The joy of fun error messages

25Oct13

Amazon acknowledges how fragile the Interweb is...

Amazon acknowledges how fragile the Interweb is…

Dropbox ties itself up into an impossible knot

Dropbox ties itself up into an impossible knot


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Discover your theme, in one or two words

17Apr13

This interview made for great reading, and this passage stood out for me and sent my thoughts wandering. What if every artistic effort had a guiding principle or theme to help you make decisions? What if making that theme clear was one of the guiding purposes for the creative work?

What is the one thing to keep in mind when making a film?

When you make a movie, always try to discover what the theme of the movie is in one or two words. Every time I made a film, I always knew what I thought the theme was, the core, in one word. In “The Godfather,” it was succession. In “The Conversation,” it was privacy. In “Apocalypse,” it was morality.The reason it’s important to have this is because most of the time what a director really does is make decisions. All day long: Do you want it to be long hair or short hair? Do you want a dress or pants? Do you want a beard or no beard? There are many times when you don’t know the answer. Knowing what the theme is always helps you.

I remember in “The Conversation,” they brought all these coats to me, and they said: Do you want him to look like a detective, Humphrey Bogart? Do you want him to look like a blah blah blah. I didn’t know, and said the theme is ‘privacy’ and chose the plastic coat you could see through. So knowing the theme helps you make a decision when you’re not sure which way to go.

~ Francis Ford Coppola (Anderson, 2011)

Anderson, A. “Francis Ford Coppola: On Risk, Money, Craft & Collaboration.” 99u: Insights on making ideas happen. Behance, c. 2011. Web. Retrieved 17 Apr. 2013. .


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John Lennon & Gestalt Design Process

28Nov12

At the moment, I am working on design for an architectural lighting course (ARCH 525 for Athabasca University & RAIC). Phillip Gabriel, in his chapter on “The Lighting Design Principles & Process,” has some interesting things to convey about Gestalt psychology and its use as a design approach. Here is a quote from him.

The analytical approach could be considered part of a ‘Western’ (European/American) cultural approach. It is a somewhat scientific, linear and trial-and-error method. For some designers in the 1960’s and 70’s the influence of Carl Jung and ‘Eastern’ philosophies, brought another process to our attention. Jung explained how the ‘eastern’ way of non-linear thinking involved, more, being in the moment. All the influences on our experience move together at a point in time to bring us to new realizations. We can gather a knowledge or intimacy with a situation and a total or “gestalt’ understanding takes place and we see the total appropriate response.

John Lennon spoke of the differences in the creative process after producing the “White Album”. The previous album, the ground breaking “Sergeant Pepper’s”, had been created in the ‘Western’ process of many different ‘sketches’, variations,  judgements and tries, until after hundreds of grueling hours in the studios, the work was finished. Each song took many days of trial-and-error and many discussions.

…For the “White Album”, the band spent hours together, sharing feelings and musical thoughts, without particular direction. At a moment, they would agree on a notion and start playing together. Most of the amazingly creative songs were recorded on the first try.

What does this mean to a lighting designer? The process is one of restraining and not giving form to the design until all the criteria and analysis have been thoroughly digested. It means waiting until the form becomes apparent and only then putting it on paper. This is a process worthy of development. When the design is given form, the results usually prove to be appropriate and often quite creative.


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Light and Object

27Nov12

Light, object and viewer are inseparably intertwined. Without light there is no vision, but light itself is invisible in space. It requires that the  source must be seen directly as an object emitting light, or must be reflected from some object. Not one of the three can generate a visual experience by itself. Because they are so interdependent, they must be treated together. (Erhardt, 1995)

Erhardt, L. (1995). The right light: A study of visual communication. New York, NY: Illuminating Engineering Society of North America. Page 4.


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Design as a way of thinking

24Nov12

Design continues to resist definition, and that is good. This incorporal quality allows the profession and practice to morph and adjust to the need of the moment. The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein talked about language being a “form of life” (Kindersley, 2011), meaning that it is intimately connected to the context in which it is spoken. Language is moulded by character of the speaker and meaning is recreated in the understanding of the listener. This idea helps to knock down the straw towers of definitions, which can limit understanding like a stereotype would. With the rise of the design thinking movement, as promoted by the likes of Tim Brown and the IDEO firm, there is a shift from viewing design as products and outcomes like brochures, websites, or logos, to instead being upon design as a process of discovery, learning, and addressing needs. It is the quality of the thinking and understanding that gives the underlying value to the outcomes anyway. Design is only surface deep unless it is anchored upon deep foundation  of understanding and conceptual thinking.

People may think that design is about screens, objects, or logos, but it’s actually about people—their changing needs and behavior, preferences, and aversions. (Shimmell, 2012)

I was motivated to write this post after reading an article by Kendra Shimmell. She shared her experiences applying design thinking to teaching and learning. In her own words, this is how she found success.

So, how do we discern what students need and when, especially if everyone is at a different skill-level? We know they haven’t internalized the learning if they want more guidance after completing an activity, so we respond by providing information that challenges them to think about the situation from a different perspective, and we do this until they can internalize and make the thinking their own.

