Assignment 5C

Assignment 6

What does it mean to crowdsource, what is product design, and how does one effect the other? The definition of Crowdsourcing, provided by dictionary.com, is “to utilize (labor, information, etc.) contributed by the general public to (a project), often via the Internet and without compensation”. The word itself is essentially the combnation of the words outsource, and crowd. Therefore it can be assumed that almost anything that is created on the Internet through collaboration can be a form of crowdsourcing. According to V. Ryan, of Technologystudent.com, “Product Design involves a broad approach to the designing and making of innovative / new products. This subject is aimed at those interested in the way business and industry identifies potential products and successfully designs and manufactures them.”

In line with the idea of creating innovative product design and crowdsourcing production, Clay Shirky provides information on his concept of “Cognitive Surplus” and it’s influence on the nature and products of design. His book, Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age, published in 2010 as a continuation of his work in Here Comes Everybody and also continues concepts Shirky brought up during a Web 2.0 conference presentation called “Gin, Television, and Social Surplus”. Shirky begins his discussion relating people’s actions and reactions during the Gin Craze to how society today deals with free time in relation to technology. Like most people, I have difficulty finding fun, proactive, engaging activities during my “free-time”, but utilizing technology I can collaborate with others to create something physical, or brainstorm an idea or theory easily. The idea that Shirky presents in his books and later popularized is the concept of cognitive surplus, the time freed from “watching television”, or other activities where you essentially shut off your brain, which can be enormously productive when applied to other social endeavors.

In his book, A Guide to Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing., Paul Sloane states a great example:

Imagine that you are planning a big surprise party. You want it to be entertaining, spectacular, memorable and different. You could plan and project manage every element of the party yourself: the theme, venue, music, food, drink, entertainment, games, diversions etc. Or you could involve a number of people to help you with their ideas and their skills. One person could manage all aspects of the venue, someone else could design special decorations, another person could put together a music mix and so on. If you do it all yourself then you are in complete control, you have sole responsibility and you can keep the whole thing a surprise but you have to remember to do everything and it is only as good as your ideas. If you bring in a group of friends and experts to help then you can harness their imaginations; you can bounce ideas off each other. You have to delegate tasks which involves collaboration, supervision, letting go and an element of risk. Keeping the whole thing a surprise is more difficult but can be done. The choice between doing it all yourself and doing it with a group is the choice between a closed and an open model.

Taken from the book A Guide to Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing.

I personally would much rather collaborate, than do it on my own.

Modern Technology has turned many past consumers into producers. In the article “DIY Design: How crowdsourcing sites are challenging traditional graphic design practice, A. Massanari uses the word “prosumer” and states that “This prosumer shift potentially democratizes online content of all kinds, allowing for a greater diversity of design artifacts and perspectives to emerge. And, this ready availability of digital tools has encouraged growth in DIY practices online.” This new production capacity, combined with humanity’s willingness to share, sometimes a little too much, can change society if applied to communal or shared endeavors. This use of technology, combined with the concept of cognitive surplus has allowed human charity and openness and free time of the world, to combine and create a new form of creative expression. Yet, the use of that technology is in fact determined by the technology itself. It can be used for the greater good, such as Ushahidi, which was one of the many programs created in response to this surplus, to help citizens track outbreaks of violence in Kenya. However, It can also be used to engage people in more creative acts, such as lolcats. According to Penguin Random House, Shirky “reveals how new digital technology is unleashing a torrent of creative production that will transform our world. For the first time, people are embracing new media that allow them to pool their efforts at vanishingly low cost. The results of this aggregated effort range from mind-expanding reference tools like Wikipedia to life-saving Web sites like Ushahidi.com, which allows Kenyans to report acts of violence in real time. Cognitive Surplus explores what’s possible when people unite to use their intellect, energy, and time for the greater good.”

Although, Shirky states that in order to get any value out of it, it is necessary to make it mean something or be useful, I disagree. Do I really need to make funny pictures of cats make sense or have meaning in order for it to brighten someone’s day? I don’t really think so. I believe that these actions and the concepts brought up within this book outline how cognitive surplus and the combination of Internet crowdsourcing is changing the nature and products of design. It is making it easier for consumers and producers to collaborate, and for the metaphorical line between them to blur.

