Reading Response: DeLanda and MIT SENSEable Cities Lab
A Thousand Years of Non Linear History, by Manuel DeLanda
Upon beginning to read this excerpt, I was reminded of the philosophical depth to which architectural publications can go. When I was first beginning to study architecture, I was surprised to find philosophies of design and ways of thinking to be such a major focus. However, I am now comforted by articles such as this one, which show that designers care deeply about their impact on the world and on all the people that experience the spaces that they create. I am reminded of the writings of Christopher Alexander, who, in The Nature of Order, described a new structure for understanding the universe in order to explain qualities that the human race seems to regard as universally beautiful.
I think the overarching idea from this excerpt is to show that histories have bias. All designers also have a bias. All people have a perspective, a background, and a context in time and space, so, therefore, all people have a bias. As designers who strive to create something that goes beyond achieving personal values to creating a positive impact for an entire community or society, it is essential that we look beyond our own perspective.
Data dimension: accessing urban data and making it accessible, by MIT SENSEable Cities Lab
While the previous reading explored bias in history, this reading describes bias in datasets. Through description of three different types of data sets, this article describes how all data has a context, and implicit biased which come from its collection method and the goals for which it was collected. Furthermore, the presentation of data may create a further or different bias. Because we will be collecting, analysing, and presenting data, it is essential for us to understand that our data sets and therefore our presentation drawings will have biases.
An idea I had for diminishing the impact of the bias in a single data set would be to combine information from this data set with information collected in another format, from another source, or in a different way. A variety of information (such as both qualitative and quanitiative, or information at different scales) will may help to create a more nuanced and accurate picture. A potential set back of this method is creating a presentation that contains too much information or is confusing.