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Cultural Probes (From Probes to Designs (The probes were not designed to…
Cultural Probes
- The probes were not designed to be analysed, nor did we summarise what they revealed about the sites as an explicit stage in the process
- rather the design proposals we produced reflected what we learned from the materials
- The returns suggested a range of non-stereotypical profiles of elders that were less focused on the particular sites
- the best evidence that the returns from the probes spurred valuable insights into the local cultures was that the elders clearly recognised themselves in the proposals
- User-centered Inspirations
- Although the probes were central to our understanding of the sites,m they didn't directly lead to our design
- The cultural probes were successful for us in trying to familiarize ourselves with the sites in a way that would be appropriate for our approach as artist-designers
- The real strength of the method was that we had designed and produced the materials specifically for this project, for those people, and for their environments.
- The probes were our personal communication to the elders and prompted the elders to communicate personally in return
- Unlike much research, we don't emphasis precise analyses or carefully controlled methodologies; instead, we concentrate on aesthetic control, the cultural implications of our designs and ways to open new spaces for design
- unlike most design, we don't focus on commercial products, but on new understandings of technology
- instead of designing solutions for user needs, then, we work to provide opportunities to discover new pleasures, new forms of sociability, and new cultural forms
- Foremost was the kind of distance of officialdom that comes with being flown in as well-funded experts
- Geographic and cultural distances were more specific problems for this project
- The materials were also designed to be as visual as possible, to some extent bypassing language barriers
- The maps are related to the psycho geographical maps of the Situationists
- The Surrealists incorporated elements of collage, in which juxtaposed images open new and provocative spaces
- Tried to use tactics of ambiguity, absurdity and mystery throughout, as a way of provoking new perspectives on everyday life
- Inspiration, not Information
- The artist-designer approach is openly subjective, only partly guided by any "objective" problem statement. Thus we were after "inspirational data" with the probes, to stimulate our imaginations rather than define a set of problems
- trying to establish a role as provocateurs, we shaped the probes as interventions that would affect the elders while eliciting informative responses from them
- We have viewed aesthetic and conceptual pleasure as a right rather than a luxury
- We believe aesthetic to be an integral part of functionality, with pleasure a criterion for design equal to efficiency or usability
10 The Returns
- sorting through the masses of maps, cards, and photographs that we received, strong and differentiated views of the three sites began to emerge
- we take this as a sign that they are well meaning but happily distracted by their daily lives- an important factor for our designs
- To encourage a provocative dialogue about design, we tried to reject stereotypes of older people as "needy" or "nice"
- elders also represent a life free from the need to work, and thus the possibility of exploring life as homo ludens, humanity defined by its playful qualities
- The cultural probes were designed to provoke inspirational responses from elderly people in diverse communities
Postcards- with questions on the back which concerned the elders' attitudes towards their lives, cultural environments, and technology
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Photo Album and media diary- entries were made daily, for a total of a week
- This is a relatively unconstrained project, defined only in terms of its overall goal and its flow over time
- We gave the probes to members of the elder groups in a series of meetings at the local sites