Yiko Li Projects Documentation & Reading Responses

 

Reading Responses
Word Count: 1622

 

1.Donella Meadows, Dancing With Systems

The reading started with giving an overview of how we mentally engage with system as an individual.The author describe that by understanding that besides acceptance upon existing system, we as humans have the ambition and desire to have further control above system. Meadows portray her point of view on how we should approach system, through a metaphorical comparison with physical interactions happens within the activity of dancing. She mapped an individual’s radical responses to system of “Stay wide awake, pay close attention, participate flat out and respond to feedback” into physical responses when dancing, for readers to better understand how to work with system through daily activity.

2.Steven Johnson, Emergence

Johnson portray the process of realizing system through describing Keller’s biology observation on slime. In which take us on the journey of Keller finding and understanding the relation among individual organism in respect to system. Many of the relation that they find about coordinated group behavior inside of a range a different organism various from ants to our body cells. We are able to grasp the organization of system by looking into different formations of groups. From understanding and having the ability to summarize system, the methodology can be applied to realized and initiating ideas on forming system into our daily life. The examples mentioned in the reading set up a framework as a guidance, to assist designers understand different forms of system, from there to expand and think upon our living system.

3.Rob Van Kranenberg, Internet of Things

Looking at design as an Internet of Things that can help reduce disparities among two distinct cities, the modular system of IoT can be employed in large scale regardless of geographical scale. One of the quote by Mark Weise saying that: r“The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it.“ Incorporating the exponential growth nature of technological structure, and the underlying influences they have, Internet of Things can be quickly executed and also influential. For the fact that Internet of Things is benefiting both the technological nature in societal development and also integrating the conceptual framework of design thinking. Large scale goals, like Rob Van Kranenberg mentioned in the beginning of the reading such as drawing similarity between cities can be achieved by having singular technology interface but having it as a tool of delivering conceptual system thinking to places regardless of geographic limitation.

4.Maciej Cegłowski, Web Design: the First 100 Years

I was thinking a lot in the semester on ideas that correspond with Ceglowski point on the larger picture of mechanism formed between human-technology-interaction. Ceglowski provide the timeline tracing back in the history looking at how technological invention reforms human perception with our universe. Through examples on jets and space program that redefines our spatial cognition, it emphasize the cognition reform of society through single technological invention.

 

The quote from Tim O’Reilly: “the future is here, it’s just not evenly distributed yet.” truthly depicts the current state of the society. Technologies should be seen as an instrument for our society to imagine future. We should have control over it versus technological framework as an overarching force that we are adapting to. In the past centuries of technological advancement where we submerged ourselves in the technical invention without projecting future into the instruments that we created. I did recent study with Cooper Union, in a lecture class called: Material Imagination as Social Contrast. We studied how to use this human-technology-society mechanism as an instrument to project future, from the structures that we are placing into our society.  As how Ceglowski guided the reader in the reading looking at multiples influential technological invention that has been created and how it impacted our society.In this case technological framework that were developed is defining the future regardless whether if the initial ideas were intended. As designers and system thinkers who are connecting the gap that was lacking within this mechanism, I started to understand the larger picture on how crucial it is to incorporate design thinking into technology development. The figure shows the grayzone created in between our reality perception and projected perception to future, as a consequences from not thorough decision during the development process. I believe that we are at the stage of time where we can control the direction of how and why leading to what we create.

5.Richard Buchanan, Wicked Problems in Design Thinking

I was able to refers back to many ambiguity that I encountered during design process while reading through Buchanan’s Wicked problems in Design Thinking. He mentioned about the peculiar nature of the subject matter with design, where there is no direct subject matter within the discipline prior to designers’ own decision. The scope of discipline itself is rather universal than particular, but the practice of design is fundamentally concerned with particular. From the two extreme scopes of navigating through design thinking, the disparities then creates this gap of not thorough understanding. Later extended to this theory that Buchanan has been discussing about the wicked problems. Design thinking then provides a structured basic guideline to navigate the connection between the two extremes.

