#processjournal

[georgeyarbrough]

LET'S START

I'm here, now.

[hunter-mw]

On Definition

Many of the topics covered in this chapter stuck out to me as techniques I use in my practice as a digital professional. In the world of code, everything is abstracted, so defining problems, boiling things down to the core, and emphasizing priorities can be essential to the success of the developer and especially a development team.

When interfacing with less-technical team members, techniques such as Diagrams, Sketches, Analogies, and Terminology Simplification are absolute musts. I also find these methods useful in creative endeavors, where there is often no better way to describe a composition or technique without a visual aid of some sort. 

Turning thoughts into words is also a trusted addition to my toolbelt. I’m the kind of person that can synthesize a large sum of ideas quickly, which has forced me to learn that it “don’t mean a thing” until you get it down on paper. Sometimes, you can find that you didn’t have such a great idea in the first place. Just as the chapter provided for, I often start with a “list of everything” or “mind-map” kind of setup, which I can then organize and prioritize. In software, there is often a “order of operations” that must be adhered to. In art, gathering reference is an essential step that informs the entire process.

I’m never afraid to “embrace the irrelevant,” as described. I’ve written here in the past about my own sensitivity and inspiration - I find that much of this comes from connecting dots between things that some might find “irrelevant.” However, its these connections that gives meanings to themes, applications, and styles.

[werebearish]

A lesson for myself: yesterday I wrote a bunch of words! Amazing! Fantastic! But also I may have overdone it, because today I feel like I have a word-hangover, and everything that I was working on seems like it is garbage and should be set on fire. Experience tells me that this is unlikely to be true, and thus I should step back and wait before looking at it again. But it's writing time now, what should I work on??

[neildalikezeldaatusc-blog]

Process Journal: Conjunction Junction

The purpose of this is to explore how to reframe your thinking by replacing and with but. Let’s see how we can reframe our thinking about the details of a subject matter by forcing ourselves to describe it in a different way. Below are five things:

1. My MSI GS65 Stealth Thin laptop is my gaming laptop and is VR compatible. Compared to my Alienware 15, it’s thinner and lighter, and it’s easy to carry around. It’s black, gold, and sleek. It’s a strong laptop and different from using a MacBook.

My MSI GS65 Stealth Thin laptop is my gaming laptop but is VR compatible. Compared to my Alienware 15, it’s thinner but lighter, but it’s easy to carry around. It’s black, gold, but sleek. It’s a strong laptop but different from using a MacBook. 2. I recently purchased a pair of ankle boots that are leather and black. The heels are three inches tall and comfortable. They are similar to my favorite shoes and they go well with a lot of my outfits.

I recently purchased a pair of ankle boots that are leather but black. The heels are three inches tall but comfortable. They are similar to my favorite shoes but they go well with a lot of my outfits.

3. The standing desk I have at home is the best and I bought it from a friend. It’s height adjustable and I can adjust it by pressing some flat buttons on the surface. It has a feature where I can charge my phones using the USB ports on the side and it’s quite convenient. The desk is already my favorite desk and I’ll be keeping it for a long time.

The standing desk I have at home is the best but I bought it from a friend. It’s height adjustable but I can adjust it by pressing some flat buttons on the surface. It has a feature where I can charge my phones using the USB ports on the side but it’s quite convenient. The desk is already my favorite desk but I’ll be keeping it for a long time.

4. My dog, Haku, is cute and playful. I adopted her when she was 1 year old and she is now four years old. Her best friend is my family dog, Buddy, and they love to play with each other all the time. Her personality is quite dainty and curious.

My dog, Haku, is cute but playful. I adopted her when she was 1 year old but she is now four years old. Her best friend is my family dog, Buddy, but they love to play with each other all the time. Her personality is quite dainty but curious.

5. Croatia is a beautiful and small country. When I traveled there a few years ago, it was during the month of November and it was cold. I visited Dubrovnik’s historical and famous city. Game of Thrones was filmed there and there are quite a few tourists who want to explore the different filming sites. It’s quite far away and I want to visit it again.

Croatia is a beautiful but small country. When I traveled there a few years ago, it was during the month of November but it was cold. I visited Dubrovnik’s historical but famous city. Game of Thrones was filmed there but there are quite a few tourists who want to explore the different filming sites. It’s quite far away but I want to visit it again.

[nachoregularryan]

Curious how I approach problem solving? Me too ;) so I designed a mind map to demonstrate my process. Let me know what you think! #iya #usc

[ashrithaachu-blog]

Process Journal: Evaluation

“It’s the final countdown!” These words from my favorite 80s song echo in my head as I think of finally reaching the evaluation stage of this project. It’s definitely been a long road to get here, but the journey has definitely been worth it as now I can finally see an idea through to the finish. Throughout this entire process, I’ve dealt with a lot of imposter syndrome that has prevented me from speaking up in class and voicing my opinion, as I was scared that my ideas were too “up-in-the-air” and “dumb” as compared to my teammates who were a little more knowledgeable about the subject matter and how to realistically implement the solution. I can probably say that the idea of having to be responsible for a portion of the project definitely hindered me from fully investing myself into the work as I was so clouded by doubt whether or not I would fail or have a large enough impact on the project itself. 

