A4 Project
Step 1. Brainstorm, draw, journal, write, question.
My Shoulds and Musts:
Off the bat, one of my musts is to be able to pursue my interests and learning goals. Whether it is in relation to my major or not, I tend to pursue my curiosities whenever I run into them. This has, in a way, shaped the interdisciplinary studies I am pursuing here at CMU. I think this is also apparent in my people page bio paragraph as I talk about my tendency to get “severely distracted”. This ‘must’ definitely interferes with my ‘shoulds’ sometimes. Society seems to shape the road to financial stability as a clear step-by-step process. However, my burning curiosity makes it challenging to stay on one clear path. I am always aspiring to learn new things and create new ideas rather than stick to the ‘given’ framework. Therefore, my hope is to be able to find a career or a role in society where I can continue to learn and grow, while also having that financial stability.
Breakdown using Aristotle’s means of persuasion:
Logos: I think the logic behind my motives, as mentioned above, is that I want to continue learning no matter what I am doing.
Pathos: When I think back to high school, I think the pathos that drove me was the sense of urgency. At the time, I had the urgent urge to go to a university or college in order to pursue studies that I was actually interested in. Now that I am here, I feel like that sense of urgency is still there. However, now it is the urgent urge to find a career that I can both enjoy and learn from. I think the biggest pathos throughout my life was and will be this sense of urgency. In fact, I like that I have this driving factor that allows me to push myself when needed. However, I am also learning to take breaks and pace myself throughout it.
Ethos: I think the thing that matters to me the most in regards to ethos is to take up your responsibilities. Whether it is amongst your family, friends, or in workplaces, I think everyone has a role to play and a set of responsibilities to uphold. I also do not hesitate to step up as a leader in these environments if necessary. All in all, I think it is important that you fulfill your role, but also step outside your comfort zone to help others if needed.
Considering all these factors, here is the mattering map I brainstormed:
Step 2. Analyze your actions and professed values.
Past Projects:
A1: The A1 project was a very important step, especially for those who have not been involved with the issue with sustainability before. It was an opportunity for me to stop and analyze my lifestyle and its impact on the environment. Through this project, I learned that the biggest impact I have on the environment was through my travel habit. When analyzing this activity through the CLA layer analyses, this was what I came up with:
Layer 1: Behaviors
- Driving to and from the airport
- Getting on multiple flights
- Layovers at airports
Layer 2: Systems
- Accessible (online) booking for flights
- Design of airplanes
- Lack of other options
Layer 3: Worldview
- Traveling is fun
- Airplanes are the fastest mode of travel (depending on where you’re going)
- The willingness to pay for more comfort
- Importance of family
- Experience different cultures
- Globalization
- Good education is important
Layer 4: Myths and Metaphors
- Confucius values on family
A2: Now through the A2 project, I was given the opportunity to design in order to reduce my biggest carbon footprint area based on the A1 project. Here, I proposed an airport electric railway that would, not only reduce the carbon emissions that comes from transportation, but also reduce clusters at airports.
Furthermore, through the process of designing this solution, I was able to learn more about the importance of our designs aligning with the interests of the respective stakeholders. For instance, what of the key points about this airport railway system was that it was a service in which both the airport and the travellers benefited.
While this design targets one specific area in regards to the issue of travel emissions, we also constructed a “desirable” CLA analysis which would illustrate a society that has been able to solve this issue at hand:
Year 2050
Litany (behavior)
- Less unnecessary travel (usage of telecommunication)
- Eco-friendly modes of travel
- Making my travels carbon neutral
Systems
- More eco-friendly modes of travel
- Using technology to reduce carbon directly from air
- Better batteries
- Renewable energies
Worldview
- Clean energy creates new manufacturing industry
Myths & metaphors
- Keep Earth alive, so we can stay alive.
