Boring thinking

Over the past week we have found it very difficult to find the purpose of sticking to our project idea. It seems that we cannot see the connection between creating a unified network and using senses/abilities. My group does not see how the testing of senses can benefit our project and help provide us an answer to make the objective fit for all senses while unifying everyone involved together.

I thought that if we went out and tried things like the sense testing we could find this answer or at least make some progress in what it is we would be making or experimenting. I think now that we focused to much on getting the answer rather than trying things out to just see what happens and keeping us interested in our project. If we can't stay interested in the project then we wont progress far. Also our way of working needs to change, we can't just look at ideas, think of a project and then create it. It needs to be more of a back and forth system of testing, discussing, planning, researching and reflecting. I realised this last year but saw it as more doing more planning within testing to help with the testing and creating, rather than testing within the planning to help the planning and developing.

My studio has these available for rent to help with my idea

We had one final discussion and realised that we didn't want or need to make our project an experiment. I still think that the senses is something that I want to look into, especially after putting in a lot of effort and research at how they all coincide with each other. After playing around with our rented video camera I got an idea I wanted to play around with that involved perception and the senses. This is where I will be going next to look at what I find interesting as well as what creations I could get out of it.

  This video helped construct the idea for senses and perception

 

References

“EVG920 Video Eyewear Re-Packaged [EVG920] - $219.95USD : New Generation Hobbies, Your One Stop FPVShop”, n.d. http://www.nghobbies.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=123.

Human Senses Touch and Vision 0 (4).avi, 2009. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPDvL0glVgM&feature=youtube_gdata_player.

Testing Abilities

Over the last few days we have been looking at ways we can test out our communication between senses/abilities. We are looking at games that are natural to us that everyone can understand. Something that can be simple and include at least all four of us students. After playing this game for a while normally we would like to remove some of our senses/abilities to see how much of an impact it has on us and how we would still be able to play the game and communicate with the other players.

Sight, touch and hearing. What would life be like to live without them?

So far we have tried a few games, including pictionary. Its been able to give me some information of what part the senses/abilities have played in the game and what it has done to the players. I was able to notice that when a sense was taken away the players fell into certain roles. This was because it changed the way they were thinking as I also found out from this video. At 41:51 in the video some students make a test to see what it's like to take away all senses and how it affects the mind.

The players in our game felt helpless in their disability and wanted to send information to others to allow them to understand what it was they were feeling. The players could also receive information on how the other players disabilities looked to them and would try to communicate with them to assist them. I thought this was very interesting because each player would become something different but still work as a team using their different roles.



I saw this as:

Restrained hands: Would tell others what to do because they could not do it themselves.

Deaf: Would observe because they could not receive information well from others.

Mute: Would first observe but then interact physically to communicate to show what they have gathered from the information they have received.

Blind: Would follow others because they can communicate well but feel they are the least aware with what is going on. They are also the loudest followed by the restrained hands.


These observations may not be completely accurate as the people involved and the game played may have had an influence in the roles the players fell into.

References 

 

Blind, Deaf Actors Take Stage in Israel, 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyCfeRL1M4Q&feature=youtube_gdata_player.

Human Senses & The Mind / Educational Documentary Video, 2009. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Owmqa7LdBw&feature=youtube_gdata_player.

 

“Pictionary - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia”, n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pictionary.

 

“Visual Auditory Kinesthetic”, n.d. http://www.managing-change.net/visual-auditory-kinesthetic.html.

Making Sense

We have started to construct an idea that can create a network between people from the power of their senses. Almost all senses would be blocked from everyone involved in the experiment except the one sense that made them stand out. We would like to see if it is possible for players to work together to complete a task or if they will chose the option of working as individuals. The catalyst that would create this would be from the device that is needed to be used to complete the task. There would be different senses given to the different players completing the tasks. Each task is made possible to be completed by each individual but each task could be easier for one individual who has a certain sense ability. Hopefully this could lead to a united network but it may not be limited to only that. The players would have to look at alternative ways of communicating to each other if they wanted to work together as each person would have different senses blocked.

