Dear Ken and Michael Yap
To this very exciting list of high quality to which I would add one
by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, better known for his book Flow and Good Business
etc.
The particular book that I recommend is
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, The Meaning of Things: Domestic Symbols and the
Self,<http://www.amazon.com/Meaning-Things-Domestic-Symbols-Self/dp/052128774X/ref=sr_1_14?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1316747899&sr=1-14>
Cambridge University Press (October 30, 1981)
This is great advise, I quote from Ken
Quote
...One technique that I suggest to research students is the value of
spending an hour or two with a book that sheds light on the topic even when
they don't have time to read it completely. Careful work with the
introduction, table of contents, first chapter, bibliography, and index open
the book to inquiry -- and lets you know whether you ought to go further.
This also gives you something to come back to when you find a later gap that
the author fills.
UnQuote
John Chris Jones in his book The Internet for
Everyone<http://www.amazon.co.uk/Internet-Everyone-Cyber-editions/dp/1899858202>talks
about different styles of reading to access his book such as the
rabbit, goat and sheep..., yes knowing where to find an insight is an
important aspect of research strategy.
With warm regards
M P Ranjan
from my iMac at home on the NID campus
23 September 2011 at 9.00 pm IST
-------------------------------------------------------------
*Prof M P Ranjan*
*Design Thinker and author of blog -
www.Designforindia.com<http://design-for-india.blogspot.com/>
*
E8 Faculty Housing
National Institute of Design
Paldi
Ahmedabad 380 007 India
Tel: (res) 91 79 26610054
email: ranjanmp@g <[log in to unmask]>mail.com
<[log in to unmask]>web site: http://homepage.mac.com/ranjanmp
<http://homepage.mac.com/ranjanmp>web domain: http://www.ranjanmp.in
<http://www.ranjanmp.in/>blog: <http://www.design-for-india.blogspot.com>
education blog: <http://www.design-concepts-and-concerns.blogspot.com>
education blog: http://www.visible-information-india.blogspot.com
<http://www.visible-information-india.blogspot.com/>
------------------------------------------------------------
On 23 September 2011 04:45, Ken Friedman
<[log in to unmask]>wrote:
> Dear Michael,
>
> Several books by Daniel Miller explore the domain of material artifacts and
> cultural anthropology:
>
> Miller, Daniel. 1998. Material Culture; Why Some Things Matter. Chicago:
> University of Chicago Press.
>
> Miller, Daniel, ed. 2005. Materiality. Durham, North Carolina; Duke
> University Press.
>
> Miller, Daniel. 2008. The Comfort of Things. Cambridge: Polity Press.
>
> Miller, Daniel. 2009. Stuff. Cambridge: Polity Press.
>
> To get a sense of how these questions work on different levels and scales,
> I recommend a new study by David Doris:
>
> Doris, David T. 2011. Vigilant Things: On Thieves, Yoruba Anti-Aesthetics,
> and the Strange Fates of Ordinary Objects in Nigeria. Seattle: University of
> Washington Press.
>
> The issue of how objects take on meaning and store is necessarily a story
> of the web of human interactions, activities, and participations in which
> the object plays a role. Catharina Blomberg wrote a book on samurai swords
> that examines the single artifact of the sword from multiple perspectives
> that address, making, use, and meaning:
>
> Blomberg, Catharina. 1994. The Heart of the Warrior. Sandgate, Kent: The
> Japan Library.
>
> The great sociologist Patrice Flichy noted often that all technologies are
> social technologies. His book on communication systems, networks, and the
> cultures into which they grow and around which clultures take new shape
> examine aspects of your question at a systems level.
>
> Flichy, Patrice. 1995. Dynamics of Modern Communication. The Shaping and
> Impact of New Communication Technologies. London: Sage Publications.
>
> One of the classical anthologies on how people buy and sell things, trade
> them and use them was edited by Arun Appadurai. It's a quarter century old
> now, and still a classic.
>
> Appadurai, Arjun. 1988. The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural
> Perspective (Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology).
> Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
>
> To understand the ways that objects become invested with meaning, it is
> useful to understand the networks that create meaning and the exchanges that
> imbue objects with meaning. One of the classics in this regard is Marcel
> Mauss's book on the gift.
>
> Mauss, Marcel. 2000. The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic
> Societies. New York: W. W. Norton and Company.
>
> If you take a week or so to read your way through these nine books, they'll
> give you a broad frame while introducing you to some of the key thinkers who
> address the issues that concern you. Without arguing that you should adopt
> the specific perspectives of any one author, you'll get a chance to see how
> people think about artifacts from the perspectives of several disciplines.
> The two anthologies (Appadurai 1988, Miller 2005) will also give you a
> chance to look into reasonably short contributions by a couple dozen
> excellent writers whose different perspectives, disciplines, and writing
> styles will shed light on the challenges you face.
>
> If you have time for only one or two books, my personal favorite remains
> Blomberg because she unfolds the web of action, affiliation, and meaning
> that coalesced around one specific kind of artifact over several centuries.
> To get the most useful overview of the field, try Miller's (1998) Material
> Culture and Miller (2005) Materiality. If you have to decide which books not
> to read, Mauss, though interesting and important, will be less useful, as
> will Flichy.
>
> One technique that I suggest to research students is the value of spending
> an hour or two with a book that
> sheds light on the topic even when they don't have time to read it
> completely. Careful work with the introduction, table of contents, first
> chapter, bibliography, and index open the book to inquiry -- and lets you
> know whether you ought to go further. This also gives you something to come
> back to when you find a later gap that the author fills.
>
> Warm wishes,
>
> Ken
>
> Professor Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS | University Distinguished
> Professor | Dean, Faculty of Design | Swinburne University of Technology |
> Melbourne, Australia | [log in to unmask] | Ph: +61 3 9214
> 6078 | Faculty www.swinburne.edu.au/design
>
> -
>
> Michael Yap wrote:
>
> --snip--
>
> I was struck by how objects act as containers, holding "great personal
> and collective meaning and carry stories of particular times, places,
> and events."
>
> For thesis, I hope to create conceptual designs that augment common,
> every-day mass-produced objects with short-range RFID, so that they may
> hold the same meaning and stories they always have, but online, and, to
> discover new uses to meet existing needs. I wish to fortify my efforts
> with a better understanding of:
>
> - the social and cultural meaning of every-day objects
>
> - the role that objects play in our every-day lives
>
> - other considerations that I am unaware of but you are compelled to
> share
>
> Can you recommend specific books, articles and other resources to
> advance my understanding?
>
> --snip--
>
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