We also have coaches who walk around and listen to the teams. Rather than telling them everything, we drop a new clue/prop/question/ into the situation. It works like a video game, where you discover information, uncover clues, and move level by level to the next lesson.

It’s not surprising that participants often arrive at the most useful insights by consulting with each other. I ask them to find a thought-partner and discuss what they are learning. Harvard professor Eric Mazur went from discouraged to amazed after he began successfully using this model of “peer-coaching” at Harvard to teach his students physics. In Craig Lambert’s March, 2012 Harvard Magazine profile of Mazur, “Twilight of the Lecture,” Lambert notes that “interactive learning triples students’ gains in knowledge as measured by the kinds of conceptual tests that had once deflated Mazur’s spirits, and by many other assessments as well. It has other salutary effects, like erasing the gender gap between male and female undergraduates.”

The following image (click to enlarge) from Tim Brown’s book, Change by Design,  explains more about his ideas around process. Consequently, these ideas could also be applied to teaching and learning.

Image by Peter Macdonald / IDEO

—

REFERENCES

Brown, T. (2009). Change by design: How design thinking transforms organizations and inspires innovation. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.

Kindersley, D. (2011). The philosophy book. New York, NY: Dorling Kindersley.

Shimmell, K. (2012, November 24). Learning by design: It’s not what you know, but how you think. Good. Retrieved from http://www.good.is/posts/learning-by-design-it-s-not-what-you-know-but-how-you-think


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On design

22Nov12

Design is the method of putting form and content together. Design, just as art, has multiple definitions, there is no single definition. Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that’s why it is so complicated.

~ Paul Rand


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Six principles of effective e-learning

16Nov12
  • Multimedia principle: Adding graphics to words can improve learning (Dual Encoding).
  • Contiguity principle: Placing text near graphics can improve learning. (Limited working memory)
  • Modality principle: Explain graphics with audio can improve learning. (Utilize two sub-storage areas of working memory: visual / phonetic)
  • Redundancy principle: Explain graphics with audio and redundant text can hurt learning.(Graphic and text overload visual working memory)
  • Coherence principle: Using gratuitous visuals, text and sound can hurt learning. (Stimulating inappropriate prior knowledge)
  • Personalization principle: Use conversational tone and pedagogical agents to increase learning. (Listen and respond in a meaningful way to a person)

Clark, R. (2002). Six principles of effective e-learning: What works and why. The eLearning Developers’ Journal, 1. Retrieved from http://www.elearningguild.com


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Looking at the source

08Nov12

source-code
The source code for http://barackobama.com has his rising sun logo in acsii text. It is a nice poetic touch, like a craftsman’s signature.


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Game psychology

09Mar12

For my 200th blog post I am going to paste a few quotes from Frank Rose’s book, The Art of Immersion. I’m in the thick of writing my thesis and the exciting ideas of this book helped drive my topic and research. I’m not sure all of these quotes will make it into the thesis, but I think they are worth singling out of the book for those interested. Many of them are from Rose quoting other experts.

“Games are about engaging with the most entertaining thing on the planet, which is other people.” – Jordan Weisman (p. 17)

“People love having goals,” Paharia continued. They love other things too: getting points, moving up to a new level, collecting things, especially collecting things. “But, people hate having holes in sets,” he added. “They’ll do anything to complete them.” – Rajat Paharia (p.176)

“Incentive system” – Rajat Paharia (p. 176)

“The dopamine system operates below the cortex,” says Berridge. “It’s activated by simple Pavlovian learning, not so much by the cognitive understand.” Think of it as an extremely sophisticated pattern recognition system that functions beneath the level of conscious thought. We’re able to act on it, but if we experience any knowledge of the pattern it recognizes, it comes to us as a feeling, a hunch, rather than anything that we can explain. This learning is an emotional response—one that has nothing to do with logic or linear thought. Which is what makes it so powerful. (p. 267)

This is an emotional system…makes animals intensely interested in exploring their world and leads them to become excited when they are about to get what they desire. – Joak Panksepp (p.272)

Panksepp identifies our fixation on chance results with a behavior that’s fundamental to animal survival, foraging—or, as he ultimately dubbed it, “seeking.” (p.272)

Social information foraging (p. 273)

Lostpedia, Wookipedia, Wikipedia—all are essentially games in which participants forage for influence, approval, and status.

Anything that invites us to participate and promises some sort of reward can become a game—including, as participatory media proliferate, storytelling itself. (p.273)

Rose, F. (2011). The art of immersion: How the digital generation is remaking hollywood, madison avenue, and the way we tell stories. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.


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Finding the subject

09Mar12

It was not handling of paint but handling of thoughts which overwhelmed me. Trying to get around this problem, I took always in my sketch-sack a little note book. When I had discovered my subjects, I sat before it for some while…feeling my way into it, asking myself these questions, What attracted you to this particular subject? Why do you want to paint it? What is its core, the thing you are trying to express?

Clearly, and in as few words as possible, I had answered these questions from myself to myself, working them in my little note book, presenting essentials only, discarding everything of minor importance…This saying in words as well as in colour and form gave me double approach.

~ Emily Carr, Hundreds and Thousands: The Journals of Emily Carr


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