research plan

Just a little snippet from my research plan…

The Key to the success of my project will be the outcomes of thorough research. My research will be conducted around people and the way in which they interact with water in their daily lives. At a basic level I view research in 3 stages:

1. Collecting. Involves collecting a large amount of information through various methods of research
2. Categorising. When information has been collected it should be evaluated and compared. Research is then categorised into areas of similarity, difference or any other significant grouping.
3. Synthesise. Involves making sense of what you have researched. Finding what is important or useful and what is not. Finding what can be used to further the project. ‘Making’ as a result of research.

Proposal

To conduct my research I plan to establish a ‘research’ relationship with at least 10 households. The households will be based around my connections and include a diverse range of living circumstances. I feel that it is very important to source households with people who have many differences- different backgrounds, children, married, single. The differences in each household will push my research and form a strong base for design. Each house will be visited a minimum of twice and a set of identical methods conducted on each. I will establish research tasks before any visit. This will ensure I collect information that has similarities so my data can be compared and categorised.

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Task 4:

Visual Sociology- Photography

To capture micro events within the household I am going to participate in visual sociology in the form of photography. To simply observe and take notes I would be missing many finer details of events. I will endeavor to photograph every instance of water use within a house. The photographic style will be quick snap shots of events- multiples if needed. I will also pay attention to different people completing the same task to capture differences.

The photos taken form the house visits will be gathered and presented together, and further studied. The bonus of having visual documentation of events is the ability to share. I will be able to show peers the photos and discuss them in context of my direction. Instead of telling people about what I have seen, I will be able to share the photos and gain further perspectives on top of my own.

greener gadgets

So when browsing (as I so often do) I came across the Greener Gadgets and competition in conjunction with Core 77. The competition targets green design of household products and electrical goods. The brief is as follows:

‘We invited designers to explore the concept of “Greener Gadgets.” Designs sought to minimize the environmental impact of consumer electronic devices at any stage in the product life cycle. Areas of sustainability to consider included energy, materials/life cycle/recycling, social impact, and educational development. Designers could focus on a particular area of human enterprise (learning, playing, communicating, etc.) or a particular context (work, home, school, etc.), a particular material, or a specific device. Entries could also seek to create new paradigms for products and services.’ http://www.greenergadgets.com/index.php/design-competition/

One entry I found of particular interest was that from Yunwen Hsu. Hsu designed a rice cooker/washing device that stores the water that is used to wash the starch from rice. Traditionally in Asian households,  ‘rice water’ is re-used to wash dishes. The starch is particularly good at removing grease and oils from plates. In modern times most households throw away starchy water and use fresh water and detergent instead. This design washes and cooks rice, then stores the water in an easy to access container. Awesome…