REFLECTION 9 (FINAL): The big picture

Just a couple of housekeeping stuff to start things off:

• For those who don't know, I was hospitalized the week of the showcase with a bleeding ulcer and severe anemia. It was considered to be acute and potentially life threatening. I am slowly recovering now, but still kind of weak and my brain isn't quite back to normal just yet.Please forgive any typos, missing words or sentences that make NO sense (just drop me an email @ webbox@robinart.com if you see any), I will spellcheck but one of the symptoms of anemia is cloudy thinking.
• Thanks to everyone who helped me with my project. Certainly, I couldn't have done it without the artists, but I also want to thank my classmates who gave me such great feedback, Mary Miller for setting up my project at the showcase, and the instructors for their patient & understanding.

For my final post, I want to go back to the first article we read about the studio experience. Why? Well, if it hadn't been for my previous experience in 6190, the words of wisdom from 6210 folks & others, I might not have had a finished project for the showcase.

Part of flexible learning strategies is also time-planning and managing. Again, traditional instructional settings place the responsibility almost exclusively into the hands of the instructor. Learners are expected to follow the rhythm of instruction, practice, and evaluation, that is provided by the educational "authority" who is in charge. If this external guidance is taken away, it is likely that many learners will not be able to carry out adequate time planning and management on the spot. The multiple requirements of the Studio courses contribute to the difficulty of the task. There is not a definite line of events and only a few marked points on the time line indicate where certain requirements are due. This, of course, allows more flexibility for the individual learner, but also requires a much higher skill level in terms of planning and managing time and resources. (Fiedler, 1999).

Actually, I think time management is one of the key components of the studio experience (actually, of any self learning experience). Without good time management skills, a studio project can quickly turn into a nightmare of all nighters. Even with judicious use of time, breaking the project up into smaller, more manageable pieces, most projects will still provide some unexpected challenges (and inherent in those challenges are opportunities for creative solutions). I definitely hit a major challenge with SPARC. Not only was video capture time intensive, but so was video editing, complicated with additional challenges of bandwidth and web storage space. All of which was a challenge to overcome: How to get the maximum impact and most interesting content with the best use of time?

What this required was a redirection of resources (me, webspace, content) and my choice was to allow artists to contribute their thoughts via email instead of soley relying on video. What I gained from tweaking my initial plan a little is a much richer and more well rounded website, more artist participation, and hopefully, a more interesting project.

What I've learned about the studio experience is that it is just one big project with really only one deadline (because if you've been doing the work all along then all there is to do at the dress rehearsal is show where you are in the process). Dividing the project up into manageable parts is essential (see previous statement). The other parts of the studio project are just part of project planning for any project: have a vision, know your scope, develop a plan, layout a basic framework, and remain flexible and creative. Being flexible and creative would seem to be essential and a natural part of the process (and for those who want to stick to their plan regardless of its success, I imagine that they either find a way to make the plan work regardless of how much work is involved, settle for something which is less successful, or get frustrated and abandon their plan at some point,which leaves space for a revised plan).

Building in extra time for tweaking or revision or polishing up is a necessity in order to succeed in studio. I can honestly say that I was finished with my project by the end of November, which was my saving point. Otherwise, I would have been in the hospital with an unfinished project hanging over my head. The remaining time was to be spent reshooting some video (replacing the ones with poor audio), adding additional content (I still have some artists responses that even came in after the 8th), tweaking metadata and doing a final accessibility check (to ensure that any last minute changes hadn't impacted the accessibility).

Anyhow, I really enjoy the studio experience and if I could just take all of the IDD classes as studio, I would probably be a happy camper. ;)

Reference:
Fiedler, Sebastian (1999). The Studio Experience: Challenges and Opportunities for Self-Organized Learning. Athens, GA: The University of Georgia, Department of Instructional Technology

desk crit no. 9> From Jina

What an excellent project, Robin!

You may not need crits but I decided to go through projects on your STUDIO website and give my crits to folks who’s done great job.

It is very artistic and beautiful all around. I know you are kind of tired of hearing compliments by now…so here are a few minor crits.

Overall, I found it somewhat difficult to see the menus and navigate. I think it is because font sizes are too small and/or not eye-catching enough in comparison to everything else on a page.

On the main navigation, I literally had to roll the mouse over to see what it says…maybe it’s my eye sight.

I don’t know the whole purpose of this website…you can tell I didn’t read your project management site. But it would be great if you provide some sort of introduction on what it’s about on the main page or somewhere obvious. I was confused and still am somewhat wondering what it is about.

On the “art slideshow” page, “main page” link disappears from the main navigation bar.

I really liked the way you did the slideshow! Brilliant!

On the “about the artists” page, on the bottom…there are some blocks of purple bars or blocks or whatever you call it laying there… I just wasn’t sure what they were about. It seems like decoration…but nowhere else has them.

About the main navigation, I know you used CSS for it…it would be better if I can tell which page I currently am by just looking at the main navigation bar or somewhere. I was confused where I am.

These are all nit-picky things and I loved your project! You are very creative.

Good luck!

Jina.

desk crit no. 8> From Mary Miller

Hi, Robin.

As is always the case with pretty much anything you create, your Web site is stunning!

I like the look and feel very much. A meta site, it both is art and is about art! It's very

warm and inviting, which is not always the case for something with so much style!

When I looked at your site during the studio showcase trial run on the 17th of November,

I suggested that you change the style of the text on the "Thoughts on Creativity" section.

You have now done that and it is much easier to read while still looking very cool.

I particularly like the way you have done navigation for that section. I do think it would

be nice if you added some sort of "back to top" link and I think you could do that at the

same point as each of your internal navigation sections without throwing things off

too badly.

I have a couple of suggestions for the artist info section.

1. Begin with artist's full name. I noticed Rene's last name was not given. Perhaps put the name in bold to make it stand out a bit more.
2. List your live interview participants alphabetically as you have done with your thoughts participants.

I also have some comments on the artist interviews and demos section.

You have a lot of dead space on this page. With the current image size, it would be possible to put the content in a table with two columns. Or, you could just add something fun to look at next to the info sections. But I am not loving the empty space in the tan box.

However, I do really love most everything else about your site. Thank you for creating

this valuable and interesting resource!

desk crit no. 7> From Elizabeth

Wow! Your visual appeal is out the roof!

Suggestions: "examples of artwork, hear and read thoughts of artists, see artists creating art, and add your own thoughts on creativity. What is creativity? Will this project will spark your interest in arts and creativity?" - period after artwork. Hear and read..... take second will out of last sentence.

on Project Info

there does seem to be some common threads there does seem to be some common threads - change does to do
I can't see the "i" in relfection in the header.

I only wish I knew how to do half what you have done! Very impressive.

desk crit no. 6> From Yi-Wen Tan

These are desk crits that came in while I was sick, so I am just adding them now.
-------------------
Hi, Robin:
I like your website. The color is so strong and powerful. The design is neat!

Only three small question/suggestion:

• The slide show you makes on the art examples page has a small problem to me. The play button seems can not work. It is supposed to play the slides automatically, right?
• On the end of "Thoughts on creativity", you may want to put a button to help audience go back to the top/menu of the page. Just like the button you make at the end of each section.
• After I click "Add your thoughts", I don't know how to come back to your project. Maybe you could pop-up a new window for the blogger, or use frames to put the blogger in your website.
  

Hope it is helpful.

Yi-Wen Tan