Thank you for the quick responses. The first I discount, I have no time for slovenly work on the fringes just because the focus of interest is somewhere else. Just as well I will not be examining those PhDs that adopt this practice, I am depressed that anyone on this group would support it. Maybe that is why I have never been bothered to complete one? (ooo-er!) Am I meant to be impressed by reference to Foucault? If I am, it fails miserably. Crap research is exactly that, no matter how high falutin' the theory, you will impress no-one but poseurs if the factual history you base it on is discredited and you have not done enough reading to know it, or are so lazy you cannot be bothered. Yes, call me old fashioned...I am; to me it serves to emphasise the poverty of what passes for doctorate level work these days if you think otherwise.
Derek is quite right as far as I am concerned. Bijker posits a theoretical position which I find very impressive, in fact his analysis of the concept of 'safety' in terms of the market of 1885 is one that any design historian would be very stupid to ignore, but I would hope that 'any design historian' would take this on board as a matter of course. That might be my discipline, but in fact the trump cards in areas such as cycling are not held by design historians, or designers, or academics of any kind; they are held by enthusiasts, collectors, museum curators, writers of popular histories and so on. Foucault to them is no more that something nasty on the pavement. As academics we can choose to ignore them... 'anoraks', and I have no doubt that this is how Bijker would see them. Unfortunately this is the posturing that gives academia a bad name in design (and, I would hope, anywhere else where serious expertise in tems of fact and object is not held in academia). Until we get writers who can present decent theory on the back of state-of-the-art factual history the division will last forever. Yes, that will mean that some on this site might have to engage with (horror) enthusiasts' magazines, collectors' discussion groups, even ( worse) actual objects, rather than Foucault; but, I know which side I'd be on when the chips are down.
Nicholas Oddy
________________________________
From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design on behalf of PHD-DESIGN automatic digest system
Sent: Sat 13/08/2011 00:00
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: PHD-DESIGN Digest - 11 Aug 2011 to 12 Aug 2011 (#2011-203)[Scanned-Clean]
There are 11 messages totaling 1916 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. Mental models - was User Models of Scrolling
2. I just love it when I get replies to my notes (3)
3. Norman's Law + rich compost
4. history of the bicycle - thanks!
5. Bicycles[Scanned-Clean] (3)
6. User Models of Scrolling (2)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 08:07:24 +0800
From: Terence Love <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Mental models - was User Models of Scrolling
Hi Don,
There are advantages to more carefully separating the different kinds of
'body-based models' of reality (of which mental models are one type) and
separating them from situational models created post-facto by observers and
also from the varieties of formal theoretical models.
An example: for making a turn on a bicycle, the 'physical body model' stored
in basal ganglia is typically different from the self-observed 'mental
model' of the activity which is different again from observers' situational
models and different again from dynamics models engineers scientists create
and from the models cognitive scientists infer and different again from the
variety of affective models that the cyclist holds. Separating each of
these model types from each other is helpful to see useful differences, in
design terms, that are obscured by lumping them all as 'mental models'.
Cheers,
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 Don
Norman
Sent: Friday, 12 August 2011 1:40 AM
To: Dr Terence Love
Subject: Mental models - was User Models of Scrolling
-----------------------
On Wed, Aug 10, 2011 at 6:49 PM, Edgar Rodriguez-Ramirez
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> As Norman suggests, consistency with mental models can help avoid
confusion for some people. Consistency can also stagnate creativity and
freedom of movement.
>
> I wonder what this person's mental model would be if it were real, it
certainly is a beautiful one:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyMfpJh3h4A
--------------------------------
Neat video. Not clear what it has to do with the subject, so I'm
changing the subject line.
Note that:
the graphics are added after the filming, which makes it a bit easier
Wacth his "tutorial." It shows that he does have a mental model: the
moves are blocked into groups of N moves, which are then reversed,
making each block 2N moves long. The tutorial shows a block of N=8:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM6iim46of0
there are other tutorials for these moves on YouTube. (And all of it
is part of an ad campaign by Samsung for their galaxy Android phone.)
Mental models rule!
.
Don Norman
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 18:24:23 -0700
From: Don Norman <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: I just love it when I get replies to my notes
I just love it when I get replies to my notes. That's why the PhD list
is so valuable. From these replies I have deduced some general
principles:
1. Experts on a topic get elementary lectures on why their short
message failed to get at the sophisticated nuances (which they might
even have explored in books, but about which the responder,
self-proclaimed expert, is unaware.
2. Beginners get long essays on the proper manner of studying whatever
topic the responders thinks is relevant.
3. Responders use their responses as an excuse to write their
currently favorite beliefs, whether or not they have relevance to the
topic under discussion.
All these responders seems to be unaware of two rather fundamental
truths of human behavior:
A. Nobody likes to be patronized or lectured to
B. The number of readers decrease rapidly as article size increases
(Norman's law says that the number of readers is inversely
proportional to the square of the length of the article.)
I predict that long messages do not get read, and especially not read
by those to whom they are targeted.
Thank goodness, i say.
Don Norman
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:40:13 +0800
From: Nicola Smith <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Norman's Law + rich compost
Don you are priceless.
Norman's Law holds true for me.
Research training is supposed to lead to concise, well thought out arguments... concise.
Sifting through verbal compost (meant in a nice way) for valuable nuggets is sometimes just too onerous a task.
Shame, I am sure there are lots of seeds germinating in deep the heat of the pile.
Re: Appropriate brevity - the subject line as the signpost to content sometimes misleads, or is leftover from ye olde thread.
A neat, crispy and relevant subject descriptor please.
Thank you!
Nicola
-----Original Message-----
From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design on behalf of Don Norman
Sent: Fri 8/12/2011 9:24 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: I just love it when I get replies to my notes
I just love it when I get replies to my notes. That's why the PhD list
is so valuable. From these replies I have deduced some general
principles:
1. Experts on a topic get elementary lectures on why their short
message failed to get at the sophisticated nuances (which they might
even have explored in books, but about which the responder,
self-proclaimed expert, is unaware.
2. Beginners get long essays on the proper manner of studying whatever
topic the responders thinks is relevant.
3. Responders use their responses as an excuse to write their
currently favorite beliefs, whether or not they have relevance to the
topic under discussion.
All these responders seems to be unaware of two rather fundamental
truths of human behavior:
A. Nobody likes to be patronized or lectured to
B. The number of readers decrease rapidly as article size increases
(Norman's law says that the number of readers is inversely
proportional to the square of the length of the article.)
I predict that long messages do not get read, and especially not read
by those to whom they are targeted.
Thank goodness, i say.
Don Norman
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 07:42:26 -0400
From: Susana La Luz <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: I just love it when I get replies to my notes
From someone who has sought help and been patronized or lectured to (or given a patronizing lecture), I thank you.
