Week One:

Week Three:

Above: Residents of Ghana have designed a complex coding system to make conversation through mobile phones without actually connecting.  Brilliant.

Above: I found this concept particularly interesting.  I live in a rural-ish town called Bacchus Marsh, fifty-six kilometres from Melbourne.  Driving down the Western Freeway towards Ballarat, one will pass through this town halfway (this is pretty much why it was established).  During the 70′s the (unwise) decision was made to cheapen the northern area of the town (called Darley).  When my parents were choosing to settle down for a family they chose that locale because of its competitive price (my Dad’s a teacher man).  It never got as bad as some other Western Suburbs (although I no longer live there), but it quickly sank into a lifeless, crime-ridden ghetto as does most cheap housing estates.  I went to the public High School of the town who’s demographics were obviously Darley-centric: kids got stabbed over Eminem records.  One kid we used to call “Gills” because of the five, six-inch deep cuts in his back.  Okay, I’m digressing…

During my early High School years (…I am getting to a point, please persist) we moved across the bridge that separates Darley from the rest of Bacchus Marsh (which mainly consists of the suburb of Maddingly).  Interestingly, this geographical boundary is the Western Freeway, and like the billy goats gruff, most objective people from Darley can see the greener grass on the other side of the bridge.  Others are whole-heartedly convinced that Darley is a superior locale (on what standards?! Or is this just arrogant envy?) and this helps fuel the rivalry between the two local Footy teams.  When I heard the perception of polarity and the use of a geographical boundary to distinguish class discussed in the lecture,  I was most intrigued.  I know this research into social psychology has been around for awhile but I have never heard of, or considered the use of geographical boundaries as distinction, yet it is ridiculously obvious in my town.  It’s a shame the question, “Is this an inherent need of man?” was only posed and not actually answered.

I have also been informed that in Melbourne, there is also a geographical boundary between which side of the river you live on.  Humans are amazing/weird creatures.

Week Four:

Week Five:

Above: This isn’t me being a smart-ass.  This is a visualisation of the complexity of Ethics, which Keith discussed in his lecture.

Week Six:

Above: Research Triangulation

Above: Observing the signs and symbols of Freemasonry allegorical illustrations is central to being a freemason.  This reminds me of observational research in which one observes, analyses and interprets to discover truth.

Week Eight:

Above: I know this wasn’t  mentioned in the lecture, but it I think it’s a beautiful summary of the motivations of Participartory design.  Don’t disregard the truth in the quote for the crimes of its author — which of course will depend on your political leanings.

Above: Braybrook as seen on Churchill Avenue.

Situated between Sunshine and Footscray, Braybrook features many similarities to both of its neighbouring suburbs. Originally a heavily industrialized suburb, Braybrook has recently undergone significant gentrification, albeit at a noticeably slower rate than Footscray. The suburb has a significant refugee and immigrant population, mainly from East Africa and Vietnam – roughly one third of its 6940 people were born overseas. This high percentage could be attributed to the location of the main campus of WELS (Western English Language Centre) on South Street. Braybrook has several other schools, which cover both Primary and Secondary education for its residents.

Braybrook has many, well-intentioned, community-minded organizations and facilites. The Braybrook Community Centre is located at 107-139 Churchill Avenue and offers a large variety of educational and social programs for the Braybrook residents; these include children’s facilites, crafts, English as a Second Language (ESL), occasional care, computer and Internet facilities, playgroups, health and well-being classes and financial counselling. The centre also houses the Western Region Community Health Centre which offers physiotherapy, podiatry, social work, occupational therapists, general practitioners, speech pathology for children, pharmaceutical program and a women’s and children’s health nurse. A not-for-profit Tool Library is also a section within the centre where residents can use a workshop with the assistance of volunteers. These wood-work facilities, and other rooms and halls are available for hire. A community garden, where we have decided to focus both our research and outcomes on, is located at the rear of the centre and offers residents an opportunity to enjoy gardening with other residents. Unfortunately this garden is plagued with a variety of problems, notably inaccessibility, mismanagement and a poor sense of ownership.

Braybrook also features The Community Hub, which is located at 19 Hargreaves Crescent. This hub is a base for the Neighbourhood Renewal team and the Braybrook and Maidstone Neighbourhood Association who collaborate with local residents to initate positive change within the community. The Braidstone Bulletin, the local community newsletter, is published from this centre. Our enquiry into this hub yielded few results, suggesting that the Community Hub is no longer in operation or at least, is currently abeyant.

