Business Week has a great interview with Johnny Chung Lee–28 year old PhD candidate focusing on human-computer interaction whose Wii controller mod videos have recently catapulted him into the spotlight. As a topic we find interaction design fascinating because as technology becomes more pervasive we need to figure out ways of making it more transparent and accessible for its users. Lee’s experiments demonstrate how simple, inexpensive modifications of common gaming technologies could be used to foster collaborative innovation in a business or research environment.

I personally love his approach and ethos. His Nintendo Wii Mod videos have certainly stimulated my mind and I can only imagine what the next iteration of gaming and productivity applications will result from his cheap and doable experiments. It’s also quite amazing that he’s simply released it into the wild…for free. Lee speaks to this point here:

If, suddenly, a certain technology or certain capability is affecting 10 to 100 times as many people as it was before, it’s much more powerful. I find that to be a valuable, visceral, and very measurable impact of my work. When I do something and so many other people begin experimenting because of what I’ve done, well, I find that very rewarding. YouTube has actually been one of the better ways of measuring that because I put my videos up and within days or weeks people post their own videos of things they’ve created based on my work.

Changing the economics and distribution of technology through simplicity is fundamental to his work. A budding futurist, Lee and Negroponte seem like they would get along at cocktail party.

So if you can improve the way you interact with a computer, you can have a big impact. To me the computer is a stepping stone to solving most of the world’s problems. As someone recently said to me—the future is going to be awesome—I think there’s some truth to that.

We eagerly await the next development in this young stunner’s career and wish him the best of luck.

Via BusinessWeek. Photo via Businessweek.

Tags: Best Of Luck, Business Week, Businessweek, Cocktail Party, Collaborative Innovation, Futurist, Gaming Technologies, Human Computer Interaction, Interaction Design, Iteration, Measurable Impact, Negroponte, Nintendo Wii, Phd Candidate, Productivity Applications, Research Environment, Stepping Stone, Wii, Young Stunner, Youtube