http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg9qnWg9kak&feature=colike
3.21.2012
Gordon Pask PDFs
http://www.pangaro.com/pask/
Books / Maximum investment
These materials are offered with the desire to make them available to the widest possible audience. The files are large PDFs with variable download times and variable visual quality. They may be searched using the usual "find" functions in PDF readers.Last updated 19 April 2011.
Review Papers / Relatively Accessible
- Details of Pask's cybernetic machines, Musicolour and Colloquy of Mobiles
"A Comment, A Case History, and a Plan", in Cybernetic Serendipity, J. Reichardt, (Ed.), Rapp. And Carroll, 1970. Reprinted in Cybernetics, Art and Ideas, Reichardt, J., (Ed.) Studio Vista, London, 1971, 76-99. [problem with prior PDF repaired on 30 December 2010] - Review of Pask's approach to conversation, its embodiment and representation
"The Limits of Togetherness", Proceedings, Invited Keynote address to IFIP, World Congress in Tokyo and Melbourne, Editor, S. Lavington. Amsterdam, New York, Oxford: North holland Pub. Co., 1980, 999-1012. - On the nature of goal-directed systems (Heinz von Foerster's favorite Pask paper)
"The meaning of cybernetics in the behavioural sciences", reprinted in Progress of Cybernetics, edited by J. Rose, 1969. - Critique of Computer-Aided Instruction from 1972, still valid today"Anti-Hodmanship: a Report on the State and Prospects of CAI", in Programmed Learning and Educational Technology, Volume 9, No. 5, September 1972, p.235-244.
- Foundational reading on Pask's approach to learning"Conversational Techniques in the Study and Practice of Education", in British Journal of Educational Psychology, Volume 46, I, 1976, 12-25.
- Continuation of prior paper, about distinguishing different types of learning"Styles and Strategies of Learning", in British Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol 46, II, 128-148, 1976.
- Later review by Pask of his approach to learning and teaching"Learning Strategies, Teaching Strategies, and Conceptual or Learning Style", in Schmeck, R. (Ed.), Learning Strategies and Learning Styles, Plenum Publishing Corp., New York, 1988.
- For a general audience, Pask on anthropological applications in the here-and-now"Conversation and Support", Inaugural Address presented 30 November 1987 on the occasion of assuming responsibility as guest professor in General Andragological Sciences.
- Critique of social scienceAgainst Conferences" or "The Poverty of Reduction in Sop-Science and Pop-Systems", Proceedings, Silver Anniversary International Meeting of Society for General Systems Research, London, August 1979, Washington: SGSR, xii-xxv.
In-Depth Papers / Requiring more investment
- Thorough review of Conversation Theory"Developments in Conversation Theory – Part 1", in International Journal of Man-Machine Studies [now International Journal of Human-Computer Studies] 13, 357-411, 1980
- Concise description of applications of Conversation Theory and its protologic, Lp"Developments in Conversation Theory: Actual and Potential Applications", International Congress on Applied Systems Research and Cybernetics, Acapulco, Mexico, December 1980
- Formal view of Conversation Theory construed as an architecture of conversation"Artificial Intelligence: A Preface and a Theory", published as introduction to chapter entitled "Aspects of Machine Intelligence" in Soft Architecture Machines, edited by Nicholas Negroponte, MIT Press, 1976. [See also a simpler description of the framework.]
- Review of Pask's knowledge representation scheme called "entailment meshes""An Essay on the Kinetics of Language, Behavior and Thought", Proceedings, Silver Anniversary International Meeting of Society for General Systems Research, London, August 1979, Washington: SGSR, 111-128.
- A theory of consciousness and its mechanisms"Consciousness", Proceedings 4th European Meeting on Cybernetics and System research, Linz, Austria, March 1978, in Journal of Cybernetics, Washington: Hemisphere, 1980, 211-258.
- Further elaboration of the topic of previous paper"Organisational Closure of Potentially Conscious Systems", Proceedings NATO Congress on Applied General Systems Research, Recent Developments and Trends, Binghamton, New York 1977; and Realities Conference, EST Foundation, San Fransisco 1977. Reprinted in Autopoiesis, Editor, M. Zelany. New York: North Holland Elsevier.
- Cybernetics of interaction, precursor to interaction models of Conversation Theory
"Comments on the Cybernetics of Ethical, Psychological and Sociological Systems", in Progress in Bio-Cybernetics, Volume 3 (Norbert Weiner Memorial Volume), J.P.Shade (ed.). Elsevier Press, 1966, p.158-250. - Early views on interactive media experiences based on a cybernetic model"Proposals for a Cybernetic Theatre", privately circulated monograph (System Research Ltd and Theatre Workshop), 1964.
