Utopian Entreprenuer and Other Readings

This week’s readings gave special attention to the idea of culture work and being a culture worker. Brenda Laurel explains this concept in her piece, “Utopian Entrepreneur.” I’ve become a fan of Laurel’s over the course of this class. She has a casual writing style, that is easy to read and to understand, but her advice and information is still very valid and useful. In the beginning of “Utopian Entrepreneur” Laurel discusses the notion of artist vs. culture worker. She notes the distinction between the two, claiming that an artist works in the realm of the art world, where as a culture worker works in the popular world. This idea goes back to one of our early discussions (when we were still discussing in the wiki) about the designer vs. the artist. What’s the distinction, if there is one? But all of these are labels that we clammer to, as unnecessary as we often find them to be. Laurel says that “culture work excites the will to action” (p. 11). I don’t think that concept is unique to culture workers, but can also be applied to artists and designers in general. But these definitions are not where I’d like to focus.

Laurel discusses throughout “Utopian Entrepreneur” her experiences with her company Purple-Moon, a company that focused on appealing the gaming world to girls. I’ll be honest, when she talked about the “death” of Rockett and the heartbreak of the girls who couldn’t say goodbye to their online friends when the website was abruptly shutdown, I felt tears forming. This was a surprise even to myself as I sat in the middle of a crowded Starbucks. Laurel, and the rest of her team, felt a passion for what they were doing. They were making an impact on young girls who had been overlooked in the gaming world. I think Laurel is right to call her self a culture worker.

Storytelling played a very important role within Purple-Moon and within the other designs mentioned in “Social Impact by Design” (Darion Rapza), “Researching America’s Army” (Margaret Davis), “A Virtual Walk on the Moon” (Bruce Damer), and “Mobium” (Jin Hyun Park). All of these essay explained designs that incorporated storytelling to impact the participant. Their executions varied, from single player gaming, to multiplayer installation, to museum exhibition, but the key component of them all was the art of storytelling. Through this, as Damer writes, they were able to create “a profound sense of contact and presence” (p. 282). That’s all culture workers, artists, and designers can really hope for.

Research Proposal

My current research proposal is posted on the page entitled, “Research.”  I need to make some additions to the current proposal, which I will be working on.  I will post a more thorough and updated proposal soon.

Methodology

This week’s readings seemed to place heavy focus on the actual design process. Dorothy Deasy’s essay “Non-Assumptive Research” describes the entire design process from the beginning, with emphasis on starting with a clean slate, all the way to the end in which an analysis is conducted. She talks about starting a research project free of assumptions. This is much more difficult than it sounds. When we think of what it is we want to research we often associate solutions with those questions. We quickly jump to assumptions about our subject and our subject’s needs and wants. This will only hinder our design process and will stifle any breakthrough ideas. Deasy explains that we need to closely examine our assumptions about our subject and about the research itself. She suggests including other people in the brainstorming process who can help pinpoint assumptions.

Eric Zimmerman’s article “Creating a Culture of Design Research” discusses ways in which designers and researchers can create an environment and lifestyle that will promote inspiration for their projects. He places emphasis on looking to the outside world for ideas and insights, while looking beyond the immediate concerns of the project. By creating a work environment that encourages design research, attending outside events relevant to one’s work, teaching others, and partaking in side projects, a designer has more to draw upon for inspiration which can lead breakthrough ideas.

I was particularly interested in Zimmerman’s statement and follow-up question: “Design shapes our world: Shouldn’t we let the world shape our design? (pg. 192).” This question harpers back to Deasy’s essay in which she talks about the importance of becoming a “learner.” She encourages researchers to seek out as many different avenues as possible that relate to the given topic. These different avenues can include movies, poetry, and the Web. Seeking out various types of sources will allow “the world to shape our design.”

The other articles in this week’s readings focus on more specific aspects of the design process and offer various types of processes and design techniques. Darrel Rhea’s essay “Bringing Clarity to the Fuzzy Front End” discusses the beginning stages of design and the “Innovation Process.” She discusses the importance of the design process, which is often overlooked by senior management who are only interested in the final product. But the process, Rhea explains, can lead to breakthrough ideas. She also describes an “Outside-In” design approach that places emphasis on the user or customer to provide inspiration for innovation.

