#introductiontothecreativetechnologies

[jackhealybct]

Day 1 of “Introduction to the Creative Technologies”

The “Design as a Discipline” article brings up plenty of ideas and questions concerning the nature of design in education, as well as education as a whole. After going over it, it made me think about the values of education, not only in design but in general, and brought up the question of how it could be done differently to better help students understand what they are at school to do. A question that was brought up and I have had a few minutes to mull over is “how relevant is an article from 1982?” and while I automatically assume that there will be outdated knowledge and ideas, upon reflection the values it truly conveys seem to apply as much to modern design as 30 year old design. Design sometimes appears to be the culmination of Art and Science but in reality it sits isolated, incorporating aspects of the other two but also sending out it’s own ideas and values amongst the “cultures” of Education.

[mybctexperience]

Reflective Journaling Extra

For the Reflective Journaling Assignment I actually went over by 23 words and had to cut it down. I hope that it doesn’t make less of an impact because of it, or less sense by that same way.

[mybctexperience]

The Final Vlog! I recorded all of the audio myself. Edited the audio using the Ableton Live 10 Trial. Used my own images. Then used iMovie to add the backgrounds and put it all together.

[mybctexperience]

Vlog Work

There are a few differences but this is the revised script that I have used to record my Vlog.

Why go to University?

I always thought that I’d go to University to further my study at least once. Though I did begin to have concerns and doubts about whether I was actually cut out for going to university when the main stream schooling of High School didn’t really work for me and I had to leave.

I know that Having a “fancy piece of paper telling me I’m cool” is an important achievement and most employers want or need you to have one to get a decent job. I’ve always wanted to follow my passions so when I was being homeschooled I began making sure that I would have a University Degree in what I was completely passionate about at the time. I was going to be an actress, a performer, on and off the stage. I was working with a couple of different singing teachers to do Trinity College of London Musical Theatre Gradings, I was determined to get my Bachelors. Though, as time went on and the teachers I was working with eroded my confidence and I sustained quite a few injuries before more of my examinations, I decided to stop. I would still really like to get My Advanced Performance Certificate, just to feel like I’ve tied off the loose ends to that particular adventure, but it’s not a very likely part on my near future.

Why AUT?

The Auckland University of Technology was not actually my first choice, nether was the BCT, I was going to be an Actress, I was also going to be a hair dresser, and a whole pile of other things all at once. I was going to base myself in the performance industry, and it will always be a part of my life. In 2016 I went with my Mother to the Palmerston North Sort It Expo, (mainly because I thought that it was compulsory for year 12 and 13 students) there I found the AUT booth and stopped to check it out. We spoke to two different teachers there, neither of them were a part of the Creative Technologies course. But they thought that it could offer me what I was looking for. So that year my family went to the AUT open day. And AUT won my parents and I over. With the support structures for students, it’s with the times associations, and facilities. I have been determined to go ever since that Sort It Expo. We also went to the open day in 2017. I believe that it really helped my parents feel good about me wanting to go here. The fact that everything went as smoothly as it could with me in a wheelchair. Just made everything so good, so realistic. It is the only University in New Zealand (and at the time, the world) that has and supports a course like the COLAB: Creative Technologies.

Why the Bachelor of Creative Technologies (BCT)?

I have struggled with main stream schooling for most of my life, I used to be fine and enjoy school very much when I was younger, I could stay on top of all my work, and help others out with their work as well. Then in the end of 2007 I was placed into a class with an absolutely horrible teacher, she didn’t want to help me get ahead, she wanted me to help out the other class members that were struggling. That was okay because I liked to help, but the work was far to easy for me, it never challenged me and I was treated like a teacher aid and not another student. Once I was finally pulled from that class a whole year later, the damage was already done. I struggled, I was doing my work far slower than anyone else, I was having extreme trouble keeping up with the other people In my class, even on basic things. It has taken me years to work through as many of the problems that arose from that year, but I still struggle sometimes. I was lucky enough that by the end of 2013 I got to have a diagnostic assessment of cognitive and educational abilities done by Lynn Berresford, a registered psychologist to help me understand why I was still having so many difficulties at school.

The diversity and flexibility of the BCT is exactly what I have been looking for. It teaches me new skills that I have been wanting for a long time. Like Programming and proper Collaboration. While also supporting my diverse range of interests. Even praising me for them. I originally had no idea that this course was in Auckland. But it is the only one of it’s kind here in New Zealand, so it is completely worth making the change.

What is “Creative Technologies” to me?

A chance to find out what I want to do in this changing world. Making my passions a reality that can sustain me for the future to come. A way to learn some skills that I haven’t had the chance to in my life so far in a supportive and fun environment. Having the chance to experience University on my own terms. I have already met so may different people on this course. I have made some good friends. And found some people like myself. It is nice to know that I’m not alone.