Well said.
From someone who has sought help and received a number of insightful and well-meaning leads, I hope this message being so well said will help deter the mental masturbation and NOT the valuable academic sharing.
-Susana
> Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 18:24:23 -0700
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: I just love it when I get replies to my notes
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> I just love it when I get replies to my notes. That's why the PhD list
> is so valuable. From these replies I have deduced some general
> principles:
>
> 1. Experts on a topic get elementary lectures on why their short
> message failed to get at the sophisticated nuances (which they might
> even have explored in books, but about which the responder,
> self-proclaimed expert, is unaware.
>
> 2. Beginners get long essays on the proper manner of studying whatever
> topic the responders thinks is relevant.
>
> 3. Responders use their responses as an excuse to write their
> currently favorite beliefs, whether or not they have relevance to the
> topic under discussion.
>
>
> All these responders seems to be unaware of two rather fundamental
> truths of human behavior:
>
> A. Nobody likes to be patronized or lectured to
> B. The number of readers decrease rapidly as article size increases
> (Norman's law says that the number of readers is inversely
> proportional to the square of the length of the article.)
>
> I predict that long messages do not get read, and especially not read
> by those to whom they are targeted.
>
> Thank goodness, i say.
>
> Don Norman
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 08:00:06 -0400
From: "Filippo A. Salustri" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: history of the bicycle - thanks!
Thanks everyone for all the links and information about the history of
bicycles. We'll follow up with all of them.
Most appreciatively,
Fil
--
\V/_
Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Ryerson University
350 Victoria St, Toronto, ON
M5B 2K3, Canada
Tel: 416/979-5000 ext 7749
Fax: 416/979-5265
Email: [log in to unmask]
http://deseng.ryerson.ca/~fil/
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 14:17:22 +0100
From: "Oddy, Nicholas" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Bicycles[Scanned-Clean]
Before we start, let's get the terminology sorted out...cycles, not just bicycles, the history of the latter is dependent on the former, particularly in the 19th century.
Pinch and Bijker, magnificent theorists but poor historians, the history used by Bijker in 'Social Studies of Science' in 1984 was already discredited and once the International Cycling History Conference started worrying out the myths and downright lies in 1990 and thereafter there was no excuse to bang on about Kirkpatrick Macmillan or any other questionable or bogus priority claim. But, Bijker saw no reason to revise his history by the time of 'Bicycles, Bulbs and Bakelite'in the 1990s, demonstrating a poverty of academic rigour. His cavalier use of history has largely discredited the SCOT model amongst the very groups he was trying to influence, a great pity as it has considerable mileage. I recommend you to Nick Clayton's discussion in 'Technology and Culture' re this source.
As for general histories. Andrew Ritchie's 'King of the Road' (Wildwood, 1975) is still pretty good, although its age predates that of hard questioning and even today Andrew is still acting in the rearguard for the Scottish claimants, the likelihood of which remain 'not proven' in the terms of their own courts. Suffice to say that any significant invention of the 19th century that cannot be provided with any evidence of existence until 50 years after it was supposedly built and seen in public is one that few historians would nail their colours to. Moreover, all the key players were, conveniently, dead by the time the first of the machines 'came to light' in 1888. More recently David Herlihy's 'Bicycle' (Yale, 2004) is by far the best. David is a bit hung up on the Michaux claims of 1861 (a fiction of the 1890s) but it is better to explore untruths than let them pass by and his attention to such detail tells you what a quagmire you step into in entering the marsh of cycling history. In general this is the most reliable of general sources. If you want straight factual history do not bother to read anything that gives credit to Leonardo Da Vinci, Sivrac's Celifiere, (indeed any two-wheeled machine prior to Drais in 1817) Fischer's 1850s velocipede...all are completely bogus, and give the lie to poor research if they are cited as anything other than that.
Nicholas Oddy.
-----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 PHD-DESIGN automatic digest system
Sent: 12 August 2011 00:00
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: PHD-DESIGN Digest - 10 Aug 2011 to 11 Aug 2011 (#2011-202)[Scanned-Clean]
There are 9 messages totaling 636 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. User Models of Scrolling (2)
2. the history of the bicycle (6)
3. Mental models - was User Models of Scrolling
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 01:49:48 +0000
From: Edgar Rodriguez-Ramirez <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: User Models of Scrolling
Hi all,
As Norman suggests, consistency with mental models can help avoid confusion for some people. Consistency can also stagnate creativity and freedom of movement.
I wonder what this person's mental model would be if it were real, it certainly is a beautiful one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyMfpJh3h4A
Cheers
Edgar Rodriguez Ramirez
Lecturer | Postgraduate Research Coordinator
PhD Candidate
School of Design
Victoria University of Wellington
Aotearoa - New Zealand
+64 4 4636245
-----Original Message-----
Donald Norman wrote:
> The reason for the change is, presumably, consistency, now
> that gestures are becoming the standard way of moving text around on
> multi-touch screens, and multi-touch will become standard on all systems in
> the next few years, either through touch screens or touchpads (or
> more likely, both).
>
> ===
> Who remembers the early fights about this model? Can anyone remind me of
> how
> we ever decided upon the moving window model rather than the moving text
> one? The transition will cause much confusion, I am certain, and I want to
> get the original rationale right.
--
-----------------------------
Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2011 22:43:05 -0400
From: "Filippo A. Salustri" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: User Models of Scrolling
With respect,
If I have to choose between helping to avoid confusion amongst people on the
one hand, and creativity on the other, I'll choose the former. There's
plenty of opportunities left to be creative.
Also, while that youtube video is quite wonderful, that kind of dexterity
can be learned. Doug Henning, the magician, was also very dextrous, and
often commented that anyone could learn how to do it.
Cheers.
Fil
On 10 August 2011 21:49, Edgar Rodriguez-Ramirez <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> As Norman suggests, consistency with mental models can help avoid confusion
> for some people. Consistency can also stagnate creativity and freedom of
> movement.
>
> I wonder what this person's mental model would be if it were real, it
> certainly is a beautiful one:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyMfpJh3h4A
>
> Cheers
>
> Edgar Rodriguez Ramirez
> Lecturer | Postgraduate Research Coordinator
> PhD Candidate
> School of Design
> Victoria University of Wellington
> Aotearoa - New Zealand
> +64 4 4636245
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> Donald Norman wrote:
>
> > The reason for the change is, presumably, consistency, now
> > that gestures are becoming the standard way of moving text around on
> > multi-touch screens, and multi-touch will become standard on all systems
> in
> > the next few years, either through touch screens or touchpads (or
> > more likely, both).
