Junk Action- "figured"

I tried to make an action figure inspired by the villains in the power ranger series.. the fact that they're made out of junk, simply brings out their character- full of crap, trying to take over the world!

Bank Woes

Going to the bank for first timers is almost a nightmare in daylight. Filling up forms is like an encounter with satan himself. So we picked up different forms from one bank, and analysed and attempted to re-design them. Due to my computer crashing (and severe inavailability of computers at the comp lab in college for work other than the present course) I had to do the entire thing by hand. I hope it communicates anyway!

Problems found:

The re-designed DD form:

Seminar Article:From Myth to Science

Question 1: Describe at least 2 ideas that you connected with discussions in class with points or ideas raised in the article.

One very basic idea this article talks about is the way we increase speeds in order to save time, called "time budgeting". It may not be very evident, but a lot of conclusions we came to (in class) for failing ecological ideas was time budgeting.People do not have the time, therefore, they will not bother doing this or that.

Quoting the article: "Situations in which the car is parked right next to one's home and the public transport stop is far away, offer limited freedom of choice. " This was one issue that was discussed in class during the Bangalore Mobility Project research. Following this, Dr. Knoflacher brings up the idea that anyone using more public space per capita, must pay more for it. I would take this back to the day we spoke about articles from "The ecological footprint" in which our discussion spoke of air pollution, and how one could own air, and pay a fees for polluting the air, and how do we define who owns what space of air.

Question 2: Explain any one big issue that was raised in this article that you had not encountered before.

One big issue that I had not encountered earlier, was the basic role of separating commercial spaces and residential spaces, and how it affects the ecological condition of the planet. Separating commercial spaces from residential spaces only urges us to travel more, and therefore consume more energy. If the same space was used for commercial as well as residential purposes in an organized fashion, we would save a lot of energy, and more over, the city would be become more sustainable.
However one big idea that the article states is lower speed transport, and not using time budgeting to prioritize modes of transport. I doubt I would want to agree with this idea, since humans have reached the stage of advancement that they have and have fashioned their needs accordingly, I don't think this concept would be feasible.


Question 3: When you were reading the article, did you find yourself agreeing with something, that you have often thought of, but never articulated for yourself – describe this aspect that you resonated with.

"Besides the 'trivial' engineering indicators like cost or space, the most important criteria is the acceptance or accessibility for the user, because the ultimate purpose for public transport is service for people."

This is something which I have always found important, but never really have been able to articulate. Coming from India's first and most well-planned city, where any distance can be covered within a matter of minutes, and also from a city where each person owns 2 cars, acceptance of the public transport system is essential. For example, in Delhi, where students and businessmen were hesitant to travel by buses, because economically lower people would travel by them, the underground Metro is a place where anyone and everyone would feel comfortable traveling and eager to travel in it, for time efficiency purposes also.

Question 4: Did you research on the author? Please do and briefly describe what you found out about the author and if in your opinion you think he/she is credible.

The author for the seminar article, "From myth to science" is Prof. Dr. Hermann Knoflacher. Dr. Knoflacher has been involved in over a 100 realized projects in traffic engineering and transportation policies and measures. Since 1967, he has had 5 books and more than 400 scientific publications published, and has conducted more than 1.000 lectures in the field of transport planning and traffic engineering worldwide all over the globe. Having worked in the field himself, I believe Dr. Knoflacher would be credible.

(for further ref: http://www.clubofvienna.org/website/output.php?idfile=695 )

Question 5: Would you change the emphasis of the message in any way if you were writing this article? If yes, what would your emphasis be and why?

I think the message would have to depend from audience to audience. The article is quite compact for a design student, but would seem like repulsive text for a layman. If I had to change the emphasis, it would depend on the audience I am looking at.

Knowing Co-workers

Name of Student being asked the questions: Tanushri wahi
Name of the student seeking answers: Mahima Pushkarna
Project name: Mobility in Bangalore.



Do you think that the number of people you interviewed were enough?
Yes, enough to get a general idea about how people travel around the area.

How many sheets did you personally take responsibility for during this exercise?
Three sheets which were completely done by me and working on other slides which needed help here and there.

Do you think that the time you took to make the sheets you did was appropriate?
It took time coming up with a layout in a way that it conveys the right meaning. Reworking also took time for the same reason. But the time we took was appropriate.

What are all the problems you faced when you were doing this exercise?
The intended meaning and what was actually understood out of the logos was different. Co-ordinating a common layout was a problem initially until we were supervised. Maintaining consistency among the slides.

