Tuesday, February 17, 2009

My answers to some questions

(Amanda Downs on C++) How come we are never satisfied? Networks are becoming faster, more pervasive, and more essential - why do we not value the important changes rather than stress over the problems?
I believe people are never satisfied because of the imagination. No matter what currently exists people can imagine something that works faster or does more. This same idea applies to networks. The creators and users of networks can always imagine what the world would be like if networks worked more efficiently and could have more applications, and because of this problems are highlighted and creators and users are motivated to do what they can to make networks fit the image in their mind.
 
(Kathryn Nguyen on Foucault) If utopias are unreal spaces, which do not exist, why does everyone strive to create them?
The vision of a Utopia motivates people to do things. When people visualize a perfect place they have a goal and try to create it. Even if and when someone realizes that actually achieving his or her Utopia is impossible s/he is still motivated to make his/her perfect place because it can closer and closer to perfection.

(Gabriella Potievsky on Yi Fu Tuan) How does society have a strong impact on the development of spacial skill?
In general, people tend to learn what they need. Each society demands a different set of spacial skills, so each different society will develop different spacial skills. For example, an Urban society will stress knowing how to cross a street without getting hit and how to utilize mass transit, while a suburb will stress knowing  what parts of town are useful for what things (like what street you can play with a football without any cars coming).

Sunday, February 15, 2009

foucault questions

What type of place wouldn't fit the criteria needed to be a heterotopic space?
What does it mean to have place?
Why are heterotopias important?
Does the space in a heterotopia have special qualities?
How do people act in heterotopic places compared to non-heterotopic places?

Saturday, February 14, 2009

5 questions on space

How would people perceive space without sight or touch?
How much spacial knowledge is needed to live everyday life?
How important are symbols for defining space?
Why does history change how we define a space?
What type of spacial knowledge is worth learning?

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

C++ questions

1)What effects on quality of social interactions do new technologies have?
2)How does the use of tools change the emotions of an action?
3)If a computer can do something do people still need to be able to do the same thing?
4)How effective can a camera be if there isn't someone around to watch it 24/7?
5)In what ways can growing databases be inadequate at compensating for an aging/decaying mind?

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Finding artifacts

What would a homeless black man own or discard? Probably tattered clothes, cigarette butts, beer vesicles, napkins, and any of the trash that can be found on floor.

Last Sunday at around 5pm went I looking for these things. They were all over the place. Discarded, cigarette butts used, remnants of cheap food, and clothes left behind covered the streets of New Brunswick. The problem was there was no way to know that any of these things actually belonged to a homeless person. In fact, I was almost sure that nothing I found on the streets belonged to any homeless people. While walking around the our designated block i saw hundreds of college students wearing tattered clothes, smoking cigarettes, and eating fast food. I could only assume that everything I found belonged to college students. I decided that I actually needed to follow a black homeless man and pick up his garbage.

My new problem was how i was going to find a homeless black man. I checked two hot spots i thought would be sure things by I couldn't find any. None in Alexander Library or the train station. In an act of desperation I went to a homeless shelter outside of the boundaries of the project. In the shelter I talked to a variety of homeless people, including some who were black. Unfortunately, none of them had anything they were willing to give up. In the end I ended up compromising my artist vision and just shared garbage with ambiguous ownership with my group.