Reading Response- Week 1 Day 1

Great Wall of Facebook:

The way Facebook has developed their search capabilities is interesting and definitely appealing because seeing search results that have been seen and shared by my friends is appealing but my internet browsing and searching isn’t something I necessarily would like to have public. This is, in my opinion, where Google pulls ahead in this area.

Natural User Interfaces are not Natural:

I think that the natural interfaces that this author suggests, specifically gestural, are very important in the future of technology because as we become more familiar and comfortable with technology, we begin to multitask more and more to satisfy our desire of efficiency. Gestural interfaces can make this easier. An important message that the author conveyed is that the gestural interfaces aren’t necessarily more natural but I do think that they are very beneficial.

“Why Bill Joy: The Future Doesn’t Need Us”:

One of the many ideas that Bill Joy mentions in this article is the idea that humans will replace themselves with technology and offers the example of computer devices implemented into human bodies. I like that Joy does not make the humans as victims, but as the ones deciding the future. We give ourselves up so that technology can take over. At this point in time we have GPS devices making sure we don’t get lost, we have spell check to correctly present our written thoughts, and we have fast and accessible search engines that can answer almost any question we may have. Another example of this that we will see more of in the future is Google’s self driving car, which makes humans completely redundant. All of these things are small examples of what Joy foresees but they are evident that we seem more than willing to give up part of what makes us human to acquire the digital edge.

The Web Means the End of Forgetting:

While discussing the inability to prevent others, employers for example, from viewing true non-slanderous material about you, Jeffrey Rosen suggests taking action by using technology. instead of suggesting the implementation of new laws, or carrying out lawsuits, Rosen suggests utilizing the object that causes the problem to provide a solution. Rosen calls upon the idea of Mayer-Schönberger that there should be expiration dates on digital personal information which is chosen ahead of time by each user for each piece of data being uploaded. This idea puts the user in control of the lifespan of their shared information.

Reading Response-week1 class1

Natural User Interfaces Are Not Natural:
From this article, I know that the gestural interface will plays an essential part of interaction technology, not because it has already shown the success in some game design, but also enables us to control devices in a more natural way. I mean, unlike using a mouse to clicking and scrolling down the page, people can be more immersed in the interface by using hand gestures. But as Don Norman says, due to some technical issues, the gestural interface certainly need time to be better developed. This is what we need to be concerned about.

The Great Wall of Facebook/The Web Means the End of Forgetting:

For me, Google and Facebook are two different kind of websites, Facebook is the tool that I use to connect with my social life and friends, Google on the other hand,is just a search engine. But from this article I realize that they are not just that. Facebook in some cases can be used as a search engine, because there is so much information posted on the site, and people can search for almost anything on it. So here come the problems: “How to live our lives in a world where the Internet records everything and forgets nothing”. Does this mean that we have to be careful what has been posted on the website or be wise and always remember not to add our boss as “friends” on the Facebook? I don’t think so. Maybe people shouldn’t judge us on the words or photos we post on Facebook, after all, a social network is maybe the only place we can express our personal “childish”emotions.

The future doesn’t need us:

I find that sometimes it is easier to destroy something rather than create something. Technology is a good thing, but it also can be a monster when things are out of control. So scientists or designers should be very responsible for things they have produced.

