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Archive for the ‘Design’ Category

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Towards Knowledge Commons

In Design on November 1, 2011 at 12:27 pm

I promptly fell ill once my conference obligations at MobilityShifts wrapped up, which makes me extremely grateful for the fact that all the panels were audio-recorded. They promise that everything will be up about a month after the conference, so I look forward to listening to all the sessions I missed!

Both the panel with my fellow critical making colleagues and the workshop with Kiku Day were instructive as well as inspiring. Questions from the audience during the panel reaffirmed my desire to pursue work in the area of music knowledge transmission and preservation, while the workshop solidified for me a research trajectory to pursue outside of a university setting, as well as connecting researchers with similar interests to share their experiences and pool their resources. Sincerely thanks to everyone that came out, asked good questions, and even bought a PVC shakuhachi by the end of the workshop!

I also contribute a lot of the inspiration to one of the few sessions I did catch, which was Matt Gold’s session on “Open Education: The University and The Commons”. It got me excited thinking about the kinds of “knowledge commons” I’m imagining.

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The Design of Knowledge Organization

In Design, ICTs on July 18, 2010 at 8:15 pm

In the design of an information or knowledge-based system, values are built in to the fundamental assumptions about what information and knowledge actually is. Such values can be understood in an overarching and philosophical sense, as well as in a situated sense within certain communities, organizations, and particular types of users. In fact, such fundamental reflections are an essential first step to ensure that the knowledge-based initiative has a clear trajectory to follow. The design of knowledge organization — not the adaptation and implementation of standard or popular classification systems — is a phase that most people ignore out of convenience for a quick launch of a beta version, or a tight budget that needs to be spent for a clear ROI. The benefits of designing a knowledge organization strategy (which may involve conducting domain analysis, user studies, genre and document mapping) are not concrete, but it is fundamental to the long-term success of any information and knowledge-based undertaking. In fact, the whole process might not be that different from engaging in a philosophical discourse on epistemology, or a reflection about the nature of knowledge, but situated in a real-life context with design implications (whether that’s system design, website design, or library design). In effect, you are developing a model of knowledge (in my case, a model of music knowledge) that is conceptualized to serve a particular community (in my case, online self-taught musicians). I also articulated this in about 7500 words, this post is a coles notes-to-myself!

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July: Progress Update

In Design, My Work on July 1, 2010 at 2:02 pm

I have been back from my travels for a month and a half, and I finally feel like I am caught up. The feeling of being in a frenzy of ‘stuff’ is subsiding, and I am feeling grounded after being in exploration mode in the months of April and May. Everything I learned from those visits and conversations are informing the work I am doing now in surprising ways. Insights from conversation that I was busy taking down — either mentally or physically — are recalled with a renewed sense of significance. Getting away from the comfortable lull of a routine provided some space for ideas to be revisited with a freshness of mind that would not have been possible otherwise. It also made me realize how luck I am to be based in Toronto, where there is no lack of stimulating talks, conferences, and other events for one to engage and discover other like-minded collaborators. The trick is knowing how to find out about them to begin with.

For example, I attended the design critique hosted by Aaron Marcus, where I got to see a few presentation from KMDI students as well as presented my own concept for a music knowledge community (an idea that all my work is building towards). I have not been in a design crit setting for at least a decade, and it was an energizing and refreshing experience, from the preparation, to the feedback. It’s an idea that I want to pursue after I graduate, and it’s an objective that becomes more clear as time goes on. As they say, if you can conceive of it, you can make it happen.

I’ve also been working tirelessly on a knowledge classification paper for Prof. Mai dealing with the organization of music knowledge. Trust me, it’s not as boring as it sounds.

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