Reading’s for Feb 22nd

I am going to paste my outline I used for the discussion at the bottom of this post. I first just wanted to write on how I interpreted this week’s lesson. I feel it was a definite point to illustrate that a designer needs to step back and be aware of research in the field he or she wishes to be creative in. Also ask questions. A designer needs to be aware of problems and moral issues that clients will or have encountered. By being a watchful designer a technology will progress and usually better itself because adaptations are being made to it in order to satisfy users. Reflection is key. Here is my outline with key points for this week. Sorry for the late post.

How can film industries cater to the rise in interactive media technologies such as Ipods in a way that promotes simple usage and high quality product?

What does the rise in high definition digital signal do to independent low budget filming? Is it still an art form people will watch or is it yesterday primitive technology.

Will the switch to all HD in 09 be a simple adjustment or will homes and businesses play a frantic expensive catch up from analog to HD?

Discussion
1. Readings
a. Reflective Design
1. Talks about “reflection on unconscious values embedded in computing and the practices that it supports can and should be a core principle of technology design.”
2. How does active reflection help a technology grow and adapt as a tool and artifact of it’s society?
3. Designers should promote users to reflect on their own life.
b. Design Research
1. Mundane V. artistic. “graphic designers recovery”
2. Speculation and clients. Money biasness. Truth?
3. The movie Big.
4. Technology V. art? Book made in 03
C. Case Studies
1. Lumitouch – Emotion light
2. Information Overload

Reading’s for Feb 15th

The best way for me to discuss this weeks readings is to simply answer questions that were posted regarding specific analysis in the research. By doing this I broaden our focus for this week’s discussion because I bring my own opinion to the table. Also, a full lengthily discussion through writing in this blog would be a very long and dry one for the reader.
The two discussion leaders asked each two questions. Here the questions and my response to them.
Set 1
Q1. How have you personally experienced the concept of “remix,” and was it important to the way you interpret media? Did it occur in a free cultural economy or not? Do you believe that DRM could kill the “remix”? –Remix is very important to me and is probably the main reason I enjoy media so much. I love to discuss film to me that’s a center piece of life issues and can be discussed as art, or culture. The freedom to talk about these things is a primal one and I feel needs to be protected. My remix has taken place in a fairly free enterprise; America. There are some restrictions but for a common flok preson like me not to many freedom of speech issues affect the way I talk. I don’t think DRM will harm much because another technology will be made to overide it. Just like cd burners, downloading software and many others. I like to believe people fight for the freedom technology gives them and they will work to always have that freedom.
Q2. The problem of fitting games into a classroom is an example of design tackling prejudice. What kinds of prejudices do you see shaping our current media ecosystem? Can you think of any assumptions that hold back the progression of media or that stop people from engaging media in a deep and relevant way? What design questions and research methods could engage these assumptions?- This may seem simple but money is the biggest design flaw or obstacle there is. High-tech technologies are hard for a lot of people to get because they are expensive. There needs to be more access for all people to new technology. It all has to do with capatalism here in America; that’s why there is no free internet or major access to media for no or small charge. We have free librarys but no free in home internet. Why. Money.
Set 2
Q1. How do you react to these 2 statements: Information has nothing to do with communication, or with media. It is not just information that must be free, but the knowledge of how to use it. Would you say that the processes of remixing information and of hacking into it are the same?-Remixing is a free tool. Hacking into it is done through intrest in that field. It does not mean stealing, though it can be obtained that way. Art is culture and culture is art. There needs to be knowlage of new technologies for all, as was stated earlier.
Q2. Which aspects of Second Life would you consider literal and which one magical? Did the designers of SL reach the goal of creating a balanced (between literal and magical aspects) “alternate reality kit”? I feel the design is very balanced which is why it is so addicting. It’s a good tool for interaction yet it allows a person to “get away” due to high graphic and in-world minipulation. The literal use is the chat and voice talk the magical is the graphic world in which you are in when using SL.

Second Life

First Impression…….

When I first was told about second life I was pumped but I knew it would be an undertaking to really truly get the whole system down to an art. I am getting to that stage. I played around the first night for an hour. Now I seem to be getting more addicted. It is a great use of the internet as a tool for communication. It’s aesthetic pleasing due to its use of worlds and with rich natural colors such as green trees and warm sunset’s. The individuality this program allows me to undergo really surprised me. You can customize not only your avatar but the world, menus, chat log and much more.
Walking has been a challenge because it seems to be sensitive and needs more glide ability. People seem to really dig this chat tool. I have used others here and there but they were strictly text based and often became boring. These stylized worlds allow for more imagination and time consuming play between chats which causes me to lose track of time. The name is a good fit. Second Life. The more I play with this program the more I realize how it plays on the idea of escapism and having a second life. Is this a work in progress to what was once the excitement of virtual reality? I feel it is close. The graphics are good but could be better. My computer is super fast so it all seems to be coming at me in real time. The menus are pretty well placed.
What seems neat about this program is that it could be seen as a culture by itself. It almost seems to take an abstract form of a group of people with a set of rules in a world that doesn’t really exist. Second Life. I am writing in my first life now but do I act different and write different in second life? I think so and that excites me on a research h level because here we have a technology that is shaping people who use it to conform to a type of culture. It’s a wonderful tool!

Readings for Feb 7th

I want to break down my discussion of this week’s readings to correlate each different article. I will then tie them all together and illustrate what my majority thought process is for this week. Putting specific analysis to each article helps myself better absorb and define what I learned as a whole from this weeks work.
The first article I read was “The Surprise of Ethnography” by Richard Schweder. This work was an eye opening and well read piece of knowledge. I really never understood what the difference between quantitative and qualitative ethnographical methodologies was. After reading this article I have a better understanding and opinion on what I feel works best for me in doing cultural type research.
I may be looking at this wrong but I feel quantitative research is more closely related to math and number type of work; where qualitative seems similar to sociology or art type of meaning and deep letting go understanding. I have always been deeply impacted with art and understanding of meaning so I naturally feel closer to the latter method of research.
I love how this article stated that a good ethnographer tries their hardest to go “with the flow of life in a community.” This reading has helped me understand how deeply rooted our “reality” is due to how I was raised and all the aspects of ones moral fiber. Feeling this way after reading made the next article more appealing.
“Body Ritual among the Nacirema” by Horace Miner was a funny almost sarcastic example of great ethnographic work. I had read this article as an undergrad and still love how well it makes a person who is accustomed to this behavior step back and realize how we are a culture with strange tendencies. I say strange because I feel this is often times a shortcoming term people will use when describing a culture that is different from their own. This article illustrates to many Americans that we are just as strange and even more so than a lot of cultures. I write “we” because I realize how Americanized I have become and how it really is all I know and truly understand.
This weeks readings made me realize how Americanized I have become even though I did not realize it. I feel that the best ethnographic method is qualitative research because I am more closely based on sociological ideologies. Nacirema was a great example of “wearing a person thin” so that he or she can jump into a culture different from their own and learn its ways with the least amount of bias opinion possible. All and all, I feel these readings have reinforced my idea that there really is no absolute truth because the abstract idea of it is based on an individuals own background which changes drastically depending on what culture he or she is from.

It’s Tuesday the 5th of Feb. Pretty nice day out and I am close to being done with this weeks reading. Will Post tomorrow.