Another Day, Another ArchaID

As the scope of Architecture and Interaction Design expands, I'm now taking part in a primer project prior to my stage 6 thesis. This project, centered on learning to sketch in the programming language "Processing", will hopefully lead into a study of the financial sector and how space is structured in and around its institutions.

I have been interested in the role of banks as a black box, and how interaction design can generate architecture that is a data visualisation. Reading around the recent financial crisis, there are two slightly more specific areas worthy of investigation. "Moral Hazard" and "Double Agency". The former refers to the incentive for traders to gamble to gain short term gain, as they are not ultimately accountable for losses which are likely, even certain over the longer term. Similarly, most of the money staked by traders is borrowed, not belonging to the institution they represent. It is borrowed from pension or hedge funds, or other banks, and ultimately belongs to private individuals not the funds managers. Where in that chain is the person who will take responsibility and say no to a risky investment?

There is an interesting history of public space in the proximity of financial institutions, with Fosters HSBC building in Hong Kong a relatively contemporary and particularly well known example. The current "occupations" of these public spaces in both London and New York, right next to these black box institutions is another angle that I may be interested in investigating.

a plan for implementation

The first task this week was to put our research question into one sentence:

Acknowledging that there is a transition in information from physical to digital, how can the curation of digital artifacts and the mapping of research adjacencies tell a personal narrative that constitutes towards the representation of self in both physical and digital space?

We were also asked to think about the final outcomes of our linked research project and develop a timescale for now until the end of the submission. Since then, I have been thinking lot about what my final design outcome should be for the project.

After researching probe methodologies, some probe studies like the trash can (see previous post) use the probes as the start of a long conversation between the researcher and the participants. One solution would be to carry on this conversation by creating not a solution but something that challenges themes that I gained from the interviews with my probe participants. So, I would be extending the conversation and giving them something back to challenge my ideas.

If I had more time, this is something that I would like to do, however I have more of a desire to produce a proposal as opposed to creating an extension of the probe. So what could this be?

Due to the amount of time left, I think that it may be unrealistic to have the ambition of creating something, but I am not going to rule this one out yet. Another option is to do something in processing. I would like to build on some of my processing skills that I have been developing in my thesis primer but I have no idea what this would produce yet.

Could it be a graphic representation of the researcher, this black box of which little people understand. This could highlight conflicts, insights etc… and ultimately creating a narrative of the individual through graphical representation

If this is going to be a graphical representation, I could make this interactive and display it somewhere to test and see what the response is.

Plan for completion: download

Submission outcome: download

Dose of Reality

I have begun to story board out my idea for my shop front. I have decided on a number of experiences that the high street provides, apart from the purchasing of goods, and have began to think how my shop front could replicate these.

Amazingly, I have been given the opportunity to try this in-situ with the ‘On Site’ team based in Culture Lab. The shop is on Forth Street by the station. Now that the shop front has to work in the real world there will inevitably be revisions to the original idea. Suddenly I have hit by practicalities and have to accept what it is realistically possible for me to achieve.

A Table

Just a quick update, my proposal in its current guise as a table that I will be able to test in a variety of locations within the school. Just waiting for the projectors to arrive!

Introduction to Linked Reseach for Prospective Stage 5 Students

The group meets every week during term to discuss and develop ideas around the relationship between architectural design and the emerging field of interaction design.

Each student chooses their own project to develop and must, in the first semester write a small project proposal with clear research questions and methods.

Projects are then developed throughout the summer and through the first Semester of Stage 6.

Outcomes can vary significantly from person to person but a good project should include:

1. Development work which demonstrated extensive reading around the topic chosen and develops a clear research question/questions.

2. An object or set of objects designed with the explicit aim of testing and gaining a greater understanding of an existing context and a proposal for an intervention into that context.

3. A research paper which pulls together the work completed with and evaluation of the intervention. This year we hope to publish in the international CHI conference.

4. A project diary consisting of collected blog posts which show how your ideas have developed.


Who should do the ArchaID Linked Research

If you want to explore emerging areas at the edges of your field.
If you want to learn new ways of thinking about design.
If you have an interest in digital technology (but not a fetish).
If you are self motivated and want to shape your own learning experience and, potentially, make and original contribution to the world.


Health Warning

Linked Research is not the easy option. In ArchaID we expect you to be self motivated, very well organised and while you are guided and supervised the ‘teaching’ of this module is very light touch. We expect you to actively contribute to the conversation and help the ideas of the whole group develop. Think carefully about taking this module!