#integrativepractises

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Week 4:

Material Interrogation:

This was my selected object. It’s a st Christopher necklace which I got before I went travelling on my OE, it’s meant to keep you safe travelling and I met many other people around the world also with one so it was a good conversation starter and way to make friends.

At first I took that initial photo, then put it into a text editor where the data of the photo comes up.

After deleting parts, adding parts, moving bits around for a while, I saved the data and saw what happened to the image.

Then I added the image as raw data to audacity. As it was pretty much just white noise I played around with the sound first. Sapling wasn’t working so I only got the one sound edited through audacity.

I really liked this method as it got me thinking creatively and outside of the box. Showed us how something so simple can be manipulated and transformed into something completely new. What Clint was saying about using things in the incorrect/ unintended way was an interesting way to look at how we use apps and programs. The creative opportunities are endless when we start thinking in new ways. 

[xkhbct]

SOUNDSCAPE / SOUNDWALK

Khartoum Place:

a generator humming in the back of a restaurant kitchen. Muffled voices at surrounding cafes and people on their lunch breaks. Construction crashing, clattering, banging. Faint traffic noises from nearby main road.

I think this place could sound a lot better if the broken water feature was repurposed. It hasn’t worked in years but it is connected to a a memorial of women’s suffrage in NZ. Different sounds could be played so you hear them change as you walk up the flights of stairs surrounding the fountain. 

I think this would change peoples experience in this place, as it is bringing life back to a pretty empty corner of the city where there used to be such a grand feature. It would become more of a ‘destination’ rather than just a shortcut into high st. 

Queen St Cinema :

Stairwell: faint beeping and clicking from arcade games. A phone ringing. The rushing of traffic from outside, movie trailers playing in the background, the rustling or food wrappers.

the stairwell is unique as it is spiral and is like walking down a cylinder, speakers going around with the shape of the stairwell could make it a more interesting experience.

I think this would add to peoples experience of going to the movies, it is a cool building as it is, but adding just a touch more before seeing a film could make it really fun.

Top floor: squeaking of escalators and the high pitch squealing of the lift. Rattling or ceiling fans, rumbling of movies playing inside.

the top floor of this building feels very isolated and when you look over the edge, you see just how high up you are, I think sounds that could add to that feeling of being up in the quiet, close to the ceiling could also add to the experience. Maybe speakers in the ceiling, this would also help block out any unwanted and unpleasant noises such as the lift, escalators and ceiling fans.

Myers Park:

Construction, loud crashing, banging, cluttering, rumbling, drilling. Faint bird song up in the trees. A siren from the road nearby. Grass rustling from footsteps

Myers park is a lovely place however the constant sounds of traffic and construction really take away the feeling of stepping out of the city that this park could achieve. I think a panel of speakers following the path people walk could play sounds that are calm and peaceful and drown out the city noises. This would make it a much more enjoyable experience.

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These are our groups drawings of patterns all placed on the table.

At first we organised them with the most congested(full) pages in the centre and had more and more blank space as it spread out. This didn’t look too good so we tore apart each little drawing and made a collage with the darkest lined patterns in the centre and the lighter lined patterns as it spread out from the middle

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Week 11

future uni 

Our group made a strategy for a future university in 2050. As the educational system around the world is now more online than ever and covid is still a big issue, it is possible that an entirely online university is the future. This would have to be altered to cater for courses that are practical and skill based rather than theory based (which are easier to carry out online). AI or another type of technology would have to be used for students to carry out their practical assignments and work. 

Through systems thinking we saw a potential connection between students who do practical based courses and lack of motivation. Since they can’t do their work as planned, it’s not at the intended level of work they want and it’s almost impossible i todays physical limits. 

We discussed that a cultural probe in a current open university would help give us real answers to tell us if our system we designed is correct/on the right idea. Potentially a happy or sad button in an elevator with a question saying practical or theory,(so we know what course type they are doing) and then options for lost motivation, gained motivation and not affected (so we can see how their motivation was affected in lockdown). 

[xkhbct]

week 10

system thinking

In class this week we looked at systems and system thinking, how everything interconnects and how one thing can affect something drastically different through a series of connections. We were given opportunities to try out and make systems ourselves using Loopy.

