Activity 5A

Assignment 5: WRITING UP

Activity 5A

Increasingly businesses are sending their employees on course to learn about networking. When networking is used correctly it can provide exposure of someone’s talents and ability. I will be using this topic to look further into to creating a research proposal using both primary and secondary methods. By gathering this information I aim to find out whether people find networking useful in business use.

Networking is quite a new way of communication and people are still getting used to the idea of using the internet as a way to be found or find work through connections through things like Blogs, Twitter, My Space, Bebo, Flicker and Facebook. I have looked at a text called ‘Networking Survival Guide (2003),’ by Diane Darling. Her book is about coaching people through networking. She use examples of how the networking benefits business and can create new opportunities, gain knowledge and new business links. The book also looks into how people are perceived and how that can leave an impression on the businesses. The writer says that it is essential to take control of your own lives and the directions it goes in. Networking allows you to take control of your life and the direction that it goes in. You can take control of your professional career and deciding how you want it to be taken forward for future development. This allows you to develop and shape your own personal reputation.

To conduct my own research I would want to work with Diane Darling at one of the workshops that she hosts for business. I would watch and observe as the workshop took place. Interacting with both the hosts and the participants gaining their knowledge about how successful networking is. If they had had a good experiences and success from the use of a network?

Working in this workshop environment where you are only maybe in contact with the subjects for a day or two will make it hard for them to become used to the situation and may still be uncomfortable answering questions straight away about the use of networking. But maybe if I was to go out to their work place in say 6 months to a year later and interview them at that point to find out how they felt about the course and whether it was successful.

Looking at the subjects networking pages to determining whether they have used the training successfully and can their pages be improved? Are they setting them self’s the right image? Are the pages saying the right things about themselves and their business?

I found that one on one interviews were a little bit to formal and would maybe provoke people to say things that they think I want to hear. So instead I think a less formal discussion group would produce the best results. This way people can get their views across about networking, and they can build on other people’s comments giving a greater amount of data to collect. Also group discussion makes it easier for people to get their points across as they can gain support from their friends and colleagues.

As I would have spent time with the discussion groups while they were on their workshop they should feel a little more relaxed around me. This should encourage them to be more open around me so they can let me know what they really think about networking and the workshop that has been held. Through out these discussions I will be taking notes on not just what they say but their body language also, as people’s body language is just as important as what they are saying.

While working and observing in these work shops I would want to work with the many different sectors that are trying to use networking so I can find out which sectors benefit the most from it? Which sectors drum up the most business from it, as just talking to one sector would one give me their opinions on whether it works or not. This would give me an unbiased view of the overall outcome of networking.

Observing the workshop will enable me to be able to pick up people’s body language and attitudes to this new communication. You will be able to pick up on who is enjoying it and who thinks it’s a waste of time. Then observing peoples networks after the workshop has been completed, will the body language that was portrayed in the workshop reflect on how they treat their network? At the end of every workshop I would issue a standard questionnaire to every group that took place-asking question like ‘Do you feel that networking will be successful in your discipline of work?’ these questions would help gauge peoples reaction.

My conclusions are that the questions I have raised within this proposal show that secondary research would be more appropriate as there is not much primary research out there, mainly because this is a new way of creating business opportunities. To aid my research I would want to gain a first hand knowledge of how the people being taught to become net workers thought about the process. I would also want to gain information from all the disciplines, then through the use of interviews and surveys I would want to build up enough data to create a report that would give information on what disciplines networking is used for and how it can be used successfully.

Haiti Earthquake

Haiti Earthquake

In the after math of the Haiti earthquake a group of designers from Clemson University came up with the idea to use old shipping containers to make homes for the Haiti victims that lost there homes.

The shipping container’s have a ‘unibody’ construction so they are also very good in seismic zone and exceed structural code. This means they can act as emergency shelters in earthquakes and hurricanes. The project that is developing them is called SEED. These storage containers can be altered with a few simple cuts at the port to turn them into something that is a livable space with a opening to the site.