Week 1 Response to Bill Joy, FB Redesign

An 8 year old girl from Montana, weighs only 11 lbs and joins the rare group of a 29 year old Florida man who looks like he’s 10 and a 31 year old Brazilian woman who is the size of a 2 year old (see link below).  These three people have a series of genetic disabilities that have impaired their bodies from aging.  This lack of physiological change, or “developmental inertia” is an interest for geneticists looking to isolate the genes that cause our bodies to age.  If properly identified, these genes can be targeted at young adulthood, toggling the aging process and creating biological immortality. This potential “fountain of youth” is clearly skirting the boundaries of natural ethics and fits in well with Bill Joy’s hesitance toward the possible advances of 21st century technologies- genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics (GRN).  Yet it also possesses the power to remedy the bevy of degenerating diseases that come along with age–Alzheimers, dementia, etc.  Advanced genomics is already paving the way toward individualized health care based upon each patients’ own DNA sequence, leading to advanced warning of high risk inherited diseases.  But the question becomes, do we want to know what ailments we are predisposed for, and once we know, whose responsibility does it become to seek or give treatment?  Will the world naturally divide into the ‘want to know’ and the ‘want to remain ignorant’?  If this ‘developmental inertia’ gene is indeed isolated and a therapeutic age blocker is created, will the world be separated to those who prefer a natural death, or those who wish to live until they’re well over 200?  Obviously affordability and access will be an issue, so while live expectancy climbs into the centennials in the Western countries, how will the rest of the world look? How will overall human fitness be affected?  If those who survive longest are ultimately in existence through genetic engineering, how faithful to humanity will we remain?  I think these questions tie into Joy’s queries about whether intelligent robots will forcefully take over as earth’s dominant sentient beings, or if “biological humans will be squeezed out of existence.”

 

source: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/girl-ages-unravel-secret-eternal-youth/story?id=19974247

 

 

Facebook Redesign:

Let’s imagine a time in the (not so) distant future where the battle versus individual privacy and Facebook domination of data mining has been lost or forgotten, and all that makes us who we are is easily displayed for every Facebook user to see.  Facebook has become intrinsically tied to our identities. There’s nothing we can do about it because public policy is now on their side, so might as well make it useful and desirable.  If we have nothing to hide anymore, what type of information becomes prioritized?  What type of “TMI” news could be displayed to even make our lives easier? For example, medical records and patient treatments  could be publicly shown and help others diagnose their own similar problems or help make connections to health professionals.  If our lives become completely transparent to our friends, families, employers, would that cause human nature to change its behavior? Would people always be on guard, or completely let their guards down?

Reading Response: Week One class 1

Every person has a special social network that has a huge influence. In China, there are 50% users are recommended to play a same mobile game from their friends and word of mouth to import amounted to 77%. Users prefer to upload their performance on the network (including stars, scores, list, etc.), or share the comments of the game on the network, so that other users will be interested in this game. I think this is a very important way to develop project. Not only word of mouth is now the number one marketing channel, but also the game companies can reduce import costs of users.

 

The mobile game platform just is a part of the social network. Just like Facebook, this is another style platform and it is different from the mobile game platform, but there are have some same things. For example, in Facebook, we can though a previous friend to make a lot of new friends, in the mobile game, a lot of users can though word of mouth to find a same interesting game, then that game will has more and more gamers and it can improve popularity. This is powerful.

 

In fact, social network is very useful. But on the other hand, here comes a question as for security issues on the Internet. Almost all of the users worry about that the information is safe or not in this open network. On the platform of Internet, just like Facebook, we also have our special social network, we can share some interesting things, and know a lot of things from friends, at the same time, we can get more high-value responses from the people in our network, but at the same time it will inevitably produce the issue of privacy disclosure. How to use the social network can at the same time be protected? This is a important issue.

In Class Feedback Chart

How Has Digital Media Changed the World? Interface and Design? TOP 5 Social Media
Time!
We don’t want to wait for things to load
Interactive design
Changes people’s approach – marketing
interdisciplinary
Made the world smaller
Photos
MAkes us more willing to share things about ourselves
human lifestyle – attached to devices
Accessibility and Inspiration
Music – band popularity
misuse of tech
Social Problems Awareness
Screen
Phone Screen
Less Is More
ATM Vending Machines
Touch Screen
Analog Phones
Physical to Digital Transformation
iPhone
Constant Updates
Interacting with Computers and humans
User Experience
Interaction Design
Controller Wars
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Pintrest
G+
SnapChat
Vimeo
Friendster
Soundcloud
Spotify
Weebo
QQ
Plurk
Youtube
Reddit
Tumblr
Foursquare
Vine
Designspiration
Deviant Art – sci fi

