This course provides the opportunity to propose and

complete an intensive, informational, and narrative

project. Its purpose is deepen your own understanding of

design problem finding and solving, visual investigation and

methodology, and the crafting of a design object.

Communication value and strong visual form are of

premium importance. Your informational narrative must

be delivered in the form of a book. You should approach

your project with intensity and focus.

The focus of this project is design, visual information, and

communication value. While a polished, cleanly produced

book is expected, this need not include an elaborate bind-

ing that will require you to work in the book studio. In addi-

tion, the book studio is booked beyond ideal capacity for

the spring semester. Each of you will have the chance to

work there in a dedicated class called TypoGrafik.

Washington University, Heather Corcoran/Susie Robinson, Instructors

Informational narratives (undergraduate)

TO FLYHUMAN ATTEMPTS

Amy Pierce

human attempts to fly

an overview of the ways we get closer

to experiencing unassisted flight

written by Amy Pierce

contents

the desire to fly

the myth of flying

the study of birds

Lilienthal’s wings

history

the flying trapeze

the human cannon

history

equipment

how-to

history

equipment

how-to

BASE jumping

BirdMan suit

2 » introduction

12 » da Vinci’s vision

16 » gliders

20 » acrobatics

30 » bungee jumping

40 » parachuting

1 »

We humans have the ability to walk on land. We can swim in water. But there is one realm in this world that we are continuously attempting to master:

intro

But what is with this desire to get airborne? Is it

a power struggle with the universe? Is it a need

for the air to fly through our hair without the use

of a blow dryer? Maybe parting from the security

of the earth gives us a thrill that is unmatched.

An inborn desire to experience an intense rush

of adrenaline.

The air.

5 »3 »

Unfortunately a few flaps of the arms doesn’t

get us any further off the ground, but at least we

look like fools for trying.

If riding in a plane is flying, then riding in a boat

must be swimming. Flying must bring us off of

our feet and in contact with the air that the birds

tame under the supple curvature of their wings.

Our wingspan doesn’t have the same kind of grace.

There are still ways that we have come close to

a mechanical-free flight.

Whether falling or making a somewhat futile

effort to lift off the ground, there’s a rush

involved. Freud was under the impression that

humans are constantly battling two basic instincts:

And then there’s the desire to die.

M o s t o f t h e s e w a y s i n v o l v e f a l l i n g , o f c o u r s e .

Of course, today we have essentially mastered

the air with our technological thrills. Planes.

Blimps. Helicopters. But is this exactly getting us

closer to experiencing flight?

There’s the desire to live.

intro

T h e y a r e a l s o m o r e p r o n e t o d i v o r c e .

Perhaps the latter drives so many to participate

in high-risk activities like BASE jumping and

bungee jumping. Many try skydiving just because

they want to experience it once before they die.

But maybe it’s not a desire to die. Perhaps it’s

something different. Extreme risk-takers that

want to play their cards at an act for which they

were not built seek sensation in a different

way than a person who is content reading the

Sunday paper over black coffee. In the 1960s,

researcher Marvin Zuckerman argued that

humans have a basic instinct beyond that of

survival; they have a need for sensation.

5 »

T h a t i s , i f t h e y d o n ’ t d i e w h i l e d o i n g i t .

There are a few factors that need to be weighed

in this theory. A person’s optimal level of arousal

depends on their optimal level of stimulation.

A person’s optimal level of stimulation is defined

by his thrill and adventure seeking, experience

seeking, lack of inhibitions, and boredom

susceptibility. But people with higher levels of

sensation seeking aren’t necessarily more prone

to injury than others. For some, flying in the

air across a flying trapeze is no more dangerous

than walking across the street. It’s just a matter

of taking a different route from one place to

another. By increasing their skill level, higher

sensation seekers reduce the risk that an

outsider sees as unthinkable.

Higher sensation seekers have stronger orienting

reflexes. This enables them to better process

information that is projected at them from

different directions. They are better at handling

the moments that leave them on the brink of

losing control. A lower sensation seeker will

choose the classic fight-or-flight response with

much greater haste.

Our level of sensation seeking is mostly not our fault.

The fools standing at the top of a roof with

glued-on feathers flapping wildly with an all-too

confident leap can attribute most of this

behavior to genetics. Specifically to chromosome

eleven. The so-called “thrill gene” is on this

chromosome. Named D4DR, the less of it we have,

the less satisfied we find ourselves participating

in lame activity.

intro

CAUTIOUS BEHAVIOR

RISKY BEHAVIOR

high MAO

low MAO

lower serotonin levels

higher serotonin levels

serotonin

breakdown

It’s also a brain thing. A neurotransmitter in the

brain called serotonin controls feelings of

well-being and anxiety. It is regulated by MAO,

which stands for mono amine oxidase.

Extreme risk-takers tend to have about one-third

less MAO than those who reject extreme risk.

Less MAO means that less serotonin can be

broken down, which can mean more dangerous

behavior for the risk-taker.

9 »7 »

Less is more.

Our dreams of mastering the air were planted

long ago. This is reflected in the Greek

mythological story of Icarus and Daedalus.

