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Kristie DeLouiseThesis 1 Fall 12BA/BFA Year 5

BREAKthrough

DILEMMA

Can we design a service or product to facilitate connections between the scientific and design communities to help broaden their educational backgrounds and create effective solutions to real world problems?

With our infinitely complex and quickly changing world, we must absorb knowledge from diverse fields of study to identify the root of societal, economic, and environmental problems, analyze their intricacies and create effective solutions. Time is a huge issue and without appropriate design planning a project can quickly go from innovative to a nuisance, wasting the time, energy and money spent on it’s development.

Researching similar subjects and viewing them through different professional lenses can often open up the mind to different ways of thinking about the world. For example, collaboration between a scientist and a designer can point to factors that were previously ignored or not considered relevant. This knowledge will improve the final resolution and act as a precursor for future projects.

The role of technology is also increasingly important in this process. Complex programs such as GIS (Global Information Systems) require advanced users, specialized in spacial analysis and georeferencing. However the software is relevant to designers, teachers, students, etc and if used right, help them unearth unique issues and information hidden in the map. People who would not otherwise touch the software can be educated on the basics of GIS and spacial analysis so they can use it’s powerful tools to quickly and efficiently draw conclusions and create solutions. Collaboration between professionals in the group will disseminate diverse information and inspire new and unique thought processes wile enjoying new positive intellectual relationships.

CONTEXT

My thesis began with SCUBA diving...

...and has broken into relationships between science and design.

When asked to develop a research question that I would be interested in developing throughout the year I immediately thought about my passions: the ocean and scuba diving.

My research led me in the direction of technological solutions to the physical apparatus. After discovering installations, underwater structures, and applications in space training I realized that I was interested in how people collaborate and work together in extreme environments. I decided that my focus was not a product, but a service, campaign, or educational workshop to make people feel displaced and learn how to adapt to the strange environment. I became stuck on the “why”?

I got some feedback and realized that I wanted people to learn new things from each other. I prototyped a focus group to immerse in a strange place and complete a mission. This was never actually preformed.

I produced mind maps about displacement and

learning and thought about personal involvement in the environment. I also thought about collaboration and learning in an unstructured setting. .

My subject was feeling to broad. I was trying to fit scuba into the equation, but like a mismatched puzzle piece it did not fit. It was time to rethink and focus on a different aspect.

CONTEXT

Petcha Kutcha Presentation

Scuba Diving Research

Week 4 Thesis 1

RESEARCH

scientific field

research+

ocean discovery

develop design

technology+

extreme environment

All of my research has contributed to my new idea. Looking into scuba diving and extreme environments made me question adaption - learning processes - design education and science.

The first Ted talk I watched dealt with scuba diving in never before explored areas of the ocean (btwn 200 - 400 ft). In this area species are being discovered at a rate of 7 per hour! This scientist, like well known director, James Cameron has dedicated his life to documenting learning, and researching technologies that contribute to ocean exploration. Their biggest challenge is to overcome limitations posed by the dangerous elements of deep ocean diving.

One of the most influential and interesting articles I found was about students taking an extreme environments class at their University. The goal was to study the science behind scuba diving and underwater physics to build a structure in their pool. This gave me the idea of immersing people in different environments to work together. I also liked the idea of designing a workshop or mode of teaching designers about diving and what they can use their skills to create.

PROJECTS

educationstrategy

+liberal arts

+unique

solutions

digital science to

inform +

multi-discipline

My research and exploration of personal interactions with different environments to create learning experiences, has sent me away from the relm of SCUBA diving and into the field of design education.

Liz Coleman speaks about bringing Liberal Arts and education back to its initial positioning: an integrated study of different fields for the purpose of drawing educational connections. Today the expectation is to develop students that are experts and specialists in one or two specific fields. Coleman says that this overly focused outlook on educational practices can work well for some people, but for others, different practices should be drawn upon to create unique and unexpected solutions to problems.

As mentioned previously scientific studies dealing with GIS require unique specialists. However if we taught designers how to use these tools we can reach and implement better solutions. Undersea With GIS talks about how we can use satellite imagery to study the ocean floor. The information will reveal areas of interest and help inform future products and solutions.

Other inter-ests of mine, which fit into the previous context of my thesis are design and sci-ence. I enjoy look-ing at the rela-tionship between the two and find-ing examples of solutions (just look at every-thing around you) that have used knowledge from both fields.

However, the issue is when the fields to not in-tersect and op-erate inde-pendently of one another. The intention of cre-ating order out of chaos fails and produces more of the later.

AUDIENCE

Scientists use formal methods to question, draw insight, falsify, or qualify relationships to produce a theory about a problem. Designers use similar methodology and employ theory to find a solution to the problem.

Collaboration of people from different back-grounds was shared in the founding ideas of the Liberal Arts. Today the special-ist has become the Renaissance man and the jack of all trades be-comes the mas-ter of none.

There is a need to of single subject education and diverse studies to produce

break out

break through

break into

innovations that save time, money and unearth new, useful informa-tion during intel-lectual collabora-tion.

... for students of science or design interested in improving solutions

As of now my project is still in the ideation phase, but some inspiration I recently found on the Ars Electronika technology festival has helped me to delve deeper into how people already use science and design. This will help me to design a prototype, service, campaign or even a gallery to promote cross contextual learning and improve the output from any project.

Original idea involved displacing people of different professions and seeing how they reacted to the environment. I am more interested in facilitating connections between people and creating positive relationships to become an outlet for information and knowledge. This will enhance future designs and allow us to create and understand a successful environment.

SOLUTION

Only when the design fails does it draw attention to itself; when it succeeds, it’s invisible.

-John D. Berry

October

Continue reading and research

Catch up with blog posts

Ideate potential solutions

Update infographic

Think about prototype options

November


Revise potential solutions

Prototype a focus group: create a challenge. See how users do before scientific information is given and after. Will use students

December


Draw a solution to execute from prototype

Execution of final design project and solution

Do write up and documentation

Begin to ideate for Thesis 2

SCHEDULE

Throughout the rest of the semester I plan to do more reading and research on the liberal arts and collaboration of people in different fields. I hope to test different ways people think about a project before and after intellectual engagement with one another

Liberal arts deals with using cross disciplinary tools such as books, telescopes, measuring equipment and appropriated knowledge. Traditionally the liberal arts involved music, grammar, astronomy, logic, geometry, arithmetic and rhetoric. In my project I aim to close the gaps between science and

design

Adapting Environmental Education Materials - http://files.peacecorps.gov/multimedia/pdf/library/M0059_adaptenviron.pdfLife in Extreme Water Environments - http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/La-Mi/Life-in-Extreme-Water-Environments.html#bUniversity of Connecticut’s Ocean Outing and Adventures - http://www.oceanology.orgEnduring Effects on Displacement on Career Outcomes - http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/wlsresearch/publications/files/_private/Brand_Enduring.Effects.of.Job.Displacement.on.Career.Outcomes.pdfEffewcts of Eisplacement by Conflicts on Life and Education -http://conflictandeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/1-1-Dryden-Peterson.pdf

RESOURCES

Additional work and readings for future research.