Epistemology and Design: The Place of Judgment

In dialog surrounding the reviews of a recent paper a colleague and I submitted, one of the reviewers, resisting our call for a greater emphasis on criticism in interaction design on the grounds that psychology already does it, asked the following question:

How can you prevent the “anything-goes-subjectivism” when the judgments are not objective?

This is the kind of question that drives me–and I think anyone trained in the humanities–crazy. My immediate reaction is that this question is both naive and bigoted, not merely privileging that person’s own scientific background, but categorically excluding the possibility of intellectual contribution from anywhere in the liberal arts (art history, literary criticism, fashion design, philosophy, music, film, etc.).

But after some reflection, I realized that my reaction isn’t good enough. Here’s why:

Lame and Obvious Multimedia Art or Novel Ecommerce Prototype?

I have mixed feelings about posting this video, and WordPress won’t let me paste the object/embed code–not sure what’s up with that, so here’s a link instead:

http://www.salon.com/ent/video_dog/ifc/2008/01/23/sundance_newfrontier/index.html

It is supposedly a work of “multimedia art” (in the words of the usually hip Salon.com), shown at the usually hip Sundance, which shows how virtual sweatshop workers can design jean styles in Second Life and then print them into clothes in real life. This is disappointing as “art,” because I expect art to push conceptual limits, to stretch my thinking, and not merely to play catch-up to concepts that are passé to anyone who isn’t a complete noob in virtual worlds.

But it is not as disappointing as experimental e-commerce. Set aside the facile pedantry about sweatshops, and instead imagine these machines not as “virtual sweatshops” but rather as self-service clothing design and purchase portals: now the consumer gets to style and construct, in a social virtual space, the pants that they buy. This design carries on the logic of those build-a-bear stores into virtual reality, and it is reasonable to speculate that the engagement offered by those build-a-bear stores just might translate into everyday RL fashion shopping.

File this under “right idea, but for the wrong reason.”

Wearable Computing: Automation and Fashion in Second Life

Holy transcoding, Lev! One of the interesting recent developments in Second Life fashion is the increasing extent to which programming and automation are a part of virtual dress-up. An interesting example of this is a line of clothing from one of Second Life’s greatest and oldest design houses: PixelDolls. What initially caught my attention was the following ad:

As I research Second Life fashion, one feature I’m always on the watch for is the language or even cultural logic of technology showing up in unexpected ways, and this sign really grabbed my attention. In plain English, it says that the skirt comes with an HUD (heads-up-display) that enables the user to change the color and fabric of her clothing while she is wearing it. According to the Universal Font of All Knowledge, an HUD is an interface or data display that doesn’t obstruct a user’s view; HUDs were originally developed for military aircraft and later became a common metaphor for first-person shooter video games. Here’s how it works:

paper idea continued: mobile phone faceplates

I think more about my paper and try to narrow down the topic today.

For now, the rough title is: Design mobile phone faceplates: appearance as experience and interaction.

In this paper, I would like to focus on how mobile phone faceplates improve user experience. Mobile phone faceplates in Asia are designed by the following three groups of people (which are classified by me):
1. mobile phone company: Nokia, Motorola….

2. professional graphic designers (or in related field): the pictures in my last entry are belong to this category. They do not work in mobile phone companies. probably have own studios.

3. amateur. Here is an example( from Yinnimei Yahoo blog.):

In my paper, I am thinking to focus on the last two, especially the third one. I intend to explore general people create their own meaning when using digital products. Users design not only their own ways of using the product, but also the appearance of that. I would like to study the latter.

Besides the reading we have in the semester, literature review might also include: emotional design, ensoulment, experience design, waves of HCI……

Theories used: I am thinking of using structuralism to analyze one or two examples of mobile phone faceplates. What the codes and the languages suggest. Also, I found that people in Asia design their mobile phone faceplates in a similar way with other personal belongings, such as schedule book. I wonder if it is counted as “cultural logic.”

Do these make sense? I hope this narrowed down a little bit.

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

The Everquest Effect

So I really got to thinking on Tuesday while we were discussing the magazines that fashion, like video games, or heroin (not necessarily different from video games) is much like an addiction. Our culture today is heavily dependent on “fixes” to help a person get through the day (see smoking figures. On a side note, have you seen Thank You for Smoking? If you haven’t, you should.) As I sat there, trying to find meaning in perfume ads, perfume I might mention that I would probably be able to fund my meals for a month based on the cost of it, it struck me that I could literally sit there for weeks staring at these products trying to find meaning in them, and then spend a fair amount of money to purchase some of them, and less than 6 months later I would have to turn around and spend more money on something else that may or may not be necessary in the first place.

Enter Everquest. Ever play? You pay $50 for the base game (at least you did at the time.) Then, you pay about $13 a month (per account) to get up to 8 characters or so an account (that you can only play one at a time). Every 6 months (or so) they put out an expansion which would cost anywhere from $20 to…. $50 dollars. Some of these expansions actually included a substantial amount of new content. Some, (skipping names, which I could give you, if you really want) basically allowed you to change the color of your characters clothes. Oh, and extra Bank Slots. Don’t forget the bank slots. Worthless right? YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But we still paid the money for it. Just like the teenager who is obsessive with fashion will without a thought decide that she absolutely MUST have the new whatchamacallit from whoeveritwas who designed the pieceofcrapthateveryonehastohave and will do anything to get it.

Its all still just a way for Americans to get their fix. At least in a game, you get some sense of accomplishment, you get the next level. Fashion? You get a closet full of clothes you wear once (can’t be caught dead in the same dress more than once?) which you may or may not ever wear and then donate (or throw away) when the rack breaks and you realize its time to get rid of some of the clothes. A dear friend of mine recently purchased a house. I’m so excited for her! BUT She told me she spent several hours arranging her closet, getting it perfect and then to her dismay realized that she had roughly double the amount of objects outside the closet, as there already were inside of it. We both laughed. At least she realizes that she has a crazy amount of clothes. Am I addicted to Video Games? Probably. While I have kicked the EQ, SWG, and WoW habits, I’m currently playing Eve Online.  While I could spend some of that money on fashionable items, or Vogue!, on some level I guess I’m geeky enough to realize that its still a waste of time and money. At least this way its on my terms. Or maybe I just have horrible fashion sense and should never go out in public. That works too.

Interpretation of Virtual Culture

What message are those fashion magazine pictures sending to us? And who are those photos for?

Those photos are created and sent to those who are looking for them. And they (the creators) hope that it is basically everybody. The simple assumption here  is that everybody likes beauty. We can say that those models are idealized  ourselves, and they are living with our idealized lifestyles.  But when they create those pictures, they are guessing the customers, what they like and what they want.

After think through the process of analysis, understanding, or maybe sometimes just guessing, it is all about “relationship” to me.  Those pictures, objects or models, one or in a group, are trying to reach their potential customers by interpreting our relationships with nature, other people and objects, our position in everyday life and career, social status. The audiences looking for those pictures, those products are also trying to put themselves into a specific social position. It leads me to think back to “what is culture” again when I cannot get rid of this relationship concept.