- Cybernetic view of the process of design, including commentary on Musicolour"The conception of a shape and the evolution of a design", conference on Design Methods, September 1962, J. C. Jones and D. G. Thornley, editors. London: Pergamon Press 1963.
- Cellular automata as basis for simulated evolution"A proposed evolutionary model", reprinted in Principles of Self-Organisation, H. von Foerster and G. Zopf, editors. London: Pergamon Press, 1961.
- Early paper on chemical computing"Physical Analogues to the Growth of a Concept", reprinted in Mechanisation of Thought Processes, A. Uttley (ed.). London: HMSO, 1959, p.877-922.
Books / Maximum investment
- APPROACH TO CYBERNETICS 1961 [PDF 100MB]
- CYBERNETICS OF HUMAN LEARNING AND PERFORMANCE 1975 [ZIP 30MB]
- CONVERSATION, COGNITION, AND LEARNING 1975 [ZIP 35MB]
- CONVERSATION THEORY 1976 [ZIP 26MB]
Video
Supporting materials
"Paskian Artifacts" Video about archive of Paul Pangaro
North American Pask Archive described further in journal paper
THOUGHTSTICKER software for training and intelligent content delivery
Architecture as a time based Art
http://thisisrealarchitecture.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/architecture-as-time-based-art.html
(as seen in #7 - the hourglass issue http://matzine.wordpress.com)
For me the delights of Architectural education have always been the insights that reveal the fluid, dynamic, changing and cyclic nature of Architecture. Lets consider Architecture as a process and as a unique creative act that happens, not only as a part of the architect’s design methodologies but also as a cognitive act that is fundamental to our perception and subjective experience of space. In this light architecture can be seen as a time based art that exists in space like a continual piece of music or a perpetual performance.
When we start to see Architecture not as inert spaces that we occupy but rather spaces created by our occupation, a complex reciprocal relationship between people and space, culture and architecture becomes apparent. Architecture can now be seen as a time based art that is inseparable from the way people perceive and use it. This cyclic relationship between human activity and Architecture sees Architecture as an event or series of events in time much like a performance complete with characters and protagonists both human and architectural.
In representing Architecture the traditional drawing methods employed by Architects transcribe and precisely construct a seemingly clear and scientifically objective representation of the piece of built work to be realised. These modes of representation continually improve with precision as our technology continues to expand. However they serve to reaffirm an assumption of a directly mapped correspondence between drawings and completed built form. This is incredibly useful for the swift translation of an idea into a built work but it will struggle to elucidate the time based nature of architecture.
This is no easy task, but perhaps lessons can be learned from other time based arts such as music and dance where the development of a graphical notation has had a significant effect on the development of these arts. Musical notation can be seen as a representation of space. Crotchets, quavers and semibreves are spatial divisions of a beat that denote rhythm and a passage of notes describes a set of musical intervals in time. Labanotation is a form of graphical notation describing a spatial geometry used in dance. Its originator Rudolph Laban defined a geometry utilising the limits of the of the outstretched body, which mark twenty seven points in space that tilt and rotate with movement.
These systems acknowledge the presence and necessity of a performer in order for the work to exist. This important acknowledgment allows a space for interpretation, indeterminacy, and the unexpected – this is improvisation. Can architectural representation relinquish its assumed Cartesian solidity and allow for a time based architecture to emerge that acknowledges the activity of those who use and perceive it as being its creative impetus?
Digital technologies may provide a possible future for an improvised Architecture that undermines the traditional position of the Architect as originator of the object. Genetic algorithms, self perpetuating systems and other digital drawing systems are being employed and developed that allow for an organic architecture to emerge.
However the attitude we adopt as designers is as a powerful tool. Actors, musicians and performers strive for complicite within a performance. Complicite is a shared sense of unity, heightened awareness and sensitivity to those around you. An architectural complicite can be achieved within creative teams when ideas are given space, where personal ownership is relinquished and personal expression is encouraged. This environment is highly conducive to creativity, spontaneity and can be seen as the opening acts of an architectural event.
The polymath Gordon Pask developed his Conversation Theory to describe the interaction between two or more cognitive systems or distinct perspectives within one individual, and how they engage in a dialog over a given concept and identify differences in how they understand it. Recognising that this intimate relationship of creation exists between people and their environment Pask extended his theory to architecture. He conceived of an architecture that would be in constant conversation and dialogue with its users.
Understanding Architecture as a time based art and representing it through a conversational loop unveils the potential of an exciting and organic architecture of participation, interaction and creation.
(as seen in #7 - the hourglass issue http://matzine.wordpress.com)
For me the delights of Architectural education have always been the insights that reveal the fluid, dynamic, changing and cyclic nature of Architecture. Lets consider Architecture as a process and as a unique creative act that happens, not only as a part of the architect’s design methodologies but also as a cognitive act that is fundamental to our perception and subjective experience of space. In this light architecture can be seen as a time based art that exists in space like a continual piece of music or a perpetual performance.
