Q:

AARON CANSLER IS A: A. DISCOMFORT SPECIALIST B. UNCONVENTIONAL RESEARCHER C. WILDLY CURIOUS MAN D. ALL OF THE ABOVE

A:

ALL OF THE ABOVE BUT, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

OH DEAR GOD WHAT ARE WE DOING?

HOW DO I KNOW ITS RIGHT?

PR OD UC TI ON

RECONFIGURING EXISTING SYTEMS TO BRING SOMETHING NEW INTO THE WORLD IS AWKWARD.

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Eatup, a self deconstructing non-profit that leverages the mutual needs of low income urban areas and regional food producers to create a new business and social model that has never existed.

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INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS ARE FACING INCREASINGLY COMPLEX AND UNUSUAL CHALLENGES.
Internal

HOW DO WE EVEN DO THAT?

ADDRESSING THEM IS OFTEN AN UNCOMFORTABLE PROCESS. DESIGN CAN HELP FIND WAYS TO NAVIGATE THIS TERRITORY
Operationalize
Internal External

For Donors

Develop Metrics

1. Define Resilience
Partners

2. Amend Existing Practices

3. Capture/ Generate new knowledge

Develop new theoretical models

World Bank Perspective

For example: Working with the World Bank to define and operationalize the concept of resilience.

HOW DO WE KNOW IF ITS WRONG?

USING NON-TRADITIONAL RESEARCH METHODS TO UNCOVER POSSIBLE CONNECTIONS IN UNLIKELY PLACES REQUIRES A NON-TRADITIONAL RESEARCHER.

Flu Fighter, an online community specifically for people sick with the flu, gives comfort and care to those who need it as well as providing the CDC (Center for Disease Control) with valuble real time disease tracking.

ITS OKAY IM OKAY. NOPE, NOT OKAY.

ASKING DIFFICULT QUESTIONS AND CREATING A PATH TO EXPLORE AND ARTICULATE THEM LEADS TO MEANININGFUL EXPERIENCES. BUT IT IS NOT SELF EVIDENT. IT MUST BE DESIGNED.
Graduate Thesis: Can death be healthy? Death can be healthy if physical and psychosocial pain is addressed in a way that is meaningful to the patient and those they are connected with. By using a variety of design research methods, the project will be to observe where physical, emotional, and spiritual needs are met, and where opportunities for design interventions could be created.

COMMUNICATING FUTURE SCENARIOS OF HOW THINGS CAN BE, AND MEASURING THE PROCESS OF GETTING THERE TAKES A SPECIALIST WHO CAN EXIST IN THAT TERRITORY.

WHO DOES THIS?

Using open source hardware systems to make biometric data such as heartbeat available to strangers asks questions about physical and emotional vulnerability.

EMPATHY AND DEEP CURIOSITY ARE CRITICAL WHEN TRYING TO DEFINE MEANING IN PEOPLE AND PLACES OUTSIDE OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE.

I DONT BELONG HERE.

The now closed Chinatown Fair Arcade, site for extended ethnographic research on the role of environment in facilitating interactions between various youth groups in NYC.

THIS FEELS GOOD

AARON CANSLER CANSLER@GMAIL.COM

NAVIGATING UNCERTAINTY, DISCOMFORT, AND CONFUSION DOESNT MEAN DISPELLING THEM. IT MEANS OWNING THE EXPERIENCE, USING IT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE, AND FINDING MEANING IN UNEXPECTED WAYS.

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