tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22693426689512144102024-02-07T05:06:40.709-08:00Vital IdeationVital Ideation is a student designed and run course at Olin College. For more information, read our Wikiversity page: http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Vital_IdeationGreg Marrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12196875674191334465noreply@blogger.comBlogger61125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269342668951214410.post-64307443929093934362008-05-10T12:32:00.000-07:002008-11-15T03:42:34.785-08:00Grafting Technology Into ClothingFor a long time, people have thought about how “cool” it would be to have our electronics embedded right into the things we wear. Why carry your cell phone in your pocket when you can have it woven into your shirt? The realistic incarnation of this and other similar ideas have many flaws that prevent it from becoming a mainstream process. There are, however, many places where technology imbued clothing becomes highly sought after and extremely advantageous.<p>One of the first places I encountered this principal of high-tech clothing was actually through the book “Snow Crash” by Neal Stephenson. In the story, there are agents that walk around with their computers strapped to their bodies and are always plugged into the “Metaverse” (Snow Crash’s successor to the internet). In the book these people are called “Gargoyles” and are talked about with a negative connotation. The book goes out of its way however to make the things strapped to them as an extremely outlandish display of poorly grafted technology.</p><p>There is one particular area where integration of technology into clothing highly interests me and is being actively persued. Future Force Warrior is a US military initiative that is part of the Future Combat Systems Project. As our military heads into the 21st century, they are trying to develop more effective techniques to make our ground combatant more effective. One interesting aspect of the future force warrior is a new dichotomy between a network of both autonomous and remote controlled vehicles being controlled from anywhere in the world.</p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjp2V3EfaU5iNgS6cojxvh9dJRMv6QhSqNalVZzQKItk7QhH371LxSu7HrtMfWIVfeLtEQ8ntDxC-JWmteHdyrPLSW79hkdlvprAx4nuJwgcOysNwrsuSVxPczyszoMykrmcLLkJkHqI2m/s1600-h/800px-3rd_Battalion,_3rd_Marines_-_Afghanistan.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjp2V3EfaU5iNgS6cojxvh9dJRMv6QhSqNalVZzQKItk7QhH371LxSu7HrtMfWIVfeLtEQ8ntDxC-JWmteHdyrPLSW79hkdlvprAx4nuJwgcOysNwrsuSVxPczyszoMykrmcLLkJkHqI2m/s400/800px-3rd_Battalion,_3rd_Marines_-_Afghanistan.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198835097286949346" border="0" /></a> </p> <p>There are a lot of buzzwords that the military uses when describing what a soldier might look like by 2032. They want clothing and personal gear that uses anything from nanotechnology, artificially powered exoskeletons, to magnetorheological fluid, which is a science fiction holy grail of bullet proof armor. The one thing that the military does not particularly care about is whether or not the general public wants to wear these pieces of technology. For the military, the social stigmas that occlude technological garb in the standard civilian world do not exist.</p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrV4EJe6Fi4YSrOvwf5rEOSXSION4uLYoKPK89dZh2pGxg1ZcYyVopyJY37BrDgoesrcYznjuAiMX0C791woQeXwLe0wJya5d0BZUsx7SOsUbwz_lfuLWmrFqbB2Tq3PXcO7nQVssKysrU/s1600-h/IM-version10.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrV4EJe6Fi4YSrOvwf5rEOSXSION4uLYoKPK89dZh2pGxg1ZcYyVopyJY37BrDgoesrcYznjuAiMX0C791woQeXwLe0wJya5d0BZUsx7SOsUbwz_lfuLWmrFqbB2Tq3PXcO7nQVssKysrU/s320/IM-version10.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198834955553028562" border="0" /></a></p><p>The military uniform situation is another place where it is relatively easy to justify the existence of all of this technology embedded within the clothing. The military is notorious for going to extreme financial measures for incremental improvement in their fighting capabilities. If it can help a soldier be slightly more effective at his or her job without being detrimental itself, then it is a justified component to have included. </p><p>Throughout the past few hundred years, the uniform of an armed service man has changed only in material and look. Modern uniforms use sophisticated techniques to conceal and camouflage, while colonial troops displayed bright colors to distinguish friend from foe. I think that the future, however, is going to see an extremely large change in the concept of military uniform. If the military gets everything that they want within the next few decades, soldiers will have to “boot up” their uniforms and will be encased in a suit grafted with a mesh of sophisticated technological enhancements.</p>Evan Morikawahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07939216258485938020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269342668951214410.post-35842606642191721762008-05-10T11:57:00.000-07:002008-05-10T11:58:24.180-07:00Final Reflection-- Why Vital Ideation isn't over for me.Summary: I am still not sure about myself as a designer in the context of having gone through all of vital ideation’s lenses, because feel like I still haven’t tapped into a lot of the value of this course. So, I’m going to keep taking it, on my own. :)<br />Vital Ideation has not really felt like a course to me until this point. The course itself was a Spring 2008 course organized by Olin students, and the was the idea of viewing the world through different "lenses" to influence design. The reason I signed up for the course in the first place was largely instinctive. I was a part of the early meetings when students talked about their ideas for “student-led courses” when vital ideation came up as an idea, but the impulse for actually taking the class was twofold. The first thing to note was that I often told myself: “I would probably love that class,” or even “I’m going to end up taking that class, as busy as I may be.” The second thing of note was other people, who, especially later on would tell me “You know you’ll love this class” or “You know you’re going to take this class.” Well, I signed up, and I am very glad I did. <br /> Now the semester is over, I’m supposed to be done, but I’m not. In fact I’m sitting in the middle of a lounge in the middle of the night trying to synthesize this course, trying to find what personal value is buried for me, and I can’t really find it. I can’t for the life of me think about how this course has made me truly different, in a truly factual and accurate way. That is not to say that I don’t think I’ve learned much from the course, but I feel like its true value is still not known to me. I really do think that vital ideation isn’t over for me at all. The semester has ended, yes, but the class is definitely not over. In fact, the class feels like it is ready to begin, as corny as that may sound. I feel very strongly that vital ideation for me has been nothing more than a springboard for something of personal value that I can’t discern yet. I’ve spent something around 50 hours this semester, with and without others thinking, reading, writing, but mostly talking about a lot of different topics. It is easy to say that the course was about a variety of design lens, and that the end result is a dozen students who are now more aware about their ability to apply lenses to design, but that’s not so true for me. <br />In the end, I didn’t spend too much time this semester brainstorming and ideating around specific topics like designing for fun, or ecomimicry, or anything remotely close to designing for the next guy. All those were topics for vital ideation, but none of these things hold any real value to me as design lenses. I actually felt like all of our talks were simply an opportunity to engage in discussion with other students and faculty about a variety of topics, and much of the value for me was found in generating the (few) blog posts I did, reading other’s posts, and spending hours on the web finding what other people have written about similarly to myself and others. More value was found in our evening discussions, how they came up in different forms later, how they added to reflection from the UOCD course, and how all of it together made me somehow a bit different. Right now I don’t feel closure when it comes to this class at all. I’ve written about the things I feel strongly about, and started writing about the things I didn’t really care about so much, and then stopped. The most interesting thing for me about this class is how well it has connected with other things, and it is these examples I would like to reflect a bit more on. <br />First of all, I kept a notebook for a week or two, then spent hours writing about how much carrying design notebooks was a silly fad, and then stopped keeping the notebook. It wasn’t really intentional in that my notebook was buried under a pile of books and left there, but I certainly didn’t care enough anymore to look for it. It is interesting to see how the notebook changed for me, not physically as in what I wrote in it. Rather, it is my interaction with this notebook that changed for me. At first keeping a notebook was a “man, I should do that” sort of thing, but it soon turned into a “well, I’m doing it now, right?” sort of thing, where I couldn’t really seem to sync myself to having and carrying a notebook. It felt so artificial to me, that I stopped writing notes in it, except for very sparingly. I stopped “ideating” with it altogether very quickly and then turned it into a personal notes book for tasks, work, and any other thoughts that I might multitask by writing during a boring French class or ten. Eventually, as I mentioned already I left the notebook behind, and I’m glad I did. I found that pretending to keep an up to date record of my thought processes was not realistic. I have learned this semester that I think mostly out loud. I tend to talk a lot, and most of it is on the fly, not really knowing what comes five words later. Sometimes the most insightful things I feel I say I don’t actually understand until 5 minutes after I’ve said it. The result of this is that I wouldn’t record things accurately in a notebook, since I felt like I was recording meaningless things. Also, much of my thought process is dependent on clearing my mind and just thinking about something, which didn’t match up too well with recording my every thought on paper for a course, or even for myself. <br /> The second point of connection that this course has had for me also syncs up nicely with another one of my blog posts, which originally was written halfway through the semester. I was a part of a one-credit education research project this semester which involved going on a trip to a high school in rhode island called the MET. We spent a lot of time reading and talking about the school, as well as an entire day at the school and many meetings afterwards to debrief on our experience. This course is also something I think hasn’t really gotten the closure I normally feel when a class ends. There is a lot more about this MET school trip and experience left uncovered. My second blog post was about connecting social networking elements with education and the school environment, something that was a very easy connection to make having seen students interact with both during school, even myself. I won’t get into the specifics here, because I want to reflect at a bit of a higher level than this, but overall I found multiple areas of this notion of connecting social networking and pedagogy that paralleled my experience at Olin, the MET, high school, elementary school, as well as through my siblings and others in general. In fact, I hope to ask a handful of students to actually read my blog post, because I know it will spark a discussion that will be infinitely more useful and valuable to me than that blog post was, even though I felt like I did get a lot out of the thought that went into that post.<br /> Another point of connection for me was actually the art and engineering discussion that we had over the course of the semester. I was never able to put this talk and discussions we had about the talk into a blog post however. I always felt like I hadn’t really thought about anything interesting enough to connect to outside of what I had written about for one of my UOCD design reflections, which was as all about how design is a very akin to art. I spent a lot of time talking to my team about UOCD and how it was presented to others in our class. Without a doubt UOCD is one of the most polarizing courses at Olin as far as student reactions and feedback for the course. I personally loved the class, but I am still quite confused about how students seem to feel that the course should have been much more structured and deterministic. It seems like telling students that UOCD was an art class might have made it a lot more digestible as a course for a lot of people. I could try to explain my thought process here a bit more, but I’ll jump to another topic now. <br />There really is only one thing left for me to say about this course. I’ve decided that I’ve written about everything that I felt I really connected with well this semester. The only exception to this was the design for fun module, which I read other people’s posts for. I’m aware that the course description says that we needed something like 8 blog posts, but I think I’m going to stop at my four right now. (My first post was meant for both sticky ideas and notebooks, hence the length.) I’d much rather spend another 15 hours reading other people’s posts and hoping they spark future interesting discussions that write about topics I currently feel I have nothing new to say. So, after finishing this blog post I think I’ll be spending a couple hours over the course of the next week continuing to take Vital Ideation, but for myself, not really for credit. In the end it doesn’t really matter if I get credit. <br />Summary: I am still not sure about myself as a designer in the context of having gone through all of vital ideation’s lenses, because feel like I still haven’t tapped into a lot of the value of this course. So, I’m going to keep taking it, on my own. :)Marco Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14858515480067560607noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269342668951214410.post-16850072949380820132008-05-09T20:30:00.000-07:002008-11-15T03:42:35.864-08:00Design for Fun -- The Needham Science CenterThe Needham Science Center is an absolutely ridiculous place full of well-designed educational materials. According to the email that I sent out to some students, the Needham Science Center has "a life-sized model of a whale, over thirty live animals, fantastic demonstrations that have been around since the 1960’s, a severed crocodile head that they found in a bottle of formaldehyde (which they unfortunately had to get rid of), and mysterious boxes stacked to the ceiling full of ridiculously awesome stuff that need to be sorted through!"<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198586995608262530" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieyHzuP_FFf2bhb8TDIiES0HZu8qGbo2poeWDifzALASBIN9_imfq0lcuSUKrvxjSpqlt81bTJ1i3afbPR-unqraO1Q_QwnDhwD_-m-c-PjLW5hOFqYuLilyymgWQ7CADdg98Ht770kHo/s320/P1030009.JPG" border="0" /><br />What the Needham Science Center actually does is travel around to all the elementary schools in Needham and give demonstrations and teach lessons for the kids. It's been around since the 1960's, and it was actually going to get closed down a few years ago. The parents in the area then raised over $200,000 in six weeks to keep the place open.<br /><br />The things I mentioned earlier are pretty awesome. But that's not the half of it -- I forgot to mention the hundreds of animal skulls, the thousands of books, the dozens of Rube Goldburg machines, and the plethora of dead animals including numerous dead birds, tons of dead dear and moose, a number of dead deadly cats, a pair of dead polar bears, and one dead sea otter. The pictures don't do them justice. It's a lot of dead animals! <p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198586982723360610" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijwKA74BqMRfZtZkB3MOXae_s1dw3-ajg7BLMUmNIy230Iem6CE1WUojd1eSZrUwO1HJOmpO3NqV2gnXdV_GLXhsEjxYJ65hgdi62zCWai-7fhoKxv1jkjam0Jr7t6LkPvKD3Z8a4bpF8/s320/P1030006.JPG" border="0" /><br />The live animals include a doves, rats, frogs, toads, snakes, owls, madagascar hissing cockroaches, crickets, a tarantula, turtles, lizards, a ferret, a chinchilla, and more. They told me that they used to have over eighty live animals, but that they had to cut back because they just didn't have the personnel to take care of them.<br /><br />There are dozens of neat displays packed in the basement. For example, there are optics demonstrations for your arm disappearing, an intangible quarter floating in the air, a ferret changing color before your eyes, and a head floating in midair. There are fantastic contraptions demonstrating electricity and magnetism as well. For instance, there is a bike that you can ride to power a light bulb and a Van de Graff generator that's five feet tall.<br /><br />One cool display was about bird calls. Stepping on the pedal lightly would light up the picture of a bird. Stepping on the pedal hard, a mechanical contraption would produce the sound of that bird!</p><p><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198587004198197138" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGMpOvjvXmiyXDEQp81ynubvsnSQITAtA8yZdTRsEJNx5vrZjZRo3R04LQuxL1vcRXL5AxWNHoEsBfS79u7sfdrwRGdOPOj782JrFiCSiZfhu0nNo5Wm08pg0kSHmKSpzWRSW_RdGsxlE/s320/P1030010.JPG" border="0" /><br />When we went to help out today, we sorted thousands of rocks. Opening a random box, we'd find things like a chunk of topaz, labled "8" signifying its Moh's hardnesss. Or we'd find a well-sealed capsule containing a block of fibrous rock labeled "asbestos". You just never know what sort of crazy stuff you'd find in there!<br /><br />All of the large displays in the science center are hand-built. A lot of the stuff is made of wood, nailed together, and spray-painted. There's a pretty nice toolshop in the basement for putting everything together. There's a vertical bandsaw, a drill press, and hundreds of hand tools. There are plenty of wires, switches, battery holders, circuit elements,lightbulbs, and the like for adding any electrical components. It really makes you think about the types of crazy people who built all that stuff over the years, and what they had in mind when they were designing it. Although most of the stuff is either rusting, chipping, rotting away by now, when you wipe off the dust and give it a go, most of the stuff still works. And for the stuff that doesn't work, if you look at the circuit and replace a part it'll usually come to life. </p><p><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198586991313295218" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVMl0WAg3frU2Pn3Z5lsFsbAUBPFe0bq07C8Vb8CXeKMGLq2-YvNF1BJVWxslq98P7_DQltQMDcRAAO-nowvQDQTGESAYWnh68kWGth3XfeHx78Z4UCyIHdoTT1vq0Js21B3hD44JuxdI/s320/P1030007.JPG" border="0" /><br />I can easily see how the resources in the Needham Science center can be used to intrigue, enlighten, and entertain the young minds of the children around here. The people who put there heart into these displays simply knew what they were designing for. They designed things that were educational, and they designed things that were fun. Educational and fun, fun and educational, thats what the Needham Science Center is about!