A few weeks ago I spent two days at the Archives Center of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. It was a dream visit, merging my interests—design, anthropology and photography—in one whole experience. (To add to the excitement, I had just finished reading Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol, so you can imagine how cool it felt to do research in DC.)

As I arrived, two seventh-grade girls did as well. I was instantly impressed with their excitement, formal communication and eloquence as they interacted with the archives’ staff. With a to-do list, a legal pad, and pencils in their hands they were keen on finding primary sources for a school project on nuclear energy. They were prepared to do some serious work, but were soon caught off-guard when the archivist asked: “Did you do a Google search?”

It was interesting to witness the dynamics between those who work at the archives and the younger folk. Clearly, the age range of these two young girls is not the primary audience for this place. Nonetheless, the staff was cordial and helpful. Simultaneously, the girls seemed to be under the impression that if they behaved like serious grown ups, they would be treated as such. Their formality was almost flawless.

It only took a few minutes for one of the staffers to realize that the information requested by these girls was not found in these archives. The girls would have to search other places, like the collection at the Library of Congress. The archivist booted a web-browser and showed them the sites of other collections, doing a few searches and generating some results. Then she asked the girls if they had done a Google search. The girls’ expressions of disbelief was astonishing. Sensing that something was wrong with the idea, the archivist followed with: “A Google search can be a very powerful tool if you know what you are looking for.” After a pause, one of the girls challenged the suggestion, but she was met with a few good reasons of why it serves as a good starting point for serious research. Then the archivist was called off for a few minutes and as soon as the girls were alone, one told the other: “You see, Google has everything! We could have stayed at home.”

I can imagine the story behind the scene; hours and hours of educators teaching the idea that research happens beyond a Google search, and here are these girls, at the core of an archives center, being asked if they have considered Google.

I worry about the state of contemporary junior and high school education. The technological disconnect between older sans digital technology faculty and the up-and-coming generation of students growing up with and within digital technology is getting larger, and schools keep ignoring the situation. Here in Puerto Rico, even some of the most well-known and privately run schools are out of touch. On a recent visit to my old alma mater I had the opportunity to interact with the senior class who will graduate in a few months. Most of them complained about how computers were not allowed in the classroom for note-taking, nor in the hallways; and on how the faculty does not know how to use them. (It’s still mostly the same faculty of ten years ago and back then many were already technologically outdated.) The scarier story was about a kid who got expelled from the school because he made a comment about one of the faculty members on facebook. With such an act, the school’s ignorance becomes public. (Specially with so many sites like www.ratemyclass.com changing the way students choose teachers and classes in the contemporary world.)

Faculty need to get their act together and understand the social, pedagogical and psychological implications of the digital world they teach in. By keeping the unknown computer world as far away as they can, they do not realize how much they are also missing on. YouTube, Wikipedia, Skype, SecondLife and AIM (among a million others) are powerful tools with almost never ending positive educational qualities. And, if skepticism is on their side, there are options where faculty could begin exploring with tools specially made for the classroom, like Junnip.

Today, as I remember those two intelligent young girls who visited the Smithsonian, I worry about the faculty who sent them there, not because it was a bad idea to have young students research the “right way”, but because they probably ignored tools that were available from within their own classroom. A two-minute look would have helped the girls make an informed decision on which archives they needed to visit for the information that they needed.

Cover | Indice Anotado, 13 years of Mid-Career research investigations from architecture students of the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico.

Jorge Rigau, FAIA, founding dean of the School of Architecture of the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico; Miguel Rodríguez, current dean; and funds from the Historic Preservation Office of Puerto Rico have made it possible to publish the Índice Anotado (Anotated Index). This publication documents the Mid-Career research investigations completed by students at the School of Architecture of the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico.

These texts were completed between 1996 and 2009 and executed by students at the end of the 3rd year of study. Their topical range is extensive, and most are complemented by photographs, drawings and inventories that will be useful to others following similar lines of research. While the collection is mainly about Puerto Rico, some projects look at Cuba, Dominican Republic and Panamá.

The index is organized by themes, and while some overlap, researchers will have to asses the focus areas of each of their topics to find relevant investigations. The documents are written in Spanish, but the the index provides a blurb about each of them in English to expand the ideas to a larger audience.

Copies of the full writings will be available for public consult at the library of the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico and at the library of the Historic Preservation Office. The Índice Anotado has been designed by Alberto Rigau and published by Editorial Revés.

The presentation was a 25 minute summary of the research and work carried out on my final study at the graduate program: Design as Choice Architecture: informing consumers about debt-related behaviors. The following video is a recording of the original May 4th exposition.

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In retrospect, having worked on this final project felt more like a rite of passage than anything else, signaling a transition into a deeper and meaningful design life. I am happy to report that all requirements for graduation were successfully met and I have been granted the degree of Master of Graphic Design. :)

Rebecca Tegtmeyer and Marty Maxwell Lane represented the NC State Graphic Design Masters Program at the MFA panel on the last day of the conference. They did incredible.

The presentation, following a format that I do not remember the name, lasted for 10 mins. In that short time, Rebecca and Marty were able to speak about the pedagogical approach of the NC State Curriculum, explain the structure of the program, delve into projects briefings, and they still managed to show 2 fully developed investigations, culminating in the marriage of everything that had been explained before into well executed pieces.


A little bit about studio culture.

Design thinking had to come up.

Cameo appearance to me!

The biggest concept map ever seen by man! Great job Rebecca…

WEEEEEEEE!!!!

Marty brought down the house as she explained her research and development of processes…

…all culminating with the on-line community project from last semester.

YOUR WELCOME, but the thanks really go to you! You represented us in an incredible way!