Ferment

Here is the iterations for today. I still have a lot to work on. I re-drew the map and used those branches in my other spreads. Once blown up the branches do not look refined nor "branch" like. I also need to develop a key for the activities and sculptures. Through this tried to look at all the angles that the Nelson provided for us. This family day is meant to welcome Roxie Paine's new sculpture. My concept is centered around branching and the connections that the children can have with the sculptures. After the testing with the children, I got some great feedback on the size of my paper. I then reformatted my fold-out into a booklet. This way the scale is smaller for the parents but the attention to the five sculpture is precent.

My next task is to really pay attention to the typography. I want to develop a grid so that it is clear where the child identifies information. The color pallet also needs adjustments. This event is taking place in the summer, and my color's do not reflect that. I find myself reflecting back to the readings as well as our sub- cultures. I want to tailor my who design around a child.

Overall this project has given me such great insight to how a client might eject their idea. As designer's it us up to us to take that idea and imagine new ways of executing.

Roxie Paine

Final Reflection

The Concept:

In project two we discussed bigger problems that are related to our sub-culture. They like to drink too much caffeine. From this, "Active Booter" was developed. I took what was discovered in the book, and used that language to determine the function for Active Boot. This site is an online source for them to enter in their caffeine intake and not only see the results but to give options for other ways of getting energy. Within my concept I had to remind myself of the environment that they are in, what their schedule is, and what language do they relate to. For example by using an ad on engaget.com, this is a site that they would usually be on and hopefully get their attention.

The main concept for the site was to be quick and easy to use. In the beginning I had problems with cramming too much information about caffeine. From what I have learned from this sub-culture is that they are very busy, and throwing too much information at them would most likely make them loose interest. To fix this problem I narrowed down the content to "caffeine+ body reaction= unhealthy". From critiques in class there were problems with how long it would take to get the results. To resolved this issue I replaced some of the drop downs with bullets that the user could just click.

The language that the female coder's use is very unique. By using words like decode, thread, and boot time, it helps to tailor towards this culture. Not only was verbal language used but the coding symbols were applied as well.
jjohnsrud_Final_pro2

Active Booter

Here are some of the past variations of the online source for the Caffeine Campaign. From the last couple of classes I believe that I have made a lot of progress formally.

From the round 6 my campaign was not looking very good. I have problems with proximity, hierarchy, and making the content clear. Perhaps it was the lack of sleep, but as a junior I should not be having these problems, and I see what they are now.

In round 7 is when the campaign started coming together more. Even though I struggled with this before it was really helpful in class to have the opinions from my other classmates. I really narrowed down my ideas to make it simple and clear. This is not suppose to be a site that is overpacked with information. The concept is to tell the female coder to cut down on caffeine, and to use easy steps. I was creating overly complicated visuals for them to look at that was not tailored to my idea.
Campaign r07

Readings

Meggs reading was a great source, she gave many examples on how researching the audience is essential to well developed design. She discusses the pictograms and how they symbolized the culture behavior. She also gives examples of how humans learn vocabulary through trial and error, and this has an impact in how we become accustomed within our cultures. Going back to last semester and the communication mode, this system should always be in effect. As the designer is sending a message out, it is up to the designer as well to give a clear communicative way for them to decode the message. Understanding that multiple people take in the design and will respond in different ways by opinion. By looking into Status, wealth, values the designer becomes familiar with what is appropriate and functional to that audience.

Featured Story - David Bulter by Linda Tischler discusses the global impact of Coca-Cola. The story is centered around David Bulter who is producing the designs for Coke to go larger than it already is. This house name beverage has transitioned from a brand to a system. Bulter reflects on how Coke has gone international without loosing the original identity. She gives examples that within Coke there are branches that reach out to different audiences like the carbon foot print. The story includes ways that Bulter "simplified" coke designs, and slogans to reach out to the audience to a deeper level. Like the "Open Happiness". Or how he was given a post-it with three main tasks and the first was get to know a lot of people. Bulter reaches out and discusses how design can improve sales and design with a purpose is beyond just a volleyball banner. His ideas surfaced around thinking in a larger scale with maintaining the identity. It was decided to get people into the designs, coke is a personal product, to attract sales the design must communicate to people. Tischler reflects that Bulter's new job was creating a new language to see coke in. By targeting what is valued to people in different parts of the world he was able to reach out to different audiences.