When we start to see Architecture not as inert spaces that we occupy but rather spaces created by our occupation, a complex reciprocal relationship between people and space, culture and architecture becomes apparent. Architecture can now be seen as a time based art that is inseparable from the way people perceive and use it. This cyclic relationship between human activity and Architecture sees Architecture as an event or series of events in time much like a performance complete with characters and protagonists both human and architectural.
In representing Architecture the traditional drawing methods employed by Architects transcribe and precisely construct a seemingly clear and scientifically objective representation of the piece of built work to be realised. These modes of representation continually improve with precision as our technology continues to expand. However they serve to reaffirm an assumption of a directly mapped correspondence between drawings and completed built form. This is incredibly useful for the swift translation of an idea into a built work but it will struggle to elucidate the time based nature of architecture.
This is no easy task, but perhaps lessons can be learned from other time based arts such as music and dance where the development of a graphical notation has had a significant effect on the development of these arts. Musical notation can be seen as a representation of space. Crotchets, quavers and semibreves are spatial divisions of a beat that denote rhythm and a passage of notes describes a set of musical intervals in time. Labanotation is a form of graphical notation describing a spatial geometry used in dance. Its originator Rudolph Laban defined a geometry utilising the limits of the of the outstretched body, which mark twenty seven points in space that tilt and rotate with movement.
These systems acknowledge the presence and necessity of a performer in order for the work to exist. This important acknowledgment allows a space for interpretation, indeterminacy, and the unexpected – this is improvisation. Can architectural representation relinquish its assumed Cartesian solidity and allow for a time based architecture to emerge that acknowledges the activity of those who use and perceive it as being its creative impetus?
Digital technologies may provide a possible future for an improvised Architecture that undermines the traditional position of the Architect as originator of the object. Genetic algorithms, self perpetuating systems and other digital drawing systems are being employed and developed that allow for an organic architecture to emerge.
However the attitude we adopt as designers is as a powerful tool. Actors, musicians and performers strive for complicite within a performance. Complicite is a shared sense of unity, heightened awareness and sensitivity to those around you. An architectural complicite can be achieved within creative teams when ideas are given space, where personal ownership is relinquished and personal expression is encouraged. This environment is highly conducive to creativity, spontaneity and can be seen as the opening acts of an architectural event.
The polymath Gordon Pask developed his Conversation Theory to describe the interaction between two or more cognitive systems or distinct perspectives within one individual, and how they engage in a dialog over a given concept and identify differences in how they understand it. Recognising that this intimate relationship of creation exists between people and their environment Pask extended his theory to architecture. He conceived of an architecture that would be in constant conversation and dialogue with its users.
Understanding Architecture as a time based art and representing it through a conversational loop unveils the potential of an exciting and organic architecture of participation, interaction and creation.
Mr Zumthor's Pritzker Prize Acceptance Speech
http://thisisrealarchitecture.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-min=2012-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2013-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=4
Thank you. It’s a wonderful moment, of course, to get such a prize. There was a journalist, a couple of weeks ago back in Switzerland, asking me: “Now that you’re getting the biggest prize in architecture, will this change your life?” Then I said, “Of course not.” And then I added, “Maybe, I don’t know.” Maybe something will change, but I would like to say it wouldn’t. So, I’m a little bit older now—a couple of weeks older—and something has changed a little bit. Let me try to explain.
As you just heard, when I was a boy, there was no architecture. There were architects. Some of them my father liked, some of them he didn’t like. But architecture didn’t exist. Only later looking back I asked myself, was there architecture in my life? At first I thought, “I don’t see anything.” Perhaps just our house… But architecture? A school? I grew up in a village, in a town five kilometers outside of the city of Basel. So, I looked around, and there was not much. Keep in mind that this is me later looking back. And then all of a sudden, one Saturday evening, we took the little train and went to the movies. Then I started to remember there were all these movie theatres in the streets, and they had a beautiful kind of feeling. They had a beautiful feeling when you got in. There was a really marvelous world of kitsch, really marvelous. And when you went down to the bathroom, the colors were yellow and black. And then all of a sudden, I realized there were this and that, and the balustrades, which had polka dots—polka dot kind of holes—and so on. So, I imagined that this must have been architecture. It was something special. And then later, I remembered that once a year we went to a monastery, a baroque church, nearby. And there were monks singing Gregorian chants in this beautiful Baroque church. Architecture. And then—this was the best—at the end of the service, the family always went down into the rocks, and you came to a very small chapel built or excavated in the rocks. There were a lot of candles and those typical smells and all these things. Architecture! Architectural atmosphere! So, I was glad to discover it. There are other things, of course. But I was glad to discover there was architecture in my youth. I just didn’t know it.