</p>Philip Chunghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09530967130987171095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269342668951214410.post-67752875763423577302008-05-09T20:23:00.000-07:002008-11-15T03:42:36.871-08:00Design for Fun -- A Children's Museum Done Right<div>After Ellen Thompson gave us a lecture and free tickets to the Boston Children's Museum, I went out there to check it out. And I must say, I was extremely impressed by the stuff I saw there!<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7WBCScpr-AU2hPKNVHAXnUo68PxUkWvtZoibkK3lcSzIY1WOLljK1b_Tme48HGDouuKHt4huD51pFFBlEU0QVPIKrRa3amVq5rrjKQC8OUgtk2xNX-lJJZZZJQEaii-_FAJDHaxWmMj4/s1600-h/boston+children%27s+museum.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198585269031409426" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7WBCScpr-AU2hPKNVHAXnUo68PxUkWvtZoibkK3lcSzIY1WOLljK1b_Tme48HGDouuKHt4huD51pFFBlEU0QVPIKrRa3amVq5rrjKQC8OUgtk2xNX-lJJZZZJQEaii-_FAJDHaxWmMj4/s200/boston+children%27s+museum.gif" border="0" /></a><br />The museum itself is rather small; I stopped by every exhibit in two and a half hours. But it was so fantastically well designed! Everywhere I looked, everything was colorful, or moving, or you could climb it, or touch it, or play with it!<br /><br />What are the exhibits that I thought were the awesomest? I didn't take any pictures while I was there, but letsee what we got:<br /><br />A. Climb <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoWv8kvXgaisd81S28tFU4ohSDide0_qKiQmMM2TXhlc6mEKfzn_Yk3ZlW7_NQMYgDK77wr8ex38q9MFBpEpnR2TDlJ6HJfmKLXbDXZCBrm74xPfwUJV4zppsencigoVjNLy54yfi7A14/s1600-h/climb.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198585277621344050" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoWv8kvXgaisd81S28tFU4ohSDide0_qKiQmMM2TXhlc6mEKfzn_Yk3ZlW7_NQMYgDK77wr8ex38q9MFBpEpnR2TDlJ6HJfmKLXbDXZCBrm74xPfwUJV4zppsencigoVjNLy54yfi7A14/s200/climb.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The first exhibit that you see upon entering the museum is the Climb. You can't tell from the picture, but the thing is three stories tall! Little kids climb from platform to platform, high up into the air. It gets them moving, and it gets them to judge distances and take risks!<br /><br />B. Kid Power<br />I liked this exhibit a lot. The children got to use bikes and pulleys and such to generate motion. But there were a lot of hands-on displays which taught children about eating healthy and balancing diet and exercise -- an especially important topic in today's society!<br /><br />C. Bubbles <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAP_5Ep1z6AV0lnTbwzfxyhZ0-VYJmqA9XMLZPoAlK8_N-nK9O-2n4sH92djz6Ys2mCODIOj6nskb8VJMMoL4RltxOZoGVeIlwUG9ceSCuyChWyWqUpaToxJzhPWk2_-3gtBanw4_MVfY/s1600-h/bubbles.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198585273326376738" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAP_5Ep1z6AV0lnTbwzfxyhZ0-VYJmqA9XMLZPoAlK8_N-nK9O-2n4sH92djz6Ys2mCODIOj6nskb8VJMMoL4RltxOZoGVeIlwUG9ceSCuyChWyWqUpaToxJzhPWk2_-3gtBanw4_MVfY/s200/bubbles.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />This was just fun! The kids just got to make enormous bubbles! There were all sorts of crazy contraptions for making the things, you could make circular ones, rectangular ones four feet long, or ones that came up and encircled your body. Absolutely enchanting!<br /><br />D. Raceways<br />Imagine a room full of a couple thousand golfballs whizzing around. Spinning, rolling, going up, going down, loop-the-looping, making the jump... Talk about testing out the laws of motion! It was pretty cool.<br /><br />E. "The Common"<br />This wasn't really an exhibit, but it was a cool place to hang out! The well-designed and fun objects there included a chess set that had pieces almost as large as the children, and a projector shining butterflies onto the wall which would fly around and land on you!<br /><br />F. Johnny's Workbench <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnPOYBYYJCTeSnCyChBFeKve3SxkYk5DsGpcDRKqj1DFQBG6G_mcW9MalUYTMVtWLnpIuFozSx-PiZ1B8mmnbb0nVPtFqB7SXNvIgiXPCpLZRiM5bYG7T15AWPznzEj3IDwN8YBMEVh2A/s1600-h/hacksaw.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198585277621344066" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnPOYBYYJCTeSnCyChBFeKve3SxkYk5DsGpcDRKqj1DFQBG6G_mcW9MalUYTMVtWLnpIuFozSx-PiZ1B8mmnbb0nVPtFqB7SXNvIgiXPCpLZRiM5bYG7T15AWPznzEj3IDwN8YBMEVh2A/s200/hacksaw.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />I only began to do woodwork for the first time this semester, and these kids get to try it out at such a young age! These kids got to don miniature aprons and safety goggles and hack some wood apart, then build them into little boats. The tools they had access to included screwdrivers, files, hammers, and hacksaws (not kidding!).<br /><br />G. Construction Zone<br />This was a pretty fun exhibit. They had some actual construction machines, and plenty of things to climb on, build, and play around with.<br /><br />H. Boston Black<br />This was an exhibit dedicated to Boston's African American culture. Some parts of America still have a lot of racial tension, so it is good to see an exhibit designed to teach about black culture to children of such a young age.<br /><br />I. A Japanese House <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijh-MXKebEN5sOwDK_TcUP4mnVRiINTJBlsTmytA0fzyGgdSK75OFzs3IHH_IAMfyXzqb4W4-lBHB7XM9S__4iUQ1iFrl4czKIH3Yqoki5LTnTP9ATKQUDPP0oeCNs-7qeQXgzYzKeb5I/s1600-h/japanhouse.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198585281916311378" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijh-MXKebEN5sOwDK_TcUP4mnVRiINTJBlsTmytA0fzyGgdSK75OFzs3IHH_IAMfyXzqb4W4-lBHB7XM9S__4iUQ1iFrl4czKIH3Yqoki5LTnTP9ATKQUDPP0oeCNs-7qeQXgzYzKeb5I/s200/japanhouse.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Speaking of different cultures, check out this exhibit! Get this -- they have an actual house, shipped from Japan, in their museum. Cool!<br /><br />J. Recycle Shop<br />They sell all sorts of junk here, but the point is, it teaches children about recycling. It's great for children to learn about such an important topic early on.<br /><br />In short, this a museum in which I feel they got things right. There are a lot of elements which fit my definition of fun from my previous post. There is a lot of running around, climbing, building, and playing. In addition, they emphasize extremely important topics for young children: they cover exercise, eating right, different cultures, and recycling. It's just an awesome place!</div>Philip Chunghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09530967130987171095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269342668951214410.post-28711169141124187522008-05-09T20:15:00.000-07:002008-11-15T03:42:37.102-08:00Design for Fun -- The Healthiest Kids I Have Ever Seen<div>Some of the happiest memories of my life are in the kindergartens and elementary schools in Okinawa, Japan. Here, I was introduced to the healthiest kids that I have ever seen in my life.<br /></div><br /><div>The children are insane. They are fantastically cute, but they'll swarm and tackle you. Naturally, you counter by picking them up, tossing them sky-high, flipping them over, and spinning them around.<br /></div><br /><div>They are always running, and have an incredible amount of energy! I was in pretty good shape at the time, yet I would get outrun and left breathless by seven-year-old children in a game of tag.<br /></div><br /><div>The playground design was excellent. You reguarly saw things like 20-foot high slides that were ten feet wide and which were designed to be extremely low friction -- low enough that it wasn't possible to climb up the slide. The kids went down that thing fast! Yes, those are kindergarteners in that picture. </div><div><br /> </div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198583886051940082" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibWvNBAh_SGMknZZhT-qc-P-CJYV2B_SxQ7dtnqV5aPpJ-_l8Ewc6aYkaDrGp8dNzZvYS9Cn0za38yBC6sRDzcMXWm2IGyEtUxcUQ7qKAXjMfNAQDi7MBAPglCyC2O8fgIu6lt60Rpvgc/s320/slide.JPG" border="0" /><br /><div>These children had no fear. I recall a playground at another kindergarten which had 15-foot high poles going straight up in the air. Kids of six or seven would climb straight up, hang from the horizontal bar, and laugh.<br /></div><br /><div>These kids would really get into the games that we played. Take, for instance, a game of duck duck goose. It was hilarious for all of us everytime a kid slipped and sprawled and skid halfway accross the floor because he was going so fast.<br /></div><br /><div>The kids were also sweet and had a good sense of right and wrong. For instance, if you left your wallet full of cash somewhere, then they'd find you and bring it to you. They wouldn't even peek inside.<br /></div><br /><div>These kids listened to their teachers. As rowdy as they usually were, when it was time for class, they would sit down and pay attention.<br /></div><br /><div>These children were also the nicest childern I have ever met. At the ten kindergartens and two elementary schools I taught at, never once did I see a child treat another child unfairly. Isn't that amazing?<br /></div><br /><div>These were also the happiest children I have ever seen. Of the 750+ children who I taught, I recall one time, just once, when I saw a kid not smiling. She wasn't sad, she was just not smiling. In America, her expression would have passed as "normal". However, at the school, I saw during the couple hours I was there, a dozen classmates and several teachers ask her with a concerned look on their faces, "daijobou ka?"<br /></div><br /><div>I used to teach at two elementary schools as a high-school student in America. The children there were extremely sweet, but it also had a lot of elements that I found largely absent in Okinawa. For example, in Okinawa, there were far less children acting like they had ADD, there were far less children bullying others, and there were far less children who were overweight and eating fries. What a disparity!<br /></div><br /><div>Okinawa has one of the highest life expectancies in the world. This is attributed to, in part, the diet high in goya (bitter melon), seafood, and most deliciously, pork. However, I think it's also because the lifestyle that the children have here is really, really, really healthy. </div><div><br /> </div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198583890346907394" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn_Hw2m5_KHzWiF8GbWi0UDEjtMHCgJUpnVrOC2eBSfPTujen3MyuGhzv42dABjz_a3re0yhVg0qkmtamufYtI4UOUlthsfLFWepGiBUDG1TUEEV3rrLj9oFDPWIgwDshx35_r3CeGRlA/s320/swingset.JPG" border="0" /><br /><div>From Okinawa, I learned that happy is healthy, healthy is fun, and fun is happy. And I also learned (for a fact!) a number of things that are really really fun and happy and healthy:</div><div><br />- constantly running around</div><div>- constantly screaming</div><div>- constantly horsing around</div><div>- constantly being rowdy</div><div>- constantly being kids!</div>Philip Chunghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09530967130987171095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269342668951214410.post-14074549219327038902008-05-09T20:08:00.000-07:002008-11-15T03:42:37.280-08:00Sticky Ideas -- Sticky DSIn our lecture on sticky ideas, Steve Gold introduced stickiness not as an idea, but rather as a product. In other words, what makes an product sticky? I recall a product that was introduced to me several months ago, and which has stuck with me since:<br /><br /><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198581626899142370" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG6lJo22KtT10V7WjvTOE5sr_6_vizXMoFOIEu-BWbT5q9-WZJA52PX0p-o2rCouBM1IYDTp8-vGUhpXKZKiJ4SqozlC7eP4cx3gtwHArsgiyds_5WkBQ9tDH-6FfU_ZUQDv86u2JlreI/s320/nintendo_ds_lite.jpg" border="0" /><br /></p><p>Well, yes, it's just a Nintendo DS. But make sure to buy that hardware that allows you stick a 4 gigabyte mini-SD card in the thing and run whatever you want.<br /></p><p>What are some things that this set up can do? Let's see: </p><p>A. Emulate </p><p>Think about all your favorite DS games. Now imagine being able to load a whole bunch of them on a single cartriage and play them for free. I'm not condoning piracy, this is just what you could do if you wanted to. By downloading Brain Age, a Megaman game, and the new Advance Wars, you've more than recuperated the cost of the hardware. Next, think about how that was illegal as hell, and feel guilty about how you just screwed over all the game programmers and their families, you inconsiderate bastard! </p><p>Alternatively, you could download a bunch of freeware games instead.</p><p>B. Teach </p><p>There is a lot of homebrew software out there for teaching academic subjects. One very well-designed piece of software that was shown to me was a simple dictionary. It was smooth and easy to use. For instance, if I wrote down an Asian character on the touch screen, it would look up the definition in Chinese, look it up in Japanese, translate it to English, and pronounce it for you, if you so chose. </p><p>Another neat thing it could do was teach you actual subject matter. For instance, say you were trying to learn another language. It would explain the material, quiz you on the material, pronounce things for you, keep track of the things that you got wrong, go back to the things that you missed, and even give encouragement appropriately. The person who was showing me the product told me, in Chinese, "I felt that I was forgetting my Japanese, so I started using this Japanese program that teaches Korean." Yay, fun! </p><p>C. Instruct you on Cooking </p><p>Pick a recipe; or, search hundreds of recipes based on what ingredients you have available, the number of people you're serving, the amount of time you'll need to prep, etc. The DS will then go through, step by step, exactly what you needed to do for preparation and show you pictures and explanations on how to do it. The pictures are clear, and the product will even read the steps out loud to you. Everything is well ordered, so your carrots are chopped at the beginning and not right before you're hurrying to throw them in. Furthermore, your hands are probably busy, so you can just set the DS on the counter and voice-activate it. Just say, "next step", "repeat that", "louder", etc! Basically, it's just really well designed (if you like Japanese food, anyway). </p><p>In general, there are a number of things that I noticed that made the setup sticky. It was easy to use, it was useful, it was easy-to-use enough and useful enough so that you used it, it was hella personalized (the one that was shown to me was completely pink with a pink stylus and pink earphones). Furthermore, you loaded the applications that were personally useful (For instance, I'd probably have the Japanese - Chinese - English dictionary, but not the Korean or French ones). In the end, everything was so smooth with cute graphics and simple animations -- the thing just stuck with me. </p><p>Most of the apps are homebrew, so there is a pretty active community. I heard that high-schoolers in Japan would use it to study, because it's useful (and fun!). For those of you wondering about availability, to the best of my knowledge most of the programs are in Japanese, with English being the second most common.<br />In any case, I want one! </p>Philip Chunghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09530967130987171095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269342668951214410.post-40370027794535800882008-05-09T19:29:00.000-07:002008-11-15T03:42:38.252-08:00Introduction to Vital Ideation -- NotetakingStarting about two years ago, I began to experiment out of neccessity with various methods of taking notes. I had a job that could be tricky at times, hundreds of contacts to keep track of, and a dozen little things that changed every day which I needed to pay careful attention to. I did have access to many of the tools that seem to be so familar to Olin College students: namely, email and outlook calendar. However, I often needed to be able to keep track of events while I was on the move, and it was usually a bad idea to bring a laptop along.<br /><br />The following are my experiences with but a few of methods with which I played around with:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.43folders.com/2004/09/03/introducing-the-hipster-pda">A. Hipster PDA</a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSfun3nEeHQoZbNOcp2W8d1uHPXtNx28lLQMHiLpHvEX2vCZgBAnb-UnQoUzVpEcKvJhs4F2EDYuKBeFfR63IE-yZDTuHfmtS1LHYy3b6gKW_rFVCBP7GCZai3twp8NKOQbe2IkSUGPrU/s1600-h/hipsterpda.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198578079256155778" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSfun3nEeHQoZbNOcp2W8d1uHPXtNx28lLQMHiLpHvEX2vCZgBAnb-UnQoUzVpEcKvJhs4F2EDYuKBeFfR63IE-yZDTuHfmtS1LHYy3b6gKW_rFVCBP7GCZai3twp8NKOQbe2IkSUGPrU/s200/hipsterpda.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The Hipster PDA is a cult classic among GTD fans, but I found it not to my liking. I couldn't stand the bulkiness, and, quite surprisingly, I found that access just took too long. Do you know how long it takes to remove that little binder-clip? I gave up on mine within a week.<br /><br />B. Small Notebook<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8FawHZ9QOZKjb5mbpYg_vkQLhmBxBOuNTYTFR2ocSE2wsdZF5KzW0JKqjliXkXdvktEVioQqRPSH1psWOZub-Ygx7WI2m6yJysVME9NcAv5z8FW8AlmOSv39p5A4ez2rLKvHowdFVLRs/s1600-h/P1030004.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198578938249614994" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8FawHZ9QOZKjb5mbpYg_vkQLhmBxBOuNTYTFR2ocSE2wsdZF5KzW0JKqjliXkXdvktEVioQqRPSH1psWOZub-Ygx7WI2m6yJysVME9NcAv5z8FW8AlmOSv39p5A4ez2rLKvHowdFVLRs/s200/P1030004.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I use these to keep track of contacts. When I went to volunteer activities before coming to Olin, I would bring my notebook with me. It was great for collecting people's contact information! I got this one after I moved into the area this year -- hopefully, it will be a lot more full after this summer!<br /><br />C. Post-Its<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsUtF923uZnMGfcqUJ_ayVLscVVXKRo1lFnWyY6EawHtGca9UGmCLc077D4qEDnP9_kmHnD8-ZKAag9UE4teBgTiyqZTxo46N2XlDbDgO6oFmB_b9sI_yX77Frl_4Vh3Y5cby7bAzrvMA/s1600-h/stickynotes.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198578942544582306" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsUtF923uZnMGfcqUJ_ayVLscVVXKRo1lFnWyY6EawHtGca9UGmCLc077D4qEDnP9_kmHnD8-ZKAag9UE4teBgTiyqZTxo46N2XlDbDgO6oFmB_b9sI_yX77Frl_4Vh3Y5cby7bAzrvMA/s200/stickynotes.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br />So, the picture is kinda how I use them nowadays... Anyway, these were extremely convenient back in the day when I had to work with a phone and a desk. They were perfect for taking quick notes, and you could stick them in visible places or on relevant papers and organize them in whatever way you wished. However, when you were on the move, I found the next method to by much more handy:<br /><br />D. Index Cards<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm3zpai13JcUDDej6plmANvdqBtJhqo9vfpOv6L4sdVf25ateboNl5T6aDIaFeqXCmmcLuFLaP-WBYghnXxyRHmwTqYU7pwBGMmAawZ4ioyHQ8LDV9kD2tjGuZan-g5sMiS82LlEdH4lk/s1600-h/P1020999.