Campaign

Widget

Ads

X-Coders Research

Too much Caffeine

1. why is this issue pertinent and timely?

As time goes on people need to have more and more energy. The more caffeine intake the less sensitive they become to it. People in America everyday abuse caffeine, 80% of Americans use caffeine as their morning fix.

1. what are the causes?

there is a lot of reasons why people drink too much caffeine, a quick jolt of energy, tastes good, convince; most caffeine beverages are in vending machines and coffee shops which are easy to access. Usually they are cheap and affordable at the time. Thirsty, usually caffeine drinks make people dehydrated so people end up drinking more. The final reason is people make it into a habit of drinking more caffeine

1. what are the long term effects?

long term effects of drinking too much coffee would be problem with obesity because fat cells stick to caffeine, it also has to deal with the fact that it makes a person dehydrated. It can also have an effect on heart disease.

1. what effect does this have on the sub-culture?

many of the women we interviewed said they depend on coffee to give them enhancement on their performance.

1. How to help?

caffeine in the right proportions can be god for the health. Tips in using caffeine in a positive way would be drink one or two cups, or drinking tea instead. Another good tip is to drink plenty of water afterwords so that one will not get dehydrated.

1. what organizations have a vested interest in this issue?

American Heart Association, Caffeine Medicine Plus

1. what organizations have a vested interest in your sub-culture?

1. what public service campaigns have previously addressed this issue?

FDA labeling the amount of caffeinated products

Goals for Girls

1. why is this issue pertinent and timely?

this is an important issue to talk to young women because if they were to have a goal into what career they want they can not only focus their classes and schooling on that career but also possibly stay away from peer pressure.

1. what are the causes?

the causes are the lack of powerful women talking with girls. There is not enough high powered women talking to girls about their careers and what skills they use in their jobs

1. what are the long term effects?

The long term effects for girls not knowing what their options are when they get older is possibly leading off into other peer pressures. If the girls never see anyone to look up to, it makes it so they don’t feel like they can fit into that field or that it is only for men

1. what effect does this have on the sub-culture?

For a lot of the girls that are in the tech world, one of their parents was involved in technology as well. When being interviewed they discussed how it the value of having someone talk to them influenced their decision in their career

1. How to help?

To host job fairs for teenage girls. Or to have something that says talk to your kids about different careers. For different high powered women to talk to children. Also mother’s of girls to discuss with their kids about college and careers out there that the girl would like. Hosting job fairs in high schools for girls

1. what organizations have a vested interest in this issue?

The Roane Alliance Career Day of Success, Colorado Construction Career Days, The Birds and the Bees,

1. what organizations have a vested interest in your sub-culture?

GIT Girls in Technology, Girlstart organization for girls to excel in science and math,

1. what public service campaigns have previously addressed this issue?

Go Tech Girls, Unicef Girls for education,

Stress in work environment

1. why is this issue pertinent and timely?

With the economy today people are being under valued and over worked in employment. the stress that

1. what are the causes?

Not sleeping enough, anxiety to finish work, giving oneself too many tasks, not asking for help in others, fear of retirement benefits,

1. what are the long term effects?

The long term effects are personality disorders, obesity, depression, the likely hood to become dependent on over the counter medications is higher, having problems with one’s family, if they are not getting enough sleep this can have an effect on their performance at work, falling asleep while driving,

1. what effect does this have on the sub-culture?

For many of the women we interviewed they would like to pile on the work load and seemed unaware of the problems they could be putting on their health.

