Tag Archives: reading

80/20 AND POWER LAWS

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Each power law is characterized by a unique exponent, telling us, for example, how many very popular Websites are out there compared to the less popular ones. As in Networks, Power Law describes the degree distribution; the exponent is often called the degree exponent. 

I found the analogy between a road map and a map of airline flight routes quite interesting in relation to the nodes and connections between them. There is an unevenness between them, as the road map is a uniform network with similar nodes and links. The airline route, however, had direct flights from airports. Each node had a few links between them. This unevenness characterizes networks with power-law degree distribution. 

Power laws mathematically formulate the fact that in most real networks, the majority of nodes have only a few links and that these numerous tiny nodes co-exist with a few big hubs, nodes with an anomalously high number of links.

The analogy really helped me understand what the reading was talking about in relation to power laws, as I got lost a lot in the sciency ascpect of it.

BEING CYNICAL

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This weeks readings were actually quite interesting, and I appreciated the use of multimedia to keep us engaged as well. I never really thought that there was a fictional element to design… apparently I was wrong. To create we have to use our imaginations, and what we produce, at the present time doesn’t exist until we make it.

My idea from this stemmed from movies I’ve seen.

When I try and imagine what the world will be like in the future, I always picture such dramatic technology changes. This makes me think back to when I was little and watched Back to the Future, and the main guy (Michael J Fox) was standing in front of multiple T.V’s, watching them all. I might just google that now so you can see what I’m visualizing.

Six Channels at once? Oh wait, we do that now.

Isn’t it funny how back in the 80’s our vision for the future was so hopeful, colorful and inspiring. It seems like now when we make movies set in the future, they are depressing commentaries of what society thinks we will become, and generally are of an apocalyptic nature. It’s as if technology will take over, or there will be world wars resulting in the extinction of the human race.

 

Contagion – a virus threatens the human race
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KoyvHCPKlW4/ToY0C_FpbxI/AAAAAAAAAyo/5aAG25-SLlU/s1600/Contagion-movies-wallpaper.jpg

World War Z – the war to end all wars
http://msmagazine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/WWZ.jpg

Terminator Salvation – technology vs man
http://www.aceshowbiz.com/images/still/terminator_salvation87.jpg

They don’t really paint a positive picture.

This isn’t saying that technology which will make our lives more efficient and easier (such as those developed by design students) will ruin us, but they are essentially predictions of what we will need in the future. In a way, predicted human behavior will influence what we design.

“We always design for a world that sits, sometimes just slightly, out of sight.”

So making reflective mirrors with the time built into them along with access to internet and emails … is that saying that we will eventually become workaholics, with a thirst to constantly be connected to the rest of the world? That could be good, that could be bad. The technology will only do as it is wired to do. We have the control to use it how we wish. It’s like having guns. Leave it in a cabinet and it won’t kill anyone. I could be getting into some political territory there, I might stop.

But basically, whatever we design now is thinking towards the future. And something I find really interesting, is this article on Back to the Future:

http://www.11points.com/Movies/11_Predictions_That_Back_to_the_Future_Part_II_Got_Right.

The film wasn’t designing for the future, however it was fictional – but the writers were highly accurate with a lot of what they predicted.