A little bit later—10 years or 15 years—all of a sudden I decided that I wanted to become a real architect, which was sort of a lonely decision in the kitchen. And I started to do my work. I started to enter competitions. I won a competition. I did my first two buildings. The two buildings started to grow. And I remembered at the time we looked at these two buildings, Annalisa and I. I got really depressed. It was terrible. I saw the buildings, and I could see the models of the buildings. This was terrible. I could hear the architectural discussion of the time in my buildings. This was the last time that this should happen to me. The last time that I’m not being myself.
So what is this being myself? It is interesting that in these buildings, which gave me this headache, heart ache, there were things I liked, such as things that did not come from a magazine or from a discussion that I can talk about with somebody. Rather, this is me! What is this “me”? Of course, I don’t know exactly. But I can try to explain a little about the process of what I feel when this happens, when I have the feeling “this is me.” Maybe those of you who play tennis, you know. You have to concentrate on the ball. If you start to think just for a moment, “Oh, my friend is looking at how I play,” then you are lost, right? You have to keep this total concentration on what you want to do. This is one thing. The other thing is you have to be loose. Now, I’m talking about myself. I should say I have to be loose. I go to the place. I listen to the client. I walk around. I hang around. I’m not going to do research.
When I start to do research, I’m really bad. This I know from studying. No research. You are just hanging out, listening, feeling, having the place resonate a little bit. And then all of a sudden, ideas come naturally. I don’t know when and where. I think this is a very natural process. Everybody—all of you, all of us—we experience this. And what I discovered was that when I have these feelings, it is like being a boy again. All of a sudden, I think this is me when I was 10 years or 12 years old. I’m dreaming. I’m there and something comes to me, but it’s not, of course, naïve dreaming. Everything, which is part of my biography, is there. But it’s not there as a research product or as reference material. It went into me, as part of my life. Then it comes out from somewhere—from my emotions or whatever, my feelings.
So, I’m at the same place as at the time when I experienced architecture as a boy without knowing it. This is what I love. These beginnings, these moments of the beginning. And then comes the really hard task when I have to take care that nobody destroys my first image. Because, as you know, we’re doing a job as architects. We are surrounded by politics, by laws, by money, by clients who have weak moments, and all these things. Sometimes people want to take away or harm my image, my baby. So, this needs a little bit of persistence. Maybe that’s where my reputation comes from that I’m a stubborn guy, which I’m not, of course.
As I get older, I think I got some kind of a… I’m sort of secure that I can do this—be a boy, and in being a boy and dreaming, doing something. Then I say, “When I like it, you will like it, too, because I’m not so special.” Now comes this moment when I get this prize. And I think now, and I start to feel that dreaming becomes even easier. Maybe I can. You help me to go on dreaming even stronger. Thank you.
Thank you. It’s a wonderful moment, of course, to get such a prize. There was a journalist, a couple of weeks ago back in Switzerland, asking me: “Now that you’re getting the biggest prize in architecture, will this change your life?” Then I said, “Of course not.” And then I added, “Maybe, I don’t know.” Maybe something will change, but I would like to say it wouldn’t. So, I’m a little bit older now—a couple of weeks older—and something has changed a little bit. Let me try to explain.
As you just heard, when I was a boy, there was no architecture. There were architects. Some of them my father liked, some of them he didn’t like. But architecture didn’t exist. Only later looking back I asked myself, was there architecture in my life? At first I thought, “I don’t see anything.” Perhaps just our house… But architecture? A school? I grew up in a village, in a town five kilometers outside of the city of Basel. So, I looked around, and there was not much. Keep in mind that this is me later looking back. And then all of a sudden, one Saturday evening, we took the little train and went to the movies. Then I started to remember there were all these movie theatres in the streets, and they had a beautiful kind of feeling. They had a beautiful feeling when you got in. There was a really marvelous world of kitsch, really marvelous. And when you went down to the bathroom, the colors were yellow and black. And then all of a sudden, I realized there were this and that, and the balustrades, which had polka dots—polka dot kind of holes—and so on. So, I imagined that this must have been architecture. It was something special. And then later, I remembered that once a year we went to a monastery, a baroque church, nearby. And there were monks singing Gregorian chants in this beautiful Baroque church. Architecture. And then—this was the best—at the end of the service, the family always went down into the rocks, and you came to a very small chapel built or excavated in the rocks. There were a lot of candles and those typical smells and all these things. Architecture! Architectural atmosphere! So, I was glad to discover it. There are other things, of course. But I was glad to discover there was architecture in my youth. I just didn’t know it.
A little bit later—10 years or 15 years—all of a sudden I decided that I wanted to become a real architect, which was sort of a lonely decision in the kitchen. And I started to do my work. I started to enter competitions. I won a competition. I did my first two buildings. The two buildings started to grow. And I remembered at the time we looked at these two buildings, Annalisa and I. I got really depressed. It was terrible. I saw the buildings, and I could see the models of the buildings. This was terrible. I could hear the architectural discussion of the time in my buildings. This was the last time that this should happen to me. The last time that I’m not being myself.
