Assignment 1 -Tools for Investigation

CCDN 271 Assignment 1- Tools for Investigation                                       
Ashleigh-Jean King (300252037)

The Everyday

In Emotional Design: Why we love (or hate) everyday things Norman writes about how we place sentimental value on everyday objects. We interact with them so often that any qualms we have with them initially may be aggravated into hate after time; Conversely any features that we find attractive, we may grow to love and it may influence our future purchases. Norman writes in an informal, easy to understand style that perfectly matches the theme of ‘The Everyday’. Norman argues that the ‘emotional’ side of design may be just as important as the manufacturing side. He describes three teapots that he owns, one of which is completely unusable as the spout is on the same side as the handle. It is not a teapot, it is a talking piece and its lack of practicality is critical to its success.

Norman, D. A. (2004). Emotional design: Why we love (or hate) everyday things. New York: Basic Books.

Critical Design

This paper discusses how factors like gender, economics and socio-cultural contexts are essential to design. How to assess design is discussed at length but they offer no instructions for anyone who may want to carry out a ‘critical design method’ instead claiming that there is no ‘recipe’ for critical design. They also talk about two of their design projects and the processes behind them. Not only did they carry out extensive research beforehand, they also continued to find flaws and make criticisms of their design after the project had concluded. After reading this paper one could argue that critical design is leading the frontiers of innovation.

Bardzell, S., & Bardzell, J., & Forlizzi, J., & Zimmerman, J., & Antanitis, J. (2012). Critical Design and Critical Theory: The Challenge of Designing for Provocation. 288-297. doi: 10.1145/2317956.2318001

 

DIY design/ Craft/ Gender

Macdonald and Merrill give a brilliant and comprehensive summary of gender expectations in the work force with verified statistics and fluent analysis. They argue that society’s perception of gender roles has a huge influence on female employability in certain sectors. The sections of the workforce that are female dominated consist of the ‘softer’ occupations like cooking, cleaning, child care, teaching, nursing etc. These jobs require emotional, rather than manual, labour. Even when women do find work in DIY orientated positions discrimination occurs. This chapter gives an example of a hardware store where female employees would be restricted to the paint and carpet section and kept away from the masculine power tools. They also found that customers with inquiries would bypass female employees in search of someone fitting the ‘Bob-the-Builder’ type associated with DIY.

Macdonald, C. L., & Merrill, D. (2008) Intersectionality in the Emotional Proletariat: A New Lens on Employment Discrimination in Service Work. In Macdonald, C. L., & Korczynski, M (eds.), Service Work: Critical Perspectives (pp. 113-133) Taylor & Francis: London.

Google Warming –Personal Surveillance

In the book The electronic eye: The rise of surveillance society Lyon describes surveillance as neither good nor bad but definitely ever-present. We are living in an impersonal, distrusting age where a laminated card is taken more seriously than a person’s word for who they are. Your passport, your driver’s license, marriage and birth certificates are all ways for people who have never met you to find detailed information about you; but now that our world is more internet-centred it becomes so much easier. Lyon regards the government specifically, but any third party who looks hard enough could find an unnerving depth of information on almost anyone. Indeed far too much information to be defended by the excuse of ‘keeping tabs’ on the population. Lyon writes in a sophisticated manner that is reinforced by personal accounts and sharp observations.

Lyon, D. (1994). The electronic eye: The rise of surveillance society. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.