I was looking through some old Make magazines and while looking through volume 10 I found a great little demonstration of the ecological cycles that keep us alive on Earth. This looks like a great mini project to use as a prototype to begin my research with users.
http://science.kqed.org/quest/files/imp/wp_aquanaut.pdf
Here is the link to the PDF and a great instruction video which Bre Pettis kindly produced.
Part of my research led my to look into the Outlook Tower which Patrick Geddes used to get people to discover new insights through relating the micro and macro views of the earth and its inter-connected relationships.
After communication with the PGMT (Patrick Geddes Memorial Trust) they have shown interest in my project for their proposed Patrick Geddes Centre for learning and conservation at Riddles Court, Edinburgh.
See also:
Wyld’s Great Globe, educational attraction that represented the Earth’s surface through modelled mountains, rivers, continents and seas. 1851 and 1862
In order to develop my insight research sheets I based it on the work by Goethe. Goethe gathered insights through looking closely at nature then asking interesting questions. Goethe then related these observations to a different discipline in order to gather fresh insights.
I also attended Stephan Harding’s lecture down in Bristol and read his book Animate Earth in which he explains how he gathers insights from nature in a similar manner to Goethe and how he believes the earth to not just be a dead mechanical machine but a living organism.
Stephan Harding suggests that the whole reason we have been able to so easily exploit the Earth in the past is because we have developed a science that sees the world as a dead machine rather than the living world which we are starting to understand today.
My 4th year project aims to explore how people can learn about natural systems through observing and monitoring their own self contained biospheres. Through observing and understanding a natural system I hope to generate a stronger connection with users and nature.
The Board which can be seen below was one of three which I produced for Ideas Day in which I represented different scenarios where I might use these Biospheres e.g. Schools, homes and virtual worlds and also to what complexity.
This board in particular raised some interesting discussions with Ethnographic students doing a similar project with whom I will continue to share ideas with over the following weeks.