I remember my team always used to tell me to get my voice out there in class to feel like I was an adequate member of the team. At the time, I always used to wonder “why are they pushing me to be so uncomfortable? I DONT WANT TO SPEAK!” However, the more I think about it, the more I realize that a team is only as strong as those who voice their opinions. If I wasn’t voicing my opinions, what exactly was I doing for my team? I have never been good at taking criticism as I am a perfectionist who gets married to their ideas, but the more I listened to the feedback we were getting repeatedly from the professor each week, I knew that I had to step in and find some way to change the product, or else we would never get any work done. It was definitely challenging to be okay with having team members and outsiders pick apart something that you are passionate about, but at the end of the day, no pain no gain. It was time to let my guard down to be open to the discomfort so that the product would have the best chance of success and viability. 

Overall, this entire experience has pushed me WAY out of my comfort zone in terms and has forced me to try to utilize different methods and techniques than the ones that I am used to using. I am definitely someone who is drawn to creativity because of the ability to dedicate one’s time and energy to learning the craft, but I also am someone who easily gets impatient when things don’t work out the way that they are supposed to. When creating a product, creativity is important, but it is also important to be realistic and understand that you are creating something for more than just yourself to enjoy. It is more about quality than quantity, because it is better to have one thing that works and improves someone’s life rather than many things that hinder someone. I am definitely excited that this process is over, but I look forward to taking what I have learned over the course of this project and applying it to future projects and products that I design. 

[linnagriffin]

Process Journal: Evaluation

The group will be meeting on Wednesday to discuss how well we stuck to the team norms documentation that we put together at the beginning of the project as well as weigh the different methods by which we will be grading the projects of our peers as well. There were several different tools in the coursework that go over how to review the different steps that we took in the Creative Problem Solving process that we can use in order to rank our own performance as well as how effectively we addressed the problem. Individually, we may also go over our independent contributions by utilizing the critiques of the jury of peers method.

To start this process we will likely need to go through each step that we took as a team starting from Unit 8 with the Acceptance and analysis. The Pay as You Go Method will help tremendously in this effort as we can write out and return to the goal-fulfilling criteria. By asking ourselves “What was the goal of this part of the assignment?” And framing our responses subjectively “We accomplished X in order to meet Y needs, I contributed through Z” we can remove all emotional hang-ups from the process. In this manner I can appraise how well the team and I did in the project and we may also reflect as a larger team where we could have done better as a group. For the rest of the teams, our peers, when we review their projects we can use the same rubric with some modifications.

[ofbooksandcaffeine]

script.

привет всем, это мой писательский дневник и сегодня я немного напишу про воркшоп по адаптации и работу над скриптом. в этом семестре (моем последнем семестре на BA в Конкордии) я взяла курс по Advanced Creative Writing, тема Turning Prose into Performance. на воркшопе нам нужно взять текст написанный в прозе и адаптировать его в любой вид, скажем так, пьесы. то есть, фильм, театральную пьесу, подкаст, радио-пьесу, ну и так далее. в основном все адаптируют что-то известное, но я взялась адаптировать свой собственный рассказ. не то чтобы я была фанаткой этого рассказа (ладно, я фанатка этого рассказа, но считаю, что его надо доработать АКА превратить в фильм).

процесс такой: сначала мы пишем аутлайн на две страницы - что и как будет в общем происходить. потом пишем пять страниц и внимательно на них смотрим. потом пишем все остальное - в моем случае еще двадцать страниц скрипта. 

в моем аутлайне стало понятно, что я перегрузила сюжет. в двадцать страниц столько всего не впихнуть. 

в первых пяти страницах стало ясно, что вторая сцена - это фальшивая нота. ее придется полностью переделать.

пока это все. это самый скучный первый пост в мире. но мне ок, пойдет. надоело стараться всем понравиться, хочется попробовать что-то другое. например, быть скучной занудой. ауф видар зеен.

[sarahlangridge]

Is there a shared interpretation of the assessment criteria?

Thought of the day

[jdoan-usc]

IDSN 540 - Process Journal Unit 13

Reflect on how you and your team spent the week iterating on your solution. What were some of the success, and failure points? Did you have to pivot your idea? How did you generate visual assets for your solution? How can you put these to use in your final presentation materials? Summarize those thoughts in a new post in your process journal

Our team didn’t have too much of a difficult time on iterating our solution. I think we have improved tremendously since presenting out project 2 weeks ago. We really took Aaron’s advice and really focused on the problem at hand so we got very specific and detailed. We went into last class already thought out solution and really positive feedback. There wasn’t much pivoting of our idea, but rather cleaning up our solution and removing anything that isn’t necessary. 

