Small Experiments & Failing Fast
With a topic in hand, I’m about to enter into the research phase of my thesis development. In doing so, I’d like to attempt as best I can small experiments to validate the thoughts I have. I think that this is one way in which I can get to the important things faster.
Small experiments will let me take a specific slice of the problem and boil it down to what I can act upon. I imagine some of the first experiments I will be performing revolve around how people use maps: the context of their use, the information they hope to learn, and more. In order to be pragmatic about things, keeping these experiments low-tech is essential. That means paper and not screen, and three hours instead of three weeks.
These small experiments have a secondary benefit: when something goes wrong, it goes wrong right away. As you can imagine, this comes in handy when dealing with nebulous and expansive topic areas such as location and place. It is my hope that with limited amounts of time available to me, I focus on the right things.
