Portfolio #2 - information ecology

Today we entered the form-giving arena and we started to think about and give form to a prototype. We reconsidered our product idea and ended with working on a product, which consists of a series of groceries with a barcode that you can scan with a smartphone. We decided to take point of departure in a already existing series of groceries called “Levevis”. The main ideas is, that when you scan the barcode you enter an app which gives you an idea to a recipe where the scanned grocery is included as an ingredient. We quickly realized that the there are many sides to this product: we have to consider the concrete label of the concrete grocery which the barcode is a part of, we have to consider how to give form to the app and we have to consider how to bring the consumer the message.

We started focussing on the design of the barcode and we talked about how to make it more eye-catching. Here we got to talk about how to make it more intuitively by giving it a certain smell, feeling or sound. We ended up making a prototype of the label where the barcode was shaped as the “Levevis” butterfly logo. The butterfly has a rubber surface that is supposed to have the effect, that the customer takes down the grocery from the shelf to touch the rubber butterfly.  

Today I found it particularly interesting how one little part of a product such as the barcode can be shaped in so various ways. And furthermore how we in the group can come up with so various ideas about a small thing like that. I also got much more conscious about how important it is as a designer to also think about how the product can reach the costumer; You can make the most brilliant design, but if the customer don’t know it exists it is just a waste of money, and time spend. I think the promotion of a product is a huge part of labelling it.

Next lecture we are going into the solution arena and we have to make a presentation of our design that we can present to a requestor.

Learning log #1: ICT, Learning and Collaboration

In the course, ICT, Learning and Collaboration - Media, Mattering, Mobility and Mixed Spaces, we are observing 1st semester students in the new environment situated in the centre of Aalborg. The following is a cut out of the course description:

The theme of this year’s course on ICT, Learning and Collaboration will focus on Media, Mattering, Mobility and Mixed Spaces. One of the reasons is that due to our education’s or programme’s physical movement to new premises in Friis, we have an unique opportunity to gain first hand experiences and data on how a large group of first semester students take into use these new mixed spaces (physical and online spaces). But also how new pedagogical ideas and initiatives (that have emerged as a result of aligning teaching practices and new spaces because of this move) will be enacted by students, lecturers and supervisors. 

We had our first experiences with observing the 1st semester students already at the first day of the course. I found it interesting to see how the students organized them selves in the different lounges and group rooms. We observed without cameras just writing down notes whenever we found something interesting. I tried to focus on how the students use different kinds of technology in the new rooms as I find it particularly relevant for the focus of our education.  

The second time of observing we used video observation.  I found it difficult to figure out how to use the cameras for observation because you had to narrow your focus of observation into one or two groups even though there were maybe four or five groups in one room. It is quite a dilemma because it is important to have some data that you can go back to and analyse and maybe discover new phenomena. But on the other hands I think you loose some perspectives when you only focus of the things that the camera catches. Therefore, I would say that you have to supply the video data with some eye-observation. 

On the third day of observation we got to attend a lecture for the 1^st semester students about how to take into use the new rooms. The lecture was very focused on creativity and how to make surroundings that have a positive influence on the students’ creativity. The students had to do a little exercise were they got some materials and based on the word “incubation” they should create something out of these materials. I found it interesting to see how lost the students were at first. Some of them even went home because they found the exercise so frustrating. Despite of that the most of them actually created something very creative only based on their own fantasy, creativity and the few materials that were handed out. I think that this exercise was a symbol of a way to change the common understanding that students have of how the university is and what you do when you attend the university.   

At the fourth lecture we had a very good discussion about all the data that we had been collecting during the week. We did an exercise were we had to draw a man and write down all the competences that a good qualitative researcher has to possess. We came up with this:

         

Portfolio #1: Design theory and – methodology/information ecology

The course consists of the following (from course description):

This course is about interaction design and information architecture. It introduces theories and practices, and participants will learn how to develop a design concept and how to gestalt a concept as a prototype.(…). After the 6 weeks, the students will present the outcome of their collaborative design-work at a session, where invited representatives for stakeholders will be present. If possible, this session will also be attended by Renate Fruchter, director of the PBL Lab at Stanford University, with whom eLearningLab researchers collaborate on PBL didactics in virtual learning environments. The presentation session will be videotaped, and analysis of these video data will contribute to the Stanford-Aalborg research project.

In our work, we will follow the scrum way of working.

I find this course relevant, as I am particularly interested in designing prototypes and take the target group into consideration during the entire design process. My experience with design processes so far is mainly from the course system design, which I participated in at the 6^th semester. In that course we got some experience with the project manager role and we tried to create prototypes. We also worked a lot with creating a “common language” which is very important when people from different professions work together in the design process.

If I should mention a few things, that I think is my forces when it comes to design I would say that I am good at focusing at the user as the one who’s interests the designer have to take into consideration at every step of the design process. Furthermore I think that I have a good overview in at process where a lot of people and different groups of professions are working together.

My goals for this course is to get more experience with the design as a concept and not only design as a single thing. Furthermore I hope that I get a better understanding of how to take the target group into consideration in a design process. I can imagine that more goals and expectations for the course will occur as the course progresses. 

During the course I will write about results, experiences and thoughts…

For next class we are going to prepare this:

Hvad går informationsvidenskab egentlig ud på?

Det er vist et af de spørgsmål jeg har hørt flest gange. Informationsvidenskab på Aalborg universitet er en retning inden for Humanistisk informatik. Det værste ved at få det spørgsmål er, at det faktisk kan være ret svært af forklare. Her er en artikel som beskriver det rigtig godt.

God fornøjelse:)