Today was definitely a large discussion day. The class started out slightly "sideways" as the students who arrived early were discussing video games. When class officially started, the conversation emerged into quite a conversation on games and ethics. We talked about how far video games had come. Other topics we brought up within the video game world was the topic of "When have they gone too far?" Everyone agreed that if you were playing a zombie game and you could actually smell charred flesh, they would not play the game. So the main question of the first part of class was "What is ok and What isn't?" We even watched a few videos on YouTube about video games and different aspects of the interactivity.
The second half of class we talked about the final research project. We looked at a few examples of research type projects that were acceptable. The whole research project however, as a whole, is quite open and free for personal interpretation. After some discussion of the final project, we looked at ted.com. I had never heard of ted.com in my entire life. I must say though it was quite interesting and I am definitely going to look into it more as the site is filled with great videos on the most unique subjects.
After a few closing statements and some comments about next week's excercise (a What if part 2) then we dispersed from the classroom.
Until next time! Have a great weekend!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
The Doorway
For our last class, we were given a doorway and asked to do something with it. We were not allowed to keep it in the same building and we of course could not do anything illegal. Those were the only rules. After explaining the rules to us, our professor left class and gave us the main duration of class to think about what we as a class wanted to do with this door. For the first few minutes, we just looked at the door. I think we were unsure of the assignment at first. But after a couple of minutes we started brain storming ideas of what we should do with the door. After about half an hour, we all agreed that the best idea was to ship the door back to where it came from.
The first step in doing this was to transport the door. After a few inquiries, we were able to find a student who had a truck and could haul the door. The next step was who would take care of the delivery process. After choosing people that lived close to the doorway's final destination, we hauled the door out of the IT building and thus the doorway began it's long journey back to where it came from. It was going home.
The first step in doing this was to transport the door. After a few inquiries, we were able to find a student who had a truck and could haul the door. The next step was who would take care of the delivery process. After choosing people that lived close to the doorway's final destination, we hauled the door out of the IT building and thus the doorway began it's long journey back to where it came from. It was going home.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Class May 20
I forgot to blog about class last night, but I wanted to make sure I documented it anyway. I felt terrible for being late, I just completely forgot. Anyhow, class did not last long. We had some discussion about our 50 questions project. After we discussed the project, we received our next project. We were instructed to do something with a doorway. After she gave us just a few small rules, she left us with the doorway in class. My next blog will discuss what we decided to do with the doorway.
Until Next time!
Until Next time!
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Quetzalcoatl
The last class (May 18th) we were asked to look up the word "Quetzalcoatl". I didn't even know it was a word, so I had no idea what it was. Hence, I opened my trusty Google homepage and Googled it. I found it to mean "feathered snake". This was a deity from the ancient world that tribes like the Aztecs worshipped. The Quetzalcoatl, was a god to the ancient tribes used to represent their armies and war. For an illustration, I would like to give credit to Dan Staten for his incredible illustration of what a Quetzalcoatl represented. The following is a link to Staten's website with the image: http://www.staten-illustration.com/pieces/Quetzalcoatl.htm
On a personal note, isn't it interesting how so many of these mythical creatures and ancient animals seen in so many long ago and lost cultures depict the resemblance of dragons? The idea is quite fascinating to me.
Until next time!
On a personal note, isn't it interesting how so many of these mythical creatures and ancient animals seen in so many long ago and lost cultures depict the resemblance of dragons? The idea is quite fascinating to me.
Until next time!
What if questions...
