Juan+Leandro+Antonio

=Juan Leandro Antonio=

__//**Week2**//__

Ergonomics is a science in itself that focuses on the relationship between human and device. Its goal is to fully optimize a person’s usage of that device so they can get the most efficient results. Ergonomics attempt to make the lives of the user as easy as possible. **(HFESA) ** Ergonomics can be divided into three different realms. //Physical Ergonomics //: deals with the anatomical, anthropometric, physiological and biochemical relationships between the product and its user. Creators of these products often focus on unnoticeable aspects of their invention such as working postures, materials handling, repetitive movements, work-related musculoskeletal disorders, workplace layout, safety and health.  **(HFESA) ** //Cognitive Ergonomics //: deals with mental usability of the product. If people have difficulty understanding the product, they are not likely to continue keep on using it. This interaction is very important because companies want their customers to have an uncomplicated interactive experience. **(HFESA) ** //Organizational Ergonomics: // focuses on improving sociotechnical systems, including their organisational structures, policies, and processes.  **<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: black;">(HFESA) **<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: black; font-weight: normal;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Additional Advice: <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">1)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Rather than just adding signage to warn on coming cars of pedestrians walking to and from the parking lot, a fully functioning crosswalk should be built. Proper traffic light should be put into place as to the fact they are extremely visible and much safer than that of a simple stop sign. This will help prevent accidents by reducing the likelihood of jay walking. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">2)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">http://www.ehs.utoronto.ca/services/Ergonomics/products/kbtray.htm
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">List the three definitions of 'ergonomics'. **<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Choose one of the case studies, and add an additional recommendation to one of them in step two as 'advice'. **<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: black; font-weight: normal;">
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Issue **<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">: A shopping centre was reviewing the safe access for customers from the car park and within the centre itself, being concerned after a few ‘near-miss’ incidents relating to pedestrian safety and slips, trips and falls within the complex.
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Find an example of a product which is ergonomically sound, and add a link to an article about this product. **<span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">

List five characteristics of socially responsible product design. 1. The creation of this product addresses major health concerns in relation to the high fatality rate due to respiratory infection of the youth. 2. Sugarcane charcoal offers an alternative to the conventional wood variety which helps alleviate the strain on the Haitian environment. 3. Sugarcane charcoal burns just as well as its wood counterpart. 4. Sugarcane Charcoal uses the waste product from sugarcane processing rather than exhausting anymore natural resources 5. This new type of charcoal will lead to the creation of newer and more earth friendly alternatives in the future.
 * __Week3__**
 * Choose a country on the web site's map, and read through the description of the products designed for that country.**
 * Sugarcane Charcoal**


 * //__Week4__//**
 * Write three paragraphs on how Annie Leonard defines the system of the 'materials economy' and describe its interactions.**
 * The materials economy runs on a linear path of production and consumption.**

This is an issue because we live in a finite world. A line will keep going so the beginning will never touch the end. Our world can only offer so much before we run out of resources. This process of consumption is powered by the government and their need to appease the bigger corporation.

The first step of the process is extraction. This is where corporations extract earth’s natural resources in order to manufacture the goods that we consume. In the last 3 decades, we have used up a third of the planets natural resources. At the rate we are consuming we will use up all that this planet can offer. The next step is production. Once the resources have been harnessed they are sent to be processed. Energy is used and toxic chemicals are added. These chemicals can have horrible effects on people as well as the environment. The people who work in these factories are forced to because of the erosion of local environments. They are not given a choice because their original communities were ruined by the corporation. They bear the brunt of the harmful chemicals. The next step is distribution where we the consumers buy the products. The cost of the products that we buy is distributed between the cheap and underpaid labour working at the store, the underpaid labourers who made the product, the communities who lost their natural environments, and etc. The owners externalize the true cost of production.

The heart of the entire process is consumption. We consume more than we should because products were designed to become obsolete. So this causes us to buy even more. We live in a society where we associate happiness with material wealth. So we are constantly on this cycle of working to buy the goods that we want because we think it would make us happier. We start to accumulate more and more until our houses fill with junk. We then throw away these perfectly useful items which create garbage that ends up in landfills and begins to negatively effect the environment.

