Summing up my thoughts for presentation

For survival humans need to understand their environment.  As humans we create abstraction as tools to understand our environment and it is through these abstractions that we improve on it creating our built environment. We live in a very dynamic world; new technologies are forever changing our experience of our world at an increasing rate, providing us with greater access to information and uncertainty.

The virtual world is the result of utilising information technology in our abstraction process. The explosive growth of the virtual world is the result of its effectiveness in enhancing our understanding and experience of our physical world creating meaning and significance to existence.

Architects have unique skills and perspectives that are important in the virtual dialogue. Through training and practice architects gain skills in coordination of different information systems and formats from different areas of expertise to develop integrated holistic empathetic outcomes.

The virtual world is effectively a matrix of information systems that is highly adaptable and easily changed and has a huge impact on our experience of the physical world.  Change is often feared; however change is inevitable and should be embraced. Forget about the trying to save the world as we know it and aim to create the world of our dreams.

Wind in the Trees

I was explaining the virtual theme and my project to a friend. When I was explaining the virtual realm I used an analogy that I think is worth posting.

The virtual realm is like the wind, you cant see it, and the only proof that it exists is its interaction and influence with our environment; for example, wind in the trees, how the leaves of a tree move in the wind. However, unlike the wind, the virtual world we can shape to create an influence we desire.

Presentation Option

This is a visualisation responding to the previous post regarding memories within the virtual world.
This is a snapshot of an animation embedded within the virtual world walk through. This will be what I will be attempting for my presentation.


The reason I am calling these snapshots in time memories is due to the fact that any information that is collected by the virtual world is recorded and secured (in this example at Medi-Data), to be recalled when required, to be analysed and assessed to improve design and decisions in the future, no different to humans and their experiences during life.

Virtual: Data and Information Systems & Human Experiences

This is an alternative the the representation of the information system, it is a draft and not fully resolved however it still has the same problems as the first, I am considering exploring how I could project the physical reality or human experience into this virtual landscape to communicate intertwined relationship of human experience and the virtual realm.

The HUD in the previous post is a good example, I think it would be interesting to project the image as a ghost, hologram or memory that has been in-bedded is this virtual world, and by wondering through this virtual realm as an observer, we stumble across these experiences the virtual world had with physical reality. I will post some other examples of these experiences in a later post.

HUDs and Augmented Reality

This is a better example of an information system, that interacts with physical reality.

The HUD (heads-up-display) system is design to enable interaction between the virtual and physical reality. Through technologies such as HUDs and Augmented Reality a synergy can be created to enhance capabilities and improve experiences and interaction with our environment.

 

These systems are typically design for complex and demanding situations where decisions need to be made and actioned in real time and environment awareness and accuracy is important.

Another fine example is Iron Man.

This animation is based off tutorial I did at http://www.videocopilot.net. It is prepresenting the Medi-Practitioner HUDs and Augmented Reality systems to enhance their capabilities, accuracy and consistancy and allow the practitioner to operate on their clients remotely.

Virtual: Data and Information Systems & Abstractions

This is a different format attempting to communicate the virtual world of information systems. Which on its own has a certain aesthetics and adds new demensions to the information communicated; however, on its own it lacks the context of reality, the physical world and the interation/experiance with people.

As stated in an earlier post, "the Virtual gives meaning and significance to existence", it also works the other way, the Virtual isolated with no connection with reality is completey pointless and possibly impossible. As human beings we live through interacting with reality, in trying to understand reality and our environment we create abstractions, a virtual process and it is through abstactions that we attempt to improve our reality and our environment. Therefore, it can be seen that the virtual plays a huge role in shaping out physical reality and vice vera. 

As such the interaction between the virtual and physical reality or human experience is crucial in all design considerations or explorations.

Architects with their core skill sets, have a unique opportunity to take advantage of our current environment in which the Virtual realm is becoming ever more dominate and integrated in our lives and there are opportunities for Architecture to play a beneficial and positive role in shaping this growing Virtual world.


A future post will attempt to explore interaction between the virtual and physical reality or human experience.

Information System & Sub-Systems Study

Here is an exercise to understand the Information System that is the backbone of the health system.

First step is to break the system down into smaller simpler specialised sub-systems with narrower objectives. This in not a complete list of sub-systems, some sub-systems that have not been included, such as training of Practitioners, supply and acquisition of Nano-chips, and Client Training if required. The scope of this project has to be contained and so I have have selected some of the most obvious ones, however that is not to say they will not be added further on in the project.

Second step is then break the sub-systems into smaller discrete elements to better understand each sub-system and its connections and relationships other sub-systems via the information that is exchanged. The images below although contains a lot of information is not very meaningful to the designer and as such needs to be reformatted to create a clearer understanding to enable to designer to respond in a meaningful way.

