Archive for Academic work
How to Design a Digital Media Course
Design Practice
MA-Creative Digital Media
What kind of final project would suit the topics of this module and meet the learning objectives of the course document?
In the past, I’ve had people write their own Brief for a Design Problem/Design Solution. Students would identify a problem, analyse that problem in the form of a Design Brief. The brief would define the relevant issues and serve as a call for submissions. The students would then propose their own solution to the problem, including costings.
Previous year’s proposals included a redesign of the entrance to Connolly Station, a website design for the Irish Kickboxing Association, and research on cables that deliver data and power to tv’s, dvd players, etc. to reduce the cable clutter.
In this way, people get to take the concepts from the module and apply them to subjects that particularly interest them.
The learning outcomes for the module are defined in the course document:
Learning Outcomes:
On completion of this module, the learner will be able to:
• Analyse the priorities of a design project;
• Evaluate and specify the usability and HCI requirements;
• Discuss design choices and evaluate the impact on the success of the final
design.
Implement and produce coherent on-screen design for interfaces (i.e. web
page, DVD menus, interactive games/e-learning apps, etc.)
After several years of my “Write a Brief” – project brief, I’m looking to see if there is another method that would work well for this class. What other ideas do you have for final projects that address the learning outcomes and don’t impose too much on the work for your other modules? It could be individual or group work. It should combine elements of analysis, design, and visual presentation. I see this in some ways as similar to the initial stages of your final project: concept, analysis, presentation, design, execution. You can sort of leave out the ‘design and execution’ phases for this module.
So let’s brainstorm a bit and see what we can come up with.
Design Practice, vers. 4.o
We started the new term last week with a new version of the class ‘Design Practice.’ It used to be called ‘Design Principles’, in the sense of learning how to apply some enduring ideas (ie. ‘principles’) to the process of design. Then as now, we’ll look at a variety of products and services and try to critique the elements that contribute to successful designs.
The class is part of two Masters degree programs; the MA in Creative Digital Media and the MSc in Digital Games, both in the Dublin Institute of Technology. It is great to have a mix of some technical types and some less tech-y people.
So for the first class I wanted us to critique something most everybody has owned or used at some point: the multi-tool/Leatherman/Swiss Army knife. Some of these tools are great, some are terrible, and some are just too fancy for their own good.
Consequently the first assignment is: create your ideal multi-tool. We broke up into groups and 20 minutes later, ta dah! Great stuff. I liked the drawings so much I thought we had to share them with the world. So in no particular order…
The Light Sabre
Note the umbrella, the flotation device, the electronic attachments for heating and cooling drinks.
The Man’s Tool
Useful, effective, everything I’d need except a bottle opener. Notice the combat knife inspiration.
The Party Girrrl-illa
The first group to explicitly target a specific audience. Includes hair-straighteners, speakers, bottle opener and a disco ball, to liven up those impromptu Friday parties.
The “Succi” (I can’t remember what that is supposed to mean)
My notes fail me here: knife, mp3 player, usb stick, and don’t forget “it has bluetooth”. In an easy, pocket sized design.
The Survivor
Clever disc design, the essentials like knife, scissors, and spork. Handy dandy laser pointer and what every pocket tool needs, an inflatable pillow. Now that is improved functionality.
and finally, The Student
Every college should hand these out and failure rates would drop to zero. I won’t point out anything but the ‘neverending teabag.’
Index page up
Hi folks. Progress is happening. I am building the site, and I put up the first page for five.minute.fix.
So, is that a name we can live with? The opening page has nine images that play, and if someone didn’t get their shot in the first batch, for a coffee I might be bribed to drop yours into the mix.
I’ll keep working on the rest of the site, but get your comments and complaints in to me fast because the time for changes is running out fast.
The end of the term is upon us. For this module, you had a number of tasks to complete. Some were done in class, some were files you needed to send me. I checked off your name as each task was completed, but if you have missed tasks your grade will suffer. I can post the chart of everyone, or you can email me if you have questions. I’ll be in Temple Bar tomorrow, normal time, for any questions, but I won’t be running a class.
