The twist of technology, as we all know, is that while it is supposed to make thing simpler, more often it does not. That conundrum is now being addressed by a  new group of designers and super-smart technologists at M.I.T. MediaLab's Simplicity Design Workshop, simplicity.media.mit.edu. Led by Dr. John Maeda, an associate professor of design and computation, it is Dr. Maeda's premise is that "the solution is not better design or better technology but a better partnership between the two." Defining simplicity was the workshop's first order of business. A brainstorm settled on these key attributes: "transparency, aesthetic appeal, restraint, just-in-time information." Examples included "the iPod for its minimalist form and intuitive interface ... the Screwpull wine-bottle opener for its mechanical elegance; Apple Keynote (rival to PowerPoint) for its subtle pop-up indicators that help you align and position elements," and, perhaps coolest of all, "the Citroen 2CV, www.citroen-2cv.org.uk, for its, well, social engineering: a high roof to accommodate the hats of French farmers, and other details that helped the car blend seamlessly into its drivers' lives). The workshop's second round sought to codify "some tenets of simplicity." These include heeding cultural patterns, being transparent (whatever that really means), editing (that is, dumping extraneous features and adding helpful ones), and creating prototypes (not just to prove the technology works, but that people can actually use it). The workshop has now coalescing around "specific emerging technologies that promise to be the pillars of simplicity." One of these centers on visualization. For example, Dr. Maeda suggests that videogame-style visuals could be applied to solve "a whole range of information-display problems, from handling messages in your e-mail inbox to mapping the genome." Another is "a new brand of artificial intelligence" aimed at giving computers common sense in the form of a vast database of mundane truths (i.e., that a mouse is both an animal and computer peripheral). And about that mouse -- a third area, called "ambient technology" might render it extinct by applying wireless technologies to "allow people to obtain and transmit digital information through ordinary objects and surfaces." As Albert Einstein supposedly said: "Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler." Relatively. Or as Ideo's Bill Moggridge most definitely said: "Technology is the villain, as well as the exciting opportunity." Source: Cool News