Experience design and immersion investigation discussed by Nathan Shedoff (“Research Methods for Designing Effective Experiences”) and Sean Donahue (“Enabling Design”) respectively, places focus on experiential, social, and human data, rather than technological. Both Shedoff and Donahue’s methods require direct interaction with the subject to reach a new way of understanding the audience in which they are designing for. Donahue suggests that immersion investigation allows the designer to correct his/her own misconceptions about the subject while also building understanding and empathy for the users.

The methodologies one can use when conducting research seem endless. While no method should be considered wrong, it’s important to find the methodologies that are best suited for your needs and the needs of the people you are designing for. Two things seem clear though: Throw away your assumptions and keep an open mind to the world around you.

Collaging and Evaluating Vernacular Sources

I’ve decided to take on a completely different topic for this research design project. Frustrated by my lack of ideas for this project, I began thinking of various alternative forms of therapy. After speaking with a friend of mine who is currently a telemarketer of sorts I came to the conclusion that I wanted to incorporate an alternative form of therapy into her type of work environment. She has a small work area where she sits for eight hours. She stares at a computer screen and she calls people all day long (people, might I add, that don’t want to be called). Her work place is both stressful and bland. I first plan to research color and its affects. I hope to gain a better understanding of color theory, or color psychology, to see how it can be implemented in the work place. My new question: How can the principles of color therapy be used in telemarketing offices to relieve the stress of its employees?

I’ve come across three sources that I’ve found to be particularly helpful in my quest for color knowledge.

The first website was suggested to me by Jason. I believe this website could be useful to anyone whose project will involved interaction with computers. The organization is the Association for Computing Machinery and its website is www.acm.org. This site is a “digital library” for those researching computing. There’s a lot that can be discovered on this site. I’ve only scratched the surface of what it offers. The information placed on this site seems legit, unlike other sites like Wikipedia (no offense to Wikipedia). I trust the information because it is given to me through the means of a legit association that seems to really want to “advance computing as a Science and a Profession.” The site covers so many different topics under the umbrella of computing. A simple keyword search results in a number of studies involving your particular search. If you can’t find something specifically related to your topic, you can probably find a study on something similar, which you may be able to use for your project.

The other two sites I came across are more specific to my particular subject. The first of the two is a site that focuses on self-help color therapy. It’s URL is www.users.totalise.co.uk/~tmd/color.htm. This site allows the user to experience the affects of color. It also describes the foundations of color therapy. Color therapy is based on the idea that our body needs color, all colors. A lack of a particular color will leave us feeling unbalanced. The site lets the user pick a particular color from a list. The user is drawn to a certain color because his/her body is in need of that color. When you click on a color the color fills the entire screen. The user is then intended to stare at the color until he/she feels satisfied. Yes, it is a bit new-agey, but studies have shown that it is affective, even if for only a few moments. I did feel more relaxed after looking at a few colors, but it could’ve just been my mind wanting this “color thing” to work. The information this site gives isn’t unique, it has been backed up by studies. It was unique in that it allows users to actually try color therapy for themselves (most sites did not). The site, however, does not cover much more than that.

The third site was created by a company called Precision Intermedia. Their URL is www.precisionmedia.com. Precision Intermedia helps companies with their marketing campaign. They offer a variety of services in web design, photography, strategic marketing. They also have a few free resources. One such resource involves color psychology and marketing. Though marketing isn’t what this project is pursuing, perhaps some of their ideas can be used for my particular research project. The site discusses the importance of color and how it affects consumers. It warns companies to be thoughtful when choosing colors in their marketing campaign because each color does conjure up particular emotions. The site gives a list of colors and then describes what people associate with each color and what emotions arise from experiencing each color. For example, the color green is the color of growth, nature, and money. It is also a very calming color. This company’s approach to color is different from what is explained on the previously mentioned website. The previously mentioned site explains that our bodies need color. This site explains the different affects color has on us.

I’m hoping to find a way to blend the principles of color therapy with that of color psychology. I’m still on the hunt for more reliable sources. I need more sources on color and I need to look into stress relief in the work place and what is currently being used; what works and what doesn’t work. I’ve only begun to scratch the surface.