Our first task was to connect rabbits and wolves and see how their connections to each other and then to more aspects of life would look. We could then visually see how each ‘party’ is affected. For this first one we were still understanding Loopy so it isn’t as detailed as it could have been but still shows our thinking process.

Our second task was working with ‘Wicked Problems’, a much bigger issue. Our task was to see how damp homes can lead to deprivation. We were then asked to make a hypothetical solution with our agency to the problem. We managed to get a lot of points in our Loopy and we were happy with our solution. We decided that we would campaign for state homes to be made from good standard materials so that there would be less damp homes. By pitching this as a policy for political parties to use it would raise their voting numbers with the young people who feel passionate about this issue. 

1. How could system thinking be used in your creative process:

This could be used for problem solving/creative solutions as it visually shows how a process can go. There is no limits to what can and can’t be added to the system which means that in creative thinking, there are multiple possible solutions to think of, problems that were not even thought about when making a system. 

2. How could this method compliment or contrast with another method explored in ctec500:

Visually it works similar to ideation and the lotus method. Systems made like Loopy can show many factors, problems, solutions etc and then the lotus method works to take some of these points and create solutions from them. If someone is a very visual learner, these two methods would work really well together to create successful solutions.

[xkhbct]

WEEK 9

Wallet Design

My design for my partner had 2 clear card slips on both sides for cards that scan. It also zips up across the top and inside has lots of smaller card holding slips.

I asked my mum the questions for this blog post:

What did she like? - she liked the fact it had to clear spaces to scan a hop card or an access card since they are cards that are used quickly and can be a hassle to get out of your wallet in a short time.

What would she change? - she said that it might be easier to access cards if the zip went the whole way around meaning that it could flip open and cards would be found and out away easier.

Any questions? - why so many slips ? I explained that this was to cater for my partner in the exercise who said she would often just throw cards in her wallet not in their specific card slips so this design makes it less messy when a card is thrown in, and she can just throw another in but in a new slip avoiding mess.

Any ideas? - “nope”

Here are the changes I made based on her answers

[xkhbct]

Week 7

Sectional Drawing

I found this exercise really interesting, I especially liked how we had to make our sectional drawings habitable, I had never really heard of this type of drawing before and it was fun to do. I am not the best drawer so I wasn’t too sure how this would go but I like the end result.

My object I cut in half was a small apple that had fallen off an apple tree in my garden.

Since I am not a great drawer the only ways I really incorporate it into my work is with rough sketches, doodles, maps, etc. I had never really thought too much into these quick drawings but after this presentation I realised that it is vert important and a key part of any design process no matter the skill level. My quick drawings are a way to get an idea out fast and share it with my team mates so they can see what I am meaning and then we are able to develop it further as a group. 

I think this would be a good method in work to design/plan/prototype many different uses, entrances, or anything really on product designs, buildings, etc. At first i struggled to think of a way to ‘inhabit’ the cross section but then once i did one, i got an idea for another and I think if there was more time I could have come up with a few more. Really interesting to see all the ways you can cut and move and develop a single design into something completely new and unique whilst also keeping its key characteristics. 

[xkhbct]

Week 6

ideate

this week we tested out the lotus method of mind mapping which was a really great tool. I chose to focus my point around our studio project. In the time we had it was hard to get it all filled out but i’m happy with what I got down and have actually developed some new ideas from this. 

1: I think this method is really useful for creative thinking as it enables you to break down your one idea into smaller parts and then continue to break those parts down even further. It helps turn the big idea in your mind into an organised layout of each point.

2: I will definitely be using this in future aspects of work and projects I do. Since this one was based on an ongoing project I will probably continue to work on this and see what more ideas I can get out of it. It is a very useful mind mapping tool.

I wasn’t entirely sure how the 6 thinking hat exercise worked but I filled it out as to how I understood the brief.

[xkhbct]

Week 5

LoFi Prototyping

In fort lane I chose the area around the entrance to the nightclub “ROXY”, however if this were to be implemented I think that the whole lane should be included. 

My favourite thing about fort lane is the red neon light that runs from one end to the other zig zagging from wall to wall, moving around pipes and windows, it adds to the atmosphere whilst also looking very flush with its surroundings. 

1: I took inspiration from this neon light and thought that adding some more, in different colours along the walls of the lane could continue to add to the existent atmosphere. Neon lights in different sized circles placed along the walls of the lane.

