Assignment 4
Type your name(s) here:
Kirill Kireyev
Briefly discuss the following issues for the paper that you have read:
1. what did you find
1.1. interesting about the article?
Several things:
1) the vision of HCI as a more open, collaborative and evolving process
2) several innovative concepts, such as "creative chaos", "externalization", etc
3) the examples of applications (Boulder transporation systems) that strive to acoomplish these goals
1.2. not interesting about the article?
Some of the points are fairly vague and lack illustrating examples, such as the "Challenging Problems" section. The EDC architecture hierarchy was also not completely clear; it's not clear what are the boundaries between EDC in general and specific applications/domains it supports.
2. what do you consider the main message of the article?
To propose the directions in which HCI research should evolve and present EDC - a focal point of such research.
3. are themes discussed in the article which you would like to know more about?
How to design systems that are easily-evolvable on various level (e.g. without re-writing code of the applications).
4. what did you find interesting about the “EDC” system?
It's a combination of new HCI technologies an applications which are based on the underlying theories of how to improve HCI.
5. do you know of other papers, ideas, and systems which are closely related to the article and the “EDC” system?
No
6. what do the article and the associated system say about
6.1. design
Design needs to be "embedded in social debates and discussions". Design is an inherently iterative process, shaped by feedback and evolution of the model. Not just the design outcomes, but also design process and dialog should be recorded to create a more sophisticated knowledge environment.
6.2. learning
"Learning on demand", in contrast to "more decontextualized information" (which leads to information overload), should be empahasized. Learning should be a shared, interactive, collaborative activity which not only empowers an individual but also serves to bridge various perspectives and help achieve group consensus.
6.3. collaboration
Collaboration helps bridge people of different specializaions (symmetery of ignorance) and interests, in order to create new ideas and paradigms, uncover tacit problems, and discover knowledge that may be unattainable by a single individual working alone.
6.4. innovative media to support these activities?
The media needs to support "externalizations" (records of mental efforts, arguments), "boundary objects" (spaces/objects that are common to the understanding of groups of participants), and rewards. It must be continually evolvable.
7. do you have any ideas how this research could / should be extended (based on your own knowledge and experience)?
Recording and analyzing usage patterns in various applications (e.g. time spent reading different pieces of information) to better understand which artifacts are useful and which are not.