day 1, re-examining the powerpoint book

So I presented my work at a conference for practicing educators over the weekend in Philadelphia (Educon - no, no costumes) and led participants in an exercise to illustrate how they could "disrupt" ubiquitous technologies in their classroom. The catch was that they had to use pop-ups to do it. The idea was that paper is uniquely good at being foldable - screens can't, at this point, do this well, and paper engineering is beautiful. Everything is good at something, and I want teachers to consider more carefully what technology is good for and what it's not good for. So, I asked participants to identify what their technology was uniquely good at, and to illustrate how it could be used more creatively via pop-ups. One group (see below) proposed the use of Excel to teach the idea of scale (see mouse, cat and elephant drawn onto an "excel" spreadsheet, and pop-ups used to illustrate size). Another group proposed using a document camera (essentially a video camera attached to a projector) for stop motion animation or a civil war reenactment. (Usually, document cameras are used to project worksheets, much like how overhead projectors were once used with transparencies.)

The activity was really great for about half of the 25 teachers in the room, and the other half were stuck. I asked for feedback afterwards, and they said that the presentation of my idea (via my powerpoint book, here, and other work I've done) was really compelling but that they got stuck when they were asked to make something themselves. They need prompts, or examples, they said - activities like the pop-up one that they could replicate in their classrooms.

So, reflecting on their feedback today, I'm now thinking about splitting my book in two: I'm thinking about doing a PowerPoint book that more successfully communicates this message of "consider your affordances" and "reconsider the digital" and "the medium is the message." It's something I can present at conferences, show to teachers, post online, and people immediately get it. The photo attached is my latest rationale for wanting this powerpoint book to be the handmade aspect of my thesis.

The second part will be modeled after The Third Teacher, in that it will be more interactive and web-based (though also perhaps physical, in a form that could be purchased). I emailed an editor on the Third Teacher project today (Bruce Mau put it together, and I met the designer at a design/ed conference at the Glass House last fall) and we're going to speak next week. More on this second part, tomorrow.

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Day 1: Mythology Influenced Design

Conceptual Framework and Research:

Over winter break I happened upon an interview with Joseph Campbell that I found very inspirational. Joseph Campbell has written many books on mythology and the role it plays in our lives. I began thinking about the potential for mythology to influence the designs for my t-shirts. In the past week I have been doing a lot of research on mythology and its psychological benefits, I have also been reading many ancient myths. I am interested in looking at the potential for mythology as a way to understand and communicate struggles/triumphs experienced by diabetics. My idea for Day 1 project was to practice the methodology of choosing the story of a specific diabetic person and designing something for that individual that references what they are going through with mythological symbols.

I chose to design for a well-known diabetic blogger I've been following for a while named Kerri Morrone Sparling (check her blog here - - http://www.sixuntilme.com). Right now she is pregnant, which as a Type 1 Diabetic is considered high risk. It's something many diabetics are cautious about, as it could be dangerous for the diabetic and their child. I wanted to design specifically for this type of situation, as it represents a kind of Hero's Journey, and see what kind of mythological symbols came out of this creative process and design constraints.

After much research I decided that I wanted to create a maternity shirt for Kerri that has a silkscreened large body of water. Where her insulin pump lives would be covered by a whale. I also want to create a little onesie for her soon-to-be baby girl (due in May) that has a lotus flower and stem on the side.

Meaning of these symbols:

Water: Source of all potentialities in existence. Symbolic of The Great Mother and associated with birth. The universal womb. Water is the liquid counterpart of light. Immersion in water not only symbolizes the return to the primordial state of purity, death to the old life and rebirth into the new, but also the immersion of the soul in the manifest world.

Whale: The power of the cosmic waters, hence regeneration, both cosmic and individual; also the engulfing grave. The belly of the whale is both a place of death and rebirth. Being swallowed by the whale is entry into the darkness of death, and emerging from the whale, after the traditional period of three days, is the emerging from the cavern of initiation into new life.

Lotus: The glorious lily of the great waters. Flower of Light. The lotus is a symbol of a superhuman or divine birth issuing unsullied from the muddy waters.

What I made so far:

Sketches of whales on transparent paper (to be transferred to Mylar and exposed on my silkscreen for printing)

Other steps forward:

I emailed Kerri Morrone Sparling and asked if she would be willing to let me design something for her at no charge and send it to her for some feedback, so keep your fingers crossed!