So what is this being myself? It is interesting that in these buildings, which gave me this headache, heart ache, there were things I liked, such as things that did not come from a magazine or from a discussion that I can talk about with somebody. Rather, this is me! What is this “me”? Of course, I don’t know exactly. But I can try to explain a little about the process of what I feel when this happens, when I have the feeling “this is me.” Maybe those of you who play tennis, you know. You have to concentrate on the ball. If you start to think just for a moment, “Oh, my friend is looking at how I play,” then you are lost, right? You have to keep this total concentration on what you want to do. This is one thing. The other thing is you have to be loose. Now, I’m talking about myself. I should say I have to be loose. I go to the place. I listen to the client. I walk around. I hang around. I’m not going to do research.
When I start to do research, I’m really bad. This I know from studying. No research. You are just hanging out, listening, feeling, having the place resonate a little bit. And then all of a sudden, ideas come naturally. I don’t know when and where. I think this is a very natural process. Everybody—all of you, all of us—we experience this. And what I discovered was that when I have these feelings, it is like being a boy again. All of a sudden, I think this is me when I was 10 years or 12 years old. I’m dreaming. I’m there and something comes to me, but it’s not, of course, naïve dreaming. Everything, which is part of my biography, is there. But it’s not there as a research product or as reference material. It went into me, as part of my life. Then it comes out from somewhere—from my emotions or whatever, my feelings.
So, I’m at the same place as at the time when I experienced architecture as a boy without knowing it. This is what I love. These beginnings, these moments of the beginning. And then comes the really hard task when I have to take care that nobody destroys my first image. Because, as you know, we’re doing a job as architects. We are surrounded by politics, by laws, by money, by clients who have weak moments, and all these things. Sometimes people want to take away or harm my image, my baby. So, this needs a little bit of persistence. Maybe that’s where my reputation comes from that I’m a stubborn guy, which I’m not, of course.
As I get older, I think I got some kind of a… I’m sort of secure that I can do this—be a boy, and in being a boy and dreaming, doing something. Then I say, “When I like it, you will like it, too, because I’m not so special.” Now comes this moment when I get this prize. And I think now, and I start to feel that dreaming becomes even easier. Maybe I can. You help me to go on dreaming even stronger. Thank you.
the Myth of Design_Gordon Pask's mention
http://thisisrealarchitecture.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/ctrl-c-ctrl-c-reality.html
[Ctrl C Ctrl V] a Reality
(As featured in Matzine 09)
In this article I would like to consider the humble [ctrl c ctrl v] copy paste function, as both an analogy to the practice of architecture and to the process of cognition that allows us to interact, perceive and experience architecture. As designers we quickly realise that the design process is iterative and recursive. It consists of repeating a process with a desired outcome at the end in mind. We like to communicate this process as a linear from A to B to illustrate clarity of thought. However useful it is in explaining ideas to clients and alike (and it would be so much easier if design was like this), it is not a good model to illustrate how design really works.
The repetition in design is cyclic in nature, with new iterations being informed from the lessons learnt from the last. This process as a whole can be seen as a continuous feedback loop: an evolving copy paste function.
This cyclic iterative process never stops. Once a piece of architecture has come into physical reality, the iterative and recursive strategies that bore its inception continue to operate through the acts of cognition and experiences of individuals who use, occupy, and perceive the built work.
Designing no longer resides solely with the architect, but is something that we all do continually beneath our conscious awareness. Our cognitive and perceptive faculties construct our reality in a way akin to design and it happens moment to moment. Each new experience is informed from past experience as we copy paste from memory into the present, thus ‘designing’ our reality to fit with our belief systems, cultural background, preferences and psychological makeup. Gordon Pask illustrated this process in his ‘Conversation Theory’.
“We ‘converse’ [metaphorically] with everything in our environment. We ‘offer our views’ as we act,re-act and think. The environment ‘speaks to us’ in
In this article I would like to consider the humble [ctrl c ctrl v] copy paste function, as both an analogy to the practice of architecture and to the process of cognition that allows us to interact, perceive and experience architecture. As designers we quickly realise that the design process is iterative and recursive. It consists of repeating a process with a desired outcome at the end in mind. We like to communicate this process as a linear from A to B to illustrate clarity of thought. However useful it is in explaining ideas to clients and alike (and it would be so much easier if design was like this), it is not a good model to illustrate how design really works.
The repetition in design is cyclic in nature, with new iterations being informed from the lessons learnt from the last. This process as a whole can be seen as a continuous feedback loop: an evolving copy paste function.