1. How to help?

For people to organize they’re daily intake. Also to exercise that will help to de-stress them, studies say walking from 10-20 mins a day can make a big impact on ones body, when feeling over whelmed take a drink of water. Water has the ability to quickly refresh your mind and clear it. Get 8-9 hours of sleep a night

1. what organizations have a vested interest in this issue?

time and management and organization,

1. what organizations have a vested interest in your sub-culture?

about.com College life, Natural Calm, NOISH work organizations

1. what public service campaigns have previously addressed this issue?

10- Step to Anti Stress Campaign, Pet-A-Puppy Anti Stress Campaign Romtelecom Anti Stress Campaign,

Female X Coders Final Review Part 1

For the first project of User experience, we were required to research a sub-culture. The depth of research that we gathered was more than I could imagine. When first starting the project I was unsure about how this related to design, by the end of the project I could not think of one reason it was not related to design. Through this project, I began to understand that the best designers go beyond form and involve themselves in the project they are working on. I did not go to the lecture, but I remember people talking about the designer for the Girl Scouts and how he had to interview the mom's and girls to understand what the next step was into doing the logo, but really he re-branded it. Although we have not taken the next step to create a solution, we have taken the first step. When someone says "research" the first image that comes to my mind is the internet and a library. I was surprised with the little information we had on the female tech "geeks", and how much we gained from the three different types of research. By getting involved in their lives made more of a well rounded pool of data. After pulling all the analog data together, we decided to even further narrow the specification and decided on female coders. It was an interesting process to go out and get a tour from someone and find out that our secondary data was false or exaggerated. By the end of getting into the field research I definitely had a different light on what can be considered research. I do realize that the research that I do for a paper is not the same that I would need for designing, but I think I was surprised with the amount of depth that we were able to achieve. The stereotype is that these women are isolated within their own technology world, but in reality are very sociable. Some of this is probably due to the impact of social networking, but still a fundamental value we found in the sub culture.

In this project we were working in teams. I believe this to have helped our research. Yes two or three minds are better than one, but it was the point of views that helped to make our content stronger. For example after interviewing Erika, Karen and I were discussing her leave behind, and we noticed different qualities about Erika that ended up being patterns within the other resources. Working in a team, and having a subject that depends on a team was an interesting twist too. To me this was a great way to look at collaboration and how to work within a group.

The style of the book relfected the visuals of coding. Using two different typefaces that also reflected a computer.

Here are some of the revisions that I made for the visual audit. The idea was to be a reference to the online web. However after several revisions of trying to fit the "openness" in the book, it was not cohesive with the rest of the book.

Concerns in the Enviroment

• Biodiversity
• Extinction
• Climate Change (Global Warming)
• Forests
• Oceans (Coral Reefs)
• Agriculture
• Toxic Pollution

• Conservation
• Fisheries
• Wildlife Management
• Soil
• Sustainable Energy
• Wilderness
• Drinking Water
• Political Concerns that Affect the Environment
• Nuclear
• Peace/Disarmament
• Urban Sprawl
• Human Abuse
• Overpopulation
• Consumerism
• Misinformation (media)
• 
  
• Waste
• Nuclear
• Carbon Emissions
• Oil (Offshore, Arctic)
• Behavioral
• Drinking Water

Economical Concerns that Affect the Environment
Consumerism
Energy Security
Climate Change (Agriculture)

Verbal Audit, Vote on Name, and Content on Personas

Here are the verbal audits. As a person who know little about coding language it was a challenge to find all the terms. I would come across some that were intriguing though, for example "trolling" is a term from online services, from one user emotionally abusing another user. This is an example of the huge range of vocabulary that is out in the internet. Perhaps this is bad to say, but it is like a plus to have technology, because the terms on the internet help to explain how interaction works within Social Online Networks.

Here are some names I came up with for the female coders that have a bit more flair. I like how making up titles like this really reflected what we blogged for Tyler on the Snow day.

