"Poincaré used to say that when truth is reached, what remains to be done is to sit back and contemplate it. Truth, when perceived in detached, static terms, becomes a precious object which can only be admired from a distance. The world turns into a museum. Look but don't touch.
Poincaré, however, had other more complex and contradictory views. The man who would sit back to contemplate, also thought it was impossible to find truth in things in themselves. Truth hovered only in relations among things."
These are excerpts from the paper Reflections about Interactivity by Luis O. Arata, posted on the MIT Communications Forum.
I might have an opportunity to construct an independent study for my spring semester. An independent study focusing on my emerging interests in design would in some ways be an escape from what I now feel like to be the museum which Poincaré talks about in the excerpt above. My feeling is that my graduate education would be stronger by creating a study which balances both the concrete (experimental making) and contemplative (theoretical musing). I am attracted to Poincaré's reasoning that sometimes truth is only revealed only through relationships.It is my opinion that by conducting a series of explorations I will have a chance to digest some of my interests and thus begin to make connections for future thesis work.
Today, I talked with Julie Beeler, co-founder of Second Story. She mentioned a self promotion piece which launched her into her interests in interactive media experiences. She explained her transition from her static graphic design background into interactive media by being something which she propelled herself into through her own diligence and passion. If I am unable to craft a robust independent study plan I will attempt to continue to feed this interest.
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Here are some formative quotes I also grabbed from this past semester's sketchbook, which touch on my areas of interest with an independent study:
Thoughts from AIGA's 2010 Design Educators Conference New Context/New Practices From Ann Burdick's moderated discussion of Shifting Paradigms:
+ The idea of dropping the "graphic" of graphic design. Is it relevant to say "graphic" design? Are we communication designers? Media designers?
+ The general idea of digital-physical environments and re-evaluating our treatment of physical environments is what piqued my interest when I heard this statement in our authoring session: "What will design workspaces and classrooms look like in a mixed digital-physical future?"
+ "Study the flux, an instability of platforms, technology precedes function" From David Thorburn's thoughts on Shifting Paradigms
Other thoughts touching on my interests:
"People are increasingly comfortable with substituting representations of reality for the real" Sherry Turkle
"If you are numb to the way it looks then maybe you are numb to what it means" This is something I wrote in class while Meredith Davis was talking about Futurist poets' desire to explore new typographic possibilities
"Grit: perseverance and passion for long term goals" I found this article while searching through Psychology Journals for my K-12 Education Research.
"Variety becomes a regulator for innovation" Hugh Dubberly's explanation of the Model for Innovation map
"Avoid decontextualizing learning" An idea from my K-12 Education Research found in Best Practices for Teaching Social Studies by Randi Stone.
"Although embodiment is in constant flux, it remains the invariable nexus from where new technologies are engaged... Virtual Realism- living critically with new technology... Western philosophy is interspersed with trends, thought structures, ideologies and expressions that denigrate the body" These are quotes from my reading of Amada du Preez: Gendered Bodies and New Technologies. (I owe this to Shelley Evenson's mention of Cyberfeminism in her lecture about Design Research)
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