Mute, Blind, Deaf by ~ahkullerkeks

At the moment this idea still needs development but as a group we have decided to stick with this and not to keep changing our minds as we have for the past week. After talking to at least two teachers who have become intrigued with how we approach this idea, it would seem plausible to start testing different parts of this experiment. Over the next week we plan on playing with different testing techniques and see what works and what doesn't with the senses.

I have personally found this idea fascinating because it feels to be more experimental and has the possibility to have interesting results. I also thought that we could incorporate technology to block out senses to show that even though this technology is taking something away from us (senses), it is also enhancing other means of communication. Allowing it to both give and take away from us.

5 main senses

One problem we have been discussing is how we can give the players this notion of objectives that will give the choice of creating a network or sticking to being an individual node. This is why we need to experience having these senses taken away ourselves so we can study what it is like to try working together without certain senses. I think that even though we are stuck on creating network objectives we can overcome it if we keep progressing and face the problem when it arrives. By that time I think that we would have constructed enough research and testing to get a definitive answer to it. We also chose to take out smell and taste as a sense because we would not think they would benefit our network unless it is part of the objectives. Also people have to breath.

References  

“As Many Exceptions As Rules: Why Does Your Telephone Have Two Holes? – Perspective on Our Senses”, n.d. http://biologicalexceptions.blogspot.co.nz/2011/09/why-does-your-telephone-have-two-holes.html.

“As Many Exceptions As Rules: Your Ears Hear, But Can You Hear Your Ears?”, n.d. http://biologicalexceptions.blogspot.co.nz/2011/09/yours-ears-hear-but-can-you-hear-your.html.

“Mute, Blind, Deaf by ~ahkullerkeks on deviantART”, n.d. http://ahkullerkeks.deviantart.com/art/Mute-Blind-Deaf-187444044.

Come Together

As a group we have been struggling with what it is we can do to bring people together in ways that they may not realise what is happening. Some observations I have made in the past few days are how a force of nature outside of our control is able to bring people together because of our need to stay in comfort or to keep a situation as pleasant as possible. This is when we try to connect with others.

Rain Shelter by Brian Q. Webb

On Wednesday we had a rain storm that made everyone stay under shelter. The streets became overcrowded and people were using the public transport instead of walking. Due to this force of nature, people had to become open to the idea of small crowded spaces. I was able to witness on my bus ride home two girls helping a lady and her pram get onto the bus, this was when a connection between the two sides started to happen. As they got on the bus they were friendlier towards each other and more open to stay connected. It would appear that the rain was able to bring them both to an area where a connection could be made from their needs of getting on the bus and helping each other get on it.

Over the past four days our group has been discussing ideas off each other without any thorough research or progress. I think this is because we haven't fully looked out what is possible from our concept yet and all areas or interests that can be involved. This is why I proposed that we actually look at other creative ideas and see if others have done something similar in the past or just understand what it is that we are looking for in our idea in relation to our concept. When it came to having a device or contraption that can bring people together I came across a lot of Coca Cola advertisements that used the wants of human possession to attract people and work together to create a bond between each other. It could be seen when a common objective was used to bring two or more people together and create a bonding network between each other. In these cases a coke vending machine would either need the help of two people working together to receive the cokes or the machine would give away free prizes to share with others. It was visible to see what effect it had on the students involved and how this coke machine catalyst was useful in creating bonds between what I presume could be random students. How my team could implement the same result would be questionable as we are unaware how to attract people over to our catalyst and to see if strangers would want to bond from it without using free coke.

References

Coca-Cola Happiness Machine London, 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0D3jKLz6sA&feature=youtube_gdata_player.  

“Pedestrian Zone”, n.d. http://pedestrian-zone.blogspot.co.nz/2008_10_01_archive.html.

