Measuring the World
Reflection¶
For this class, I learned about the relationship between data and the world.
I personally find this class very interesting as a UX designer. During work, we also understand data and use data for design. Generally there are two ways of using data: the first way is to collect data myself and I use it and the other way is that I use data collected by others. During the first day, most of the lecture focuses on how we can collect data in person. The process of forming a project generally looks like this: having set an objective, broad questions, focus on understanding, observe, analyze, reason, take decisions, and go back.
We also learned about different types of data available online. The first type is Open data: something that is publicly disclosed, not restricted based on who you are, anyone can access. In terms of Shared Data, it is something that is limited, restricted, like data on your facebook account (requires log in), or company collective. While closed data , is something like a bank account.
Using the Wikipedia example, it is a collection of knowledge also at some point coming from data itself, and it is one of the biggest collective efforts into generating repositories that can be generated freely. Some open data sources includes Barcelona Open Data, Free Data, London Data, and Stats OECD.
I also wonder the notion of celebrating the open data because as not everyone could make use of the data and access the data. There are institutions that would have taken advantage of open data such as the government and military. Openness does not mean the same thing, not anyone can take advantage of the data the same way, it depends how the data can be used. To improve accessibility, I think that is where UIUX comes in.
I also find using online tools to extract data very interesting. Most of the time, we are not aware of what is available to us.
During the group project, part of my responsibility is providing support in making the stand for our Curiosity Cards, and also observing people’s behaviors. As a group, we also worked together and had an extensive discussion on Curiosity and how we can measure it. I found this helpful websites that explains curiosity.
Experimenting with Raspberry Pi
Hands on work to capture data
Group Hack MD¶
Group members: Sami, Wen, Seher, Carolina, Dhirti, Jimena
During the feedback session, one of the main concerns that I hear is that our goal is blurry. There is no clear direction of what we are intending to measure. For example, even though we have already taken the amount of scans into account, we did not measure how many people are actually passing by the scan. This can be problematic as the data collected will not be as accurate.
From a UX designer point of view, I do agree that there are areas that lack clarity as a whole, we did not have a clear aim, target user, constant variables to ensure the quality and type of data collected. We also need to take into consideration factors such as trust, location, type of user to get more accurate data.
Nevertheless, it is still a good starting point for us as we come from a diverse background. If I were to remake this experiment, I would first form a hypothesis that I want to prove so that I can come out with a cause and action relationship when extracting data from the public. This will provide more of a sense of direction when we execute the experiment.
Other Resources¶
Link for this course inside general documentation