Chakraborty_CCT333_Labs_2011


 * CCT333 Tutorial 10 Wiki Questions:**

Ergonomics is the science that understands and improves human interactions with products, equipment, environments and systems. It involves application of human biology, psychology, engineering and design to develop techniques to optimize system performance and protect the health, safety and well-being of individuals. Ergonomics aims to find the best fit between the person and job conditions. It takes into account user’s capabilities and limitations and seeks to ensure that tasks, equipment, information and environment to suit the user. The job being done, the demands of the user, the equipment and information need to be identified. Ergonomic design is easy to use for many people without exerting any strain. Individuals would not like to use products where they feel restrained and therefore freedom of movement is an important aspect of ergonomic design. Freedom to use one’s natural body movements when using a certain product will exert less strain. Ergonomic design of a product makes it simple and user friendly. The adjustability of the ergonomic design product is also important as it allows users to adjust the design to suit their own body type. The goal of ergonomics is to make sure one is safe, comfortable and less prone to work related injuries. Examples of ergonomic changes to work include: -Adjusting the position of your computer keyboard to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome -Ensuring that the height of your desk chair allows your feet to rest flat on the floor -Learning the right way to lift heavy objects to prevent back injuries Gilbereth devised a method to prevent fatigue while in motion. The act of picking up bricks and layering them is a motion, whereas fatigue is a result of bending, lifting the bricks, and layering them one by one. Fatigue wasted a lot of time in motion and in order to make it more efficient, Gilbreth came up with a mechanism to make work more productive. Gilbreth created a platform that did not need any stooping over. It allowed workers to pick up the bricks from a comfortable height rather than bending over. This does not tire out the workers quickly and thereby made them more productive. Henry Ford was the founder of Ford automobiles. Ford wanted to produce cars at a faster rate because there was a high demand. He hired Fredrick Taylor to come up with a mechanism that could increase productivity. Taylor examined the workers’ every move and learned that as long as the workers specialize in only one kind of work, the more efficient they become. Various people worked at different machines or stations and did not need any skill. This increased productivity. Henry Ford thought that instead of making workers move to the parts, the parts should move to the workers. So he created the conveyer belt assembly line, which increased efficiency by more. As the conveyer belt moved and the automobile reached the workers station, the workers fixed the parts together. The conveyer’s belt speed could be adjusted to make the workers work harder and faster. The workers did the same work over and over again and that is why there was no need for highly skilled workers. Ford increased pay, and did not allow employees to join unions. There were strict policies that were followed in the organization.
 * Write three paragraphs to define the term 'ergonomics'. **
 * What is the 'Gilbreth system of motion analysis’? **
 * Who was Henry Ford influenced by the efficiency expert, Frederick Taylor?**
 * What are the four basic principles of McDonaldization?

** The four basic dimensions of McDonaldization are:

1. Efficiency – The optimum method of completing a task or the rational determination of best mode of production. 2. Calculability- Assessment of outcomes based on quantifiable than subjective criteria. 3. Predictability- Organized production process to guarantee standardized outcomes. 4. Control- Automation or deskilling of work force.


 * CCT333 Tutorial 9 Wiki Questions:**

According to the slideshow by Sylvain Cottong, who is an employee at [|http://www.integratedplace.com], describe the tools and methods of 'service design' (2 paragraphs).

According to the Sylvain Cottong, service design is an essential criterion of an industry. It refers to combining the methods of product designing and interaction designing to produce a design for product and interface experience. This makes a product more useful and more desirable to make it more valuable and essential to the customers. The following are the various tools and methods used for service designing:

 1. Ethnography: This method uses research-based tools to develop the product. This research involves experimentation carried out in the natural or real-world settings to identify, discover and understand the service context and user experience.

 2. Customer Journey Map: This method provides in-depth understanding of how the customer perceives and experiences the services interface along the time axis.

 3. Service Blueprinting: This provides statistical description of critical service elements like time, logical sequence of actions and processes. It also provides detailed information about actions and events at the time and place of events that may be used for the delivery of services.

 4. Ideation: With this method, the designers make arrangements for users to participate in the designing of the product. The users provide assistance to the designers and help the designers to understand their needs and expectations.

 5. Service Prototyping: With this tool, designers develop a scenario that allows the designers to step into the shoes of the users to understand the user interaction with the product.

