The Informed Life

The Informed Life

Jorge Arango

An interview-based show that explores how people organize and design information to get things done.

48 minutes 22 seconds

Chris Aldrich on Cybernetic Communications

Chris Aldrich has the most multi-disciplinary resume I’ve ever seen, with a background that includes biomedics, electrical engineering, entertainment, genetics, theoretical mathematics, and more. Chris describes himself as a modern-day cybernetician, and in this conversation we discuss cybernetics and communications, differences between oral and literary cultures, and indigenous traditions and mnemonics, among many other things.

See full show notes at:
https://theinformed.life/2024/05/05/episode-139-chris-aldrich/

5 May 2024, 1:00 pm
42 minutes 35 seconds

Dave Gray on Possibilities
Dave Gray describes himself as a possibilitarian. He focuses on helping people and teams realize their creative potential. Dave the author of several influential books, including Liminal Thinking and Gamestorming, which he co-authored with Sunni Brown and James Macanudo. He also founded the pioneering visual thinking company XPLANE. In this conversation, we discuss how to move beyond mental models that constrain us to open up new possibilities.
Show notes
- Dave Gray
- Dave Gray - LinkedIn
- The Connected Company by Dave Gray and Thomas Vander Wal
- Gamestorming by Dave Gray, Sunni Brown, and James Macanufo
- Liminal Thinking by Dave Gray
- Red Herring (magazine) - Wikipedia
- XPLANATIONS
- XPLANE
- Greg Petroff - LinkedIn
- Douglas Engelbart - Wikipedia
- Andy Matuschak
- School of the Possible
- School of the Possible Campfire Calls
Show notes include Amazon affiliate links. We get a small commission for purchases made through these links.
If you're enjoying the show, please rate or review us in Apple's podcast directory:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-informed-life/id1450117117?itsct=podcast_box&itscg=30200
This episode's transcript was produced by an AI. If you notice any errors, please get in touch.
21 April 2024, 2:00 pm
31 minutes 51 seconds

Nikki Anderson on Research Impact
Nikki Anderson is an independent user research consultant, instructor, author, and speaker. Nikki uses her background in education and psychology to mentor people and organizations on the value of user research. And now, she’s written a book to help them build up their research operations. That’s the focus of our conversation today.
Show notes
- Nikki Anderson
- Impact: A complete guide to creating a user research practice at your organization by Nikki Anderson
- User Research Academy
- User Research Academy Substack
- How To Run a Qualitative Usability Test by Nikki Anderson
- Write Kick@ss User Research Goals by Nikki Anderson
Show notes include Amazon affiliate links. We get a small commission for purchases made through these links.
If you're enjoying the show, please rate or review us in Apple's podcast directory:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-informed-life/id1450117117?itsct=podcast_box&itscg=30200
This episode's transcript was produced by an AI. If you notice any errors, please get in touch.
7 April 2024, 1:00 pm
48 minutes 55 seconds

Michael Anton Dila on Oslo for AI
Michael Anton Dila describes himself as a “designer of conversation” and someone with a passion for starting things. Among the things he’s started are ventures in online learning, co-working, and mobile technology. He’s also held several leadership roles in an elite innovation unit in the U.S. Department of Defense. In this conversation, we discuss his latest initiative, Oslo for AI, which seeks to design better processes for governing artificial intelligence.
Show notes
Show notes include Amazon affiliate links. We get a small commission for purchases made through these links.
If you're enjoying the show, please rate or review us in Apple's podcast directory:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-informed-life/id1450117117?itsct=podcast_box&itscg=30200

This episode's transcript was produced by an AI. If you notice any errors, please get in touch.
24 March 2024, 3:00 pm
37 minutes 11 seconds

Dave Elfving on Gray Area
Dave Elfving is an experience designer and educator. He spent eleven years at apple, where his last role was as Head of Interactive Strategy. These days, he’s my colleague teaching interaction design at the California College of the Arts. He’s also co-chairperson at Gray Area, a San Francisco-based nonprofit interdisciplinary cultural incubator. Gray Area is fostering fascinating work, and I wanted to discuss it with Dave.
Show notes
Show notes include Amazon affiliate links. We get a small commission for purchases made through these links.
If you're enjoying the show, please rate or review us in Apple's podcast directory:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-informed-life/id1450117117?itsct=podcast_box&itscg=30200
This episode's transcript was produced by an AI. If you notice any errors, please get in touch.
10 March 2024, 3:00 pm
35 minutes 53 seconds

