What I learned in class today
Wednesday, March 22
My cousin Daniel audited this class. He and Amanda came over to my apartment last night and we ate edibles and spent hours discussing concepts like strategic foresight and future artifacts. Daniel found the class "pretty philosophical" and he has very amused when Randy used the term "arbitrary binary". We've already incorporated this term into our conversations and I have a feeling we're going to adopt it and use it on a regular basis.
Monday, March 20
Through today's group CLA exercise, I also learned that Randy's Rule can be applied to sexual situations.
Wednesday, March 15
I learned that diversity is imperative to scenario planning with the 2x2 matrix, but striking a balance between productivity and potentially fertile tangents of discussion can be challenging.
Monday, March 13
STEEP is fun. The deck of cards we used today provided helpful direction. The future of festivals could have more sustainable patterns of consumption. We dream of a future with clean port-a-potties. Corporate greenwashing and marketing advertise sustainability, but sustainability should be measured by the entire lifecycle of an artifact (incl. material sourcing, fabrication, shipping, retail, reuse, repair, and recycling).
Wednesday, March 8
I learned that Strategic Foresight could be a unique emerging career opportunity where strength of creativity and imagination could have executive corporate influence. However, I learned that Strategic Foresight is very interdisciplinary, and sheer raw imagination can be unconvincing. It must supported with qualitative and quantitative data (economics?) and story-telling. I'm interested in exercising and strengthening all of these skills and exploring Strategic Foresight as a career.
Monday, March 6
Through Radha Mistry, I learned that it is possible to have corporate influence as a minority young woman.
Wednesday, March 1
Deepa Butoliya showed me that an empty bucket can be used as a helmet if needed, and that critical jugaad questions the status quo by focusing on solutions that are need driven > market driven.
Monday, February 27
Sometimes you have to pivot plans at a moment's notice in front of an audience. That's what happened today due to confusion over the assigned readings, and I think Randy stayed calm and handled it well (pro tip note to self). Also learned more about the final project, and Tomas, Helena, Grace and I pondered how to design for openness in dark times marked by isolation.
Wednesday, February 22
Lonny Brooks! The Congo Cosmogram, Damon Davis - afro artist, Alan Clark - illustrator
Wednesday, February 15
During this class, I learned that about the notion of pace layers in regards to design: rapidly changing layers, such as fashion; as well as layers that typically change at a slower rate, such as governmental legislation.
Monday, February 13
Clive Dilnot is a trooper and a knowledge volcano. I should learn more about World War I. His verbal skills inspire me. I am naturally shy and I struggle with communicating freely through written and spoken word - I am impressed he was able to remotely lecture for 1.5 hours and write thousands of words annotating his paper over the weekend, even though he was sick. Does that come naturally to him, or did it take years of practice? Also, I learned that when talking about an uncertain future, humor can help.
Wednesday, February 8
Time travel seems more possible!
Monday, February 6
A better understanding of modernism and postmodernism...followed by more questions!
Wednesday, February 1
Design as dissent!
Monday, January 30
Time travel! Inspiration to contemplate design beyond Neoliberalism. How some histories are remembered and taught in school, and some histories are forgotten. The importance of documentation and a good style guide.
Wednesday, January 25
Raising awareness about a problem, like the environmental crisis and an uncertain future, can be effective. But it's important to turn that into behavioral change for decision making. Also, let's design things that can be used and interpreted in different ways by different people in different scenarios.
Monday, January 23
mind blown! storytelling! value! organization!