The students that developed this idea first sought a way to give emergency housing to displaced people. This housing had to be sturdy and safe on a permanent site. This would allow families to go back on there land quickly was key to the idea. Often families displaced by disasters never return to there homes, but the Clemson researcher try to find strategies to carry out the SEED Project as quickly as they could, trying to have the adjusted containers in the disaster zone within 3 weeks.

Assignment 5

Assignment 5: WRITING UP

Activity 5B

I am going to use methods I have discovered through my design studies to talk about how I would tackle my Sustainable Restoration brief differently. The Sustainable Restoration brief asks us to refurbish a house that sits on a site in Seafield Road. We were to create a two bed-roomed home with a studio space within the property as the client was a book restorer and she wished to work from home. The client who was called Emma was also interested in skiing, scuba diving, tie chi and yoga. This meant that Emma needed space to do these things. She wanted also to have spaces externally and internally to entertain guest’s The property also had to be sustainable, using technologies, which meant she would produce most of her own electricity, heat and grey water supplies.

When I was first given this project I started off with the methods that we learnt in the first semester. The first major method was mind mapping, as soon as I received the project I started off by putting down all the key points I had picked out from the brief and then expanded them through mind mapping. This gave me things to find out, information about points and issues to explore. These brainstorming mind maps become the first point of call for my development of my project. From this the issue I feel I have to explore is sustainability, as I was not sure what this meant and how it would effect my project. So I then went on to use cross-search to find information not just on sustainability but also used it to look at designers of sustainable interiors and architecture.

After gathering this information I was able to relate it back to my original issues picked up in my mind maps and then develop the mind maps with any new issues I have came across while conducting my research. This will help me expand my ideas and keep them realistic.

We were fortunate enough have a real client and we were able to conduct a group interview with Emma, this gave the class the chance to find out about Emma’s tastes. In this interview situation we asked all the obvious questions like hobbies, styles she was interested in, favourite colour, whether she preferred carpets or wooden flooring. This interview session was very important to finding out the client’s character and self-appearance.

We have been even luckier to have been given a book binding course with Emma, so with the project progressing, the information we had not found important at the time of the group interview later seemed essential in the progress of the design. We were able to have informal discussions during these teaching lessons with Emma. These informal chats about our design with Emma have proven a great help with progressing our design in Emma’s favour.

Also during our project we had the chance to go to the Solar city house in Dundee. We had the opportunity to interview one of their representatives who was able to tell us a lot of information about renewable energy. If I was to do it again I would have maybe wished to have been further ahead with my research into renewable energy as I was not 100% sure what she was telling me. And this information would have been a greater help closer to the end of the project when I was looking into these products and needed advise on the products abilities.

If I were to do this project again I would maybe do more research into the history of the building and its surrounding area and try and tie it into the design. I feel looking back at the original plans would maybe have helped improving the design as it had been extensively changed over the years.

One of the experiments we conducted in the second semester was being given photographs from someone’s home or childhood to work out things about them. I think this would have been a useful incite into Emma’s world and we would have been able to gain a lot from this. We did however gain access to her book restorations studio at the University library, where we had an incite to her working world which was a great help for designing her own studio in the restoration project. We were also able to pick up little bits of her personality from the items on her desk.

Conducting this interview for this project has given us a great insight into what our client wants from us as designer. I would say that some of us were uncomfortable about asking the question to begin with but once we got used to Emma and the situations become informal we would turn up to book binding with lists of questions. I think being able to contact the client Emma was a very successful way of getting the class used to dealing with clients.

I understand that interviews are not always the best way to get answers. I did feel sometimes Emma might have been overwhelmed with 5 people all asking her the same questions and her maybe not remembering what she has said to someone else might cause conflicting answers which might cause confusion between the students. But on the other hand it gave us a great insight into working with clients. I also feel that the class never shared a lot of the information gathered from Emma or the information gathered from the site as the better the information you had collected the better the grade are likely to achieve.

If I did the brief again I think I would maybe want to observe Emma’s life for a day to find out how she use’s her exciting home and what her daily routine is. I would also have liked to find out much the general public knows about sustainability and the effect we are having on the earth.

I feel I want to keep developing my research as I think its only going to make me a more confident designer in whatever discipline I end up designing in

Assignment 4: What object do people treasure the most? Why?