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198578951134516914" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm3zpai13JcUDDej6plmANvdqBtJhqo9vfpOv6L4sdVf25ateboNl5T6aDIaFeqXCmmcLuFLaP-WBYghnXxyRHmwTqYU7pwBGMmAawZ4ioyHQ8LDV9kD2tjGuZan-g5sMiS82LlEdH4lk/s200/P1020999.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Unlike Post-It Notes, which will fall apart in your pocket, index cards are durable enough to repeatedly stuff in your trousers and take with you on the go. They are the perfect size, and fold up nicely as well. Back in the day, I used to keep them attached with a pencil as shown in the photograph. These are extremely handy and easy to access for the dozen times a day when I had to jot down a note. As things got done and I crossed them off, or when everything just got too messy, I would copy the relevant information into the computer, into a notebook, or onto another index card.<br /><br />E. Design Notebook<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKSkenyJjDHekDdazO7HmQdiutU10ikIoG6O5OX4HGKyH6Wyq-vf1eNHq9Nuc9LlKF3kix9S8BzDPKM1s5_NYG-M1w_-5T6VwW74NEPWNw5-82OuDqdPZOdKQ8SJI2ifXa9yuGHb_oqHs/s1600-h/P1030003.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198578959724451522" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKSkenyJjDHekDdazO7HmQdiutU10ikIoG6O5OX4HGKyH6Wyq-vf1eNHq9Nuc9LlKF3kix9S8BzDPKM1s5_NYG-M1w_-5T6VwW74NEPWNw5-82OuDqdPZOdKQ8SJI2ifXa9yuGHb_oqHs/s200/P1030003.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This is a relatively new note-taking method for me; I only started using it last semester in Design Nature. I used it to write, sketch, and design, and I had all my notes in one place, which ultimately saved a lot of time. I ended up liking my design notebook so much, that I filled the whole thing up partway through the second project! However, this item doesn't seem like the type of thing that was especially convenient to use to just jot things down whenever; rather, it was much better to use as something to take with you to an empty classroom at four in the morning when it's nice and quiet to just sit down and work. Nevertheless, for this course, I carried my notebook with me wherever I went and jotted town ideas when they came up.<br /><br />Now that I am at Olin college, my laptop usually follows wherever I go. Nonetheless, I find that I still prefer to keep track of a lot of things with the methods that saved my life. The non-electronic methods are simply irreplaceable -- the ability to sketch, the speed with which you can jot things down and convey ideas, the lack of start-up time, the fact that you don't run out of power, the replacability, the feel of pencil on paper, and the ability to sort and organize in a hands-on fashion -- these are reasons why I prefer to take notes the way I do.Philip Chunghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09530967130987171095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269342668951214410.post-43140901263047357372008-05-09T19:15:00.000-07:002008-05-09T19:25:33.468-07:00The Best 10 Video and Television Ads<h2>10. Pepsi Jimi Hendrix “Phew that was a close one”</h2><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ao6JntNIPHc&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ao6JntNIPHc&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><ul><br /> <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao6JntNIPHc">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao6JntNIPHc</a></li><br /> <li>In 2004, Pepsi socked it big time at one of the largest commercial rivalries on the planet. Little Jimi Hendrix at age 11 equally spaced between the coke machine and the pepsi machine. Definitely shows the product, and makes excellent play off of the well known coke-pepsi rivalry. Also very funny. Doesn’t directly pitch the products, but ads a lots of “between the line” commentary that the viewer extrapolates from the short.</li><br /></ul><br /><h2>9. FedEx “Carrier Pigeons”</h2><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pFGq0j4u15s&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pFGq0j4u15s&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><ul><br /> <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFGq0j4u15s">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFGq0j4u15s</a></li><br /> <li>FedEx has lately had relatively large success with its most recent advertising campaigns. This commercial starts off mildly interesting as the man explain carrier pigeons to his bewildered boss. As the commercial progresses, it just gets more and more ridiculous until he explains how “big packages” are handled. At that point hilarity ensues. FedEx did an excellent job of mixing humor with their underlying message of responsible, efficient delivery systems.</li><br /></ul><br /><h2>8. Don’t squeeze the charmin.</h2><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0Bl9uwFiXFY&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0Bl9uwFiXFY&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><ul><br /> <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bl9uwFiXFY">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bl9uwFiXFY</a></li><br /> <li>1960s advertising at its finest. “Don’t Squeeze the Charmin” practically invented reverse psychology and to this day is still joked about (and even used in modern Charmin commercials). A little before my time, but still a classic that deserves to be on this list.</li><br /></ul><br /><h2>7. 2000 E-Trade “Wasted 2 Million Bucks”</h2><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BnQMq5wtZcg&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BnQMq5wtZcg&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><ul><br /> <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnQMq5wtZcg">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnQMq5wtZcg</a></li><br /> <li>Okay, this commercial is just plain funny. I mean there’s a monkey dancing and two really out of beat guys playing along. Beneath this very simple humor, however, is a grand story about dot-coms at the turn of the millennium. The dot-com fever in silicon valley ran so high that venture capital money was flowing by the millions from all corners of the street. This ad represented the epitome of one of the big dot-coms of the day. The complete divergence from a “normal” advertisement ensures that it catches your attention and the monkey with the etrade logo definitely gets the name out there. For those in tune with the times, people caught on to the underlying message.</li><br /></ul><br /><h2>6. 2001 E-Trade “Chimp on a Horse”</h2><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ONZFkqzuMjI&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ONZFkqzuMjI&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><ul><br /> <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONZFkqzuMjI">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONZFkqzuMjI</a></li><br /> <li>This one directly is intentionally placed right next to the 2000 E-Trade commercial. These two commercials actually say a lot about the time from which they represent. The chimp on a horse passes by the shadows of the dot coms after the bubble burst to the sound of dreary music and a ghost-town like scene. Then just to sum it up at the end, a sock puppet lands in front of the monkey who starts to cry. That sock puppet was a play at the iconic logo of pets.com. In 2000 pets.com had millions of startup money and flopped when the bubble burst. Once again, has e-trade’s logo prominent and makes a great 1-liner punch at the end: “Invest Wisely.”</li><br /></ul><br /><h2>5. Budweiser “Whassup” (Original 1999)</h2><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/W16qzZ7J5YQ&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/W16qzZ7J5YQ&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><ul><br /> <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W16qzZ7J5YQ">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W16qzZ7J5YQ</a></li><br /> <li>WHASSSSSUP!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Need I say more?</li><br /></ul><br /><h2>4. Budweiser “What are YOU doing?”</h2><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/K7iv7VNTkEA&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/K7iv7VNTkEA&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><ul><br /> <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7iv7VNTkEA">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7iv7VNTkEA</a></li><br /> <li>This was the Budweiser making fun of itself in an incredibly masterful way and creating one of the funniest cultural phenomenons that made the Whassup campaign only more successful. The original whassup campaign made characters doing something so completely outlandish that it instantly became an aspect of pop culture. After some continued pushing by Budweiser, most notably the “What are YOU doing” ad, they secured “whassup” forever in the popular culture dictionary. And yet, they also successfully placed the actual product at the critical beginning and end of the ad. “Watching the game, having a bud” is also associated with this cultural masterpiece.</li><br /></ul><br /><h2>3. Dove “Evolution”</h2><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/iYhCn0jf46U&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/iYhCn0jf46U&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><ul><br /> <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U</a></li><br /> <li>This exceptional video made by Dove as part of their “Campaign for Real Beauty” is a masterpiece of a film and became an instant internet phenomenon. While not directly advertising any product, they ad conveys a very well executed and powerful message that made itself well known in the online community. It even spun off a lot of parodies. One of them is done almost as well as the original. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-kSZsvBY-A&NR=1">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-kSZsvBY-A&NR=1</a></li><br /></ul><br /><h2>2. Microsoft redigns the ipod</h2><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/aeXAcwriid0&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/aeXAcwriid0&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><ul><br /> <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeXAcwriid0">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeXAcwriid0</a></li><br /> <li>This isn’t necessarily a widely televised ad per say, but it is still an effective marking gimmick that became instantaneously successful on the internet. This video is actually written by the Microsoft internal graphic design department as a “what not to do” video. It was done so darn well that it makes a powerful, yet extremely entertaining statement about the two companies. Great music, really good design, and funny comments easily place this on my list</li><br /></ul><br /><h2>1. 1984 Apple Macintosh Commercial </h2><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OYecfV3ubP8&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OYecfV3ubP8&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><ul><br /> <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8</a></li><br /> <li>A lot of hype, an excellent theme, and some great cinematography is what puts this one on the top of my list. This is probably one of the most famous ads of all time and demonstrates a dark fantasy that George Orwell + Ridley Scott can do so well. From a design perspective, this ad is visually powerful and emotional. The dramatic contrast between the sporty female hero and the bleak oppressing Orwellian background is subsequently imbued upon the release of a computer system. Extremely effective subconscious branding. No product is being pitched here. No slogan is being said. Just a really cool commercial</li><br /></ul>Evan Morikawahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07939216258485938020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269342668951214410.post-17735044551044478622008-05-09T19:12:00.000-07:002008-11-15T03:42:38.489-08:00Ownership in the 3rd WorldShortly after Presdient Miller came to talk with us, I had a chance to speak with some representatives of the World Bank.<span style=""> </span>They came to Olin to hear about how we built our school from the ground up, because they were interested in doing the same thing in 3<sup>rd</sup> world countries.<span style=""> </span>The <a href="http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTEDUCATION/0,,contentMDK:20298183%7EmenuPK:617592%7EpagePK:148956%7EpiPK:216618%7EtheSitePK:282386,00.html">World Bank initiatives in higher education</a> were set up to establish tertiary education institutions all over the world in 3<sup>rd</sup> world and developing countries.<span style=""> </span>Throughout this meeting, the one principal that stood out to me most was the concept of ownership that we had discussed many times before throughout vital ideation.<p ><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_GEpdORnKLzAcAPne9SCQkK0Qroy3r7Wkw0TZM2h7t1h2EbzsJ6J17-fdu5Bs5xS-LTcwDQ9_cNabUpa67i7ZDntqQaoRXgIbvRpvwaidGbIEpppg7V-dGF_HlxnP87N2XkXlfNzwzhGz/s1600-h/World_Bank_Logo.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_GEpdORnKLzAcAPne9SCQkK0Qroy3r7Wkw0TZM2h7t1h2EbzsJ6J17-fdu5Bs5xS-LTcwDQ9_cNabUpa67i7ZDntqQaoRXgIbvRpvwaidGbIEpppg7V-dGF_HlxnP87N2XkXlfNzwzhGz/s200/World_Bank_Logo.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198566679010818482" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" spt="75" preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f"> <v:stroke joinstyle="miter"> <v:formulas> <v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"> <v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"> <v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"> <v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"> <v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"> <v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"> <v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"> <v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"> </v:f> <v:path extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" connecttype="rect"> <o:lock ext="edit" aspectratio="t"> </o:lock><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_19" spid="_x0000_i1026" type="#_x0000_t75" style="width: 135.75pt; height: 135.75pt; visibility: visible;"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CEMORIK%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_image001.png" title=""> </v:imagedata></v:shape></v:path></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:formulas></v:stroke></v:shapetype></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I also remember when we were talking to Presdient Miller how he commented on the great sense of ownership that one feels in the establishment of our school.<span style=""> </span>When we have this sentiment in place, everyone feels like they are a part of the system and each in turn contribute a large amount of effort and energy back into the school.<span style=""> </span>While this is partly due to the fact that we are new, small, and filled with a unique brand of people, the concept of involvement through ownership is still something relatively universal.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The parallel that I saw most between Olin and World Bank funded colleges elsewhere in the world is that if students can be involved in feeling like they can actively contribute to the foundation of the institution, then they can create a continual sense of ownership as it evolves.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The principals of ownership in the 3<sup>rd</sup> world also extend beyond universities.<span style=""> </span>I think that one of the reasons that many NGOs and free-stuff campaigns in 3<sup>rd</sup> world nations don’t perform as well as they should is because of an inherent lack of accountability and ownership.<span style=""> </span>For example, for a long time, major AIDS campaigns in Africa were devoted to delivering large amounts of free condoms to people.<span style=""> </span>One problem was that since they were free, the condoms were valueless.<span style=""> </span>If those condoms, however, have a small amount of value attached to them, then even though they are still near free, they still have some value associated with them.<span style=""> </span>People buy those condoms with a little bit of their own money and suddenly own them.<span style=""> </span>Giving away free things is not necessarily an effective way of engaging people.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">This principal of ownership is another reason why I think that entrepreneurial ventures in the small scale are a great way to help promote growth in 3<sup>rd</sup> world countries.<span style=""> </span>Business over there does not mean starting a multi-national food chain; rather it means starting a small corner-side shop, or providing a needed serves and capitalizing on it.<span style=""> </span>This provides not only a stimulus to an impoverished economy, but also instills a sense of ownership in the many business owners of these many small businesses.<span style=""> </span>Once they have a vested interest in something that they own and care about, they are far more likely to make a more dedicated and positive contribution towards their cause.</p><p ><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHbBHmmTu-fjRX9QgiqV0-i5cDCc_u9Jl08GQdbA15HkosNgl4w79xXzMXWYLN5XhLka7Pk6QAjoIfIsivgpPlP64lnEtNHpG8c6KR9PQFsCtVj6QV7qyoSGPQ-brB_galcAAZcnMVqeTw/s1600-h/Official_BGOE_logo_1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHbBHmmTu-fjRX9QgiqV0-i5cDCc_u9Jl08GQdbA15HkosNgl4w79xXzMXWYLN5XhLka7Pk6QAjoIfIsivgpPlP64lnEtNHpG8c6KR9PQFsCtVj6QV7qyoSGPQ-brB_galcAAZcnMVqeTw/s200/Official_BGOE_logo_1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198566794974935490" border="0" /></a></p> <p ><span style=""><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_22" spid="_x0000_i1025" type="#_x0000_t75" style="width: 239.25pt; height: 95.25pt; visibility: visible;"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CEMORIK%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_image002.png" title=""> </v:imagedata></v:shape></span></p> <p >This is the message that the Babson Global Outreach through Entrepreneurship tries to convey with their trips to third world countries.<span style=""> </span>Their mission is dedicated around instilling entrepreneurial spirit into places such as Uganda or Sri Lanka.</p> <p >Whether it be a new college in Needham Massachusetts, USA, or a home-made jewelry stand in Mozambique, having ownership in a shared creation can be a powerful motivator to inspiring individuals and producing positive results.</p>Evan Morikawahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07939216258485938020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269342668951214410.post-86672018204071521452008-05-09T19:08:00.000-07:002008-11-15T03:42:39.055-08:00Video Games: The Epitome of Fun?Barry Kurdowitz, the MIT Toy Professor, came to talk to us, he identified various areas that make something a toy and make something fun.<span style=""> </span>He identified a toy product as something designed to function primarily for play.<span style=""> </span>Furthermore, there were various aspects that identified types of play.<span style=""> </span>The ones that Barry used were sensory, fantasy, construction and challenge.