Today's seminar, we were placed in groups and we had to show the group our conclusion and visual appendix so we can get feedback for it.
I showed my team the visual appendix that I have designed which can be seen below. I got a couple of different types of feedback on how I could improve it, for example, the abstract is meant to be one big paragraph and not split up like mine is so I got to change that and also, I don't have to include the title, 'the abstract' on it because it's obvious to what it is.
Other feedback I got was to possibly make my design bigger so it doesn't look like it's an essay, it will look like more of a visual appendix but also, change the design I made at the bottom because it's not very clear to what it's meant to be and it doesn't really explain my essay topic that well. I could use an image I used in my essay and use that to represent my topic but slightly change it a bit.
The feedback I got was useful and will help me improve my visual appendix.
In this seminar, we looked at case studies and what we have looked at for our research. We had to explain our essay and case studies so we could receive feedback from the group. We were told to have at least 3 case studies so that we have enough to compare the differences and similarities of the case studies. The comparison could be used to see which one is most effective.
I told the group what my essay is about and what my research question is. The feedback I received was useful. I got told that the age range that I am looking for my essay could be slightly broad and I could be more specific because I'm looking at the effects screen based electronic devices have on the social skills of a young viewer, since each age will have a different response and development, it would be wise to narrow the age range.
The next feedback was to look at the positive and negatives of the effects because technology could actually help children with their development, I have been looking mostly at the negative so it would be nice to compare the two. I was told the comparison of the positive and negative could be included in my research question and I could use stats as current guidelines to help me answer the question.
The last feedback was to maybe look at the emotional and physical development of a child because it could affect both of it. I looked mostly at how it affects them emotional so it would be nice to find out how it affects them physical.
In this seminar, we were given questions and had to evaluate an article that related to our current project, Hyper realities. The link to it can be seen below..
1) What is the topic of the article?
The article looks at the illusion of mediation and the presence. It looks at how an illusion of mediation experience can be seen and feel real like virtual world and also, it looks at the inverse presence, which is the opposite of presence, it's when something is real but doesn't feel real and we don't want it to be real.
2) What keywords would you use for this article?
The keywords weren't stated in the article but I thought words like illusion, presence, inverse presence, mediation, hyper reality and real could be used as keywords.
3) What is the structure of the article?
I feel like the article is very structured. It follows a pattern, for example, the abstract comes first then the introduction then the literature review etc. It's very easily explained and the abstract tells the viewer what they are going to read, what they will talk about, how they found the info and how they will use it. The introduction follows the same process as the abstract, it tells the reader what the article will discuss and what the reader will expect.
4) In which section/s do the authors explain the background of the topic?
The authors explain the topic in the main body which is the literature review. It outlines the topic and tells the back story of the topic. This is where the definitions and explanation of what you are talking about should be included and provide evidence as well.
5) What are the authors trying to find out/answer?
There is no research question in this article but we can imagine the question. After reading the main body, the authors are trying to find the characteristics of the inverse presence, how it affects us and our emotions which they can then compare and conclude.
Methodology = Approach
The next part, we looked at how I can attempt to answer my research question by looking at the different options and which one I use will depend on my literature review. The two highlighted below are the main ones I should use to attempt to solve my research question.
- Case Studies
- Historical Research
- Interviews
- Visualization
- Reflective Journal
- Oral History
This seminar was about the abstract of the essay. We were given an essay that someone has done and some questions that we had to answer by analyzing the abstract of it. For this week, we only looked at the abstract and not the introduction.
These were the questions and answers that we were given....
- What are the main terms and concepts? - The main terms would be the keywords and since the question are in order then the main concept would be the words from the first line like effective communication and visual recognition, which if you notice are not on the keywords lists but that's alright.
- What background information is provided? - The background information used is to give the reader an idea of the topic and some information to go with it. The background information is on the second line where it starts with "Designers of advertisements have always..." which talks a little about what other designers are doing in relate to this topic.
- What do you think is the research question? - The research question was tricky to find because the author didn't word it as a question, but it's always before the aim of the essay so if you find the aim then the research question must be the line before. The research question is where the line starts with "However many assumptions and questions usually rise on how to create effective hierarchy...", I think what gave it away was he used the word question in it and there are questions that usually rises.