6.Mimi Zeiger, Interventionist Toolkit 3, Our Cities Ourselves

It is very interesting to read through some of the communities intervention that Mimi discuss in her publishcation. In the democratic society of the U.S, the freedom of democracy should be expanded to more perspective in life. Citizen interventions within the city are a great way of prototyping an initial idea of change within the system that we live under. As creative practitioner, there are many times that our idea don’t get validated. Mainly due to that we rely on capital market structure for an idea to spread. But from the examples of these vendors that Mimi showed in the reading, as DIY approach to test creative solution is the most effective when looking it as making social impact from a bottom-up approach whereas the top-down approach of how most of the creative solution is executed currently. The top-down approach for majority of the creative solution is adding a huge limitation on the variety in perspective of how the issues can be approached. These vendors as social and architectural solution to issues, are exactly the leverage point that we mentioned in class, on democratic way of approaching the system.

7.Jane Jacobs, Death & Life of American Cities, Intro, pp 8

The reading describe systems from an urban planning approach. When coming from an urban planning, because the large scale of the design is addressing such a huge range of users and population. From the decisions that urban planners made into the the design, it forms a system, and from systems they started to shape civic population’s life within the city. Comparing to digital/ technological system, the rules following physical affordance looking at system from urban planning, is much clearer to understand by looking at how we interact with tangible things interacting.

8.Katie Salen & Eric Zimmerman, Games As Emergent System

Game design might be the only way to fully consider every aspect of a system, by designing from scratch and executing it fully in interface. As the author states in the reading where every game is simplifying complex rules and laws into a enjoyable participation of play. Where the systems within the game should be complete to encourage further action through thinking, understanding the rules, to make the game play going. I thought it was genius that the following diagram is summarized from game design concept. The following also applies to system in real world. When linking the conceptual framework with the interface execution, though thinking is required for gameplay, I wonder if the players will be able to learn the systematic view of all the game assets? I questioned if the system is only coming from game designers’ view but not delivered to the players, which at the end of the game play, the participation will only be an entertainment rather than delivering some message to the players?

9.Buckminster Fuller, World Game

The game that Fuller described in the reading gives me a whole new perspective on ways of thinking about system. Mainly that when introducing the idea of game to any existing largest system that we can imagine now which is the world, use our understanding towards the current systems as the knowledge to solve these “puzzles”. By gamifying parts in reality we cannot yet fully understand, it changes the perspective on how we take on coming up solutions to resolve issues that find. Given this idea of “do whatever you want” with all the systems that we can think about on Earth, inspire the purest creative view on how we can approach the systems, and from there to define the issues.

10. McDonough & Braggart, Cradle to Cradle, 2002

When all the previous readings discuss and address system from multiple different approach from the society. We eventually need to come to the point of looking at the ecological system that we are living under. All the manmade systems can be re-design and reform, even though they are systems acting as rules to control individual entities, we can still have control over the direction of where the system is leading to. When we eventually end up to the largest system on this planet, which is the ecosystem, more negotiation is required for us to adapt to the ecological system. Rather than treating how we interacting with ecosystem the same way as other urban system. Sustainability is a concern that should be raised, and be considered seriously by our society as a whole.  

 

 

Precedences

 

During the course of this concept studio, I research into and experiment with environmental data visualization.

 

  

 

 

Project 1

Urban Landscapes

Data Visualization

For this project, my intention was to demonstrate pollution data through showing the info-graph as a piece of public art.

 

Prototypes & Design Process:

Project 2

Reinterpretation of Location

 

Project 3

Space as Dynamic Interface

I was exploring with ways of visualizing real-time data in midterm project through API, html and P5. My intention was to create a piece of device art with raspberry pi screen, as a desktop size device for wind speed monitoring.

 

 

 

Final Project

Final Project Schedule Outline

Week1: Idea Brainstorm

T: Precedences

R:Concept Finalized/ Prototype Developing

 

Week2:Prototype 1/Technical Exploration

T:Technical Outline

R:Prototype Developing

 

Week3:Technical

T:Prototype 2 11/28

R:Technical

 

Week4:Asethetic

T:Form Development

R:Physical Making

 

Week5:User Testing

T:Feedback

R:Adjustment

 

Week6:Finanalization

T:Documentation, Video Film

R:Presentation

 

 

The rationale of project 3 is to combine all the previous form exploration and to design a tabletop game for youth to interact with, in order to expose the audiences to data through play. This is a playful interaction designed for 6-10 years old. Informal science education is the main concept direction for following prototypes. It is inspired by digital hands-on learning experience in science museum as precedences. At this stage of technical development, young users are able to clear out the polluted particles on the screen by moving game characters on a table top. The game characters are tracked by opencv through color tracking and operated in openFramework. 

 

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