After the course, students should be able to:
- Discuss general group processes and issues in their own groups.
- Apply working documents and digital communications for the organization of projectwork.
- Use iterative methods for testing the information architecture and interface design.
- Use rhetorical effects and argumentation theory in both content and presentation of the portfolio.
- Using Web parts in static and dynamic websites for construction and maintenance of a portfolio on a given platform (WordPress).
Discuss general group processes and issues in their own groups.
At first I want to refer to the Chindogu exercise, were I discuss groupwork contra working alone. In the course: Introduction to Media and Communication, my group, at times experienced some extreme groupconditions. We began the group with discussing the characteristics of a group as Algreen-Ussing et al. (2006, p. 225) defines it: A group has: the same goal, shared conditions, shared behaviour, the feel of being in a group.
Especially the first two were important to us, and we quickly agreed at the common goal, what grade we worked for. We spended a couple of hours discussing the conditions of our upcoming groupwork. Eventually we agreed. We ofcourse had normal norms like: “You MUST do the work assigned to you”; “You MUST arrive when appointed”. But beyond that we also had some unique norms like the ricebag: “You cannot speak without holding the ricebag”. This really sorted out some quarrelling!
The process worked out just fine thanks to the norms, but what we did not see coming was that: At the end when we were to split the authorship, the twillight of the Gods broke loose. The ones who had not wrote that much of the text demanded more of the text, but the ones who wrote it, of course did not want to let go of it. It ended in a three our session of sad looks, and discussion. This might have been easier, if we discussed it at the beginning!
Other posts relevant for group processes and issues: Teamwork at a distance – Tangible Computing – Designalysis.
Apply working documents and digital communications for the organization of projectwork.
What we also discussed in the group norms is how we use the digital media. We agreed to use Facebook as an update service, only used to notices. Using Google Docs for documents and Dropbox for pictures, presentations etc. We also seldomly used Skype for distanced work, but as I wrote in the post: Teamwork at a distance, this is not nearly optimal. Google Docs and Dropbox on the other hand, worked out perfectly for us. It worked as it was supposed to, just like technique is intended to, but rarely do. The Facebook group slowly became inactive, without our notice. My conclusion is: If everybody agrees to use the digital platform it can be an indispensable part of groupworking.
I have used Google Docs and Dropbox in all my project this semester, and I cannot imagine working on a project without digital communication and documents.
Lately a few of my class mates has asked me about the portfolio and coding different things. And here Skype was perfect, it allowed me to see their screen: their code, and suggest solutions to their problems.
Use iterative methods for testing the information architecture and interface design.
At first we did this Card sorting, where we tested the structure of a website. Then we did a usabilitytest in groups where we tested how many clicks it took to reach specific things on the pages. I recently repeated this with a friend and it worked out a lot better with my new structure and the search field.
Use rhetorical effects and argumentation theory in both content and presentation of the portfolio.
I have, in the reflections, written about how I want to appear and appeal to my audience.
In Course timetable up for subscription I have made a timetable of our courses available for the other students, this shows my good will to the readers. This eunoia is also showed in this post Study and technique where I share a catalogue regarding techniques on studying. Eunoia is an element of ethos and therefore adds credibility to my person (Lund & Petersen: 1999, p. 122). Also supporting this i my post Enlighten me, where I ask the listener for some imput on my work. But eunoia alone does not do it: there are two more elements to ethos. I the video I try to sound fun and friendly, and appealing this way is called areté. I hope that my main text with references and especially my reflections shows my pronesis. Out of the three appealing forms I have a hard time appealing to the two othes under these circumstances: logos and pathos. Logos is appealing to the logic of the user, the way I appeal to this could be my infrastructure. Pathos is all about the readers feelings, and to implement this I have tried to make it a litte funny. But if I did too funny, it would damage my credibility elsewhere. You can read more about credibility at the reflections page.
Using Web parts in static and dynamic websites for construction and maintenance of a portfolio on a given platform (WordPress).
Around this website and especially in the ChangLog you can see that I master HTML, CSS and PHP.