Using memory, Using judgment

To investigate skill and perfection in everyday routines and activities I am experimenting with memory and judgment, in this case the routine is cooking. I recorded myself making a artichoke risotto with no recipe. I have made risottos before (but not this specific one) and usually rely on the ingredients and amounts from a recipe.

In gathering information this may not as been as successful as it could have been because I have made risottos before, its quite a basic thing to make (its easy to alter during making to how it should be), and although it may be for some, cooking is not a skill that I think I have particularly lost due to technologies or trend.

To push this test further I need to use this idea of investigation to other everyday activities, use people other than myself in these tests (both who think they are skilled in particular tasks and those who think they are not)

Judgement Vs. Precision

These images show documentation of an experiment comparing judgment against precision. I followed the same recipe for a fig tart twice, the first time by only using limited equipment (no weighing scales, food processors or timings) and the second time by following the recipe exactly (using all appliances exactly as instructed). This is documented by the left hand page showing judgment and the right hand page showing precision.

I wanted to find out whether domestic technologies inhibit skill. I thought that if I didn't rely on any equipment and purely on my judgment then I would produce a less successful tart than if I had used the equipment I'm used to and depended on the recipe exactly. It turned out that both outcomes were very similar in quantity, appearance and taste, and by following the timings exactly one tart was slightly overcooked (meaning that judgment won!).

Another experiment may work better if it is a domestic or everyday task (unaided by the normal technologies) that requires some degree of skill to create a outcome at a certain standard of perfection. One that I am not used to.

Perfection

I was given a great cook book one Christmas by Heston Blumenthal called Perfection. In total is has 8 recipes, each meticulously researched and put together. The lists of specialist equipment, vast ranges of ingredients and intricate preparation details are amazing to read by themselves, as well as extremely daunting.

The recipe for the perfect burger has 6 pages packed full of ingredients and precise instructions. But, is this amount of detail really needed? Would you be able to taste the difference between a normal home made burger to this one? Why is there a desire to make something so perfect? What would happen if part of the instructions were ignored and the cook let instinct take over? Would this be possible to make without the standard kitchen technologies i.e. food mixer, measuring jug, weighing scales? Let alone the special equipment needed i.e. digital probe and meat grinder?

I'd like to explore the desire for perfection in the everyday, the dependencies new technologies impose and the impact this has on independence and creativity.

Mind Melt

This is quite an accurate representation of how I felt by the end of Friday.

Auto-Tune = Auto-Smack

Typo Punishment

Mouse Trap

Mouse Trap from Matt West on Vimeo.

This is a short film showing the Mouse Trap in action.

Beer Goggles 2

Beer Goggles

Mouse Trap

Alongside the keyboard, the mouse is one of the primary inputs into a computer, it bridges the point of physical movement and transforms it to something digital.

While using design software such as Illustrator I have found myself becoming more and more annoyed by the fact that I can create a drawing on a computer to a higher degree of skill than I can through a pencil and piece of paper. The computer purposefully makes the process easier, there is a "snap to place" tool that means physical inaccuracies are corrected automatically, there are also corrective tools such as "redo" and the "eraser", which at times have been life savers, but destroy the care, precision and skill I put into working as I know I have these life lines at hand.

If the computer had some way of disciplining the user, forcing them not to take easy options for granted, then the time and effort put into an activity would be heightened. If there was a visible deterrent for making mistakes then the effort put into learning how to skillfully complete a task, or even the amount of tasks attempted manually, would increase.

When manual errors are made directly through the mouse (such as while drawing in illustrator) then there could be a physical punishment. Maybe a guillotine is a touch severe, but it serves as an example quite nicely.

Typo Terror

Technology is helping diminish essential and traditional skills. Microwaves allow us to avoid learning how to cook properly. Auto-tune means professional singers don't even have to be able to sing in tune (either live or in the recording studio). Spell check, something that has affected me through my education, means that basic grammar and spelling skills become unnecessary as the computer can do it for you. Unfortunately when technology is unavailable this lack of skill becomes exposed and creates problems.

Could technology be manipulated so it physically helps the user to develop real skills? This would probably only work if the user is unable to disable the technology discipline.

I could create physical punishments when mistakes are made, such as spikes popping out of the keys of a keyboard when typos are made. (i.e. in the crude image above)

26 Notes

After writing 90 design related post-it notes and sticking them on the wall in categories with everyone else, I had quite a few left over. Most of what was written didn't fit into groups and seemed like little 'notes to self'. I thought it would be a waste just to throw these ideas and thoughts away so I decided to make a small book with them in. Hope it doesn't come across all pretentious, its really just a little booklet to refer to when I get stuck while attempting to design something mega-good.

Is this ugly?

Ugliness is a subjective thing, it changes with fashions, it changes with time, it changes with personal taste. Such as the example above beauty may be rooted in someones beliefs. To one person (i.e. Simon) a scarf made from a dead fox may be attractive but to others it is ugly. Part of the reason why the scarf is ugly is not because of aesthetics but because of morals: the belief that an animal shouldn't be killed for any other reason than its fur.

Could a project be made out of the morals of beauty?

Public Toilet habits

I'm pretty sure every guy remembers the pissing competitions from early school days where friends would battle it out to see who could get their wee to reach highest on the trough/wall. Back then there was absolutely no desire to urinate in the street and why would there be when weeing could be so much fun in the normal school toilets.


If activities and games were common place in public toilets would people be encouraged to use them rather than be lazy and find pleasure by urinating in public.

Peeing in public

While researching peoples guilty/unacceptable pleasures I found a lot people (mainly men) enjoy urinating in places where it is forbidden. Usually this is because of intoxication and sometimes pure necessity. There seems to be something liberating and slightly rebellious about the act that makes it satisfying. Unfortunately for those who enjoy peeing in public, the act is seen as anti-social and is illegal. This is understandable because of the implications it may have on others and for the sanitation of the street.



By telling people that they are able to urinate in certain public places it may cause a rise in people who do.

Above are images of my poster saying "this is a public toilet". This morning I passed a guy shamelessly having a wee against this wall while a bus full of people was stopped next to him and pedestrians walked past. Every time I see someone having a wee in public I'll place this poster where they were, hopefully this will humiliate the public pisser, with the knowledge that they have been noticed and commented on. But then again this might make urinating in public all the more pleasurable.

Confession

There are many unaccepted pleasures that some of us secretly share. People like to steal, not because of need but because of the thrill and risk of being caught.


If confessions are placed at the site where unaccepted pleasures occur (such as the thrill of stealing) do peoples desires change? If you know other people enjoy this secret pleasure does it have less appeal? Will a community of guilty pleasure seekers arise after desires are made public and shared?

(left-over) Lemon Tart

I've never really been very good at making desserts, so I thought I'd have a bit of a practice by having a go at one of my favourite puds... lemon tart. I followed the recipe, which was really simple, and ended up with enough pastry and filling for two tarts. Here is a pic of my second tart, it looks a tad burnt but thankfully I'm a fan of a bit of burn. The problem is that I've already got one tart to eat so I don't really know what to do with this one... might share it out on Monday.

Focaccia Farcita

Well Mr Barker, it looks as though you made some delicious food yesterday, those images made my mouth water so much that I thought I would follow your lead and spend my evening cooking.

Here's some lovely mozzarella, Gorganzola and basil stuffed focaccia. Its going down fast.