Adam Torgerson
HW3

1. what did you find

1.1. interesting about the article?

One of the most interesting points, I feel, was brought up near the beginning of the article, on page 4, the section titled "Exploiting the Symmetry of Ignorance". This section presents the idea that when a given field reaches a certain level of knowledge, continued work in that field must be distributed across multiple minds. Even if we had a decent system that allowed this kind of collaboration, there is a big task of managing the data generated by the collaboration, and in presenting that data to users for study and evaluation.

I also found the section on new forms of Civic Discourse interesting. It is always a challenge to figure out how to get people more directly involved in their communities, especially considering that many people would be more involved, if they only had an idea on what they could do or how they could help.

1.2. not interesting about the article?

I felt the whole article was pretty interesting, there is not something I can single out as not interesting.

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

The main message of the article was presenting the EDC. Background was given on what problems the EDC adresses, how they fit into the bigger picture of society, and how people can be made more active in that society.

3. are themes discussed in the article which you would like to know more about?

The idea of open systems, which users can modify and expand to fit their needs is interesting, and I would like to know more about the design and implementation of such systems.

4. what did you find interesting about the “EDC” system?

I find the horizontal whiteboard used in during the EDC designing to be the most interesting. I was not aware of a computer input device such as that. And it looks like the users place objects on the surface and the reflection area is dynamically updated, which is a great "real" interface for this problem domain, opposed to the normal keyboard/mouse input style.

5. do you know of other papers, ideas, and systems which are closely related to the article and the “EDC” system?

No, I am not familiar with anything in this area.

6. what do the article and the associated system say about

6.1. design

Closely related to collaboration, below, the design front also needs great collaboration in order to meet the demands of the complex designs which we are seeing today. The problem needs to be able to be broken up across designers, and those designers need and easy and accurate way of combining their individual designs into the final overall design.

6.2. learning

In some way, because the EDC system is built as an open system, designed with an evolutionary aspect and meant to be constantly changing to meet the needs of users as their needs change, the EDC itself is something that is learning.

6.3. collaboration

One of the main ideas stressed in the article is that without collaboration, it will be very hard to progress as a society. Most of the problems which could be solved by one person already has been solved. Thus, in order to progress further, people must collaborate with one another. The EDC is a tool for this collaboration.

6.4. innovative media to support these activities?

The horizontal whiteboard used in the EDC is a piece of innovative media, at least I have not seen something like that before. I suppose in a more general sense the article is suggesting that innovative media especially has a place in the HCI domain, and in some situations it may be better to come up with a new way of presenting information instead of trying to shoehorn your ideas into media practices which do not match your problem well.

7. do you have any ideas how this research could / should be extended (based on your own knowledge and experience)?

It was not immediately clear from the article if this was possible, but it would be interesting to see such a locally collaborative design system extended remotely. The EDC centers could be networked together, possibly even allowing a more simple client, allowing just one person to join the effort. Multiple people at multiple locations could the collaborate on the same design.