A3MaryamGooyabadi

A3MaryamGooyabadi

To Do

1. try to explore the web to get an idea
   • who Herbert Simon was
   • what Simon's book is all about (one summary about this book can be found: http://www.cyberiapc.com/writings/almossawi_2005_2.pdf)
2. which was the most interesting idea/concept you learned from the article?
3. articulate what you did not understand in the article but it sounded interesting and you would like to know more about it
4. discuss what the following statement means to your group:
   • Simon discussed social plans and policies as designs. He considered the Marshall Plan and the U.S. Constitution as specifications for organizational designs. These designs are not mere blueprints, as are some of the key examples elsewhere in the book (clocks and houses), but starting points for living systems that grow and evolve over time- systems whose structure and consequences cannot be anticipated at the time of their design.
5. discuss what the following statement means to your group in relationship to the problems which we explored in the last few class meetings (Number Scrabble versus Tic-Tac-Toe; Mutilated 8x8 Matrix; Mutilated Chessboard):
   • Intelligibility of Design Representations - Meaningful user participation in design requires that the discourse constituting the design work be accessible to all stakeholders.

Group Members

Ben Jacobson, Zaynab Anisi, Aaron Acephers, Maryam Gooyabadi

1. Who was Herbert Simon

Herbert Simon was one of the most prominent social scientist of the 20th century. He researched and contributed greatly in the fields of: computer science, economics, management, sociology - just to name a few. He was also a pioneer and main contributor of today's main scientific domains such as artificial intelligence. He was involved in many different academic departments.

2. Most interesting idea/concept you learned from the article?

There are three main idea which are closely related and interconnected:

1. The idea that design can be considered a form of problem solving which lies at the very heart of design. For example, designing a bridge solves transportation networking problems and designing a building solves housing problems. However, creating a painting conveys a message and does not necessarily solve a problem. According to Simon, if there is something being designed, it is understood that we are trying to solve, fix or improve the existing design.

2. Another intriguing idea was the notion of designing with no end goal in mind but rather have the consequences of the design as our scope- designing not as an end but to enable growth. With this view, an initial design becomes a stepping point to new designs. 3. In order for a design to constantly grow, users are part of the designers- users being contributors to the design.

An example of these concepts can be seen in software development. More specifically how we create software where the end user is also a designer in a new way. With users participating in design there can be many improvements in User interfaces (customizations) and other hierarchical parts of the system which are in most cases modular and can be abstracted in many ways. Extreme programing is another form of user participation.

3. What did you not understand.

I feel that this article was talking about ideology and the philosophy, if you may, of design rather than actual steps to implement it. As useful as the ideology behind the concept of design is, implementation of design is a key component which was left for the reader to ponder upon. The difference between design criteria for various fields was unknown. The approach in the book was very broad and difficult to bring to reality. Furthermore, I would like to see some examples on his Science of Design in representations being a principle tool in turning a student into a designer.

4. First Discussion

When designing, we need to consider its impacts even after the design is completed. A good design contains the capacity to evolve and become an even better design. Example: if I write some code that creates REALLY great output, but the implementater of the code cannot evolve its design to use the output effectively, the code is worthless for any advancements. Great designs have to have an "API" for people to build on.

A design is never completed if it is designed with growth in mind. The process of "good" design is a cycle one, users will be the future designers and contributors and improve in design and so on. I think a good example is open source software where all users can contribute.

• I could see how he draws these conclusions when taking the examples into consideration. I begin to imagine how a similar logic of designs could be applied to developing software systems which also grow and evolve overtime.

5. Second Discussion

I think these example show the importance of number 4. Number scrabble and tick-tac-toe are the exact same game. Someone designed the logic behind it to be balanced and fair. However there are different was to design an effective way to play the game. The two interfaces presented to us are completely different, but accomplish the same thing. One interface is easier for a computer to understand, another interface is easier for humans to understand. Each interface is a design extending the core logic of the game. I think the creating an environment where the design is comprehensible by users is key to enable the growth of the design. The tic-tac-toe design, although having the same goal in mind as the sum-to-15, is more intuitive to the human brain.

• Similar to the previous answer, they simulated how one could use similar logic in different puzzles, 9 numbers, 3 must equal 15, 9 squares 3 together must be in a row. Compared to logic of how a social problem is solved with an amendment to the constitution can be applied to user problems in software, when considering the aspects in design.