With this assignment I want to find out people’s attachment to objects, I am going to do this by asking a section of people what they would want to take with them into the afterlife. I have taken my influence for this question from the Pharaoh’s of ancient Egypt who were buried with everything they would need in there afterlife. I want my subjects to pick an object that they would want to stay with them for eternity. This will show the way subjects thinks either with practicalities in mind or with sentimental thoughts.

Subject Introduction:

Subject 1 – Male, 21, Cad Technician

Subject 2 – Female, 25, Housewife

Subject 3 – Female, 21, Behavioral Analysis

Subject 4 – Female, 23, Housewife

Subject 5 – Male, 20, Maintenance Engineer

What object would you take into the after life with you? And why?

Subject 1 – The object I would take into the afterlife with me would my laptop, this is because on my laptop I have pictures of my family and friends on there. I also have I-tune on there with a wide variety of music so I wouldn’t get bored, also I would have the Internet which I could play games on.

Subject 2 – I would take my Jewellery box because it’s got my Tiffany earrings and bracelet which I got for my 21st and Xmas. My hot diamonds watch that my wonderful boyfriend got me for my 21st and the charm bracelet that’s got charms that represent my sister. A necklace from Christopher’s gran, and a necklace that was given to me from my gran. And lots of other Jewellery that’s pretty and has meaning.

Subject 3 – Wish’s to take their I-pod. This is so they can listen to their music to be self-entertained.

Subject 4 – Irin Bru, because I love it and it keeps my thirst quenched

Subject 5 - It would be the photo album my mum made me for my 18th. It has photos of me, and all my family when I was just a nipper, right up until my 18th, then blank pages for me to fill. I would take this because I can lose myself for hours looking through it, and the thought of getting to fill it with the rest of my life adventure excites me.

Discussion and notes:

I noticed that only 2 out of the 5 subjects picked things that would be sentimental, this made me wonder is this because this group are all from a younger generation and maybe don’t have the same amount of things that hold meaning? Or is it because they have more practical minds? Maybe if I had interviewed a wider age range the results may have differed. I found the whole interviewing process exciting and interesting to see the public’s reaction to your questions and how seriously they took them.

Activity 3A: Observe and record

Activity 3A: Observe and record

In this activity I have decide to watch the people of Dundee passing through the Overgate shopping centre. I decided this as I walk through it most days to protect myself from the elements as I walk to university. I use the space more as a walk through than a shopping centre only stopping if something catch’s my eye in a shop window which is not very often as being a student I don’t have the money to buy anything. So I decide to take this location as my place to watch the general public.

I took up residence on a bench for an afternoon between 4pm and 4.45pm as at this time you would get more of a divest group of people passing. Right away as I m

ade myself comfortable to gain my incite into other peoples behavior. I noticed a toddler defying its mother, as she put the toddler down, the toddler ran off into a shop, the mother then retrieved the toddler, then tried to walk away so the toddler could follow but instead the toddler about turned and ran off to in the opposite direction causing the mother to chase after the toddler. I found this amusing but at the same time was concerned for the toddler’s safety. This made me wonder does the toddler understand the danger that they have put them self in? I then continued to watch as no one stopped the toddler and the security guard’s watched as the mother chased after her child. Why did no one stop the toddler? Is this caused by the society we live in, as the minute you get involved in a situation like this you can be miscalled or even accused of something that was never your intention? The mother eventually got hold of the toddler and continued to carry the toddler till they were out of sight.

I then started to notice the many different groups of people passing me. To begin with I thought there was only 4 or 5 different groups, starting with the school kids, the families, the students and the office workers, but then I noticed each group broke down even more. All these groups have what I would call loners, these are just people that were by themselves. These people mainly walked very fast, clearly had a destination, they were trying to reach in top speed with nothing getting in their way! Also most had earphones in or were talking on the phone, very few of them were have a gentle stroll through the Overgate. These people were also more likely to move about more to pick the quickest path through the crowd and would change course often.

