Looking back and forward..

Some reaction from a post on 'Transforming Grounds ' on a post looking-back and-forward

Why blog this?
I have found this useful in the sense of why I need the lab book requires such a rethink. The thoughts are on a slightly more abstract level with the thinking from the articles, but I think in a way and as mentioned in the Transforming Grounds blog post of the concern for society and the use of the analogy of who is actually looking at the front of the train in terms of technology development. This is in terms of

"It means that very few are thinking about what is coming and what we want to see in the future, since most people are struggling with understanding the ongoing reality. If that is the case, we are living in a society where people are looking backwards to get signs that can help them to understand their situation, like people looking backwards on a train, trying to get a picture of the landscape...then, who is at the front of the train, looking forward?" looking-back and-forward

My own initial thoughts with this are a design researcher needs to be able to look for the front of the train but at the same time produce real designs - through suitable awareness of the context of environment. This is seen as a key aspect where the design practice must be applied.

Thoughts on current interfaces illustrate how many computer scientists are biased toward efficiency with technological resources rather than human att

"Current interfaces illustrate how many computer scientists are biased toward efficiency with technological resources rather than human attention; or to put it bluntly, toward convenience for computers before convenience for people." -- Malcolm McCullough, in Digital Ground, 2004

Why blog this?
The thoughts are with how the quote links with idea about design as a composition that is discussed in the book 'thoughtful interaction design'. In the book it discusses how as a designer measurement can be made by creativity and innovation - I think innovation is particularly relevant in the above quote, in the way there can be a focus to develop technological resources without sufficient human attention.

Question to think about is this what may be present in the ideas about developing new technology with the elab book? - so focus on creating the technology and not upon the environment and ecology that the device works within?

So the thinking for the research is leading to thoughts of how the use of the information ecology may allow for a clearer composition of ideas for the design and development of the elab book. With the aim to allow for a clear concept through the use of the information ecology, for the design and development of scientific software/elab book work.


The background point to thinking about composition as an idea.
"Composition is a delicate task involving balance and contrast. The purpose is to compose whole entity out of existing and not yet existing reality. There is a need for balance between old and new, technical and non-technical, and function and form."
Thoughtful Interaction Design: A Design Perspective on Information Technology by J Lowgren Pg 32

Is it time to embrace the e-book....?

A really interesting article from the bbc web site on the use of the ebook, some really interesting comments too from users of ebooks in terms of preferences and scenarios of use for ebooks.

- Extract from article
Could printed pages one day be a thing of the past?
When electronic books first came onto the market, some thought it spelt the end for the printed page.

But following a flurry of headlines, and prophesies of doom from the publishing industry, the revolution in downloadable literature failed to materialise.

However, despite scepticism from some technology experts that the tactile satisfaction of the paper book has not been successfully replicated, it now seems that the e-book is starting to take off.

Full link to article - Is it time to embrace the e-book?

Useful interview also with Prof Kathryn Hughes and author Naomi Alderman on whether ebooks will threaten the printed word - Link


Why blog this?
Interesting to draw comparisons upon the design and general problems being experienced with the development of the ebook, what can be learned from the work with ebooks and be used to help identify and understand the continuing work with elab books?
Are there also significant similartities and differences between ebooks and elab books with the problems that they face which may help inform the continuing work? - this is especially thinking about the context of the information ecology.

Writing thought

The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every word that serves no function, every long word that could be a short word, every adverb that carries the same meaning that's already in the verb, every passive construction that leaves the reader unsure of who is doing what--these are the thousand and one adulterants that weaken the strength of a sentence

. -- William Zinsser, On Writing Well, pp. 7-8. Writing-Well-Classic-Guide-Nonfiction

Further to this

"The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak" -- Hans Hofmann Is this captured in his own work? Hofmann Gallery

How to sell a kindle.....???

The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments and over 130,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle – Amazon’s new wireless reading device. Learn more

Something to think about amazon sell the kindle as a new wireless reading device...

