Assignment 5

Assignment 5 A - The Proposal

For this assignment, I will be looking back to the topic I researched in Semester 1 to propose what the next steps would be. The topic I researched was on 'New Brainwave Technology'. I researched things like, Neural Control of Hand Movements and Contact Forces from the Journal of Neuroscience and The Mind Map Book by Buzan. This information was more to do with how the brain works as this was the closest information I could find relating to brainwave technology. I also looked in to brainwave technology that is at present, undergoing investigation and development. Brainwave technology is still in development, so there was not much I could find out about the topic from secondary research. I found that my research for this topic was hard to understand. This is because, how the brain works is very complex and just reading about it was slightly confusing. I feel that if I were to do some primary research, I would be able to hopefully understand the topic a bit better.

Reading over my research from Semester 1, it shows that the research I found was more to do with how the brain works and how different parts of the brain are used. The information I was hoping to find would have been more to do with brainwave technology. I did find a mind-controlled wheelchair and car by the company Toyota, however it was still not the information I was hoping for. I was trying to find information on how to use the brain to control something completely, without using any other method of movement i.e. no use of hands/feet or body.

As my secondary research was not the information I was hoping for, the next step I would take is to do my own primary research. I was thinking back to the experiment I did for my second assignment in semester 2. I found the experiment to be very enjoyable and the information I gathered was very useful to the task I was undergoing. The experiment was about the concept of Polysemy. The experiment involved asking people questions and using images. However I do not think that this type of experiment would be relevant for my research at this point. This is because my topic is on new brainwave technology and the concept of Polysemy has nothing to do with what i am resarching. Also, people who are not familiar with the complexity of the brain, will not know the answers to my questions. Questions that I do have however, could possibly be answered by people like, brain surgeons and neuron scientists.

This brings me to believe that conducting interviews with brain surgeons and scientists, could be successful in gaining as close to the information that I need as possible. I think that this method of primary research could be successful because if I interview people that have an understanding of this topic, I am more likely to gain the information that is relevant to my research. Also, it will possibly help me to understand the topic better myself. To make sure my results are reliable I would conduct interviews with a range of brain surgeons and scientists from different locations. Places such as, Glasgow Royal Infirmary and The Institute of Medical Sciences in Aberdeen are possilbe destinations to conduct interviews with people who are studing the brain. From my previous experience of using interviews as primary research, I would make sure that this time I use a more comfortable approach. By this I mean that I would start by using light conversation with my participants, to ease them in to the interview and I would make sure that they feel comfortable enough to answer my questions. I would then analyse the results from the interviews to look for similarities and differences.

Another method of primary research used in Semester 2, was going out and about and observing people in different situations. If I was to use this method for my research, I would have to think of what type of people I would need to observe and in what places these people would be, for my results to be successful. Observing people in situations where they need to use their brain to do something, would be a good start. Even something like, observing a life drawing class. From this I could observe what people see and how they interpret what is in front of them. People will have different drawings infront of them which will be interesting to evaluate the similarties and differences on how different people's brain's see different things. From this observation I would want to get inforamtion that shows that every brain is different and the power of the brain is different for everyone. However, the information I would get from this would not be as relevant as the interviews. It would not be as relevant to the topic of 'new brainwave technology', but it could give me information relating to how the brain works. I will not get answers on how to use brainwave technology to move objects using only the power of the brain. This method of research could be a starting point to help move further towards the findings of 'New Brainwave Technology'. To make sure I got consistent results from this method, I would have to first of all observe similar people i.e (of a certain level of education) and then compare the results. Then I would have to observe completely different people i.e (of a level of lower education) and compare their results also. I would then compare both sets of results and analyse my findings.

If I were to think of other ways to research this topic, I could possibly contact the company Toyoto and ask them if they would be willing to participate in an interview. I could ask questions like;

Are there any designers on the project, if so, what do they bring to the project?

Explain any failed attempts and how they went wrong?

Who was involved in the test runs of the products?

Is the project expensive?

Will the research benifit the future?

I would futher think about other questions while in the interview so I am not just reading off of a list. This interview would give me information that I need about the experiments they are currently undergoing involving brainwave technology.This could be more useful than the way I researched their experiments in Semester 1. In Semester 1 I used secondary research to read about Toyota's mind-controlled wheelchair and car. When reading about their experiments, it was hard to understand. If I were to use primary research methods instead and contact Toyota directly, I would possibly recieve information that would clarify what I did not understand before.