> >
> > ===
> > Who remembers the early fights about this model? Can anyone remind me of
> > how
> > we ever decided upon the moving window model rather than the moving text
> > one? The transition will cause much confusion, I am certain, and I want
> to
> > get the original rationale right.
>
> --
>
--
\V/_
Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Ryerson University
350 Victoria St, Toronto, ON
M5B 2K3, Canada
Tel: 416/979-5000 ext 7749
Fax: 416/979-5265
Email: [log in to unmask]
http://deseng.ryerson.ca/~fil/
-----------------------------
Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2011 22:44:45 -0400
From: "Filippo A. Salustri" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: the history of the bicycle
Hi all,
I'm wondering if anyone can direct me to a definitive history of the design
of the bicycle.
I've been made aware of several histories, but there are some conflicts in
certain aspects.
Much obliged.
Fil
--
\V/_
Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Ryerson University
350 Victoria St, Toronto, ON
M5B 2K3, Canada
Tel: 416/979-5000 ext 7749
Fax: 416/979-5265
Email: [log in to unmask]
http://deseng.ryerson.ca/~fil/
-----------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 05:26:08 +0000
From: klaus krippendorff <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: the history of the bicycle
There always are alternative histories. Only if you believe in a god's eye view of the world are there conflicts.
I have used wiebe's account ihis and others social construction of technology. I was not interested in bicycles per se but in social accounts of how techbology becomes part of soocial practices and how socia practices deternine the direction technological development takes.
Klaus
------Original Message------
From: Filippo A. Salustri
Sender: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and relatedresearch in Design
To: [log in to unmask]
ReplyTo: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and relatedresearch in Design
Subject: the history of the bicycle
Sent: Aug 10, 2011 10:44 PM
Hi all,
I'm wondering if anyone can direct me to a definitive history of the design
of the bicycle.
I've been made aware of several histories, but there are some conflicts in
certain aspects.
Much obliged.
Fil
--
\V/_
Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Ryerson University
350 Victoria St, Toronto, ON
M5B 2K3, Canada
Tel: 416/979-5000 ext 7749
Fax: 416/979-5265
Email: [log in to unmask]
http://deseng.ryerson.ca/~fil/
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
-----------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 09:28:06 +0200
From: Birger Sevaldson <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: the history of the bicycle
Hello Filippo
Im running the gallery at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. I don't know anything about bikes, but I just thought ill let you know that we are planning to display a few of the 500 bikes in a private collection of Norwegian bikes that now is hidden in a cellar here in Oslo. So for that we would need some general and local history. I would certainly be interested in keeping a dialogue on the theme.
Best
Birger Sevaldson
Professor
Oslo School of Architecture and Design
-----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 Filippo A. Salustri
Sent: 11. august 2011 04:45
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: the history of the bicycle
Hi all,
I'm wondering if anyone can direct me to a definitive history of the design
of the bicycle.
I've been made aware of several histories, but there are some conflicts in
certain aspects.
Much obliged.
Fil
--
\V/_
Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Ryerson University
350 Victoria St, Toronto, ON
M5B 2K3, Canada
Tel: 416/979-5000 ext 7749
Fax: 416/979-5265
Email: [log in to unmask]
http://deseng.ryerson.ca/~fil/
-----------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 08:25:35 +0000
From: Henri Christiaans - IO <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: the history of the bicycle
In the Netherlands we have a bicycle museum called Velorama
(http://www.velorama.nl <http://www.velorama.nl/> ). See the site. They can help you with
documentation.
Henri
-----
Prof. Dr. Henri H.C.M. Christiaans
Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, TU Delft
Head of Master Specialisation Retail Design
Course Director TopTech Retail Design & Management
Visiting professor Universidade Técnica de Lisboa (UTL)
Editor-in-chief Journal of Design Research (www.inderscience.com/jdr)
Landbergstraat 15, 2628 CE Delft, the Netherlands
T: +31 (0)152 783 063
M: +31 (0)651 363 996
F: +31 (0)152 787 179
On 8/11/11 4:44 AM, "Filippo A. Salustri" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Hi all,
>
>I'm wondering if anyone can direct me to a definitive history of the
>design
>of the bicycle.
>I've been made aware of several histories, but there are some conflicts in
>certain aspects.
>
>Much obliged.
>Fil
>
>--
>\V/_
>Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng.
>Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
>Ryerson University
>350 Victoria St, Toronto, ON
>M5B 2K3, Canada
>Tel: 416/979-5000 ext 7749
>Fax: 416/979-5265
>Email: [log in to unmask]
>http://deseng.ryerson.ca/~fil/
-----------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 08:17:13 -0400
From: Peter Jones | Redesign <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: the history of the bicycle
Fil - Is there a definitive history of anything? ;) All histories are
narratives from a perspective, definitive from that storyteller's viewpoint
at most. My question would be, is there an innovator's history of bicycles?
And why focus on bicycles as the only artifact?
As a Daytonian before a Torontonian, it's incumbent on me to remind the
bicycle historians that the origination of the first stable flying machine
was constructed in Dayton by bicycle innovators. The structures and precise
balancing of the Wright Flyer was made possible by the brothers' experience
with inventing and repairing bicycles, which were reportedly a "craze" at
the turn of the last century. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers
The recent innovation of the "safety bicycle" then has remained a stable
design for > 100 years.
As you may know as a Torontonian, there's a bicycle film festival this week,
and Dexter Ico in our studio here has a piece in the program:
http://www.bicyclefilmfestival.com/toronto/ Worth seeing the site just for
the variety of stories.
Going back to Dayton, I will purport a working theory of Dayton as one of
the first major US innovation clusters
http://www.isc.hbs.edu/econ-clusters.htm and it was the Silicon Valley of
the machine age, now celebrated and fantasized in steampunk retrospective.
It was the leading city for new patents during a period then, and it still
has a famous Engineer's Club downtown.
The Wright Brothers were no accident. Dayton was home of the first assembly
line mechanical computer firm (NCR), the company founded by James Patterson
who literally "fired" IBM founder TJ Watson in front of their original HQ
building on Main Street. Before the Ford assembly line, Dayton had the
largest number of bespoke auto shops in the US, over 100 by some accounts,
and the machining and machine tool industry were uniquely capable in the
world from that time through the 1970's, when the industrial infrastructure
was "Shumpetered." Dayton was the US home of the Enigma codebreakers, and
in WWII was the home of human factors engineering, as jet aircraft were also
designed and managed from the new US Air Force in Dayton. The capacity to
drill the 16" gun bores for the WWII battleships was only found in Dayton
(which I remember but have not confirmed), and so on. There are numerous
examples like this.
Needless to say, even with a significant high tech economy in Dayton, it did
not evolve to Silicon Valley. But will Silicon Valley be the leading
innovation cluster in North America after another century? If the secular
era of long-term innovation and development drives regional clusters, we may
not be able to predict what developments and capacities will drive the next
age's innovation center. Has anyone on the group list studied clusters and
these regions, or have longitudinal theories about these innovation eras?
