It's September, which is back-to-school month, and I am no exception. Perhaps because I am a serious glutton for punishment, I am going back! I finished my MA a year ago August at Georgetown's Communication, Culture, and Technology program (my master's thesis was titled "The Role of Place on Older Adult Interest Towards Computer Classes" ... all lovely diffusion of innovation stuff). But as an info design fan, my fascination with the visual aspect of things is driving me to do more. So, last week, I started my first classes with the University of Baltimore's Doctor of Communications Design program. Now, for all intents and purposes, the DCD is really an MFA. However, given the MFA's fine arts connotations, the UB folks decided to position this degree as a professional degree similar to the MD or JD. All I know is it is 48 more credits and no dissertation! (I'm too old for a dissertation :).

This semester, I'm taking typography and a class called "Imaging Information and Ideas." The former is what you'd expect, and the latter is an interesting look at what happens when you explore semiotics in the visual design space. I hope you are all looking forward to tidbits gleaned from these classes! BTW, UB is also home to a new IA program called the masters in interaction design and information architecture.

There are some great perks to being a student. Big yeah, time to upgrade the software at home at a discount. (Hard to believe, but I still have Photoshop 3 on my Mac at home!).

Other cool perks include being able to join relevant professional societies at a discount. So I'd like to give STC, ACM, and ASIST big kudos for their liberal membership policies. A bit of a raspberry to AIGA and UPA for their more rigid policies (both require full-time status for student memberships).

I know that the groups are starting to work together (e.g., the joint conference with the AIGA Experience Design folks and the SIGCHI folks). But as they've heard before, there really is a paradigm shift. Just as people no longer spend their entire careers at one company until they retire with the gold watch, people are no longer desire to get by with a single professional membership. But not all the associations are getting this. I realize that some of the folks in this profession are well paid, but I'm not sure how many would choose to be members at the current level of dues. I'm probably not alone in suspecting that associations would benefit from having different tiers of membership ... particularly if the only alternative to a $65 full-time student membership was a $275 professional membership (hint hint).

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