I had the chance to hold a short presentation at this years DHCH conference in Rome. I was asked by my lab if I want to talk about prototypes and prototyping, because this year’s conference subject was “Digital Methods”. Abstract and full text can be found here: From methods to practice.
Rome was hot. We had a stable 30-35C during the day without wind and trapped in a busy city. Compared to my hometown that was a good 10C hotter then I grew up with. There was also a lot of socialising going on. That takes energy but I had a good time, probably even making new friends, late night in the streets.
I’m not sure that my presentation worked that well. I had too much in there, maybe also asked too much from the participants. A conference-fatigue set in that afternoon and people were looking towards the wrap-up. Not having much feedback on my presentation left me a bit struggling afterwards, overthinking and doubting an academic career. A good talk with a friend helped a lot in that regard, dissecting what went wrong and where there was some value.
I learned a lot in the preparation for this talk. Things that I will have to chew on for the coming month as well. There is much value in analysing things from a non-human point of view. But then again I’d rather go with Jane Bennet and not with Latour on that one.
Two papers that I went through and found them deeply interesting were about prototypes as epistemic objects [@asante-agyeiUnfoldingFuturePrototypes2022], and prototypes and design semiosis [@bofylatosMeaningKnowledgeArtifacts2017].
What I regret is not taking enough notes during other people’s presentations. I generally have to up my note taking game. Reading and presentations. I have the feeling that I rely too much on my brain to soak it up. It works well, but there are always bits and piece that get lost, which is sad. I guess I have to see note-taking as an important step in working through material and follow this process, and not just something people do for it’s own sake.
Things
- Read this text on treating life as ritual, which I am caring in my mind these days. I liked it’s simple approach of finding the right level of reverence and respect for a given situation in order to lead fuller lives.
- Came across the term “trading zones” by Peter Galison which goes into the topic cluster of boundary object and design semiosis. Seems interesting, need to investigate.
- Our gardenplot is slowly growing into it self and I’m slowly ready for another garden project. Either an insect hotel, or a mini pond.
