Overview
Idea 1: Maintaining Engagement in Education, Screen time problem
Idea 2: Humane Design in Technology
Idea 3: Starting a Digital Fabrication Business
#1: Maintaining Engagement in education, Screen time problem.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who is suffering from too much screen time. Zoom sucks. Online learning and engagement is grueling to say the least. The only way to really talk to anyone right now is through a screen. We’re all college students here complaining about it (ok I am at least, but that’s just me) and most of us are doing the best we can since we’re paying for our education and what we get out of it is what we put in.
But what about other students? Students in high school, middle school, elementary school, and any other educational institution are also in the same boat as us. Assuming they’re in a public school, they aren’t directly paying for their education. How do they stay motivated to learn through staring at their computer screen for almost 5 or more hours a day?
You also can’t expect all students to thrive with remote learning. Sure, some kids may be doing better than they were in school, but others with learning disabilities can struggle trying to sit in one place for an hour. We should be moving around and having more interaction than this. I keep telling myself almost every day:
None of this is normal. This isn’t normal times…
While I don’t have a clear idea in mind, I do know that we’ve entered a point of no return in the world of learning through screens. One thing I know is that VR is just one way to tackle this issue; yes you have a device on your head that is basically like a screen, but at least you can actually move around and interact with something instead of typing or touching a screen.
I don’t have much figured out. This idea would be best to demonstrate in-person, but inevitably I’ll have to take into account a virtual version. I decided to make this my #1 idea because I’d like to assume that we’ll be in person for the show. I’m not really set on VR either, I just need something that isn’t a typical device people have been interacting with. However, I did find this article on different types of educational VR games: https://virtualspeech.com/blog/vr-educational-experiences-classroom
As for the users, I would have to stick with one age group; the age group I choose may determine the amount of work that will need to be put in for the project. Those in elementary school will be learning simpler concepts (at least that’s what I think) but making sure that they’re actually learning and they’re engaged. For older age groups, it can become more difficult as the types of classes can become more complex and they’re at a larger range. In general, I’m just thinking about math since that feels the easiest core subject to approach.
This is my 1st idea is because I noticed that through all my projects within and outside of IMM, my projects have been mostly visual-oriented. I enjoy Illustrator, graphic design, and photography. But also have a little bit of coding experience (more front-end than back-end). When doing my portfolio map, I remembered that I took a IMM Topics class with Professor Fishburn called Playful Explorations in AR and I got to code some that involved some physical interactions. My point is, that was something different out of everything I’ve done so far and I’m interested in expanding more on that. In addition, I haven’t really tried anything like this from a UX perspective; everything I have done so far is based on only screen interactions and buttons. For my final project for the AR class, I ended up using Maya for part of it (thank you Justice for helping!) and integrated a model from Maya to be a part of the experience which was pretty cool.
#2: Humane Design in technology
Okay so first- Go on Netflix and watch the Social Dilemma. If you don’t have Netflix, you can probably pirate it but I’m not encouraging that…ask a friend first đ
There’s no way to really explain the seriousness of what social media platforms and other big tech companies like Google have been doing. But the easiest way for me to explain is that machine learning programs are integrated into their systems and they have algorithms that are learning the content you like and trying to show you these things through advertisements. Essentially, the more time you spend on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, etc. the more money they’re getting because of the time you’re spending on their apps. Your data is essentially being sold to advertising companies so they can profit off of you…Someone can probably explain this concept a lot better, but honestly just watch the documentary and you’ll understand more.
There’s many more underlying problems that social media is having on us. After watching the documentary, you can go to: https://www.humanetech.com/Â to read more. They also have a podcast called “Your Undivided Attention” which I have yet to listen to but am holding off on for my sanity.
So what does have to do with thesis? This dilemma is personal for me since UX is very closely integrated with these problems. Up until about a week ago, I was eager to try and apply to big tech companies- heck I even applied to the Google UX Summer internship for this past summer. But now that I know what they’re up to, I don’t want to work for companies that don’t care about their users and only care about the money they’re gaining. The industry has been so invested in technology because of the astonishing feats it has accomplished; you can talk to anyone simultaneously and the society thrives off the immediacy of everything. You want to go somewhere but don’t have a car? There are companies called Uber and Lyft now. Do you want a pair of Bluetooth headphones? Go to Amazon and they’ll have it at your house in 2 days. With everything, there have been consequences of the tech we’ve unleashed on the world and it’s not only caught up to us, it has been harming us unknowingly.