- How do you think the author attempts to answer the question? - I feel like this was quite easy to find because one of the lines, it states "it explores the theory behind it, and how the very...", what gave it away was the word 'explores', it's telling us how he will attempt to answer the question and also, it follows the research question which makes sense.
To begin with, I had to analyze it myself and I found it hard at first because I'm not used to analyzing abstracts, We then went through it as a group where people would shout out the answers and I began to get it, bit by bit, I began to understand it more. I feel this activity has helped me understand how an abstract is set out and also, gave me some useful questions that I can use for myself that will help me answer and to write the abstract. I felt like I needed this seminar because I didn't know how to write an abstract as I am not used to it.
The first part of the seminar was about keywords. Those keywords we have to include in our essay and we were given a strategy of how to develop and think of useful keywords like define my topic so I know clearly what my topic is about, from that, I would pick keywords so I would pull out words that indicate the main concept and also, think of alternative keywords. Finally, choose a database, I can find specific databases in the library.
The next part was about the literature review that will be included in the main body of the essay. Literature review is a critical presentation and discussion of the main sources of my topic. We were given a structure for the literature review as well. I need to outline my topic, give definitions and basic historical framework then present my main ideas, writings and practices, finally, present my research question so what I want to focus on and find out.
We then looked at what the literature review does. It shows my knowledge of the origins, definitions, vocabulary of the topic, it gives an understanding of the main ideas, writings and practices, it shows a variety of approaches and opinions and finally, it shows how my research question fits in.
To show my knowledge and understanding of my main ideas, I need to find the main works of it. I can achieve that by using the keywords to search on database i.e. Library, google scholar etc. I need to use any text, work or item that has an important effect on the development of the field and used in several other disciplines, fields or topics and I need to find any approach or methodology that others have replicated.
W were given some sources and help like to always makes sure we write notes as we read, it's a good way to clarify my thoughts. It's useful to keep copies of any useful material that we could or will use for my essay. We have to use different types of literature like books, websites and catalogues so that we have a range of different sources which is something I have to do if I want a higher grade and I need to use different categories of literature like primary literature which is the original insights, secondary literature which analyses the primary literature and tertiary literature which is dictionaries and encylopaedias.
In this seminar, we were introduced to the essay and visual appendix that we have to do.
This seminar begin with some key information like the next formative assessment is 27/02/2017 where the essay will be marked and I have to submit 750 words for it then the submission date is 3/04/2017, this is the final submission where I have to submit a 2500 word essay along with a visual appendix which is an A2 poster for a research exhibition, it's basically a visual summary of my essay.
For the visual appendix, I have to include a 150 word abstract, essay title, name and course. It can't be bigger than 20MB and I have to submit it as a PDF file.
Essay Structure
We were given advice on how the essay should be set out.
- Title
- Abstract and keywords - The abstract has to be 150 words, it should summarise the essay's argument and position. I have to include 5 key words.
- Introduction - It should set the scene for the reader and defines the aims of the essay. It should state how this will be attempted and briefly presets what the reader can expect in the rest of the essay.
- Main body: Literature review, research question and case studies - It should start off broad and then narrow it down by focusing on my research. It should not be just a descriptive text and should critically reflect the information you present.
- Conclusion - Provides a summary of my findings and describe how the work could be continued in the future.
- Reference list and bibliography - Make sure that the references in the reference list match the ones in the main body of the essay.
We looked at what exactly is an essay and an essay could mean an argument because you are making a case or an opinion based on evidence and you choose a subject, include a bit of information to it then critically gather more information to find out an answer to your question and see what is true and what is false based on your case earlier.
The essay is a concise, evidenced thread of thinking. It needs to have clear defined structure, clear narrative and should be well written.
This was the first seminar after our formative assessment and this session was all about feedback.
At the start of the seminar, we had to evaluate ourselves and write down what we thought we did good in our presentation and what we thought we did bad and had to improve. For the good part, I felt like I made my presentation simple so not over complicated and easy to follow which is vital in presentations because the viewer has to understand what is going on. For the bad part, I felt like my title was too broad which made my research question too open as well, that is something I have to improve, I need to narrow my title down which will then help me improve my research question.