How do I envision my career in this field?

You know? I’m actually not quite sure. And for once, I think I like that. I think I like it this way. I’m still looking at my options, especially in such a broad subject. I’ve always had some kind of goal or path, pretty much complete and not very flexible. I still have some kind of an end goal, and a lot of passion in many places. But for now? I think I’ll keep my options open.

[mybctexperience]

Poster Final

My final poster. I am actually quite proud of this. :)

This piece is on my collective learning experience around being open to constructive criticism. I have a lot of trouble letting go, or opening up about the work I am doing. Over all of my projects this year so far, I have found that I do not know all, there is still so much for me to learn. No matter how much I want a specific aspect of what I am creating, if it does not fit the project, bring anything more to the table, or it needs to be changed as the project moves along, I must accept that, and take it in my stride. If I still find myself inexplicably attached to that particular aspect or idea, I should save a copy of it somewhere and try to use it for something else at a later date. Not cling on to it stubbornly and bring the whole project down.

This article I found Deconstructing constructive criticism: The nature of academic emotions associated with constructive, positive, and negative feedback, takes a look at the understanding, emotions, and differentiation of different types of feedback. I know that when you are emotionally attached to what you are working on, the different types of feedback can elicit different types of responses. So understanding constructive criticism by “distinguishing it from positive and negative feedback via the emotions associated with receiving feedback.” Can help to make sure you can differentiate and at least listen to constructive criticism.

Reference:

Learning and Individual Differences, Volume 49, July 2016, 393-399 Pages

Deconstructing constructive criticism: The nature of academic emotions associated with constructive, positive, and negative feedback

By Carlton J.Fong, Jayce R.Waner, Kyle M.Williams, Diane L.Schallert, Ling-HuiChen, Zachary H.Williamson, ShengjieLin.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1041608016300681 

[mybctexperience]

Poster Part 2

My poster idea is about letting go, taking on constructive criticism, and or the illusion of “losing control”. It is something I’ve learnt a lot about this year. I have had and still have difficulty with becoming extremely close to my work. To the point where I cannot listen to anyone, or anything that seems critical towards it. As I have been working on different projects this year, I have had to learn what helps a project move forward, or what can actually help by doing more for the project later on. I still find it difficult, though I believe that I am slowly taking on the constructive criticism each time it is given to me.

[mybctexperience]

Poster Part 1

I have really struggled with working on the poster. I want to create something unique instead of using stock images if I can avoid it. I’ve started by really figuring out what I want to portray, and how I believe I can visually portray it best. I’ve gotten some references and drew out some hands to begin with.

References:

My Drawing:

I’ve also figured out that I will be using other images from all of my work throughout the BCT so far.

[mybctexperience]

Reflective Journaling

For this Reflective Journal I chose to do it on our most recent Studio project, The Sustainable Materials Project. I was unable to attend the first week for this project due to an injury that ended up being worse than it was first thought to be. My recount of this project is quite short compared to others. But I believe that reflecting upon it in a more structured way than I have been already, will help me to learn more out of the experience and process.

We were given a brief that specified that in groups we were to modify a product/artefact of today to create a cradle to cradle life cycle, instead of the cradle to grave lifecycle it already has. We were to prototype, model, and present. The presentation was to be done in five minutes. In the group I was in a member brought in a product/artefact for us to look at and discuss. It was a glass bottle. We began discussing ideas, and researching glass. We found that glass already has a lot of different ways that it is being reused. Using glass as a base for different artefacts, I thought of glasses, or spectacles. I pitched it to the group, we discussed it, and decided to work with it. We then spent a lot of time researching, referencing everything as we went along. We started with the actual lifecycle of glasses, the manufacturing process, being used, and how to dispose or reuse them. Next we got onto alternate materials and their lifecycles. As we went along we began to shift our focus onto only being biodegradable. Which was better than what the product is now. But it wasn’t exactly what we were meant to do. We weren’t very focused on reading the brief repetitively, or we would only reread little sections of it. When you work on a project that comes with a brief, it needs to be referred back to often. The other teams on the other hand began their prototyping almost immediately. They had a lot of chances to make mistakes and learn from them by doing. I believe that they ended up having a lot more to show for their work, with a strong correspondence to the brief. When we first looked at prototyping none of us had done any training at the 3D Labs making it difficult to do much. So we focused on doing the slides for the presentation instead. There were definitely some boundaries to doing the prototyping, but we didn’t address them, we just took them as facts and let it stop our progress. Later when we finally got back around to making the models/prototyping, it was rushed, we didn’t have much time, or the materials we wanted to be working with. So one member brought in some cardboard, so we made the first of three models/prototypes for the frames of the glasses. It wasn’t very strong, we worried about the look, and getting our point across. So another member brought in a different and stronger cardboard for us to use. So came the second of our models/prototypes, it actually ended up being not very cleanly done because the cardboard was so difficult to cut. The third model/prototype was made out of the stronger cardboard, though armed with the knowledge that it was difficult to cut, this one came out much better, even making it to being the main model. The second model/prototype was repurposed to be a model showing how the lenses would look in the frames. One member had worked to create a version of the bio plastic that would actually be used in the new type of glasses. They ended up making two different sheets/batches. The first was cut up and used in conjunction with the second cardboard model/prototype. The second sheet was made bright red to show that the bio plastic could be easily tinted, it was also an easier way to show the representation of the separate materials to our new glasses. When we were working on the slides to our presentation we made two different drafts before making the final slides. As we went through we didn’t save separate copies of the drafts, making it difficult to show our progress. It ended up being quite difficult to present with the final slides. We hadn’t taken enough steps back from our work to see the bigger picture, we were to attached to the research that we had done, and couldn’t figure out a way to condense it when we needed to. Throughout the project I found that the delegation of tasks was not done effectively, at different points members of the team would get bored or distracted because they had nothing to do. Either because there actually wasn’t that much to do at the time that was obvious, or someone was having difficulty understanding how to take apart their tasks to make sure everyone was doing something productive.

