book list.

recently i've been reading books in a wide range of subjects, from design, to digital culture, to urbanism, and more. my current have read list is:

design, ux, and methods

• Universal Methods of Design by Bella Martin & Bruce Hannington
• The User Experience Team of One by Leah Buley
• Interviewing Users by Steve Portigal
• The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman
• Ruined by Design by Mike Monteiro
• Design for the Real World by Victor Papanek
• Design as Art by Bruno Munari

tech, culture, and the internet

• Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
• Memes in Digital Culture by Limor Shifman
• Living in Data by Jer Thorp
• Because Internet by Gretchen McChulloch
• The Internet Trap by Matthew Hindman
• The Alignment Problem by Brian Christian

urbanism, climate, and community

• Survival of the City by Edward Glaeser & David Cutler
• Dream States by John Lorinc
• On Community by Casey Plett
• Slow Down by Kōhei Saitō
• In the Midst of Things by Mike Owen Benediktsson
• On Class by Deborah Dundas

semiotics, cogsci, and philosophy

• Mythologies by Roland Barthes (selected essays & myth today, for ENGL 306F)
• Blueprint by Nicholas Christakis (for PSYCH 447)
• The Constitution of Knowledge by Jonathan Rauch (for PSYCH 447)

in-progress

• Agonistic Assemblies edited by Markus Miessen
• Nowhere, Exactly by M.G. Vassanji
• Critical Fictions by Hannah Godfrey

i was (graciously) lended the first three books about ux design and research from my supervisor at my first co-op job with the university of waterloo's library after showing interest in ux work. other books are either ones i've caught on the shelf of indigo, or got recommended to me by happenstance or the algorithm.

courses.

during my time at uwaterloo, i found myself dissatisfied with most of the courses offered in the computer science program given my interests. as such, i took as many electives as possible from other departments to explore and gain an interdisciplinary perspective. here's some of the CS courses i enjoyed and electives beyond that i'd recommend:

• CS 349: User Interfaces
• CS/FINE 383: Computational Fine Art Studio (note: i TA'd this course rather than taking it)
• CS 449: Human-Computer Interaction
• CS 492: The Social Implications of Computing (Topic: Computing and Discrimination)
• ENGL 292: Rhetorical Theory and Criticism
• ENGL 306F: Introduction to Semiotics
• PSYCH 320: Language Development
• PSYCH 372: Environmental Psychology
• PSYCH/PHIL 447: Seminar in Cognitive Science (Topic: Cognitive Science of Society)
• PHIL 324: Social and Political Philosophy
• SDS 260R: Ecology, Society, and Justice: Social Development and the Environment
• SDS 322R: Community Engagement and Social Development

font.

the font used on this page is atkinson hyperlegible, a font that is more readable for people with low vision. it's free to use with google fonts and it looks pretty. i'd recommend it.