“Complexity is always failed simplicity.”
Page. 42

Edward de Bono discussed the importance of designing simplicity in his aptly named book Simplicity. According to de Bono there are fourteen methods of simplification outlined below. These methods often overlap significantly and not all of the methods have to be necessarily completed for a successful design. Although de Bono uses broad language to accommodate outcomes from all design disciplines and organizational structuring, I have paraphrased these methods for a specific relevance to systems and service design.

The Historical Review involves the critical observation of a system or its parts and challenging any unnecessary components. This questions the need of any superfluous and antiquated burdens included within a system out of tradition over reason.

Shedding, Trimming, Cutting, Slimming, etc. is similar to the Historical Review, this method removes all facets that fail to justify their continued existence.

Listening is a major component of Participatory Design, de Bono comments that people who actually use the system will have suggestions on what is, and what is not, necessary. They may have established more efficient methods of using the system that could possibly be theorized by a designer.

Combining different functions which are currently separate eliminates burdensome bulk.

Extracting Concepts is a method which aims to reestablish the core purpose of the system or particular actions and processes within it and designing new ways to deliver that concept.

Bulk and Exceptions is the consideration of how a design might best accommodate the bulk of users. The system can then be expanded to make special provisions for any exceptions.

Restructuring is a harsh, fundamental restructuring of the system. Some restructuring changes are fashionable. De Bono notes that whilst these changes are most often positive, they should only be instituted if they actually make sense for the system. Change for the sake of fashionable change is dangerous, but change for the sake of change can yield unexpected benefits.

Start Afresh is the complete purging of the old system and re-designing the system whilst considering the key values and priorities. Once designed this should be compared to the benefits and drawbacks of the old system.

Modules and Smaller Units is breaking down the system into smaller units and re-designing those units separately.

Provocative Amputation is the removal of each element and exploring the system’s ability to accommodate that loss.

Wishful Thinking is designing an idealistically simple system with complete disregard to other restraints. Shift Energies is shifting the work needed within the system to other parts of that system, or to those outside of the system. The

Ladder Approach is disregarding the whole system and designing incrementally, step after each consecutive step. The value of each next step should be considered and included into that next step.

The Flavour Approach is essentially the opposite of the previous method and similar to Extracting Concepts. This method seeks to determine the utmost, broadest and simple concept of the system and completely redesigning it.

Essentially, de Bono feels that simplicity should be instituted in systems and services by the consideration of these ten rules:

Rule 1. You need to put a very high value on simplicity.

Rule 2. You must be determined to seek simplicity.

Rule 3. You need to be understand the matter very well.

Rule 4. You need to design alternatives and possibilities.

Rule 5. You need to challenge and discard existing elements.

Rule 6. You need to be prepared to start over again.

Rule 7. You need to use concepts.

Rule 8. You need to break things down into smaller units.

Rule 9. You need to be prepared to trade off other values for simplicity.

Rule 10. You need to know for whose sake the simplicity is being designed.

“There 2 things 2 know about Braybrook Boy’z (B-Boy’z): Make us your friend we got your back 4 life, make us your enemy the world is not big enoght 4 u to hide…”

Above: Braybrook Community Centre

Above: The Braybrook Community Centre has many beautiful sculptures and murals within its grounds.

Above: This gate is a truly beautiful entrance to the garden. Unfortunately, it is rarely opened and has thus become a huge impediment to the garden.

Above: The garden Pizza Oven.

Above: This is the available land behind the garden. Although it’s hard to appreciate its size in this small photograph, it could hold at least three more gardens of the same size as the current one.

We Are People held a workshop concentrated on developing our brand identity, it used Participatory Design to explore the meaning of community through words association, colour and shape. Participants addressed questions related to the significance of, their personal involvement with and words and terms which they associated with community. They were then provided with magazines, colour pencils and other crafts and asked to find phrases and images which they felt best described their understanding of the meaning of community, and build a visual map.
Through this key terms such as ‘trust’, ‘safety’ and ‘caring’ featured prominently as did imagery of groups and the environment. Colour and imagery were determined to be strong visual elements during the research task, with many participants using bold bright colours to express aspects including happiness, sharing and isolation.

Pictures above