August 18th, 2008 ethereal
i made my first post to the Arizona Digital Media Investigations journal that he created as a conversation space for those taking place in his rapidly approaching show. i was a bit nervous to speak, unsure of what a moderator’s role was in this context. so i looked for the conversation commonalities and tried to pull them together into a dialogue reflection. here is what i came up with:
http://arizonadigitalmedia.org/?p=48
excerpt: “Returning to this group of artists and designers, the place where we work in the virtual is mysterious. The tools we use are digital and the experience of using them is somewhat ubiquitous: clicking keys, clicking mice, or movement of a stylus across a board. The products we produce are tangible, for the most part, and produce memories in those who view them that will be associated with sensory cues based on their environment, but not in the same way as something with a singular manifestation such as a painting in the Louvre. …”
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August 18th, 2008 ethereal
i am listening the helicopter fly overhead
there is a voice coming from the sky
that tells the residents of oak park
to stay inside, that something is suspect,
that someone is a suspect.
the searchlight is on.
i rode my bike in the cool night air
under a halo moon streaked with clouds
and smiled at my nonchalance.
then went inside. this is all not unusual here.
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August 18th, 2008 ethereal
i made these today. i was in an ghost mood, thinking about phantom family members.
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August 12th, 2008 ethereal
I had a piece in a “Back to School” themed show this weekend at Tangent in Sacramento. Here is a link to what the show is about:
www.tangent-gallery.com
I dissected my diaries from 1989–1992, months Sept.–Oct. and did some “statistical analysis” of them to show various trends like “classes mentioned” 1988-89 vs “crushes on boys”, and how do they compare. Journal entries were analyzed for language and color coded into the following categories:
classes mentioned
moments of dispair
sporting events/practices
crushes on boys
sporting failures
odd school activities
god related entries
instances of the heart icon
The results were … thought provoking and definitely humorous. The results were compiled and most charted to show trends over time. For example, after transitioning from 8th to 9th grade, crushes spiked where classes were barely mentioned. Interesting indeed.
Here is a rather poor photo of the piece. I will replace it with a better one when I get back to shoot it. The copied journal entries are sewn together and extend about 6 ft to the right.
An excerpt from the Report, Category of Analysis: Odd School Activities
“SLAVE DAY: MAY 1988:
Although not in the study period, this fascinating activity proved noteworthy. Upon further research it appears that selected classmates are purchased as “slaves” for the day by fellow students, dressed up and required to perform tasks. The journalist mentions being a spectacle is possibly more appealing than being overlooked. It appears to have been a humiliating experience, not surprisingly. Further study would be needed to determine whether this honors or condemns the historic practice of “slavery.”
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August 7th, 2008 ethereal
this link was sent to me today:
theunapologeticmexican.org
featuring … blackletter as its masthead and side bar! clearly a key part of the visual identity of the site.
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August 3rd, 2008 ethereal
i am a fan of david lynch on facebook now. i think the facebook fans situation is quite interesting. from hot sauce to celebrities, what an interesting phenomenon to show what you are into. anyway. got this image from the lynch album and altered it a bit, as i saw fit.
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July 20th, 2008 ethereal
i was working. i was zoomed in to see type. i looked at my screen, shifted it a bit and took a screen capture. what a lovely little visual moment replete with text.
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July 20th, 2008 ethereal
I have been reading over the new online design journal “re-public.gr/en” The content is thought provoking and interesting, and especially poignant for me as I search for what to do next with my newly minted degree and abundance of idealistic enthusiasm for design’s potential application to environmental policy, services and products.
Here is a quote from Dori Tunstall’s contribution to the writing on the site in her article The future of politics: Distributed creativity and DIY policy design:
“On a recent government project of mine, the creative director did not
want the team to ask people to evaluate whether the type was too big or
too small on a brochure. The argument was that people always say that
it is too small and that they don’t understand all the reasons why
something may be easy or difficult to read. My counter argument was
that while designers are the experts in design, the people are the
experts in their experiences with designed artifacts. The desire to not
solicit certain types of design feedback from people has to do with the
designer’s need to maintain control over the expert domain of design,
with lowercase d.”
Definitions to note before continuing (per Dori):
design with a lowercase d: “…design, with lowercase d, is its complement – tangible,
improvisational, reality creations that is the mostly professionalized
and within the intellectual domains of design, communication, and
usability.”
Design with an uppercase D: “Design, with an uppercase D, is the processes of abstract, strategic,
ideal creation that is open to everyone. In the context of policy, it
is often the intellectual domain of the political science and
economics.”
I want to call attention to the following statement and make a note on it:
“My counter argument was
that while designers are the experts in design, the people are the
experts in their experiences with designed artifacts.”
This statement falls neatly into messy business that my graduate class at NCSU was trying to tackle and provoke discussion around in our symposium OptionShiftControl last fall. I agree that the end user must have control of the design project outcome in that it suits the needs of the group that the project was created to address. However, the people may be experts in their experiences with the artifact, but are they cognizant of the reasons that they find them acceptable or unacceptable? Habit forms a strong bond with comfort and sometimes an experience that registers as “right” is an unexamined opportunity to make a significant change for the better in the people’s lifestyle. Doing things the way they are done because it is the way that it has always been done is a common and seemingly human way to live through daily tasks. I do believe that when partnered with other disciplines that specialize in Observation, designers can offer ideas to the people that they may have rejected on the notion that it is not the way that things have always been done, but are not recognizing that comfort may be a cause in marking or discarding an idea. Involve, observe, offer and interject with the people. Heck, designers ARE the people in most cases. However, have we nothing to offer as experts in awareness of the experience and the ability to deconstruct it and see opportunity in places that the people don’t, not that they cannot, but maybe they just do not have the time nor energy to do so.
The article is not all about this statement, my rant spawned from the singular sentence but does not reflect the overall theme of the piece. The rest of the writing, especially the five aspects of policy design, was insightful and interesting. I would like to take one of the five and pick it apart further and find out what its principles were.
But that, my readers, is a rant for another time.
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July 19th, 2008 ethereal
i have always loved jenny holzer for her quipsolgies and phrases in addition to her public posting of these cryptic morsels in a public space. now, she enters the very private sphere, the mobile device, through the public manifestation of a twitter feed. such lovely crossover, imho.
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July 18th, 2008 ethereal
I have been on the bus in Cleveland. It often smelled like pee. However, this was a few years ago and maybe times have changed and the odor has improved. When I lived in Cleveland I did notice that the public transit system was largely overlooked and underutilized. I tried to take it when I could and it was on time and went to helpful places. It did not run late enough, but otherwise, pretty good. I was intrigued by this campaign designed by Michael Beirut.
But what is a green patriot? Will the bus riders look online to find out when they get in front of a computer? Is the message reaching those who are taking the bus because they HAVE to and providing feedback that they are also doing a service to the environment? I would like to think so, but I would also like to know. A follow-up project with some impromptu interviews perhaps, would stats tracking on the site do anything? What about asking some kids who ride the bus once they are in school? I know Pentagram has probably already thought of these things, I just hope that if any of this occurs it gets the press that the initial action did. Its not just the object, its the effect it has on the community ot was intended for.
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