Thursday 6 December 2007

times gone by



this video shows the results of day spent in aberdeen with my aunt irene and her friends.

this experience was an opportunity to observe and record behaviour within its context...the group of friends we spent the day with meet up every month to have tea and cakes and a catch-up. being welcomed into this environment let me analyse their behaviour, language and habits.

this enabled me to spend time with people relevant to the design topic i am researching...as well as being in their natural habitat allowed me to gain a deep firsthand understanding of the trends and cycles of product use in the past. as well as an insight into their feelings on current communication devices such as email and mobile phones.

a significant outcome was the collective opinions that communication is not strong enough across generations. as well as the notion that a strong family network ( out with parents and siblings) is diminishing.

douceurs aims to create a product that will increase communication throughout various age groups and genders...perhaps addressing the issues the ladies highlighted.

the victorian internet

just finished reading the victorian internet by tom standage.



'the atlantic telegraph - that instantaneous highway of thought between the old and new worlds'.
scientific american, 1858.

wanted to put down a few thoughts: i was particularly drawn to this poem. it fits in with the brand i am creating for doucuers.

Que fais-tu, mon vieu telegraphe
Au sommet de ton vieux docher
Serieux comme une epitaphe,
Immobile comme un rocher?

from 'le vieux telegrpahe'. a poem by Gustave Nadaud.

the concept of a signature is something i will be looking at over the next few days. why do we have signtaures? do our signatures change as we grow? do we know what the signatures of our loved ones look likes? the bank letters we get through still have the bank managers signature ..and even if photocopied..it still makes us feel that little bit more comfortable.

the jargon, vocabulary and abbreviations used in the days of telegram are nice.
s.t.d = stop for dinner
g.m = good morning
i = wait a moment
coquarum: engagement broken off
cambitas: collar bone put out
gnaphalio: please send a supply of light clothing.

the way email addresses are contrived is interesting. @ symbol seems to be telling people where we are at? why is it not:

lauren@cosylivingroom.windyscotland

why cant we decide what our email address says, after all people come into contact with our email addresses more than our home addresses.

the telegram forms used to be coloured blue...so it adopted the nick name petits bleux.

one of the most intriguing chapters in this book was the one describing new technology as an opportunity for crime. the telegraph provided unscrupulous individuals with a novel opportunity for fraud, theft and deception. encouraging people to cheat, steal, lie and deceive.

some simple yet secure cipher, easily acquired and easily read, should be introduced, by which means messages might to all intent and purposes be 'sealed' to any person except the recepient.
quarterly review, 1853

wow. magic communication

'whole earth will be belted with electric current, palpitating with human thoughts and emotions.'

'the telegraph wire, the nerve of international life, transmitting knowledge of events, removing causes of misunderstanding, and promoting peace and harmony throughout the world.'

raison d'etre = the rapid delivery of messages.