1. what did you find (articulate
the answers in your own words)

1.1. interesting about the article?

I thought the most
interesting concept discussed in the article was the seeding, evolutionary growth,
and reseeding process model. As a whole, I think the process provides a good
model for software development and the designing of systems. In particular,
I thought that the social creativity application of the model showed it's power
best. Realizing that most complex problems are not easily solvable by a person
or a group with a single expertise, and attempting to tap the creativity of
many minds and points of view seems like an extremely effective way of solving
hard problems. By designing with the meta-design framework in mind, the symmetry
of ignorance can more easily come together to solve these problems. I found
these concepts most interesitng.

1.2. not interesting about the article?

I thought the whole
article was pretty interesting.

2. what do you consider the main
message of the article?

In order to evolve,
end user development needs the aspects that meta-designed software has. This
helps foster learning, collaboration, and a whole new mindset for design. If
you design for designers, the possibilities are limitless.

3. is meta-design an

3.1. interesting concept? why?

Meta-design is an
extremely interesting concept. A lot of the reasoning behind this is in the
answer to question 1, as I felt the paper addressed why meta-design is interesting
in the first place. I think we are starting to increasingly see tools that provide
this endless ability.

3.2. not interesting? why?

4. what do you consider the major
technical and social challenges associated with meta-design?

4.1. technical

It seems like the
most interesting technical questions deal with how to design an effective user
interface. How do you represent information to users? How do users respond to
graphical representations? It is important to meta-design that a wide range
of people be able to use the system, so these considerations are a huge challenge.

4.2. social

I think that getting
people comfortable with the idea of collaborative design and working with each
other's different knowledge and experiences to produce something is an initial
challenge that must be overcome. Having a motivated community of designers is
also important.

5. describe your own experience with
meta-design

5.1. with ideas associated with meta-design

I always try to consider
these ideas when designing for end users. My senior project currently is building
a location-based wiki for CU's campus, and considering what tools users would
need to add content to the wiki is of top priority. Since this could potentially
be used by any type of student, having them feel free and comfortable contributing
content to the wiki is essential to its success.

5.2. with systems built on meta-design?

I have used a lot
of programs that exhibit aspects of meta-design. I think the best examples are
some of the macromedia products like dreamweaver and flash. Dreamweaver is a
great example because it shows both the code and the design, letting the user
get as nitty gritty in the code as they like, or just focus on look and feel.

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