The next part was about some of the general points, good and bad, that Polina saw in assessment. It's a good thing they were pointed out so I know which one relates to me and from that, I can improve on it.
General Strong Points
- Presentation design - Coherent to assessment guidelines.
- Topic/Subject - Very interesting.
- Aural description - Good management of presentation time. Improvements
- Presentation design - Less or better use of text, that can be improved by changing the text size, font or even the colour of the text to highlight something.
- Images/text close to edges - They need to be moved.
- Topic/Subject - Too broad, needs to be narrowed down.
- Title - Should summarise your topic, it should be easy to understand and it should explain the topic and give the content of it.
- Research Question - Needs to be phrased as a question.
- Should be as focused as possible, should be narrowed which will make our lives easier and it should reflect the title.
- Aural description - More practice and rehearsals.
- Language - Correct English grammar.
- Reference/Bibliography - Always include at the end and should be listed separately.
- Submission - Should be submitted on time.
- Attendance - Attending will help to improve performance and grade.
This seminar was revisiting some of the things that has been said in the previous seminars. I think this seminar has helped me because I was still unsure of what I was doing but now I have an idea of what to do and how to set out my presentation after getting feedback.
I have a formative assessment soon and it will be a 5 minute presentation which I will set it out like this and in this particular order...
1 slide - Title, URL, name and course.
2-7 - Background research
1 slide - Main research question
1 slide - Reference and bibliography
We had to bring in our draft presentation that we produced to get feedback from. This is what I have produced so far...
The feedback I got was useful. My title is too broad, I could narrow it more and explain what I mean by effects because it could mean culture wise or social wise and I need to find a better way to explain 'technology devices' as it could be anything like past devices or present, I could change it to contemporary devices which I feel is a better explanation.
I got told to look at people relating to this subject like Marshall McLuhan, I should look at including images to my presentation but avoid including video, I should include any definitions, have specific terminologies and case studies like age groups so that I have a range of different research and knowledge to my presentation. It would make my presentation interesting instead of having just text of what I'm looking at and what I'm going to say.
Another piece of advice to maybe get rid of the 'aim' slide just for now because it's not that important for my formative assessment. I could keep the 'research/questions' slide but maybe change it slightly because I should only have one slide for the main research question, having lots of research questions could confuse the viewer.
I could look at pre-internet and maybe compare it to how it is now, this could emphasize my message of the effects technology has on young viewers but focus more on the dangers of it because that's what I feel the audience wants to know more than anything.
I feel like this seminar has helped me give an understanding of what I should do for my formative assessment. I have a clear idea of how to set out my presentation and what to include.
In this week's seminar, our focus was to come up with questions that I will use to help me with my research and my presentation. I think it would be useful to keep in mind the why, what and how questions.
Having a question is important because it will summarise everything I am doing and what I will talk about, it's the spinal core of the research so I can start to research about it and it will be a guide for me if I ever get stuck.
To come up with a question, I will need a research subject so what I'm going to do and a research title, shorter version of my research subject, usually created by taking out key words from the subject and finding a way to combine them together, from there, a background and literature review will be conducted and finally, I have to come up with different research questions that I have to explore to help me narrow down my subject.
Generating research questions is important because it talks about my research subject, reveals how I will investigate my research subject by using different approaches like why, how etc. It narrows down my investigation and by narrowing it down, it will help me give me a clear idea what I'm doing because at the moment, my subject is quite open.
My research subject
I want to explore how technology has affected us but mostly, how devices affects the development and growth of a young person.
My research title
The effects devices have on young viewers, what does the future hold for them?
This research title is just a work in progress, I feel like this title is too open or too long. I will be changing it as I get more into it.
For the final part, we got into pairs and we had to discuss our subject and from there, the other person had to give us useful research questions that I can look at to help me. I still have to come up with a title and I hope the questions that I will explore will help me come up with an effective title.
The questions/research I can look at that my partner recommended were....
- Most used technology device?
- Age groups? I could look at how young the viewers are then connect it to what devices thy use the most.
- How am I going to convey this? What is my purpose, am I trying to create awareness, if so, how will I convey it?
- The dangers of it - Social skills, education.
- Different aspects of technology/devices - Social media, gaming etc.
