VITAL STATISTICS
Name: Michael Murtaugh
Location: Amsterdam
Project: Next Generation foundation's Map of Creativity
Development time: June 2003 – March 2004
Funder: Next Generation foundation

Not to be too forward, but, well ... who are you?
I live and work in the Netherlands, but was born and grew up in the US. I have an undergraduate degree in Computer Science/Electrical Engineering, and a Masters Degree in Media Technology (both from MIT). I studied under Glorianna Davenport at the MIT Media Lab in the Interactive Cinema Group. I met and worked with James Bradburne at newMetropolis in Amsterdam (1997). Since 2001, I've been an independant freelancer (automatist.org) and teach part time at the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam in a Masters in Media Design program (http://pzwart.wdka.hro.nl/).

What was your role during the development of the development of the Map of Creativity?
I handled the main design and implementation of the Map of Creativity, in collaboration with James Bradburne and Remon Tijssen. Also, informally, I took advice from Joost Bottema, who I'd worked with on the Blood Project (http://automatist.org/blood/). Remon had produced a lot of sketches which we worked with. I worked a lot on refining how the key words would work. A lot of the design of the Map is about how you can use the key words, how you filter and order. You can add keywords and search terms to narrow your focus.

While we're not expecting design blueprints, we would like to know how you did it? Did you rely on any specific technologies while you were exercising your brand of magic?
SQL + ActionScript 2.0: During the development of the Map, I started to learn SQL. Despite the fact that I had for many years been working with databases, I had never learned SQL (either through formal or self-initiated instruction). I was fascinated by the idea of a language designed to make it easier for non-engineers to interact with databases. This learning became a part of the design of the Map's "dynamic subtitle" – the line that explains what the map is showing at any given moment.

ActionScript 2 (new in Flash 7) was a breakthrough in that it lets you program in the "traditional way." I have a bit of a love/ hate relationship with Flash; on the one hand its capabilities are fantastic. As a development environment though, it's quite bloated. In the end, I create very little in the Flash interface itself. I define
classes in separate text files the way any modern programming language works. Also negative about Flash is that it's all very proprietary and closed. I hope that more open solutions continue to develop to offer a
real alternative.

If someone was interested in undertaking a similar type of project, what advice would you give them?
Jump right into it. Start with your data. Start with a simple structure and (web) interface that allows you and others to see and develop the "raw material" of the project. Iterate. Improve the design incrementally based on users' experiences. Work as a user of the system, use your project as a tool to get closer to the material yourself. Follow your own curiousity.

Finally, don't be afraid to rewrite at a certain moment. In past work I often had the feeling that only at the end of a project did I finally understand what the project really needed and that it was in fact only then that I was ready to design and build what was required. In most cases I would rewrite the system from scratch. Of course, this can be very frightening to a client; but, in fact, creating something from scratch when you know exactly what you want can be pretty straightforward. As I develop as a designer though, I try to build this into the process, get a flawed system built quickly and then use it to better uncover what is needed.

What's the secret behind this project's success?
A great subject matter, freedom to experiment and perhaps most important, an insightful, enthusiastic and demanding client (James). Essential, too, was that the project was about building a useful resource for people online. It wasn't just simply promoting something. It truly uses the potential of the web, and social (as well as electronic) networks.

SIDEBAR
What and who were (are!) your key design influences?
Glorianna Davenport & Muriel Cooper, The Eames, Richard Saul Wurman
Contemporaries: Martin Wattenburg?

Can you tell us your top three secrets behind your creativity?
Finding good situations / collaborators.
A certain degree of selfishness: making visualisations remains for me to "see what I'm doing." As a programmer I've always been frustrated by the fact that you can't see what's happening. My real motivation behind learning visual design was my urge to visualise the processes I was controlling with the code.
Attempt to discover something new to enjoy / keep learning.
Reusing code / jump starting projects.

Required reading/ essential reading?
I recently read Andy Hertzfeld's Revolution in the Valley about the creation of the Mac. It is a truly inspiring documentation of the creative process of creating the first Apple Mac (and itself an interesting example of a book that is in part, the result of a collaborative web-based storytelling via the author's website, folklore.org).

The New Media Reader (edited by Noah Wardrip-Fruin and Nick Montfort; MIT Press). It's an excellent source for original documents from visionaries like Douglas Englebart, Ted Nelson and Alan Kay. Each of whom is fascinated by the computers ability to "augment" the creative and intellectual potential of people.

For technical reference / learning: O'Reilly (Cook)books