<span style=""> </span>He then went on to identify that these four attributes could be almost used as the axis of a graph to identify how various toys were used and perceived. <p class="MsoNormal">As Barry was talking about these various aspects, the examples he used were very distinctly physical and tangible toys.<span style=""> </span>They included everything from dolls to Nerf guns to a cardboard box.<span style=""> </span>For some reason he very briefly mentioned the realm of video games, but these electronic forms of entertainment were definitely not the focus of his presentation.<span style=""> </span>While I think that Barry was right to not include the market of video games into his presentation, I believe that this can-of-worms is revolutionary in the fact that many video games exemplify everything that Barry defined to be “fun.”</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The video game industry is an enormous international market with many different outlets.<span style=""> </span>The NPD group reported that the video game industry was worth on the order of $10 billion.<span style=""> </span>When I look at many of the extremely popular video games, I see many of them masterfully encompassing nearly all of Barry’s four qualities that he talked about.<span style=""> </span>For example, look at the Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG).<span style=""> </span>There are an estimated 16 million subscribers for all MMORPGs, of that about 10 million are subscribed to the extraordinarily popular World of Warcraft series.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjngEUmElPtPbungU1xIZvKPB14na9aFNcnGzQEQi_2uVpYPanqtUu56ArSr_jilui0hJ-izXG7xo1esNeD_SOyuK74yhf2DZjSX-yCnUfcOCSNZ6EL2zZhsd0MoDYO6drK24MrgT6bU9mz/s1600-h/WoW_Box_Art1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 202px; height: 202px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjngEUmElPtPbungU1xIZvKPB14na9aFNcnGzQEQi_2uVpYPanqtUu56ArSr_jilui0hJ-izXG7xo1esNeD_SOyuK74yhf2DZjSX-yCnUfcOCSNZ6EL2zZhsd0MoDYO6drK24MrgT6bU9mz/s320/WoW_Box_Art1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198565691168340338" border="0" /></a><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" spt="75" preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f"> <v:stroke joinstyle="miter"> <v:formulas> <v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"> <v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"> <v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"> <v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"> <v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"> <v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"> <v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"> <v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"> </v:f> <v:path extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" connecttype="rect"> <o:lock ext="edit" aspectratio="t"> </o:lock><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_16" spid="_x0000_i1028" type="#_x0000_t75" style="width: 150.75pt; height: 150.75pt; visibility: visible;"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CEMORIK%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_image001.png" title=""> </v:imagedata></v:shape></v:path></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:formulas></v:stroke></v:shapetype></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The common thread between many of these MMORPGs is that your avatar enters a massive world with millions of other players and embarks on social and self-enhancing quests.<span style=""> </span>These games are extraordinarily sensory with rich visuals and sound.<span style=""> </span>They have enormous degrees of fantasy as magical kingdoms or far off space battles unfold.<span style=""> </span>They are highly constructive as players spend enormous amounts of time building their optimal character.<span style=""> </span>They are finally very challenging as players are faced with increasingly more difficult tasks to encounter.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">From the perspective of sensory, fantasy, construction, and challenge, video games such as MMORPGs should be one of the most “fun” things you can do.<span style=""> </span>To an extent, this is true for some people as World of Warcraft is notorious for being overly addictive and destroying lives.<span style=""> </span>However, if video games are the ultimate of “fun,” then why aren’t there more people playing video games?</p> <p class="MsoNormal">This question is an extremely controversial one that can argued forever.<span style=""> </span>However, I think that there are few very significant factors that prevent things like MMORPGs from becoming the ultimate in “fun.”<span style=""> </span>First of all, there are lots of social stigmas placed against many video games.<span style=""> </span>While many people may find World of Warcraft “fun,” most of them may not be inclined to partake in the activity in the first place.<span style=""> </span>Even though there are video games that encompass many different fields and many different subjects, many people are still adverse to the concept of drawing their entertainment from a video screen.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXVH70SwT0V5I8QQGN0HW-UKk1t3wubRx9YqLrurv3reNjteuebDbCwFt1mXCWuWI6R0Zj7JyIuRLHmikDk0t9T3N5ockN2zAfm0MCtmM4Pnd-zDzwCH3xg_Tgd2uDyVf0V41XxV5e-k2a/s1600-h/CherryMarlin-788842.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXVH70SwT0V5I8QQGN0HW-UKk1t3wubRx9YqLrurv3reNjteuebDbCwFt1mXCWuWI6R0Zj7JyIuRLHmikDk0t9T3N5ockN2zAfm0MCtmM4Pnd-zDzwCH3xg_Tgd2uDyVf0V41XxV5e-k2a/s200/CherryMarlin-788842.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198565854377097602" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi94WF_vrbYVJ5eK-15nDDFWpkWFtBmEkkA9JpttqsnKg_rnEJeqPPTfz1edsdBUsiaPs1FptkDgaY6EwAJ8iCcPR8xliGNJMKWsM7TzW4cvbI6p-S9NBtDvQZLj7PL9fZJyKROV4ggHTtt/s1600-h/wii.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi94WF_vrbYVJ5eK-15nDDFWpkWFtBmEkkA9JpttqsnKg_rnEJeqPPTfz1edsdBUsiaPs1FptkDgaY6EwAJ8iCcPR8xliGNJMKWsM7TzW4cvbI6p-S9NBtDvQZLj7PL9fZJyKROV4ggHTtt/s200/wii.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198565931686508946" border="0" /></a><br /><span style=""> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_10" spid="_x0000_i1027" type="#_x0000_t75" style="width: 345pt; height: 208.5pt; visibility: visible;"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CEMORIK%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_image002.png" title=""> </v:imagedata></v:shape></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">This leads to another very interesting limitation in video games.<span style=""> </span>For the most part, they are not tangible things. <span style=""> </span>One crucial aspect about “fun” activities is having a tangible object to interact with.<span style=""> </span>The idea of interacting with a mouse and keyboard is unappealing to many, but when the Wii introduced a whole new way of tangible interaction, an entirely new market of gamers was born.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_13" spid="_x0000_i1025" type="#_x0000_t75" style="width: 246.75pt; height: 208.5pt; visibility: visible;"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CEMORIK%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_image004.png" title=""> </v:imagedata></v:shape></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Now what if we could take this abstraction to a whole new level in the future?</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJK3zqJ-2xTVP0Y3V6x9G9AKxF1tRymxq8VEt4uH5eCIRo5v0rWgcLDXv-U4LvW20fOOlFdYj8CVHwuarDHGBsU7kaXZCVWz_LKFjJ0ynSxOAMyd3CRtwTEKezvUthKUQeJX-WEpMR-TCW/s1600-h/holodeck-ed.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJK3zqJ-2xTVP0Y3V6x9G9AKxF1tRymxq8VEt4uH5eCIRo5v0rWgcLDXv-U4LvW20fOOlFdYj8CVHwuarDHGBsU7kaXZCVWz_LKFjJ0ynSxOAMyd3CRtwTEKezvUthKUQeJX-WEpMR-TCW/s200/holodeck-ed.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198566051945593250" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal">What if the games we played were extremely tangible?<span style=""> </span>Imagine a video game that had the richness and depth as a modern MMORPG but could become something that was extremely real and tangible.<span style=""> </span>This is starting to sound a lot like a “Holodeck” from Star Trek or other similar science fiction show.<span style=""> </span>However, this is one of the reasons why I think a true holodeck is a very bad idea.<span style=""> </span>If we made something that could tangibl fulfill our sensory, challenging, and constructive fantasies, then would we have something that was too fun.<span style=""> </span>Would the addition to something this fun be overwhelming to society?<span style=""> </span>Luckily, nothing like a holodeck exists…. Yet.</p>Evan Morikawahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07939216258485938020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269342668951214410.post-50487131999885016702008-05-09T19:00:00.000-07:002008-11-15T03:42:39.558-08:00Modern Art<h2>Kandid's Gallery:</h2><p>The images shown here are true works of modern art pulled directly from metropolitan museum of modern art. They are all works by one eclectic artist named Kandid. Imagine each of these paintings framed on well-lit wall. Imagine the plush benches and the midst of minimalist spaces with people slowly passing from painting to painting. Imagine people in hushed tones conversing about their perceived perceptions of these intricate images. “Where do these colors come from?” “Are they abstract representations of a bleak and sordid life of the artist interwoven amongst the faint outline of a flawless circle – a circle representing a flawless harmony found within the simple color palette?” When put in this kind of setting, and perspective, these small thumbnails come alive. They suddenly are more than various colored pixels, they are expressions of humanity – they are art. When I look at these images, I can see a carefully constructed human decision to express meaning and message with these colors, shapes and patterns. In the perspectives of modern art, they are very interesting and common examples of abstractness of human emotions, thoughts, scenes, and desires.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwYtPyXKxawoIUFCUK3RJnScpOCtARrbCL6h0RzTmsn2T2TuFi5l808ndx3fqhond3Th1FC8uA0DUv1rjRx3YpHSrISAh2c86EGY5z_zMvtaKhvYg8u8O4es9NC5r_ZaIufSEJG3rgdlsg/s1600-h/kandid3.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwYtPyXKxawoIUFCUK3RJnScpOCtARrbCL6h0RzTmsn2T2TuFi5l808ndx3fqhond3Th1FC8uA0DUv1rjRx3YpHSrISAh2c86EGY5z_zMvtaKhvYg8u8O4es9NC5r_ZaIufSEJG3rgdlsg/s320/kandid3.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198564797815142754" border="0" /></a></p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrFQQT4OseA5sSBkMfI1-mUTF6hJhvO6l0SGmUnIv39bGeVyNIp2jMU2sRjEoi9PnGl_bKtIX7pJj3Dl6Eb-AZ_om-9RA_FHFB1QnVM7q0A-vkF60qKETV1-2plkAF2LxKBIHMw93_arV_/s1600-h/kandid1.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrFQQT4OseA5sSBkMfI1-mUTF6hJhvO6l0SGmUnIv39bGeVyNIp2jMU2sRjEoi9PnGl_bKtIX7pJj3Dl6Eb-AZ_om-9RA_FHFB1QnVM7q0A-vkF60qKETV1-2plkAF2LxKBIHMw93_arV_/s320/kandid1.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198564583066777922" border="0" /></a></p><p>Even though these paintings seem abstract, the carefully selected combinations of colors, lines, and patterns serve a purpose to the whole of the painting. They represent the optimal point in the artist’s ultimate creative vision. Just know something about the artist, Kandid, I know that every single stroke and line is there for a purpose. When you know that every gradient and curve has thought, intention, and purpose, we begin to realize that seemingly random patterns in these images may not be random at all. This only exemplifies our appreciation for the artistic mastery of Kandid’s art pieces and justify the hubbub they are creating on the stark walls of this world-renowned art gallery.</p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ns8HwZ9v7kSfrvtG9u2tn9KzU5Ylir4ue52eMtaT3bHoAEyucTQVZzfzy_RDhyI5YcoTXNUiSfwYOJakiAZjgfprvXwRSjg3CzDEPIZTY_8jp7UGl3NyCFyS-aaOS1jxQNx7ihHfESxF/s1600-h/kandid2.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ns8HwZ9v7kSfrvtG9u2tn9KzU5Ylir4ue52eMtaT3bHoAEyucTQVZzfzy_RDhyI5YcoTXNUiSfwYOJakiAZjgfprvXwRSjg3CzDEPIZTY_8jp7UGl3NyCFyS-aaOS1jxQNx7ihHfESxF/s320/kandid2.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198564703325862226" border="0" /></a></p><p>Now please, before reading on, take a few moments to look at these works yourself. Take some time to analyze what Kandid was trying to convey with these three different and unique pieces. Talk about what it means to you and what you think it meant to Kandid.</p><h2>The Art is in the Maker:</h2><p>I think it’s now time to talk a little bit about Kandid, the artist that I’ve been raving about for the past few paragraphs. Kandid is probably one of the most unusual artists whose pieces you will analyze for their detail and intricate nature. Kandid actually has a webpage here: <a href="http://kandid.sourceforge.net/index.html">http://kandid.sourceforge.net/index.html</a> . As I’m sure you’re aware of by now, Kandid is not human at all. In fact, it is a very sophisticated computer program that utilizes a new hot piece of computer science technology known as genetic algorithms. From the website:</p><blockquote>“Kandid is a system to evolve graphics. Graphics, in Kandid, is not drawn by hand. Instead new forms can be found using genetic algorithms. To achieve this aim Kandid simulates evolution using sexual reproduction and populations. But there is no fitness function inside the program. Only the user decide which images are interesting."</blockquote><p>To simulate evolution Kandid uses crossing over, mutation, populations and has a gene data base. Image calculation is based on Lisp like expressions, Iterated Function Systems (IFS), Linear Cellular Automata (LCA), Voroni diagrams, Lindenmayer Systems (L-systems), and layered textures renderd by Persistence of Vision”</p><h2>Ecomimicry:</h2><p>The question I rhetorically ask now is “Are Kandid’s productions Art? Can Kandid mimic human expression through art?” It is true that Kandid put a lot of “thought” into the color of every pixel and the direction of every line. Furthermore, Kandid used a process that is inherently very biological. Evolutionary and genetic algorithms rely on the process that got humans to where they are today. No two paintings will be exactly alike, just as no two biological offspring will be exactly alike. Each of the drawings that Kandid’s algorithms produced is unique and one of a kind. Can we say that Kandid did in fact create something unique?</p><p>While these may be just images and our minds may be relatively resolved one way or another, I also want to pose the question of what happens when our computer algorithms begin to mimic ecological functions such as evolution and genetics on a scale many orders of magnitude more complex than they are today. If a computer’s mimicry of nature approaches perfection, and we can no longer distinguish the end product of the two, then how do we determine ecology from ecomimicry?</p>Evan Morikawahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07939216258485938020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269342668951214410.post-86721360969316195772008-05-09T18:57:00.001-07:002008-11-15T03:42:39.855-08:00What's happening to play?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_852CsEPQN6STGgLcUVnvohP-dZ9P2Yt2nUEodbr12EIvZ3zVlwliMKf_Fx352wVFbPwBZBeA6MUe8Zh4OKIKe194Vj6-ZRFFm5ixC2FlFXNrcYJsSEi6hzRzUuD9LbFX3_ou0HOqR3A/s1600-h/babybox.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_852CsEPQN6STGgLcUVnvohP-dZ9P2Yt2nUEodbr12EIvZ3zVlwliMKf_Fx352wVFbPwBZBeA6MUe8Zh4OKIKe194Vj6-ZRFFm5ixC2FlFXNrcYJsSEi6hzRzUuD9LbFX3_ou0HOqR3A/s320/babybox.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198564576215830162" border="0" /></a><br /><p class="MsoNormal">What’s happening to play?</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Here’s a cool idea: give your kid a box. It’ll keep her entertained. And guess what? It’s cheap! </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" spt="75" preferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f"> <v:stroke joinstyle="miter"> <v:formulas> <v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"> <v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"> <v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"> <v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"> <v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"> <v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"> <v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"> <v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"> </v:formulas> <v:path extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" connecttype="rect"> <o:lock ext="edit" aspectratio="t"> </v:shapetype><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_1" spid="_x0000_s1026" type="#_x0000_t75" style="'position:absolute;margin-left:1.5pt;margin-top:.1pt;width:190.3pt;"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\AOlsen\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.png" title=""> <w:wrap type="square"> </v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->The interesting thing about toys is that kids have no say really in what gets bought. Parents make the final call on all purchases. And parents buy things <i style="">they</i> think are cool. Depending on a parent, a kid might get educational toys, or maybe they’ll get something outrageous and loud.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The thing about kids is that they’re really creative. Kids all over the place love to play with simple things like boxes, so why do we spend so much money on toys?</p> <p class="MsoNormal">This questions hits pretty close to home for me since I have two sisters ages 4 and 9. I know it wasn’t too long ago, but when I was a kid, my sister and I kept each other company. We designed elaborate worlds with our friends to play our games in. One of my friends and I spent countless hours digging a hole in her backyard (in hopes of making a fort.) Every time we had a play date we’d dig deeper, for about a year. Somehow this kept us entertained. It must have made things easy on her parents too! And remembering all of this, I can’t remember a single toy that I used to be attached to. I had a calculator that I’d play with, and maybe a few plush animals. I remember playing with Hot Wheels and Polly Pockets occasionally, but mostly with things like Lego’s, Tinker Toys, and K’nex. Maybe this toy list for me happens to reflect my gravitation toward engineering, but I also feel like the toys I used to play with were things that let me be creative. Sure, K’nex gave me a little book to start off with, but after that I could just build whatever I imagined. And I never had trouble keeping myself amused. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The worst thing I can remember as a kid was running errands at Home Depot. This store was designed for people fixing up their homes-the last thing a kid wants to do. My sister and I used to go to the paint section together and play with all the different colors. After that we’d look at the countertop tile samples. We’d try to collect as many as we could every time we went. It was a game to try and remember how many we already had, and not to take too many that the man at the counter noticed. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">So what’s wrong with the toys today? They’re educational, aren’t they?</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Honestly, I can’t stand them. Maybe I’m idealistic about my childhood, but I see my sisters today who start whining as soon as they are apart from their Gameboys and Pokémon cards. I’ll usually try to suggest a game to them, but to no avail. They need something to keep them entertained. And this worries me a little. I guess it stands out because I can see the difference so clearly between my childhood and my little sisters, only about 10 years apart. I guess what bothers me about it is that as we (the toymakers) define a world more and more for these kids to play in, this leaves less and less room for the kids to imagine. And when you can get online and go to Neopets.com or to webkinz.com, why bother using your imagination? It’s all right there in front of you.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Play has transformed from some creative, fun interaction to some now form of managing assets given to you online, or playing by someone else’s rules. This is still play, but it’s radically different from my definition of play. I know this doesn’t tie into the idea of design too much, but my point here is that there’s an art to designing for fun. And that lies in the ability to create something that children can interact with in a way that allows them to fully be themselves, not something that constrains them to operating inside some outwardly defined criteria.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269342668951214410.post-3190790723033778462008-05-09T18:06:00.001-07:002008-11-15T03:42:40.857-08:00Teaching + Digital Communications = Multidisciplinary Fusion!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhaBwIVUnEv2x8y2DA1FOUXNIuzWQ1wegikMIP_AiulFt3luCUx530KEhqKPnBSwkDZU1TKlaSSx50kS6KxgKDyTxkos9HDZA9sJ52UmqTx1fH87EperUjGDrdXb3bkIP10n6UMnOLKmI/s1600-h/signtrans.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhaBwIVUnEv2x8y2DA1FOUXNIuzWQ1wegikMIP_AiulFt3luCUx530KEhqKPnBSwkDZU1TKlaSSx50kS6KxgKDyTxkos9HDZA9sJ52UmqTx1fH87EperUjGDrdXb3bkIP10n6UMnOLKmI/s320/signtrans.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198549330435076706" border="0" /></a>
