Disappeared Technology

Have you experienced a technology that has truly disappeared? Describe the experience and why the technology disappeared. What replaced the technology in the forefront?

One of the many technologies that has truly disappeared is connecting to the virtual world. I remember my brother discussing with my dad about a piece of hardware that he wanted to buy for his computer, later I realize that piece of hardware was a modem.

connecting to the internet it was a long and somewhat irritating process. I was fourteen years old when my brother bought the first dial up network card. On the card there was a username and password that we had to scratch off and a network number. First, we had to connect the telephone line to the desktop computer and only one computer could connect to one line at a time. Next, we had to open the network dial up connection on the computer, feed the number, username and password to it and dial the number. After a few rings, you would hear a noise that sounded like aliens communicating to the world.  And that wonderful noise meant that I was finally about to connect to the Internet.  The most frustrating part was when the network was busy and you had to constantly redial until you could finally connect! In order to reduce online traffic the government would have discount rates if you tried to connect between the hours of 11 pm to 5 am.

However, today this technology has become so transparent. We expect it to be available everywhere at all times. There is mainly a one time setup for the wireless modem in most cases. Then we can connect as many devices as we want to the same network. We can simply walk into a coffee shop and connect our personal computers to the wireless internet. Moreover, we have the internet on us all the time through our smart phones. The Internet is no longer a mark of luxury as it was when I started using it; it is becoming a necessity. It is impossible to imagine our lives without it.

Architecture for Humanity Questions:

Blog on 1-2 questions you would like to ask the folks running Architecture for Humanity.

I want to take a few seconds and thank Architecture for Humanity for their hard work. I have two questions that I would like to ask them.

Question 1:
Through Cameron Sinclair’s presentation on Ted Talk I realized that the Architecture for Humanity projects are international and without any boundaries. I was very touched to know that Rebuilding Bam in Iran was one of their projects. Currently, with all the sanctions and political restrictions on Iran would  Architecture for Humanity still be able to execute a similar project? In other words, how much political and international barriers restrict their work? What are the barriers that Architecture for Humanity has to overcome if they want to run a project in countries like Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq where people are forced out of their homes because of war and/or occupation and ultimately  live in refugee camps?

Question 2:
I always thought the power of image is much stronger than any other source of communication. I want to become a designer because I want to make a difference and  help raise awareness. I believe regardless of where you live the information you receive through social media or other outlets is manipulated in one way or another. When I was living in Iran there was a constant contradiction between the information we were given by the government and what was really happening in the country and worldwide. After living in the United States for about 7 months, I have realized that the social media is as controlled here as anywhere else in the world. I hope by telling people the truth, we can stop war and hatred against one another and move towards peace. My goal is also to use the power of design to spread knowledge to help humanity. I guess my question is, based on your experience, where do I begin?

Ice Cream Pitch

“Pitch”

While working in branding, I had to pitch ideas and design options to client on a regular basis. I was amazed to learn that during these pitches I would actually utilizing Abela’s guidelines without even knowing it. I was further amazed that I actually utilized Abela’s guidelines on a daily basis for ordinary non-work related decisions. For example, I once try to convince my cousin to come with me to have Bi Rite ice cream. He was not a big fan of Bi Rite ice cream as it was a local ice cream brand. He preferred the more name brands he usually buys. In addition, we would need to drive 15 to 20 minutes to Bi Rite ice cream; so, I had to be really persuasive.

When I think about that day in detail I believe I used Abela’s guidelines to win that pitch. I started by telling him about the Bi Rite ice cream shop that I have been to with my friends from school, which was my over all story. Then I continued with asking him if he has ever tried strawberry and vinegar ice cream or salted caramel ice-cream. That is when I grabbed his attention “situation 1.” By telling him how it tastes and how this was the first time that I had liked an ice cream flavor other than chocolate, “resolution 1”. 

Then, I went on to tell him about the area Bi Rite ice cream was located, i.e. the mission district, “situation 2”. By telling him about the area, people, the little shops were another resolution. I bought a few things from that area which I used as an example. 

In addition, I used Dolores Park as another situation. I am not sure if it was my pitch that grabbed his attention that he agreed to check the place out or he felt sorry for me trying so hard to convince him. Either way, I ended up having the salted caramel ice cream that night.

CCA Journey Map

My CCA journey map consists of four steps: motivation, research, decision and barriers.

First Step - Motivation: obtaining the willpower to take a risk.
It is very easy to put your goals on hold when you are in the “comfort zone.” In my situation I had a good (not great) job and I was doing work I liked (not loved). Financially, I was comfortable, I had a great work/life balance and I enjoyed the people I worked with. It was very difficult to, for a lack of better words, give it all up. I need to talk myself into believing that the risk of quitting my job, giving up my source of money, living on a student’s budget was worth the reward.

Second Step - Research: obtaining the information to make an educated risk.
After passing through the motivational steps, it was time to find the right school.
The Big Questions now need to be answered - where?

At the time, I lived in Dubai and could not find a reputable and interesting master’s program so I knew the first part of the answer was outside of Dubai. I then turn to the one friend who advise I can for the most part trust - Google. I searched out the best graduate design schools in the world. CCA was one of the top reputable ranking lists.  Coincidentally, I was visiting my aunt who lives in California and decided to pay the school a visit.