(In case you haven’t thought about Greek

mythology for some time, I have taken the liberty

to fill you in with an abbreviated version of

the story).

The first mention of Daedalus was by Homer.

The story of his man-made wings reappeared

in Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

At the time, King Minos was in control. A man

named Theseus had killed the Minotaur,

a creature who was essentially King Minos’

daughter. Thus, when Daedalus, a skilled

artificer, was the one who provided Theseus’

escape, he fell far from the favor of the king.

King Minos sent both Daedalus and his son

to prison. Because Minos ruled over the land

and the sea, their only hope of escape was by air.

Daedalus and Icarus constructed wings out of

feathers and melted wax, and they attached

them to their arms.

the myth of flying

Daedalus warned his son about the dangers

of flying. If they traveled too close to the sun,

the wax would surely melt and they would

fall to their death into the sea below. But if they

flew too close to the water’s surface, the mist

from the sea would weigh their wings down.

As the father and son duo escaped the labyrinth

of the prison and flew through the air with their

new wings, Icarus became more and more

excited. He flew higher and higher, being drawn

to the sun. Just as his father had warned him,

his the wax holding the feathers together began

to melt. Daedalus cried out to him, “Icarus,

Icarus, where are you?” But all was in vain.

Icarus and Daedalus

intro

He

loo

ke

d d

ow

n b

elo

w a

nd

saw

the

fea

the

rs fl

oa

ting

on

the

wa

ter’s su

rface

.

9 »

APPEARS AS A DOT IN THE ETHER

WHEN THE LARK

AND MANIFESTS

ITS JOY OF EXISTENCE

THEN A CERTAIN DESIRE

BY ITS SONG;

TAKES POSSESSION OF A MAN-

TAKES POSSESSION OF A MAN-

FLAPPING to get off the ground. A bird

will face the wind’s resistance

to get started.

Leonardo da Vinci too saw the vision of

Daedalus. Or that is, Homer’s vision as fiction-

alized through the story of Daedalus and his

foolhardy son. Beyond painting, da Vinci had

a strong interest in flight, and he made careful

observations and studies of birds. Many of

these studies are recorded in his notebooks and

in his Codex Atlanticus, which dates from

1478 to 1519. He understood the desire to fly,

as foolish as it may have seemed.

He concluded that there were three different kinds of flight.

da Vinci’s vision

the study of flying

WIND ASSISTANCE once the creature has left

the ground.

GENERAL FLIGHT (How this is its own category I will

not divulge).

«Otto Lilienthal

13 »

HUMAN

BIRD Da Vinci studied the curvature of the wing,

and found that this helped the movement in

air because the wind moves in a curved fashion.

From the elbow to the shoulder, a wing is

concave. The rest of the wing is convex. We do

not have these kind of extremities, making it

difficult for us to fly among the best of the birds,

but the bones of a bird’s wing seems to resemble

that of the human thumb. Because air resistance

is such a strong factor in the way that birds

fly, Leonardo concluded that swimming in water

teaches a man how to fly in the air.

�

evolution of the protest

� �

� �

researched and designed by Shlomo Goltz

evolution of the protest

� �

“Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks to dramatize the issue so that it can no longer be ignored.” Martin Luther King Jr.

3 introduction nashvillesit–ins9 background11 whathappened13 communicationtactics

socialnetworks17 networkfeatures18 hownetworksact

battleofseattle21 background25 groupsinvolved29 whathappened37 communicationtactics

41 conclusion

� �

introduction

� �

History is littered with examples of how people have gathered together in order to alter the status quo and improve their lives. Activism such as protests, demonstrations, and direct action have created remarkably swift improvements in society. Many aspects of contemporary American life, such as the privilege for all adult citizens to vote, and racial equality were made possible by such activism. The protestors of today are able to do more then their predecessors could have dreamed of because of the tools available to them. Technology has played a role in the evolution of protest by allowing people to act together in new ways and in situations where collective was not possible before. It is true that activist movements prior to the mid 20th century brought about tremendous changes and are landmarks in history, but they were dumb.

Though fewer in number, the minority can create change by joining forces and organizing.

introduction

� �

1912 Woman’s suffrage protest and parade

1955 Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott

1957 Desegregating Little Rock, nine students

1960 Greensboro sit–insNashville lunch counter sit–ins

1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

1965 Three marches of Selma to Montgomery 1970 Kent State and Cambodia Incursion Protest

1999 Battle of Seattle against the wto

1912 1955 1957 1960

1963 1965 1970 1999

introduction

Dumb is not meant in the pejorative sense; the people involved in protests were likely intelligent, and their collective actions were valiant. In the context of this book, dumb does not mean stupid; rather it denotes that activism had several structural and functional deficiencies.2 The dumb mobs of the past are dumb because the activists had a limited ability to plan and communicate with one other. Creating strategy and sharing information are what allow individuals to work cohe-sively as a group, to collaborate in order to achieve a single goal. Understanding the limits of planning and communicating allows one to see the limits of yesterdays activism.