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the subject of radical interdisciplinary design, we discussed in class the fusion of music and engineering, something I’m sure we will see posts about in the upcoming days. What I would like to talk about is the fusion of two disciplines which I have personally spent a lot of time thinking about before vital ideation, and am really excited to share with others. At first glance pedagogy and digital communications seem to have little in common. In fact, the notion of pedagogical research going hand in hand with network signaling and digital communications research seems outlandish and foreign at best. The thing is, any two disciplines must overlap in potentially powerful ways, and these two are no exception.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCch9SVKSHkx9mmf-0rac3UeA9FvQPMw2kIySB2mQczhMRivZfvlwjFgFe-Ekjp7rJqxzvU2w0S1pDOvYZdiPPyKn4GSv2Crw_0lIdy656-7k-LG9n_hz3SvsaWcDqhHlsf6WupZPvpO0/s1600-h/figure2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCch9SVKSHkx9mmf-0rac3UeA9FvQPMw2kIySB2mQczhMRivZfvlwjFgFe-Ekjp7rJqxzvU2w0S1pDOvYZdiPPyKn4GSv2Crw_0lIdy656-7k-LG9n_hz3SvsaWcDqhHlsf6WupZPvpO0/s320/figure2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198549674032460402" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal">You can see from Figure 1 that the transmitter/receiver model is at least at a very basic level analogous to a teacher/student model where a lesson is transmitted to a student via some sort of signal. In this model a student’s receptivity to lesson X is based off their receptivity to specific teaching techniques. These techniques are used to varying degrees by a teacher, which can be depicted as the power spectral density of said teacher/transmitter’s transmit power, which in turn represents the amount of time teachers spend using a specific type of teaching technique. Figure 2 is a visual way to represent this last paragraph. You can see from the graph on the left, which shows professor “transmit” power as a function of the amount of time (shown on the vertical axis) they spend covering any material using different teaching techniques (shown on the horizontal axis.) Likewise the graph on the right shows student receptivity to different teaching techniques. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">What a mouthful. To attempt to explain how this model might be useful, we consider the simple case of 30 students and a choice between two possible teaching techniques, <i style="">Q<sub>a</sub> = </i>Auditory Learning and <i style="">Q</i><sub>b</sub> = Visual Learning. You can plot a student’s receptivity to these two teaching “techniques” on a two dimensional grid, where one axis is <i style="">Q<sub>a</sub></i> and the other is <i style="">Q<sub>b</sub></i>. The axes would range from 0->1 for each technique, where 1 is the hypothetical scenario were you as a student understand EVERYTHING that you learn using a specific technique. The ideal student would of course have a receptivity of 1 for both these values, but that wouldn’t make our model useful. The vector G<sub>1 </sub>would represent the 2-D vector representing these two student receptivities. We can create 30 students with randomly generated receptivity vectors [G<sub>1</sub>, G<sub>2</sub>, …G<sub>30</sub>] such that each student’s total receptivity||G|| is within an arbitrarily-defined range such as 0.3 < || G|| <> <p class="MsoNormal">Now, in the digital communications world you represent the power spectral density of a signal by multiplying the transmit power and channel receptivity. For us this means that in order to determine amount learned we can multiply the learning technique time distribution vector (in our 2-d example) for a professor by a student’s receptivity vector (for the two techniques) to give the amount “received as a signal” by a student from each “technique” The sum of the area under this student curve is the “amount learned”! </p> <p class="MsoNormal">I will conclude the following post with an explanation of the following figure, which shows the example case of our 30 randomly generated students and the imaginary teacher who hypothetically could teach them any possible range of two specific techniques. What this translates to in the end is the following choice for a teacher: How much time do I spend say, watching videos as opposed to lecturing? Now, this case is obviously ideal because we can’t assume that we will know the exact “receptivity” of each student to a specific technique, and that this directly translates to amount learned, but in this end this is just a model of a teacher/student system. Every model is broken right? The only perfect model of a classroom environment is the classroom itself!
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mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Each parabola shown in the figure above represents the projected learning efficiency <i style="">E</i> for a given student across the different mixes of auditory and visual learning techniques output by a professor. The vertex of each parabola corresponds to the student being taught by a teaching style that most perfectly matches his(her) receptivity <i style="">G<sub>n</sub></i> This value corresponds to the mix that represents that student’s highest learning efficiency. If we were teaching only one student, we would therefore choose the Auditory-Visual mix to coincide with the student’s vertex in this plot. However, we must teach to the entire class; so how can we select the direction of <i style="">T<sub>x</sub></i>? If our goal were to teach at a rate that did not exceed any student’s learning efficiency, the plot above implies that we should select about an equal mix of Auditory and Visual techniques, and we should choose a teaching rate (i.e. learning efficiency) of approximately 0.27. Qualitatively speaking, this corresponds to the highest learning efficiency in the plot that is below every parabola (or, the teaching rate below every student’s maximum learning efficiency). Instead of choosing this “lowest common denominator” approach, we may elect to forgo the few students with the lowest receptiveness in order to increase our teaching rate. Based on our understanding of the figure, any intelligent selection will exist at either the intersection of two parabolas or at the vertex of a parabola. We therefore limit our search to these points. You could envision a graph where you highlight only these two types of points and as you eliminate students you would move further up on the graph and around to different points to maximize the learning efficiency for the remaining N students.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style=";font-family:CMR10;font-size:10;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">The process for choosing this path up the graph can also be described intuitively as follows. Imagine you pressed a single finger up from the bottom of the last image shown. It would naturally center itself at the highest vertex or parabola union, which corresponds to the teaching technique mix (and the maximum learning efficiency threshold) that you would use to teach all 30 students. Next, say you wanted to exceed this threshold; you would effectively “ignore” one of the lowest parabolas and move to the next highest available point. This would be akin to teaching above the maximum learning efficiency for one of your students. This allows your technique mix to adjust itself to find the next maximum point. We can also plot the learning efficiency threshold height as a function of the number of students above the threshold; as discussed above, you can expect the maximum available threshold to increase as the number of students above the threshold decreases. With one student, assuming of course that our professor can transmit something perfect to that student’s receptivities, you achieve a learning efficiency of 1. With a decreased number of students under the threshold you achieve a lower perfect teaching efficiency for those students. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">You could envision a scenario in this model where you chose your teacher signal at a point along this “path” up the vertexes and parabola union points that would maximize the overall amount of learning in the classroom. The “perfect learning efficiency” model up to this point hasn’t taken into account the fact that in the end the choice of a teacher’s T vector will lie somewhere on the 2-D student receptivity space for each student, and that on this space each student has their own perfect learning receptivity point. A teacher wanting to optimize his signal output would first decide an acceptable threshold for student learning, and then determine which of these points minimizes the distance between all the students he(she) is trying to teach for.
<br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I welcome others to come up with two other seemingly random disciplines and merging them together somehow! I'm sure you can think of something in a quick 10 minutes. The basic idea for this post came about after a discussion asking the question "What if all knowledge could be plotted on a n-dimensional grid?" Without meaning to this successfully put linear algebra and digital communications in the same discussion space as pedagogy and learning. There are many more questions where this one came from, the real question is, do you ask yourself silly questions often enough to find real value in some of them?</p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p> Marco Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14858515480067560607noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269342668951214410.post-63158452633376048262008-05-09T16:49:00.001-07:002008-11-15T03:42:41.022-08:00A “Myspace High School” Mindset<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYpYKh5RGetfg435vzYLpMzgDNc98w0DCN94bxf1QZSptYg9oGT6MWsXY69xKV6j_DQAIHOFbqkNdqIMoD4URdhRiKJMH_3F-84Xo_p0j6jkVwItTjKe_9vAKO5VexRNIEp15hlkHrtPI/s1600-h/myschool.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYpYKh5RGetfg435vzYLpMzgDNc98w0DCN94bxf1QZSptYg9oGT6MWsXY69xKV6j_DQAIHOFbqkNdqIMoD4URdhRiKJMH_3F-84Xo_p0j6jkVwItTjKe_9vAKO5VexRNIEp15hlkHrtPI/s400/myschool.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198530578607862354" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span xmlns=""><p><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/mmorales/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg" alt="" /><strong>PROBLEM</strong>: It has happened in elementary, middle and high schools across the United States,<br /></p><p>Principals, teachers, school districts have complained that every day students would <strong>waste</strong> valuable "computer time" during school hours looking at Myspace, updating their profile or something of the sort. What's the value in that anyways? Right? …<br /></p><p><strong>SOLUTION</strong>: The result is that popular website such as Myspace, Facebook, and other social networking sites have been blocked so that students cannot go to them at all.<br /></p><p><strong>REACTION</strong>: The reaction, many students are bitter with the administration of the school, their teachers, who previously "nagged" them to stop using Myspace. Still other students have found one of the many ways to go around these blocks and still go to their favorite sites while professors aren't looking.<br /></p><p>Am I advocating that schools allow students to use Myspace during school hours? No, not really. Actually not at all. What I'm actually going to write about has to do with how useful applying beneficial system-level patterns and behaviors such as those found in social networking sites to other contexts where the benefits should be translatable, such as schools. To do this we'll look at a sample scenario in the online social networking world and try to envision what a school environment would have that add similar benefits.<br /></p><p> John comes home after a day of school that wasn't particularly interesting. He sits down at his computer at home, skims through his junk hotmail email that he left open this morning before school, then clicks on his myspace bookmark and quickly logs himself in to see what's new. No new messages it seems, but he has a handful of comments on his recent blog post titled "why I don't like math class" or something. He replies to the comments, then glances around some of his friend's profile pages for updates. He received a group event message for his "I love llamas" group, which he skimmed over but didn't really reply to. I could go on about John and his interactions on myspace, but that's not too exciting. …*etc*…<br /></p><p> MySchool. (Yes, I know the name is silly.) Mary spent most of the day the same as any other school day. Her school had computers in every classroom, so she spent about a third of every school day working on projects and other things on the school laptops. This Friday her two last big social science blog entries on genetics are due. She almost finished one of these posts titled "my family history of diabetes." Not many people had yet uploaded their blog entries, so she wasn't able to get started reading the other 5 blog entries she was assigned to read and evaluate. She got home and went back to check her class's points in the intramural basketball league which see could track on the group page for her "MySchool." The school page let you chat with other students in your classroom during your open period of class, during lunch, as well as before and after school, but it wasn't active during other classes that might be having a lecture or a focused work day. For example, that day during Biology they'd had their final talk on genetics, and a couple times they'd been asked to quickly find a biology topic they though was interesting and upload a couple links to a new assignment page in their biology class folder. They had to stand up in small groups and present two of the articles they had come up with, and then the entire class had to write a short biology class bulletin on two of the topics they found interesting. The idea was that some students who hadn't started their genetics blog posts could get a head start themselves or with the help of others during these activities. In fact, Mary's second post was going to be about this bizarre epidemic in Papua New Guinea someone presented on that was aggravated by the cannibalistic tendencies of the tribes that were afflicted. Now that she was home though, Mary could stop worrying so much about class work and instead signed onto her school page to chat with some of her friends that were still at school or even home at this point. She was supposed to meet with a handful of people yesterday that she didn't get a chance to meet with about their final Math Podcast on their calculus topic of choice, which of course they hadn't gotten started on yet. …*etc*…<br /></p><p> Well now. I'd be very interested to see what else people have to say about connecting social networking with the current student learning environment in high schools. There are certain school districts that are moving towards what is called "electronic portfolios," including the entire state of Rhode Island, where in 2008 15 schools have piloted a program which has begun to digitize the student learning experience. Who knows? Maybe US education would benefit from fusing the "biggest waste of student time" that is Myspace and <a href="http://bugs.sakaiproject.org/confluence/display/CONF08/Rhode+Island+Electronic+Portfolio+System+-++Supporting+K-12+School+Reform">electronic student portfolios</a>.<br /></p></span>Marco Moraleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14858515480067560607noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269342668951214410.post-10927547916988079772008-05-09T15:28:00.000-07:002008-05-09T16:10:44.290-07:00The Creative SchoolI'm pretty excited about what Alyshia wrote, and I'd like to write my post on radical interdisciplinary design focusing also on education. RID is pretty much taking multiple unrelated fields and trying to do something useful with them combined. In this case, I'm thinking about combining a variety of artistic, scientific and other such fields to create a school.<br /><br />Looking back on the things that have fascinated me late in my high school career, I realized that I always loved fields, exercises, and assignments where I created things. This would be as opposed to taking info in, spitting it out, performing, or finding out-- though I had a reasonable love of the latter of those.<br /><br />For example, I never learned much in English class until I tried to create my own language (which was incidentally after reading Lord of the Rings). Then subjects and objects made sense, and gradually other things fell into place. I never enjoyed poetry until I tried writing it on my own. I never enjoyed performing on my violin, but it led me into music composition, which I enjoyed immensely. And now, though I can stand applied physics and computer science theory, and so forth, I'm always doing projects on my own, and designing new things to do-- everything from learning programming languages to designing a simple computer to be made out of TTL chips.