This cyclic iterative process never stops. Once a piece of architecture has come into physical reality, the iterative and recursive strategies that bore its inception continue to operate through the acts of cognition and experiences of individuals who use, occupy, and perceive the built work.
Designing no longer resides solely with the architect, but is something that we all do continually beneath our conscious awareness. Our cognitive and perceptive faculties construct our reality in a way akin to design and it happens moment to moment. Each new experience is informed from past experience as we copy paste from memory into the present, thus ‘designing’ our reality to fit with our belief systems, cultural background, preferences and psychological makeup. Gordon Pask illustrated this process in his ‘Conversation Theory’.
The Myth of Design
“We ‘converse’ [metaphorically] with everything in our environment. We ‘offer our views’ as we act,re-act and think. The environment ‘speaks to us’ in
the sense that we interpret it. We respond to what we hear and see and feel, in an exchange that has the structure of a dialogue in language.” – Paul Pangaro
Seeing Architecture as part of a cognitive conversation presents it as a dynamic and time based phenomenon that relies on the unique construction of the observer. Pask considered architecture as one of the fundamental conversational systems in human culture.
His ideas from cybernetics imply that we are observing beings, who construct our view of the world through interacting with it through conversations. This dialogue is a looping process of iterative and recursive creative cognitive acts.
As architects we design not just isolated buildings but growing, evolving and learning systems that perpetually interact with its inhabitants both serving them and influencing their behaviour. The inhabitants’ behaviour in turn animates and activates the building in a complex reciprocal relationship. Architects now must consider this relationship in their work and include provisions for the evolution of their design through future use.
It was Pask’s desire for architecture to refine this dialogue through technological advances into interactive environments that would engage with their inhabitants, learn about their behaviour and adapt accordingly.
It is also important to consider the interaction between the designer and the system he designs. Pask viewed the architect as controlling the construction of a control system, explaining that design was the ‘control of control’ thus putting the designer in the same role as his system except at a higher level in the organisational hierarchy.
Through recursion and iteration Architecture can be viewed as an enabler of collaboration, where conversation and the interaction between clients, users, builders and architects is highly important and as a time based phenomenon dependant on the unique construction of an observer.
Our friend copy paste is not just a convenient tool on our personal computers, but it is born from our deep cognitive acts of perception that ‘copy paste’ our reality into our experience of the now.
Seeing Architecture as part of a cognitive conversation presents it as a dynamic and time based phenomenon that relies on the unique construction of the observer. Pask considered architecture as one of the fundamental conversational systems in human culture.
His ideas from cybernetics imply that we are observing beings, who construct our view of the world through interacting with it through conversations. This dialogue is a looping process of iterative and recursive creative cognitive acts.
As architects we design not just isolated buildings but growing, evolving and learning systems that perpetually interact with its inhabitants both serving them and influencing their behaviour. The inhabitants’ behaviour in turn animates and activates the building in a complex reciprocal relationship. Architects now must consider this relationship in their work and include provisions for the evolution of their design through future use.
It was Pask’s desire for architecture to refine this dialogue through technological advances into interactive environments that would engage with their inhabitants, learn about their behaviour and adapt accordingly.
It is also important to consider the interaction between the designer and the system he designs. Pask viewed the architect as controlling the construction of a control system, explaining that design was the ‘control of control’ thus putting the designer in the same role as his system except at a higher level in the organisational hierarchy.
Through recursion and iteration Architecture can be viewed as an enabler of collaboration, where conversation and the interaction between clients, users, builders and architects is highly important and as a time based phenomenon dependant on the unique construction of an observer.
Our friend copy paste is not just a convenient tool on our personal computers, but it is born from our deep cognitive acts of perception that ‘copy paste’ our reality into our experience of the now.
3.20.2012
Finding a personal connection in a future of always available media
http://www.artefactgroup.com/#/content/finding-a-personal-connection-in-a-future-of-always-available-media-2
The way we consume media changed drastically over the past years. It has become instantaneously accessible, easily organized, convenient to carry (even in very large collections), and more diverse than it ever has been before. Yet on an emotional level, digital media seems to have lost some of the appeal analog media used to possess. Not to lament, but gone are the days of rich album art, accompanying lyrics, credits, and information (and NO, those square images that represent an album/Song in iTunes don’t count as legitimate). As we move closer to universally accessible media content in the cloud, what new forms of experience will evolve? Can we retain or re-build a deep personal connection with media in an environment optimized for digital consumption?
With analog and early digital media we had a personal relationship with the “thing”. We owned the vinyl, cassette, CD or video. It was something we had to take care of as it could be damaged or show signs of wear. Handling vinyl or a cassette was a ritual. We could spend hours browsing through a friend’s music collection. While searching for an album in a brick-and-mortar music store you would be influenced by the album art, by materials on display, by other people in the store, and the surrounding ambient visuals and sounds. There was a serendipity to this exploring that used to introduce us to new music we might not have otherwise have found.