Asking Questions and Questioning Our Questions

This week’s readings discussed a different style of approaching design research. This approach, as explained on the first page of our assigned reading in “Design Research,” uses “Design (As) Research.” Anne Burdick describes “Design as Research” as it compares to other types of design:

“All designers engage in creative exploration in the process of designing, but the difference between design that is simply design and design that serves as research has to do with the goals and outcomes of each (83)”

She goes on to explain that designers conducting research tend to carry their study through an extended period of time, testing their theories and formulating new questions (83). These particular design researchers have found a way to combine their creative practice with theory.

For many of the cases discussed in the assigned reading, a trial-and-error, or learn-as-you-go, approach is taken. In past case studies we have looked at, a question is formed and then qualitative and/or quantitative research is performed and then a product is designed based on the research. For the designers in this section, a question is still formed, but their design helps aid in the answering of that question.

In Lisa Grocott’s essay “Speculation, Serendipity, and Studio Anybody” the question was asked: “What happens when discovery-led research becomes an integral component of professional graphic design practice? (87)” Research was not then performed in order to create a new design, or in this case strategy; rather, the new strategy was implemented in order to find an answer to the given question. The company then discovered a new business strategy, one that was discovery-led instead of client-led; a new client-based collaboration; and a new process which involved running with one idea instead of multiple ideas.

The “Design as Research” approach places a high emphasis on the actual design, and the design process. It helps researchers gain increased knowledge of the design process and the overall creative experience.

Michael Naimark in his essay “Sensory Anomalies” describes his experimental approach to design research; one that places an emphasis on the design as a work of art. In his piece, “Displacements” he discusses his desire “to add spatiality back into cinema.” This leads to a fascinating exploration that involves projecting a flat duplicated film image over its three-dimentional, real-life counterpart. Naimark tried several experiments, or designs, before finding the right combination to create “anomalous space.”

This type of research, like that done by Naimark, is the type of research I am most interested; I want to use experimental art to research a particular theory. But as I ponder possible research questions, none come to mind that would allow such artistic expression. The questions I have brainstormed so far are generally socially based, working towards creating some sort of social change. I’m not really “feeling” any of my current research questions, but as of right now at 1:03 am, this is what I’ve come up with:

1. How can we free artists from the isolation that occurs during the creative experience/process?

2. How can we better keep families in touch and involved in each others live when they live in different locations?

3. How can the internet help aid in the grieving process of those who have experienced the loss of a loved one?

4. How can technology, specifically the internet, ease the hassle of riding public transportation?

Jason has suggested that I narrow my questions; focusing on only one aspect within one question. He suggested, for example, that I incorporate memory into question #2 and the role it plays in keeping families connected. I like that idea. Memory is fascinating to me in general, like its role in shaping our understanding of everything, including our own reality. We rely heavily on our memory and hope that it can be trusted. The topic within question #2 is also the most relatable for myself as I am currently struggling to find ways to stay connected to my family, as they all live several states away.

I think I’ll let these ideas marinate and hope that one will compel me enough to become my research project. Or maybe “How” is the wrong way to start my potential question; perhaps I should be asking, “What if…”

The Media Ecology

Several articles from this week’s readings discuss the idea of intellectual property and whether or not this property should be owned by any class or individual. In McKenzie Wark’s essay “A Hacker’s Manifesto” he describes his interest, and the interest of the hacker class, to free production from the ruling class.

Wark says that there is a class war on intellectual property happening between the hacker class and the vectoralist class. Tension between the two classes occurs because hackers are, by Wark’s definition, producers while the vectoralist class owns all the vectors, or lines, in which information travels; they own the copyrights, the patents, the trademarks.

Wark explains that knowledge is the goal of the hacker class, not education. Still as a society we place more emphasis on education than on general knowledge. One can be extremely knowledgeable of all topics, but without a formal education, this knowledge remains unnoticed and unappreciated. Even if we didn’t learn a thing in college, we need that piece of paper exclaiming our education so we can be recognized as a commodity to society, or at least to our employers. Information is a commodity, and all commodities have people looking for proprietary right.

Lawrence Lessig’s article “The People Own Ideas” describes the concept of “free software,” which is looking to take intellectual property out of the hands of the ruling class by offering it to everyone. It wants to put knowledge in the hands of everyone who wants it, such is the dream of the hacker. It’s a novel idea, one that gives information technology to anyone who wants it. Like the dream of the hacker, free software gives freedom to property and takes production out of the hands of the ruling class. Within a “free software” society, copylefts are placed on products, meaning users are required to share any changes they make to a product with the public.