** From your personal experience, what would be a scenario in which these methods would be useful? (2 paragraphs) **

 * According to my personal experience, Ideation method would significantly help in improvising the UTM Office of the registrar website to make the website more accessible and user friendly. Involving students in developing the website would help in designing the website according to a student’s perspective thereby making it easier for students to navigate through the website. **


 *  Service Blueprinting would be an alternative method that could be used instead of Ideation. Since involving students in providing assistance with the development of the website may sometimes be difficult, Service blueprinting can help in understanding the user interactions and problems faced by them to help design the website based on statistical reports. **

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 * CCT333 Tutorial 8 Questions: ** Describe how Natalie Jeremijenko has based her research on "new technologies are an opportunity for social transformation" to perform "small actions that can amount to a significant effect to improve local environmental health". Tip: Opening up TED's interactive transcript is very helpful to understand her talk and also looking over her web site on the Environmental Health at Clinic at [] . (2 paragraphs) ======

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Natalie Jeremijenko, as the director of the Environmental Health Clinic based in New York performs her researches to develop new technologies. She believes that such technologies will improve the health of local environment. According to Jeremijenko, building up the external environment will help the inhabitants of the environment experience improved health. For instance, by exposing tadpole (baby frog) to water body we can analyze if a water body contains pure water or impure water considering the fact that tadpoles are sensitive to certain water pollutants ======

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Jermejenko also discusses the level of pollutants on roads and mentions that such highly polluted areas can be treated by micro landscapes. These micro landscapes are certain plants that would help in elimination of toxic material from the air purifying it, which in turn would help people from breathing pollutant free air leading to improvement in the health of inhabitants in those polluted areas. ======

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A product that has interested me was office paper. The website (howstuffismade.com) explains the overall process of how office papers are made. the following are the ways in which office papers are manufactured; ======


 * 1) The raw material used to manufacture office paper is paper pulp extracted from wood which is processed with water to produce a slurry mix containing 99% water and 1% pulp.
 * 2) ====== This slurry mix is then processed through a machine called Headbox. The Headbox evenly distributes the mesh and removes the water through a press section and dryer section. ======
 * 3) ====== Drying and pressing the slurry mix produces a big role of paper which is processed through a computer controlled machine to cut the big paper roll into different sizes which is then processed to the packaging machine. ======

Another product that interested me on the website was fortune cookies. Fortune cookies are served as deserts in Chinese restaurants. The following are the ways in which cookies are made;

 * 1) ====== Fortune cookies are made by mixing the four essential ingredients: Sugar, Flour, Eggs and Water. ======
 * 2) The mix is thee heated in a large oven at 357 degrees.
 * 3) The paper fortunes are then placed in the cookie by a mechanical arm after which the cookies are folded to give its unique shape.

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Consumers can make rational decisions in terms of consuming a product and analyze the ingredients or raw materials used in the manufacturing of a product. Environmental friendly raw materials attract environmentally conscious consumers. Producers are sometimes th en forced to use environmentally friendly raw materials avoiding the environmental pollution. ======

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Describe how he defines 'design as a collaborative process', and cite two examples of how creators involve the people they want to create for in their work, according to Bill Moggridge's lecture. (1 paragraph each/3 paragraphs)======

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Find an online example of a product which utilizes his principles of collaborative design which it involves people in it design. Cite its URL, and describe its design process in two paragraphs, and how it involved its user(s) in a a paragraph. (3 paragraphs)======

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According to Bill Moggridge a design can be effective and efficient if designed by a group of people from different disciplines or backgrounds. Brainstorming product or service ideas from people of different discipline and background can lead to brilliant creations. ======

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Moggridge also encouraged engaging the end consumers of a product or service into the designing team to help understand the needs of the end consumers based on which the products and services could be designed to meet those needs. By involving the end consumer into the designing team, it becomes easier to consider the various design details that could be modified to make the product or service more convenient for it end users. The two examples that Moggridge used were ======


 * 1) ======ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) Surgeons; wherein the designers integrated the surgeons into their designing team of a mechanical device for surgeries used by the surgeons. ======
 * 2) ====== American Red cross ; and how they encouraged more donations by inviting the donors to write a “Why I Give” cards. ======

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An example of a collaboratively designed product would be the XO laptop designed and provided to the children in the developing countries with the vision of spreading digital literacy among these developing nations. The laptop is designed collaboratively by experts from various academia and industry. ((OLPC)) ======

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By collaborating different minds from expertise the XO laptop was designed taking into consideration everything from extreme environmental conditions such as high heat and humidity to technological issues.======

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Look over examples of her biomimetic principles applied to products in the slideshow located at [] and write a short, one paragraph synopsis for each of your three favourite product designs. Describe why you like the design in your responses.======