<br /><br />So the idea here, the reason I'm writing all of this, is because it dawned on me: what if there was a school that taught everything in this style? If I could roughly divide the arts into the performing and the creative, it's always the creative ones I've enjoyed (this is not to say that dance, music, etc are not creative-- but I'd rather do choreography and composition). <br />Why not teach all the sciences in as hands-on a method as possible. And by the time we start thinking about the liberal arts, it's awesome!<br /><br />So here are some of my ideas a curriculum (and keep in mind, this would be something aimed more towards the 5th to 12th grade, but that's sort of up in the air still).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Arts</span><br />-Music: music would be taught through composition. Students would also be able to learn instruments, because reading music and the ability to play other students' compositions are still valuable. It's hard to feel comfortable composing if you can't improvise on at least one instrument.<br />-Visual arts: Painting, drawing, sculpture would all be staples of the art program. Students would also be encouraged to push the bounds of art and integrate it into other fields. In some ways, aesthetic design.<br />-Dance: an emphasis would be placed on allowing students to choreograph their own dances and shows. Of course, dance would also have to be taught so students were comfortable with making their own.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">English and Literature<br /></span>-English: students would be able to create their own language, which would begin after learning a second language had begun, and presumably would tie into English<br />-Geography: learning about how geography impacts society, from the obvious levels usually covered to stuff on the scale of Guns, Germs and Steel, students would have the opportunity to create their own "countries" that they could give a geography, culture, religion/s, government, and so forth. I know I would have totally dug this assignment as a sixth grader.<br />-Literature: Emphasis would be placed on writing in imitation of all the styles read: short stories, novels, non-fiction, biographies, poetry, etc.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Science, Math<br /></span>-Science: the focus of science would be on creation of projects and demos that show the principles learned. Special emphasis would be given to application (engineering?). <br />-Math: Personally, and I don't know how applicable this is to the younger grades, but a huge amount of emphasis could be placed on drawing connections between mathematic and scientific concepts. For instance, over the past few months, we've been studying Fourier and Laplace transforms in Signals and Systems in the context of circuits and electromagnetic waves. However, they also have application in mechanics, image processing (and compression), sound processing, voice recognition, and so forth. However, I had to investigate these things on my own, and I've been absolutely fascinated.<br /><br />Anyhow, that covers some of my initial ideas for such a school. As is evident, it would be a setting for major RID-- all sorts of fields would be covered, some would be ignored, but all would be used in a way so as to give students confidence in their own creations by bolstering their ability to create and recreate anything that they'd like.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269342668951214410.post-16348100612347210052008-05-09T12:47:00.000-07:002008-05-09T19:16:51.574-07:00Teaching-a radical idea<p class="MsoNormal">Take a bunch of kids. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Make a list of what they need to learn in school every year.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Get rid of school.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Take them to a museum instead. Not just any museum though. We’re going to take them to a museum specifically tailored to their education. All of the exhibits in this museum are going to be part of the curriculum, and the classroom is going to be the entire place. Students will still have a teacher, and project rooms inside the museum that can be requested for room. There will be a consortium of museums that work together so that exhibits don’t have to be changed too often. With this, we can have kids shuffle between museums, and get an amazingly hands-on education.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">And why is a hands-on education better?</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Something that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately in light of the educational discussions going on at Olin right now is the right way to learn. Olin preaches a hands-on engineering education. Being thrown into things and figuring them out for yourself, rather than being taught. One drawback to this is that this method of learning can be very discouraging, and when discouraged, if a student doesn’t put the work in to understand some key concepts they can very easily fall behind. Even though this method of learning can be very difficult, it’s the way I’ve always wished I could be taught throughout my high school career. I used to get upset that my teachers <i style="">told </i>me information, rather than giving me the tools to solve it myself. And I found that when I did do things on my own, I always internalized the concepts much more and retained them. When I arrived at Olin, one of my worst subjects was electronics. One of the things I loved about the way I was taught was that, as long as I put effort into learning and wanted to understand, I had a TA there who would not tell me the answers, but guide me in the right direction. This method of help made learning something difficult easier than it ever had been.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Because of the supportive environment at Olin, this method does a pretty good job of ensuring that people actually don’t fall behind. I think it’s a pretty different idea, and even though it’s probably not going to happen in museums, this idea could open up a lot of questions about education as it is now.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Why do kids have the curriculum they do? Is learning in a classroom actually effective? If it is, why do we try to incorporate so many hands-on activities for kids? And why don’t we have different stimulants for kids every day, rather than bringing them to the exact same place, with almost the same lesson..?</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269342668951214410.post-29034156475282209312008-05-08T16:53:00.000-07:002008-11-15T03:42:41.191-08:00Interdisciplinary? What isn't?!<blockquote>The adjective <span style="font-weight: bold;">interdisciplinary</span> is most often used in educational circles when researchers from two or more disciplines pool their approaches and modify them so that they are better suited to the problem at hand.</blockquote> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interdisciplinary">--Wikipedia</a><br /><br />We live in the 21st century. The things that surround us are the artifacts of hundreds of years of people making stuff. We have language, literature, art. We have physics, electricity, and televisions. We have roads, stop signs, and crosswalks. We have plastic bottles, Gatorade, and recycling plants.<br /><br />How many of these things could be produced by a sole practitioner of a single discipline?<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Hard Problems</span><br /><br />It turns out most of the simple stuff got solved a long time ago. There was an age when a carpenter, using nothing but his knowledge of woodworking, could crank out a furniture set for a family. I guess that's still true, but how much furniture is hand made anymore? Now we design for manufacture, design for shipping, design in line with the popular stylistic tastes. If you're going to be your own carpenter you probably also need to have a good business sense and understand how to file your taxes.<br /><br />How many people does it take to design something of larger complexity - a car, for instance. The construction of the frame to deal with stress and crunch zones to protect passengers, the chemical composition of the tires to resist wear and grip the road in inclement conditions, the programming of the microcontrollers that fire the airbags and blink the turn signals, the optimization of the drive train to maximize fuel economy, the design of the body of the car to be aesthetically pleasing. Designers talk to electrical engineers talk to mechanical engineers talk to chemical engineers talk to machinists talk to salespeople and marketing talk to customers talk to plant operators talk to governmental regulation agencies.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">It's All a System</span><br /><br />We live in the most complicated system man has ever produced. I have borrowed a picture of it from Wikipedia. Pretend the part that says "System" means "everything man has ever created or done" and the part that says "Surroundings" means "stuff not on Earth" and you have a rough idea of it.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCMTOQapL-TUIlhRkoxdID1xFLADWnLKmeEkF3AsYThiE2WuICZ_dEVbprlvET_CskqMzyCo0bYbGvPqEsRy8yIDblSVqPNno63krVU38pD_fbI_kR4kcGOvZUlsops_ts33ZfFA1PicE/s1600-h/250px-System_boundary.svg.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCMTOQapL-TUIlhRkoxdID1xFLADWnLKmeEkF3AsYThiE2WuICZ_dEVbprlvET_CskqMzyCo0bYbGvPqEsRy8yIDblSVqPNno63krVU38pD_fbI_kR4kcGOvZUlsops_ts33ZfFA1PicE/s320/250px-System_boundary.svg.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198162478505275906" /></a><br /><br />Now, we can of course define smaller sections of the System that encompasses humanity and its endeavors, but if we draw anything sufficiently large, we are going to draw a box around people with fundamentally different fields and views. The era of "Mechanical Engineer" vs. "Electrical Engineer" and "Producer" vs. "Consumer" is fading away. Nowadays, people have a stronger understanding of more fields. Biology involves Chemistry, Chemistry involves Physics, Physics involves Mathematics, Mathematics ground Computer Science, Computer Science drives the computer you're reading this on now.<br /><br />If you wanted to do disciplinary design, it's too late.Greg Marrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12196875674191334465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269342668951214410.post-21099147889462996272008-05-08T12:41:00.000-07:002008-05-08T15:17:09.212-07:00Advertising<p class="MsoNormal">When Ian Dapot came to talk to us about advertising, he introduced two popular forms of advertising.<span style=""> </span>For Chanel No. 5 perfume, a sexy fantasy world is created in the commercial.<span style=""> </span>This inspires audience members to buy the product so that they can experience that kind of world.<span style=""> </span>For iPhones, the commercial emphasizes the human interaction with the product.<span style=""> </span>I was intrigued by these two forms of commercial advertising and I wanted to take see if I could find a form of advertising that combined the two or if I could find a third form of advertising unlike either of these.<span style=""> </span>I did both.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Herbal Essences:</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Herbal Essences shampoo takes both the fantasy world and product interface into account in its commercials.<span style=""> </span>For example in many Herbal Essences commercials, a woman is seen shampooing her hair and moaning in ecstasy followed by her tossing her perfectly dried and styled hair.<span style=""> </span>This idea helps to convince the audience that the product is sexy but also shows how the product works.<span style=""> </span>The following video is an example of this commercial.<span style=""><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qSI_nN0DvWA&hl=en"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qSI_nN0DvWA&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object></span></span><a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=qSI_nN0DvWA"></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal">In other commercials the woman is interrupted from her everyday activities by a band of attractive men who come to shampoo her hair.<span style=""> </span>The commercial therefore emphasizes the sexiness of the shampoo as well as showing the end result of the smooth, volumized hair.<span style=""> </span>Below are two examples of these commercials.<span style=""> </span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qAXtXyydzPA&hl=en"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qAXtXyydzPA&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object></span><a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=qAXtXyydzPA"></a><span style=""><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-OPRI2SpxVI&hl=en"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-OPRI2SpxVI&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object></span><a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=-OPRI2SpxVI&feature=related"></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Obviously Herbal Essences does a good job of creating a sexy fantasy surrounding its product as well as showing the results of this product.<span style=""> </span>The commercials show the viewer how much better life would be with Herbal Essences and convince them that this shampoo is the best for getting luxurious hair as well as living a sexy fantasy life. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">2000 Super Bowl Commercials:</p> <p class="MsoNormal">When I started to think about commercials that had nothing to do with what they were advertising, I instantly remembered the dot com commercials from the 2000 Super Bowl.<span style=""> </span>The best commercial that had ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with selling its product was the “We just wasted $2 million” E*Trade commercial.<span style=""> </span>This commercial has nothing to do with the website or with creating a fantasy world where you would desire the website’s uses.<span style=""> </span><a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=BnQMq5wtZcg"><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BnQMq5wtZcg&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BnQMq5wtZcg&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object></a> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">But when I went to look for this commercial I found other wonderful commercials that to me had nothing to do with the product like the one below. <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=W8f3kbQL0kU"><br /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=W8f3kbQL0kU"><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/W8f3kbQL0kU&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/W8f3kbQL0kU&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object></a><span style=""></span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">In this video three parrots fly around the pet store and mimic the commercial below. But parrots in a pet store have nothing to do with Budweiser. Obviously this commercial was a sequel to the "Wazzup" commercial below, but even that one has nothing to do with Budweiser except for the fact that they are holding the cans and watching the game.<span style=""> </span>One could argue that that is the fantasy world that Budweiser was trying to create in the commercial, but it seems like a bit of a stretch. <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=2GWrrTpJ1eU"><br /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=2GWrrTpJ1eU"><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2GWrrTpJ1eU&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2GWrrTpJ1eU&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Another great one from Budweiser that year was the "How are you doing" commercial <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92Y7ukK2Cog&NR=1"></a>which just continued to poke fun at the original “Wazzup” commercial.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/92Y7ukK2Cog&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/92Y7ukK2Cog&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">And finally there is this video, which is the pets.com hand puppet sharing in the pain of lonely pets. This again has nothing to do with the products sold at pets.com <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=nXHrlm5Nk5w"><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/nXHrlm5Nk5w&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/nXHrlm5Nk5w&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object></a></p><br /><p class="MsoNormal">As you can see there are many different reasons that commercials are effective. Channel No. 5 sells because of its sent and because of its glamorous reputation. The iPhone sells because it is sleek, elegant, and easy to use. Herbal Essences sells because it is sexy and because it makes you hair feel softer and more voluminous. E*Trade.com sells because it is easy and straight forward to use. Maybe the commercial above doesn't represent that, but it makes you curious about the website. Budweiser sells because it is about the game and hanging out with friends. Budweiser also has the sense to make fun of itself and carry out a joke like "Wazzup" into other realms and contexts, which helps it sell even more. Pets.com sells because the hand puppet is cute and because it is a good place for you to find pet products with ease. Though some of these advertising methods are more effective than others, they all seem to work well as advertising techniques.<br /></p>Lauren Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09875523943571636974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269342668951214410.post-76337154773399746632008-05-07T19:24:00.001-07:002008-11-15T03:42:41.392-08:00Theme Parks: Design for fun!What else is designed for fun other than theme parks?<span style=""> </span>Everything in a theme park is devoted to entertain “children of all ages.”<span style=""> </span>Rollercoaster, water rides, arcade games, shows, face paint, you name it; it’s all there for your entertainment.<span style=""> </span>But what makes a theme park fun? Waiting in line? Spending far too much money? NO! Of course not, it is the trill, the excitement, the escape from “real life” that makes theme parks so much fun.<span style=""> </span>I’d like to take a quick look at some popular theme parks and explore why they are fun to me and why I think the engineers behind the scenes designed them the way they did.<span style=""> </span> <p class="MsoNormal">Disney World:</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/media/photo/2005-11/20425489.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/media/photo/2005-11/20425489.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal">About: Four theme parks, two water parks, and twenty-three themed hotels rolled into one getaway vacation that will ultimately destroy your bank account, but hey you had fun right?<span style=""> </span>Disney World is the most visited and largest recreational resort in the world. Disney World is a great vacation spot as it has fun and excitement for all ages.