I'm on my way to NYC to go the Future of Web Design conference. I'm attending workshops today with Paul Boag and Armin Vit - two people I have huge respect for in the web design world. They should be really great, and the lineup of speakers for the conference tomorrow is amazing.

There are some great threads of discussion occurring on the IxDA.org site. One of them is an exploration of the difference between interface and interaction design. In understanding the difference and how to communicate it to peers, clients and students, the discussion turned to education and I'm reposting here what seemed like a relevant post on the topic.

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In going through the process of ‘re-imagining’ the (add)ventures web site I’ve been thinking a lot about inspiration lately. What is it, how to find it, why is it so fleeting? Some of the answers I’ve come across is stagnation and inversion. I think that all artists can tend to get too focused on their own work, their own medium, their own subject matter area - and forget to look out at the larger world around them. I know that when I think about web design too much it’s really easy to get jaded. Just how many ways can you put links on a page?

I found this post referenced in the Boagworld podcast, and I have to say it's just a must for anyone involved in website design and development. No matter how well you know CSS, or how little you work with it for that matter - this has some really great insight and advice. Very well written and documented. Natalie Downe, of Clearleft gave this presentation at BarCamp London 5.

I participated recently in a panel discussion centered around the use of social media and other ‘web 2.0’ type things in public relations for PRSA-SENE. I had a great time speaking, and was in great company to boot. It’s still quite often a tough sell to bring new ideas into corporate communications - both from a ‘what will my job be then’ and a ‘how do I sell the management on this’ standpoint.