It’s important for me to explain my interests as a designer and as a human in his world who
notices certain things. These attention grabbers have inspired me and shaped my practice to
what it is today.
I think on some level I have always been preoccupied with the wonderment that comes from
staring at the remnants of use. This could be as simple as “normal wear and tear” but I think it
extends to have a meaning of a trace of interaction. This place or object has been used by
someone or some animal in a purposeful way. I am fascinated by these traces. Leftovers and
remnants, like a stain or tarnish, also catch my eye. This aging process makes me think about
experience and stories perhaps stored in these—remembered or misremembered.
I’m equally fascinated by collections and the act of collecting. I guess this relates to classification
and organization. But most importantly I’m into the sharing—the output of this stored
information. I’ve also been bitten by the documentation bug during my life and see how
collections can develop out of capturing similar types of events over and over, such as video
taping every major event in a child’s life like birthdays for example.
Designers often get obsessed by that “space between.” It’s where magic exists to join to parts of
a story or suggest movement from one thing to another. During my graduate studies I’ve
become aware of my fascination of a certain space between and it relates greatly to my
interests stated above. When an original object is migrated over to the digital space some things
transfer and some things are left out or shift. It’s this space between original tactile objects and
their digital counterparts that makes me look for traces and remnants of use and meaning.
Typically collections have some sort of organization. How else would begin to know the context
of what it contains or why its important? This designed structure by a human hand has always
perked my interest. These curations & organized structures are designed systems that allow for
navigation in one way or another.
But then how does one access those collections? How can one approach them and who are
they? Or even where, how often, and with what as an interface? Without these questions
answered, one cannot navigate and gain new knowledge or insight from them.
I’m really intrigued by ways that an object can embed an experience or share it’s own history. Or
how an expert can tell you something you never would have known about it. It’s the background
storytelling that feels like a really rich area to explore as a designer. How can I help bring these
to the surface?
In a way, traces or remnants on or from an object are in themselves collections of memories
about that very object. I’m very curious in how an object can be embodied with memories and
associations, how we can design ways to access those and how we might be able to re-
associate new things with that object.
Written Inspiration
One of my favorite parts about my graduate school experience has been all of the great reading
and new minds I’ve been exposed to. I’ve gotten to travel a lot, meet some influential people and
organizations, and had some great inspiring conversations. I’ve been inspired by a few quotes
that have stuck out and helped to direct me in my thesis investigation.
My favorites include:
(On Play)
“Play is our brain’s favorite way of learning.” — Diane Ackerman
“Almost all creativity involves purposeful play.” — Abraham Maslow
“Culture arises and unfolds in and as play.” — Johan Huizinga
“Deep meaning lies often in childish play.” — Johann Friedrich von Schiller
“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the
play instinct.” — Carl Jung
(On Archiving)
“The cutting edge of a dull profession.” — Richard Cox
(On Mt. Rainier)
“It’s like Rainier collects its own memories.” — Bruce Barcott
Arjun Appadurai wrote about artifact vs trace. He begins by introducing the idea of two
memories—the personal memory and the collective memory. Appadurai also makes a distinction
between memory, trace and accidental trace. This helps influence how to discern between
personal memory and social memory. Digital archives rely on the absence or impossibility of
face-to-face. If one recognizes that documentation is a form of intervention and archives are
collections of documents, then archives are always a meta intervention. An archive really is the
site of memory. With digital archives becoming more popular, archive returns to general status
for being solely a site of anticipated memories.
Robert Dirig & Cathy Folgate, our school’s archivists, sat down numerous times with me over the
past year and a half to help me gain insight into how archives are setup, operated and
maintained, and issues archivists and researchers come across in the process. Some of my
favorite captures from these conversations include:
Funding/revenue and deterioration of artifacts are main issues.
Play is not thought of, archiving is serious, BE CAREFUL and DONT TOUCH.
Libraries are typically open. Archives can be closed to public. Main issues are funding and
revenue, they don’t produce any revenue. The fight for preservation in the face of deterioration.
Usually people don’t want anyone to touch the stuff, the things that are put away in boxes, white
gloves, etc. Its done in a serious way, and you don’t know necessarily what’s there.
Someone might call and ask for the archivists to find one photo of something. They need it fast.
But then some might come in and browse, they are looking to be inspired form coming here.
Without serendipity, taxonomy/folksonomy becomes huge.
Some people really fetishize the artifacts, where some historians just want context. Geneologists
love the originals, love the smell. Average person just wants it available, on their mp3 player.
The full list can be found by clicking here.
