A5 - Dealing with Dwinelle

CogSci150 - Sensemaking and Organizing
Assignment 5 – assigned on 6 February 2025, due February 11

Describing Resources... Names & Identifiers:
Dealing with Dwinelle (10 points)

There are multiple parts to each question. Make sure you answer all the parts

Dwinelle Hall has been described as "the maze for new Berkeley students" because of its confusing architecture and strange naming and numbering schemes. Use these two photos, other diagrams, maps or signs around the building, and your knowledge of sensemaking and organizing to answer these questions.

(Even if you've taken classes that met in Dwinelle Hall, I recommend that you take a "field trip" and explore the building from a CogSci 150 perspective).

a) What are the principles for assigning identifiers to rooms and floors? BE SPECIFIC AND PROVIDE EXAMPLES (3 points)

b) What problems do these principles create? (1 point)

c) What arguments would you make for fixing the problems with a new organizing system? 1 point)

d) What arguments would you make for leaving things as they are? (1 point)

e) If you were asked to design a new organizing system for Dwinelle, what principles would you use to identify floors and rooms? Consider the "Shamu Question" in your answer -- instead of treating all rooms and floors as being of the same type, are there different categories of floors or rooms in Dwinelle Hall that should be distinguished in the identifiers? What are the advantages and disadvantages of putting incorporating some kind of "category identifier" into the organizing system?

BE SPECIFIC AND PROVIDE EXAMPLES OF YOUR NEW IDENTIFIERS (4 points)