Luke’s Page
Assignment 1: Into the Wild!
“Enjoy the Flowers”
Participants are given a small bouquet of flowers together with a notepad containing instructions for the activity and space to note down observations. Participants are instructed to record how they feel about the flowers on a day-to-day basis and how they affect the ambiance of their living space. They are instructed to take a photo of the flowers each day so these observations can be compared with the actual physical state of the flowers.
While flowers often have a strong emotional impact, they more often fall into the background ambiance of our living spaces, drawing little direct attention. This activity is designed to bring the flowers into the foreground for a few moments to allow critical evaluation. This evaluation process may help to reduce the “back-grounding” of the flowers which occurs in step 2 in a typical cut-flower cycle bellow:
1. Initial enthusiasm for the new flowers
2. Flowers blend into background of office or living space and to some extent forgotten (research shows they still elicit a positive emotional response in this phase).
3. Flowers are noticed again once they begin to wilt, or the water begins to smell etc.
4. Flowers are disposed of.
The participants are given free reign on how they record this information, to reduce the challenge of articulating the more subtle emotions associated flowers. They may write down how the flowers make them feel, make sketches or note down keywords.
The purpose of this probe is to be able to collect qualitative data about the perception and reaction to the process of decay with a perishable item, which can be measured against the timeline of the artifacts gradual degradation. Flowers are both unintrusiv and a generally welcomed gift, making them ideal for user-centered research. They are also traditionally valued for their ephemeral beauty as opposed to longevity and in general decay gracefully, oftentimes remaining an attractive object even after the flower is completely dead and visibly rotting. These qualities align closely with my ongoing research in designing for decay and ephemerality in interaction design.
“State of Decay”
Through social media (Facebook) people are invited to send their pictures and stories about things decaying in their homes or gardens. The aim of the activity is to collect new insights about perishable objects around the home, how they reached their current state of decay and what impact they have on us.
Initial responses are somewhat mixed. People may be reluctant to share something that reflects badly on their personal hygiene and house keeping habits. The strangeness of the request is also potentially alienating, another negative impact on responses.
Participants are given a small bouquet of flowers together with a notepad containing instructions for the activity and space to note down observations. Participants are instructed to record how they feel about the flowers on a day-to-day basis and how they affect the ambiance of their living space. They are instructed to take a photo of the flowers each day so these observations can be compared with the actual physical state of the flowers.
While flowers often have a strong emotional impact, they more often fall into the background ambiance of our living spaces, drawing little direct attention. This activity is designed to bring the flowers into the foreground for a few moments to allow critical evaluation. This evaluation process may help to reduce the “back-grounding” of the flowers which occurs in step 2 in a typical cut-flower cycle bellow:
1. Initial enthusiasm for the new flowers
2. Flowers blend into background of office or living space and to some extent forgotten (research shows they still elicit a positive emotional response in this phase).
3. Flowers are noticed again once they begin to wilt, or the water begins to smell etc.
4. Flowers are disposed of.
The participants are given free reign on how they record this information, to reduce the challenge of articulating the more subtle emotions associated flowers. They may write down how the flowers make them feel, make sketches or note down keywords.
The purpose of this probe is to be able to collect qualitative data about the perception and reaction to the process of decay with a perishable item, which can be measured against the timeline of the artifacts gradual degradation. Flowers are both unintrusiv and a generally welcomed gift, making them ideal for user-centered research. They are also traditionally valued for their ephemeral beauty as opposed to longevity and in general decay gracefully, oftentimes remaining an attractive object even after the flower is completely dead and visibly rotting. These qualities align closely with my ongoing research in designing for decay and ephemerality in interaction design.
Through social media (Facebook) people are invited to send their pictures and stories about things decaying in their homes or gardens. The aim of the activity is to collect new insights about perishable objects around the home, how they reached their current state of decay and what impact they have on us.
Initial responses are somewhat mixed. People may be reluctant to share something that reflects badly on their personal hygiene and house keeping habits. The strangeness of the request is also potentially alienating, another negative impact on responses.