My point is, I’m a young designer who wants to enter a corrupt and broken industry. After watching this documentary, I asked myself why I wanted to be in it in the first place and the answer was simple: to help people. But it’s scary to see that tech is not helping people, it is about profiting off of them and their information. My thesis would be about raising awareness of what is going on right now because the real issue is, no one realizes how much harm has been done in something that has been praised for connecting us. It has inevitably played a huge role in dividing us and polarizing us to the point where we refuse to even acknowledge another opinion exists and is just as valid as our own. These are the following issues I could raise awareness on:
- Restoring shared truths
- Impact of social media on children
- Protecting our attention
- Ending oppression and hate
- Strengthening our democracy
- Supporting mental health
This idea doesn’t directly have much to do with any of the skills I have in IMM. It’s more socially driven and it’s out of my comfort zone as it would involve me being more vocal and not quiet. How I would spread awareness, I’m not sure. Ironically, I may have to use the very platforms that are harming us to spread awareness…
#3: Digital Fabrication Business
So this is one is really just for fun. I’ve been wanting to invest in a 3D printer for a while and just make stuff for the heck of it. Maybe it’s me being tired of digital stuff and wanting to do build something that you can physically hold and interact with.
This idea is a risk because it’s for fun. I guess it doesn’t really take into consider getting a job since they would be my job.
What would I make? Honestly, I have no clue! Whatever someone may need I guess, your everyday problems. Instead of ordering it off of Amazon, it’d be fun to make it yourself. This idea isn’t really much about what’s convenient and easy, it’s more about doing something new and different. One idea that just came to mind is partnering up with small businesses and helping them in some way; making a new sign for them or anything else they may need that could be made through digital fabrication. This idea is vague just because it is really for fun. The research I’d have to conduct is how much money I’d need to put in to get in rolling, how much to charge, the space in which I would really pull all of this off…that kind of stuff. I’d need to take into account my lack of experience in power tools and invest time into that for sure. Is this idea possible? Sure. Will my family support it, probably not sadly. But it could be a fun side business if I really wanted to do it.
Regarding your second idea, I think the concept of raising awareness based on these large platforms is an interesting idea. I definitely think Social Dilemma is something everyone needs to watch in order to understand the impact our phones and devices have on us and the companies insuring we spend all our time scrolling through feeds. The main challenge which you touched on is the methods you’d use to spread awareness since social media may be the easiest way to do that, but is also something that contributes to the issue. However, I do think using social media as an initial step would be a good idea because it will at least get peoples attention. What I would suggest is maybe doing research to find startling and clear-cut facts like the documentary mentions and using them as initial talking points for your project. I also think a good thing to implement would be roundtable discussions either on Zoom or in-person with close friends/family about their screen-time usage, how aware they are, and how it impacts them in their daily work and activities. Ultimately, gathering the opinions and insights of others will help you formulate a specific plan to raise awareness and might act as a good jumping off point.
Clearly you feel a sense of need and urgency with your second idea, so trust that instinct â itâs likely to provide the interest and motivation necessary to develop a project like this over several months. As we discussed in class, any one of those bullet points is complex and slippery, so it might make sense to focus your work on just one. In terms of what form your project might take, I was reminded of the web site for the movie Requiem for a Dream, which was designed to gradually break down as the user clicked through it, eventually ripping away the typical glossy, techy facade:
https://thisisstatic.com/journal/entry/requiem-for-a-dream
Itâs clear to all of us that idea 1 addresses a critical need, made painfully apparent by our current situation. Looking beyond the hastily hacked-together response to COVID, distance learning is here to stay. The big players like Facebook/Oculus are surely spending lots of money developing their vision of this future â a vision also designed to make them even more money. (Didnât everyone go to school in VR in Read Player One?) It will be worth investigating what the Silicon Valley guys are doing, but donât assume theyâre operating from a deep understanding of learning or a sensitivity to humansâ varied experience of learning. From a UX perspective, youâd want to investigate things like the role of social interaction in learning, embodied interaction, kinesthetic learning. Do you think you have access to the software and hardware necessary to prototype and build a project in this area?