#paper 6

[missfraise]

King Dice 6 and Paper Dice 6

King dice 6 Au @tomorobo-illust

[complexmeta4s]

At the hazard of losing some credit on this head, I must confess that I dedicate no inconsiderable portion of my time to other people's thoughts. I dream away my life in others’ speculations.

charles lamb, ‘detached thoughts on books and reading’ (1833) 

[missfraise]

Paper Dice personalitys

1 : Normal

2 : Dredger

3 : Killer

4 : Nerd

5 : Childhood

6 : Female

Inspiration: @tomorobo-illust

[days-of-reading]

The alluring object of nostalgia is notoriously elusive. The ambivalent sentiment permeates twentieth century popular culture, where technological advances and special effects are frequently used to recreate visions of the past, from the sinking Titanic to dying gladiators and extinct dinosaurs. Somehow progress didn't cure nostalgia but exacerbated it. Similarly, globalization encouraged stronger local attachments. In counterpoint to our fascination with cyberspace and the virtual global village, there is a no less global epidemic of nostalgia, an affective yearning for a community with a collective memory, a longing for continuity in a fragmented world. Nostalgia inevitably reappears as a defense mechanism in a time of accelerated rhythms of life and historical upheavals.

Svetlana Boym, The Future of Nostalgia

[b-erserk-blog]

I've got a Chemistry final tomorrow and I've already given up on it.

The worst part is, everyone finds this paper (alternative to practical) extremely easy except for me. So, guess who feels like a complete failure?  I just don't get chemistry. Oh, well.  

[uncomfortableexamination-blog]

Convictions and Leanings

  In my proposal I talked about how I thought social design had the wrong “starting points,” something I now don’t agree with exactly. Many of these projects are born out of interesting design problems, not simply a desire to exercise our altruistic muscle. Reflecting now, I think some of my issue lay in the lack of a “client” in these projects. Who is the client? The users are not usually the people proposing this work. They often become involved later, but more in the market research vein. Making the audience or those imbedded in this context the client in a traditional sense feels necessary to a successful design process, aside from the agency it can capacitate. Those constraints, checks on power, differing perspectives are necessary ingredients to creating the context where meaningful design work can develop. Design grows from constraints and problems. We seek them out from the beginning because they provide a sense of gravity and a horizon to the work, allowing us to design freely and not drown in a vast and limitless terrain.

  I increasingly believe that social design should not be segregated from the broader field of design, a hunch I’ve had since the beginning that has only been fortified in the past weeks. I think we should not overspecialize this area for many reasons. This is robbing both areas of design the opportunity to cross-pollinate freely. Social design would benefit from being firmly planted within the more established field and bringing up the level of design. Social design is an emerging field and has so-called “moral” intentions, which I fear allows the work a more sympathetic viewing and not as rigorous standards. Of equal importance, I feel like social design addresses problems that are of the moment and situations where the stakes are always somewhat high. Though necessary, these projects alone do not build a robust field. Being imbedded in the broader design field breaks open more possibilities for social design to flourish in interesting directions--looking to the future, speculative work, design fiction, or simply more playful types of projects. I don’t think designers need to specialize in “social design” to do this work. An anthropology perspective can be useful, but I think being a thoughtful and insightful designer is of equal importance. Social design is simply expanding the idea of what design can do and who a designer can be. Up until recently, a designer was thought of only as a service provider. The idea of designer as author has begun to emerge. Social design expands this even further--designer as facilitator, trigger, mediator etc.

  Immersing myself in the discussion that grew in response to Bruce Nussbaum’s article was probably the most informative. An important thread to the discussion was about whether it is possible to be effective working globally. I found Robert Fabricant’s response especially thoughtful: “real impact comes from sustained impact and focus on understanding complex and interrelated problems of the area you are designing in. This is why local can be much more practical.” He stressed the idea of “commitment” as an important factor. I do think you can be successful globally, but creating and maintaining that necessary commitment is far more difficult.  Working to create change is not a quick project with a deadline. Change is an “evolution” as Ezio Manzini eloquently framed it.

  Ezio Manzini’s piece was convincing in his argument for local projects and framework projects. I am compelled by the departure from the single project focus. It was about a system of dynamic projects working toward a change or “evolution.” The local projects are in my view the meat of the work. Small scale and on the ground projects that are achievable and slowly push the ball in the direction you want. They keep designers and the community engaged and they “amplify” the larger goal of the framework projects.

  I am torn as to how to proceed in my exploration now that this class is over. I very much want to continue the practice of researching and writing about social design. I do worry that surveying the field as a whole as I have been doing could cause me to be bogged down in the current frameworks and lose site of what is possible. It is a problematic and newly formed field that is relying on outdated tropes. I don’t want to be indoctrinated even if I’m coming from a critical perspective. As I move forward, a shift in focus towards my own practice is needed. Honing in on projects, whether deemed social design or not, that I think are successful and interesting would be very useful for me. I don’t have a collection of designers and projects to reference and shape my work moving forward. Beginning to focus on what topics (community building, products, public health, etc) interest me and what types of projects I could see myself working on would help direct my examination of social design in a more productive way.

[spectrolitelabradorite]

Bio paper 6 tomorrow.

I'm so lazy to study.