This book will explore of the use of communication networks in the context of activism. It Is about how networks emerge, what they look like, and how they act. 3 An example from the Civil Rights era known as the Nashville sit-ins will set the stage by illustrating how a basic sit–in functions. A protest known as the Battle of Seattle will be used to show how the advances of communication and organiza-tion that have been facilitated by mobile communications technologies.12 It is im-perative that the protestors of today understand how modern communications technology can improve the efficiency, precision, and effectiveness of protest.

The shortcomings of activism in the past comes from the inability to manage coordination beyond a certain threshold of size, complexity, and velocity.5 Activ-ists could only communicate with each other before the protest via face-to-face discussion, the telephone, or mail. With the exception of talking directly, these media formats are inflexible because they are wired in place, and require significant amount of time to convey information. During activist activities, people needed to be within hearing range or line of sight to communicate with one another since cell phones did not exist until the 1980s. Only under conditions of the recent wave of information and wireless technologies that allow for both communication and computation capabilities, can activists become smart in the way they configure themselves during a protest. 5,12

� �

nashville

� �0

The Nashville Civil Rights protests are an example of a form of protest known as a sit-in. As the name implies, a sit-in is a kind of protest that involves groups of individuals sitting in areas in order to disrupt or halt the actions of others.

Protesters were trained to remain passive and calm if provoked in order to reduce any confrontation and hopefully eliminate negative publicity.

Sit-Ins are an example of direct action, as those involved are attempting to effect immediate change by directly address-ing their perceived problem and those perceived to be responsible.

From February to May 1960, a total of 500 students from universities in the area sat at tables and counters at four stores and ordered food. Each group would sit-in their respective stores until closing and then would return the next day.

background

�� ��

in the storesThe protesters attended training to make their time in the stores effective and safe. Utilizing power in numbers, the protes-tors congregated in groups for protection, and to create a more noticeable presence in the stores. Once seated, the protesters remained quite, polite, calm, and did not directly react to taunts or harassment.

group communicationOnce the plan was enacted, the protesters could not update each other on their status due to their large sizes. Therefore the protes-tors walked together in one large group and split into smaller sub-groups who then broke off to enter different establishments.

what happened

�� ��

segmentationAs each sub-group separates, the network shrinks and fragments until the network ceases to function.

All protesters can do is hope their prior planning will work, as they cannot update their strategy if conditions change or if they need assistance.

limitationsTechnological abilities of the time meant that during a protest, protesters could only communicate to those in their close physical proximity.

nashville structureThe students organized and communi-cated in a hierarchical way. Hierarchies are formed in a rigid, tiered structure that do not allow for efficient means of communication. The sit-ins were limited in their scope and complexity because the students were not organized into a structure called a network.

isolationOnce seated, the protestors in each store are isolated from the other sub-groups. They have no idea if their fellow protest-ers are being successful or have been arrested. They are also unable to keep track of other protest movements if the protesters do not have access to news-papers or other media.

communication tactics

line of sight

distance of hearing

�� ��

social networks

�� ��

Swarming appears in the animal kingdom, long before it did in human affairs. Human swarming cannot be directly modeled after animal swarming, but some useful lessons and insights can be drawn from animals of such as the bee and ant.3 The swarming pattern of these social insects resembles guerilla tactics in some ways, with linear formations used for movement, then omni-directional blanketing ‘wave’ attacks at the point of contacts.3 For these five phases to work correctly, they must be synchronized between a diversity of seemingly discon-nected individuals. Therefore there must be a layer of instantaneous communication between these individuals. This level is the most difficult aspect of swarming, and this prerequisite has made swarming extremely difficult, or impossible, up until now.15

types of networksCentralized networks are the most simple in structure, and easiest to break. If the central hub is removed, the whole net-work falls apart.3

Decentralized networks are stronger then those that are centralized, but they are vulnerable if more then a few hubs are removed. The advantage of this type of network can be set up relatively quickly.

Distributed networks creates robust command and control structures that allows rapid shifts in strategic targeting, resistance to decapitation (attacks that target leadership), and the disruption of the communication channels. Since every node is a hub, this network is almost impossible to break down.1

connecting peopleIt wasn’t until the ‘Kevin Bacon Theory’ of six degrees of separation came along that mass media and popular culture have thought of social groups as literal networks — interwoven connections between people that are made by interac-tion, and the formation of relationships.3 Each person in a network is a node who in turn connects to one or more people. Highly connected nodes are called hubs. Hubs are the leaders in a group, and are like the people you know who seem to know everyone. Through these connec-tions, information and resources can be shared. It is from sharing that a network gains its utility.3 A protest known as the Battle of Seattle was the first example of networked political protest in America.

swarmingNetworks utilize a technique called swarming to attack other institutions. Swarming, in the context of protesting, can be thought of as the technique of quickly massing a large number of individuals from all directions onto a single position in order to attain a specific goal.15 The use of modern communications technology allows a extremely large amount of people divided into small units to synchronize their actions to a precise time and place.2 If conditions change, plans can be updated on the fly.

network featureshow networks act

ce ntr alize d dece ntr alize d distr ibute d