Peter
Peter Jones, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Faculty of Design
Strategic Foresight and Innovation
T 416 799-8799
E [log in to unmask]
OCAD University
205 Richmond Street West, Toronto, Canada M5V 1V6
Hello Filippo
Im running the gallery at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. I
don't know anything about bikes, but I just thought ill let you know that we
are planning to display a few of the 500 bikes in a private collection of
Norwegian bikes that now is hidden in a cellar here in Oslo. So for that we
would need some general and local history. I would certainly be interested
in keeping a dialogue on the theme.
Best
Birger Sevaldson
Professor
Oslo School of Architecture and Design
-----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 Filippo
A. Salustri
Sent: 11. august 2011 04:45
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: the history of the bicycle
Hi all,
I'm wondering if anyone can direct me to a definitive history of the design
of the bicycle.
I've been made aware of several histories, but there are some conflicts in
certain aspects.
Much obliged.
Fil
--
\V/_
Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Ryerson University
350 Victoria St, Toronto, ON
M5B 2K3, Canada
Tel: 416/979-5000 ext 7749
Fax: 416/979-5265
Email: [log in to unmask]
http://deseng.ryerson.ca/~fil/
-----------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 17:31:50 +0200
From: "Derek B. Miller" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: the history of the bicycle
I think I might have sent a note earlier I didn't mean to send. If so, oops and sorry.
There is a wonderful piece that is not about bicycles per se, but rather uses of the example of the bicycle to explain a wider point about the analysis of technological systems. I was very impressed by this book ten years ago when I read it, and I think it was very ahead of its time (it came out in 1987, and I have the sixth printing from 1997).
The book is called The Social Construction of Technological Systems: New Directions on the Sociology and History of Technology, edited by Weibe E. Bijker, Thomas P. Hughes, and Trevor Pinch.
The chapter in question is the first one called The Social Construction of Facts and Artifacts: Or How the Sociology of Science and the Sociology of Technology Might Benefit Each Other. by Pinch and Bijker.
Unlike some contemporary work in this vein, which has become decidedly shrill and aloof to the nuts and bolts of serious social research, this is readable, logical and I think very valuable. To explain, they use the bicycle as its progression (or evolution if you prefer) to illustrate their approach.
Do take a look.
Derek.
_____________
Derek B. Miller
Director
The Policy Lab
321 Columbus Ave.
Seventh Floor of the Electric Carriage House
Boston, MA 02116
United States of America
Phone
+1 617 440 4409
Twitter
@Policylabtweets
Web
www.thepolicylab.org (http://www.thepolicylab.org <http://www.thepolicylab.org/> )
On Thursday, August 11, 2011 at 2:17 PM, Peter Jones | Redesign wrote:
> Fil - Is there a definitive history of anything? ;) All histories are
> narratives from a perspective, definitive from that storyteller's viewpoint
> at most. My question would be, is there an innovator's history of bicycles?
> And why focus on bicycles as the only artifact?
>
> As a Daytonian before a Torontonian, it's incumbent on me to remind the
> bicycle historians that the origination of the first stable flying machine
> was constructed in Dayton by bicycle innovators. The structures and precise
> balancing of the Wright Flyer was made possible by the brothers' experience
> with inventing and repairing bicycles, which were reportedly a "craze" at
> the turn of the last century. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers
> The recent innovation of the "safety bicycle" then has remained a stable
> design for > 100 years.
>
> As you may know as a Torontonian, there's a bicycle film festival this week,
> and Dexter Ico in our studio here has a piece in the program:
> http://www.bicyclefilmfestival.com/toronto/ Worth seeing the site just for
> the variety of stories.
>
> Going back to Dayton, I will purport a working theory of Dayton as one of
> the first major US innovation clusters
> http://www.isc.hbs.edu/econ-clusters.htm and it was the Silicon Valley of
> the machine age, now celebrated and fantasized in steampunk retrospective.
> It was the leading city for new patents during a period then, and it still
> has a famous Engineer's Club downtown.
>
> The Wright Brothers were no accident. Dayton was home of the first assembly
> line mechanical computer firm (NCR), the company founded by James Patterson
> who literally "fired" IBM founder TJ Watson in front of their original HQ
> building on Main Street. Before the Ford assembly line, Dayton had the
> largest number of bespoke auto shops in the US, over 100 by some accounts,
> and the machining and machine tool industry were uniquely capable in the
> world from that time through the 1970's, when the industrial infrastructure
> was "Shumpetered." Dayton was the US home of the Enigma codebreakers, and
> in WWII was the home of human factors engineering, as jet aircraft were also
> designed and managed from the new US Air Force in Dayton. The capacity to
> drill the 16" gun bores for the WWII battleships was only found in Dayton
> (which I remember but have not confirmed), and so on. There are numerous
> examples like this.
>
> Needless to say, even with a significant high tech economy in Dayton, it did
> not evolve to Silicon Valley. But will Silicon Valley be the leading
> innovation cluster in North America after another century? If the secular
> era of long-term innovation and development drives regional clusters, we may
> not be able to predict what developments and capacities will drive the next
> age's innovation center. Has anyone on the group list studied clusters and
> these regions, or have longitudinal theories about these innovation eras?
>
> Peter
>
> Peter Jones, Ph.D.
> Associate Professor, Faculty of Design
> Strategic Foresight and Innovation
>
> T 416 799-8799
> E [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])
>
> OCAD University
> 205 Richmond Street West, Toronto, Canada M5V 1V6
>
>
> Hello Filippo
> Im running the gallery at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. I
> don't know anything about bikes, but I just thought ill let you know that we
> are planning to display a few of the 500 bikes in a private collection of
> Norwegian bikes that now is hidden in a cellar here in Oslo. So for that we
> would need some general and local history. I would certainly be interested
> in keeping a dialogue on the theme.
> Best
> Birger Sevaldson
> Professor
> Oslo School of Architecture and Design
>
> -----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 Filippo
> A. Salustri
> Sent: 11. august 2011 04:45
> To: [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])
> Subject: the history of the bicycle
>
> Hi all,
>
> I'm wondering if anyone can direct me to a definitive history of the design
> of the bicycle.
> I've been made aware of several histories, but there are some conflicts in
> certain aspects.
>
> Much obliged.
> Fil
>
> --
> \V/_
> Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng.
> Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
> Ryerson University
> 350 Victoria St, Toronto, ON
> M5B 2K3, Canada
> Tel: 416/979-5000 ext 7749
> Fax: 416/979-5265
> Email: [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])
> http://deseng.ryerson.ca/~fil/
-----------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 10:39:48 -0700
From: Don Norman <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Mental models - was User Models of Scrolling
-----------------------
On Wed, Aug 10, 2011 at 6:49 PM, Edgar Rodriguez-Ramirez
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> As Norman suggests, consistency with mental models can help avoid confusion for some people. Consistency can also stagnate creativity and freedom of movement.
>
> I wonder what this person's mental model would be if it were real, it certainly is a beautiful one:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyMfpJh3h4A
--------------------------------
Neat video. Not clear what it has to do with the subject, so I'm
changing the subject line.
Note that:
the graphics are added after the filming, which makes it a bit easier
Wacth his "tutorial." It shows that he does have a mental model: the
moves are blocked into groups of N moves, which are then reversed,
making each block 2N moves long. The tutorial shows a block of N=8:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM6iim46of0
there are other tutorials for these moves on YouTube. (And all of it
is part of an ad campaign by Samsung for their galaxy Android phone.)
Mental models rule!
.
Don Norman
-----------------------------
End of PHD-DESIGN Digest - 10 Aug 2011 to 11 Aug 2011 (#2011-202)
*****************************************************************
The Glasgow School of Art is a charity registered in Scotland, charity number SC012490.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 09:29:07 -0400
From: jeremy hunsinger <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Bicycles[Scanned-Clean]
to be honest here Bijker and Pinch weren't trying to be historians really in that short article. it is first and foremost an idealized sociology of technology. to say they were doing history is sort of like saying foucault is doing history... it is a misconstrual, and thus the criticism should pretty much be responded to like I am here... with 'fine, but that misses the point'
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:40:42 +0200
From: "Derek B. Miller" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Bicycles[Scanned-Clean]
Dear Nicolas,
Very interesting note. Thanks for that. You mention:
"Pinch and Bijker, magnificent theorists but poor historians..."
I know nothing about cycles, bicycles, etc. So I'm in no position to comment on their history. Whatever errors existed in or followed this work, some of the core ideas - about the way technology is developed in and for social context, not in a linear manner suggesting inevitability - still stand, and it seems you'd agree to this as well.
There remains, for example, a wide discussion about whether the nuclear bomb was "inevitable" once certain theoretical moves in science had been made. As someone who works in disarmament issues, I know that what constitutes the "social context" is constantly being debated. So I find insights from this work helpful.
I'll be interested to read Technology and Culture for these same reasons. Thanks for the tip.
Signing off this one!
d.
_____________
Derek B. Miller
Director
The Policy Lab
321 Columbus Ave.
Seventh Floor of the Electric Carriage House
Boston, MA 02116
United States of America
Phone
+1 617 440 4409
Twitter
@Policylabtweets
Web
www.thepolicylab.org (http://www.thepolicylab.org <http://www.thepolicylab.org/> )
On Friday, August 12, 2011 at 3:17 PM, Oddy, Nicholas wrote:
> Before we start, let's get the terminology sorted out...cycles, not just bicycles, the history of the latter is dependent on the former, particularly in the 19th century.
>
> Pinch and Bijker, magnificent theorists but poor historians, the history used by Bijker in 'Social Studies of Science' in 1984 was already discredited and once the International Cycling History Conference started worrying out the myths and downright lies in 1990 and thereafter there was no excuse to bang on about Kirkpatrick Macmillan or any other questionable or bogus priority claim. But, Bijker saw no reason to revise his history by the time of 'Bicycles, Bulbs and Bakelite'in the 1990s, demonstrating a poverty of academic rigour. His cavalier use of history has largely discredited the SCOT model amongst the very groups he was trying to influence, a great pity as it has considerable mileage. I recommend you to Nick Clayton's discussion in 'Technology and Culture' re this source.
>
> As for general histories. Andrew Ritchie's 'King of the Road' (Wildwood, 1975) is still pretty good, although its age predates that of hard questioning and even today Andrew is still acting in the rearguard for the Scottish claimants, the likelihood of which remain 'not proven' in the terms of their own courts. Suffice to say that any significant invention of the 19th century that cannot be provided with any evidence of existence until 50 years after it was supposedly built and seen in public is one that few historians would nail their colours to. Moreover, all the key players were, conveniently, dead by the time the first of the machines 'came to light' in 1888. More recently David Herlihy's 'Bicycle' (Yale, 2004) is by far the best. David is a bit hung up on the Michaux claims of 1861 (a fiction of the 1890s) but it is better to explore untruths than let them pass by and his attention to such detail tells you what a quagmire you step into in entering the marsh of cycling history. In general this is the most reliable of general sources. If you want straight factual history do not bother to read anything that gives credit to Leonardo Da Vinci, Sivrac's Celifiere, (indeed any two-wheeled machine prior to Drais in 1817) Fischer's 1850s velocipede...all are completely bogus, and give the lie to poor research if they are cited as anything other than that.
>
> Nicholas Oddy.
>
>
> -----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 PHD-DESIGN automatic digest system
> Sent: 12 August 2011 00:00
> To: [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])
> Subject: PHD-DESIGN Digest - 10 Aug 2011 to 11 Aug 2011 (#2011-202)[Scanned-Clean]
>
> There are 9 messages totaling 636 lines in this issue.
>
> Topics of the day:
>
> 1. User Models of Scrolling (2)
> 2. the history of the bicycle (6)
> 3. Mental models - was User Models of Scrolling
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 01:49:48 +0000
> From: Edgar Rodriguez-Ramirez <[log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])>
> Subject: Re: User Models of Scrolling
>
> Hi all,
>
> As Norman suggests, consistency with mental models can help avoid confusion for some people. Consistency can also stagnate creativity and freedom of movement.
>
> I wonder what this person's mental model would be if it were real, it certainly is a beautiful one:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyMfpJh3h4A
>
> Cheers
>
> Edgar Rodriguez Ramirez
> Lecturer | Postgraduate Research Coordinator
> PhD Candidate
> School of Design
> Victoria University of Wellington
> Aotearoa - New Zealand
> +64 4 4636245
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> Donald Norman wrote:
>
> > The reason for the change is, presumably, consistency, now
> > that gestures are becoming the standard way of moving text around on
> > multi-touch screens, and multi-touch will become standard on all systems in
> > the next few years, either through touch screens or touchpads (or
> > more likely, both).
> >
> > ===
> > Who remembers the early fights about this model? Can anyone remind me of
> > how
> > we ever decided upon the moving window model rather than the moving text
> > one? The transition will cause much confusion, I am certain, and I want to
> > get the original rationale right.
>
> --
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2011 22:43:05 -0400
> From: "Filippo A. Salustri" <[log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])>
> Subject: Re: User Models of Scrolling
>
> With respect,
>
> If I have to choose between helping to avoid confusion amongst people on the
> one hand, and creativity on the other, I'll choose the former. There's
> plenty of opportunities left to be creative.
