Inspirations
Influences of the lens I see the world through. Most are from this past year.
Shifting Design Perspectives: Touch, Co-Location, and Sharing Objects during the Pandemic, Kimiko Ryokai
Associate professor of UC Berkeley, exemplifies the human-centered, cultural attentiveness I seek in my own work. Rather than optimizing for performance, her research focuses on human perception and relations, and what they demand of technology. This kind of assumption-challenging work is what I need to drive the growing frameworks of emotionally intelligent technology.
In the Café of Lost Youth, Patrick Modiano
This book is a lens into the cafe culture of 70's Paris and the communities built within them. It was a description of a time strangers got together more often. It encourages me to bring some version of them back.
Becoming Homeless: A Human Experience (2017)
This immersive virtual reality experience from Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab inspired the work I did on REM5ForGood's virtual experience for raising privilege awareness and cultural understanding. It was one of the first studies that put into perspective the powerful behavioral influences of technology and our ability to do good with that power.
How to Know a Person, David Brooks
A wonderful book teaching the art of experiencing a person. What makes us feel seen and how we can better see others. It has influenced the way I view humans as a collective and the similarities we share in life phases.
Annotations from my own copy. So many great illustrations of how to experience someone!
When Einstein Walked with Gödel, Jim Holt
“Excursions to the Edge of Thought”. How possible the impossible. Our reality is unending and ever-expansing. Their work and conversations are simply inspiring in the creativity and expansiveness. I strive to think in similar ways.
Greenlights, Matthew McConaughey
His approach to life foundationed in optimism, gratitude, faith, reflection, love, and luck. It stands as a reminder to be my most true self, especially on the path of my career.
Early methods for studying affective use and emotional well-being in on ChatGPT, Mengying (Cathy) Fang
MIT Ph.D student, Cathy Fang, partnered with OpenAI to conduct one of the first longitudinal studies on the emotional impact of conversational AI. Her findings in the correlations between high usage, loneliness, and dependency are intriguing, and, to some, surprising. Her work sets up future research questions that I anticipate will be investigated soon.
Ruth Asawa’s hanging sculptures
American visual artist, most known for her hanging sculptures that represent the transformations throughout life. I found her sculptures to be inspiring and beautiful, but the journey of her art was most resonate. First exploring very many different mediums, she didn’t find her calling until much later. This relaxed the pressures I often feel in my own pursuits.
Images found from ruthasawa.com.
I love the featuring of her children in these photos. Insights into her life showed her children were surrounded by the art of both their Ruth Asawa and her husband. Her work being physcially larger than her - gorgeous!