Time to Play the Game (week 5)

Mondays class was especially interesting and extremely fun. For this class session we had to bring in a a game which the class would be able to play and participate in, such as a board game. What I ended up playing was Monopoly, a game which I haven't played in such a long time. This game never really caught my attention but I knew it was a fun game to play, so I choose it. The idea of this game playing is to get into the mind of the creator and observe the different processes needed to create this game. How he/she came up it, What inspired him/her, What were the different steps needed to create the game, Who does it focus on, etc.

Monopoly is a board game published by Parker Brothers, a subsidiary of Hasbro. The game is named after the economic concept ofmonopoly, the domination of a market by a single entity.

Monopoly is the most commercially-successful board game in United States history, with 485 million players worldwide.

According to Hasbro, since Charles Darrow patented the game in 1935, approximately 750 million people have played the game, making it "the most played (commercial) board game in the world."The 1999 Guinness Book of Records cited Hasbro's previous statistic of 500 million people having played Monopoly. Games Magazine has inducted Monopoly into its Hall of Fame. The mascot for the game is a mustachioed man wearing a monocle and morning dress named Rich Uncle Pennybags (often referred to as Mr. Monopoly).

I found these facts about Monopoly to be highly plausible. This game is basically focused on the economic aspects of America and expresses how entrepreneurship is applied in the American business world. This game taught me the economic struggle entrepreneurs would have to deal with marketing. As the game went on, I understood the different processes one would have to struggle with in order to create a game such as this. One would have to first think about the economics of the American society. Then think about America's most high valued attractions and business. Then of course the layout and planning on the actual board game. And most importantly, how would all these aspects would attract young and older players.

This game playing exercise has given me a greater appreciation for board gaming and th process for their creation. I hope we do this every week.

adjectives:

1. garrulous
2. didactic
3. obsolete

adjectives for weds. (week 4)

Cumbersome

Truculent

Ambitious

Powers of Ten (week4)

The two films we watched in class this past Wednesday introduced us to new window of thinking, open us to new horizons.

An interresting aspect mentioned about this film is that when one zooms out into the universe one goes back in time and thus the farthest image, of the whole universe, is really one of the universe at the 'time' of the Big Bang, when it was infinitely small. In this sense, the two extremes come together.

That's not interesting; it's contrived for the sake of parading the French proverb les extrêmes se touchent. The largest scale in Powers of 10 is 10²⁶ m, which is certainly not the 'whole universe'. In a square 10 billion light years on a side, the corners are just 7 billion light years from the center, where the Earth is located. That's just half the age of the universe. Most points in the square are considerably closer.
—Herbee 00:47, August 20, 2005 (UTC)

I wonder if the number 10²⁶ is really correct? The largest scale mentioned on the website is only 10²⁵ m. Pity I haven't seen the film.
—Herbee 01:03, August 20, 2005 (UTC)

I am not sure what you mean with that square and the points in it (how can a point be small? It has no dimensions). The comment was not on the the film specifically, but on the notion of zooming out (and thus going back in time - this might need some more explaining) until you reach the furthest point you can reach (whether the film does this or not is irrelevant - maybe that should be stated too), which corresponds with the Big Bang, just before which (there's a little flaw) the universe was immensely small ('infinitely small' is probably wrong). I don't claim to fully understand this (but then, who does?) but this is the best rendition I can give of what Dijkgraaf said. And I do find it an interresting obsevation, in the spirit of the film (mind-boggling aspects of the universe.)

Why Man Creates expresses a different aspect about human perspective.

The Edifice begins with early humans hunting. They attempt to conquer their prey with stones, but fail, so they begin to use spears and bait. They kill their prey, and it turns into a cave painting, upon which a building begins to be built. Throughout the rest of the section, the camera tracks upward as the edifice grows ever taller.Fooling Around displays a random series of perspectives and the creative ideas which come from them.

The Process displays a man who is making artwork from a series of geometrical figures. Each time he attempts to keep them in place, they move and rearrange themselves. He tries many different approaches to the problem. Finally he accepts a working configuration and calls his wife to look at it. She says, "All it needs is an American flag."

Judgment is a series of reactions, presumably to the creation from The Process. It displays their criticisms of it, such as "It represents the decline of Western culture...", and only a very few support it.

A Parable begins at a ping-pong ball factory. Each ball is made in exactly the same way, and machines test them to get rid of anomalies. As the balls are being tested for their bounce levels, one bounces much higher than the rest. It is placed in a chute which leads to a garbage can outside the factory. It proceeds to bounce across town to a park, where it begins to bounce. Quickly, a cluster of ping-pong balls gather around it. It keeps bouncing higher and higher, until it doesn't come back. It concludes with the comment:
"There are some who say he’s coming back and we have to wait ...
There are some who say he burst up there because ball was not meant to fly ...
And there are some who maintain he landed safely in a place where balls bounce high ..."

Digression is a very short section in which one snail says to another, "Have you ever thought that radical ideas threaten institutions, then become institutions, and in turn reject radical ideas which threaten institutions?" to which the other snail replies "No." and the first says dejectedly, "Gee, for a minute I thought I had something."