1. M{r}s. Coder

2. Woman Write in Code

3. Female Tech Inscriptions

4. The X Coder

(I am trying to reference chromosomes)

5. Tech. X- Enthusiast

6.Woman Performing in Technology

7. Girl Computer Worm

8. Tech Codes in Women

9. Lady-Like Codes

10. Jane [Code]

(my intention was to be like Jane Doe, referencing a person identity that is unknown, and trying to flip it on the opposite side, that these are women we should know)

Just like in Tyler's class we edited down, and read over everyones response to the symposium. When I met with my group, it was refreshing to know that as a group we can collaborate and take some pieces out. Analysis every word of the description, reference the icons, symbols, and index's is how we came up with the perfect two personas

Here was the first round of writing the "patterns" out into human characteristics, and trades.

Personas

"I'm an achiever, successful mother, and satisfied with my job"

Carrie Chang

43 years old

Hobbies and Activities

Carrie in her time away from the office likes to be a mother to her two kids. She allots enjoys reading, cooking and staying current on news. When she has the time she likes to sit down to play a great game of chess. She also likes to travel around the world to see new places, and engage on others culture. She also likes to exercise by playing tennis and chasing after her children.

Occupation and background

Carry is a graduate from MIT in Computer Engineering. While in school she followed up with getting a competitive internship with Google in California. She went on to get her Master's in Computer Engineering.She is now living in California working for Google as a web Developer. With all that is going on in her life she is very steady with her time management and is great at multi-tasking. She has exceptional abilities by knowing two languages English and Chinese, and having a high I.Q.

Motivation

Carrie feels that the technology field is always growing and she finds that fascinating. She feels that everyday is solving another problem. With her being a steady mother she says that she seeks comfort in her job and children, and loves to help support her family.

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Personas

"Coding, it's more about the passion than ideas"

Samantha

28 years old

Hobbies and Activities

Samantha activities include hanging out with friends, painting, and coding. She also likes to be involved in social networking online. After becoming familiar with some of the Social Network sites, she found an online group that does hacking competitions for fun. She says since Linux is free, she likes to take advantage of that, and enjoys playing around with the system.

Occupation and background

Samantha went to University of Kansas and graduated with a computer science degree. From college she went on to become a costumer service representative. As a representative she is on the computer all day but works with basic softwares. She finds in her spear time of web surfing and playing around with Linux.

Motivation

Her coding skills is more to do with fun. She has a passion for learning the new

My Analysis

After gathering all of the research I noticed some patterns that were happening within all of the data collected. One would be the different between the secondary research and interviews that we conducted. It seemed that the secondary research was non emotional, it had a less personal aspect, so when we did the interviews it was nice to take advantage of the emotional attachment these women had with technology. It also seemed that some of the research we found was a bit different than how the values and goals that the women would discuss. In the secondary research most of the research made it seem like this was a black and white feminist mark they were trying to make on the technology world. However, in the interviews and leave behind it seemed like they had a drive to get into the technology world but depended more on themselves than having to prove that as a women they could do it. The main point is that all these women have a desire and passion for technology, they find that since it is always changing it is something interesting to grasp in. Another part that I thought was an interesting pattern was to look at the age difference between the 20-30 year olds and 30-40 year olds. It seemed like when entering college for the 20-30yr old , the women would not feel as if it was an uneven range in the classroom or work environment. However in the "30-40" year old interview, Hillary discussed how she would notice the gap in female verses male. Another pattern I felt that I saw was how all the women would talk about technology. When discussing their opinion's and emotions sometimes they were unsure in how to exactly explain. However, when it was in depth on what the qualifications in the technology field they all seemed very confident in their answers, which I admired. It seemed like these women were aware of all the stereotypes, but chooseS to ignore them. Even when interviewing Erica, I would watch how she answered questions and she would have her arms crossed but when asked a specific questions about the programs she enjoys she would lift one arm and firmly direct us on how it would work. It was simple gestures like this that helps to explain her personality and how she feels about technology. By using body language and engaging herself we the interviewers respond by understanding her passion, and are allowed to follow her story even further. When Karen was interviewing Angela, I would listen to the tone of her, and how it would elevate when talking about specifics, and when they were more general questions her voice would soften. It may sound like these are obvious ways of answering questions, but to me, it helped to understand and link characteristics between all of the women.

