Topic 1 Development

Guide draft:

I planed to make a game that player controls a character who need to gather leftover cloths and stitch them together. It would be a 2d top down game. Along with player collects more materials, the game image’s filter will turn from dark to bright, which indicates a mindset’s transformation. Also, the game’s flow shows the process of a patchwork’s sewing. 

Some game concepts image below: 

1: at the beginning, there are not too many materials been collected

2: some materials have been collected

3: all materials are collected

I started to work on the layout of how I wanted to present the guide. I began to do more research on the history of taxidermy with the Egyptians and the research being done within the museums. I now have a clear thought of what my field guide is going to be about.

I plan on creating a digital field guide for my topic. I was inspired by a field guide I picked up written by a company called Wildsam on California Road Trips. As I researched them, I learned that they have multiple series of field guides for locations all over the world. I appreciate how they group the information and wanted to leverage this organization for my topic.

Why this form?

I chose this form because I believe that it is the most efficient way to share information about my topic in this remote cohort. Additionally, a user could leverage its digital nature while independently traveling or investigating the topic independently. Lastly, it is the medium I am most comfortable designing in.

What are its features (stylistic, experiential)

I will break down the guide between general info, interviews, and field notes to categorize the information via the table of contents with the hopes of managing an automatic click scroll, so it is easily navigatable.

How is this form typically used, and what do you plan to subvert/imitate/utilize?

This form is mainly used to inform, I hope to do the same/imitate its format but in a digital sense.

What would change if you tried a different form? What critical lens does the form you’re applying emphasize? 

I believe we spoke about this in our last class session; knowing that I am not as confident in my tactile skills; it would evoke a different message to the user if I presented a more lo-fi physical book or guide.

Is there a metaphor well-suited to your form (i.e. cooking with code)? / Or, are there other metaphors you might employ?

Still working through this idea. I would like to play on the connections and separations idea and integrate the idea of flow. In addition, there are bodily canals I’ve ignored completely in my research since I dove right into waterways, and I’m not sure if that is worth integrating into the project at this point or if it would feel too disjointed.

As I started trying to draw a map with the topic, I realized the difficulty of transforming information into the metaphor of speculative geography is much harder than expected, since I don’t have a concrete understanding of how Puppet-network works.

I just saw Monikia’s advice on considering other sort of maps (family tree, historical “famous persons” portrait map, periodic table”…) that will amplify the topic better, as well as finding the metaphor to use in place. And so I’ll try to sort that issue out first…

With e-skin becoming an increasingly likely form of wearable tech, i explored some possible applications for the technology.

I interviewed a friend who is an engineer currently working at the China Agricultural Machinery Research Institute. He’s research direction is on coating materials for agricultural machines

• How do you understand the word plantation

I understand it as defining an area and planting specific crops in this area to generate economic benefits.

• Can you think of some positive impacts of plantation on the environment.

To a certain extent, the vegetation coverage rate is increased, and at the same time, it provides a living environment and a suitable habitat for living organisms.

• Can you think of some negative impacts of plantation on the environment.

In developed countries, agricultural planting is highly mechanized. From my research aspect, the wear and tear of machines will cause tiny metal fragments falling into the soil, causing negative effect on the soil. In addition, in developing countries, especially in areas with a low degree of agricultural mechanization, the level of mechanical agricultural planting is low. In these places, people still use traditional irrigation method, which causes a greater waste of water resources.

• What other impacts do you think plantation might have?

1. May affect the abundance of agricultural products, thereby affecting economic benefits.

2. Plantation may provide certain employment opportunities.

• If you want to know more about plantation, what directions/topics are you interested in?

1. Historical origin, when it comes to plantation, slavery often comes to mind. Why is plantation one of the representatives of slavery?

2. Are contemporary plantations have higher economical outcome than triditional farmland?

• If you were asked to make a connection between the concepts of plantation and space, from which angles do you think you can connect?

Space plantation, if human beings want to immigrate to space, it will be essential to develop a specific space plantation. If understanding this word from a more general definition, plantation must be a kind of agricultural planting within a specific space. The establishment of plantation can be viewed as occupying space from nature in order for people to make profit.

Part-one: Guide form – Pop-up book
For now I am focusing on learning skills of making pop-up books.
I found some tutorials (videos and books) and practiced in several basic structures. My understanding of this form is developed in this progress, and now I have a general idea about how to make the guide. The next steps are: first, chooses the structures I need for this guide, and second, design the details about my guide to make sure I can finish it on time with all the information I want to display.

Part-two: Metaphor
I spent most of my time for finding out the best metaphor I want to use. I did this by deconstruct “fenestra” into abstract pieces and reconstruct them into different things, concepts and systems. Two topic appears at the very beginning: underground water&caverns systems and urban water circulation.

These are still one step from what I want to do. So I did several more times of deconstruction and reconstruction. Then I found emotion balancing. How each individual dealing with his/her bad emotions. This is the direction I plan to dig into. Based on this idea, a simple story-line is been developed.

Not loving it yet, but just doing some sketches today along Lake Michigan of some yet to be identified wildflowers and some prickly pears. I will figure out how to incorporate some sketches into my map.

• Why this form? What are its features (stylistic, experiential)

Here are some pictures that inspired me. The form I chose is a map. One of the features of a map is that it presents information both on the macro scare and on the micro scale. Since I’m focusing on the economic influences of plantation both worldwide and locally, a map is a suitable form for me to show it.

• How is this form typically used, and what do you plan to subvert/imitate/utilize?

For example, an amusement park map shows you the entire park, you can get a general idea by a quick glance. You can see the big rides, the roads connecting different places. And if you look closer, you can find more detailed information like the location of bathrooms. And for electronic maps, you can get more detailed information by clicking on different places. So I think I’ll also try to make an interactive map. You can see the world market trading system in the big picture. And when you click on specific countries, information of local economy will pop up, providing the micro view.

• What would change if you tried a different form? What critical lens does the form you’re applying emphasize?

If I try a different form, the display of information would change. For example, drawing lines between different countries is the most direct and obvious way to show the trading relationship between countries. If I use another form, like a chart or diagram, the data visualization would be less obvious and hard to understand.

• Is there a metaphor well-suited to your form (i.e. cooking with code)? Or, are there other metaphors you might employ?

One metaphor that suits the form I choose is that trading is a web that covers the world. There are nodes on the web, and the nodes are connected by lines. And within each nodes, there are more information for us to discover. And if you change one node, you will influence the entire web.