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This is a very interesting design that may help with many sensitive products like contact lens. This film prevents the bacteria from clustering and communicating in the first place. This film was first innovated by a Australian company with the help of a seaweed component. This idea interests me since I always wondered if wearing contact lens are safe. Now with this innovation it convinces me about its safety. ======

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 * This is a cane innovated to meet the needs of visually impaired people. The cane supports a sonar enabled device which sends a sound signal to its users to warn them of any foreign objects being approached. This idea was adopted from the concept bats use to locate themselves. According to this concept a sound signal is sent and whenever an object is approached the sound signal hits the object and reflects back to the device warning it distance from the cane. **======

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 * This product idea revolves around the concept of how leaves of a tree clean themselves. This concept inspired a German Company to innovate a self cleaning paint. The advantage of this product is that it is environmental friendly as it is produced without using harmful cleaning products. The product produces a film over the surface applied and then the surface imitates as the process by which leaves clean themselves, water is used to clean any dirt or dust on the surface. **======

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As part of 'Experience Prototyping', bodystorming has been developed as a method of enquiry for interactive design. Research the definition of 'bodystorming', and write three paragraphs describing its characteristics.(3 paragraphs)======

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· Observe the idea; wherein the developer is supposed to observe the environment they would like to develop it in. Observing the product environment will help them to acknowledge the cause and effect relationship of the product and its environment. ======

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· Improvise and Implement; By this stage the product developer develops a fair knowledge of the product and its functioning in its environment; this would help them understands the various flaws and assumption of how the idea would work. At this stage the flaws are to be rectified and the product planning is improvised and implemented. ======

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With a partner, develop a use-case theater scenario and describe how you would use bodystorming and video to help you analyze the design of an artifact. This artifact is a medicine bottle for a woman who is 80 years old, arthritic, partially blind and partially deaf, and the system to design is the system whereby she finds and takes her medicine. ======

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- We would blindfold ourselves with a very translucent cloth and ear plug our ears to pretend being deaf. To pretend being arthritic we would freeze our hands to extend of numbness. ======

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It is the initial stage of material economy where natural resources are extracted from the earth. These resources are extracted and processed to produce products and commodities. Humans take more and more natural resources from the earth to meet the increasing demand of goods and services of the increasing population. This process leads to depletion when more resources are extracted than it can be replenished. Over extraction of resources also leads to increase in waste and pollution. According to Annie Leonard, people extracted one third of the world’s entire resource. The United States alone makes up 5% of the world population but consumes 30% of all available natural resources. At this stage the government must create and implement policies restricting the over extraction of resources and maintaining a fare share of resource allocation among countries. ======

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At this stage the extracted resources are processed to produce products. The extracted resources are processed with various toxic and non-toxic materials to produce goods and services. Many of these chemicals that are used to process the natural resources to produce goods and services are dangerous to human health. Labors producing these products are regularly exposed to these chemical which can eventually deteriorate their health. ======

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The third stage in the linear system is the distribution where the manufactured products are shipped to retail stores to make it available to consumers. These products are sold at a lower price and companies make profit with such lower prices by cutting production costs by paying lower wages to labors with no benefits and harsh working conditions. People in underdeveloped countries face low economic conditions are forced to work in such harsh conditions in order to survive and support their families. ======

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The fourth stage of the linear system involves the consumption of the goods and services produced and distributed. This stage represents the demand for goods and services, which keeps the cycle of extraction, production and distribution flowing. Our society are programmed with two strategies; ======

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1. Planned Obsolescence; or disposal of products after they are purchased so as to purchase new products and; ======

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2. Perceived Obsolescence; or disposal of perfectly usable product because they are out of date or obsolete according to the media. ======

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This is the last stage of the material economy in which after the residue of the product after consumption is disposed. If wastes are not properly disposed it contributes towards pollution and climate change. These wastes are sometimes burned before disposing them. Burning the wastes release toxic chemicals into the atmosphere which adds up to the pollution. ======

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The probable solution to avoid such pollution is to recycle the waste. However, not all materials are 100% recyclable. These materials end up being dumped into the ground as landfills. There are many alternatives to material’s economy that focuses on increasing sustainability of natural resources through the following processes; ======

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· Local Living Economies; or economies where initiative are taken to protect the people within the economies from production to disposal so that they can earn a living, support their families, purchase high quality and waste-free products and live in a healthy environment. ======

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** 1. Describe Jan Chipchase's prior job (he now works at frog design [] ) in relation to his work at Nokia. What are the two names he is given in the article? (3 paragraphs) ** ======

