We will never see it the same way

 

We will never see space the same way after this summer when the James Webb Space Telescope brings in focused images. The bell of our imagination will have been rung. It with this urgency that artistic expression needs to be put forward. It is useful for the mind to wander and mull over what we desire to see in deep space -- not necessarily what is anticipated.
What if space is ugly? What if it doesn't obey the beautification attempts of the "touched up" images we are commonly fed? What if objects are not all round and controlled by gravity? What if there is a giant cereal box floating in deep space?
Here are a couple of my homages to the space of my imagination. Enjoy the shift in history.

Interface Design

 

  

We are easily frustrated when dealing with interfaces. Things get even tougher if we need to interface with a machine while others watch out of the corner of their eye—or while waiting behind us. Sometimes it is a good way to strike up a desperate conversation, perhaps proving people are generally kind.

Fundamentally, interface design requires discerning acceptable simplification. However, there is a limit on how much you can simplify a design—and you can never win— oversimplification irritates power users.

UX design “commandments” change every year as they strive to structure ideal approaches to human machine interfaces. The meaning of UX and the legion of other "U" acronyms also changes....

Designing interactions should pursue two categories of concerns: 1) simplify and 2) assist user.

1. Simplify

Keep designs consistent and minimalistic. Encourage familiarity by standardizing formats in graphics and text. Avoid unnecessary features and functions. Break complex tasks into manageable sub-tasks.

2. Assist User

Allow perception to drive prediction. Map the design so actions and responses are connected. Disable nonrelevant functions. Use motion to show where screens and information go. Relate to physical world. Remember things for the user, e.g. autofill. Detect and anticipate errors. Spell checker has been a sweet crutch for many of us.

Ok, I guess these are a bunch of “commandments” jammed into two….

Here are examples of human-machine interface challenges from the non-digital world.

Washington DC Metro: Scary and confusing. Need tourist mode.

Cricut Cutting Machine: Manageable and sufficient

Importance

Just months earlier, I was wandering around Asia and Europe with a backpack and a little money. I explored the world for over a year by hitchhiking, bicycling, and cheap Indian trains. Now I was in charge of 150 people in southern Venezuela, making decisions on what people to layoff, where to use our expensive helicopters, and how to ensure the safety of all the crews spread out on the Venezuela-Colombian border during the days of active FARC guerilla operations.

That was a long time ago.

I learned that it just takes having responsibility foisted onto your shoulders for you to step up to the task. Fatherhood demonstrated the same beautifully human ability. Our potential to take on great roles is incredible. We can move into whatever role is necessary.

With experience I have become fast and efficient in my work. However, speed isn’t the greatest measures of usefulness or effectiveness. What are we actually producing? With so much self-adulation/self-marketing on social media (guilty as charged!), I'm reminded of the problem of living in our own bubble of a controlled environment and inflated importance.

Nearly one hundred years ago, US President, Calvin Coolidge noted the problems with “self-worship” when people in authority are “constantly assured of their greatness”. He notes:

“They live in an artificial atmosphere of adulation and exaltation which sooner or later impairs their judgment. They are in great danger of becoming careless and arrogant.”

Serving others is a kiss from the fingertips to the air. It is one of the most noble pursuits. The following is a poem I wrote a long time ago for my students. I give them a copy when they graduate–when they move from students to colleagues.

Colleagues

Wrapped in parchment,
Already curling.
Sunshine has worn days,
On those paused in learning.

The door is slammed shut
It is your time to lead.
Knowledge meet wisdom,
Courage meet need.

Feet vault where they will,
They can manage all curves.
Summit the lithe garden
Where it's the victor who serves.

I have been writing poems all my adult life, but who really needs poetry? In Glittering Vices, philosopher Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung confesses:

“I lust after recognition, I am desperate to win all the little merit badges and trinkets of my profession, and I am of less real use in this world than any good cleaning lady.”

Joyce Kilmer wrote this beautiful poem, recognizing our limited ability and importance.

Trees

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
 
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
 
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
 
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
 
Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

Boat Design: Mechanistic and Non-mechanistic Influences

 

This is an extract from my latest book, Wooden Wonders: Traditional Malaysian Fishing Boats

The presentation of design influences on boats is best introduced by placing it in the context of what ancient philosophers asserted were the three motivators of all human inquiry: pursuit of truth, beauty and goodness. This triumvirate of cognition, aesthetics, and morality offers a framework for looking at traditional design as an attempt to 1) develop a boat that will be safe, durable and functional, 2) express cultural heritage and historicity, 3) incorporate belief systems, and 4) express an aesthetic quality. The first category can be referred to as mechanistic influences and the other categories can be referred to as non-mechanistic influences.