<span style=""> </span>There are rides and games for the littlest of children, but there are also more intense rides for those who seek a thrill.<span style=""> </span>But it’s not only the rides that draw crowds to Disney World, it’s those cute characters who sign autographs, let you take their picture, or perform in shows.<span style=""> </span>It’s the magic behind the rides that draws the crowds. Walt Disney was a brilliant man and he took pride in making a theme park that was a place where both adults and children could have fun. Though Disney World was the second theme park created by Walt Disney (Disneyland being the first), it was his dream park since it had a very desirable location and could be build on a grand scale. Disney's vision has continued to grow over time as Disney World itself has grown. Disney World holds a special place in the hearts of children of all ages.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Design: Disney World is designed for you to have to come many times. With each park having its own twist and each hotel having it's own theme, it is no wonder that people travel to Disney World many times before they get bored (if ever). It also has one of the largest kid themed parks. Most children cannot ride on roller coasters since they are too short, but when you introduce rides and shows geared toward younger crowds, children want to participate and parents want to allow their children to experience the "magic" that is Disney World. It is also in a location that allows the park to stay open year round. This allows for more business. By splitting up the parks into themes and designing rides and attractions into those themes, Disney World is able to bring in a huge crowd and keep them entertained every day!</p><br />Universal Studios:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://z.about.com/d/travelwithkids/1/0/-/7/globeUSH.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://z.about.com/d/travelwithkids/1/0/-/7/globeUSH.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />About: Universal Studios Theme Parks are based around the movies that the company has produced. The original theme park, Universal Studios Hollywood, started by running tours of the soundstages and backlots where filming was underway. Today the parks have thrilling rides and shows, and even a working movie studio. I would argue that Universal Studios Theme Park is not for very young children. That being said, it can still be a ton of fun with children who are old enough to appreciate it. I feel that the shows and rides are directed at an older audience than say Disney's Magic Kingdom, but they are still very fun. Universal uses special effects and movie catch phrases to capture its audience and draw them in and it does a great job of doing this.<br /><br />Design: Universal does a good job of breaking the park down into zones as you can see below.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfRBpP6TOfGcJ3gOBWoBRHfVPcONugT3AESA1-t5knfblmvTqCZMb0A_qid83QG40FtNZ_Za2ecWYcRJE1pVbccRAOYhyphenhyphenlxhyphenhypheneScyPPh6R3lqp1oGNOHaoZ34Pmqyl-6O5lKHVUdqpVzE/s1600-h/universal.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfRBpP6TOfGcJ3gOBWoBRHfVPcONugT3AESA1-t5knfblmvTqCZMb0A_qid83QG40FtNZ_Za2ecWYcRJE1pVbccRAOYhyphenhyphenlxhyphenhypheneScyPPh6R3lqp1oGNOHaoZ34Pmqyl-6O5lKHVUdqpVzE/s320/universal.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197843681631140226" border="0" /></a>But not only does Universal divide up its park to allow for maximum fun, it also creates rides based on commonly known movies. This alone draws crowds. Also Universal has special effect shows and gives tours of real movie studios. These are things that you cannot find elsewhere and therefore people are drawn to the park.<br /><br />SixFlags:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1c/Sixflags45.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 292px; height: 267px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1c/Sixflags45.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />About: SixFlags is the largest chain of theme parks in the world. There are over 21 locations in North America alone. SixFlags uses the image of Bugs Bunny and pals to help draw crowds. SixFlags is different from the other two previous parks because it is very ride based and prides itself on having some of the biggest and best roller coasters in the world. In 2005, SixFlags Great Adventure in NJ opened the Kingda Ka, which holds the current record for tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world (and also probably the record for longest wait to get on). <br /><br />Design: SixFlags has a great thing going with the shear number of parks they own. Sure they don't get the kind of traffic that Disney gets at any one location, but combined they get a good number of people there each year. The beauty of SixFlags though is definitely its rides. SixFlags definitely tries to outdo itself and other parks each year. Kingda Ka was just one example of how SixFlags can outdo every other coaster. This year SixFlags has announced seven new coasters across the country and I am sure that they will be big hits. <br /><br /><br />Theme parks are dedicated to having fun. They incorporate "magic," thrills, excitement, and shows to keep you entertained and to hope you return. I love theme parks and there is nothing better than spending an entire day riding roller coasters!Lauren Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09875523943571636974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269342668951214410.post-8670132373953840822008-05-06T00:32:00.000-07:002008-05-06T00:35:13.381-07:00Fun for Kids<p class="MsoNormal">During the summers of High School, I worked at a pre-school where children ages 3-5 would come and play each day.<span style=""> </span>These children had the best imaginations and the best understanding of fun.<span style=""> </span>They would always bring out the fun in me too.<span style=""> </span>Many times I would come home covered in paint because the kids had shown me how much fun finger painting could be again.<span style=""> </span>Every time a kid would paint something at the easel I would ask them what they were painting.<span style=""> </span>I’d get some response like “well” *points to a big blue blob in the middle of the page* “this is a doggie, and” *points to yellow blob* “this is Mommy,” if they were 3, or “this” *points to potato person with legs* “is my friend Tommy” if they were 5.<span style=""> </span>I was always amazed at how much imagination the kids would have and how much the development of the mind cut out the blue blobs and turned them into people like objects.<span style=""> </span>The kids kind of made me jealous in a sense because they still had their full imagination.<span style=""> </span>Not to say that I don’t have any imagination, but I don’t have nearly as much as I did when I was 3.<span style=""> </span>I remember getting a play kitchen when I was 4 or 5 and though it came with play food, and a plastic oven and stove top, I did not want to have to prepare food for my family, no, I wanted to go to the moon.<span style=""> </span>So I strapped on my bike helmet knocked the play kitchen on its side opened the “oven” door and sat in it turning the dials and successfully piloted a flight to the moon, landed, got out and walked on the moon, and then safely returned to earth.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">This brings me to a great point.<span style=""> </span>Fun things can be more fun if they can be used in multiple ways.<span style=""> </span>While I enjoyed the play kitchen greatly, I also wanted to use my kitchen as a rocket ship.<span style=""> </span>I highly doubt that the toy designer thought that that is what a small girl would want to do with her play kitchen, but it was.<span style=""> </span>But there is something to be said for this.<span style=""> </span>Maybe a better toy designer would examine the design and say hey, if I flip this over and open this “oven” door here and this “microwave” door here, it kind of looks like airplane wings.<span style=""> </span>I think a great toy designer would take a minute to examine all of the potential uses for their idea, not just his or her own intended uses for it.<span style=""> </span>Though I highly doubt that all of the potential uses could be apparent to any one person, I think focusing on this aspect of fun could help many toy designers to create even better toys.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">This also raises another question.<span style=""> </span>If play for children of these ages is about imagination and making use of the objects you have to aide your play, then are the toys we give them too constraining and too limiting.<span style=""> </span>If I could use a cardboard box to create a car, or a cave, or an air plane, then why do I need a toy that is constraining my imagination into believing it is only what it appears to be.<span style=""> </span>If I were designing toys (and had far too much money to spend) I would love to develop a line of toys that are very abstract and suggest many different things at once.<span style=""> </span>I do not know how children would react to this type of toy and as far as I know, it has never been attempted.<span style=""> </span>Imagine a plush toy with Velcro-removable parts.<span style=""> </span>The toy would be very plain and could be decorated with different things depending on what the child wanted it to be.<span style=""> </span>Of course this is a spur of the moment idea, so it is not fully developed (or even very good).<span style=""> </span>It would be great to work with 3-5 year olds to develop a toy that would be unisex and fun for all sorts of play though.<span style=""> </span></p>Lauren Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09875523943571636974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269342668951214410.post-64342545205534320052008-05-05T14:24:00.000-07:002008-11-15T03:42:43.121-08:00How Technology Affects Human Interactions<span style="font-size:100%;">When Nina Fefferman spoke to the vital ideation group, I was highly interested by her studies on ecomimicry.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">She analyzed human reactions to a virus outbreak in a virtual world and used her results to make generalizations about human reactions to catastrophes such as incurable, rapidly spreading diseases.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">I was surprised to discover that she was trying to parallel reactions in a virtual world to real life because I do not feel that people react the same way in a world where life is trivial and death is not final.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">I liked the idea though of studying interactions between people and also studying technology’s role in it.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">So I devised a way to look at how technology affects the ways in which people interact, specifically how people communicate.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">I feel that people </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">today have such a craving for instant (usually text based) communication and have lost sight of the intimacy of face to face communication, or even vocal communication altogether.</span></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Basically, I wanted to explore how big of an impact instant forms of communication impacted people’s world and how this was dependent on social upbringing.</span></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">In order to study this, I took a survey of some college students and some professionals over the age of 35 to see who valued what form of communication and to see if I could conclude any broad statements about communication from these results.</span></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > </span> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;">I was curious about many forms of internet and cell phone communications, but I decided to focus on text messages, instant messages, emails, and phone calls.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">The following questions were included in my survey:</span></p> <h3 style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-weight: normal;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></h3> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;">1. In a typical week, how many times do you text people from your cell phone?<br /><span style="font-weight: normal;">2. How many characters is a typical text for you? What is typically the theme? or do you text for everything?<br />3. Who do you normally text?<br />4. In a typical week, how many personal emails do you send?<br />5. Who do you normally send emails to?<br />6. In a typical week, how much time do you spend on AIM or other chats?</span><br />7. Who do you normally talk to on AIM/chat?<br />8. In a typical week, how many times do you call people from your cell phone?<br /><span style="font-weight: normal;">9. Who do you normally call?</span><br />10. What makes you call rather than text or email?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-size:100%;">The results were as follows:</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN5yyB-tTjRcKITYFES0jAwRpwQueWxDH7Co9XicMCsA8Ltda5bWhxzOWSoJe87pCOlQvfmWB6H_4vgVynP6JNqp_eeTZyQsdMimyfK8zfd6P4pZdzGNKsaV36GYqZe4rfNq2zumKzcqs/s1600-h/adult_text.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN5yyB-tTjRcKITYFES0jAwRpwQueWxDH7Co9XicMCsA8Ltda5bWhxzOWSoJe87pCOlQvfmWB6H_4vgVynP6JNqp_eeTZyQsdMimyfK8zfd6P4pZdzGNKsaV36GYqZe4rfNq2zumKzcqs/s320/adult_text.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197142245145431890" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFqgTibfOUSabadt-q36xmvnDlUmbsMDFC5qNwTzEiojx9WdeKUqcuhH-J_n7tstMUD4yRZ5FlVDyyUOx03-_XSLQp_ripuJhEMXKwDeXiAWVIbh_1RQiEPIRVc7c2JTFLQp2q004g0no/s1600-h/student_text.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFqgTibfOUSabadt-q36xmvnDlUmbsMDFC5qNwTzEiojx9WdeKUqcuhH-J_n7tstMUD4yRZ5FlVDyyUOx03-_XSLQp_ripuJhEMXKwDeXiAWVIbh_1RQiEPIRVc7c2JTFLQp2q004g0no/s320/student_text.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197142043281968914" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWKzeloJLkZLqZAnioFVa4k6qLG_skK00wQ6-Tz5PUBYBZTbHqJiQXmYxVZnrFHcJRVrVm_SCm8rOzq_7vs2bcV3z2J5qceG_xMX-5YP7nuHPLdR1cGuzYP1yWFNw8IlVwE_4Y1wV7ymQ/s1600-h/adult_im.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 191px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWKzeloJLkZLqZAnioFVa4k6qLG_skK00wQ6-Tz5PUBYBZTbHqJiQXmYxVZnrFHcJRVrVm_SCm8rOzq_7vs2bcV3z2J5qceG_xMX-5YP7nuHPLdR1cGuzYP1yWFNw8IlVwE_4Y1wV7ymQ/s320/adult_im.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197142240850464578" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5IGNJUwA9FXikBkrlT5iUN2zGfVdR9WWM9DG-sWatPtfY1ndPqR8wmOk-Bzq-XXnXrtPDThf4ShR1i1eql9-bhkqFnwDIb7UkrUF1h6FuWI76fIR-a-Dfv-tQTaGwRof_gPrhdVdVa_s/s1600-h/student_im.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5IGNJUwA9FXikBkrlT5iUN2zGfVdR9WWM9DG-sWatPtfY1ndPqR8wmOk-Bzq-XXnXrtPDThf4ShR1i1eql9-bhkqFnwDIb7UkrUF1h6FuWI76fIR-a-Dfv-tQTaGwRof_gPrhdVdVa_s/s320/student_im.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197142038987001602" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2jUCMEM03iIU0jm6DXhZHh3OP1ARizxXS1Vn2y_pkF5FZCchs5H-w1z3A3XiD7omD-EqahBEjKzOh90UO5qPbLldt-Pb_V4OXQ5JSdOQGQbQJ53Y571KRxfFVt_Gf_qp1xZmh6rCb8qY/s1600-h/adult_emails.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 188px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2jUCMEM03iIU0jm6DXhZHh3OP1ARizxXS1Vn2y_pkF5FZCchs5H-w1z3A3XiD7omD-EqahBEjKzOh90UO5qPbLldt-Pb_V4OXQ5JSdOQGQbQJ53Y571KRxfFVt_Gf_qp1xZmh6rCb8qY/s320/adult_emails.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197142240850464562" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBJkdbStHewvVfrexQh5Jge8VSPSkU0bTdT2UaLFn1Gspw3o6-wE2nqHJfjw7C-YmG0fPEiZvufThP1jOR3m2G5AtmKorHdEq_l2cu0MP0HE94hxzrED4db_YSQAEvXY6TkVSRzCbwpyQ/s1600-h/student_emails.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBJkdbStHewvVfrexQh5Jge8VSPSkU0bTdT2UaLFn1Gspw3o6-wE2nqHJfjw7C-YmG0fPEiZvufThP1jOR3m2G5AtmKorHdEq_l2cu0MP0HE94hxzrED4db_YSQAEvXY6TkVSRzCbwpyQ/s320/student_emails.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197142034692034290" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ25W1FZFrIkV7aTfdkI-flAMrD7Lpzvcc8KBtKbGO9a4hlgN0Hfc_exUFAEajATpMBB8KLI1KMpzmzHUYtenIQyb7bs7zip0LpuVstqQ4d8zfDGc3WZy6NqnS1FdcZS3thsg__Ruc0UQ/s1600-h/adult_calls.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 197px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ25W1FZFrIkV7aTfdkI-flAMrD7Lpzvcc8KBtKbGO9a4hlgN0Hfc_exUFAEajATpMBB8KLI1KMpzmzHUYtenIQyb7bs7zip0LpuVstqQ4d8zfDGc3WZy6NqnS1FdcZS3thsg__Ruc0UQ/s320/adult_calls.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197142240850464546" border="0" /></a></p><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMqoEhA_4vPKu2ivPU__JqusiXpaLP_AwtVPmK1vfzBh_hq5SfiCAN5C2mhbe1DGvOV9wO3IqQZo7AaqzgXT3jN-zRFMml5qBWdQjZNLQb6gVoxBQgYzUNcXFZ3LKHSaMb5ukRligXTuk/s1600-h/student_calls.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 198px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMqoEhA_4vPKu2ivPU__JqusiXpaLP_AwtVPmK1vfzBh_hq5SfiCAN5C2mhbe1DGvOV9wO3IqQZo7AaqzgXT3jN-zRFMml5qBWdQjZNLQb6gVoxBQgYzUNcXFZ3LKHSaMb5ukRligXTuk/s320/student_calls.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197142034692034274" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />you can see that the number of texts sent for students and for professionals has approximately the same distribution. It is quite apparent though that the hours on IM vastly differ. Professionals don't seem to care for the communication that IM provides, whereas students seem to highly value this form of communication. Email was fairly distributed for both professionals and students. Students tended to send slightly fewer emails than professionals, but did not drastically differ. The number of calls made was significantly lower for students than it was for professionals. This is exactly the result I was expecting to see. My claim was that students spend more time using instant forms of text communication rather than placing phone calls. The results for IM and for phone calls seem to support this claim, though much more data and higher sample sizes would need to be taken before a final conclusion could be drawn.<br /><br />While the data for questions 2, 3, 5, 7, and 9 was very interesting, question 10 gave me much insight into my claim. Many students responded that they only called home because "it's family, that's just what you do" or because "my mom forces me" or something along those lines. Students also said that they place calls for longer conversation things, but not for quick exchanges like "hey where are you?" and they would rather text or email for those exchanges. Students also say calls are used in a more urgent fashion than emails or when they can't access a computer easily. Professionals say they like the personal aspect of being able to hear another person's voice and and touched how much tone can add to a conversation. They also brought up how phone calls are more urgent. It seems that personal contacts get phone calls from professionals and business contacts get emails.