Amy Stephens’ Weblog

so we are officially over the halfway mark and the project is really getting going. We hand in our Design proposal on the 7th Octber, so currently we arn’t doing much other than writing writing writing!!! I have been put in charge of writing up introductions on the three methodologies we are triangulating in our research (which are an online survey, ethnographic studies and paper prototyping). The online survey was created approximately 2 weeks ago and has now closed with more than 242 people participating which is great! unfortunately for us, do to restrictions on our membership with the survey providers (we got the free version) we can only use the sample of 102 responses, but this is more than enough!here are some of the most outstnading results we received:

“OF OUR SAMPLE 62% ARE CURRENTLY STUDYING”
“92% ATTEND LECTURES”
“95% TAKE NOTES DURING A LECTURE”
“97% WOULD CONSIDER A PRODUCT THAT ASSISTED THEM IN RETAINING INFORMATION A BENEFICIAL STUDY AID”
“77% WOULD CONSIDER BUYING A PRODUCT IF THIS SORT”
“ONLY 7% OF STUDENTS CONSISTENTLY REVIEW NOTES AFTER A LECTURE”

What methods/ways/processes do you currently employ to help you retain information?
The majority of participants (97 people responded to this question) said repetition and writing information down were the two main processes they used to remember information. Verbally reciting (or telling someone else the same piece of information) aswell as visual association (this one may be particularly high however considering 47% of our sample are design students!) were also quite consistently mentioned

If there was a piece of technology that could subconsciously help your brain retain information, where and when would you choose to use this device?
Out of 95 responses, 47 said they would use it for study, many mentioned within a lecture environment in particular. Surprisingly, 25 said they would use it all the time, and in everyday life! Only 17 mentioned using it for work, and this usually related to organising appointments and remembering key points brought up in meetings etc.

The second method we have finished are our ethnographic studies, which involved the three of us attending a 2nd year University, 1 hour, lecture. One took notes of the information presented within the lecture, whilst the other two observed and noted the participants (who were oblivious to us being there watching them!). We asked the students at the end of the lecture to write down up to 7 pieces of information they recalled from the lecture – we then collected these off the students. We have compared this group to the second lecture group we studied, of whom were asked to recall/note the 7 pieces as they received the information, we then collected these results after the lecture finished.

We have created a timeline of the general mood/concentration levels of the students over the one hour period and noted factors that seemed to increase concentration levels (such as humor and strong visuals). This will be presented in our proposal.

Our final research method to still be completed is the paper prototyping. I believe this will be an important factor in figuring out the design and most importantly the ergonomics of the device. It will also be a strong indicator of functions our target audience would like to be converged into the product and why.

So our project is moving along quite nicely and we are now at the stage of completing our research methods triangulation for our design research proposal. We have sent out an online survey which has gotten 95 responses already which is great. From this research method we hope to gather information on ways in which people/students employ to help them retain information (such as writing notes etc) and also on whether they would find a memory retention device a beneficial study aid.

Our second research method we are completing this week is an ethnographic study on students participating in a 1 hour lecture. We will watch and record how many students are writing notes, typing on laptops, using dictaphones to record the sound, illustrating or even those who are doing unrelated activities such as texting or snoozing which shows they do not retain any information from the lecture at all. At the end of the lecture we will be asking them to quickly jot down/sketch 3-5 things they remember from the lecture. This will show us how much information  and more importantly what information is retained within minutes of the lecture finishing and also what methods (diagrams, keypoints, keywords) most people use when remembering the information. We will then compare these results to another lecture in which we will notify the participants at the beginning of the lecture that they are required to jot down/sketch 3-5 things during the lecture. This will be in contrast to the results received from the students who were asked to complete the task after the lecture had finished. We will post the results as soon as they have been collected and analyzed.

So with the literature review handed in we’re currently attempting to get a new direction, or moreso a narrower direction.