Therefore the third step (future post) will attempt to re-communicate this information in a more meaningful way.

Life Cycle and Facility Management

Life Cycle and Facility Management is a huge topic which I don't have the expertise. However, it is a very important design consideration, and as such I will cover general principles.

To start with information systems:
Software - are by their very nature very adaptable and effectively evolve over time as improvements are added and fixes made through firmware and process updates.

Hardware which is more static needs to be able to accommodate changes in needs and new technologies, standardisation throughout the modular system allows for economies of scale and inter-changeability of parts.

Medi-Pod

The Medi-Pod can utilise existing infrastructure by utilising the standard train carriage shell which will be fitted out to specification for the Medi-Pod.

At the end of the Medi-Pod's serviceable life, it can be converted back to a standard train carriage and the specialise equipment recycled or used for simulations in training activities. This would not be frequent however as the carriage shell as a long service life and the specialised equipment and component will be maintain, updated and replaced as required to maintain optimum service capacity due the the risked involved in medical procedures

Medi-Control, Medi-Go, Medi-Data, Medi-Service, Medi-Research, Medi-Action etc..

Medi-Systems and sub-systems are mostly virtual information systems and can be argued to have not life expiry time frame as virtual information systems are immaterial, flexable, upgradeable and adaptable.

Information Systems and interaction

Medi-Pod Information Systems

I will try to communicate the context in which the Medi-pod operates in terms of information systems and their interaction. The information flow diagram below shows the allocation of the collection, storage, management, recalling, processing and communicating of information. This particular sketch is limited as it is not able to communicate the interaction between these systems, however this is a good introduction and I will attempt to communicate in a future post.

Quick thought on Architects and what is Virtual

This virtual realm is basically the interaction of non-physical information systems: collection, storage, management, recalling, processing and communicating of information.

In the context of Human Beings this is: perceptions, experience, memories, thoughts, meaning and communications. And as Alexis Sanal stated in our tutorial the virtual realm enhances the physical and is becoming more important in our lives, I would go further to say that it gives meaning and significance to existence. Virtual communities such as Facebook are not limited by political, geographical, and socio-economic and demographic constraints.  And this is why I believe that virtual communities such as face book has been so successful. 

Architects have unique skills and perspectives that are important in the virtual dialogue.
Through training and practice architects gain skills in coordination of different information systems and formats from different expertises to develop integrated holistic empathetic outcomes.

Herachical Ephemeral Design

Hierarchical Ephemeral design response to Identified Issue.

There are two issues identified in this project as a result of two Scenarios at opposite ends of the spectrum of the Australian environment.

The first Remote Areas & Communities, small communities scatted over vast amounts of land,
the second is is Urban & Suburban areas where there is a scarcity of land and large population in high densities.

The highly centralised Hierarchical systems that have been so popular in the medical system only accommodate and function in large dense populations however they fail at serving populations that are scatted over vast areas of land. And as such services like Australian Inland Mission Aerial Medical Service in 1928 later to be known as the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

A dynamic mobile decentralised system is proposed in responding to the issues of remote communities in Australia, the premise: provide heath care services when and where need in response to predictive information provided by Nano-chip. As such a Medi-Pod can target a particular area with heath complaints, then move to the next when the health complaints been addressed. The Medi-Pod can return at periodic intervals, and as such services and appointments can be managed and planned to coincide with these times. Through this system a large region an be provided with important services by a singe Medi-Pod, and extra Medi-Pods can be added or removed from the region as required to meet the needs and demands of the region.

This system however is adaptable and efficiencies can be found in high density areas with large large populations. Urban areas the complete opposite to remote areas in Australian and as such have different problems and issues that need to be addressed.

These issues are working longer hours and busier lives, commuting more and exercising less, eating more takeaways and less fresh food. Due to busy lifestyles people generally lead in citys they have little time to take care of themselves. Also the hospital systems is large and imposing that is can be very daunting.


This dynamic mobile decentralised system has to ability to address these problems through reducing the scale of the healthcare system to minimise physical and bureaucratic and time impacts on individuals and creating a more personalised and inturitive system that actively supports the maintainence of good health.

This approach to health care still needs a strong systematic approach and management to ensure that health care is located where it is needed most. Synergistic collaborate with other systems such as the Nano-chip is vital  to ensure optimum health care outcomes and management of the dynamic mobile decentralised system controling the Medi-Pods.


http://www.smh.com.au/multimedia/sickcities/main.html
http://www.flyingdoctor.org.au/About-Us/Our-History/