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Jan Chipchase is the Executive Creative Director of Global Insights at frog designs. Prior to this he worked with Nokia as a strategist. He worked as a researcher to develop research about technologically illiterate people in under developed and developing countries like India, Brazil, Africa, China, etc. and how these people were using mobile phones to stay connected. ======

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His researches were used to understand the needs and want of these people and accordingly design and develop cell phones convenient and usable by them. The researches were based on factors like personal belongings they carried, family behavior, and observing their knowledge about the use of cellphones. He travelled around the world to explore different countries and cultures to understand the needs and wants of the people and develops products accordingly ======

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At FrogDesign, Chipchase works to design future oriented cellphones to inspire the users of the cellphones using the information that he gathered. At Frog Design, he now works more towards understanding the user environment and accordingly creates and designs products for users, whereas at Nokia Chipchase was involved in researching and understanding human behavior. ======

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He was known given the name of Human behavioral researcher as he was studying the social demographics of cellphone users in underdeveloped and developing countries and thus he was also known as the user anthropologist ======

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** 2. “It’s really quite striking,” Hammond says. “What people are voting for with their pocketbooks, as soon as they have more money and even before their basic needs are met, is telecommunications.” (World Resources Institute) **** In the spirit of this quote, describe four instances of how owning a cellphone enables users to better their lives. (4 paragraphs/ one for each instance) ** ======

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1. Communication: The primary purpose of a cellphone is to communicate with family, friends, work, etc. This was possible with landlines, however with the advent of cell phones it has become more convenient and personal. Cellphones today changed the way people socialize and interact. People are more accessible with the help of cellphones which has made communication much easier. ======

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2. Information: With the advent of recent smartphones, information can be easily accessed at any time. People started relying on these internet compatible smart phones which help them retrieve any kinds of information on the go. ======

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3. Lifestyle: Cellphones today have molded life styles of their users. Every individual will define their cellphones differently. Some use their cellphone to keep in touch with their friends using instant messaging services; some rely on their cellphones to remind them of their daily schedules, etc. ======

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Choose a country on the map 'Design for the Other 90%' at [|**http://other90.cooperhewitt.org/**] and read through the description of the products designed for each country. 1. Which product interests you the most, and why? (200 words) The XO laptop for $100 by the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) interests me. According to this program the government of developing countries purchases these laptops and distributes them to the schools in the country. I find this product interesting because it an initiative that may help solve Digital Divide, one of the major problem in the technological world. Various researches and studies proved how digital illiteracy is stalling the economic development of developing countries. People around the world are acquiring digital literacy and with the help of those digital skills and knowledge they are able to find employment and potential entrepreneur opportunities. It is therefore necessary to make attempts to spread digital knowledge and training that may help for closing the digital divide. Moreover, the low price of the laptop attracts me towards this product. Does this means that technology has become cheaper? If so is the easier access to technology is because of lowering cost of technology. This raises a question of keeping updated with technology. It would be meaningless to train and literate the digital illiterates with obsolete technologies. 2. Which category would interest you to research further for your group project, and why? (100 words) I am really fascinated with the concept of digital divide. I would be highly interested to work and research on various attempts made towards making technology available for developing countries. For instance the AMD Personal Internet Communicator an invention made for providing Internet access to underdeveloped and developing countries. This invention promises that it will help in achieving Internet access to 50 % of the world population by the year 2015. This could result in increasing digital literacy around the world which in turn would lead to increasing demand for digital and information technology leading to rapid economic development of underdeveloped and developing countries. ======

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Jonathan Ive was appointed as the vice president of industrial design at Apple in 1998. Ive decided to work for apple after being fascinated by simplicity and ease in using apple products. After being appointed Jonathan constantly worked on designing apple products giving attention to minute details that facilitate the ease and simplicity in using the products. Ive and his team constantly strive to find reason for developing designs for their products not solely for making it more appealing but also to make them more accessible and easier to use. According to Jonathan, the two attributes of any product that makes it more appealing are (i) the material used to manufacture the product and (ii) the emotional connection with the product. For example the materials used in the production of the latest iMac are environmentally friendly and more interactive than the first iMac. Beside other attributes, iPhone’s display has been pleasing it’s owners making them more emotionally attached to the device. Before adding an attribute to a design, Jonathan tends to define its purpose and finds valid reasoning for adding that feature. Jonathan is credited for making computers boring boxes to interactive and obsessive technology today thereby helping apple achieve its goal of intersecting technology and art. ======