Your final submission for me are the personal comments that will go in the ‘Stories’ section. So far I only have remarks from five people. Make your comments a few sentences or a couple of paragraphs. Just talk about your response to the year.
Gathering Info
Hi Folks-
You should be frantically working towards those final deadlines.
This week, each group will submit their images for the website, and
examples of written work.
I need you to bring in any written work you have done to class and you
will pick two or three essays that are representative for each group,
for a total of 4 or 6.
Elina started working on a bibliography, so email her with
contributions or bring them in tomorrow.
All the images on flickr will need to be loaded onto a CD with the
proper person’s name, so get yours ready and we will load them up
tomorrow and burn the CD.
Finally, now is the chance for some light writing in the midst of the
deadlines: we need your personal comments about the first year in
photography education. Write them as 1 paragraph treatments- and write
about as many topics as you want. There is space for a lot, but I need
at least two from everyone.
So, gather your images, gather your essays, and be ready to write short
comments about the year…
see you in Temple Bar,
Flickr Critiques
Okay folks, time to be more cranky. No, not cranky, but not so flipping nice. As you look through other peoples’ images, make your comments more specific than ‘wow-that’s great’. Positive response is fine, but follow it up with comments about contrast, framing, subject, composition and such. As you look at zillions of images, little qualities stick in your head about what works and what doesn’t. You need to be able to articulate those for your own work and for others.
We always want to be friendly and supportive, but believe it or not, everything you do is not fabulous. Wouldn’t it be helpful if someone says, ‘hey, maybe you should have moved in a couple steps and focused on the girl on the left.’ You won’t always agree, but seeing how other people read your images teaches you about what you are saying with your photographs. You have three or four opinions from your lecturers, but those other 25 opinions from your class members matter just as much. It is great when we disagree; then we can discuss what each of us sees in a particular image. These things can vary dramatically.
So, make your comments more specific, and more constructive. We are a community of viewers – make that community work for you.
abstracts
I’ve already received a few abstracts, and a few questions about what they should be. Here is one from Tracy:
Photography as Evidence?
Tracy O’Brien
This essay discusses how photography was in the main perceived as evidence of the real since it’s introduction in 1839. Sontag’s claim that ‘Something we hear about, but doubt, seems proven when we’re shown a photograph of it’ was deemed true, especially pre-digital technology. How culture and psychology influence what evidence actually is, photography as evidence, is investigated and time and place will be proven to be important factors in the investigation. Mizoeff states that ‘with the rise of computer imaging and the creation of digital means to manipulate the photograph, we can … say that photography is dead’, but this new technology is only one factor in how photography is used as evidence.
Due to the postmodern era evolving with the simulacrum and digital imagery and manipulation, photography is not as easily as accepted as evidence, as emphatically as it previously was, by the general public. Photo manipulation was always a tool available to the photographer and printer, but as it was not widely known about or widely exploited. Society in general accepted photography as representing the reality of a person, event or object. However, culture, the ruling classes, psychology, politics and semiotics, among others, all played and still play their role in the evidence that is available and accepted in a photographic image.
I would be a bit more explicit in the title: maybe ‘Postmodernism and Photograpy as Evidence’ or something like that.
And this is excellent from Ciaran:
Photography as Evidence
Ciaran Cooney
This essay examines the role that photography has played as a tool for gathering evidence, as well as the changes it has undertaken to adapt to such uses. The essay gathers together the various evidential practices where photography established itself in as outlined by a number of well known photographers and theorists, most notably John Tagg. The essay details the developments of photography from its earliest uses as evidence in the mid 19th century to digital age of the late 20th century, where its authenticity has been questioned, particularly relating to the manipulation of images and its credibility in the law.
The essay also outlines the importance of the recognition of photographs as evidence to 20th century histories, as explained by Peter Burke, as well as examining its uses in the various social institutions that spawned from the industrial revolution.
The essay concludes with the doubts and possible attitudes towards the authenticity of photography as ‘evidence’. Photography’s basic principals, as a tool that only records a ‘fraction of reality’ is also discussed, as well as the attempts to discredit its image in other commercial medias. There is no doubt however, that photographs have provided an enormous contribution to the purpose of providing evidence, which has occurred since photography’s invention a 160 years ago.