Next I noticed the school kids. I know this must be the most complicated of all the groups, as there are so many different social groups at school like the Plastics, the Ya’s, the Neds, the Freaks, the Geeks, and the Indy, or these were the groups that existed at my high school and I have noticed maybe a more up to date version of these groups passing me by while observing the Overgate. These groups were then broken up even more by the school they attended. The Schools are identified by there uniform they are wearing. In Dundee it also identifies what kind of background you are from, as a large amount of these children are wearing Dundee High School uniforms, showing their from middle to upper class background, as this is the local private school. As I was observing, none of the school kids from different school’s seemed to mix. I am not sure of local rivalry, but the Overgate seemed to be common ground for a mixture of groups.

I also noticed there was a large group of younger people just moving about the Overgate. These younger people would be between the age of 17 to 23 and they moved in large groups. These groups I would class as Neds and all they seem to do is walk up and down the Overgate not entering shops just talking to people they know, not causing trouble but are very intimidating. They sat at the bench up from me and I was more self conscious about whether they were watching me and whether they going to come over to me as I must of looked strange taken notes about people walking past.

There were also a large number of professional middle age women walking through the Overgate. They seem to be the people that were actually shopping as they were carrying shopping bags and are the group of people that still have a little extra cash to spend. They seem to be a little less on a mission than the loners but still know the shops they want to visit, as these are the shops they visit every time they shop. I know this, as my mum is one of these professional women shoppers. She knows where she wants to go and what she wants to look at and often attends the shops on her own.

Then there is the Family group; this group splits into many different sectors. This group is maybe one of the most noticeable as the parents watch there child’s every move as they pass through the space making sure their child is safe and behaving, but some times you do get the parents that don’t really care and the child is left to run riot through shopping centre causing a scene. These types of family’s often cause a scene with the parents screaming at the child cause everyone to stop what they are doing and stare. I even do this when I am walking past these scenes unfold. I normally have my I pod in so I will take out my head phones to get a good listen to what is unfolding. I love watching this kind of drama sometimes, as it’s better than the television.

The last group I am going to write about is the old people; this group is the strangest off them all. This group never get anywhere very fast and believe they have the right to be the first everywhere and most of the time get in the way of the people who are trying to get somewhere fast which cause’s them to get frustrated. They also stop in the most inconvenient places to talk or just have a little look around themselves, maybe to remind themselves where they are? This group of people are my biggest frustration, I can feel myself getting angry at these people but you cant say or do anything about them as there old.

While I was sitting watching the people passing by I started to think about the environment and the how people were using space. I noticed right away that everyone used the walkways as a passage to reach their destination. The thing I did noticed as one side is lined with shops and the other with glass the shoppers seemed to stick to the shops side and the people that were using the Overgate as a pass through, stuck to the side of the glass wall. Is this so these pass through people wont have the shoppers get in their way while they enter and exit shops. I also noticed an entrance and exit to the centre just down from me, which acted like a walk through across the flow of shoppers. This caused trouble when someone wanted to enter and cross over the flow of traffic to exit from the opposite exit. This crossing over the flow made people uncomfortable and you can see as they enter, trying to work out their safe passage through the flow of shoppers walking in other direction. The shoppers also seemed to follow the patterns on the floor tiles, there are shapes and different colored tiles used on the floor, I noticed while sitting on the bench that everyone stuck to walking on the cream tiles and barely anyone would cross the red garnet line which the benches were situated on unless they planned on sitting on them. Then if someone did sit on the bench I found they would sit at the opposite side from me, as if I had a bad smell coming from me so, they had to sit as far away from me as possible. This on the other hand was good thing, as I did not want anyone sitting next to me. I don’t like people being in my personal space, I find it uncomfortable to have strangers sitting so close to me, this is one of the reasons I refuse to get on a bus, as random people are always invading your personal space, with them practically sitting on top of you. So in public spaces like the Overgate it is an unwritten rule not to sit next to someone. If there is one space and it’s going to force you sit next to someone, move to the next beach or stand and wait. This sounds strange but who really wants a stranger in their personal space? Definitely not me! The only groups of people that don’t seem to follow these rules are the old people. They seem to think its their right to sit wherever they wish even if someone is already sitting there they will give you a look so you will move to give them the space. Due to the hug gap in ages between the younger populations and ever increasing elderly populations, there is a huge difference in thought as they were brought up to be seen and not heard, but we have been raised to question authority and it is this clash of opinions that cause’s the trouble between these groups, I am biased towards this situation as I am part the younger generation and have experienced the rudeness of this elderly generation.