The way we consume media changed drastically over the past years. It has become instantaneously accessible, easily organized, convenient to carry (even in very large collections), and more diverse than it ever has been before. Yet on an emotional level, digital media seems to have lost some of the appeal analog media used to possess. Not to lament, but gone are the days of rich album art, accompanying lyrics, credits, and information (and NO, those square images that represent an album/Song in iTunes don’t count as legitimate). As we move closer to universally accessible media content in the cloud, what new forms of experience will evolve? Can we retain or re-build a deep personal connection with media in an environment optimized for digital consumption?
With analog and early digital media we had a personal relationship with the “thing”. We owned the vinyl, cassette, CD or video. It was something we had to take care of as it could be damaged or show signs of wear. Handling vinyl or a cassette was a ritual. We could spend hours browsing through a friend’s music collection. While searching for an album in a brick-and-mortar music store you would be influenced by the album art, by materials on display, by other people in the store, and the surrounding ambient visuals and sounds. There was a serendipity to this exploring that used to introduce us to new music we might not have otherwise have found.
The digital experience is entirely different. Playing an MP3 on a Phone demands very little engagement. On-line media libraries are a much more efficient way to find what you are looking for (if you know what you are looking for). The digital media online is not unique, it does not wear, you don’t really own it, and you can consume it thoughtlessly. Rich album art, lyrics and special edition materials have been replaced with meaningless lists or thumbnails. The only thing personal about digital media is how you organize it into a playlist. Ironically, the gains in reliability and usability have removed precisely those things that made music personal. There was a sublime joy in the sense of ownership that these formats provided, but we aren’t missing the scratched discs, warped records, or tapes that unwound themselves.
The increasing sales of vinyl point at something we’re missing in digital media – we believe it is the personal aspect of media. In a world of truly on-demand media–in-the-cloud, how can we encourage the experience and discovery of media in new, personal, and interesting ways?
Our Approach
With media moving to the cloud and being accessible on demand we believe the idea of owning the media will be obsolete. We believe that trying to artificially create a personal relationship by (re-)creating a physical object to personify or embody the medium is the wrong approach. Instead we believe there is an opportunity to leverage the connections and meaning we attach to the media, and that sparking personal memories and associations can create a strong personal identification with a song, a movie or a book.
What if your music system knows where you were when you were listening to a song, and who was with you. What if it can associate pictures of a concert you were at, with the band’s music? What about painting the picture of all the things that you think of while listening to a song? Adding this layer of personal information into the mix emphasizes the “remembering” part of the experience.
The experience of discovering new music and the process of consuming (or rather enjoying) that media, can be made richer by linking it to additional information. Once you learn more about an artist, you are likely to be more interested in his music. Information about the artists influences, previous bands, related bands, record label might give you an idea what to listen to next.
The Idea
Picture a media system that displays not only a song, but also the content related to it. This could be your associations, or the artist’s. This content could be lyrics, images, video, history, art, etc…
It sparks interest and discovery through memories or curiosity and makes your experience richer & more personal. Thinking of a song and all its possible associations provides one with plenty of information that can be hard to access and digest on today’s devices.
Due to it’s limitations in size your current digital media player can show you only the one single specific section that you have been looking for. At this point in time you do not see any (or at best only little) of the surroundings and associated materials. While in a store your peripheral vision might pick up something interesting based upon any number of influencing intangibles, your current screen based systems do not elegantly allow for this.
Rather than a single device, we imagine a series of connected interactive touch displays that work together to create a more dynamic experience. We imagine multiple devices that can be used on their own or as separate facets to this experience.
Advancements in wireless display technology and the decreasing cost of displays will soon make this very feasible. Instead of sorting, scrolling, and filtering through a one-screen system, a multiple screen system could show related content in the periphery.
As you explore one artist, the other screens could present other avenues to explore that are potentially related. These displays might show pictures of one of the road trips where you and your friend listened to this artist.
Another screen could show your friend’s libraries that they brought on that trip, and so on and so-forth. These associations expose you to music other people are listening to, avenues you never got to explore in the past, reviewers opinions, and a song’s impact on culture.
The idea here isn’t the regurgitation of a structured library I created, but the ability to pivot from known-things into new discoveries. The ability to be distracted and to wander, disrupting the original goal of “finding a thing” is a type of spontaneous joy that is fundamental to discovering new content.
Imagine what happens if your friend comes over and you each interact with a display? All of a sudden there are multiple starting points into the media-cloud universe, each of these acting as a new kind of influencer. Now the peripheral displays can show the convergence of the individual’s tastes or act as carrier to exchange interests and new discoveries. Sharing between these devices can be seamless and enjoyable, and can return a touch of the joy we experienced when sifting through record/CD collections on the floor of our rooms growing up.
