[parameters] Parametric Diagrams

coral polyps. image by iskin.co.uk

PROJECT 1  |  Due 02.01

Problem:
Define the underlying variables and parameters of a complex order and organization.

Deliverable:
Research your chosen order and organization and graphically represent the information that supplements the variables and parameters that control your chosen topic of study. By graphically representing the information, you will be calling out the pertinent parameters and variables of the system.

Some possible orders and organizations:

A. Orders:
– branching patterns of  plant life
– aggregate structures (mico or macro)
– insect or crustacean morphology

B. Organizations:
– flocks
– crowds
– swarms
– flows

Required media:  a digital file in PDF format.

Support:
W. Ross Ashby defines a parameter as a force or stimulus to a system existing outside of the system itself. In contrast, a variable is understood as a quality or quantity residing within the system. The distinction between changes in a variable versus those in a parameter is “between those changes that are behavior and changes that occur from one behavior to another.”

Readings:
W. R. Ashby. Design for a Brain, Ch. 2- Dynamic Systems and Ch.6- Parameters.
→ Download: Dynamic Systems, Parameters
Aranda / Lasch. Tooling. (on reserve in library)

Regarding information visualization and natural systems:
Web:
http://infosthetics.com/
http://www.visualcomplexity.com/
http://flowingdata.com/
http://simplecomplexity.net/
http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/

Books: (in library)
Edward Tufte (author of): Beautiful Evidence, Envisioning Information, Visualizing Explanations, Envisioning Information.
R. Klanten et al. Data Flow: Visualizing Information in Graphic Design [ download excerpts ]