Assignment 5B

As the summer holidays is long for us I have planned what I going to do to stay in touch with my course over they number of weeks that we have off.

To start with I am going to re-vamp my blog as trying to complete ongoing projects I feel I’ve not given the time I should have in making it visually appealing for others to read. Also going to add more about my persona and start follow a lot more of other sights that I am interested in. I will be making more blog entries over the summer and commenting on other peoples blogs hoping they will comment back.

Five books that I will read;

1. Clark, C. Brody, D(2009).Design Studies: A Reader.

This book interested me as when I started the design studies module I wasn’t too sure of what kind of things I was going to be learning about this book will give me further information for starting level 3 as it gives the understanding of the complex roles of design.

2. Brown, S. (2000).Communication in the Design Process.

This book was part of a previous assignment and the subject of design in communication technology interested me so I would like to read more into this.

3. Gladwell,M(2006).Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking.

This book explores the extraordinarily perceptive and deceptive power of the sub-conscious mind.

4. Gladwell,M(2009).outliers: The Story of Success

After reading and enjoying the Tipping point also by Gladwell I feel it’s a good idea to read more of his books.

5. Klein,G(1999)Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions.

This is another psychology book which interests be a lot. Finding out about how people think and making fast decisions is sometime just as good a spending hours deciding on something.

Five people I will connect to:

1. I will stay connected to classmates who have previously been away on foreign exchanges and those who are going to New Zealand for the start of level 3. Finding out what work and projects they are achieving.
2. Once I have completed my twitter account and finally understand how to use it I will look to find a designer maybe in an interior field so that’s its helping me along with my studies.
3. My cousin is a jeweler and live in Ireland and I will stay connected with her although its not my field of design its interesting to now what her up and coming designs are.
4. Over the summer I might contact an interior design studio and try and get some work placement. Even if its only a day a week it will give me an insight into the ‘real world’ if this goes to plan I would stay connected with them for more placement/job opportunities.
5. Finally over the summer I will be connecting with the fourth years in my course as every year we help them with setting up there fourth year degree show. This is very useful as it gives a chance to see the level of work they produce and how much hard work goes into the degree show.

Assignment 5A

In semester one I looked closely at communication through design. Some of the ways people connect through design is by use of graphics, word of mouth, interiors and mainly through technology. After researching further into the technology aspect I found products that were designed for communication and how design relates to the topic of 'connectors'- people who bring information/people together.

As part of my secondary research I expanded and collected information using cross search and the library. I looked mainly at a mixture of journals and books. A couple that interested me a lot were, Halonen-Akatwijuka, M. (2010). Organizational Design, Technology and the Boundaries of the Firm. Economica. This journal looks at how business rely on technology. Also, communicating in general through a business prevents there being problems or any 'hold- ups'. The other journal was Mamaghani, F. (2010). The Social and Economic Impact of Information and Communication Technology on Developing Countries: An Analysis. International Journal of Management. This journal looks at how technology is improving developing countries. It indicates that ICT has a positive impact on growth in developing countries, both socially and economically.

In many ways this demand is driven by and reflects the acceleration in the pace of change in the world around us. When you consider that not long ago Newspapers were the primary source of “News”; that 85 years ago events happening in World War Two (only hundreds of miles away) wouldn’t be reported for days; that Sunday Shop opening was illegal, it is easy to see how some of the changes we take for granted have significant cultural impact and need to be carefully communicated / managed.

Where there is a tension between the subjects is perhaps in the presumption that Technology is the answer and the means to the end – ie with more sophisticated technology, faster systems, wider access comes the solution. Clearly the point promoted by one contributor warns against this in so far as the need for localisation is far more than simply translating a global message many times over for instant transmission / consumption in multiple territories.

The danger associated with merely driving connection by technology alone is that all of the cultural and social sensitivities may be at worst ignored or at best devalued. In this scenario for our businesses the end result is not effective communication.

To investigate this issue further I will be using this topic to look further into creating a research proposal based on how we rely on communication through the design of technology. As I have already look at some secondary text research I’m going to focus mainly at primary research techniques such as observations, interviews and visual experiments.

To have basic starting point I would first use the service design tool of mind mapping to give me a head start on what sort of outcome and area of research I was looking for. This I would refer back to after conducting the rest of my findings.

My first primary research would be to observe how people use technology to communicate. I would first identify two main situations; a typical business day and a typical average Day basis.

I would observe each situations separately but asking myself the same questions. What sort of technology are people using? Is the same object people are using? How are they using it ? why might they be using it ? how often do I see people using it ? is there more people than not using it? Does it look like a natural thing to be using? Is it easy to use ? how affective is it? Does it disturb anyone else? All these questions would help me find out some in depth research as I am finding it out for myself and not just reading what other people have written so I would end up with my own personal views.

I think the observation technique would work really well as I am getting first hand evidence from different situations. I don’t think interviewing people would work as well as I believe sometimes  it can give you inaccurate results as some people get nervous talking one on one or even try to give you the answer that they think you want to hear which wouldn’t help my in my findings.

The second primary research would be to carry out a visual experiment. To do this I would take a small group a people and take away their own modern device that allows them to communicate with others. I would then give them an older version which wasn’t so up-to-date and ask them to go about their same business. Then I would take the device away completely and get them to carry out the same thing again. Once the experiment was over I would ask them a series of questions. How they got? Did they find this easy to have no technology for communicating? Did they like the idea of not being able to be disturbed? Did it hinder their everyday/business day situation?

I think this sort of research technique would have its advantages and disadvantages. I might have a struggle getting people to part with their communication device for a start also some people might not want o take part in an experiment. However the advantages are that it would let people see how much they rely on technology these days and would probably struggle without it.

I feel my primary research would benefit me more for my design proposal rather than factual information gathered through my secondary research.

Perhaps therefore the conclusion to be reached is that the message has to be paramount; our ability to connect as people is essential; and that technology should be the supporting rather than driving mechanism through which we effectively deliver these desired outcomes.