A3MattSmithKateStarbirdDaraCunningham

Last modified by Hal Eden on 2010/08/20 11:32

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To Do

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)
which was the most interesting idea/concept you learned from the article?
articulate what you did not understand in the article but it sounded interesting and you would like to know more about it
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.
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

Kate Starbird, Dara Cunningham, & Matt Smith

1. Who was Herbert Simon

Herbert Simon was an American psychologist whose studies also included computer science, economics, sociology, and philosophy. He was one of the first major contributors to many scientific domains including artificial intelligence and decision making. He was the recipient of the 1978 Nobel Prize in Economics.

An interesting quote from his autobiography about science in his early education is below:
"For most adolescents, science means physics, mathematics, chemistry, or biology - those are the subjects to which they are exposed in school.The idea that human behavior may be studied scientifically is never hinted until much later in the educational process - it was certainly not conveyed by history or "civics" courses as they were then taught." (And later...) "The social sciences, I thought, needed the same kind of rigor and the same mathematical underpinnings that had made the "hard" sciences so brilliantly successful. I would prepare myself to become a mathematical social scientist."

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

Design has a role in… everything - what is interesting is that prior to this change of views (espoused by Simon) design was not recognized as a significant area of academic/economic/etc. contribution. As we have been discussing in class, it is hard to imagine a single creative task completed without the element of design. The industrial revolution with its emphasis on mass manufacturing seems to have caused a pendulum swing away from reliance as well as reverence of crafts. We take issue with the devaluation of both design and craft, as both are a vital part of the human experience and the development of our civilization, not only our past but our future as well. As the industrial revolution has passed (in this country) we seem to be experience another radical pendulum swing back towards creation and design.

We also find interesting the mention of social responsibility of engineers to look at potential side effects of their creations. Ten years prior to Simon's first publication, Ayn Rand published Atlas Shrugged, which among other things idealized the image of man (engineer/architect) as molder of nature. Strangely absent throughout that book was any obligation on the part of the engineer or business tycoon to consider collateral damage (like environment) - everything took a back seat to the goal of creating personal wealth. Emerging climate change has brought this issue to a head, and demonstrates that Simon was ahead of the curve in recognizing the power and responsibility of creators. As software engineers and interface designers, we also have to think about ramifications of our creations (social change, disenfranchisement, health impairment, etc.).

The overlay of the artificial world over the natural world, and subsequent control of the natural world by the artificial world, is what separates the industrial world from the pre-industrial world. With the advent of the digital age, the overlay is even more apparent. The control leveraged by the artificial world over the natural world brings with it a responsibility to consider the natural world when designing and to understand that the artificial world has also become a living system.

3. What did you not understand.

In The Sciences of the Artificial, Simon does not discuss design practices or case studies. While his book discusses the nature of design, it does not give any concrete examples. This is something we would like to see more information about.

4. First Discussion

When Simon discussed the Marshall Plan and the U.S. Constitution as specifications for organizational designs, he was talking about the ways these two documents have changed and remained flexible over time. He is comparing these two documents to the ideal evolving interactive design that evolves over time and as the benefactors need it to evolve. It does not stay static and unmoved for the entirety of its existence. As we see in the EDC, the interactive board allows for users to adapt the programs to their needs such as planning building locations and height. The board has evolved over its lifetime and has adapted many group oriented design uses and has proven to be very flexible as a learning tool and planning tool.

The Marshall Plan refers to a speech the then Secretary of State George Catlett Marshall made to the Harvard graduating class of 1947 (the first ceremony since World War II ended) when accepting his honorary doctor of letters. The heart of what Marshall said was:
"Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos. Its purpose should be the revival of a working economy in the world so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist. Such assistance, I am convinced, must not be on a piecemeal basis … Any assistance that this government may render in the future should provide a cure rather than a mere palliative."

The Marshall Plan set in motion a chain of events that led to America taking on the role of world leader. This role has changed constantly since the Marshall Plan was first introduced.

The U.S. Constitution has been amended repeatedly since the U.S. was founded. While the original document serves as a solid foundation for the U.S. government, it needed to be changed as the times changed. Some of the constitutional amendments that have been made are:

15th Amendment: This amendment, ratified in 1870, said that no citizen's vote could be taken away because of his race or color or because he was once a slave.

19th Amendment: After this amendment was ratified in 1920, all women in the U.S. were allowed to vote.

22nd Amendment: This amendment limits a president to two terms in office.

26th Amendment: This amendment was passed in 1971, and it gave people 18 to 20 years old the right to vote.

5. Second Discussion

Users have to be able to comprehend the design representations (often metaphors - like the desktop or the VCR-like interface for playing movies on your computer). Representations matter. A user's understanding of the system and interface components define how he or she interprets the functionality of a system as well as how he or she chooses to act within the system to achieve his or her goals. A design that presents tic-tac-toe as number scramble is inferior to the other option (unless the learning of simple arithmetic is a system goal). Interface designers should work to create representations that are easily understood by their desired user group. Some choose to use common metaphors to manipulate the user's comprehension of a system (i.e. the desktop, the VCR-like interface for playing movies on my MAC, etc). Interface design should be modeled and tested by the user group for functionality vs being designed by a designer who is not a representative of the end user group as a whole. The EDC's interactive board is an example of a devise that allows for stakeholder's input in design decisions and has been proven useful for collaboration on different topics.

References:

Changing Role of American in World Affairs - http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/history/gcse_usa_rev_elander/sheet7b.htm

Modern History Sourcebook, The Marshall Plan - http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1947marshallplan1.html

Scholastic Article about Constitutional Amendments - http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4697

Simon Autobiography - http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/1978/simon-autobio.html

Summary of Sciences of the Artificial - http://www.cyberiapc.com/writings/almossawi_2005_2.pdf

Time Article about the Marshall Plan - http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,915000-1,00.html

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Created by Matt Smith on 2009/02/04 01:13