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Ryan Coyer, Aaron Schram

HW12

1. what do you consider the main argument of the article?


The article's main point is that people reap greater rewards out of utilizing something if they helped in its design. For example, to quote the article: The experience of having participated in the framing and solving of a problem or in the creation of an artifact makes a difference to those who are affected by the solution and therefore consider it personally meaningful and important: "People are more likely to like a solution if they have been involved in its generation; even though it might not make sense otherwise" (Rittel, 1984).
This article implies that people get more out of services and utilities that they use frequently if their design choices regarding those utilities and services were heeded.



2. do you agree or disagree with the main argument? give a answer based on your own experiences?


Ryan - I agree with the main argument. From my own personal experience with carpentry and woodworking as a hobby, I very much prefer sitting in a chair that I built (to my own measurements and design specifications). Similarly, I prefer wearing a suit that was tailored to fit me rather than something tailored to fit a standard agregate of sizes.


Aaron - I agree with the main argument of this article. From my experience I enjoy listening to and playing my own music rather than other peoples. I can play or listen to a song that is entirely tailored to my emotions at the time and know that it is truly speaking to my emotions rather than me interpretting someone elses music to suit my mood.



3. enumerate in which situations



3.1. you acted as a designer/active contributor


Ryan - As listed above, situations include being fitted for a suit, constructing a chair... etc. Some other situations that come to mind in recent memory are building a computer to my own specifications, ordering a steak cooked to the temperature I desire, voting for Bush... the list goes on...


Aaron - As stated in question #2 I've acted as an active contributor when composing music, or building a custom computer program, customizing a car, laying out layout of my family room, most other aspects of my life.



3.2. you acted as a (passive) consumer

We are a passive consumer while reading this article, and each and every time I watch television, read a book, or enjoy a sporting event.



3.3. situations in which you believe you should have acted differently


Ryan - When travelling, one has a choice between being a lemming (following a guidebook) or just exploring whatever grabs your attention whilst wandering around. There have been many times when I've been travelling in a foreign country and - instead of choosing to rent a car and explore the country on my own - I book a airline tickets or train tickets to get between places that some guidebook recommended. I have since mended my ways and I no longer follow guidebooks religiously... I design my own itineraries based upon how much I enjoy a particular place.


Aaron - There have been many classroom environments where the opportunity to participate activily has been available, but because of external factors such as large class sizes, unfamiliarity of peers, etc. I did passivily participated. After the class is done and you get stuck in a class where there is no active participation you somtimes regret not gaining vaulable information from your peers within these classes.

  • The Rope around the Earth Problem:
  • Describe your solution (if you found one) or why you were unable to find one?

A. The cat can dig a hole under the rope... the question made no ruling for or against digging.

B. If the rope is pulled taut at one point, thereby touching every part of the earth except for one small section, then the slack would form an isosolese triangle with the sum of the two shorter sides being one yard... which would probably allow clearance enough for a cat to squeze under.

C. 43779119.82 (circumference of earth (yards)) + 1 (yard) = 43779120.82 yards; adding a yard would probably not allow enough space.


  • What did you learn solving (or thinking about) the problem?

Visualization is a very effective method of solving problems such as these.

  • What kind of knowledge was most important for solving the problem?

Geometry, exploitation of the wording of questions...circumference of the earth in yards.

  • Are (or would be) computers helpful in solving these problems?

Certainly... a computer (or even a calculator) would be quite useful especially for the airliner problem because it could be used to model the situation, thereby making visualization easier.

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