This leads me on to security, in the Overgate centre you are away of the presents of security guards, these guards are there for your safety and also to help the shops stop shoplifters, but while I am sitting taking my notes one was continuously looking over my shoulder, they seemed be watch me like I was some kind of shoplifter which made me feel uncomfortable. The other sense of security you gain from the Overgate is the protections from the elements. As you walk through the centre you have the feeling you are outdoors this is due to the glass wall that gives the view over the Steeple church, but people don’t treat it as outdoors as they don’t drop litter but put it in the bin, what difference is the Overgate from the street? It’s just an indoor street, is it the authority figure of the security guards? But then there is the police, are they not a big enough figure on the street? Maybe the council should invest in security guards to stop people dropping litter.

From my short 45 minutes sitting on a bench in the Overgate watching the general public I learned about a lot of different rules that are just common etiquette these days in any public place. This has also opened my eyes to how much goes on within a public space and how we treat enclosed public spaces differently to open public spaces.

ASSIGNMENT 2: EXPERIMENT

This assignment I have been asked to randomly pick 3 images and talk to a group of people from different back grounds, sex's and ages.These people are going to be analyse the image

s and describe a story about the 3 images.

1st Image

2nd Image

3rd Image

First part

Subject 1 – age 39 – Foster parent – Female The man that lived in the middle terrace house, his name is tom butler was deeply in love with the woman that lived next door to him, to prove how much he loved her to had to travel over the bumpy mountings to find the rare rose and phoned from the phone box to tell her that he had found it.

Subject 2 – age 42 – Unemployed - Male - They couldn’t build the row of house in the middle of the bumpy hill because of the rare rose.

Subject 3 age 21 – student criminology - Female The flower that was in the house died because the people were skiing in the hills.

Subject 4 – age 21 – student Computer aided drafting and design. Male One day a boy named Tommy Tool found a map to find a rare exotic flower, and the map took him over the snow mountings. Samantha Hepburn – age 21 – student Be

haviorual Science. This is the queen’s holiday house and Philip gives her a flower for a gift and then he took her to the Himalayas skiing and they took the flower with her.

Second Part

I have chosen to use the first subjects story and then added a 4th image with an image of a phone box being added.

4th Image

Subject 5 – age 21 – student Computer aided drafting and design. Male One day little jimmy was walking past the phone box and he see a beautiful heavenly white rose in the phone box, so jimmy quickly opens the phone box door and dives for the white rose. Jimmy then runs 7 miles home clutching the rose, and then goes to find out that the rose is worth £5000 and is from a very rare place in the mountings and u can only get there by a 4 day hike on foot.

Subject 6 age 21 – student

criminology - Female Granny smith live in her house and one day she phones her family on holiday skiing to tell them about her beautiful rose in the garden.

Subject 7 – age 21 – student Behaviorual Science. Dave is on mount Everest trying to find the elusive white rose but he couldn’t find it. So when Dave got home to the middle house with the black door he found the rose in his garden so he didn’t have to go all that way and then he went to the phone box because he doesn’t have a phone in his house. When he stepped in the telephone box it transported him to New York. This is where he lived happily ever after.

Third Part

I have added the words terrace to the 3rd image.

Subject 8 – age 21 – student Computer aided drafting and design. Male Timmy made phone call to his Gran that lives in the hills in a terrace house . She bloomed rose all year round.

Subject 9 - age 21 – student criminology – Female Rose lives in a terrace house on hill street next to the phone box.

Subject 10 – age 21 – student Behaviorual Science. Jason lives in the hills of Scotland in a terrace house and he has to walk 10miles to the nearest phone box and he picks rose on the way home.

I have noticed that all my people have come up with very individual story's from these images and words but they came up with things along the same lines.