<br /><br />Overall, I was able to see that students spend far more time on IM and professionals make more phone calls. Everyone agrees that phone calls are more personal and better for long friendly conversations. It was interesting to study how technology has affected communication and given more time and resources, I would like to explore this topic more.Lauren Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09875523943571636974noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269342668951214410.post-84545234728792656632008-05-03T13:34:00.000-07:002008-11-15T03:42:43.319-08:00Targeted AdvertisingOne of the ways that advertising has fundamentally changed in the last few years is the introduction of online targeted advertising. In the past, if I wanted to reach a certain target audience, I would have to find magazines or television shows that I knew were popular among my target group and place advertisements in them. Obviously, if I want to reach cat lovers because I am selling a new and improved scratching pole, a pet magazine is a better place than a sports magazine. Online advertising lets this go even a step further, because now it is possible to target people based on even more specific criteria and without as much knowledge of what is popular in the group.<br /><br /><a href="https://adwords.google.com">Google AdWords</a> is an advertising product that lets advertisers display their ads next to Google searches for related things. "Your ads appear on Google When people search on Google using one of your keywords, your ad may appear next to the search results. Now you're advertising to an audience that's already interested in you." This is taken a step further with <a href="https://www.google.com/adsense">Google AdSense</a>, which places ads from advertisers on other websites based on contextual analysis of what a site is about. "Google AdSense is a fast and easy way for website publishers of all sizes to display relevant, unobtrusive Google ads on their website's content pages and earn money. Because the ads are related to what your users are looking for on your site, you'll finally have a way to both monetize and enhance your content pages." Advertisers want to reach people who like flowers, you run a website about flowers, their ads go on your site. That makes sense.<br /><br />Facebook is taking the equation up even another notch. Advertisers can purchase ads on Facebook targeting people at specific schools, with specific interests, of specific ages and genders. If you ran a pizza shop and wanted to have a special promotion for students from a nearby college during the Superbowl, you could target people who specifically have said they like football who attend that college. Here I create a Facebook ad that probably only targets me. That's not creepy at all.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj22XIjYpn6djMVwZl8Vvm3NaYX5zrLghn6mCDS_cYAXaoe_SwHSMOxu_OaiJ1161PNTARn1p7MSr5g_sU6si5yYaHHPGlhEPgbqGweZXiGnAOSbXEVMe4UNXwfwen5QMPqojbT67d3Vfg/s1600-h/facebook_ad.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj22XIjYpn6djMVwZl8Vvm3NaYX5zrLghn6mCDS_cYAXaoe_SwHSMOxu_OaiJ1161PNTARn1p7MSr5g_sU6si5yYaHHPGlhEPgbqGweZXiGnAOSbXEVMe4UNXwfwen5QMPqojbT67d3Vfg/s320/facebook_ad.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5196258477535559186" /></a><br /><br />What all of this means for me, the consumer, is that I am getting ads that I actually like. No longer do I get ads for X10 wireless cameras and lawnmowers, now the ads I see are for web design, photography, and other things I care about. Obviously the technology isn't perfect - and it'd be creepy if I got no irrelevant ads at all. Still, the advantages to this system are obvious for both advertisers and customers, and things are just going to keep heading in this direction. <a href="http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=6972252130">Facebook has announced</a> that they will enable "social ads" on other sites. Interesting technology, but where will it go?<br /><br />Obviously, all of this raises privacy concerns, and how much do I really want to see advertisements, even if they are for things I like? I like fun and amusing ads about things I like, and I have actually clicked some of the ads Facebook has showed me since they started getting relevant. I think relevant ads are great, but we need to make sure we don't do things that jeopardize individuals privacy.Greg Marrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12196875674191334465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269342668951214410.post-44067685180137717392008-04-27T14:21:00.000-07:002008-04-27T14:23:56.141-07:00Changing Things.<p class="MsoNormal">So, the first thing ‘design for the next guy’ makes me think of is the principle of living with the 7<sup>th</sup> generation in mind, or thinking about what’s going to make something easier for the people after you. The funny thing about designing for the next guy is that it usually makes designing for yourself a little harder.<span style=""> </span>There are a few ways I can look at design for the next guy:</p> <h2>Option 1: Make everything the same</h2> <p class="MsoNormal">Today we see this all over the place: for something like building a house, a car, or a computer, people have created standards for things like sizes and energy ratings. This makes things a lot easier for example, when someone has a mouse or a printer you want to use (hurray for USB)! Now, if you want to change things, you can just go buy another version of whatever it is you want that fits into the same place as your old one! This works out pretty well for most people, if you think of ‘next guy’ as the rest of the current population, rather than someone in the future who’s trying to change things. There are a few problems with this though. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">As far as manufactured products go, say you wanted to change the way that your computer fundamentally works. Of course, the way we do things now probably isn’t the only (or best) answer. What if you could do it better? Well..honestly, it’s probably not worth it. <span style=""> </span>If I make something amazing that can’t interface with anything else, it’s either going to be pretty useless or it’s going to be a new adopted standard. You can see where this is going..</p> <p class="MsoNormal">First, this can work pretty well with a physical requirement, but what about with some kind of a system, like a college? What would doing the same thing that everyone else does mean? Well…it would mean that the faculty are comfortable there in the sense that they won’t need to spend as much time learning the ropes as they would at some place that’s radically different than everywhere else. It would mean that students would more than likely know what they’re getting into when the decide to go there. It would mean that when people working here needed to change jobs, they wouldn’t need to go into hours of explanation about what the place they’ve been working at is, and why it’s legitimate. It would also mean that graduate schools would accept our students, and know by the titles of the courses what they learned.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">But what else does this imply? For a place like Olin, this would mean that we’re the same as everywhere else. This would mean that we don’t question the way we do things: we just do them that way because it’s easier. But for something like a college system (something that’s not a manufactured product), how hard is it really to have a different system everywhere? Are there more benefits than drawbacks?</p> <h2>Option 2: Make everything change</h2> <p class="MsoNormal">What are the benefits for a college to be different? How do you define Design for the Next Guy in the context of something that’s its own internal system? </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Well, to start off, Olin has its very own identity. Most schools do. I feel like Olin has a little more of that than most places. Why? We’re new. We’re tiny. We’re redefining engineering (<i style="">or at least that’s what we say we’re doing</i>). Since I don’t want to end up talking about Olin and what it is for too long, I’m going to bring up a few of the points from President Millers talk:</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Heading3Char"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 120%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">“Olin College Open Doors”</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">This was one thing that President Miller kept saying, over and over again. Olin College opens doors. We’re not here to define a future for someone. We’re here to make possible whatever can be made possible. This view is incredibly different than anything I’ve heard anywhere else. But I’m going on with the amazingness of Olin..Let’s change the subject.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I think this quote is most relevant here since it shows how schools and systems can have their own very radical identities, but still work in the world. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /> <span class="Heading3Char"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 120%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Think about the way we define ourselves: What are our values?</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">One thing that a lot of us complain about at Olin is that not everyone is in line with our set of values. But then, what are our values? Olin was designed to be constantly changing and reinventing itself. I mean, our mascot <i style="">is</i> the Phoenix. And what’s cool about this is that we don’t just have people here who agree with us. Having all sorts of people here to be committed to the college, but also to push it in a slightly different direction leads to a <i style="">lot</i> more discussion than there would be if we all agreed all the time. And that discussion leads to a huge questioning of beliefs, which in my mind is much better than just blindly moving forward. If your beliefs can survive that questioning, you know they’re true for you. If not, well, it’s a good thing someone made you question them. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The ability to change our values also does ensure design for the next guy, I think. Olin can become whatever we want it to be. We do have a few rules and guidelines, but this place is incredibly flexible.</p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal">Scrap Everything-It all expires.<br /></p> <span style="font-weight: bold;"></span>This reminds me of something from a philosophy class I took in high school. My professor was talking about Buddhist monks, and how every so often they’d make this elaborate picture out of colored sand. Just on the table. And when it was done they’d brush it all away and make a new one again later. It represents how ephemeral everything is. And this works with ideas and systems as well. They’re designed for a very specific time and set of circumstances. And just because they used to work, and work well, doesn’t mean we should keep using them. This doesn’t mean we should get rid of them completely either, but it does mean recreation is a great way to make sure we’re still keeping things within our set of values (or within our newly defined and revised values!) <h2>So What is Design for the Next Guy?</h2> <p class="MsoNormal">It’s making things changeable. And how do you do that in a massive system? It takes a lot more work, a lot more time, and a lot more effort. But it makes things flexible. It doesn’t mean that something is set in the way it is until someone come along with the drive to change it. It means things are easily changeable and always changing <span style="font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="">J</span></span>.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269342668951214410.post-72401307426198950682008-04-27T10:41:00.000-07:002008-04-27T12:05:41.867-07:00PlaygroundsI loved playgrounds when I was little. I lived across the street from my elementary school, and frequently went to play on the playground it had. It wasn't that big, and I got used to it, so when we traveled across town to the other schools' playgrounds it was a big adventure. They were unknown and half of the fun was exploring them. Sometimes we even went to really big playgrounds that schools in other towns had.<br /><br />Ultimately, what makes playgrounds awesome is that they're a place with no rules, and you have to invent them for yourself.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Playgrounds for Adults</span><br /><br />Last summer I visited the Ontario Science Center, which features an area called the <a href="http://www.ontariosciencecentre.ca/tour/wfic/default.asp">Weston Family Innovation Cent<abbr title="Canada, remember?">re</abbr></a>. While a somewhat vague name, the actual place is a giant room with all types of activities geared at people roughly ages 14 to 22. There's an area to take apart and put together electronics, making your own paper airplanes, comparing friction of different materials, and more. While it's full of "exhibits", most of them are entirely free-form and you have to figure out what you're going to do with it to play. Being presented with a set of tools and toys and having to figure out how you want to combine them is a very different experience than walking through a flat 2D museum.<br /><br />Similarly, when I visit LEGO stores, I notice that it's just as often parents playing with the LEGOs as kids. Fathers and sons both build little cars out of LEGO and race them down a ramp, or bored parents put things together while their kids run around looking at all the different kits in the store. Opportunity in the form of supplies, but with no specified direction.<br /><br /><span style="font-size: 130%">What Should I Make?</span><br /><br />Lately I have been playing with an <a href="http://www.arduino.cc/">Arduino</a> microcontroller. The Arduino sites defines an Arduino as "an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments." I borrowed a bunch of electronics parts (LEDs, resistors, a breadboard, connectors, etc) from my friend Brad and have been putting little things together to try out the different functions of the Arduino. So far I have replicated a red-yellow-green traffic light and written some stuff to a <a href="http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=462">SerLCD</a> I had laying around from last semester.<br /><br />I am finding it lots of fun to make all these little things, but I am just doing it for fun. I have no class project, no goal I am trying to attain, and I don't know what I should make next. I am in a sandbox - what is the next cool thing to build? I'm going to keep poking at different things so I can figure out all of the Arduino's capabilities, but then I will probably bring it all together into some bigger project. Why? Why not.<br /><br /><span style="font-size: 130%">No Rules, No Requirements</span><br /><br />I feel like the major advantage to free form playing with ideas and tools is that everyone can put a different spin on what it is that they are making and doing. Everyone has a unique view on the world, and everyone finds different things fun. Giving people tools lets them do and lets them make. I like this concept, and want to try to figure out how to engage more people in this creative playing and making. <br /><br />How can we build more sandboxes for "grown ups"?Greg Marrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12196875674191334465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2269342668951214410.post-16365455623004181722008-04-25T14:00:00.000-07:002008-04-27T12:06:38.546-07:00Who says what Fun is anyway?<span style="font-size:130%;">A distraction</span><br /><br />I know you really want to read this blog post, but here, play this game first.<br /><br /><a href="http://images.google.com/imagelabeler/">Google Image Labeler</a><br /><br />I'll wait - don't worry about me.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Wasn't that fun?</span><br /><br />Congratulations, you just spent your time, for free, improving the quality of Google's image search projects. I bet you don't feel ripped off or cheated at all. In fact, you may have even enjoyed it so much that you played a few rounds. So Google, a big company, is getting you to do work for them by disguising it as a game.<br /><br />Disguising? They pretty much flat out told you what you were doing.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Who says what's Fun?</span><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Sawyer">Tom Sawyer</a>, that's who.<br /><br />I think that this concept of turning things normally considered "work" into "fun" is a really powerful idea that can change the way people view certain tasks. Google's Image Label game is one example, and Tom Sawyer convincing his friends that whitewashing a fence is a fun activity - even getting them to pay him for the privilege - is another, but they seem relatively isolated. What are other ways our society promotes "fun is work is fun"?<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Look at Toys</span><br /><br />Toys are fun, right? We make balls, puzzles, and action figures, and all of these are great "non-work" things to do. But what else do we make?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/921/55030335.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 205px; height: 289px;" src="http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/921/55030335.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21kPoZJQ98L._AA160_.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 158px; height: 158px;" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21kPoZJQ98L._AA160_.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Oh man, I love chores and yard work! They're the best! I can't wait till I get some free time, I am going to go vacuum every room in my house! While I, as a budding young adult, may not enjoy these activities, the sense of 'helping out' and the fantasy play that children get out of these toys are what make them fun.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Skewed Perspective on Fun?</span><br />Ultimately, what I think everything boils down to is a misguided sense that work and fun must be separate activities. People who love their jobs find them enjoyable, and people who don't can't wait to get home to do something else. Notice that retirees tend to play golf and work on hobbies instead of continuing to do what they were doing professionally? This implies that there were things that they wanted to do while working that they didn't get to do</span></span>. If someone totally completely loved their job, why would they ever leave it?<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Make it Fun</span><br /><br />Here is a list of businesses that work because the products they produce are fun.<br /><br /><ul><br /><li>Hollywood</li><br /><li>Music Industry</li><br /><li>Apple</li><br /><li>Soap Bubble Companies</li><br /><li>Board Games</li><br /><li>Bowling Alleys</li><br /><li>Laser Tag</li><br /></ul><br /><br />When was the last time you got really excited about your thumb tacks, your stapler, or your forks?<br /><br />What about glow in the dark thumbtacks, those big twisty straws, or bowls with cartoon characters on the bottom?<br /><br />Make the experience fun.Greg Marrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12196875674191334465noreply@blogger.com0