I found and read some resources to enrich my understanding of my experience. I researched ‘collaborative work’ and I found when reading this paper, “Factors of collaborative working: A framework for a collaboration model” that "Work, collaborative or otherwise, is best understood in terms of the context in which people are working, and its influence and constraints on structures and processes, performance and success. With collaborative work we often find continually changing people, technology, information and space, and so collaboration is understood through people’s interactions with each other, technology, information and the environment and not solely in terms of the cognitive skills of workers and organisational norms.” When I read that, I immediately realised why my group had so much difficulty. I myself had more trouble than normal because of my injury, my group members had some difficulty having to compensate for that in some areas, and we all had to work a little harder because we were missing a member who never showed up. We were constrained in lots of different ways and that changed our dynamic, making the project not have our desired outcome. This time I researched ‘presenting a presentation’ and that took me to this citation “Building design portfolios: innovative concepts for presenting your work” from there I went through a few pages until I came across this theses “Creating a visual identity for a personal brand” and I found this snippet right near the beginning, “The successful career of a designer depends on personal branding and as a consequence of it a creating an original visual identity. The designer should stand out from the crowd and show uniqueness.” “personal branding helps to affect the way how others perceive you.” As part of our presentation my group and I worked hard to take on the feedback we were given to make our presentation more appealing. We tried to create a brand, but didn’t spend a lot of time on it, so it seemed to fall flat. If we had created a better model/prototype it would have come across a lot better. When you put time into something like your branding it can come across much better and create a positive view from your audience. Another group actually did that, and I enjoyed their presentation.

From this experience and my research I have learnt, that if the project has a brief, referring to that brief all the way through, on a regular basis is very important, so that you do not lose sight of what you are meant to be doing. Not to take all things at face value, problems can always be looked at from ‘outside of the box’, try to address issues or boundaries as they come up, instead of making them facts that hinder progress. Getting straight into things can actually create progress, not just make things more difficult. Keeping even just photos of progress will help to change things for the better when reviewing projects. Delegation is extremely important, and a skill I need to get better at, it is not ‘losing control’, it’s actually more like gaining a stronger grip on the situation, while letting the project move forward faster. When working collaboratively it can have a lot of different factors that change the situation throughout whatever you are doing, these are okay and will only change the desired outcome if you are not willing to be flexible and learn. And when making a brand to engage with your audience, make sure you have put enough time into it to create your desired outcome. I believe that I am already doing a lot of this. Over the first week of the break, I worked collaboratively with a new group of people. I tried to get straight into the project at hand, I made sure to refer to the brief I was given, more often and thoroughly. I addressed issues as they came up. I also figured out how to gain and strengthen my delegation skill.

References:

1. Factors of collaborative working: A framework for a collaboration model.  -   Authors: Harshada Pate, Michae Pettitt, John R.Wilson   -   Human Factors Research Group, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK.  -   Received 4 December 2009, Accepted 19 April 2011, Available online 26 May 2011.      Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2011.04.009

2. Creating a visual identity for a personal brand   -   Author: Anastasia Parfeeva  -   THESIS May 2016.  -   Degree Programme in Design Sirkkalankatu 12A      Link: https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/112773/Parfeeva_Anastasia.pdf?...1