>
> Also, while that youtube video is quite wonderful, that kind of dexterity
> can be learned. Doug Henning, the magician, was also very dextrous, and
> often commented that anyone could learn how to do it.
>
> Cheers.
> Fil
>
> On 10 August 2011 21:49, Edgar Rodriguez-Ramirez <
> [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])> wrote:
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > As Norman suggests, consistency with mental models can help avoid confusion
> > for some people. Consistency can also stagnate creativity and freedom of
> > movement.
> >
> > I wonder what this person's mental model would be if it were real, it
> > certainly is a beautiful one:
> >
> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyMfpJh3h4A
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> > Edgar Rodriguez Ramirez
> > Lecturer | Postgraduate Research Coordinator
> > PhD Candidate
> > School of Design
> > Victoria University of Wellington
> > Aotearoa - New Zealand
> > +64 4 4636245
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> >
> > Donald Norman wrote:
> >
> > > The reason for the change is, presumably, consistency, now
> > > that gestures are becoming the standard way of moving text around on
> > > multi-touch screens, and multi-touch will become standard on all systems
> > in
> > > the next few years, either through touch screens or touchpads (or
> > > more likely, both).
> > >
> > > ===
> > > Who remembers the early fights about this model? Can anyone remind me of
> > > how
> > > we ever decided upon the moving window model rather than the moving text
> > > one? The transition will cause much confusion, I am certain, and I want
> > to
> > > get the original rationale right.
> >
> > --
>
>
>
> --
> \V/_
> Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng.
> Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
> Ryerson University
> 350 Victoria St, Toronto, ON
> M5B 2K3, Canada
> Tel: 416/979-5000 ext 7749
> Fax: 416/979-5265
> Email: [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])
> http://deseng.ryerson.ca/~fil/
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2011 22:44:45 -0400
> From: "Filippo A. Salustri" <[log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])>
> Subject: the history of the bicycle
>
> Hi all,
>
> I'm wondering if anyone can direct me to a definitive history of the design
> of the bicycle.
> I've been made aware of several histories, but there are some conflicts in
> certain aspects.
>
> Much obliged.
> Fil
>
> --
> \V/_
> Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng.
> Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
> Ryerson University
> 350 Victoria St, Toronto, ON
> M5B 2K3, Canada
> Tel: 416/979-5000 ext 7749
> Fax: 416/979-5265
> Email: [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])
> http://deseng.ryerson.ca/~fil/
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 05:26:08 +0000
> From: klaus krippendorff <[log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])>
> Subject: Re: the history of the bicycle
>
> There always are alternative histories. Only if you believe in a god's eye view of the world are there conflicts.
> I have used wiebe's account ihis and others social construction of technology. I was not interested in bicycles per se but in social accounts of how techbology becomes part of soocial practices and how socia practices deternine the direction technological development takes.
> Klaus
> ------Original Message------
> From: Filippo A. Salustri
> Sender: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and relatedresearch in Design
> To: [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])
> ReplyTo: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and relatedresearch in Design
> Subject: the history of the bicycle
> Sent: Aug 10, 2011 10:44 PM
>
> Hi all,
>
> I'm wondering if anyone can direct me to a definitive history of the design
> of the bicycle.
> I've been made aware of several histories, but there are some conflicts in
> certain aspects.
>
> Much obliged.
> Fil
>
> --
> \V/_
> Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng.
> Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
> Ryerson University
> 350 Victoria St, Toronto, ON
> M5B 2K3, Canada
> Tel: 416/979-5000 ext 7749
> Fax: 416/979-5265
> Email: [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])
> http://deseng.ryerson.ca/~fil/
>
>
> Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 09:28:06 +0200
> From: Birger Sevaldson <[log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])>
> Subject: Re: the history of the bicycle
>
> Hello Filippo
> Im running the gallery at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. I don't know anything about bikes, but I just thought ill let you know that we are planning to display a few of the 500 bikes in a private collection of Norwegian bikes that now is hidden in a cellar here in Oslo. So for that we would need some general and local history. I would certainly be interested in keeping a dialogue on the theme.
> Best
> Birger Sevaldson
> Professor
> Oslo School of Architecture and Design
>
> -----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 Filippo A. Salustri
> Sent: 11. august 2011 04:45
> To: [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])
> Subject: the history of the bicycle
>
> Hi all,
>
> I'm wondering if anyone can direct me to a definitive history of the design
> of the bicycle.
> I've been made aware of several histories, but there are some conflicts in
> certain aspects.
>
> Much obliged.
> Fil
>
> --
> \V/_
> Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng.
> Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
> Ryerson University
> 350 Victoria St, Toronto, ON
> M5B 2K3, Canada
> Tel: 416/979-5000 ext 7749
> Fax: 416/979-5265
> Email: [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])
> http://deseng.ryerson.ca/~fil/
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 08:25:35 +0000
> From: Henri Christiaans - IO <[log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])>
> Subject: Re: the history of the bicycle
>
> In the Netherlands we have a bicycle museum called Velorama
> (http://www.velorama.nl <http://www.velorama.nl/> ). See the site. They can help you with
> documentation.
> Henri
>
> -----
> Prof. Dr. Henri H.C.M. Christiaans
> Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, TU Delft
> Head of Master Specialisation Retail Design
> Course Director TopTech Retail Design & Management
> Visiting professor Universidade Técnica de Lisboa (UTL)
> Editor-in-chief Journal of Design Research (www.inderscience.com/jdr (http://www.inderscience.com/jdr))
> Landbergstraat 15, 2628 CE Delft, the Netherlands
> T: +31 (0)152 783 063
> M: +31 (0)651 363 996
> F: +31 (0)152 787 179
>
>
>
>
>
> On 8/11/11 4:44 AM, "Filippo A. Salustri" <[log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])> wrote:
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I'm wondering if anyone can direct me to a definitive history of the
> > design
> > of the bicycle.
> > I've been made aware of several histories, but there are some conflicts in
> > certain aspects.
> >
> > Much obliged.
> > Fil
> >
> > --
> > \V/_
> > Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng.
> > Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
> > Ryerson University
> > 350 Victoria St, Toronto, ON
> > M5B 2K3, Canada
> > Tel: 416/979-5000 ext 7749
> > Fax: 416/979-5265
> > Email: [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])
> > http://deseng.ryerson.ca/~fil/
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 08:17:13 -0400
> From: Peter Jones | Redesign <[log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])>
> Subject: Re: the history of the bicycle
>
> Fil - Is there a definitive history of anything? ;) All histories are
> narratives from a perspective, definitive from that storyteller's viewpoint
> at most. My question would be, is there an innovator's history of bicycles?