Research Project 1

The Leave Behind

Erica Goering; as many might recognize her from the design depart she is also has a special interest in coding and linux. This part of the research was interesting to do because we not only evaluated the leave behind but also her body language and how she explained herself.

Here are the interviews that we did

Angela Chang

MIT

Electrical and Computer Engineer

Intern at IBM & Google

Part of the Theta sorority

1.What is your sorority? and symbols?

Theta: Greek and is academic and social support system at MIT. Symbols: kite: aspiration and a pansy flower and colors black and gold. Theta sorority they need to have the highest GPA at MIT and people are interested and where once involve, in art, dance or sports. When I had an event they would attend, is really cool because is like a little family.

at MIT they are 6 sororities and 20 fraternities. Support system W

2. Have you been in technology internships? If so describe the space and the environment and what kind of work you have to do?

Yes, google last summer and IBM 2 summers ago.

In google: it was social, she was in a group with 4 all timers, she was working on ads, easy to talk to. Noticed that there were more women engineer than men, women have different roles including in management. Women designers and they are also the finance snails. She worked in teams.

IBM was the other internship: sophomore there were 9 interns, user interface , worked in group to to brainstorm and develop the best product.

3. Why do you think that they are less women that go into the field?

Few girls play with technology. Girls are raised to play with dolls not technology.

Is there a majority and minority in regards to boys and girls?

At MIT no, is balance is 50% girls and 50% men , women are as seen as good as men.

4.What is your major? Are the many women in that major?

Computer engineer, at MIT Pre-med and neuro-science, computer engineer there are two software and hardware, in the hardware they are less women in that field again mentioning like before girls don’t play so much with the hardware. Women tend to be more designer like interface.

5.MIT how is the environment?

people work together in groups and help each other out all the time. Ethnicity the majority of the student body are Chinese.

6.Who is your role model?

Upperclassmen , sorority sisters that have helped me in understanding concepts. Because they are very confident , is that confidence that I want to have.

7.how are environments in a classroom? classrooms can be lecture based, people are more like to talk in labs, work hard and together assessment.

8.How do you keep track with technology?

Talking with people other students, blogs and sites like engadget.com.

9.What is your dream job?

IBM was still very corporate and people and there were more old people and the feel was different in California people were more laid back in comparison to IBM in Massachusetts. Pixar would be perfect and creating software.

10.How do people dress in your profession?

it depends about the personality, but people dress pretty plain with the school colors of MIT, or sorority gold, and black or from career day from some event.

I like to think of myself...

Problem solvers is not about learning as many programs like other school but that you can find the solution.

11.What kind of clubs are offered at MIT in regards about technology?

Society Women of Engineers : out reach program to get women involved

12.What kind of discussions do you have with people in your class vs. with other people who attend other schools and they are in the same major?

Harvard and Carnegie Mellon discussions about CS but through dialog you can pick who is from what school. MIT don’t discuss it as much but they value the importance of problem solving.

Interview Questions this was done via phone

Hillary Watts: VML

1.What motivated you to go into a technology field?

my degree was physchology degree--develpment classs and I didn’t do very weel and got mad and to prove herself to do it.

2.How is the physical environment within the company you work for ?

is good, cube --4 of us a space --always though that was annoying and is very comforting environment

3.Is there gender inequality?

specific area VMl contracting at VML --all women --developers web developers there is only one more female. they are 3 total women Kansas City.----web developer

4.What kind of clubs did you join in college or sorties?

joines triple E--society : computer enginerrring society, technology recommended as a a student --computer geeks good discounts

5.Where did you go to college? What was your major in college?