The Coca Cola Friendship Machine, 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj3QLLTFDX8&feature=youtube_gdata_player.

Brick Walls

After handing in the concept on Friday we tried to think of what possibilities of what we could use as a catalyst to unite people together and change from the decentralised network we see in the BCT. This proved to be harder then initially thought, mostly because it not only had to have meaning but for our catalyst to have enough interest for us to want to create it.

For me personally to have interest in it I wanted it to be original in its own respect. There needs to be something there that can have a result that I would be proud of and be able to prove to me that it wasn't just worth doing but also worth promoting to others. Something I can reflect and learn from. If this means it has to be risky and time consuming then it will be. I think I want this because I am starting to see myself as a problem solver. Right now I see the problem of coming up with a project that is worth creating for my course. I want to see it as useful and for me to do that I want it to show everyone what I have, something to show my strengths.

This simple design uses the plants as a way to force people closer on the bench

Coming up with the actual idea of the project has proved to cause the team to lose motivation. Luckily as we were critiqued by the teachers it proved to be our catalyst to keep at it. As our concept mentions unethical/illegal activity we have been specifically told to avoid this or at the least let it past the teachers before going ahead. Ways of still looking at these ideas we can look at documenting and researching events similar to what is mentioned in the brief. This could create similar situations but maybe on a smaller scale. Our other option it to look at other methods of changing the network within the students that are more enjoyable or understanding to them.

References

“Bench-planter-design.jpg (JPEG Image, 468x333 Pixels)”, n.d. http://cdn.dornob.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/bench-planter-design.jpg.

“Wooden Bench Planter Built to Bring Two People Together | Designs & Ideas on Dornob”, n.d.       http://dornob.com/wooden-bench-planter-built-to-bring-two-people-together.

Triggering Unity Concept

On Friday we were created a concept based on one of our ideas. Here it is:

Proposal:

Social experiment that will allow us the opportunity to witness a temporary breakdown of these so called bonds and see an immediate change in the unity that stems from the various sources of catalyst we test out on our human subjects. 

Concept:

What we're looking for isn't necessarily a complete transformation from a Decentralized network. We can already predict that some catalyst/events we use may not have any effect at all. We can also hope to see a reaction that permanently change the social links instead of expecting it to dissolve back to it's original state. Some catalyst may have a great effect and some may have no effect at all. Some may have an effect temporarily while others may last permanently. We expect to test out different approaches, different catalyst to observe and study these "artificial connections" we create to form a social link, a network that wasn't previously a network. 

An example of this could be a simple experiement of how an element of "Fear" has on the combined student body in their natural habitat, the BCT Studio. 

One experiment can be a installation of a "Fake" Fire alarm and setting it off to see an immediate trigger of events, witnessing the students dropping their differences, differing attractions and repulsion to evacuate in unity. Conceptual unity we expect many of us would react to especially if we were raised in New Zealand attending schools with regular fire evacuation exercises held throughout the year. 

Already we are able to witness vastly differing some more vibrant and excited than others.

We see forces of attraction between people but we can also observe forces of repulsion between individuals.

Ultimately we can observe attraction between these individuals forming tight bonds and creating an element.

We saw this connection the moment we got back after the summer break as we disbanded from the first brief, it didn't even take an hour before the said attraction formed groups of 5 strong attractive electrons (students) creating a tight bond called an atom (group). By us applying a catalyst/strong element to force these atoms to break we will release these electrons from the bonds that holds them together. 

A catalyst can be anything from a simulated fire alarm or act of believable terrorism which would need to be expanded and researched before put into action. 

We believe that if we apply a catalyst in the form of terror we are able to witness a destruction of the social links and create a temporary unity by forced means stemmed from a basic human survival instinct. The element of "Fear" is just one of many different types of catalyst we can expand on. Other things can stem from social charity, giving away free stuff which always has potentials to draw interests. We believe there are many so called "potent" catalyst that allows different individuals to come together.