As part of 'Experience Prototyping', bodystorming has been developed as a method of enquiry for interactive design. **Research the definition of 'bodystorming', and write a paragraph describing its characteristics.**
 * //__Week5__//**

After viewing the video 'Part 1: Bodystorming Experiencing a Disability' at [] **describe the information revealed to the researchers in the three different case studies for one paragraph each**. Bodystorming is a technique used by designers to help approximate real life conditions. This helps them account for scenarios that could not be foreseen by brainstorming alone. Designers place themselves in interactive role plays to better understand what their product lacks and what it excels in. It gives them real world experience into problem solving because theoretical answers don’t always work in the actual world. This simulation gives the designers a chance to test out their theories of how a product would function when it is eventually released

Rajan, Ashwin Rajan. "Bodystorming - Living in the Problem Space «." __Ash at CIID__. 13 Mar. 2009 <http://ixdi.wordpress.com/2008/12/07/bodystorming-living-in-the-problehttpixdiwordpresscomfiles200812cartoon-house-07jpgw185m-space/>.

//Participant 1:// The test subject had a scarf wrapped around her eyes to simulate the effects of blindness. The purpose of this bodystorming exercise was to observe how the body reacts when one of its senses is disabled. Initially the Test subject was disoriented and had difficulty getting around which was expected. She noticed that her other senses began to compensate for her lack of site. Her other senses became heightened. She relied heavily on her sense of touch and hearing to navigate though the course. Her experience provided insight on using multi sensory approaches such as sound and touch //Participant 2:// The test subject was given the task of memorizing a phone number while answering math questions in a loud environment. The purpose of their bodystorming exercise was to simulate Attention Deficit Disorder. The test subject reported having difficulty doing both tasks at the same time which was expected. He had difficulty concentrating on the task at hand. His frustration negatively affected his self esteem. Insight learned from this experiment was to use clear narration and offer enjoyable yet challenging activities to improve attention. //Participant 3:// The test subject’s hands were fastened with pens and tape to simulate the effects of arthritis. He reported constant fear of injury even with the most menial of tasks. He expended more energy because of his cautiousness causing his body temperature to rise. His expeireince provided insight on accessible routs, passing space, and tangible objects composed of safer materials to decrease the fear of participation. Speech recognitions systems should be further researched.


 * __Week6__**
 * What are his definitions for these three stages of adoption, and how did he apply them to his case study of a camera? Write one clear paragraph for each of his definitions, listing their attributes in relation to the development of the camera. Can you think of another consumer product which has undergone similar developments? Name it.**

The first phase of the adoption of a new technology is the enthusiast stage. These types of users have a fond appreciation for new technology and find it very exciting in being the first ones to own and play with a new instrument. They get a feeling of satisfaction by figuring out the intricacies of their new device. Using the 35mm camera as an example, early adopters began to learn and master the in’s and out’s of the technology where it was the astronauts who first started using this type of camera.

It was only a matter of time before one early adopter realized that he/she could apply this to their work. The second phase of the adoption of a new technology is the Professional stage. Users begin to come up with new ways to take this new technology and do something highly practical with it. The 35mm camera went from being “very expensive exotica” to semi affordable tools that a professional could use. Functionality of the camera stabilized making it easier to use.

Once the demand and number of users has increased, its only practical for a technology to go into the third stage which is know as the consumer phase. An important change that occurs in this stage is when most of the controls become automatic. In the case of the camera, all the once manual settings that were manually adjusted by the user are now done automatically. This is usually the last stage where the technology has been distributed to most of the technology using population. Most technology follows this pattern. Another current device that is constantly going through this cycle is the cell phone.


 * __Week7__**
 * Write a description of interaction architecture as defined by Mat Hunter at** [] and Rikako Sakai at [] **in relation to their work with Kodak in 1995.**

Interaction architecture acts as a means for the user to better understand the functionality of their particular device, in this case the first generation of Kodak digital cameras. Kodak created a user interface that would be easy enough for the users to navigate. Rather than just packaging a pamphlet or a manual with the camera, Kodak decided to create a ‘user experience prototype’. This system gave the user control in the content that was taken with the prototype. It gave them the ability to see what was going to be taken, adjust the settings to their personal preferences, and delete what they did not want. The goal was to create a system than an entire camera line could use.