Inspired by Observation
I also gained huge inspiration from visiting a variety of independent off-site archives and special
collections. While visiting The George Eastman House, University of Washington and The
National Archives and Records Administration’s Northwest Branch I also conducted my own
research inquires in order to better observe what it is like to be a user of these very different
collections with very different users.
Before leaving on both my trips I made a list of things to document and observe firsthand as a
primary source user of these collections: What challenges do I face when accessing and what
issues do I encounter at each stage? What tools am I using? Who do I have to deal with to get
what I need? How many people does it take? How many items can I have out at once? How do I
have to handle all the items? How often are they accessed, handled, etc? What technology do I
need to use, or what can I use to access what is in the archives? What info (new and old) do I
uncover? What can I NOT get online? Is anything stored offsite? What is the range of media
they have to offer? Documents, images, maps, movies, artifacts, gear, etc.?
While at the National Archives and Records Administration’s Northwest branch just outside of
Seattle, WA I conducted an inquiry into the history of climbing and mountaineering on Mt.
Rainier. I chose this topic because it would allow me to conduct research as a curious hobbyist
since I myself am a backpacker and climber/mountaineer. I wanted to get a first hand experience
of what it was like to use the facilities and resources of a large collection and organization like
our own governments archives. During my inquiry I researched this topic to answer questions
like: Who were the first climbers to summit? What led up to the desire to summit this mountain?
What types of records/artifacts are on file about it? What types of tragedies have occurred on
the mountain?
During that same trip I continued research on the same topic at the University of Washington’s
archives and specifically their special collections which house the Mountaineer’s Summit
Registers and some other Mt. Rainier related objects. I am a huge fan of the retail chain REI. At
this particular collection I was able to find a letter and receipt (dated from 1971) to the
Mountaineers from the Owner of REI asking about buying large quantities of rope for a future
group ascent. This turned out to be a very serendipitous find. My love for mountaineering and
REI all in one archival document. It was surprising to see that correspondence like that still
happened at that time period between store and customer.
A week later I visited the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. The GEH is a world
renown international museum devoted to photography, film, and the founder of the Eastman
Kodak Company. Their archives and library also house some of the most extensive and valuable
archival collections of these subjects. At this particular archive I wanted to get a sense of what a
museum archival collection offers the scholarly researcher. I approached this archive with an
inquiry centered around the invention of the Cinematographé and the Lumiere Brothers. The
GEH opened their film, film prints, photography, and technology vaults to me where the
archivists, curators and librarian each were on hand to help offer me the next appropriate
related item in their collection to view. My experience at GEH made me aware of the value of the
archivist and their deep knowledge about the collection they keep and if they were to leave,
much of the knowledge would fade.
In addition to conducting the above research, I also interviewed several archivists and
researchers who just so happened to give me their time and opinions on their experiences with
these same collections. Some of the questions I asked of them included:
Name & Title?
Your role at the NARA/UW?
How long have you been here?
How long have you been a researcher, user, archivist, librarian, curator?
How old is this archive? How far back does it go?
What has been left out or thrown out?
How many researchers can you accomodate at once?
What about your finding aids? Do you share it out with other institutions?
Do you offer your finding aids up online, sharing it out, or have future digital plans?
How often do researchers or the public contribute back to the archives?
How often does it get used? Do you ever use it? Contibute towards it?
Do you archive anything that is born digital?
Has use declined over the years? What specifically?
How was the research/reading room designed?
Who determined its layout?
What technology is most commonly used there?
What do people wish they had?
Related Projects and Technology
Fifteen months is a long time during which I have learned about a plethora of fascinating related
projects to the domain I am working in. A complete list can be found on my thesis process site
but my favorites are below.
The Globe Jungle project-archiving exhibit of play
Multitouch, more actions, more people, more collaboration
Graffiti Archaeology - archive of graffiti work at specific locations
Labelscar - online blog/archive of consumption labelscars from signage
Moody - tag music based on mood
Object - serendipity in search
Pandora Radio - serendipity in search
Internet Archive
Address
9 to 5 Paintings
Siftables
Tempo
Maeve
minimum interface-beautifully interaction with a simple tangible artifact
A Prototype and the Demo.
I began my thesis investigation a year ago interested in a terrain that included preservation and
access, location and artifact, media and rendition device, playful search (serendipity, grazing,
browsing, targeted), playful access, and screen-based interfaces versus physical interfaces.
Paper prototyping sketches and imaginative scripted scenario videos have really motivated my
practice to try and design tangible working models that communicate an idea through a
demonstrated interaction and not what it could feel like but what it actually might feel like.
.jpg)