Quick Decisions

Over the past two days we have been briefed over our project. It has asked us to explore the concept, theories and technologies of networks. It has been left very broad like this to allow us to come up with our very own unique, original and exciting project. It seems to have loosened the grips on our restrictions compared to last year. It will be presented and critiqued at the semester break. However, we have been told that the project will continue until the end of semester as we will be required to further look at enhancing and improving what it is we create so we can make a better version or outcome overall. As far as I can tell this will mean that this project will go on for around 3 months as well as being in the same groups. 

Now a lot of what was on peoples minds was who will they be paired with for this project, but I do not think many of us understood what that meant of being part of a team for such a long period. It is all good to be with people who you can get along with and can work well together that will result in a final product. Though I do not think, that a team like this will always be able to converse and indulge in a topic, issue or concept that everyone in the team is ready or enthused enough to work on. I saw a lot of people were too scared of not being part of a team, or being with people they thought were not good enough to work with, that as long as they could stay in their comfort zone then they were happy. It seemed as though a lot of people had not discussed with the other students to see what sort of area or topic they wanted to go into, or that they had wanted to but just felt pressured into joining a group that really wanted them. On the morning of day 2 when about 75% of the class were organised into groups I had people coming up to me asking if they could join a group with me. Before I answered this I would ask "what area/topic/idea have you thought about going into first?" to which they would reply something like film or immersive games. Not that there is anything wrong with that but it just isn't what I would like to do for the 3 months on networks unless there is a really great idea already thought of involving it. I wanted to thoroughly research all possible areas about networks first before I chose the right people I was to work with and then approach them about an idea.

As I hear others discussing between themselves there seems to be a lot of opposing view points from different members, which is a good thing to get a contrast and have different opinions. This also might lead though to a dominant side overpowering the others and making the final decision if others won't speak up. It could lead to a group where only certain members want to do it their way and causing others to try and add their interests and skills that they want to do as a way of contributing. I guess if we have members who are not on the same page as what the idea or concept was constructed for then it will see a drop in what could have been a really good project only if they had talked to the right students outside of just the ones they sit by everyday.    
   
At the end of the second day I started to realise that I will have to be like everyone else and get with the the same familiarity of members I thought could be good to work with. At least before becoming part of the group I was able to discuss to one of the members who has similar thoughts and opinions on what they want to create for this project. It will be interesting to see what we come up with as a group. I thought that the way this project has started could have been better constructed.

Website design

Now into the second year of BCT we have started with the first two weeks consisting of creating our own portfolio websites to display our work.


As someone who already has had previous knowledge in creating a website I thought going into this exercise would be an advantage. Instead I let myself fall into an area of assumption and not following the right steps that I had once learnt or taken before. I found that I had made a few errors when it came to following my plan, or rather I had not thought about what the purpose of the content I displayed on a webpage and doubling up on information used. This caused for me to keep redesigning the pages so they had purpose while trying to keep the same look and feel between navigation. Also from my past experience of working on websites, it is best to have one page done that the others can use for as a sort of template and not to change them drastically once they are all made because it will take up unnecessary time editing each one separately once that is done. Unfortunately as I began to upload my website I started to face these same problems and wasting time going through each webpage.

From what I understand it was not that I had not put in enough time but instead not using my time on a set plan. I had set out a plan of what it was I wanted to displayed on my website but as I started to try out new things it brought forward further problems and tasks to put with the the work I already had planned out or rather things I wanted to complete in the moment. This used up a lot of my time as I continued to switch between testing and researching what works for a webpage design and kept changing my decision due to my indecisiveness. I have began to realise that if I have a goal to complete at the start of my day then I shall focus on that until it is complete. From now on I will try to keep to this and always focus on the most important task and can hopefully have a better outcome instead of using the small amounts of time on small problems.

My end result is far from complete and not ready to display as a website just yet. Hopefully I will have spare time in between my other work to keep working at it until it is more or less complete.