CDES 102

FINAL EXAM

Just a reminder that your final exam is today. We'll begin promptly at 8:00 in Holt 170. Please bring a couple of pencils, we'll provide everything else.

Byron and Alan

 

Extra bonus office hours

I have office hours scheduled on Monday from 11 - 1. I'm extending that time until 2:30, so now it's from 11 - 2:30.

Byron

 

Byron's finals week office hours

Byron's office hours for finals week will be:

Monday 11 - 1

Tuesday 2 - 4

Office hours for this week remain the same as previously scheduled.

 

Last lecture, some TED talks

 

 

Here are links to the five videos we watched are below. They fit some of the overarching themes for the semester: Collaboration, Perception, Creativity and Innovation, and Design Thinking. These are videos we couldn't quite fit within our regular topics, but they also form their own nice litte collection of communication design related ideas. Enjoy. They are all from TED.

Steven Johnson on how design is a form of thinking and problem solving; how it is a process, a network, and an accumulation of ideas that needs the right environment to thrive.

Emily Pilloton on design as a catalyst for social change.

Adital Ela on design for sustainability and bridging ideas.

Marcin Jakubowski on open source and collaboration in service of problem solving, sustainability, and object creation.

Pranav Mistry showing a possible future in technology and human/computer interface. This, too, is of the open source philosophy.

John Hockenberry (video not yet available) also has an engaging story about designing, and living, with intent. 

Byron and Alan

Final quiz study guide

Here is the study guide for the final quiz which is next Monday, May 14, at 8:00 PM in our regular classroom. It will be multiple choice, 30 questions. Please bring a pencil. We will bring everything else.

Download CDES 102 Quiz 3 study guide

Byron

Infographics - Bonus entry!

Do you like Google Earth? Are you engaged by infographics, both static and animated? 

If so, you'll be fascinated with this problem: VISUALIZING THE TREE OF LIFE. Perhaps this can be your life's work? Complicated. Worthwhile. Never-ending.

Questions or comments? Please use the comments link below.
Byron

The brain and metaphor

Have you ever wondered why metaphors even work? How about jokes? Well, here's an interesting article about the relationship between the human brain and metaphor.  

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/this-is-your-brain-on-metaphors/?hp

Enjoy,
Byron

 

Data Eye in the Sky

I do read things other than the New York Times, but it is filled with so many articles relevant to things we discuss in class that I have to cite it frequently. Here's a fascinating article about data mining - a close cousin to infographics. The basic premise is that there's so much trackable information about people, it may be possible to predict behavior in the same way that meteorologists predict the weather.

I'll follow this posting with another more recent article from the Times that elaborates further. I cited it in lecture last night. It's the one where Target, among other companies, use data to anticipate consumer behavior.

Byron 

Infographics and appropriate UPOD terms

An image from the Gapminder web site.

Here are the visuals from last night's class on Infographics. It contains many links to both static and animated infographics, many of which we didn't take the time to show as you can explore on your own. I'd encourage you to take 30 minutes to go through and explore things we didn't show. There's a great video from the New York Times: Download VisualizingInfographics2 

If you like the kinds of things we discussed, and are a baseball fan, you'll enjoy this: Craig Robinson's Flip Flop Flyball. 

Looking for a simpler infographic? How about this one that shows how to make coffee drinks?

Is that too simple? Then have a look at this one about the 800 billion dollar stimulus package. That should keep you occupied for a while.

Byron

Famous logos in different languages

The FedEx logo, in Arabic.

Thanks to Scott for sending along this link which shows some famous logos that appear in different languages. It's great and worth a look.

Byron