Roll No: Name:
Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing, Kancheepuram
End Semester Examination, May 2024
Course Code: DS1001 Course Title: Sociology of Design
Batch: 2023 Category: Core
Date of Examination: 03 May 2024, 9:30 am Faculty: Dr Sudhir & Dr Narendran
Duration: 3 hours Max. Marks: 50
Instructions to students:
1. Answers to Part-A may be written in the question paper itself
2. The question paper must be returned along with the answer sheets
Part-A: (15 X 1 = 15 marks)
1. When a first-year student returns home after spending a year at a college, her parents and friends tell
her that she has changed a lot. Which sociological concept are they referring to? __________________
2. A scientist or engineer might look at a GenAI tool and ask “how does it work?”. In comparison a
sociologist would look at it and ask ______________________________________________
3. A society or group where the values of individuals perfectly match with the morals/ethics of the group
are best explained by __________________ type of sociological theories
4. “It is not only a right, but the duty of every citizen to vote in a democracy” Which is sociological
perspective is reflected in this statement? ______________________________
5. A student is unable to understand a concept. Discussions with the teacher and friends lead to a change
in worldview and better understanding. Which sociological perspective is referred? ________________
6. One of the supposed reasons behind a religious practice such as fasting is to help the followers
understand the suffering of the poor. The related concept in design is _____________________
7. In order to better understand the value of everyday materials, an engineer decides to spend a week with
waste pickers to collect & sell materials. What type of ethnography is she doing? ________________
8. Based on your experience with collage and scrap art, what is the nature of relationship between color,
texture and shape _______________________________
9. According to the Interaction Ritual Chains theory, the one factor that directly enhances the Individual
Emotional Energy is _________________________
10. In the Interaction Ritual Chains, what is the nature of relationship between the factors “Effort to
reassemble” and “co-presence of individuals” ___________________________________
11. Which concept in Actor Network Theory could explain the hidden ballot in the movie “12 angry men”
_______________________________
12. The key difference between diachronically and synchronically is ______________
13. A design competition announced a design brief “a rubber tyre for roads without concrete”. Create an
alternative and more innovative design brief using the syntagmatic principle
__________________________________________________________
14. During elections, each party is given a symbol. Why do we say symbol? _____________________
15. While the primary function of a classroom table is to support reading or writing, it may also be treated
as a tabla/drum. What is the concept in design that refers to this possibility? ______________________
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Part-B: (4 X 5 = 20 marks)
16. In the movie “12 Angry Men”, when the jurors enter the discussion room, some chit chat about the
case, and some people introduce themselves along with their profession or interest. However, 2-3 jurors
do not interact with anyone –one is looking through the window while the other is reading a newspaper.
a. How would you explain the behaviors of those who are chatting with each other? Name three
sociological concepts that they were trying to find out and why? (3 marks)
b. How did this introduction affect the way they voted and participated initially? (2 marks)
17. In an autonomous educational institution whose mandate is to promote curiosity and creativity, a faculty
took the risk to design a question paper in a creative and fun way. He camouflaged the content and
wanted the students to discover the questions, like a treasure hunt. The students could have discovered
the questions if they had showed it against light or used a pencil to scratch the paper. However, this
novelty increased the uncertainty and ambiguity for students. A majority of students who couldn’t
figure this got agitated and complained to the Dean Academics. A committee was constituted to review
that complaint, and the faculty was suspended. The head of the institute sent out a stern warning to all
the faculty that examinations are sacred part of the academic process, and no experiments will be
permitted. The few students who solved the puzzle preferred to remain silent fearing retribution from
fellow students and administration.
a. Which perspective (conflict or functionalist) best explains this situation? Why? (3 marks)
b. What is the likely response of the faculty if he takes an interactionist perspective? (2 marks)
18. In the Portuguese case study of Actor Network Theory,
a. What is meant by the actor “Astrolabe”? (1 mark)
b. What role did the “Astronomical Navigator” play in finding the trade route to India? (2 mark)
c. What Point of Passage did Vasco da Gama had to cross to establish trade with India? (2 marks)
19. The Election Commission wants to run a campaign to achieve 80% voter turnout in the remaining
phases of the 18th general election by encouraging first time voters (college students) to exercise their
vote. Design an Instagram post to reach them
a. Define a key message (with 4-5 keywords) that you wish to share (1 mark)
b. Show how you would translate the intended message into visual signs using the below concepts
i. signified and signifier (1 mark),
ii. paradigmatic principle (1 mark)
c. Sketch a poster with the signifiers derived from the above (2 marks)
Part-C: (1 X 15 = 15 marks)
20. An all-girls student team in their second semester joined a design thinking course. As part of the course
activity, they identified a practical issue, and came up with an idea of ‘storing the internet so that they
can use it when they do not have mobile signal’. After some suggestions from the course faculty and
ideation, they decided to drop the idea. Some of the reasons were steep knowledge gap, team’s
unwillingness to put extra effort for a 2-cedit course, and feedback from some faculty that instead of
wasting time on such infeasible ideas, they must focus on fundamentals and getting good grades.
a. Draw a rich picture of the situation (5 marks)
b. Identify the socio-material elements and the underlying assumptions (5 marks),
c. Discuss how a student in the team can turn this into an opportunity for learning? (5 marks)
