We all know that the world is changing rapidly. A lot of people also already aware of the fact that information technology has to do a lot with the world changing. Where are we going to be in next 20 years? Can we even dare to make a model?
The MediaScapes studio I am in at Sci-arc is dealing with these topics to find out where are we now, and where can we go as a designer. Right now, I am doing the research about the idea of profile. I started from the very generic dictionary definition.
profile |ˈprōˌfīl| noun
1 an outline of something, esp. a person's face, as seen from one side : the man turned and she caught his profile. • a drawing or other representation of such an outline. • a vertical cross section of a structure • Geography an outline of part of the earth's surface, e.g., the course of a river, as seen in a vertical section. • Theater a flat piece of scenery or stage property that has been cut so as to form an outline or silhouette of an object. • a graphical or other representation of information relating to particular characteristics of something, recorded in quantified form • a short article giving a description of a person or organization, esp. a public figure
2 [in sing. ] the extent to which a person or organization attracts public notice or comment
Basically, the idea of profile is a representational sign of a certain idea or object. Why is it getting important? Partly, or mainly I think it has to do with the massive collection of information that is available to us. The technological advancement made it easier for people to store and trade their knowledge than any other time in our history. The intangibility of medium makes it more efficient to communicate with each other. Typing and clicking substituted writing and drawing. Video substituded verbal explanation. Ask your self. When was the last time writing a letter?
The faster communication results more information. And we have ability to store most of them. Just make them into 0 and 1 and store it into hard drive.
The produced and collected information covers almost all area of human and non human activities. Perhaps the idea more the better also has to do with this sea of information and networks.
Profile in the information age is a representational value of certain information. By having this representational value, information can be accessed and traded more efficiently. And the collection of the profile becomes sets of data, which become another information.
Ok.. I guess I am going around a circle now. So going back to the research. Looking in to this global phenomenon, my research especially pinpoints the idea and role of visible and invisible profiles. The visible profile branches into two section, voluntary and involuntary. In each area, I picked representational information model. The area of research mainly focus on the structure of each model and the way they make the profile working or not working.
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