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Hi Guy,
Shunting trains. sound waves, cars on motorways and many other design
issues are all examples of FEEDBACK systems.
Oscillation can happen in ANY feedback system including information systems,
social systems, HCI interactions and other 'non-'physical systems'. It
simply requires feedback at a different phase in time to the original
action.
These design outcome BEHAVIOURS of feedback are mostly easily predictable in
terms of when and how much they occur. The behaviours are well known and
well understood in terms of how to cause and reduce them.
Design software has been available for modeling them in designed outcomes
since at least the early 70s - I wrote some as an undergrad. The theory and
practice of understanding feedback in design goes back a long way - see,
http://www.theorem.net/theorem/lewis1.html
Most designed systems exhibit feedback loop oscillation issues. They often
cause outcomes opposite to the intention of the designer.
So - why isn't an understanding of designing using knowledge about feedback
and control systems taught in Design Education?
Why aren't they standard baseline understanding in Design theory and Design
practice?
As far as I'm aware, understanding feedback and its effect on design
outcomes is only taught in engineering design and ICT design programs.
I'd be interested to hear of Design Education programs in other areas of
Design that teach an understanding of multi-variable/ multi-feedback
non-linear feedback systems in designing for people and technology.
Best wishes,
Terry
____________________
Dr. Terence Love, FDRS, AMIMechE, PMACM
Director Design-focused Research Group, Design Out Crime Research Group
Researcher, Digital Ecosystems and Business Intelligence Institute
Associate, Planning and Transport Research Centre
Curtin University, PO Box U1987, Perth, Western Australia 6845
Mob: 0434 975 848, Fax +61(0)8 9305 7629, [log in to unmask]
Visiting Professor, Member of Scientific Council
UNIDCOM/ IADE, Lisbon, Portugal
Honorary Fellow, Institute of Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development
Management School, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
____________________
Best wishes,
Terry
-----Original Message-----
From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related
research in Design [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Birkin,
Guy
Sent: Friday, 20 November 2009 11:45 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: concatenation - trains and shunting
Dear Keith and others,
I wonder if there if a similarity here between the propagation of the
'auditory ripples' and the occurrence of spontaneous traffic jams on
motorways...?
Cars travelling on a motorway are analogous to the train carriages; the
delay in acceleration between carriages is like the delay between a car
in front braking and the time when you apply your car's brakes to avoid
hitting it. The cars are moving forwards but the 'braking wave' is
propagated backwards. It seems to me that if the speed of propagation of
the 'braking wave' exceeds the speed of the cars, then a jam can result.
I'm sure I've seen reports on this somewhere, but it's not my area so I
don't have a reference to hand.
Regards,
Guy
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