Category: Glossary

noun

” something with seemingly contradictory qualities” – Merriam-Webster dictionary

The word was encountered through the reading “Wind Sand and Stars”  by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The sentence that this word was used in was “Numerous, nevertheless, are the moralists who have attacked the machine as a source of all the ills we bear, who, creating a fictitious dichotomy [fake contradictory], have denounced the mechanical civilization as the enemy of the spiritual civilization.” (Note: Fictitious means not real/fictional)

The author was trying to convey the idea that people should still be able to explore who they want to be whether it be an artist or thinker, instead of going straight into thinking about business or war. The central idea of this excerpt is that the machine/mechanical civilization and society as a whole isn’t taking advantage of the human potential. Connecting the theme back to this quote, the author is trying to say that moralists create a false contradictory because they’re saying that machines are the root of all evil but that’s not true, there are many factors that are “source of all the ills we bear”. If this was to relate back to the design process I think that it would be what the industry wants in design vs human potential in exploring things that they can create.

Definition    l    Image that summarizes the definition  

Past participle verb

1: “to establish an order”
2: “to issue an order”

– Merriam Webster Dictionary                                                                                       

The word ordained was found in the reading: “Wind, Sand, Stars” written by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. The sentence the author uses the word is, “It is as if there were a natural law which ordained that to achieve this end, to refine the curve of a piece of furniture, or a ships kneel, or the fuselage of an  airplane, until gradually it partakes of the elementary purity of the curve of a human breast or shoulder, there must be the experimentation of several generations of craftsmen.”

The reason he uses the word ordained in this quote is that he’s trying to explain that there isn’t a law that is forcing these craftsmen to perfect the ultimate perfect project. After this quote, he explains that to achieve perfection is not to add more and more to their work but when you stripe everything to its purity that is when it’s absolute perfection because of the simplicity. So in this, he’s trying to say as if there is some natural law that enforces these craftsmen to keep and keep trying to refine their work when it doesn’t need to be.

The word ordain or ordained is used a lot for religious reasons like saying: “So the gods have ordained these new rules,” or “Now she will become an ordained minister.” So, the word also has another type of definition in the Christian community which is to make someone a priest or minister. However, the definition I put for the word goes with how the author was trying to use it.    

 

 

 

Definition: the quality or power in an actual life experience or in literature,  music, speech, or other forms of expression, of evoking a feeling of pity, or of sympathetic and kindly sorrow or compassion; pity.

Origins: 1570–80; < Greek páthos suffering, sensation, akin to páschein to suffer

Example: The dramatic performance was rich in sad pathos and left the audience with teary eyes.

Adjective 
“dominated by or emphasizing masculine interests or a masculine point of view — compare ” – Merriam-Webster dictionary
The word was encountered through the reading “Design avatars that make sense — and be more inclusive in the process” by Michelle Venetucci Harvey.

The sentence that this word was used in was “This tendency to view men’s bodies, thoughts, and experiences as more normative than women’s is a phenomenon called androcentrism. Even in contexts that we think of as being gender and race neutral, andro and eurocentric biases lead to detrimental outcomes in medicine, business, and education — and in online communities.”

The author was trying to convey the idea how western society prefers males to be the icon. She also used the example of Pac man, a character that was created as a male before having a female opposite. Androcentrism was a word utilized to describe this social behavior or trend that masculinity is the norm and the author wanted to bring attention to this issue that gender-neutral avatars are not actually neutral. Michelle may have wanted to suggest that companies who have default icons should avoid a silhouette of a person. Instead, they could use an abstract auto-generated image, animals, initials and maybe even the company logo like Open lab is currently using.

Definition    l   Example of androcentric avatars   l   Example of non-androcentric avatar