02.28.2008 Lecture–Critical Review

The critique assignment is due by midnight, February 29 (thank leap year!).

• make your writing concise and don’t go too much over the word limit
• iterate on your ideas throughout the process from constructing your outline to written drafts
• use the writing tutorial services , number = 812-855-6738

Critical reflection on the course:
We began the course by drawing on perspectives (e.g. Dilthey, Dewey, Turner, etc..) to understand what experience is (and the distinction between experience and an experience). This month we’ve been focusing on critical approaches to interpreting experience and how this can help inform design practice. The course will soon shift to applying this collective knowledge to experience design projects. The critique assignment gives you an opportunity to apply the dense theoretical work we’ve been talking about to specific phenomena (in the form of critical judgment–not a mere opinion!).

All of the works we’ve read this month have certain underlying themes in common:

Criticism / Judgment

• differs greatly from opinion–they are analytical and oftentimes explicit about criteria (for criticism)
• involves taking an explicit stance
  • case example: universal accessibility (e.g. universal design)

Hermeneutics

Remediation

How do you establish critical competence? How do you yourself distinguish the validity or viability of your own thoughts and emerging critical perspectives of phenomena? There’s no framework or cookbook for doing this, however the following can play an important role in helping you along the way:

Theoretical vocabularies–help you think about phenomena and use a language to engage in productive (and thus critical) discussions

Many examples-encountering and examining a wide scope of related phenomena in the world

Many experiences–drawing on a wealth of experiences of acting (and reflecting on these interactions) in the world

Critical self-reflection–reflection, or meta-analysis, is an important part of the process to constructing a critical argument (ties closely with Donald Schon’s theorizing in the Reflective Practitioner

*These elements are constitutive of cultivating critical discourse. Feel free to use this blog to engage in critical exercises.

Also, for those interested, there’s an interesting discussion of critical design featured on designobserver..

Unofficial Journal of Interaction Culture, Vol. 1

The unofficial Journal of Interaction Culture has hit the presses (Jeff) and will soon be released (Oncourse). Don’t worry, I won’t charge you anything for the free delays in compiling the Journal. Consider it a gift!

For those of you who use PDF bookmarks/outlines, the Journal PDF has bookmarks for each author/paper. You will also notice some stylish watermarking from the free version of Foxit PDF Page Organizer. That watermarking, much like the holiday delay, came at no additional cost to you!

Thank you very much to Mingxian Chang, Yen-ning Chang, Zhuofeng Li, Mike Madison, Dave Roedl, Dave Royer, Adam Shahrani and Andy Trus for their submissions!

Parting Shots from 2007

I’d like to thank all members of the class for participating in this blog during our class. As I mentioned, I intend to keep it alive going into the new year, and you are welcome to continue contributing (and I hope people will!). I wanted to close with a few random notes and announcements.

I was pleased overall with the final exams and papers, and I hope all of you will consider sending your paper to Tyler for "publication" in the top secret, draft-only collection he is assembling.

If you would like feedback on your paper and/or you wish to discuss moving it forward for submission to a conference, please schedule a half hour to meet with me.

The real reason for this post is that I got tired of seeing "Drunk Women on Facebook" heading up our site for over a week. Sheesh! Can’t we be a little more artsy?

Speaking of artsy, I watched some lovely films earlier this week. One is My Life as a Dog, a Swedish film from about 20 years ago or so. Not only was it poignant and moving in its own right, but it also contributed immensely to my understanding of the cultural logic underlying the phenomenon known as Erik Stolterman. The other is The Double Life of Veronique, which was made by Krzysztof Kieslowski, who also directed Trois Couleurs: Bleu, which I showed a bit of in class (the car crash sequence). Veronique was a dreamy film that didn’t make a lot of logical sense, and yet somehow felt right. Plus it was beautifully shot and scored, of course, being a Kieslowski film.

Happy holidays to all!

Last-Minute Reprieve! Paper Extension!

I’ve heard enough from a sufficient number of people to worry about tomorrow’s deadline for the paper.

I am therefore granting an extension on the paper until Sunday at midnight. 