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Tarot Cards for the Internet Age

Bear with me here, because this is something I have given serious thought to and in the mocked up form it may not appear that way. Since the late 1700's, tarot cards have been used by mystics and the occult as a means of divination. What interests me about the deck are the Major Arcana, 21 special cards that deviate from the standard 4-suit deck of playing cards we know today. The evolution of tarot cards over time during the course of European history meant that much of the philosophical, social, poetical, and astrological ideas of the time were recorded in the form of cards. The interpretations of the imagery are still largely based on religious and mystical references to this period of time. In this way, they can be thought of as an early meme - a unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another. (thanks dictionary.com). Presently, the word 'meme' is associated with the Internet variety, and while almost unequivocally meant to be humorous, they do offer valuable insight (for better or worse) into the fleeting obsessions of Internet culture. With that said, I decided to try associating some of tarot's Major Arcana with popular Internet memes based on thematic similarities. The results are below, along with a brief explanation for each. You can think of these are tarot cards reinterpreted for the Internet age:


The Fool - The Fool is the spirit in search of experience. He represents the mystical cleverness bereft of reason within us, the childlike ability to tune into the inner workings of the world. The carefree and childlike associations of The Fool led me to pair it with the LOLcat meme. Overlaying simple sentence structures with intentionally incorrect spelling and grammar ("I'm X in ur Y" or "I can haz X") onto pictures of cats, LOLcats exhibit the same carefree irrationality The Fool possesses.

The Magician - From what I understand, The Magician is seen as offering guidance but may not have our best interests at heart. The message may be to tap into ones' full potential, or the intoxication of power (both good and bad). The unrelated and ridiculous instructions offered by Advice Dog seemed like a perfect fit for the Internet generation. The brightly colored wheel and picture of the puppy's face are intentionally juxtaposed with advice one should be wary of following.

The Lovers - The Lovers represent our impulses towards adulthood, which can manifest in the form of curiosity, sexual desire, or duty. They can be seen as representing the intoxication of the physical world and its raw desires. The What is Love? meme, based on the popular SNL skit of the Roxbury Guys (Will Ferrel and Chris Kattan, featuring Jim Carrey) reflects these attributes more than any other meme. Their lifestyles were an aggrandized version of club life in their pursuit for sexual relationships.

Justice - Justice mediates the various claims of right, of morality, of duty. The tarot card is therefore typically closer to the notion of jurisprudence than to the abstract concept of justice. It hopes that our intellect and our intuition take us to the right judgment. For reasons I cannot explain, members of the Internet community became fascinated with the character of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. His character is seen as an infallible source of truth, justice and reason. It led to a popular meme using his images of Picard to lend credence to judgements or comments made by Internet users on forums.

The Tower - Words or interpretations commonly associated with The Tower seem to imply it is a sudden crisis, with elements of chaos, disillusion and a realization of a harsh truth. Star Wars: Return of the Jedi featured a scene that summed up such sentiments in 3 words: "It's a trap!" Admiral Ackbar's most famous lines have remained a long-running Internet meme for situations that are not as they initially appear to be. It's also been used in bait-and-switch maneuvers similar to "Rick-Rolling" someone.

That ended up being more text than I intended to write, but this is an interesting topic even if my initial exploration of it (especially on the Tarot end) is shallow.

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Delaunay Triangulation forms in Muslin+Cardstock

This is a form I created using a shape generated by Lee Byron's Mesh library for Processing. In Byron's program, user input (in this case, the mouse's movement) manipulates the points that go into generating these Delaunay triangulation meshes. I used the mesh image I created as a pattern and am exploring the movement of this form in and out of 3D.

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Ceramic iPhone Case

Today I explored making a ceramic iPhone case. This is still leather hard and needs to be sanded and fired. Just sort of thinking along the lines of a juxtaposition of taking something like the iPhone that is considered so refined, elite, precious and wrapping it with something totally non-utilitarian. You break the case, you break the phone. Really in a way it almost advocates for usage of objects now that I think of it. So perhaps not quite in the vein of my interests...or is it??

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Day 1: Business Cards

I need to focus on making objects that remind users to modify their behavior during, as opposed to prior to the interaction. This is a business card prototype that encourages users to present their cards in a professional manner by holding the corners (with either one or two hands) with the palm up and thumb(s) only slightly over.

-Stephanie

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