This week’s iterating was focused more on how we are able to polish or solution and how we would present our deck to our clients. We had good solutions and ideas, but it’s not very presentable or appealing to the eye at the moment. We are stying our product and making sure that the information we are presenting to our audience is easier to digest. We are getting a bit more granular in some areas of our solution as well. 

We have added more graphs and some data in presentation as some forms of visual assets, because we know people are moved by data and facts. 

This week was a good week!  

[hunter-mw]

On Acceptance

Acceptance is a subject that I regularly incorporate into my practice as a digital professional. 

At work, the “tickets” I work on each come along with a little bit of acceptance. When you, as a developer, have to set a ticket as “in progress,” you accept that you will perform the work and solve the problems as needed. Sometimes, this simple act is rather psychological and requires a Go-Getter Attitude! To do so full-heartedly, you obviously have to accept that it is in your Self-interest, as you’ll be accepting a paycheck at the end of the week. It takes some Self-Control, and you may even consider Giving it Up... and risk the consequences to your reputation or even career. I use my team’s stand-up meetings to verbalize my Statements of Acceptance, which I find helps me internalize the acceptance and commiserate with my comrades a little. I also do try to “buy-in” as much as I can in a Mission Impossible kind of way - I try to have as much fun as I can with my process, especially when working in problem spaces that are somewhat dry.

In my personal projects, I am forced to accept the goals I set for myself which are sometimes intimidating. The problem spaces I want to dive into are truly very complicated and multi-disciplinary... But, it is part of my goal-setting and my Personal Priorities to continue in the spaces I’m interested in. I do often find myself Method Acting and very literally researching my Role Models to visualize my Self-Actualization. I found it interesting that the reading categorized this activity as being empathetic - I had not thought of it that way.

And, wow! That is EVERY SINGLE acceptance keyword from the reading. This chapter has really shown me how much acceptance is part of my process, and how I’ve already been applying so many of these techniques naturally.

[mastersvisualjournalmclain]

Performativity in relationship to Exhibition

Our reading and discussion of performativity has echoed some of the thoughts and ideas last term in Critical Frameworks when we discussed exhibition as an element of an artwork. I’m repeating some of my ideas here and expanding on them in light of performativity. It seems to me that there is a link, between public display and the ultimate completion of a work. It is almost as if in order to invest a piece with authority it needs to be put before the community in some authoritative form. In language, I think performativity could be thought of as the imperative case, things that end with a ‘!’ and commandive in nature. And, like language, it is not until a word is spoken, aloud, publicly, that it becomes a word. Until that point, it is merely a thought; a desire perhaps, or a question within someone’s mind. Speaking the word, placing it and its associated meanings in a communal context, opens up possibilities for action. A question may be answered. A command obeyed. Publishing, placing a work or a word, in the presence of others, by its very nature, changes others. It also seems that a characteristic that defines performativity vs more passive or informative use of language or art is that of response. It seems that a goal of performativity is some form of response from those who are engaged by the word/work. Whether a great or small change or response, the person acting performatively is seeking a response from those exposed to the action.

 Exhibition is a relatively new phenomena in the course of human pursuits; we've been doing art for somewhere in the neighbourhood of 50,000 years and yet exhibition for only a few hundred. It's interesting to see how historically and contextually conditioned the forms and responses to exhibition of artwork are. There are so many people involved that their experiences, perceptions and beliefs about exposure to art is doing to dramatically expand and complicate the thing even as they experience it.

Is the purpose of the exhibition for the artist to reveal something to a broader community/group of individuals? To what ends? Is it for people to see things they otherwise wouldn't be able to experience? The Family of Man has been charged with being a feel-good exercise in banality; a weak placebo for the period immediately following World War II, and that Steichen was feeding the world what it wanted. But maybe that was what people needed at that moment in history? A moment to exhale after years of holding their breath; a sliver of hope that we are more than the atrocities and horrors they'd lived through?

How enmeshed in exhibition should I be? There are enormous questions of subjectivity and objectivity in play here. At what point to I cease being an observer of a thing and become a part of it? Is that part of an artist's intent at times?

Vis a vis photography, I think the materiality of the thing is important too. That to create a physical object is important. I am sympathetic to Ansel Adam's analogy that the negative is the score and the print is the performance of a photograph. That isn't to minimise the exposure of platforms like Instagram and Artkunst, but rather, to ask questions about what the end of those platforms is. Is it commerce? (Artists and photographers like to eat, too!) Is it exhibition? I think Instagram is a good measurement of popularity, rather than the Good.