> And why focus on bicycles as the only artifact?
>
> As a Daytonian before a Torontonian, it's incumbent on me to remind the
> bicycle historians that the origination of the first stable flying machine
> was constructed in Dayton by bicycle innovators. The structures and precise
> balancing of the Wright Flyer was made possible by the brothers' experience
> with inventing and repairing bicycles, which were reportedly a "craze" at
> the turn of the last century. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers
> The recent innovation of the "safety bicycle" then has remained a stable
> design for > 100 years.
>
> As you may know as a Torontonian, there's a bicycle film festival this week,
> and Dexter Ico in our studio here has a piece in the program:
> http://www.bicyclefilmfestival.com/toronto/ Worth seeing the site just for
> the variety of stories.
>
> Going back to Dayton, I will purport a working theory of Dayton as one of
> the first major US innovation clusters
> http://www.isc.hbs.edu/econ-clusters.htm and it was the Silicon Valley of
> the machine age, now celebrated and fantasized in steampunk retrospective.
> It was the leading city for new patents during a period then, and it still
> has a famous Engineer's Club downtown.
>
> The Wright Brothers were no accident. Dayton was home of the first assembly
> line mechanical computer firm (NCR), the company founded by James Patterson
> who literally "fired" IBM founder TJ Watson in front of their original HQ
> building on Main Street. Before the Ford assembly line, Dayton had the
> largest number of bespoke auto shops in the US, over 100 by some accounts,
> and the machining and machine tool industry were uniquely capable in the
> world from that time through the 1970's, when the industrial infrastructure
> was "Shumpetered." Dayton was the US home of the Enigma codebreakers, and
> in WWII was the home of human factors engineering, as jet aircraft were also
> designed and managed from the new US Air Force in Dayton. The capacity to
> drill the 16" gun bores for the WWII battleships was only found in Dayton
> (which I remember but have not confirmed), and so on. There are numerous
> examples like this.
>
> Needless to say, even with a significant high tech economy in Dayton, it did
> not evolve to Silicon Valley. But will Silicon Valley be the leading
> innovation cluster in North America after another century? If the secular
> era of long-term innovation and development drives regional clusters, we may
> not be able to predict what developments and capacities will drive the next
> age's innovation center. Has anyone on the group list studied clusters and
> these regions, or have longitudinal theories about these innovation eras?
>
> Peter
>
> Peter Jones, Ph.D.
> Associate Professor, Faculty of Design
> Strategic Foresight and Innovation
>
> T 416 799-8799
> E [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])
>
> OCAD University
> 205 Richmond Street West, Toronto, Canada M5V 1V6
>
>
> Hello Filippo
> Im running the gallery at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. I
> don't know anything about bikes, but I just thought ill let you know that we
> are planning to display a few of the 500 bikes in a private collection of
> Norwegian bikes that now is hidden in a cellar here in Oslo. So for that we
> would need some general and local history. I would certainly be interested
> in keeping a dialogue on the theme.
> Best
> Birger Sevaldson
> Professor
> Oslo School of Architecture and Design
>
> -----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 Filippo
> A. Salustri
> Sent: 11. august 2011 04:45
> To: [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])
> Subject: the history of the bicycle
>
> Hi all,
>
> I'm wondering if anyone can direct me to a definitive history of the design
> of the bicycle.
> I've been made aware of several histories, but there are some conflicts in
> certain aspects.
>
> Much obliged.
> Fil
>
> --
> \V/_
> Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng.
> Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
> Ryerson University
> 350 Victoria St, Toronto, ON
> M5B 2K3, Canada
> Tel: 416/979-5000 ext 7749
> Fax: 416/979-5265
> Email: [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])
> http://deseng.ryerson.ca/~fil/
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 17:31:50 +0200
> From: "Derek B. Miller" <[log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])>
> Subject: Re: the history of the bicycle
>
> I think I might have sent a note earlier I didn't mean to send. If so, oops and sorry.
>
> There is a wonderful piece that is not about bicycles per se, but rather uses of the example of the bicycle to explain a wider point about the analysis of technological systems. I was very impressed by this book ten years ago when I read it, and I think it was very ahead of its time (it came out in 1987, and I have the sixth printing from 1997).
>
> The book is called The Social Construction of Technological Systems: New Directions on the Sociology and History of Technology, edited by Weibe E. Bijker, Thomas P. Hughes, and Trevor Pinch.
>
> The chapter in question is the first one called The Social Construction of Facts and Artifacts: Or How the Sociology of Science and the Sociology of Technology Might Benefit Each Other. by Pinch and Bijker.
>
> Unlike some contemporary work in this vein, which has become decidedly shrill and aloof to the nuts and bolts of serious social research, this is readable, logical and I think very valuable. To explain, they use the bicycle as its progression (or evolution if you prefer) to illustrate their approach.
>
> Do take a look.
>
> Derek.
>
>
>
> _____________
> Derek B. Miller
> Director
>
> The Policy Lab
> 321 Columbus Ave.
> Seventh Floor of the Electric Carriage House
> Boston, MA 02116
> United States of America
>
> Phone
> +1 617 440 4409
> Twitter
> @Policylabtweets
> Web
> www.thepolicylab.org (http://www.thepolicylab.org <http://www.thepolicylab.org/> )
>
>
>
> On Thursday, August 11, 2011 at 2:17 PM, Peter Jones | Redesign wrote:
>
> > Fil - Is there a definitive history of anything? ;) All histories are
> > narratives from a perspective, definitive from that storyteller's viewpoint
> > at most. My question would be, is there an innovator's history of bicycles?
> > And why focus on bicycles as the only artifact?
> >
> > As a Daytonian before a Torontonian, it's incumbent on me to remind the
> > bicycle historians that the origination of the first stable flying machine
> > was constructed in Dayton by bicycle innovators. The structures and precise
> > balancing of the Wright Flyer was made possible by the brothers' experience
> > with inventing and repairing bicycles, which were reportedly a "craze" at
> > the turn of the last century. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers
> > The recent innovation of the "safety bicycle" then has remained a stable
> > design for > 100 years.
> >
> > As you may know as a Torontonian, there's a bicycle film festival this week,
> > and Dexter Ico in our studio here has a piece in the program:
> > http://www.bicyclefilmfestival.com/toronto/ Worth seeing the site just for
> > the variety of stories.
> >
> > Going back to Dayton, I will purport a working theory of Dayton as one of
> > the first major US innovation clusters
> > http://www.isc.hbs.edu/econ-clusters.htm and it was the Silicon Valley of
> > the machine age, now celebrated and fantasized in steampunk retrospective.
> > It was the leading city for new patents during a period then, and it still
> > has a famous Engineer's Club downtown.