Reading Response: Week One class 1

To what degree or level will technology and mechanization be enough? To me it is never a truly disturbing concept that human will build something and ultimately destroy ourselves, but I’m rethinking it now. As mentioned in “The Short Run (Early 2000s)”, we do not live in a completely free marketplace, and governmental coercion could support human populations in high style on the fruits of robot labor. However, it is going to be necessary that automation is restricted. We love to work and have the satisfaction of achievement, and that is essential. Purposelessness will be the one thing that makes us poor and eventually kills us. That is why governments such as the one of the States are terribly busy creating new jobs (the number of popes has doubled :)), and systems and policies are becoming more humanistic than before. People pay more attention to so-called “humanistic design” instead of look carefully into everyday’s “new high-tech”. On the other hand, the idea of becoming a immortal robot, caused by the hope that we want to live longer, is somewhat more widely heard, but notice that there are always going to be people who have more power (technology) and we are heavily affected by their behaviors if we ourselves become mechanical (more technically controllable). In that sense, living a better, longer life is more biologically or organically achievable, doable, and environmentally friendly.
Having read a bit of Orwell’s classic “1984”, if I want to relate it to something I’m reading at the moment, it would be the similarity between “the Big Brother” and “the monitoring or the ultimate surveillance society that Google may be leading us to”. There’s no surprise that Google wants something that Facebook has — an enormous database of personal information, which reminds me that although our bodies are becoming “digital” in a sense with the use of social networks such as Facebook (or someone called it “owned by Facebook” because Facebook uses user data to narrow markets of its clients, but that might just be tolerable… although relative law and improved versions of Internet rules become very desperately needed), but we do want to meet people face-to-face — we are not that wacky and nerdy yet, and we want to be real, and we want to trust others. Google glass is cool, but we do not really want that much device on us. Personally I think it is only a fashion choice, not so much a handy tool yet.

 

[just some thoughts, no reorganizing or anything…]

Interesting Precedent for Facebook project

I just came across this project called Facehawk, it is an interactive video that pulls from your Facebook account, and is a really cool concept, all done within your browser. It is similar to things we looked at in class, created as a commentary on the lack of privacy in social networks.  It is relevant to our current project, so seemed like a good idea to share…. Are we supposed to/ok to share things like this on this blog?

Group Two MFADT Network

Our group decided that the MFADT Network should reflect the culture and experience of the program. To that end, we want to be sure to devote space and resources to both academic and professional goals and the fun, communal aspects of the program.

Each member accesses the network using their New School student ID number, because our email addresses aren’t forever. Your personal profile would include your bio, resume, portfolio, interests, and anything else you want to share. There’s a built-in trust because though we may not know everyone who has been through the program, there is a basic level of respectability that we can rely upon. You can connect to people who share your interests, no matter what age they are or how entrenched within the professional environment they are.

The navigation bar at the top of the main page would dictate your experience and it would be highly customizable so you are viewing what you want to see and not what others decide are your interests. The main tabs include Community, Academic Resources, Professional Development, Job Opportunities, Events, Fun Things To Share, Creative Inspiration, Collaborative Work, and All.

Users subscribe to their personal communities within the program. Examples include your MFADT year, bootcamp section, major studio section, and decade.

All posts are tagged for organization and navigation purposes. You choose what you want to see.

The Network would be a closed site, because we are very concerned about privacy, privacy education, and protecting social media reputations. It’s a safe place to share ridiculous things and have a good time, professionally network, collaborate, and learn. There would, however, be an area of the site that is accessible for potential employers to view a severely limited version of the network and contact candidates.

InClass assignment: Social Network for MFA DT

One of the biggest problems that our group decided we wanted to address is the inconsistent and unorganized deliver of information. So we decided to create a social network platform within our already existing New School account. Our social media network would still be built around each user having a profile, but the profile would be created around interests, skills, current projects and jobs. And the delivery of information (similar to Facebook’s ‘Newsfeed’) would be split into tabs, so the user would have the ability to navigate specific categories of posts. One of which being created based on the current class schedule of the user, that would lead to a list of sub categories related to each class.

Group 3 – Shiny, Cindy, Niamh, & Alex

 

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Class Starting Soon!

This is the class website for Major Studio 1, starting in August at Parsons MFA D+ T! See you in a few weeks!