The Search shows scientists who have been working for years on projects such as solving world hunger, developing a cure for Cancer, or questioning the origin of the universe. Then it showed a scientist who had worked on a project for 20 years, and it simply didn't work out. He was asked what he would do with himself, and he replied that he didn't know. (Note: each of the scientists shown was working on something which still has not been solved to date, even though each one expected solid results in only a few years. This forwards the concept shown in this session far better than the creators could have known in 1968.) These two films were made in order to broaden our perepctive of creativity and imagination. Two very important aspects about design.

Story Telling (week 4)

I found Monday's class session to be rather interesting than the last class session. Each class session has taught me how to broaden my perspective about concept development. What Jimmy taught us about interpreting images and changing the meaning behind them has really transformed my thinking process. I feel that I am now able to new interpret ideas and new concepts I have never developed before.

The storytelling exercise was especially interesting. This type of exercise had us improvise and evaluate different types of items to create a story. Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images, and sounds often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture and in every land as a means of entertainment, education, preservation of culture and in order to instill moral values. Crucial elements of stories and storytelling include plotand characters, as well as the narrative point of view.

The art of narrative is by definition a highly aesthetic enterprise, and there are a number of aesthetic elements that typically interact in well-developed stories. Such elements include the essential idea of narrative structure, with identifiable beginnings, middles and ends or exposition-development-climax-resolution-denouement, normally constructed into coherent plot lines; a strong focus on temporality that includes retention of the past, attention to present action, and protention/future anticipation; a substantial focus on characters and characterization which is “arguably the most important single component of the novel” (David Lodge The Art of Fiction 67); a given hetergloss of different voices dialogically at play—“the sound of the human voice, or many voices, speaking in a variety of accents, rhythms and registers” (Lodge The Art of Fiction 97); possesses a narrator or narrator-like voice, which by definition “addresses” and “interacts with” reading audiences (see Reader Response theory); communicates with a Wayne Booth-esque rhetorical thrust, a dialectic process of interpretation, which is at times beneath the surface, conditioning a plotted narrative, and other at other times much more visible, “arguing” for and against various positions; relies substantially on now-standard aesthetic figuration, particularly including the use of metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche and irony (see Hayden White, Metahistory for expansion of this idea); is often enmeshed in intertextuality, with copious connections, references, allusions, similarities, parallels, etc. to other literatures; and commonly demonstrates an effort toward bildingsroman, a description of identity development with an effort to evince becoming in character and community. -wikipedia

This is exactly what Jimmy taught us about storytelling. Just like in the movies, storytelling has to have many different elements to be considered and perceived interesting.

adjectives:

1. divergent -Growing further apart; diverging.
2. habitual- behaving in a regular manner, as a habit.
3. profuse- In great quantity or abundance.

Sir Ken Robinson (week 3)

Sir Ken Robinson was a very motivational speaker, and also funny by the way. His interpretation about the U. S. society, educational system, and economy made perfect sense to me. It brings me to ask many questions I have never really questioned about American society. Why is it that the budget of the educational system is equal to the budget of prison systems? Why is it that Americans in general would rather much focus on other social matters than the important matters of having a excellent education? Why aren't these problems getting any better? It makes me think. Am I able to do something about it? Can there be something done about. Education, to me, should be very important for this country. Other counties such as China, England, and most small countries in Europe and Asia use a strict and harsh educational system. This is why these countries have became rather prosperous in education and economic development. I think the only reason America is well developed is because we have a power military force and strong sense of freedom. That why I think most well educated foreigners come to the U.S. to obtain better work/living opportunities.

Another problem Robinson spoke about which caught my attention was the crisis people have within them selfs, not searching or exploring their true potential/talents. I find this to be very true. People, nowadays, go through life without soul searching to what they really want to do. They do not explore their true talent and end up getting a career they don't enjoy doing. I actually have some friends who are in this type of situation and they tell me they are not happy where they are at right, not one bit. This is why I think education is very important to our society. It helps people learn more about the various fields/subjects available to them. The possibilities are endless. I believe educational exploration is key to this crisis and is the number one solution to the many problems the U.S. has to deal with today.

adjectives:

1. exuberant-Full of unrestrained enthusiasm or joy.
2. cooperative-willing to cooperate; helpful
3. grieving-To cause to be sorrowful; distress

Imagery Evaluation (week 3)

In this class session, we had to choose and bring 10 different images to class for evaluation. I first didn't understand what we were going to do with them but it soon became clear by the end of class. We first broke up into groups and choose the simplest image from the group. Then we had to come up with 10 different words that will describe that image's opposite value. I found this to be rather difficult. Each work could not relate to one another, they must have a different value and meaning from one another. We ended up picking my image which was a converse ad with a band performing in a factory type of environment. The words which we came up with were; peaceful, quiet, empty, clear, boring, motionless, anti-social, conservative, legal, and safe. This exercise, from what I go out of it, was to understand the image in more than one way by giving the image a different meaning but can still relate to its value. The second exercise was to evaluate a different image but instead to come up with 10 words/slogans or phrases to advertise the image. We first had to change groups then pick the best image of our selection. This time someone else's was chosen. His was a picture of a tree like hand, which to me was pretty amusing. I found this one to be much more easier than the last exercise because of its amusement. Our words/slogans were more amusing than realistic. This exercise was for us to understand the visual value this image possessed and how it can be expressed through words and ideas. Now for our homework we must individually choose one image that attracts us and give it our own 10 word interpretation. This seems rather fun.

