Q1ZacTaschdjian

Document Q1ZacTaschdjian

1. Your Name

Zac Taschdjian

2. Your field of study?

ATLAS

3. In which semester of study are you?

prospective PhD. but non-degree at the moment

4. Why are you interested in taking this course?

My area of study is usability in open source software design. I hope this course will help me develop my statement of interest and also inform my work on this topic. More broadly, I'm interested in how technology mediates collaborative learning and problem solving.

5. What courses / work activities / background knowledge do you have which might be relevant to this course?

A lot of background reading in HCI. My previous academic experience (MA in Media Studies, BA in philosophy) Professional experience in interactive media design, and information architecture (currently with Spire Media in Denver).

6. Indicate your own digital literacy / fluency:
6.1. Describe your programming experience (languages, projects)

A bit of HTML. Also dabbling in Processing and C, mostly for programming microcontrollers.

6.2. What applications are you familiar with (e.g. Photoshop, Canvas, Dreamweaver,...)?

Besides the usual office stuff (Word, Excel, some Google Apps), I'm very familiar with non-linear video editing applications (Avid, Final Cut) and motion graphics software (After Effects, Boris, Flame). Some 3D animation (Cinema 4D, Maya). Beginning knowledge of Dreamweaver. Currently learning Flash.

7 Give a brief description of the most important book / article which you have read with respect to the topic of the course.

Barbara Mirel's "Interaction Design for Complex Problem Solving". This book is a fascinating study of the HCI issues encountered in complex, emergent situations. These situations (I won't say "problems") often have diverse stakeholders and myriad possible solutions. Definitely worth reading!

8. What do you hope and expect to learn from this course?

I would like to learn more about how distributed groups of designers collaboratively build software (i.e. open source). Some of the questions I would like to answer: 1) how does open source development address the problem of creating usability? 2) How does the incentive structure for collaborative (open source) development differ from that of traditional development?