d.ethnography
In Tokyo for EPIC – Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference. 6th edition. [Link] Wonderful comment this morning from Victoria Bellotti (PARC) – that archaeology is dethnography Absolutely – (d)ethnography – d.ethnography – the intermingling of dreams and mortality, utopia and the realities of material constraints, the angel of death whispering in the ear of aspiration. [...]
Kenya Hara – emptiness
In Tokyo for EPIC – Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference. 6th edition. [Link] Kenya Hara, Art Director of Muji, has opened the conference with a beautiful meditation on emptiness – “ku”. For me, Kenya was talking about human being and how it implicates the world of things. This Henckels knife fits the hand of the [...]
EPIC 2010
In Tokyo for EPIC – Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference. 6th edition. [Link] How to improve the design of things – take people seriously – be human-centered look beyond the artifact – design systems, scenarios, stories, experiences, interactions don’t assume the designer knows it all – find out, pursue research and conduct fieldwork Ethnography, anthropological [...]
does innovation have a method?
The Hamaguchi Protocols I am in Tokyo University at the iSchool [Link], a new research and teaching initiative focused on creativity/innovation and human centered design. Visionary leadership provided by Hiroshi Tamura and Hideyuki Horii. I am here as part of a symposium with Hideshi Hamaguchi, Director of Strategy at Ziba Design. The topic – does [...]
radical innovation – the DARPA experience
I reported the talk about his robotic cars given a couple of weeks ago by Stanford’s Sebastian Thrun – [Link]. “Stanley” and “Junior” had competed and won two DARPA Challenges to build autonomous vehicles – cars capable of driving themselves in complex real-world environments. (See Stanford Racing and Sebastian’s web pages – also DARPA’s own [...]
Automotive futures
This weekend Stanford “Leading Matters” ran one of its alumni events in Santa Clara. Members of CARS (Center for Automotive Research at Stanford), now including myself, talked about the past, present, and future of auto-mobility. Great presentations came from Sebastian Thrun (robotic cars and Google), Chris Gerdes (driving at the limits – he brought his [...]
human centered design – the “T” character
This post is in a series of commentaries on a class running at Stanford, Winter Quarter 2010 – “Transformative Design” ENGR 231 – [Link] Real world problems don’t fit into neat disciplinary categories. We hear much about the importance of interdisciplinary or even transdisciplinary work. (Multidisciplinary implies keeping the disciplinary distinctions we need to bridge?) [...]
design – cultural literacy
This post is in a series of commentaries on a class running at Stanford, Winter Quarter 2010 – “Transformative Design” ENGR 231 – [Link] This evening – a group of friends and colleagues discussing education and schooling with Tony Wagner. Our warm and welcoming hosts were Joan Lonergan and John Merrow at Castilleja School. Topics: [...]
Archaeological project design
Encountering the work of FARO in Flanders (see blog entry – [Link]) prompted me to think about our own project in the Roman borders at the Roman town of Binchester – VINOVIVM.org – and particularly in relation to the Council of Europe’s Faro Convention [Link] I talked about the implementation of broad principles and policies [...]
Steampunk at Oxford
What if the Victorians (with their steam engine industrial aesthetic) had had access to digital technologies? What if a Victorian design sensibility had not been eclipsed by modernism and its minimalist aesthetic? What if technologies such as dirigibles, analog computers, or digital mechanical computers (such as Charles Babbage’s Analytical engine) were still with us? Steam-powered [...]
design – narrative
This post is in a series of commentaries on a class running at Stanford, Winter Quarter 2010 – “Transformative Design” ENGR 231 – [Link] The other day I was reflecting upon storytelling in connection with the pragmatics of design, seeing both as performative – located, time-based, adaptive – [Link] (see also on Odysseus and Hermes [...]
anthropometrics – the Museo Cesare Lombroso
This post is in a series of commentaries on a class running at Stanford, Winter Quarter 2010 – “Transformative Design” ENGR 231 – [Link] Anthropometrics – part of human factors design. Its roots lie in nineteenth century anthropological science, and forensics. Measuring the distances between eyebrows for evidence of criminality, correlating shapes of skulls with [...]