I received useful advice from my partner because the questions/research that I got given were very diverse so I can look at them all and help me decide what I'm interested in and what to take out but also, I can create connection between them.
By doing this activity, it has helped me because now I have an idea of where to start researching and what to research.
I think I will try and explore every advice I was given and document them on my blog.
In this week's group, we had to display to everyone what designs, sketches, experiments we had done so far as we are in that stage of our process.
For my work, I mostly spoke about my narrative idea and how technology has affected the way we live which I created a series of stories. Tracy's feedback to that was useful because she pointed out that I created an awareness of a problem but what exactly am I doing? What am I trying to do with it? These are some of the questions I need to answer to development my project further.
I thought to myself, I created a campaign but what's my point? What is my next step? I want everyone to be aware of how technology is controlling us, how it affects the different aspects of our lives. My next step would be maybe to look into the future and how we will be like if we continue to use it at the rate we are, what does the future hold for us? The beauty of this is that, none of us know how it will be like so I can create any scenario I wanted and make it as creative as I want but at the same time, not underlying the message.
The next idea I came up with was, I could create a series of past, present and future of technology and see the evolution of it but also, have abit of something for everyone as different people of different generations can relate like pre-internet people and post internet. Instead of creating it one after the other, I thought of displaying it at the same time, create three zines so one past, one present and one future with same characters, same scenario but different story and you would have to read it at the same time, so three different zines read at the same time if that makes sense, just to emphasize the evolution.
In this seminar, we spoke about the two presentations we will have to do in the future, one is formative and the other is summative.
The formative presentation will include 5-10 slides representing my blog posts with a description of what it is about which I then have to present it and talk about it. I will have about 5 minutes to talk about everything so I have to make sure I don't talk about stuff that aren't relevant so I don't waste time.
The summative presentation is different and not as simple as the formative presentation. It will be like a 'pechakucha' style presentation which we will have about 10 minutes to talk about our presentation.
I will have to include 20 slides with a description of what it is.
How it should be set out....
- 1 slide - Title, URL (blog), Name Surname, Course.
- 1 slide - Introduction - Key themes, what format...
- 5 slides - Background - Past and present ideas, theories and practices.
- 2 slides - Questions and Aims - What do I want to find out and achieve.
- 5 slides - Approach - Theories and practices I have used.
- 5 slides - Results and discussion - What did I learn and accomplished, how it affected me?
- 1 slide - Future work - How do I position myself as a visual creative, what are my future work?
What is PechaKucha?
- PechaKucha is a style of presentation that includes 20 slides and each slide shown for 20 seconds (6 minutes and 40 seconds). It is used to keep the presentation fast-paced and concise. This style would be useful to use.
Some of the things I have to consider is the format, should I do it on Indesign or Powerpoint? or both? Because some computers will not have Indesign but if I create the presentation in both formats, if something goes wrong with one, I could use the other so it is something I have to consider.
Yes
This includes some of the things I can do to make my presentation successful...
- Keep it simples - Do not over complicate it.
- Keep it clear - Easy to read.
- Write notes - What am I going to say?
- Calculate time - How much time for each slide
- Tell a story - Makes it interesting.
- Rehearse
- Use a stopwatch - Time myself.
No
Some of the things I shouldn't do...
- Too much illegible text.
- Complex diagrams (overly) - I want the audience to focus on me,
- Reading from my notes - Have them printed and practice them.
We were shown a video on Youtube which I feel like it sums up what I shouldn't do in a presentation and what the common mistakes that people make when presenting. Academics Behaving Badly
At 2:48, he shows the 'outline of my presentation' which is something that usually happens in presentations and the fact he is displaying it will help me because I will be more prepared and I will make sure none of the stuff on it will happen to me.
The other points that he touched was don't display complicated diagrams, images or long text because it's very distracting and you want the audience to know what you are saying.
The next part was a little activity we had to do. We had to get into pairs and talk about our idea, the other then had to give back feedback and from that, we had to find ways we have improve it for next week.
First off, the title should be short and straight to the point, it should tell the audience what the slides will be about, key words about my idea should be used to help me.
My idea is too open, I need to narrow it down, I need to ask myself, what do I want to find out?