Please bring all of your materials to class today, and we can have an emergency how-to-develop-an-argument lecture (if needed), or we can do whatever. Also, please be careful! If you accept this extension, it could make it very difficult to complete your other assignments due next week. I’m giving you a little extra rope, but don’t hang yourself! 

Papers and Feedback

I *believe* I have responded to all of the paper topics that have appeared on this blog.

However, please don’t hesitate to ask for (further) feedback if any of the following apply:

• I didn’t actually respond to your post on your paper topic (d’oh!).
• You have since iterated on your topic, have some new thoughts, and would like some feedback on that.
• You disagreed with me or just couldn’t get enough and want more!
• Any reason at all, actually.

So don’t be shy! Marty, our WTS consultant, and I are *all* happy to help you with this, and I *know* these resources are available to you, and therefore I expect good papers!

Concrete to Abstract: On the Goals of the Course

We can divide the issues discussed in this class into three broad categories: concrete, particular designs; the underlying design concepts, insights, principles, and strategies that they rely on; and the deeper philosophical implications beneath them. Here’s one of my patentable scientific diagrams:

At the top are actual, concrete designs: “dialing from favorites list on this phone,” or “the use of camera techniques in this scene of this film,” or “the images representing this project in this designer’s professional portfolio.”

Stelarc at SoFA Gallery in October

What: A Special Presentation

Who: Stelarc

When: October 24, 2007 @ 7:30pm

Where: Fine Arts Building Room 015

“Stelarc, one of the world’s most innovative artists, has been performing and creating multidisciplinary projects internationally since the late 1960’s… his goal has been to look at the body as a tool that can be enhanced by the incorporation and integration of technology. Stelarc utilizes technology to question physical parameters, and has explored alternate, intimate and involuntary interfaces that promote the enhancement and alteration of the physical body.”

For Jeff or his Avatar

The Consumerist reports that Target has started selling David Bowie themed clothing designed by Keenan Duffy. Hooray!

Bowie has inspired Duffty since childhood and, through his music, taught the designer to experiment across different creative mediums. Duffty applies this lesson to his eclectic encore collection that debuts on October 14 at most Target stores and at Target.com. … Several of the collection’s key pieces draw direct inspiration from characters and songs by David Bowie. The tuxedo, vest and pants were inspired by David’s Thin White Duke persona, the song “Station to Station” and his most recent album “Reality.” The dress shirts and trench coat are references to David’s first movie role as Thomas Jerome Newton in “The Man Who Fell to Earth.” In addition, the gray button-down shirt features Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” lyrics scripted onto the fabric.

“David Bowie has always brought left field ideas to mainstream pop culture and has defined his own unique aesthetic and personality,” Duffty said. “Target strives to bring creativity and individuality to its guests, making this collection a perfect fit.”

http://consumerist.com/consumer/weird/target-to-offer-david-bowie-themed-clothes-sadly-no-sequined-jumpsuits-not-designed-by-bowie-310266.php

On This Week’s Readings

OK, I’m just back from the UK and see I have a lot of posts to catch up on. I see Hyewon is picking on me, but I’m ready for it.

A few notes about this week’s readings:

• The Barnard reading is not online because you should have the book! Let me know ASAP if this is not the case.
• I wrote a few words in Oncourse about the Humphrey reading, which I thought needed a touch of introduction,  but in case you miss it there, let me reproduce it here:

I think a word of background is useful for the Humphrey piece. It is a publication from and about the Exploratorium, a famous hands-on interactive science museum in San Francisco (Google it). The publication is about a process they developed (called APE), which they developed (a) to encourage prolonged interactions with their exhibits (instead of quick fly-bys) and (b) to encourage museum visitors to take charge of their own experience, rather than following a prescriptive, predefined path.

I have no idea why we interaction designers don’t spend more time engaging with interactive museum exhibit designers, because they’ve been wrestling with a lot of similar issues for a long time and have interesting perspectives.

So that’s it! See you tomorrow (Tuesday)!

Manovich reading for Tomorrow

I am going through my to-do list at breakneck speeds this morning and come to my reading for tomorrow, Manovich.  I think, “hmm it should be here in my bag.”  Nope, maybe in oncourse, nope.  Where the heck is it, and will we still need to read it for tomorrow?

Am I the only one who missed some vital announcement or am I taking crazy pills?