Lessig emphasizes that free software leads to a free culture through a concept known as “remixing.” Remixing allows consumers to use someone else’s creation, while offering their own opinion, or take, on the matter. Remixing is crucial for a culture to thrive because participating in remixing means actively participating in a culture.

Our technology is changing the way remixing occurs. In the past, remixing has typically been done with words, both verbal and textual. YouTube is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of remixing and our ever-changing technology. YouTube invites anyone and everyone to publicly display a creation. This creation can be one’s own unique piece or it can be derived from another individuals creation; the piece can be a remix of a former idea, or it can actually be someone else’s idea, like when a user posts a band’s music or episodes from his or her favorite television show. When the idea of copyright was invented the creators never imagined that such a thing as YouTube could ever exist. Copyright has been forced to change as technology changes.

With everything given immediate copyright, how are sites like YouTube able to stay afloat? The users who post copyright material aren’t making money off this material, so is that how YouTube is able to exist? The company, however, is making money, even if it is indirectly made off of copyright material. If users were no longer permitted to post anything that they did not own the full rights to, then YouTube would lose much of its content. This loss of content would lead to a loss of the site’s users. Fewer users means a decreased interest from companies to buy ad space, which is how I assume YouTube is able to make its profit.

Though the company allows a free space to share ideas and creations, it’s making a monetary gain off of its users. In the end, the company is making money off of the work put in by its users who will never see a penny of the profit. YouTube owns this vector for communication of ideas. This would make them a part of the vectoralist class. So does that make the users part of the hacker class? Should we be waging a war? I wonder what Wark has to say on the matter.

Culture

I found Horace Miner’s essay “Body Rituals among the Nacirema” to be extremely engaging. When I read the title of the essay I thought it would be an article about a foreign group of people in some remote location. Miner explains that the Nacirema live “in the territory between the Canadian Cree, the Yaqui and Tarahumare of Mexico, and the Carib and Arawak of the Antilles.” For a moment I thought I was right about my previous judgement until I really thought about this particular location; the article is about Americans. Of course! “Nacirema” is “American” backwards. It also sounds a bit like “Narcissist,” which in general, is probably a good way of describing Americans.

Throughout the essay, Miner, who is American himself, writes of the different rituals the Narcirema partake in. He explains that our most private and personal rituals take place in the “shrine,” otherwise known as the bathroom. Our “shrines” are very important to us, they allow us to clean ourselves and make ourselves socially acceptable. We advertise homes by the number of “shrines” they have. I really enjoyed his description of the medicine cabinet within our “shrine,” or as he refers to it, as the “chest.” Literally, our medicine cabinets look like a chest or box; figuratively, they are like the chest of the human body which is used to encase the heart. The chest, Miner describes, is filled with magical potions even if we don’t need them. We eventually forget what the magical potions do for us and become afraid to take them, but we don’t throw them away because we feel that they will “protect the worshiper.”

I also like Miner’s description of the mouth. He explains that it has influence over all of our social relationships. We spend time cleaning them a couple of times a day. We visit “Holy-Mouth-Men,” or dentists, whom we seek to “arrest decay and to draw friends.” He also explains this relationship, the one between the dentist and the patient, is a type of sadomasochist relationship-the dentist tortures us, yet we return.

Miner writes of one ritual that women partake in “only four times during each lunar month.” He says that this ritual is performed by men and involves “baking women’s heads in small ovens.” I’ve thought about this over and over, but I can’t for the life of me figure out what ritual he is talking about here. The reference to women’s heads in small ovens makes me think of women getting their hair done, but that ritual usually isn’t performed by men. Regardless of what it is, I don’t think I partake in it!

Miner does speak critically of American society and writes: “It is hard to understand how they have managed to exist so long under the burdens which they impose upon themselves.” This essay did make me feel anxious, vain, and guilty of such rituals, but Miner ends the essay with a quote by cultural anthropologist Malinowski that suggests that these rituals are important. These rituals, and their “magic” help us to cope with the difficulties of life and have allowed us to “advance to the higher stages of civilization.” As vain, or as unnecessary as these rituals appear to be, they are not arbitrary.