[neildalikezeldaatusc-blog]

Process Journal: Conceptualize It (Group Assignment)

Team Shop4: Neilda, Bardia, Vincent, Jesse

Problem Statement: How might we, change consumer behavior to reduce food and plastic waste? 

Solution: Mobile Farmers’ Market

Globally, there are 1.3 billion tons of food waste. Combined with 270 million tons of plastic waste, annually. We asked ourselves, “How might we change consumer behavior to reduce food and plastic waste?” Going through the creative problem-solving process, we created a mobile platform for local source nutrition to remove the need for shelf-stable packaging, and food waste with on-demand delivery. 

Our target users are represented in the following personas. Mike & Rhoda represents farmers and Islay represents the customer.

The user journey begins with Islay ordering food in the app.

You can find a link to the prototype here (https://invis.io/HAT4NH43XSN#/375460757_1-_Login).

As soon as the order is placed, Mike and Rhoda will receive a confirmation to show how much food to put in the truck at the assigned date, time, and place. The evening before and the morning of the pick-up, Islay will receive a notification that reminds her where and when to pick up the food and how many bags and containers to bring. At her scheduled pick-up time, she’ll go to the truck to get her food. 

Features in the app include seeing your impact on plastic and food waste through your activities through SOL, getting information about local farms, seeing how many reusable bags to bring for the food pick-up, and other education features.

Throughout the app and truck experience, Islay will be able to do the following key activities.

The key stakeholders that will be involved are local food distributors, community artisans, and community-sourced agriculture providers.

[nachoregularryan]

What does creativity mean to me?

In short, creativity is the freedom to use my imagination without bound and without hesitation. Creativity allows me to tap into my inner child harnessing the power of play and exploration. Rather than coloring inside the lines, creativity allows me to break the conventional rules of the right away to approach a coloring book. And as I have matured, I learned that self-doubt and lack of confidence are two of the biggest deterrents to creative thinking. It’s that moment of letting go, taking (safe) risks, and learning to be okay with being wrong that I can flex my creative muscles.

#usc #iya #processjournal

[ashrithaachu-blog]

Process Journal: Definition

After going through the research process with my team during last week’s class, I realized that there were multiple areas that the problem could take the form of. Due to the fact that our team came into the research process with multiple ideas that we were passionate about creating a vision for, I felt that it was important to consider all of the ideas before coming up to a singular definition. 

I began by synthesizing all of the research that we gained as a team and finding the various themes across our various interests. Using the “keywords” approach, I was able to find the areas of intersection across our team’s diverse ideas and begin to narrow in on the main problem scope. Since our ideas mainly focused on how to improve healthcare, I began to dig a little deeper into the current healthcare system, which allowed me to uncover additional problems that would need to be addressed. For example: 

With the increasing rise of wearable devices being utilized as a fitness tracking device, what was stopping users from storing their medical records on them? 

What were the current issues that users dealt with while using fitness trackers? 

How can fitness trackers and various wearable devices make the process of receiving healthcare and viewing medical records more efficient for users?

How can healthcare be made more accessible, so that all users can easily access their records at any time on any device?

After I noted down all the various themes that we discussed during the process of researching ideas, I noticed a clear overlap between all of our ideas and an opportunity to incorporate all of our visions into one cohesive product. As a result, I feel like it would be most beneficial if we focused on the idea of using the latest technology (i.e., wearable technology, mobile apps) as a platform to revolutionize the process of receiving healthcare, to ensure practicality and feasibility of completion. Overall, I think that our definition is a cohesive collection of our diverse inputs, since all of our ideas feed into each other in some way or the other.

[linnagriffin]

Accepting the Task

The project that my team is currently working on is prefabricated houses and how they can be made more accessible using new fabrication methods. In theory, if we succeed in this endeavor, we can improve affordable housing and create a larger demand for new technology. This larger demand will eventually incentivize the creation of cheaper, higher output, machines and fabrication methods thereby making the homes even more affordable. 

With more affordable homes available, more homes can be built and bought and the economy behind it creates more construction jobs and demand for 3D fabrication specialists. With better building standards and timeless design aesthetics these homes can accrue value unlike manufactured homes and be more energy efficient in the longer term. Of course this requires careful research and planning as well as understanding of supply chain basics. However, by carefully planning bespoke features and limitations we can ensure sustained growth and supply without overcomplicating the supply chain.

As the project has an emphasis on 3D printing, laser cutting, and new fabrication methods, for my personal development this is going to give me a lot of practical experience. Thanks to the nature of how these fabrication techniques scale, I can also put together prototypes and practice my craft. This is important because the same practices I would use to put together a model, say in CAD, to be 3D printed or laser cut to scale I can easily use for both the prototype and a potential final projects if the project is widely successful. This reinforces the idea that these fabrication methods can be used for personalization and testing of the product down the road.