the Indian Institute Of Technology (Delhi and Bombay campuses), Indian Institute of Management, National Instite of Fashion Technology, India’s emerging interaction design and ‘dot.com’ sector was also well represented, including Rediff (India’s largest website) River Run, Aptech, Western Outdoor Interactive, Ideamatrix, futureMail, Virtual Wizards, Design Habit, and Tractal Ink. |
The Indian press and media turned up in force to cover the event. Feature stories appeared in major national daily newspapers such as the Economic Times , India’s largest circulation English language paper which is printed daily from 6 cities: said ET, "it’s time to replace the personal computer with new interaction paradigms"; Times of India; Indian Express printed daily in more than 20 locations in India; it called the event "an amazing display". The Asian Age, printed daily from 7 cities, including London, commented that "this could be a beginning which will make the internet a part of our everyday lives". Other media present included Business World, one of India’s largest business magazines, Zee Network television, Ruper Murdoch’s Asia-wide Star TV, UNI (the biggest wire agency in India) and PTI.
The energy and enthusiasm generated by this first event were so strong that we decided in principle to set up DoorsEast organisation. DoorsEast would host a full Doors conference on alternate years - starting in India in 2001. See