Q: AARON CANSLER IS A:

A. DISCOMFORT SPECIALIST

B. UNCONVENTIONAL RESEARCHER

C. WILDLY CURIOUS MAN

D. ALL OF THE ABOVE

“ALL OF THE ABOVE”

BUT, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

A: OHDEAR GOD

WHAT ARE WE DOING?

CONSUMPTION

NOITUBIRTSID

PRODUCTION

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.

HOW DO I KNOW IT’S RIGHT?RECONFIGURING EXISTING SYTEMS TO BRING SOMETHING NEW INTO THE WORLD IS AWKWARD.

For example: Working with the World Bank to define

and operationalize the concept of “resilience”.

HOW DO WE EVEN

DO THAT?INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS ARE

FACING INCREASINGLY COMPLEX AND UNUSUAL CHALLENGES.

ADDRESSING THEM IS OFTEN AN UNCOMFORTABLE PROCESS.

DESIGN CAN HELP FIND WAYS TO NAVIGATE THIS TERRITORY

World Bank Perspective

1.Define

Resilience

2.AmendExistingPractices

3.Capture/Generate

new knowledge

Internal

ExternalDevelop

newtheoretical

models

Operationalize

DevelopMetrics

ForDonors

Internal

Partners

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.

HOW DO WE KNOW IF IT’S WRONG?USING NON-TRADITIONAL RESEARCH METHODS TO UNCOVER POSSIBLE CONNECTIONS IN UNLIKELY PLACES REQUIRES A NON-TRADITIONAL RESEARCHER.

IT’S OKAYI’M OKAY.

IT’S OKAYI’M OKAY.

NOPE, NOT

OKAY.

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.

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.

Using open source hardware systems to make biometric data such as heartbeat available to strangers asks questions about

physical and emotional vulnerability.

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?

I DON’T BELONG HERE.EMPATHY AND DEEP CURIOSITY ARE CRITICAL WHEN TRYING TO DEFINE MEANING IN PEOPLE AND PLACES OUTSIDE OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE.

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 GOODNAVIGATING UNCERTAINTY,

DISCOMFORT, AND CONFUSION DOESN’T MEAN DISPELLING THEM.

IT MEANS OWNING THE EXPERIENCE, USING IT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE, AND FINDING MEANING IN UNEXPECTED WAYS.

AARON CANSLERCANSLER@GMAIL.COM

718-813-6176