Participation is closely related to other concepts that pertain to decision-making such as agency and power. The levels of participation described in Sherry Arnstein’s ladder of participation foreground who has power in decision-making situations. In Arnstein’s model favors the 3 levels of participation denoted as “citizen power”. However, other models of participation assign greater value… Continue reading Participation
Category: Uncategorized
Transition
the period of time during which something changes from one state or stage to another. Design is not just about visuals and aesthetics. Design is also about how it interacts and functions at different states of time. Transitions help users understand the pace and flow of an interface. Nothing feels more unnatural than a sudden change, because sudden changes just… Continue reading Transition
Trust
Fernando Flores – Trust (business / customer) Trust is neither a spontaneous nor an arbitrary feeling. It is not something we develop from “inside” as some ambiguous, personal, internal phenomenon. Trust is built in relationships when we demonstrate real concern about the well-being of others and manage our commitments rigorously. As we think about interaction and… Continue reading Trust
Breakage
Heidegger, ready-to-hand an object that is being used tends to recede in the user’s perception. So long as it is functioning well, a mouse tends to disappear in a user’s thoughts; the user’s experience is that the hand is directly manipulating the cursor upon the screen. The mouse is not thought of, or if it… Continue reading Breakage
Planning
Decide on and arrange in advance. Plans, rather than being a blueprint of action, make more sense as a resource for action. The idea is that we make plans before entering a situation, and we draw upon those plans while in the situation, but if circumstances change, we obviously do not continue blindly following the… Continue reading Planning
Feedback
Feedback loops are a fundamental structure in first-order cybernetics. Feedback might be thought of along two principal lines: Amplifying feedback — like a PA system Dampening feedback — like friction The classic example of a feedback loop is a furnace/thermostat/room assembly, where the furnace heats the room to a specified temperature. When the thermostat senses the… Continue reading Feedback
Chreode
Creode is a neologism, a term coined by epigeneticist C.H. Waddington, to describe a stabilized pathway along which developmental probability is higher. Originally intended to describe biological evolutionary processes, the creode has strong analogs to Christopher Alexander’s configuration space, describing decision-making in project development. Further, the concept is applicable in a variety of complex information… Continue reading Chreode
Equilibrium
While equilibrium is often thought of as a stable or inert state of a system, this kind of equilibrium rarely exists. More often, what seems to be a static state of a system is an equilibrium in a dynamic state among two or more entities where the inflows and outflows are essentially equivalent. A common… Continue reading Equilibrium
Conversation
Two participants engaged in iterative sequences of information exchange through a medium are participating in a conversation. The information exchange is most typically thought of as thinking, speaking, and listening. A conversation assumes a common language of sorts, and enough of a shared frame of reference that the conversants can make sense of one another.… Continue reading Conversation
Defamiliarization
A technique from the plays of Bertolt Brecht — making that which is familiar seem strange. The goal of the verfremdungseffekt is that of waking up the audience, through this distanced perspective, making people aware of something that is surprising and upsetting in the real world. While Brecht saw defamiliarization as a way to shock… Continue reading Defamiliarization