1. What if pigs sold insurance?
2. What if the world was flat?
3. What if you could fly?
4. What if cars could be cool looking again like back in the 70’s?
5. What if cows were ninjas?
6. What if life was 2D?
7. What if clouds had mass enough to walk on?
8. What if “what if” statements were banned?
9. What if you were banned from earth?
10. What if there was another earth to live on?
11. What if you got banned from there to?
12. What if milkshakes were free?
13. What if my egg from class actually hatched?
14. What if I was Batman?
15. What if I hated pink?
16. What if question 15 was true?
17. What if dragons were still around?
18. What if color was seen only through personal interpretation?
19. What if the world was black and white?
20. What if the world could get along?
21. What if the birdie finger was the pinky finger?
22. What if life was upside down?
23. What if chickens created an army and tried to rule the world?
24. What if my egg from class was the only way that the invasion could be stopped?
25. What if that didn’t make sense?
26. What if I was just saying that to be funny?
27. What if I wasn’t saying that to be funny?
28. What if Apple made computers that were affordable?
29. What if Windows Vista died in a fire?
30. What if I hope Windows Vista dies in a fire?
31. What if I said Windows XP for life?
32. What if there was an elevator to hell?
33. What if the same elevator went to heaven and the buttons were color coordinated?
34. What if a color blind person got in the elevator?
35. What if life was literally a bowl of cherries?
36. What if it rained Crunch bars from Nestle?
37. What if grass was made out of cake icing?
38. What if fantasy was true and reality was fantasy?
39. What if the world flooded and you were stuck on a rusty pontoon boat with only 3 candy bars and a chicken that was skilled in the deadly art of Kung Fu while sharks surrounded the boat?
40. What if alcohol was illegal?
41. What if it was against the law to speak?
42. What if animals talked and people didn’t? How would we communicate?
43. What if my name was Bob?
44. What if man worshipped toenails?
45. What if beds were on the ceiling and u had to be strapped in at night when u slept?
46. What if virtual reality became reality?
47. What if people could actually “bunny-hop” and “dolphin dive” like you can in video games?
48. What if you lived for over 100 years?
49. What if you had to spend 5 days in a cramped cave where you only had space to crawl on your stomach and the only food to eat was rats and mice?
50. What if life was a bed mattress? Would we sleep on a hard surface?
Monday, May 18, 2009
Class on May 18th
Well today we actually got into our classroom! That's always a good thing. Today we presented our egg projects. They ranged from dropping the egg off a massive viaduct to simply eating the egg. There was a broad range with the egg projects. None were similar at all. In a way it was enjoyable to be able to see differences instead of everyone turning in the same project and seeing the same presentation a dozen times. The presentations were refreshing in my personal opinion.
After the presentations, we took a quick break. However, this was not a usual break. We were instructed to take our chairs with us on the break. So everyone had to take their chair with them on their break. I must say that was the strangest break I have ever taken from a college class in my entire 3 years here at campus. Before class let out, we watched a video on modern art that was aired on PBS. The art had no structure, but I think it had meaning. Each piece of art that the artist did had a certain meaning to him personally. I do think some of it was to promote him and his work. On the other hand a few of his art pieces I really liked. Something I took away from his art is closely related to mathematical logic. For example, I can say that "2" represents the number two. But "2" is not two. It's merely a symbol to represent the number 2. In binary counting, two is represented "11". This is due to there only being either "1" or "0" to count with in binary. So some of the modern art shown in the video may not have looked like anything, but the art, in my personal opinion, were symbols for personal interpretation. So with all being said, I would consider it to not only be modern art, but also an art of symbols. Each piece of art is made up of symbols for personal interpretation. This was my personal take on the video. I thought it was quite an interesting video.
When the video finished, we discussed what some of our thoughts were on the video. After some final words, the class was dismissed.
Until next time!
After the presentations, we took a quick break. However, this was not a usual break. We were instructed to take our chairs with us on the break. So everyone had to take their chair with them on their break. I must say that was the strangest break I have ever taken from a college class in my entire 3 years here at campus. Before class let out, we watched a video on modern art that was aired on PBS. The art had no structure, but I think it had meaning. Each piece of art that the artist did had a certain meaning to him personally. I do think some of it was to promote him and his work. On the other hand a few of his art pieces I really liked. Something I took away from his art is closely related to mathematical logic. For example, I can say that "2" represents the number two. But "2" is not two. It's merely a symbol to represent the number 2. In binary counting, two is represented "11". This is due to there only being either "1" or "0" to count with in binary. So some of the modern art shown in the video may not have looked like anything, but the art, in my personal opinion, were symbols for personal interpretation. So with all being said, I would consider it to not only be modern art, but also an art of symbols. Each piece of art is made up of symbols for personal interpretation. This was my personal take on the video. I thought it was quite an interesting video.