References:

Shirky, Clay, Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age, Bantam, 2010
Sloane, Paul, A Guide to Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing: Advice from Leading Experts, 2012
“Cognitive Surplus by Clay Shirky | PenguinRandomHouse.com.” com. N.p., n.d.
“The Definition of Crowdsource.” com. N.p., n.d.
“DIY Design: How Crowdsourcing Sites Are Challenging Traditional Graphic Design Practice | Massanari | First Monday.” DIY Design: How Crowdsourcing Sites Are Challenging Traditional Graphic Design Practice | Massanari | First Monday. N.p., n.d.

Hoodwinked by Hollywood,

But Set Straight by the Museum of Natural History.

training-velociraptors_c_5418891 — **Top Image:** Jurassic World **Bottom Image:** Memecenter.com

A review of the Article:

Here’s What Feathered Dinosaurs Looked Like

The Museum of Natural History reveals that T. Rex with feathers was not a good look

BY RAIN NOE, Senior Editor at Core77.com

What is I were to tell you that everything you know and love about Dinosaurs is a farse?! Well, not everything, but their appearance is not what you think!

Tumblr_kwtgawdUhG1qza3e8o1_500 — Image: Icantbelieveitsnotwalrus.com

American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) has mounted a show, Dinosaurs Among Us. With the use of some pretty erie looking “dino-mannequins”, the Museum blurs, and practically erases the “boundary between the animals we call birds and the animals we traditionally called dinosaurs” (Dinosaurs Among Us).

According to researchers, many dinosaurs, including the terrifying Velocirapter from the Jurassic Park/World movies, were non-avian feathered creatures. Although this is difficult to wrap around our heads, since we have only known the giant scaly lizards provided by modern day entertainment, I think it’s really interesting and makes them seem a lot less scary. In fact, picturing the Jurassic Park/World Movies with these guys puts a very large smile on my face. Some of these Downed Dinosaurs include:

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photographs are provided by AMNH’s Craig Chesek, Principal Photographer and Rod Mickens, Senior Staff Photographer.

Exhibition Information Provided by the AMNH website:

EXHIBIT NOW OPEN

Dates: March 18, 2016 – January 2, 2017

Location: LeFrak Family Gallery, Fourth Floor

Some of the Highlights of the Exhibition include:

Dinosaur Nests, Eggs, and Babies ,Dinosaur Feathers, Dinosaur Brains and Lungs, Dinosaur Bones, Beaks, and Claws, Dinosaur Feathers to Bird Flight, and From the Age of Dinosaurs to the Age of Birds.

Webpage Visual Design and Online Prototype

FA 202a – Assignment 5B

Save Your Lungs, Cook a Meal, Charge Your Phone,and Save the World

Review of Article:

How Do You Design a Fire for Three Billion People?

The design story behind the HomeStove and BioLite’s mission to bring clean cooking to emerging markets

By Ethan Kay

This article is one part of a 10-part series that takes the reader behind the scenes at BioLite for a closer look at the development of an item that will hopefully aid in providing “Energy Everywhere”.

Ethan Kay, Managing Director of Emerging Markets of BioLite, has aided in the development and distribution of clean cooking stoves across households living in energy poverty. BioLite is an Energy Company focused on spreading their idea of Energy Everywhere. BioLite has put together a process that enables them to be totally involved in every step of the designing and marketing production. From developing the technology, manufacturing the products, building the markets, to measuring the impact of the community and environment.

TED Talk with Ethan Kay: Saving lives through clean cookstoves

The first issue they were looking to solve is a big one that even I have experienced when trying to cook with fire. The smoke from cooking over an open fire is extremely dangerous and kills four million people annually. They took into consideration how people cook, what fuels they use, and the challenges they face.

How design research across different geographies has informed the final design of the BioLite HomeStove.

The article provides an interactive map that goes into how the final design of the BioLite HomeStove was influenced by the different geographies around the world.

The second challenge was providing energy for areas that are without. The “energy paradox” I described by Kay as the rates of consumer electronics ownership outpace rates of electrification, it requires people to spend time and money charging their devices at recharge shops. The HomeStove converts a small portion of energy from a cooking fire into usable electricity, accessible via a USB port.

