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Form Analysis – Bark

The form that I intend to use for my guide is a pharmacy medication label.

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

Medication labels typically show how the medicine is used and consumed, what are its ingredients, and what are its side effects. It is very detailed and has a serious tone.

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

I chose this form because it relates to my topic of medicinal uses of cinnamon (bark). I think the pharmacy bottle and label will emphasize that cinnamon is directly used in medicines, which is something that people often don’t realize. Using typical western medicine packaging makes the audience reconsider whether organic ingredients should be considered medication at all. I also what to use the “side effects” portion of the label to describe the ethics and sustainability of cinnamon production.

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

Another form that I brainstormed for this topic were infographics on the production of herbal medicines. Initially, I thought I could draw visuals on the lifecycle of cinnamon production, but I felt infographics was too straightforward and that using the medication bottle would be a better metaphor to describe the medicinal use of cinnamon.

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

It would be a visual metaphor, taking a spin on a commonplace item to describe my topic.

Metaphors We Live By Response

  • Lakoff + Johnson give several examples throughout the text of linguistic metaphorical systems. Are there any you found odd, outdated, or different from metaphorical systems that you use, either personally or in your language, culture, or social sphere? For instance, do you speak about conversation as battle, or use orientational metaphors the same way the authors describe?

Since English is my first language, I found that all of the examples given in the text was directly relevant to the metaphors that are commonly used in my culture. I think that using battle terms or win/lose metaphors are very common in American culture, since our culture highly encourages competition. “Time is money” is a very common metaphor used in American culture, since we are a capitalist society and work around an hourly schedule.

  • Can you identify a metaphorical system that you commonly use? What do you think is the motivating rationale (“experiential basis”) behind that system – or is there one? Have you ever intentionally (or unintentionally) changed the metaphorical system that you use to speak about a certain subject, to reflect a different experience or worldview?

A metaphorical system that I commonly use are orientational metaphors. For instance, I often refer to my moods as being “up” or “down”. When I speak in these metaphors, I envision my life and emotions to be on a graph, where the baseline represents my content emotional state. Also often times, I refer to “up” being good and “down” being bad.

  • What metaphors/systems of metaphor are commonly used when discussing your topic? If “the essence of a metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another” (5), what other kinds of metaphors might be useful for discussing your topic, or an aspect of your topic?

For my topic, “bark”, metaphors are commonly used to describe its strength. For example, “…bark protect trees…” and “…bark is tough…”. While bark physically protects trees, we have found ways to use it medicinally, so I would I want to apply the metaphor of strength to our internal well-being also.

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.

Interview Canals

I interviewed a veteran of the U.S. Navy. While he spent most of his time on land as an intel officer, I thought his perspective provided an interesting lens on the topic of both expert and non-expert.

What definition comes to mind when you think of Canals?

A Connector.

How So?

The connector of bodies of water that flow into each other. Mainly in cities.

What do you believe is the main purpose of canals?

Vessel transportation of people and goods.

Do you believe there are any secondary purposes of canals?

Moving energy to an environment and allowing access to water for areas that may not have had it otherwise.

What made your mind go to waterways rather than bodily systems?

Being a coastal person and a veteran of the Navy, my mind automatically went to waterways.

To your knowledge, are canals man-made or environmentally made?

Both? [I then explained the differences to a canal and a channel that I have learned in my research]

Are you aware of the negative environmental impacts caused by canals?

I wasn’t aware and mainly thought of them as providing access and transportation and did not consider the ecosystem impact.

 

When holding this discussion, I realized I was not alone in my knowledge of the importance of canals outside of commerce to our environment and protection. Even when interviewing a Navy veteran, it was apparent that this is a lesser-known fact. In addition, realizing the broad range of the topic mid-way through my research between the waterway/transportation lens vs. the bodily lens (which was inspired by the Borderlands reading) it is not the first idea that comes to mind when discussing canals. Still, if you enter it into a Google search, you receive a different outcome, and the bodily canals are the first to appear in the results.

Form for Taxidermy

  • Why this form? What are its features (stylistic, experiential)
    • I will be using the field guide form for my project. This form is most commonly used as an educational guide for the very young and older generations. Most are used for plant and animal research. The style is very simple, with one side for information and the other for pictures or other graphics.
  • How is this form typically used, and what do you plan to subvert/imitate/utilize?
    • I plan to imitate the structure of the field guide. I do want to go through the history of taxidermy till now. Fill it with information but not overwhelm it with words. The graphics in the field guide are ways to keep the reader engaged and able to follow through with the guide.
  • What would change if you tried a different form? What critical lens does the form you’re applying emphasize? 
    • If I would try a different form it would be, a guided tour, typically used in museums. I would use this form to show people the idea behind taxidermy and the process of preservation of animals.
  • Is there a metaphor well-suited to your form (i.e. cooking with code)?
    Or, are there other metaphors you might employ?

    • I don’t think that there is a metaphor well-suited to field guides.

Interview

I asked my friend Rhyan if I could interview him since he has a dog. Down below are questions that I have asked him. Rhyan did not know what taxidermy was, and I gave him a brief explanation and history of taxidermy. He did find it weird that people did do taxidermy in museums for research and to teach others as well as ordinary people using taxidermy as a way to keep their memories alive with their animals.

 

Questions that I have asked:

Have You Ever Heard the Term “Taxidermy” Before?

  • No, I haven’t heard that term before.

Do You Believe That The Practice of Taxidermy Should Be Continued?

I think that taxidermy can be used to study animals, but it is not necessary to use it as a display.

What Do You Think You Think Of When People Say That They use Taxidermy or “Stuff Their Animals” to Keep Them In Memory? Would You Consider Using Taxidermy As A Way to Keep Your Pets In Memory?

I understand the reasons why people would use taxidermy because they love their animals. However, I don’t think that I would ever use taxidermy to “keep the memories alive” with my dog.

 

 

Metaphors We Live By Response

  • Lakoff + Johnson give several examples throughout the text of linguistic metaphorical systems. Are there any you found odd, outdated, or different from metaphorical systems that you use, either personally or in your language, culture, or social sphere? For instance, do you speak about conversation as a battle, or use orientational metaphors the same way the authors describe?
    • A metaphorical system example that I use would be, argument. In my Jamaican culture, arguments are like battles or wars. However at certain points, we do reason, but for the most part, when listening to the arguments there are a lot of metaphors being thrown at each other. For example, “You are dense”, “You are on thin ice”. Arguments like those are to dominate the other.
  • Can you identify a metaphorical system that you commonly use? What do you think is the motivating rationale (“experiential basis”) behind that system – or is there one? Have you ever intentionally (or unintentionally) changed the metaphorical system that you use to speak about a certain subject, to reflect a different experience or worldview?
    • One commonly used metaphor system would be that in Jamaican culture, people will not openly refer to their dogs or cats as their “pets” however in the United States, the word “pets” has a valuable meaning behind it. Pets are considered companions or “part of the family, whereas, in Jamaica, dogs and cats have specific purposes to keep rodents and intruders away. They are not considered “companions, but are needed in the house. I think that growing up in America made me realize the difference between the two experiences.
  • What metaphors/systems of metaphor are commonly used when discussing your topic? If “the essence of a metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another” (5), what other kinds of metaphors might be useful for discussing your topic, or an aspect of your topic?
    • I would say for my topic of Taxidermy, that “preservation is life”. Many people use taxidermy as a way to preserve life, whether to study or in loving memory.

 

Form – Borders/Canals

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.

Topic 1 Development Progress – Sketch and Pivoting

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…