Tag: appleman-joshua

Joshua Appleman

Appleman, Joshua
“Set: Fierce and Dynamic
”

Visual Language (VOICE)
Contrast of Space 65-85% white space
Shape of Forms Rectangle 2 x 1″, Rectangle 4 x 1″, Rectangle 6 x 1″, Rectangle 8 x 1″
Orientation of Forms 30 degrees or 60 degrees
Size of Forms 4 sizes allowed
Placement of Form slightly off center
Space between Forms 1/8″
Overlap ground border often
Forms can overlap never
Other

Objective Rules (assignment rules)
#1 Forms must slide on one another
#2 Must have at least one 8×1″ form
#3 Beginning and end of form may not both go beyond border
#4 Same size forms may not be parallel and adjacent
(use at least 2) Forms must be either parellel or perpendicular

Interpretation of Visual Language
What did you interpret to apply your rules? Agressive movement and transition
Explain your process. The inspiration for this piece is traffic moving on a highway. There are lanes and confrontations but never overlap as I want to avoid accidents. This set has relatively less white space to represent congestion. The forms after go off the edge of the page to suggest that there is much more movement beyond what the eye can see.

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Appleman, Joshua
Set: Whimsical and Delicate

Visual Language (VOICE)
Contrast of Space 90% white space
Shape of Forms Square 1×1″, Rectangle 5 x 1″
Orientation of Forms Anything but 90 degrees
Size of Forms 2 sizes allowed
Placement of Form off center
Space between Forms varies
Overlap ground border one form
Forms can overlap sometimes
Other

Objective Rules (assignment rules)
#1 Forms must interact with one another
#2 Small forms must react to large form(s)
#3 only one form may go outside border
#4
(use at least 2)

Interpretation of Visual Language
What did you interpret to apply your rules? lighthearted interaction of parts
Explain your process. The inspiration for this was leaves whimsilcally falling off a tree. There is a large amount of whitespace and non right angles to reenforce the lightheartedness. The large pieces represent the tree or origin organism and the squares represent the leaves which are escaping. Forms are allowed to move outside the frame and overlap each other as a rejection of rigidity.

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Appleman, Joshua
Set: SAFE EFFICIENT

Visual Language (VOICE)
Contrast of Space 95% white space
Shape of Forms Square 1×1″, Rectangle 2 x 1″
Orientation of Forms 90 degrees
Size of Forms 2 sizes allowed
Placement of Form centroid at ground center
Space between Forms 1/8″ inches
Overlap ground border No
Forms can overlap No
Other

Objective Rules (assignment rules)
#1 Forms need to stay horizontal
#2 if the movement of a form goes off center, the other forms need to compensate and move to keep center of mass at center
#3 Small form can not be above large form
#4
(use at least 2)

Interpretation of Visual Language
What did you interpret to apply your rules? Simplicity above all else
Explain your process. For this set I tried to be as minimal as possible. I therefore chose to only work with the two smallest shapes. The objectives were accomplished with as simple of an interpretation as possible using the fewest number of pieces.

Data Visualization Workshop (Politicians of LA county)

What is your story?
Our group was assigned to play the role of the Politicians of LA county. We brainstormed several storylines that a local politician could adopt, perhaps for an upcoming election campaign or as a PR activity while in office. Possibilities included adopting a “tough on crime” stance, a campaign to celebrate the accomplishments of the police department, an appeal to increase or decrease funding for the police department, to pass a piece of legislation regarding the stop & frisk programs, or to develop a more effective stop & frisk program using data-driven evidence. Given the data set we had access to, our group settled on the story of a local politician who is advocating for reform of the police department’s stop & frisk policies through enhanced sensitivity training. We sought to highlight the inconsistencies in how the program was implemented and draw attention to the wide range of individual officer practices. We felt like a politician would adopt this stance to maximize efficiency and provide legitimacy to LAPD practices with concrete data while simultaneously appealing to the potential cost savings and social justice angles of the story. We also thought that we would get more credence as a politician running for office, if we offered a constructive and proactive measure to tackle problems as opposed to simply showing data.

How does the selected data support your story?
This is a table that shows the divisions who had over 5000 stop and frisks. There is clearly a large discrepancy between the success rates. Some areas are as low as 4% and some are as high as 50%. It seems like bias may be playing a prominent role in some locations and that may need to be addressed with bias and sensitivity training for officers.

Division

Number
of Frisks

Frisks
Ending in Arrest

VALLEY
TRAFFIC

53558

4%

METROPOLITAN
DIVISN

45679

50%

WEST
TRAFFIC

40917

5%

CENTRAL

34478

26%

CENTRAL
TRAFFIC

34368

4%

HOLLYWOOD

32014

31%

SOUTH
TRAFFIC

30556

7%

PACIFIC

27871

9%

SEVENTY-SEVENTH

26271

40%

SOUTH
EAST

25575

34%

SOUTH
WEST

23064

32%

NEWTON

21790

38%

NORTH
EAST

19612

25%

HARBOR

19246

29%

FOOTHILL

18201

43%

WILSHIRE

17955

19%

OLYMPIC

17898

24%

RAMPART

15552

32%

HOLLENBECK

14529

28%

VAN
NUYS

14506

31%

WEST
VALLEY

14328

15%

DEVONSHIRE

13990

14%

TOPANGA

13698

27%

NORTH
HOLLYWOOD

13567

17%

MISSION

12325

38%

WEST
LA

8046

14%

What data did you omit and why?
We did not look at any of the data about the person who was stopped (e.g. their race or gender). This is because our visualization focused on the story of how successful stops and frisks are and which officers may be making too many stops without leading to an arrest or citation. This is because as politicians we are interested in using our citizens’ tax dollars efficiently so we want to conduct training to help officers make fewer and more effective stops. (Note: For the purposes of this visualization we are defining successful stops as those that lead to post-stop activity. This dataset does not allow us to address whether the stop or the subsequent citation or arrest were justified on legal or ethical grounds nor does it address the efficacy of stop and frisk programs in terms of overall well-being. These questions are very important but are outside of the scope of this dataset and visualization.) We also did not include any of the time (date and time of day) data on the stops because we are interested in identifying trends for particular officers or divisions rather than looking for time-based trends.