[] very carefully.
 * Week8**
 * Read the online article 'Can the Cell phone end Global Poverty?**' at


 * In three paragraphs, describe the role of Jan Chipchase in defining the role of cell phones in the developing world for Nokia, and the benefits of analyzing cell phone use and design in different cultures as part of their market expansion.**

Jan Chipschase was given the job of extreme field research. Certainly cell phones here in North America and other developed nations are a huge industry. As big of an industry as cell phones are in these areas, the issue has become expansion. It seems like most of the population owns a phone already making it very difficult to reach a new demographic. So the only logical step was to expand into the only frontier that had yet to be conquered, the third world. Chipchase traveled the globe in order to get a better understanding of what these types of people needed in their phones. Obviously our requirements are different from lets say the people of a rural community in India. Rather than over paying a panel to guess the needs of these people, Nokia decided to find out for themselves.

In his hands on experience, Chipchase found that people from the third world require more practical physical features as a posed to the more application driven needs of those who lived in developed nations. The article mentioned how he would interact with the locals of what ever country he was visiting at the time. He would ask questions that pertained to their everyday lives. For example he chatted with a shoe sales person and his family who lived in Mumbai. He visited during monsoon season and sat down with the family in their one room home and asked about the food they ate, the money they had, and other basic questions of living. Chipchase was particularly interested in the fact they had a cell phone. He found it very interesting that the father kept in a plastic bag to protect it from the elements. On top of that he hung the phone in bag on a hook because of lack of floor space and the excess flooding from the monsoon. He took down this information and sent it back to Nokia. This lead to his suggestion of having some sort of hook accessory so that it could be suspended off the floor like everything else.

This type of research is vital for the expansion of cell phone culture into new and developing markets. Chipchase’s position is very important so that Nokia and other cell phone manufacturers can create a phone that would be attractive to people who are illiterate, making $4 per day or less and have no easy access to electricity.


 * Week9**
 * View the video of Bill Moggridge**. The founder of IDEO, at PICNIC08: Design as a Collaborative Process at []


 * Describe how he defines 'design as a collaborative process', and cite two examples of how creators involve the people they want to create for in their work, according to Bill Moggridge's lecture.**
 * Find an online example of a product which utilizes his principles of collaborative design, add its URL, and describe its design in three sentences.**

Design as a collaborative process involves much more than just the designer’s assumptions of what the product should offer. Although talented, their knowledge of the service that the product would provide might be limited. Moggridge suggested a collaborative process where designers team up with experts, researchers and others who are familiar with the task they are trying to tackle. They need the input of those who are going to be using the item so that they can make the end result more efficient and more to their liking. The shared mind is going to be more effective that the sums of their individual capabilities.

Moggridge mentioned how he worked with surgeons to help perfect a specialty tool that they commonly use for ear, nose, and throat surgery. The surgeons gave them their inputs which lead to a more ergonomic tool. He coined this term as participatory design. Moggridge also mentioned how designers worked with the American Red Cross to help redesign a better portable workspace that would be less dreary and mechanical looking. It has more of a welcoming and personable feeling to the space that would ease the donates anxiety and apprehension to the entire experience

[|**http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/jk/070926.htm**] ACE stands for Advanced Compatibility Engine and is one of those features that you don’t appreciate till you are in an actual accident. Safety features like airbags, antilock breaks, and stability controls are all common but they depend on a system that would deploy them properly and safely. ACE is designed to dissipate the loads of an impact through the suspension and car's structure while keeping it away from the driver


 * __//Week10//__**
 * Read the article 'Using Nature as a Design Guide' at** [|**http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/feb2008/id20080211_074559.htm?campaign_id=rss_innovate**] **about Janine Benyus, creator of the burgeoning "biomimicry" movement.**

Janine Benyus heads both the research nonprofit Biomimicry Institute and the for-profit innovation consultancy, the Biomimicry Guild, and her mission is to show engineers and designers how to translate those ideas into a corporate, commercial context. She is the author of 'Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature', published in 1997, which discusses how to re-design our interaction with nature by showing deep respect for the natural world as a mentor for our design strategies.


 * Look over examples of her biomimetic principles applied to products in the slideshow located at** [|**http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/02/0209_green_biomimic/index_01.htm**] **and write a short, one paragraph synopsis for each of your three favourite product designs.**

Scientist has looked to nature to find the answer to several of life’s everyday problems. Nature in itself is a perfect system.
 * Self Cleaning Paint**