Reece Brind'Amour

Third Year | Communication Design

The Technology U + I Can('t) Reach Tech Fair! | Fall 2021

Reflection

This section of Currents brought me to think a lot more about technology and the tools we use everyday in ways I haven’t much before. Starting with the idea that nothing exists in a vacuum, I was prompted to consider every aspect of my phone, computer, internet and social presence in a much more analytical way. Every aspect of the technologies we use has a purpose, history and effect on the world, both physically and socially. Once we understand that we can better understand how our use of technology can impact our lives and the world around us, and how being part of the future of technology can change that. Just because certain systems are set up in a particular way, and have been for some time, doesn't mean that their constructs are the most beneficial or thought out. Many of the decisions around technology have been made for us through arbitrary or false beselines, and starting to think about those decisions is the first step to shaping the future of our technology.

Metaphor of Choice For Using Technology

I'm a bit unsure about what this could be, but I think the way I use technology might be more connected to a journal or sketch book. Useing technology to create, with the added bonus of connection.

The Artist's Computer

Speculative Computer

The first project looked at how we can rethink the basic design of a computer based on a particular group of people. I started in a group of three, thinking about how we could design a new computer specifically for the use of artists. In that group, and later individually, I thought about how we could not only bring the idea of artistic creation to the forefront of the computer but also how we could create a unique tool that did more than just mimic the real artistic world but rather form a new artistic experience.

Link to the Full Presentation

Drawing with GoogleDocs

Synthesiac Software & Peripheral

In the second project, we looked at interconnected softwares and tools of our computers and more specifically how choices early in the internet’s development took away a lot of the interconnectivity that might have been possible. I started thinking about tools on my computer that were a struggle to work in tandem with and narrowed in on GoogleDrive and Adobe softwares because of my frequent use of both. I think that overall a better connection between all of the tools that we use everyday would not only help us create, but also make the internet and our computers a much more accessible place, and playing about with these ideas is a good way to think about the possible futures of interconnectivity.

Link to the Full Presentation

Who Are We Today?

My Networked Identity

For my final project I was very interested in the idea of glitch or designed malfunction, especially when it came to the idea of representing more abstract ideas of the self. I was really captivated by a more simplistic, homemade kind of design and the idea of creating a mock-game out of the site experience. I found that these ideas both worked to capture my original idea of distorting the self and the early, more freed version of the internet.

Link to the Full Presentation