What were the things you felt you were happy about in this exercise?
That we actually came up with a ‘whole’ project after going through so many differences. The entire view of information design was extremely enriching and I learnt a lot.

Which are the things you will never forget that you learnt during this exercise?
I don’t know.. It depends on how I regularly I apply them.

What was the worst part of the work of this exercise?
The first step of coming to a common consensus about the layout of the slides, the part where the students were given responsibility.

What are the doubts that you think that the students in Milan would have when they saw your work?
They probably wont be able to understand the cultural background we come from in order to understand the compromises we make while choosing the modes of transport.

Nature..

NATURE

QUANTITATIVE





QUALITATIVE

voice over comparision

Remembrance of things present vs. First lesson in peace

The entire personas of the two films were very different. As aggressive the narrator of “remembrance…” was, the narrator of “first lessons…” was that soft. While one was questioning her early marriage, that she believed ruined her life, the other was giving his daughter answers and was telling her why he did what he did, so that she could be free to take her own stand on the Arab - Israel war.
“Remembrance of things present” comes across as an auto-biography, the childhood of a girl from her own perspective, but as a grown and mature woman, who questions the people who stole her youth from her. It comes across as a rebellion, Chandra Siddan is seen questioning and confronting all her aunties and uncles who arranged and got her married when she was a child of 15. The voice over comes across as a strong character, who states rather than mentions, and takes decisions on her own. Personally, I feel the voice over, by being redundant about the fact that she has been victimized, is trying to gain our sympathy and tries to influence others into agreeing with her viewpoints. The character may be strong initially, but somewhere down the line, tends to loose the point of the film.
“First lessons in peace” is a letter a father writes to his daughter, telling her why she was put in Neveh Shalom, a school of Arabs and Jews, during the war. The father comes across as a compassionate man, who gives his daughter the freedom to choose her stand and path during the Arab- Israel conflict, capturing her thoughts and her dynamic views on the Arabs and the war. He encourages her to feel the same way about Arabs as she feels about Jews, and at times is unsure about his decision of admitting her in a school for both Arabs and Jews and is worried about her safety. The character is somewhat neutral and open, and tries to bring out both sides of the conflict, and tried to show his daughter what Neveh shalom was trying to do, what Neveh shalom stood for- a place where the Arabs and the Jewish could co-exist.

Young Historians

"Young Historians (India, 2007) is a series of nine films designed, produced and directed by Deepa Dhanraj for the Government of Karnataka for their Edusat programme. Here, children from government schools in Karnataka are introduced to the processes and methodologies of how history is constructed. The films facilitate a creative process of giving students and teachers a lively and relevant experience of mapping history for themselves, by which incremental learning can take place."

It has been two years that I have left school, and 4 years that I stopped going for History classes. 4 years isn’t a long time span, after all, I still remember 1+1=2. But I simply cannot recall the Mughal emperors in order, or name any 3 of the viceroys of India. History classes were classes that required no thinking work, just a whole lot of mugging up and learning.

The way Deepa Dhanraj has introduced a subject like History in her film, is extraordinary. Interactive, exciting, and simple. Introducing a subject like history by asking the students to find out about their own histories, their own family trees, got the point of history across- why do we have a subject like history? The past is the past, why re-visit it? Why study History at all? To document, to preserve, and to understand our past. What lacked most in the history class in my school was reason and exploration. On the other hand, these children, have not only learnt the point of history, but have also learned to question more. The interaction seen within the classroom was immense, children were fearlessly asking questions.

The question that still remains is who is the target audience for the film? Is it finally the children who are going to watch it or teachers? If more children are introduced to a subject as dull as history, the face of the subject shall change. It will no longer remain a boring period in school, but an interesting one. The impact of teaching a subject well can be life-changing. Not many people these days want a career in education and history. But with these kind of movies coming around, and more and more children becoming interested in a subject like History, quite a few of them would want a career as a historian or an archaeologist or even as a history educationist!

Probably if I had been taught history this way, rather than sleeping through class and making my mother help me out with the subject one day before the final exam, I would have scored good marks without having to go through so much trouble. Perhaps I would have become an archaeologist, if the subject interested me enough back then. I believe this series of films should not just be kept for government schools in backward/ rural areas. They should be screened in every school possible. If a subject like history could be communicated using a medium like film-making, the exam patterns, etc. would also have to be changed. Bringing about this kind of a change could be difficult, but the counter-change this (change) would bring about, would be well worth it!