By design, boats place people far out on the water in an unnatural and hazardous environment. Therefore, boats are conservative in their design and often enshrouded by ritual and symbolic elements derived from belief systems. If one is to have faith in a boat when at sea, it seems natural to want to imbue the craft with as much safety as possible, both physical and spiritual. Horridge (1995) notes:

Because the use of them is dangerous, boats are particularly conservative structures and all cultures adhere to their own proven designs. Rigs are more easily copied than hull structures. When changes in design are introduced they are not admitted. In consequence, boatbuilding techniques may survive unchanged for 1000 years or may be quickly modified in a single generation as happens when designs are transferred from elsewhere.

Indigenous boat design knowledge can derive from traditional influences that lie outside the realm of naval architecture. This indigenous knowledge can consider available construction materials and fasteners as well as specific boat applications. This knowledge also leads to design details that affect performance and safety. When asked to explain specifics about a design, traditional builders may respond in a generic fashion, indicating there is no other way to design the boat or the design gives better performance. Construction details have been relayed from their ancestors and deviations from this tradition are considered dangerous (Horridge, 1995).

The details of the boat are ostensibly designed in response to a particular need. For example, the sharp bow allows a boat to pierce waves, a shallow draft allows passage over sandbars and an open transom allows nets to be easily pulled onboard. The overall boat design is dictated by needs for stability, buoyancy, maneuverability, seakindliness, draft restrictions, superstructure, and equipment requirements. However, in addition to these mechanistic elements, boat designs also derive from traditional designs, traditional construction methods, and available materials. In addition to these traditional influences, boat design is influenced by perceptions regarding durability, safety, comfort, and maintenance.

Boat designers make judgments as they contend with many conflicting design issues such as performance versus aesthetics, stability versus capacity, comfort versus seakeeping, safety versus speed, safety versus ease of use, hull size versus operating cost, and fuel efficiency versus production cost. The following sections describe a few important mechanistic factors that may be helpful in considering the photographs and data that follow.

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 [o1]Remain as non-italic & bold.

Closing Thoughts from "Traditional Malaysian Fishing Boats"

This is an extract from my latest book, Wooden Wonders: Traditional Malaysian Fishing Boats

One quickly becomes defined by one’s discipline as we witness the academic, professional, and even legal walls constructed around disciplines. However, these walls can create an insidious environment where the physical sciences are honored while everything else becomes noise. I have a deep affection for the mysteries revealed by science, but I recognize the physical and life sciences have waded into matters that require involvement beyond science.

Science can also give an incomplete picture of truth. Philosophers have investigated the limits of the scientific method, but science can be blind to the broad swath of culture and therefore fails to provide all data and guidance for culturally appropriate designs. For me to make sense of the value of non-mechanistic design elements I needed to recognize the intangible, scientifically unapproachable aspects of these design elements. Not all questions are scientifically answerable and some can only be judged based on their value to the individual.

Fishing boats are an important part of the cultural heritage of Malaysia. Their role in commerce will necessarily change in response to the dynamic forces applied to the Malaysian society. These boats provide food and livelihood for many. They are designed with care, built with integrity, and reflect the pride and dignity of their builders. This consideration of traditional Malaysian fishing boats was not intended as a nostalgic reflection but rather an investigation of the gritty, every day issues of boat builders and fishermen. These men were motivated by market forces even if they did sense the twilight years of their work. The builders and fishermen I visited were not striving to be curators of old technology, they were living their lives with the mixture of dreams and practical resolve that motivates us all in our labors.

Sleeping breaks chains and opens creativity

 

Dreaming allows a daily disconnect from saturating sensory stimulation. The breaking and shrinkage of the dendritic spines in our neurons is a slow task, one that can be nurtured by sleep. Sleep induced forgetting can allow new connections that arise in unexpected ways -- ways unconstrained by memory.

The playful dance of memories and surprising interrelations of thoughts is an element of creativity that is difficult to characterize. However, the benefits of sleep can be appreciated when looking at cognitive decline induced by lack of sleep. Not only are we less creative, but we have distorted perceptions and behavioral changes.

One insight into changes of physiology and its affect on artistic abilities can be seen with the changes in Willem de Kooning's paintings as he contended with Alzheimer's disease. The paintings became less variegated and he embraced simplicity. However, art experts considered his latter paintings to be appropriate parts of his oeuvre. His disease had been migrating from his hippocampi to the upper reaches of his cortical processing. However, his lower cortical hubs, where colors and contours are processed, were thought to be unaffected. He created in a different way.

Claude Monet's "blue period" is a similar artistic response to physiological changes. Perhaps his photoreceptors had less sensitivity to blue light so he over-saturated blue hues to produce the image in his mind. Therefore what we see is not what Monet saw. Is this the case? I don’t know, but I think there is a lot of this occurring in the world of creative expression where art and design have the momentum of the artist and designer pushing them into a higher level of execution than they deserve. At least Marcel Duchamp made fun of this attitude.

Sleeping's effect on dendritic spines is an interesting peek into the physiological encouragements for creativity. Dream on!

Wooden Wonders: Traditional Malaysian Fishing Boats

I had the pleasure of discussing my work with traditional Malaysian fishing boats and my book, "Wooden Wonders" yesterday. You can watch the presentation at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hwv23DiaJMY