I didn’t have many materials at home however i did find a piece of cardboard that represented a part of the lane I could showcase the idea on. 

I then created a very basic edit of what it could look like if implemented, obviously at night this would have a much bigger impact as the lights can then stand out. 

2: LoFi prototyping is a very good way of seeing a form of your idea in a physical form instead of your mind. In your mind there are no laws of physics and sometimes you don’t think things through properly. Until you see how it works in reality then you can see what works what doesn’t and what can be added to make it a better design. 

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this was our groups cultural probe. Our goal was to find a way to make public transport a more pleasurable experience for disabled people. We developed this idea that represented their journey on whichever public transport they were taking. Users can stick either a ‘heart’ or a ‘broken heart’ sticker on each stage of the journey representing if they felt comfortable and happy or uncomfortable/unsafe etc. The stages we used were- bus stop- getting on bus- actual journey sitting down-getting off

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week one:

using walking as a research method:

homework questions: 

in what ways did this exercise assist in seeing things you may have not noticed before?

I found that when we stopped walking to find and draw patterns around us, I saw details, shapes and textures in many places that I walk by all the time but have never noticed. After the first couple stops and drawings, I began noticing patterns all around us as we were walking to wherever we would stop next. 

how might you adapt this method for future work?

I like the idea of walking aimlessly to spark up cognitive thinking, I think this could be used in most future work especially when it comes to mental blocks and times when we are lacking inspiration, walking could bring in some new ideas and refresh our minds.

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week 2

Cultural Probes:

Now you have tested Cultural Probes, suggest another scenario where they could be used (be specific, who and where)

- cultural probes work well in the way that they get research information from people and their real life, day to day experiences. They could very helpful in understanding the lives of elderly with different communities and what could be implemented to make day to day experiences easier such as taking public transport or grocery shopping. Setting up a cultural probe in an area where this demographic is often around such as local markets, rest homes etc would get the best results.

What might be some failings of this method, how might the probes fail to work?

Since the research is taken from many hours or days of the participants lives, it is hard to monitor so problems might not be picked up and included within the final data. 

[kylieclarke-bct]

#FindJamesCharlton

I realise this hashtag could be the beginning of something, maybe this could be an experiment on it’s own within my classmates? maybe it will mess up my own results? Maybe if we all use this hashtag on Twitter so much, James will see it? Who knows, but I want to try. Use #FindJamesCharlton! 

[kylieclarke-bct]

Reflection on Interrogation and #FindJamesCharlton:

The end of this assignment has come to a conclusion and I certainly have mixed feelings for it. In some ways, I am rather disappointed to discover that my letter has not reached the hands of James, though on the other hand, I am fully aware that that was the point of the exercise - for us to explore failure, and with that in the back of our mind, to push the boundaries and to not be afraid to fail.

One thing I have truly realised is how reliant we all are on social media and technology. I realised how connected we are, even with people on the other side of the world, and certainly how easy it is to track someone down. Facebook was the main tool that majority of people went to first (including myself), mainly because of the location function. It was more an impulse decision and I found that I didn’t think twice. Looking back now, I could have stepped back first and thought ‘I know I will fail, what other creative way can I go about tracking James down?”

My final submission was a broken up image of my ice - cube interrogation. I wanted to trial the reliance of society. My system required complete strangers to pass on the envelope to another stranger in order to test the theory of ‘6 degrees of separation’. Maybe this gesture was too bold? If someone had passed a foreign envelope to me, would I have passed it to someone on the street without knowing them? Realistically, probably not. I am all for the unknown, but the first step of approaching a stranger and handing them an envelope is quite a strong gesture that only a small minority of people would complete. I knew deep down my idea would fail, though I didn’t realise it would fail before it had even started.

Communication wise - I picked twitter. The reason for this was because it is simple, international and the use of hashtags I have found through using them on other social medias are extremely helpful to filter certain messages. Looking at the filtered page #FindJamesCharlton on twitter, all the posts are from CoLab students. I am glad the hashtag was used, though I am disappointed that no one else used it. I would have never had known that it was a sufficient way to communicate though without trying it and failing.

I can certainly learn from the theory of ‘6 degrees of separation' and use my new found knowledge in the future - the skill of using different paths and perspectives to complete a task. I understand that taking a different direction can change the outcome of something, which can be applied in my other papers, or even in every day life tasks.