Third Step - Decision - Taking the risk.
At the end of my trip to California, I was sure of 2 things:

1. I would be proud to attend and graduate from CCA; and
2. I wanted to stay close enough to my aunt that I can visit anytime I felt homesick and far enough that I would have my privacy.

It didn’t take long after that for me to decided that I wanted to attend CCA.

Four Step - Barriers - Overcoming obstacles.
Now I need to overcome the obstacles that came with my decision to attend CCA.

First Obstacle - I needed to get admitted.  I spent countless hour preparing my application and re-reading my essays. A few months after sending in my application, I received an acceptance letter and overcame the first obstacle.

Second Obstacle - Paying for CCA. I am currently in the process of overcoming this obstacle and will update you all once I figured out the magic answer. For now, I still trying to find a way to get money from Iran to the US.

Interaction Changes

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Discuss a Product that has changed significantly over the years that you’ve used it. How have the interactions changed? Why have they changed? Is the product better or worse now?

The portable music player has changed significantly during the past few years. 

 I enjoyed climbing up the mountains in Iran listening to music on my Walkman. When my father bought me The Walkman I was very excited to show it off. I’d carry my one mixtape around, listening to it for several weeks until I knew every song by heart. This was because carrying multiple tapes was inconvenient. Often I would fall in love with one or two songs. Though it was annoying navigating through the tape to find those songs, it was definitely worth it.

A few years later, I started borrowing my brother’s Discman. With this cool looking device’s new interface, I could navigate through songs much faster. I was still limited to seeing the name of one song at a time, but at least I didn’t have to guess where the next song starts.

In the summer of 2002, during our family vacation in Singapore I came across, Panasonic’s SD Card Player. I bought it because it was much smaller and lighter to carry around than the Walkman and the Discman. It had the ease of the Discman’s interface, but also I carried five times the amount of music. I realized I was listening to music more than ever.

But listening to music completely changed when I bought my iPhone. Carrying music was no longer a decision I had to make because I had my phone with me all the time. Collecting music is much cheaper. Instead of buying an artist’s entire album I can now only buy the songs that I like. Easy and cheap access gives me the opportunity to learn about more artists. Moreover, I have access at all times to music through providers like Pandora. 

I believe that with these changes, music companies have taken advantage of the available technology to improve the user’s experience, making the enjoyment of music easier and more practical. The size of these electronics has considerably diminished while their capacities have increased, resulting in an improved listening experience.

However, I realized that because of the unlimited access to music, ignoring my surrounding is easier. Therefor I limit myself to listening during certain hours of the day. Despite the improvement in this new technology, isolation seems to be a side effect.

Foundational Principles

Are some of the foundational principles more important than others? If so, which ones? Why are some more important than others? Can you point to examples that illustrate the hierarchy you propose? Consider both Neilson’s and Norman’s lists.

I believe foundation principles are equally important as their co-dependent. The existence of each principle depends on the existence of another. 

Initially, I was of the opinion that the visibility of system status principle was the most important principle.

However, after assessing several different designs, I realized that the visibility of system status principle could not exist without the use of other principles like recognition rather than recall, affordance and/or aesthetic and minimalist design.

This is perfectly described by the same bathroom door presented in class:

As you can see in the image, the extra lines break the aesthetic and minimalist design principle. There are more lines than there should be and this is distracting to the user. Progressive disclosure would definitely prevent this problem from taking place. Also, the sign “Women” on the wall, which is used to identify the location of the women’s bathroom, is not actually on the door that leads to the women’s bathroom but is rather placed on the adjacent wall. This goes against the principles of consistency and standards and match between system and the real world.

It defies the consistency and standards principle as most sign or icon for public bathroom doors are located on the bathroom door itself. This makes it easier for the user to navigate and find the door.

It defies the match between system and the real world principle, as there is no connection between the door handle and the sign.

The only principle present in this system is “affordance” which is found in the door handle.

The above is a simple example. However, the more complicated the system gets the more important the principles become. In order for a system to operate properly, several principles need to be visible and correctly executed and as such all the principles used in that system become equally important.
 

The trend that changed my behavior or beliefs.

 

6: Social Networks Fuel the participatory Economy:

The use of social media has changed dramatically in the past 5 years.

In its inceptions, social media was simply a way for people to interact and a convenient way to stay connected to friends and family. However, in the past 5 years social media has become for many a significant, if not primary, news source. I include myself in this group.

Like many, I was always skeptical of news coming out of mainstream news outlets. This was especially so growing up in Iran as the Iranian Government owned the main news outlets. Nevertheless, I relied on these sources to stay informed.

In 2009, during the Iranian presidential election, I began to notice a spark contract in what was being reported on the news versus what I was hearing from friends and family on the ground. Slowly, I began relying more on Facebook, YouTube and twitter to stay informed than on the mainstream news outlets.

By the end of the presidential election, I had completely given up on mainstream news outlets and began to rely solely on the information obtained from social media. I now, like many, prefer to read people’s comments on a specific topic on Facebook or twitter than listen to two pundits arguing on TV.