A3: For this project we were given the task to design something that would improve CMU’s position on sustainability. After doing thorough research on what was required for change on campus, the design that I came up with was a Farmer’s Market on campus that would both engage student interest in sustainability but also serve as a platform for CMU to build relationships with local farmers. In the behavior level the design would engage more students to learn about their food and sustainability. The growing interest would then help push for more sustainability initiatives by the administration. Through the systems level, CMU would be. able to use this opportunity to build long-term relationships with local farmers and suppliers. This could potentially help CMU reduce their carbon footprint by changing how they acquire produce for their dining locations.
How does it relate to my mattering map?
In general, these projects have made me more conscious about my behaviors in my daily life. Whether I am doing school work or hanging out with my friends, I have these thought triggers that make me think about my carbon footprint. I think the A1 project was what directed me to start thinking about these small behavioral factors that would accumulate to my carbon footprint. This is change in my life is also displayed in my mattering map as sustainability has become a very big factor in my personal life.
Another thing I noticed was that the designs I have created for my A2 and A3 assignments were designs that would mainly change or impact the systems layer. This required me to think a lot more about the financial and policy aspects of the design. For instance, I always asked the questioned the feasibility of the design based on the incentives and motives of the stakeholders. I think this ethos was also represented in my mattering map. For instance, I emphasize the importance of staying curious across different subject areas in my mattering map. This was displayed across the different considerations I had, other than sustainability, when working on my designs. In my careers section of the mattering map, I highlight the importance of asking the impact of your role and work. This ethos was also apparent in my design as it considered the stakeholders of the design, and the impact the design it would have on the people.
Finally, taking this class itself was a display of my ethos and the value I put in interdisciplinary teaching. As someone who is studying policy and management, design and climate change were topics that I never thought I would get involved in. However, I followed my gut and added this class solely out of curiosity. Through this class, I have learned that there are more overlapping areas than i’ve imagined. I believe I was able to reaffirm the ethos in my mattering map and also develop new areas of interest. I think that in the current status quo, having this interdisciplinary mindset is, especially, important as the actions that individuals, communities, and organizations take now have global impacts. In short, I believe these assignments helped me both reaffirm and develop the ethos in my mattering map.
Step 3. Explain what matters to you.
A story that would explain a bit more about me and what matters to me starts back in my childhood.
Growing up I was exposed to numerous different cultures. From elementary to middle school, I attended a school with a student body that consisted of 20+ different nationalities. I still remember being fascinated by the different cultural practices, diets, and religious beliefs of my friends. As an immature and clueless kid, some of the differences I had with my friends sometimes felt uncomfortable and strange. For instance, when I first witnessed my friends fasting for Ramadan, it was one of the most disturbing things for a growing 10-year-old boy. In hindsight, these experiences I had with these different cultures are now a part of my identity and a huge influence on my interests.
Influenced heavily by my childhood experience, I came to CMU wanting to study International Relations. At first, I had many doubts as to whether or not CMU was the right choice for someone interested in the humanities rather than the STEM fields that CMU was known for. However, this choice ended up reshaping and strengthening my interests in ways that I could not have imagined. Firstly, my interest in international relations combined with CMU’s strong decision sciences department led me to choose Policy and Management as my major. Furthermore, throughout the semesters at CMU, I started to get more exposure to the STEM fields that was never my strong point. Having two roommates pursuing electrical engineering and computer science, I would occasionally contribute my expertise and perspectives in discussions about their projects and interests. With this growing interest, I hoped to gain more technical experience while also being able to apply my existing knowledge and skills. After discussing my interests with my advisors, I was suggested to pursue the Societal and Human Impacts of Future Technologies (SHIFT) minor, which was a fairly new program at the time. This was a perfect opportunity to attain more technical skills while also incorporating the sociological perspective. By placing myself amongst individuals that had vastly different interests, I was able to make my interests more interdisciplinary but also more focused.
Some of these choices I had to make in my academic career sometimes seemed ‘unfitting’ to my original interests. However, I think I was able to find my true interests and passions by following my gut instinct. From these experiences, I am continuing to learn the importance of stay curious and flexible to ‘difference’. Allowing my mattering map to change, and allowing myself to focus on different parts of my mattering map is very important in order for me to keep growing.