When the system of displays aren’t being interacted with they could introduce a sense of nostalgia or playfulness. Visualizations could work across all screens or coordinate to represent a literal thing.
3.13.2012
Mapnificient
The Pattern of Progress
Seeing-> Mapping ->Understanding->Believing->Acting
Now, we can map everything in real time!!!!
WOW~~
3.10.2012
Would you pay someone to make all your decisions?
With the rise of curated subscription services, we no longer have to decide what to eat, drink, wear, read, listen to or grow. Is this the answer to the tyranny of choice, wonders Ruth Jamieson
Dear friends, family and colleagues, I have a confession to make. When I say I'm late because of public transport, at least 90% of the time it's actually because I can't decide what to wear. Or what to have for breakfast. Or what book to take. Or which nail varnish will best help me achieve the goals of the day. In short, I'm rubbish at making minor decisions. And, judging by the number of companies now offering to make choices for us, I don't think I'm the only one.
A curated subscription is a service that, for a monthly fee, selects products for you and delivers them to you. It's a bit like having your very own 1940s wife. Over the last year, services have cropped up to cover more and more aspects of modern life. For a monthly fee I can have Kopior Has Bean choose my bespoke coffee blend, Stack select my independently published magazine and Weekly Indie choose my fave new unsigned band. Tea Horse will select my brew. Carmine can pick out my beauty products. Threadless can choose what T-shirt I should wear.Love Your Larder can fill my cupboards with mysterious foodie delights and Sponge can bake me a monthly surprise cake. For £8,000 Net-a-porter will even send me a monthly pair of shoes for a year. And there are countless cheese clubs and bread clubs out there that really should get together and get some sort of cheese sandwich thing going.
It's like someone took the vegetable box scheme idea and genetically modified it to cover all aspects of our lives.
Curated subs fall into two main camps. The first aim to cure us of what Douglas Coupland called 'option paralysis' by making our choices for us. These are the vegetable boxes, the cake, T-shirt and art subscriptions. They often have an educational or avuncular tinge to them, such as theAllotinabox subscription that was created because "people are extremely busy ... and at the garden centre the variety is overwhelming and slightly confusing." Every quarter they send a bespoke box of seasonal seeds and products to help even the least greenfingered get growing.
Coffee subscriptions also aim to educate. I tried Has Bean's InMyMug weekly plan, where every Monday brings a bespoke blend of coffee and a YouTube video of tasting notes. I watched the clips as I drank, and felt more able to hold my own in conversation with the coffee snobberati with each sip. Hints of pineapple, you say? Chocolate? Digestive? Yes, yes and yes, I can taste them all. And to think I was raised on Nescafé.
The other type of lifestyle subscriptions stem from the belief that, as the song goes, You can't get what you want (till you know what you want). As such, they offer an ever-changing selection of samples and tasters - the idea being that when you find something you like, you go on to buy it more regularly. These include the tea sampling subs, the larder boxes, the indy magazine trials and the beauty boxes.
Beauty boxes are big news right now. For around £10 you receive a selection of 'deluxe size' samples, all beautifully wrapped. She Said Beauty's box comes with a website they're billing as Facebook for beauty, where you can rate products and follow people; Joliebox comes with its own beauty magazine; and Glossy Box also offers a Glossy Box for men.
Beauty boxes are big news right now. For around £10 you receive a selection of 'deluxe size' samples, all beautifully wrapped. She Said Beauty's box comes with a website they're billing as Facebook for beauty, where you can rate products and follow people; Joliebox comes with its own beauty magazine; and Glossy Box also offers a Glossy Box for men.
The beauty industry thrives on sampling. Brands want to give us samples. Consumers want to try them. But previously the only way of distributing these beauty tasters was a system called 'debasing yourself at beauty counter by begging for freebies only to leave empty-handed and convinced they had something really fabulous under the counter that they wouldn't give you because they didn't like your coat'. For someone whose method of traversing a beauty hall is scooting round the outside avoiding eye contact in case a salesperson straightens my hair or douses me in perfume, the new system of distribution is far preferable. Plus the samples are bigger.
Unfortunately, as I'm unaccustomed to having lots of samples, when I receive mine my monkey hoarder brain kicks in and I'm overwhelmed by an urge to hide my precious treasure (the samples) from the other monkeys (my boyfriend) at the back of the bathroom cabinet. After about a week, I feel secure enough to take some out and use them, and they are lovely. I even leave a few on the sink so any friends popping round will think I'm posh.
There is a certain appeal in delegating our decisions to someone else. By using experts to make minor choices for us, we have more time to hone our own specialisms (mine, for example, are eating biscuits and reading). The only tricky thing is choosing which subscriptions to go for. Hmmm, I wonder if there's a subscription for that?
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