When the video finished, we discussed what some of our thoughts were on the video. After some final words, the class was dismissed.
Until next time!
An Eye for an Egg
Where is the egg?
For my egg project, I decided to conduct an experiment. My experiment was to place the egg into a natural setting where it somewhat blended in. When I had the egg in place, I showed the image to two people. The first person had no design experience. I told the person to find the egg in the picture. After nearly a minute the person could not find the egg. They then asked me if there was even an egg in the picture. After about a minute and a few clues, the person found the egg. The second person that I had look at the picture had some design experience. When the second person looked at the image, they were able to find the egg within about 10 seconds.
My theory and point is the following:
First of all, this experiment proved that people with design experience have a better trained eye and know where and how to look. I was able to watch both test subjects and each person's eye moved quite different. The person with less experience almost read the picture as if it were a book. Their eyes moved left to right. The person with design experience however, was much different. Their eyes did not move in a pattern. They were very still but their eyes slowly moved to where the egg was located as if they were soaking in the whole image.
Second of all, was the issue with the egg color. The person with no design experience confessed after the test that not only did they have trouble finding the egg, but they were looking for a "white egg" . When I had said the word "egg" they immediately started looking for a white colored egg. This distracted them from merely looking for an egg. They had already had a mind set that the egg was a certain color. On the other hand, the person with design experience did not make the assumption of only looking for a white egg. When I said the word "egg" to the second person, they explained that they were looking for an egg of any size and color.
In conclusion, this experiment showcases the fact that people with design experience have learned how to search for certain items or aspects in an image. They are not locked in the regular day to day mental imaging that automatically sees an apple as a red fruit or in this case, an egg with a white shell.
For my egg project, I decided to conduct an experiment. My experiment was to place the egg into a natural setting where it somewhat blended in. When I had the egg in place, I showed the image to two people. The first person had no design experience. I told the person to find the egg in the picture. After nearly a minute the person could not find the egg. They then asked me if there was even an egg in the picture. After about a minute and a few clues, the person found the egg. The second person that I had look at the picture had some design experience. When the second person looked at the image, they were able to find the egg within about 10 seconds.
My theory and point is the following:
First of all, this experiment proved that people with design experience have a better trained eye and know where and how to look. I was able to watch both test subjects and each person's eye moved quite different. The person with less experience almost read the picture as if it were a book. Their eyes moved left to right. The person with design experience however, was much different. Their eyes did not move in a pattern. They were very still but their eyes slowly moved to where the egg was located as if they were soaking in the whole image.
Second of all, was the issue with the egg color. The person with no design experience confessed after the test that not only did they have trouble finding the egg, but they were looking for a "white egg" . When I had said the word "egg" they immediately started looking for a white colored egg. This distracted them from merely looking for an egg. They had already had a mind set that the egg was a certain color. On the other hand, the person with design experience did not make the assumption of only looking for a white egg. When I said the word "egg" to the second person, they explained that they were looking for an egg of any size and color.
In conclusion, this experiment showcases the fact that people with design experience have learned how to search for certain items or aspects in an image. They are not locked in the regular day to day mental imaging that automatically sees an apple as a red fruit or in this case, an egg with a white shell.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Seeing Sideways, First Class
Today was my first class in N485 Seeing Sideways and it was definitely a sideways class. Due to our classroom being locked we ended up meeting in the upstairs hallway in the IT building. We then moved later to an open classroom near our own. We had the remainder of our class there. The main topic of the class was introductions and an explanation of what the class was about. Our first project is due the next class where I will have to do something with an egg. Until then, have a great weekend!
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