Maragret Hamilton’s Story
I think it’s really empowering to see historical figures (that not much of the public knows about) having made impact that, again, we sometimes don’t know well about or take for granted in some way.
I think as a person studying computer science, the question of what fields will rise and fall, and what impact I will be able to make in different fields is always daunting as much as it is exciting. It might be because I am still a student, but the decision to go into a field that’s not perferred or considered prospective would not have been easy. I think the burden would have also come from the fact that once such big projects go wrong, they may lose both a lot of money and individuals. Becoming pioneers under these pressure, and leading future generations follow the way is definitely ( in my opinion) something all future programmers dream of.
Emotions & Design
I’m very excited that this topic has been raised again. I remember that in one of the readings from the first half of the course, there was a question of how designs need to consider both the funcitons and the attractiveness.
I remember this as the discussion I had with my group in class was really interesting. It is without doubt that finding the right balance between function and design is important. However, it also becomes a question whether this applies to all cases.
For instance, maybe if it’s something that’s not that frequently used. Maybe in that case, it’s more important for the product to merge into the design of its environment and not be considered as a hideous object.
Or, in other cases, it might be that something is for such private use that there is no need for it to be attractive. Maybe people don’t care about how something looks, if they are just going to use it at homes, on their own.
I think it really shows that yes, it’s important to find a balance, but this question is even harder as ‘the right balance’ differs by every situation.