However, I feel that using the method of interviewing people will be the most successful for my research. This is because my topic is very complex so I would need to speak to people that understand it. The other methods of primary research could be helpful, but not as helpful as the interviews. Conducting interviews with people like brain surgeons and scientists and even speaking to a designer from Toyota, will give me the information that i am looking for and by listining to these people it will help me to understand my research so far. Using secondary research is more about reading up on things, and because my topic is difficult to understand, using primary research will definetley be more benificial.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Buzan, T & B (2006) The Mind Map Book, Division 1 - Chapter 1, BBC Active

Chib, VS (2009) The Separate Neural Control of Hand Movements and Contact Forces,Journal of Neuroscience 29

http://www.engadget.com/Toyato-mindcontrolledwheelchair

Part B

Assignment 5 Part B


At the very beginning of Second Year, we were given a brief relating to the word 'Culture'. This was to be my own interpretation, so I was able to go in any direction I wanted. I chose to investigate Buddhist Symbolism. As this was my first project of Second Year, I was obviously not as confident as I am now. I did not really understand the importance of Primary and Secondary research. As Buddhist Symbols is not something I could go outside and draw, I got a lot of my information from Secondary research by looking at books and information on the internet. The information I got however, was limited due to Wikipedia being an unreliable source. Also I was not successful in finding good images of the Symbolism. If I got the chance to do this project again from the beginning, I would have definitely used some of the research methods I was taught in Design Studies.

I started the project by doing a mind map. At this stage, I did not know the proper ways of using mind maps and brain storms. In Semester 1 we were to use these methods in certain tasks. By learning about these methods in Design Studies, I learned how to use the methods properly and how to get beneficial information from them. If I could do my mind map again, I would know how to do it properly this time. By doing it properly I could have possibly taken more information from it and had a better understanding of my project. The mind map I did was basically a mess and I could hardly understand what I had written.

After doing my mind map I started doing some secondary research. I first of all looked for information on the internet. If I were to do this project again, this time instead of just typing in 'Buddhist Symbols' into 'Google', I would have also considered using cross-search which is an online search tool. I would use this tool because, the results I got when using it for the first time in Semester 1 proved to be were very helpful. There is so many more reliable sources on cross-search and the amount of sources to chose from is overwhelming. With more variety in my research, I could have taken my project that little bit further. By this I mean that if I had better resources, my drawings could have had more information in them, leading to better results in the development process. When I first used cross-search I did not think it was necessary and I thought it would just give me the same information as I found on other search tools online. I was wrong! The information on the internet is not always reliable for example Wikipedia, in which the information can be written by anyone. Using cross-search I would be able to discover more books on the topic that have more information and images on Buddhist Symbolism and I would be more confident in trusting this information. When I looked for books in the college library, again I was limited to what they had. The books had little or no images of Buddhist symbols, and the images I found on the internet were not as good as I had hoped for.

In Semester 2 we learned about Primary research methods. One of which is how to conduct interviews to gather information. I think that this method would have been of particular use because I did no primary research for the project and this method would have allowed me to venture out-with the studio. If I were to conduct interviews, I would perhaps go to some Buddhist Temples and interview people who are there at the time. I may ask them to tell me about their religion and try to get an insight into the symbolism of the culture. If I could get them to explain the symbolism, It may have helped me to do better drawings as I would have a better understanding of what it is that I am drawing. I would also use the time there to look around the temples and extract information to use for my drawings. This could have allowed me to have more drawings in my sketchbook and also, by being in the presence of the religion itself it would allow me to get a better understanding of the culture.

Design Studies has really opened up so many things to me over the two semesters. When Design Studies first started, I did not see the connections between my studio work and the Design Studies work. Over the year I have started to make the connections with design that is all around us with the work I do in the studio. When doing some of the assignments I started to notice design issues. For example, when observing people in the subway I was beginning to see the design connections like why the layout is the way it is etc. I now look at things around me alot differently too, for example, while standing in a bus station I now look around me and observe other peoples' behaviour, even if I don't know that i am doing it. Then once I have observed their behaviour, I question the things they did and try to make connections through design. I do not just see myself as a textile designer any longer. I now see the many issues I have to consider when designing that does not just involve what materials to use and what colours to use. I totally appreciate Design Studies so much more now. Even though I am still learning, I think the Design Studies programme contains excellent information and methods that will benifit me as a growing designer.