Week 24 Log: Tutorial

Week beginning 19/03/2012

Transient Memory was thoroughly re-explored this week and all possibilities were considered. Four different transient memory architectures were identified: self, one-to-one, -one-to-many and many-to-many. It was also explored as a counter-factual; current everyday scenarios and systems are seen through transient memory as a ‘mediating lens’. When applied to things such as labelling or writing, false memory came into play. Writing creates a permanence to concepts and ideas: where they are passed down verbally there is the potential for ‘Chinese whispers’ syndrome and can change. If writing became transient this could start happening. On the other hand there is the aspect of it improving the user’s memory; would people memorise more things properly if they couldn’t rely on writing? However the human mind is susceptible to corruption and degradation so these memories could end up being false.

Books read this week were ‘Designing Interactions’, ‘100 things every designer should know’ and ‘Survey Research’. Some survey research will be conducted so a formalisation of this process was essential.  The book ‘100 things every designer should know’ aided with some cognitive psychology revelations such as that it is good that people forget things. The Ebbinghaus ‘Forgetting Curve’ is a formula for the degradation of memories and was taken from this book.

The RAPID software development technique was utilised for a prototype which illustrated the concept of transient memory ‘in a nutshell’. This produced the fading light prototype which illustrated the ways that memories would leave a digital artefact. Requirements were identified and the RAPID method selected due to its fast prototyping structure.

From this visualisation of the concept, different types of transient memory were explored for example people, spaces, presence and things. Memories of presence and space was explored in most detail, and the concept of ‘I was here’ was explored in detail. ‘I was here’ is leaving a mark of your presence in some way in a space. Various real world examples of this phenomenon were identified, from the illegal graffiti of Banksy to the notes places in the Western Wall in Jerusalem. The big question that was asked was what value transience could add to the idea of ‘I was here’. Arguably people leave their mark in the hope it is permanent and new 

contexts of use to validate the concept application in this way.

Mock ups of the concept of ‘I was here’ were then developed in various forms including scenarios, storyboards and Google SketchUp prototype models. There is also some exploration of using photography in the project and methods to do so.

False memory took a few different forms within the week, from false presence to storytelling.

Goals for next week: Usage of prototypes in the real world and user testing.