adjectives:

1. exuberant-Full of unrestrained enthusiasm or joy
2. substantial-Of, relating to, or having substance; material.
3. vivacious-Full of animation and spirit; lively

Dreams (week 2)

Since watching the film Dreams on Wednesday, I have learned that Dreams is a 1990 magical realism film based on actual dreams of the film's director, Akira Kurosawa at different stages of his life. The film is based more on imagery than on dialogue. The film consists of several dreams based on Kurosawa's own, throughout his life. The dreams are eight separate segments in the following order:

Sunshine Through The Rain

The Peach Orchard

The Blizzard

The Tunnel

Crows

Mount Fuji in Red

The Weeping Demon

Village of the Watermills

I have also learned that Kurosawa's dream sequences are elusive, metaphoric and influenced by Japanese legends, reflecting in some way impressions from his own life. In this film, he brought forth his conscious experiences mixed with his unconscious imaginations. He mostly revolved his emotions around his own society which seems to greatly affect his perception on Japanese socialism. From start to finish, each scene to resemble the several emotions involved in the movie process; mood setter, enlightenment, struggle, confusion, suspense, and a happy ending. Sunshine Through the Rain, to me, resembles the curiosity of being a child which in result gets a child in trouble. The Peach Orchid seems to express the idea of new beginnings. The Blizzard seems to resemble the glimmer of hope in the darkness. The Tunnel symbolizes the guiltiness in one's soul and how bad memories always come back to haunt you. Crows seems to resemble the confusion in people's mind. Mt. Fuji in Red expresses the idea of man-made weaponry to be poison amongst the world. Weeping Demon expresses the aftermath of Mt. Fuji in Red and how society is naturally evil. And the Village of the Watermills resembles the idea of peace and prosperity. That is the idea and symbolism I got from watching this movie. The imagery, sound, and metaphors made the movie that much more artistic.

adjectives:

1. Melodic- of or relating to melody tuneful and pleasant to the ear; melodious
2. abundant-Occurring in or marked by abundance; plentiful
3. condemned-To express strong disapproval of

Mind-Mapping (week 2)

A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. Mind maps are used to generate, visualize, structure, and classify ideas, and as an aid in study, organization, problem solving, decision making, and writing. -wiki

Mind-mapping can also be recognized as brainstorming but with a bit more incandescent thinking. Mind mapping doesn't only bring forth different ideas, it also helps open different channels in the mind. However, most people are not concerned about opening these thinking channels in the mind, they decide to just stay nonchalant with the rest of the closed minded people of America today. Since drawing my own mind-map on Monday was challenging, I found some mind-maps which look similar and can relate to mine. This exercise has shown me that I am capable of opening more channels/doors in my mind which will me come up with more and better ideas. This types are exercises are are very helpful for the human mind. It helps bring out ideas, thoughts, and solutions I have never thought about before. We owe it to ourselves to not let our minds fall to such woebegone thinking conditions.

Perception (week 1. 2nd day)

"Perception is the process by which organisms interpret and organize sensation to produce a meaningful experience of the world".

-the definition

While looking through the definition of perception, i found that sensation is just as involved as perception is to humans.

Sensation usually refers to the immediate, relatively unprocessed result of stimulation of sensory receptors in the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, or skin. Perception, in human ideology, better describes one's ultimate experience of the world and typically involves further processing of sensory input. In practice, sensation and perception are virtually impossible to separate, because they are part of one continuous process.

-"As a scientific enterprise, however, the investigation of has especially developed as part of the larger discipline of psychology. For the most part, psychology bypasses the questions about perceiving raised by philosophy in favour of problems that can be handled by its special methods. The remnants of such philosophical questions, however, do remain; researchers are still concerned, for example, with the relative contributions of innate and learned factors to the perceptual process."

-Peter Lindsay & Donald A. Norman: Human Information Processing: An Introduction to Psychology, 1977.

This aspect about perception gives me a different perspective about the concept of design, science, and especially life. Some of the best thinkers of our time, such as Einstein, have came up with their own idea of perception, but that definition apply to all of us? I think everyone has there own perspective about how perception works and how it works for them. For example, lets say a random painting viewed by a group may be visualized the same way but surely not perceived the same. One person viewing that painting may focus on different colors which make up the painting. Another may focus the different emotions going on in the painting. And another may not care for it at all. The world is perceived by the way we perceive it. That is why every individual person has a unique perception which is also unique to the world, maybe some greater than others. I believe, the ones who truly pursue these unique concepts and perceptions are artist and designers of our world. Which can be everyone in this class. That is why I surely believe that this class will help me open up more doors of perception in design.