A good feedback was to focus on 'Autopoiesis' which was one of the key words from our project. I need to focus on that because my idea sounds similar to what Autopoiesis means and it could be a good way to narrow down my idea.
In this week's group, it was all about ideas and talking about where we are up to with them and to explain what they were in order to get feedback.
We all placed our A4 piece of paper with images of our ideas on the wall so that we could talk about it and get feedback but also see what others have thought of.
There were some interesting ideas that other people had, there was one involving identity and persona which Tracy had some interesting points relating to it like do we change the way we are to please others? It was a question I did not think about but relates to one of my ideas that involved identity, I think we do change the way we are at times to please others and with the power of technology, we can because it is the easy route but to what extent do we change?
It came to my turn to talk about my ideas and Tracy pointed out that with the posters below I have looked at, I could create a little narrative to create a story that people can relate to and follow which could be a still piece like a series of posters or a short animation. This was an idea I will think about. People tend to become more attached to an advert or poster if it's set out as a story.
For the other images I had on my A4 piece of paper which is shown below, the idea is how we let technology define how we look online which makes us feel bad about ourselves in person and I could use that information by using technology to make us look bad to make us feel good about ourselves and I think Tracy replied with something that pretty much summed up this idea in a way that I think is the perfect description, I'm trying to turn a positive into a negative to make it into a positive, at first it doesn't make sense but if you apply to my idea, it does.
There was a question in this seminar that interested me. 'What are your expectations for this year?', this interested me because I haven't really thought about it but now that I am, I want to come away with at least 2:1 this year, that is my target but not only that, I want to find a decent placement place that will help me with the design industry and help me become a better designer.
The seminar moved onto 'research', what is research? Well, it's a study or investigation of sources in order to collect facts and create new conclusions.We were given key words like what, why and how to help us with our research and by answering those questions when researching, it will give it a purpose.
- What - the theme like what is the subject. What do I want to create and investigate? What is my purpose?
- Why - Context so Why am I researching this subject? How does it relate to my subject?
- How? - Approach so how will I approach what I just researched and define what is important and relevant. What tools, media or method will I use?
- What - What is my conclusion? What have I found? What did I learn?
I like how from these four words, many questions can be thought of and how it can direct you to a certain path. I learned to think as many questions as I can and by doing that, it will help me and make my subject become clear.
Task
We were given a task. We were given a subject matter and from that, we had to answer some questions relating to that subject.
http://www.aljazeera.com/pressoffice/2014/11/hear-human-story-20141135433755976.html - What is the theme/subject of the project? (What?) - Humanity. How people's voices should be heard who are often ignored and neglected by mainstream media. - How does it relate to the client's needs and aims? (Why?) - It's how we take things for granted so it captures the stories of real people so it shows people the struggles of different people around the world.
- How did the designers approach the assignment? (How?) - By capturing stories of real people so things like what happened to them and what they are doing about it. - What was the final result and achievement? (What?) - To display it to the world and give people a voice.
For the next part, I will choose a subject of my own and think of questions to answer so I can investigate the subject.
I decided to choose a subject that relates to my project so that it will help me question my project and find a path that I could go to that is most suitable for me.
Subject - Sociomaterial - This was one of the key words I was given for this project.
What
- What is the theme/subject? - Sociomaterial
- What does it mean? - It is how people interact with technology, how technology affects us in different ways and the idea of not imagining a society/world without technology.
- What do I want to investigate? - I want to know what I can do with this word, how it relates to technology, how we interact and the effects of it on us.
Why
- Why do I want to investigate this word? - I want to investigate this subject because it relates to my project.
- Why are you choosing this subject? - It's a new word for me so I am fascinated to find the different stories and facts behind it to give me a clear idea of how it will help me.
How
- How will I approach it? - I will look at books relating to it, I will look at articles, I will look at websites etc.
What What will my conclusion be? - I want to have a clear idea of what sociomaterial is and how I can combine it with my ideas. I know once I find out, it will help me decide what ideas I will develop and refine.
This seminar got me thinking of the different questions I got to ask myself when researching, at the moment, I'm kind of stuck when it comes to thinking of questions but I know once I keep doing it, I will get the hang of it and I will think of more and useful questions.
