A log detailing Matthew Brown's journey of creating a senior thesis and of applying to colleges, and all of the implications, contemplations, and revelations that comprise it.
Monday, April 20, 2015
Thesis Progress (Tuesday, 04-14-2015)
Thesis Progress (Friday, 04-10-2015)
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Researching (Wednesday, 04-08-15)
Today I continued working on compiling old research and conducted some new research. I am going to loosely divide the effects of digital reality technologies on architecture into two categories: the kind that impacts the designer and how real world works of architecture are designed, and the kind that impacts how the average person interacts with those works as they use and move through them.
I may have mentioned Microsoft's (relatively) new HoloLens device in one of my earlier posts. It was announced recently compared to the other devices I have examined, so that combined with the fact that Microsoft's developer programs are still some of the more cloistered despite the company's recent efforts to the contrary mean that I know little about it. What I do know about it excites me because it makes it look like my prediction that augmented and virtual reality were going to blur together is already coming true, since what Microsoft touts it as doing is a combination of the definitions of both. More on that blending later, as it may form the basis of the second set of effects on architectural design.
Monday, April 6, 2015
Re-searching (Monday, 04-06-15)
As I mentioned in my last post, I did a lot of research without documenting it. The problem was that I was reading relevant articles and lists of tech specs in my free time, but had not thought to apply them to my thesis. Now that I had learned this, I spent class catching up on blog entries and tracking down and documenting those sources.
Picking Up Pieces 3 (Friday, 04-03-2015)
Picking up Pieces 2 (Wednesday, 04-01-2015)
Today I started looking through my files to conduct the survey of what I have done so far. It doesn't look too bad, when I think about it, and I am considerably less worried about producing than I was a few days ago (in no small part thanks to my talk with Mr. Correa.) I thought of even trying to contact someone at IrisVR or Floored, two great examples of companies that have not only been living and working what I began to describe earlier on in my project, but have garnered a lot of interest in the form of both private investment and positive press. I am considering contacting one or both for an interview. If I want to do that, however, I will really have to get organized, so organization and shifting away from introspection are the soupes du semaines for this week and next.
I will probably only work on interview questions for them once I have slurped my aforementioned goals.
Friday, April 3, 2015
Picking Up Pieces (Monday, March 30, 2015)
Today I talked with Mr. Correa about the finishing my project, since I felt a little lost. I'm sticking with my original work, fragmented as it is. I spent the rest of the period pondering this and what it would mean. As I near the end of the time I have to complete my thesis, the most important challenge I am facing is focusing my efforts toward a single point. Since my research was all over the place, I am going to first make a summary of what I have learned, then build a thesis around which to write my final paper, which will probably be a lot like my first presentation, but stripped of most technical details and replaced with analytical ones where at all possible.