How does the representation support your story?
We tried various visualizations to analyze efficiency of frisks – bar charts, line graphs, scatter plots etc. However, what stood out from a specific scatter plot (after we used Tableau to obtain a first look into what the data showed) where we plotted Stops per officer v Number of Successful Stops was that the efficiency of frisks was to a great degree, poor. In the representation below, while it was reasonable to expect less successful stops with less stops, the fact that officers making high number of stops returned poor turnover rates of successful stops stood out. By investigating individual officer turnover rates in correlation with graphs that explore location, times, ethnicities of people frisked in addition to a study of demographics of people living and travelling through these locations, we would devise a sensitivity training plan. We would also use this representation to monitor and target moving the dots to the right side as a short term measure, where we can see the overall increase of the number of successful frisks, and then moving the dots downward as a long term measure, where we increase the efficiency of successful frisks.

What visual metaphor(s) did you use, and why?
Since our unit of analysis for this visualization is an individual police officer, we used a scatterplot in which each dot represents an officer. The number of stops and successful stops are represented spatially following the convention of larger numbers being further up on the y-axis and further to the left on the x-axis. We also use color to encode divisions.

Joshua Appleman

Fierce and Dynamic:
Stimulating
Aggressive
Bold
Movement
Change
Strong
Powerful
Unsettling
Rapid
Progressive

Whimsical and Delicate:
Dreamlike
Ornate
Playful
Unstable
Fantasy
Unexpected
Inconsistent
Fragile
Lightweight
Floating

Safe and Efficient:
Static
Secure
Simple
Clean
Consistent
Stable
Clear
Organized
Streamlined
Expected

Joshua Appleman

I started this project by rummaging through my Halloween costumes for an object that had strong symbolic representations. I ended up choosing a wig because they have a rich history of being used to show one’s social status. For hundreds of years they were worn by kings, judges and the aristocracy as a sort of fashion statement separating the haves from the have nots. Since wealthier people wore them, they were typically well maintained and clean.

I wanted to repurpose the object for a function that had the opposite associations, so I transformed it into a feather duster. Whereas wigs are extraordinary, cherished and associated with power, feather dusters are mundane, filthy and associated with subservience. My aim was to flip around associations so spectators could better recognize the material properties of the object rather than what it represented as a symbol. The audience seemed to appreciate the simplicity and clarity of the transformation.

Joshua Appleman

This kind of activity is totally up my alley. I rarely turn down an experience that broadens my horizons and makes me view the world through a new lens, so I was looking forward to it. In advance of the workshop, I read up on miracles berries to see what to expect. In retrospect, I think it would have been better to know nothing at all so the results could be less biased. Reading that sour foods tasted sweeter after eating these berries potentially skewed my taste perception. That being said, like most people in our class, lemons, limes and kumquats all tasted sweeter. Usually I wince when I eat these foods but the taste was so sweet and pleasant that I was able to maintain a calm facial expression. Additionally, I was able to keep the food in my mouth longer without swallowing, which wasn’t the best idea because the acidic nature of it seems to have made my teeth and gums more sensitive. Meals later in the day were a bit painful to chew on.

I definitely would not want foods to taste like this all the time or even once a year, which would be too often. I like sour foods and would not want to lose that flavor. The activity is useful in the sense that it shows the way we perceive the world is just one of many possible permutations. I don’t need to be reminded of that once a year. Once every 5 years seems like a better cadence.

If I did this again, I would want to be more mindful of the order in which I eat the foods. Going from most to least mild flavor would be ideal. I made the mistake of eating a jalapeño with a bunch of seeds early on which was a flavor explosion in my mouth. Foods afterward were harder to distinguish so I missed out a bit. Lastly, I would definitely want to try some hot sauce. 🙂

Joshua Appleman

What if we looked at all objects, people, thoughts, and things in the world this way?
We would be more organized and have a greater appreciation of the complexity of everyday assemblies. Also, by looking at the properties that make up an assemblies components we may discover new and novel uses for it.

When would we need to look at the world this way?
I useful scenario to use this dissection method would be with groups of people at an organization. Like people, the foods and sentimental artifacts that I grouped all have their own strengths. Some food is high in protein, others are high in vitamins, and some are optimized for flavor. People in an organization on the other hand may have strengths in logic, design or interpersonal skills. Being able to break down groups of people based on their properties can give you a better sense of where your organization’s strengths and weaknesses are. If I had more time to work on this, I would want to have different variations of how the components are organized such as by color or nutritional value so I can more easily see what’s lacking in my fridge.

Has the meaning of this object changed?
Yes, before I merely viewed my fridge as a container for food and a place to hang sentimental objects. Now I view it more as an assembly of parts that all interact with one another to make something greater than the sum of the components.