A5AndrewFischerTrevorAparicio

A5AndrewFischerTrevorAparicio

To-Do

1. Please work as a group (minimum: 2 members; max: 6 members — discuss the answers between your group members) and submit one answer as a group (clearly identifying the members of your group)
2. Choose a web site and claim it as yours by editing the list on the Meta-Design Sites page (first come – first served)

Describe your understanding of meta-design in your own words (not copying a paragraph from a paper or a website)

1.      Meta-design is design in such a way that the end-user is able to manipulate both the form and sometimes the function of a certain project.  This type of design allows the end-user to change how he or she uses such products.  Such products can be manipulated to suit exactly or close to exactly the end-users needs for the more general all-encompassing aspects of the product. Essentially, meta-design is a way to let the end-users control how they want the product to work for them.

Setting: you are talking to another student who is interested in design; how would you explain to her/him the strengths and weakness of meta-design as a design methodology

1.      Some of the strengths that meta-design has are that it allows a broader range of products, that can be easily manipulated by users to fit how they want it.  This also allows products to be massed produced more easily as the consumers will change the functionality on their own instead of the producers limiting the functionality of it.  Meta-design products are also nice for the consumers because it allows the consumers to choose how their product works for them, as long as it is within the general scope of the product.

Weaknesses include the fact that it would be very hard to market a meta-design product because it is so broad.  A lot of users may want something like it, but they would have to find out exactly how to use the product to get it to suit their needs.  This is unlike a narrow-scoped product, which would suit the needs of the user perfectly with no work on the users part.  So, if a consumer wanted to do something specific, a meta-design product would not be as efficient because this product would need to be customized to his/her preferences before becoming usable.

Which Web site did you select?

http://www.stepgreen.org/

Analyze your chosen web site from a meta-design perspective:

1.      Initially I thought that this would not be a good example of a meta design website. My first impression of it was that it was well made and that stepgreen would be more like an online quicken, to track my monetary expenses, but to track my environmental expenses.  But as I experimented with the site more, I found that every eco-friendly action I subscribed to ended up being something that someone else in the world had made.  I also saw that some of the ways I stay green were missing, so I added them to the website.  Although I can’t change the way the site functions, I can add to the way that users use the site, so I think it is a good example of meta design.  As a side note, it also kept my interest and kept me engaged; I am actually using the website now as a tool to help me and my roommates save money on utilities.

Please provide the names of your group members who contributed to this answer.

Andrew Fischer

Trevor Aparicio