A Sustainable Train of Thought

Updating the Fresh Start website, started up the Emergence 2006 group on Flickr, and made the Fresh Start poster available for download (click the image below for the jpg version—the pdf version is available here).

As per our thesis requirements, here are my files:

[updated] DCAlmanaccoArchive.zip (666 KB)

Dave Chiu – Thesis Report.pdf (58.19 MB)

Although I do not anticipate many people downloading my thesis report, I have password protected the file because of its large file size. Please email me if you would like the username and password and I’ll be happy to send it to you.

With my Thesis Report Draft 2.1, I’ve added a couple more sections and many more images compared to the previous version.

It’s 17:00, so here’s the Thesis Report Draft 2. Turns out I have some more images to add/make/clean up, so I’ll be posting an amendment here in a little while.

After a weekend of typing, here it is:

Dave Chiu – Thesis Report Draft 1_1.pdf (374k)

I should have posted this earlier. Here is the brief for the last Applied Dreams, entitled Social Agents of Change (.pdf).

Our background research chapters were due Friday. Here’s mine, in a semi-completed form - the very end still contains an outline of further areas for elaboration and discussion, and some of the citations aren’t complete.

Dave Chiu – Background Research Chapter (v_4).pdf

After conversations with Victor and Tristam on Thursday, I believe I will have to work on re-framing my arguments and repositioning my thesis. Specifically, talking about sustainability first and then the specific interaction design areas and components I’d like to address as relating to complex systems seems to have the effect of making people’s eyes bug out at the mention of sustainability and subsequently ignore anything that comes afterwards.

The revised strategy consists of talking about specific interaction design areas and components as relating to complex systems and then using sustainability as a case study for a complex system. I’m of course still very much interested in and motivated by sustainability, and yes, this project spawned from my interest in sustainability, but talking about sustainability in and of itself doesn’t further the conversation concerning my thesis.

After rereading the material I’ve included thus far in the background research chapter, and after going over my Thesis Proposal again and finding it entirely supports this emphasis on systems and communication and interaction design, I am comfortable with rearranging material within the background research chapter to better reflect my ultimate intentions. Now I just need to do it…

Here’s a PDF copy of my thesis proposal. Feedback and comments would be appreciated.

Dave Chiu – Thesis Proposal