> >
> > The Wright Brothers were no accident. Dayton was home of the first assembly
> > line mechanical computer firm (NCR), the company founded by James Patterson
> > who literally "fired" IBM founder TJ Watson in front of their original HQ
> > building on Main Street. Before the Ford assembly line, Dayton had the
> > largest number of bespoke auto shops in the US, over 100 by some accounts,
> > and the machining and machine tool industry were uniquely capable in the
> > world from that time through the 1970's, when the industrial infrastructure
> > was "Shumpetered." Dayton was the US home of the Enigma codebreakers, and
> > in WWII was the home of human factors engineering, as jet aircraft were also
> > designed and managed from the new US Air Force in Dayton. The capacity to
> > drill the 16" gun bores for the WWII battleships was only found in Dayton
> > (which I remember but have not confirmed), and so on. There are numerous
> > examples like this.
> >
> > Needless to say, even with a significant high tech economy in Dayton, it did
> > not evolve to Silicon Valley. But will Silicon Valley be the leading
> > innovation cluster in North America after another century? If the secular
> > era of long-term innovation and development drives regional clusters, we may
> > not be able to predict what developments and capacities will drive the next
> > age's innovation center. Has anyone on the group list studied clusters and
> > these regions, or have longitudinal theories about these innovation eras?
> >
> > Peter
> >
> > Peter Jones, Ph.D.
> > Associate Professor, Faculty of Design
> > Strategic Foresight and Innovation
> >
> > T 416 799-8799
> > E [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])
> >
> > OCAD University
> > 205 Richmond Street West, Toronto, Canada M5V 1V6
> >
> >
> > Hello Filippo
> > Im running the gallery at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. I
> > don't know anything about bikes, but I just thought ill let you know that we
> > are planning to display a few of the 500 bikes in a private collection of
> > Norwegian bikes that now is hidden in a cellar here in Oslo. So for that we
> > would need some general and local history. I would certainly be interested
> > in keeping a dialogue on the theme.
> > Best
> > Birger Sevaldson
> > Professor
> > Oslo School of Architecture and Design
> >
> > -----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 Filippo
> > A. Salustri
> > Sent: 11. august 2011 04:45
> > To: [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])
> > Subject: the history of the bicycle
> >
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I'm wondering if anyone can direct me to a definitive history of the design
> > of the bicycle.
> > I've been made aware of several histories, but there are some conflicts in
> > certain aspects.
> >
> > Much obliged.
> > Fil
> >
> > --
> > \V/_
> > Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng.
> > Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
> > Ryerson University
> > 350 Victoria St, Toronto, ON
> > M5B 2K3, Canada
> > Tel: 416/979-5000 ext 7749
> > Fax: 416/979-5265
> > Email: [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])
> > http://deseng.ryerson.ca/~fil/
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 10:39:48 -0700
> From: Don Norman <[log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])>
> Subject: Mental models - was User Models of Scrolling
>
> -----------------------
> On Wed, Aug 10, 2011 at 6:49 PM, Edgar Rodriguez-Ramirez
> <[log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])> wrote:
>
> > As Norman suggests, consistency with mental models can help avoid confusion for some people. Consistency can also stagnate creativity and freedom of movement.
> >
> > I wonder what this person's mental model would be if it were real, it certainly is a beautiful one:
> >
> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyMfpJh3h4A
> --------------------------------
>
> Neat video. Not clear what it has to do with the subject, so I'm
> changing the subject line.
>
> Note that:
>
> the graphics are added after the filming, which makes it a bit easier
> Wacth his "tutorial." It shows that he does have a mental model: the
> moves are blocked into groups of N moves, which are then reversed,
> making each block 2N moves long. The tutorial shows a block of N=8:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM6iim46of0
>
> there are other tutorials for these moves on YouTube. (And all of it
> is part of an ad campaign by Samsung for their galaxy Android phone.)
>
> Mental models rule!
> .
> Don Norman
>
> ------------------------------
>
> End of PHD-DESIGN Digest - 10 Aug 2011 to 11 Aug 2011 (#2011-202)
> *****************************************************************
>
>
>
>
> The Glasgow School of Art is a charity registered in Scotland, charity number SC012490.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 10:08:53 -0400
From: Gunnar Swanson <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: I just love it when I get replies to my notes
I won't argue against concision but I will state a preference for clarity over brevity. How long a post should be is somewhat like the cliche "How long is a piece of string?" question.
I also do not like to be talked down to but I do like to be taught. People on this list have varying backgrounds. I will venture to say that nobody is fully conversant in every subject that comes up. I do like it when someone spends the time to give me some background on a thought. I do like it when someone provides context so I know something of the nuance hidden in the (semi-concise) post.
Gunnar
----------
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville NC 27858
USA
[log in to unmask]
+1 252 258 7006
http://www.gunnarswanson.com <http://www.gunnarswanson.com/>
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 19:21:46 +0100
From: Mattias Arvola <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: User Models of Scrolling
Don,
as usual I think we need to go back to the Xerox Star. I'm not sure about this and perhaps you should talk with some of the other people who were around in the 80's and were part of both the Xerox team and responsible of transferring the Star to Mac, Win, and X. Perhaps people like Bill Verplank, Bill Buxton, Brad Myers, or Alan Dix. Verplank was part of the Star design team at Xerox.
If remember that the arrows on the scrollbar of the Star were pointed in oposite directions compared to what we have today. But the text still moved upwards and the window down as you scrolled down. This continued on the Mac, and hence Win and X. But they changed the arrow directions.
I'm not sure it was a decision, but I think it was rather a remnant from the precedent design. It easy to copy the form from successful precedents, without understanding the rationale. And then you change something, but keep other things without really understanding why. Then the de facto standard is set; An operating system and its design guidelines can be very strong in creating a standard.
Hm.. but this doesn't answer your question... Well' perhaps it does. In the Star it scrolled in that direction, even though the arrows pointed the other way. This became the standard as it was copied to the Mac, and consequently Win and X, the scrolling direction was kept but the arrows changed direction.
Correct me if I got it wrong.
// Mattias
--
Mattias Arvola, Ph.D. in Cognitive Systems.
Co-ordinator for the Undergraduate Programme in Cognitive Science.
Sr. lecturer in Interaction Design.
Linköping University.
www.arvola.se
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 19:28:49 +0100
From: Mattias Arvola <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: User Models of Scrolling
ps. I didn't mean that Bill Buxton, Brad Myers and Alan Dix were part of the transfer from the Star to the other operating systems. I meant that they may know more. Sluggish English this Friday evening. ds.
// Mattias
------------------------------
End of PHD-DESIGN Digest - 11 Aug 2011 to 12 Aug 2011 (#2011-203)
*****************************************************************
The Glasgow School of Art is a charity registered in Scotland, charity number SC012490.
|
