In thinking about the trends of personalization and customization, I’ve been wondering if these (marketing and strategic) categorizations accurately reflect the way we live and if these categories are still useful in allowing reinterpretation and new application. These days, you’ll find computer makers thinking about allowing customization en masse through specialized product configurations, or shoe makers installing booths in their retail stores for consumers to style a new pair of sneakers. To be sure, teenagers and adults across the world seem to enjoy participating in this process. Personalization and customization allow for individual expression, and on an utilitarian level, they also provide owner-identification in a sea of mass produced goods.

But personalization and customization not only suggest a deliberate act, but a static and final one as well. Think about a custom-made cabinet or a personalized skateboard. The changes are made, then the objects frozen. Like green peas. One could, of course, have a new set of cabinets custom-made again, or remove the bumper stickers when political allegiances change. But personalization is nonetheless a series of monologues, during which the object is acted upon and left frozen in time. It assumes that the absence of a constant interrogation between the user and the object.

Perhaps that is why the way brands are personalizing and customizing their products have little differentiation between them. Almost every major brand from detergent to printers has advertising campaigns that are singing to consumers ad nauseum “it’s all about you.” You would be hard-pressed to find a commercial break that wasn’t made out of 10 commercials telling you that there is a great product that helps you to be you. In a way, the wave of “personalization” has reached a point of stasis where the message is starting to sound banal and contrived.

Improvisation, it seems to me, could be a more useful framework in designing consumer technologies because improvisation is essentially how we behave on a daily basis. We make changes to a favorite recipe based on what we have in the fridge, and alter it again the day after. We improvise our plans as we go along. We take short-cuts when time is running out. We move in spontaneous and imprecise ways. And, like a jazz pianist playing a jazz standard or a traceur on a parkour route, we perform our routines a little differently each day. We make changes to and also because of our environment. Everyday is a new piece of performance art. Improvisation is the conversation we have everyday, between ourselves and objects, to make life work under constantly changing circumstances.

Given of the dynamic nature of technology today, companies are in a unique position where they can apply “user-improvisation” to interactive environments. There are a few products in the market that are capitalizing on this idea of improvisation. GPS systems are phenomenal at re-routing themselves when a driver goes off-course, and recipe websites are great resources for giving dinner suggestions based on what’s in your fridge and how much preparation time you have. But my sense is that this direction of thought is sorely under-utilized by product and web strategists and the like. I, for one, would be really excited to see more creative strategies and services growing out of this approach.