Fort wous in colorade--TI state and physhology and physics and got a degree from St. Mary University-levenworth with a degree in information technology

6.Do you remember how many women were in your major at time when you went to school? Was it very even or not? If not why?

women were a minority, when she started in information technology non -traditional students that were going back there were more women than expected

7.What was your understanding about technology back then and now?

cut and dry back then know this stuff and get a job --getting a job and now still get the degree the focus nos is netweoking --social networking is how you meet with people --social media in clubs --is not about jobs either and you like the job and she loves job.

8.What kind of names were you called in school?

twigie in school, no other names

9.What kind of objects identify you as someone that loves technology?

smartphones and gadgets

10.If there was a fire what will be the objects that you would remove from your household?

not including my husband or kids , laptop

11.How do you feel as woman being in this profession?

there are only, she feels positive because we are breaking glass. I feel there are few woman there is a woman, they think that you are super smart that you have all this information that people that go in the field. Not just a regular person, person that like technology.

12.I been finding articles and I found an article that Women feel that a job is not about success but being personally happy and rewarded, "Success is not calculated by how many numbers are on your paycheck, but if you are satisfied with your job," said a girl in Chicago.?What do you value success or is there is something else? What are your thoughts about this statement? Agree with the statement, money is something part of it, happy with it. she has the ability and having ownership for what they are doing it. They can make decisions and make things happen. the trust in her to let her go with the project.

her own company freelance: interactive company for 3 years, ad agnecies in town start up company ivo: voice id, beehive: department in defence in levenworth --cool project first out--video games and how to fight--before the fight

department: the only one in that position in the whole section and I been the only one developer until now--there is one in another group.

Different--know there are a big networker with social media, is pretty obivious and I know how to do those things, they can vouch for you.

13.What kind of words do you use daily, that if you were to say to any person outside your field they might not understand?

websites the easiest things that you do, interesting session.

14. How do you feel about the term female tech geek? the don’t like the female , tech geek is a man--the explanation they are women that are understanding that they are typical. she is a tech geek that makes no sense.

that first class: the java class --the school year 3 -4 times staying up--terrible I’m so upset with herself, family work ---balance , they didn’t have one

15.Who is your role model?

working to step dad hydrologic engineer he is a professor and applied to the school and like computers , you can compete with.

16. How do think people see you?

People hope see her as an achiever, successful mother.

17.How do you keep track with technology news?

computer and her friends artist feeds--google readers subscribe news out lets that you are interested in. From Colorado denver post -online watch her do and police stations and twitter:operation kc and is the police department in the kansas city area is based in search, it just happen and not wait commercials.

friends different environment-forth collins--she likes it there is an artistic background they are technology and they are very similar there is more support and friends are more in what am in to.

Questions and surveys

First Name: Debbie Major: Brain and Cognitive Sciences

1. What kind of items that you carry daily identify you as someone that is interested in technology?

- laptop, blackberry, computer bag, glasses

2. What motivated you to go in a technology field? Were you involve in clubs in high school or middle school that promoted technology?

- interested in engineering through women's outreach camp for science and engineering. excelled in math and science classes, and participated in math clubs and science research.

3.What kind of words (relating to technology) do you use with your friends, that a parent or someone that is not in this field would not understand?

- terms: cognitive science, computational neuroscience, action potentials, inter spike intervals, cortex, corpus callosum, etc etc
- topics: calculus-related terms, graph analogies, regions of the brain

4. Describe how you feel about the term "female tech geek"? Have you been called other nicknames either in high school or in college?

- called a nerd (but proud of it, really), and considered very techy compared to friends at home. i wasn't attacked, but i was known to be able to work computers really well, especially in designging websites

5. How do you feel as a woman in technology field, considering woman are a minority going into these fields?

i am a bit intimidated, but I think am i am looking forward to the challenge.