Through our research we have discovered how images and photographs can be used as memory cues for those who suffer dementia and alzheimers disease. However, as there has not been enough clinical trials and proper research conducted on this as fact we have decided to focus more on memory cues and creating a product that could assist people with their short term memory retention. Things like remembering someones name when we first meet them, or remembering a quote that was on the lecture screen a second ago but is now gone. By creating a program/product that could assist people and in particular students in short term memory retention we could be aiding the education of the next generation…..more to come!

Go to:

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article4557935.ece

The advancement in visual graphics for gaming has just reached a whole new level. Kinda scary….

are here: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/yves_behar_on_designing_objects_that_tell_stories.html

There are a whole heap of videos under the topic “design like you give a damn” where famous designers talk about designing objects that tell stories…i love this notion. Of using todays new technologies (and yesterdays) to design objects and ads and brands and environments that tell stories.

I think i’ll keep looking into this theme. Could be interesting.

Another fantastic presentation is from the recent advertising awards at Cannes – a presentation by Chuck Portar from the firm Crispin Portar & Bogusky. He talks about this theme about telling better stories. An interesting watch – highly recommended.

http://www.canneslions.com/lions/2008_seminars.cfm?id=482

And another : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypMQZI9Hjgs

And we’re back. A new semester. A new beginning. I will continue using this blog this semester although the subject has changed from culture networks and sustainability to new technologies and my relationship with them as a designer. Our first project is to create a ‘credo’ – essentially a folio, a body of work, a printed story of my relationship with new technologies and essentially what I do, design.

My intitial thought is to base my ‘credo’ on my love/hate relationship with design which is mirrored by my love/hate relationship with new technologies.

I like computers etc sometimes, but i prefer oldschool stuff more these days – almost a rebellion against new technologies i guess because the technological/information sharing age is becoming overwhelming to me. After all, I was an artist first, so I’ll always have that appreciation for the emotion that can be added to a piece by it being hand made.
It will be an experiment of old technologies and new ones. The love and hate streams of both.
Audience: Designers, artistists, industry professionals.

Initial thoughts/sketches/notes pages coming soon….

here is the final identity design i came to after all that development work…

well 3 days to go till final presentations eek! Time wise we’re actually doing ok, we are printing, binding, putting everything together this morning (Monday) then photographing it this afternoon and then all the images will go into our final presentation book that we will hand in for HDG402 Practice subject after preentations on Thursday afternoon. I thin we’re the first group on after lunch which is a good time slot i think! Cant believe this project is finally wrapping up – feels like its been an eternity since we started but at the same time its flown by like one big blur!

Now, back to work. 

The countdown has begun with only 10 days till final presentations! 

a light at the end of the tunnel (finally). I’m excited about the final presentations – being able to present all our hard work that has spanned the last 3 and a half months will be some sort of closure on what has been a tremendous ride of design research.

Will let you know how we go – most updates are now on the group blog (www.culurenetwork.wordpress.com) so best to head there for all development work and designr elated articles etc.

over and out.

We handed in our proposal for HDG400 yesterday (yay yay yay!) so now it would seem that the ‘research’ stage of our project is wrapping up and the next three weeks will be dedicated purely to designing and producing prototypes of our outcomes (yay yay yay!).

One of our outcomes is an identity for our project ‘culture hub’ as you can see from the developments on this and our groups blog pages that it is almost done – just getting some final input and feedback from the group and tony ward in tonights consultations.

Our other outcomes are a website design for the ‘culture hub’ online indigenous museum which is getting there and will be accompanied by a flash animation visualising how a user would navigate through the site.

There will also be a film reel documenting our ‘your voice:have your say’ event which is also being worked on at the moment and should be finished shortly. This will be accompanied by an explanetory booklet which will be constantina folded and presented with the dvd.

Finally, a printed education resource pack for students will be designed. This has not been started as yet but we will begin working on this in tonights practice class – it will include stickers, posters, a broad sheet and some other resourceful things that will direct students onto the online webiste.

yay for organising! kinda scared about the next 3 weeks tho