thesis: thoughts on interface…

The feeling of satisfaction when it comes to interface is really important to me. But, how do you parse that out? What are the elements, the bits and pieces that shape an interface that is satisfying to use? It has to be how the entire system acts, reacts, looks and sounds—but it is also in every single minute detail as well.

It could be really interesting/freeing/fun/challenging to conduct some experiments in form and structure in a physical way for my interface. Capturing that with stop motion or a video camera would allow for quicker prototyping and ease of production.
- could use paper
- could use kitchen items
- could use food
- what about body parts/systems to convey the idea of parts to a whole
(in an abstract non-gross way)

Should also do some serious research about online searching. I’m sure there’s a lot of information out there and research being done. A framework or methodology to start from may prove very useful.

thesis: thoughts on triage…

Triage is also about the distillation of elements or processes to what is most essential, as well as most pressing. It is an ultimate act of focus—against even human nature for compassion—to deal with the immediate task at hand for the greater good.

thesis: loose thoughts and ideas…

This is interesting because it directly links to information anxiety in general. Not only are people overwhelmed by all the information online, but they are also overwhelmed by all the information (often very confusing and/or conflicting) regarding nutrition.

thesis: loose thoughts and ideas…

Could an important aspect of my system include this idea of constant accessibility to an overall goal? Could this goal be displayed/designed to remind a user of what they’re trying to accomplish at all times to cut down on distraction? How could that work?

Or, is this more about helping keep users on task at any given time. Is it more important to keep the system completely flexible at all times, or to create a logical system that allows users to see what they need and gives them a logical system to move through? Or, could I create a place where these things can live side by side?

thesis: loose thoughts and ideas…

A THOUGHT—on triage…if medical triage is about maximizing the number of survivors—treating those most likely to recover or eventually be healthy—then what is info-triage attempting to do? “Save” the most useful or pertinent information? I think while this is a useful and applicable metaphor, that it can only go so far in its strict medical definition. My use, for information and making decisions, has to be inherently more flexible and mutable. Information given up for “dead” could prove to later be crucial—and perhaps would need to be “resurrected.” My system has to have a way of abandoning information for dead, but still allowing for its retrieval if it later proves necessary.

But how to do that? How can you organize something and give it a useful design if it’s infinitely reconfigurable? This is very much Weinberger’s “pile of leaves.” So how to rake those into a comprehensible shape?

thesis: loose thoughts and ideas…

The above is essential to ponder further. If this new order of order is limited by the use of geography and mapping and giving it/things a shape—design can step in and create systems for reshuffling information into unlimited shapes. We still need the shapes because that’s how we cognitively make sense of the world—we constantly sort/sift/categorize/re-categorize and cluster everything around us. We need the maps—this top-down view—BUT we are able to intuitively and seamlessly reconfigure our clustering as perceptions and related knowledge changes.

fall 2009 final review: thesis proposal...

My task for final review this semester was to sum up the origins and directions of my thesis, and to encapsulate my thesis proposal to date: my researchable question, sub-questions, working definitions, directions for exploration, justification, and bibliography. I wanted to post my presentation file here, for your consideration.

Thesis Proposal Presentation: Shown at final review fall 2009 from Liese Zahabi on Vimeo.

(Please note this video includes sound).