archaeology – design
This post is in a series of commentaries on a class running at Stanford, Winter Quarter 2010 – “Transformative Design” ENGR 231 – [Link] Everyday detritus – Roman – the indeterminate quotidian Today I ran a session about archaeology and design. (A tighter focus than my recent case for pragmatology and pragmatogony – [Link]) I [...]
fields not objects
This post is in a series of commentaries on a class running at Stanford, Winter Quarter 2010 – “Transformative Design” ENGR 231 – [Link] Pragmatology [Link] – the (non-existent) discipline of things – doesn’t deal in objects. Things are not discrete, but nodes, gatherings of otherwise distributed flows, relations – fields of connection, not objects [...]
archaeology > design
This post is in a series of commentaries on a class running at Stanford, Winter Quarter 2010 – “Transformative Design” ENGR 231 – [Link] Pragmatology and Pragmatogony I like to say that archaeologists deal in the history of people’s relationships with stuff, with things. And this covers a lot – basically 150,000 years of human [...]
design, exobiology and archaeology
Tim Brown has commented on the design of the exobiology in James Cameron’s much-touted movie “Avatar” – [Link] I took Molly and Ben to see it again this weekend. There is certainly something captivating about the creatures and environment of planet Pandora. Tim talks about the plausibility of the design work that makes it easier [...]
design thinking – House MD and the eureka moment
This post is in a series of commentaries on a class running at Stanford, Winter Quarter 2010 – “Transformative Design” ENGR 231 – [Link] The diagnostician – a contemporary archetype – Gregory House MD [Link] Design thinking is problem oriented and human centered. The aim is to identify needs, often not even recognized and requiring [...]
design and behavior
This post is in a series of commentaries on a class running at Stanford, Winter Quarter 2010 – “Transformative Design” ENGR 231 – [Link] Leslie Witt of IDEO came to talk to us about design and behavior change on January 13. Last week I also posted a comment about Banny Banerjee’s exhortation to use design [...]
design – journalism
This post is in a series of commentaries on a class running at Stanford, Winter Quarter 2010 – “Transformative Design” ENGR 231 – [Link] In class: Robin Gianattassio-Malle (Blue Egg Media, Producer KQED’s Forum, with Michael Krasny). She made the case made for journalism being a field of design. It led to a fascinating discussion. [...]
design thinking – pragmatics
This post is in a series of commentaries on a class running at Stanford, Winter Quarter 2010 – “Transformative Design” ENGR 231 – [Link] Design thinking is a systematic process for generating innovation. Last week we offered a crash course – learning by doing – designing a briefcase – [Link] Design thinking is a pragmatics, [...]
on design and changing behavior
This post is in a series of commentaries on a class running at Stanford, Winter Quarter 2010 – “Transformative Design” ENGR 231 – [Link] Stanford School of Engineering – Ask The Expert “Our behavior is deeply influenced by the norms and frameworks that surround us and design can be used to create systems and experiences [...]
designers – the archetype – Odysseus
This post is in a series of commentaries on a class running at Stanford, Winter Quarter 2010 – “Transformative Design” ENGR 231 – [Link] Today I got to thinking about the character type of the “designer”. Not so much a craftsperson or artisan, nor an inventor, nor a fine artist. Someone attuned to particular circumstances, [...]
what is design thinking?
This post is in a series of commentaries on a class running at Stanford, Winter Quarter 2010 – “Transformative Design” ENGR 231 – [Link] We can certainly connect the emergence of the field of “design” with the growth of industrial manufacture in the nineteenth century – designers work with mass manufacturing processes in the industrial [...]
design thinking – the bootcamp
This post is in a series of commentaries on a class running at Stanford, Winter Quarter 2010 – “Transformative Design” ENGR 231 – [Link] Workshop From problem orientation – “design a better briefcase” to design thinking – observe/interview, identify issues with someone’s portable life, then address them iteratively sharing the results rapid prototyping station
