Week 4 – Derek Yoshikane

The viewings of this week reminded me of my studies in the fine arts.  “Form follows function,” and the ongoing process in design, came to mind.  I have always believed that this theory in design applied to any product that required creativity to produce it.  The projects done by Stephanie Rothenberg and Brooke Singer were familiar to me because the form usually followed the function or message.  Today’s’ multimedia art is difficult to interpret.  Multimedia has created a new art form that can be at times very complex.  The engagement factor is by far the most interesting aspect of multimedia art.  The audience for artwork can be actively involved in the actual project or artwork.   In World’s Fair 2.0, the project seemed very educational.  The project’s goal was to actively involve”players” in an interactive scavenger hunt.  O.M.S.I. and other science centers across the country often try these creative approaches to learning.  I think that these games are more effective tools for learning because they will provide people with experiences instead of just information.

In the Reversal of Fortune: The Garden of Virtual Kinship, Rothenberg creates a visual representation of crowd-funded charity by tracking funds via kiva.org.  Having a visual that operates on real time statistics is always more intriguing to see than some bar graph or other model that shows just snapshot of what has happened in a given period.  A live representation is always more convincing to your cause.  This gave me an idea to use on our blog/group project.  If we could somehow track the photos being submitted and map out where submissions were coming from, people that submitted photos would feel like their submissions are a part of a larger effort.  The project would invite involvement, because each posting would create a mark on the map, giving a sense of ownership back to the poster.  If anyone can help our group with this, please let me know.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

4 comments to Week 4 – Derek Yoshikane

  • epriebe@uoregon.edu

    The In the Reversal of Fortune: The Garden of Virtual Kinship was absolutely fascinating to me. Kiva investments have great stories behind them, but financial data can often be very dry to read, exactly as you pointed out. The growth of an investment physically represented in the growth of a plant is a striking way to tell the story. I think that project in particular is a great one, like you suggested, to think about in terms of our own projects. How can we demonstrate impact of our projects beyond just pointing to statistics? Engagement is a critical factor in all of our projects, and rethinking how we visually share success could help elevate the conversation around our issues.

  • hdemich2@uoregon.edu

    Hi Derek,
    You could consider using a Sparkwise board where both statistics and narrative blend. Also with a simple method on an excel spreadsheet, you can make a map of where the photos are coming from.

    Here is a board that we created for Lunch Love Community:
    http://www.thefledglingfund.org/film/lunch-love-community

    The app will make the map for you. I wrote a post with the links about this app and how to use it in Week 2.

  • dereky@uoregon.edu

    Thank you Helen. We will give Sparkwise a try.

    Emily, statistics and the display of them will hopefully give contributors a feeing of inclusion in the project. Our project involves self image and empowerment, and allowing participation in a collection of data (images) helps demonstrate a unified effort.

  • Daniel Oxtav

    The idea you derived from Rothenberg’s project for your blog/group project is brilliant. The concept of tracking and mapping submissions in real-time not only adds a compelling visual element but also instills a sense of ownership and contribution among participants. It’s an excellent way to make individuals feel connected to a larger collective effort.

Leave a Reply to epriebe@uoregon.edu Cancel reply

You can use these HTML tags

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>