A6AdamMork

A6AdamMork

To-Do

please create an answer via the form for this assignment addressing the following issues:

• which was the most interesting idea/concept you learned from the article? what is the relationship of this idea/concept to your own work and own thinking?
• which is the most prominent meta-design environment you can think off? Why?
• analyze one computational environment in detail from a meta-design perspective? (if you can't think of a better one: analyze Microsoft-Word)
• argue in which sense the American constitution may be considered as a success example for meta-design

Most interesting idea/concept

I found the most interesting concept to be the unselfconcious design vs. the selfconcious design. At first i was confused by the naming chosen for each, but after understanding both of the methods it makes more sense. In my own work, i do software development, often times we decide to implement features only after a customer has requested them. Or we make changes to code only after a bug is found. In a sense our product is not always complete, but it is constantly changing. The way we work is different from full unselfconcious design, because we dont provide the customers direct access to our code. Therefore they must request changes and improvement which are then implemented by us. We are also currently using a wiki for support, and a bug reporting system, where the customer who reports a bug or feature request, owns that bug/feature request, and so when we fix it or add something, the customer checks to see if their problem has been resolved, and if so they are the ones that close the case.

Most Prominent Example

Microsoft Windows, or Mac OS X. Both environments form the foundation for meta-design, because you can add applications, and customize the look and feel of the space to suite ones needs. You can also go online to find tips and tricks about how to do something, or you can download scripts or create macros to perform functionality that you need to do, and if you create your own, you can post them online for other people to see. Although there is no one central place to do all of this, the internet on a whole inconjunction with the known operating system provides for a large knowledge base of information on how to do things/

Detailed Analysis

Mac OS X, with accompanying hardware (specifically macbook/pro). Since most macs have a standard set of features (usb,firewire,adequate processing power,adequate ram, adequate hdd space, keyboard, touchpad incl. gestures, accelerometer, lit up keyboard, speakers) they can form a consistent base for meta-design. Someone who needs to does photo processing, can get a specific app or suite of apps to do his/her work. Someone who needs to do programming can customize their laptop to react to gestures, and or taps/swipes, to move into different virtual desktops. Someone who creates a small macro or script to say map gestures to keyboard shortcuts (multi-clutch) can then post it online to have other improve on it or simply use it. Mac has a program called automator which can create macros that do lots of different things, these macros can then be shared. Macs are a better example of meta-design simply because their hardware has a base set of features that can be expected and built upon, whereas windows covers a much broader range of hardware that makes development and sharing more difficult due to compatibility issues.

American constitution as Meta-Design

The constituition is a good example of meta-design, it includes in itself the tools neccessary to change and modify its contents. It also has contained within it some core beliefs that the writers thought were very important and included as a baseline for which to expand upon (checks and balances, basic freedoms). Although cost of entry is very high (lots of organize protests, grassroots movements) the result can be very beneficial, and well worth the effort.