A new wireless reading device... Last time I checked a book was a wireless reading device?
I would raise this as at the point in the research in being related for the following reason
- The kindle is a new piece of technology - should not be viewed to have to compete with books but instead provide a different experience. (has though it been designed with this in mind...?)

Your not going to have the affordances of a book but instead have new the new benefits that technology offers - this is the reason for adoption. Is this not then what it could be sold on?

In a similar way would face similar challenges in a lab book - and similar with the editor.

This may be open to continued questions and although may be a bit condescending towards amazon I think at this point can be questioned.

The selling point....

A great article taken from Scientific American on Science 2.0 -- Is Open Access Science the Future?

The following quotes have been taken from the article as the quote taken from another source has been

Web 2.0 technologies open up a much richer dialogue, says Bill Hooker, a postdoctoral cancer researcher at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Portland, Ore., and author of a three-part survey on open-science efforts that appeared at 3 Quarks Daily (www.3quarksdaily.com), where a group of bloggers write about science and culture.

“To me, opening up my lab notebook means giving people a window into what I’m doing every day,” Hooker says. “That’s an immense leap forward in clarity. In a paper, I can see what you’ve done. But I don’t know how many things you tried that didn’t work. It’s those little details that become clear with an open [online]notebook but are obscured by every other communication mechanism we have. It makes science more efficient.”

The above scenario I think sets out more clearly the selling point as such for the research - I also see it linking with the point of how technology and paper are complementary for the reason that if the paper is obscuring a communication/workflow path because of the affordances it has as mentioned in the scenrio. I would see then exploration of if/how the elab book can enhance the workflow and most importantly be part of the workflow.
This is what must be achived must ensure not a focus on what a lab books functionailty is, but instead on actually what it is.

Finally the last quote below I think captures a selling point, as well as highlighting the risks and dangers that scientists are so wary about. Taking the position as an advocate for the research, it is important to have a wider perspective in order to fully appreciate the workflow.

"That jump in efficiency, in turn, could greatly benefit society, in everything from faster drug development to greater national competitiveness.Of course, many scientists remain wary of such openness—especially in the hypercompetitive biomedical fields, where patents, promotion and tenure can hinge on being the first to publish a new discovery. For these practitioners, Science 2.0 seems dangerous: putting your serious work out on blogs and social networks feels like an open invitation to have your lab notebooks vandalized—or, worse, your best ideas stolen and published by a rival.To advocates, however, an atmosphere of openness makes science more productive. “When you do your work online, out in the open,” Hooker says, “you quickly find that you’re not competing with other scientists anymore but cooperating with them.”

The argument of now with a move towards science 2.0 that your not competing but instead co-operating may require a full social culture change. Question if such instances have occurred before in work environments. Is this something that has to be forced upon people to be really effective ?

“Designing is not a profession but an attitude”

A post taken from 37signals By Matt

“Designing is not a profession but an attitude” is an excerpt from László Moholy-Nagy’s 1947 book “Vision in Motion.”

The designer must see the periphery as well as the core, the immediate and the ultimate, at least in the biological sense. He must anchor his special job in the complex whole. The designer must be trained not only in the use of materials and various skills, but also in appreciation of organic functions and planning. He must know that design is indivisible, that the internal and external characteristics of a dish, a chair, a table, a machine, painting, sculpture are not to be separated…

There is design in organization of emotional experiences, in family life, in labor relations, in city planning, in working together as civilized human beings. Ultimately all problems of design merge into one great problem: ‘design for life’.

We often put “designers” and “creatives” in special silos. But when you look at it from this “design for life” perspective, everyone is designing: writers, programmers, managers, CEOs, HR departments, parents, etc. Design and creativity don’t belong exclusively to people who use Photoshop.

Related: László Moholy-Nagy’s visual representation of Finnegan’s Wake

Why blog this?

I think the quote correctly captures a perspective on how to view the many forms and

challenges that design can take, the concept of how design is an indivisible experience I think may have a link with understanding the design of the lab information ecology.

A further poignant quote that is useful for thinking about fieldwork:

" The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands, but in seeing with new eyes" - Macel Proust