The Design Encyclopedia Launches
I don't know about you, but when a project I have been thinking about for some time suddenly pops up, launched by someone else, I experience a variety of emotions. Initially I'm annoyed at myself for having taken too long to get the project out of the pondering stage and into the real world. Let's face it, there are lots of smart people out there, so if you have a great idea the odds are that someone more qualified or better funded is working on something very similar. Thus, in many cases your only hope is the classic first to market advantage. But this is often tempered by feelings of relief. Whew, one less thing to be responsible for.
A case in point is The Design Encyclopedia, a newly-launched wiki from the folks behind the always-interesting UnderConsideration Speak Up site. If you're not familiar with the wiki concept, it's something worth keeping on your collaborative radar screen. A wiki is essentially an online, database-driven collaborative editorial project, in which not only the content but the organization of the content can be created and edited by participants. The Wikipedia itself is a fine example of the genre.
So it makes perfect sense to have an online, open, collaborative encyclopedia dedicated to design issues. The UnderConsideration folks, wishing to launch in time for AIGA’s National Conference in Boston, are candid that at the moment the effort is in beta format. They're dealing with such problems as people adding items from the Wikipedia itself, which contains many useful entries related to design and graphics.
But growing pains are to be expected. The main thing is to launch. And launch they did. So I encourage you to check out the nascent Design Encyclopedia and if you can lend a hand with an entry, even better.
Chris Dickman
Editor, Graphics.com
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