Joey deVilla on Layoffs
Joey deVilla describes himself as an experienced, engaging, accordion-playing, golden-voiced developer advocate looking for a new role. He’s had a long career in the technology space and writes about his experiences in two long-running blogs, The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the Twenty-First Century and Global Nerdy. Recently, Joey became one of the many people in tech who’s lost their job in the last couple of years. That is the subject of our conversation today.
Show notes
Show notes include Amazon affiliate links. We get a small commission for purchases made through these links.
If you're enjoying the show, please rate or review us in Apple's podcast directory:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-informed-life/id1450117117?itsct=podcast_box&itscg=30200

This episode's transcript was produced by an AI. If you notice any errors, please get in touch.
25 February 2024, 5:00 pm
34 minutes 14 seconds

Elizabeth McGuane on Design by Definition
Elizabeth McGuane is a UX director at Shopify and the author of Design by Definition, a book about the impact of language in user experience. As you might imagine, that’s a subject I’m keenly interested in, so I was excited to speak with Elizabeth about it.
Show notes
- Elizabeth McGuane - LinkedIn
- Elizabeth McGuane – Medium
- Design by Definition by Elizabeth McGuane
- Shopify
- Intercom
- Eames chairs
Show notes include Amazon affiliate links. We get a small commission for purchases made through these links.
If you're enjoying the show, please rate or review us in Apple's podcast directory:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-informed-life/id1450117117?itsct=podcast_box&itscg=30200
This episode's transcript was produced by an AI. If you notice any errors, please get in touch.
11 February 2024, 2:00 pm
43 minutes 11 seconds

Pierluigi Dalla Rosa on Interactive Environments
Pierluigi Dalla Rosa is an interaction designer at Humane, the makers of the AI Pin. But that isn’t the focus of our conversation today. Instead, we discuss novel computer interfaces in general, and interactive environments in particular. This is a subject that’s near to my heart, as it points to exciting possibilities for future digital experiences.
Show notes
Show notes include Amazon affiliate links. We get a small commission for purchases made through these links.
If you're enjoying the show, please rate or review us in Apple's podcast directory:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-informed-life/id1450117117?itsct=podcast_box&itscg=30200

This episode's transcript was produced by an AI. If you notice any errors, please get in touch.
28 January 2024, 2:00 pm
43 minutes 19 seconds

Nathan Shedroff on Strategy
Nathan Shedroff is an entrepreneur, author, speaker, and educator. Like me, he teaches at the graduate interaction design program of the California College of the Arts. This conversation focuses on his new book, A Whole New Strategy, which teaches strategic thinking.

Show notes
Show notes include Amazon affiliate links. We get a small commission for purchases made through these links.
If you're enjoying the show, please rate or review us in Apple's podcast directory:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-informed-life/id1450117117?itsct=podcast_box&itscg=30200
14 January 2024, 3:00 pm
1 hour 10 minutes

2023 Year in Review
This episode is a compilation of conversations from 2023. It’s not meant as a best-of collection, but an opportunity to highlight some themes that emerged during our conversations throughout the year. The episode is also an experiment, with the themes being curated partly by an AI.
Cover photo by Waldemar Brandt on Unsplash.
Show notes
Show notes include Amazon affiliate links. We get a small commission for purchases made through these links.
If you're enjoying the show, please rate or review us in Apple's podcast directory:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-informed-life/id1450117117?itsct=podcast_box&itscg=30200
31 December 2023, 3:00 pm
37 minutes 7 seconds

Steve Portigal on Writing, part 2
Steve Portigal is an independent user research consultant. He is the author of Interviewing Users and Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries. Steve and I both have new books, so we thought it’d be fun to compare notes on writing non-fiction. In this, the second of two episodes on the subject, we focus on the process of writing. If you haven’t done so already, listen to our previous conversation, which focused on our motivations.

Show notes
- Steve Portigal
- Steve Portigal - LinkedIn
- Portigal Consulting
- Interviewing Users: How to Uncover Compelling Insights (2nd edition) by Steve Portigal
- Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries: User Research War Stories by Steve Portigal
- Duly Noted: Extend Your Mind Through Connected Notes by Jorge Arango
- Living in Information: Responsible Design for Digital Places by Jorge Arango
- Information Architecture for the Web and Beyond by Louis Rosenfeld, Peter Morville, and Jorge Arango
- Scrivener
- Tinderbox
- The Informed Life episode 99: Mark Bernstein on Tinderbox
- Freeform on the App Store
- Shitty First Drafts by Anne Lamott (PDF)
- Jack Kerouac - Wikipedia
- The Informed Life episode 2: Gretchen Anderson on Writing
Show notes include Amazon affiliate links. We get a small commission for purchases made through these links.
If you're enjoying the show, please rate or review us in Apple's podcast directory:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-informed-life/id1450117117?itsct=podcast_box&itscg=30200
17 December 2023, 3:00 pm
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