PROBLEM: Indoor Cooking Fires: Cooking fires emit more smoke into the atmosphere than all the cars and trucks in the world, combined.

SOLUTION: The BioLite HomeStove: The BioLite HomeStove burns wood as cleanly as gas. The HomeStove reduces particulate matter and carbon emissions by up to 90%. Requires 50% less fuel than a conventional open fire. BioLite combustion technology cuts CO2e emissions by 2.5 tons a year.

PROBLEM: Access to Electricity: 2.3 billion people across the world have unreliable or no access to electricity. 550 million mobile phone users live off-grid and often travel long distances and pay high fees for charging.

SOLUTION: The BioLite HomeStove: The HomeStove converts heat from the fire into usable electricity giving owners an instant power outlet. The BioLite HomeStove produces 2 watts of free usable electricity, enough mobile phones and LED lights.

Each time a HomeStove is purchased, a BioLite team member trains the family how to use the stove. This is a wonderful quality within a company that truly wants to make a difference. With their process of quick familiarization, ease of use, and durability, I believe that the BioLite HomeStove will be adopted for longterm use around the world.

Wireframe for Website Homepage

FA 202a – Assignment 5A

My Favorite Martian has an Amazing Appartment!

Review Of Elizabeth Cowee’s Assignment #4

ControColony

Ever wonder if we’re alone in the universe? Is there life out there among the stars? Elizabeth Cowee, a student at Hofstra University, wants to make sure there is. She has drafted a Design for a Space Residency Development that would allow our planet-ravaging species to live in space (More specifically, to be used on Mars).

It’s sad to think about it, but one day our lovely little blue planet will run out of resources, and like the Shyamalan aliens from Signs we’ll have to seek out another planet for their resources… Hopefully we will have better luck, and with the ControColony designs, utilizing 3D printer technology, the human race will endure.

The images provided by the brand fittingly communicates the their name and theme, as well as showing images of their target audience (youngin’s that can tolerate the 150-300 day trip)

Photos:

The aptly named residency, a combination of the words controllable and colony, would provide us with food, shelter, and energy. I wonder how much rent is? With the Evidence of Gentrification Found on Mars, it sounds like a nice, gated, up-and-coming neighborhood. Facebook followers have already begun to show their full support of ControColony’s mission.

I only have one real question (and it’s a real question because I honestly don’t know)… Why another planet? I mean, Mars is a wonderful destination, lovely and red and probably very scenic but, if we can create a sustainable residency that provides for us on Mars, why couldn’t we just pitch up shop on our own barren planet. Kind of like a Staycation. I also wonder if a colony on Mars would create a rift, or Revolution similar to when England decided to set up colonies in America… Didn’t work out too well for them, but I am hopeful that future Martians (Martian-Americans?) will be more dependable.

All in all the idea, design, and promotion of this design is on point and I would love to see it grow to fruition.

Visual Tourist: Shifting Your Point of View!

A response to the post, The Most Famous Places On Earth, Shot From A Perspective No One Sees, by Meg Miller, an assistant editor at Co.Design covering art, technology, and design.

“There is nothing in this world as invisible as a monument” – Robert Musil (Austrian Writer)

Throughout the article Miller talks about the artwork of Oliver Curtis, a photographer who has put a new spin on landmark photography, simply by giving himself a spin. A spin in the opposite direction that is.

“Like any traveler, you want to see the sights,” he says. “But every time you turn up you feel like you’ve seen it before—that’s a pyramid or that’s the Taj Mahal. You’ve already seen it from photographs.”

His series is called Volte-face and within it Curtis offers an different view, and uncommon view of some of the world’s most well known places. By changing the view from the monument itself to the view from the monument (or behind it) he is able to capture the part of the landscape that’s literally overlooked. But isn’t that the way we are supposed to look at them?

I can only hope that this form of visual shift catches on, because I find it very interesting. Who knows what’s next?! Landscapes from underground, portraits from within, still life images made out of gifs?! I’m not sure, but I’m excited for what the future brings.

Volte-face-07 — Oliver Curtis: Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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The Configuration of My Visual Thoughts

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