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The first time we met up was just kind of awkward. Introduced ourselves, found out who was in our group. Only a few of us actually showed up. I had to dash off early but I was told not much else happened after I left. I think it was just too early in our design stages to really do much.
The second time wasn't a lot better. Again only a few of us met up. Someone from another group joined us because they couldn't find their own and it was really helpful having him there. We were two VCD (myself and Ting), one Fashion (Jing) and one Industrial (Jake) with the new guy. He gave some really great advice and ideas to Jing on production and time saving tools, explaining how to access and use a laser cutter so he doesn't have to cut out his 600 fabric flowers by hand.
Between meet ups I later approached Jake about his advice on materials and methods for making my cup and pot prototype. He gave me some really great advice then took it a step further and walked me through the process of our chosen method, helping me with the machinery in block 11 and supplying me with tools and safety equipment.
Third time we met up was outside of class time. I booked us a room in the library. The industrial guy who previously joined our group bailed, but Sophie from Industrial finally decided to join us. So we did a re-introduction and talked about our projects a little. Still in early stages I guess so we didn't have a lot to say. Still managed to through some ideas around but generally the vibe wasn't great so we didn't get a lot out of it.
Fourth time I booked us a room in the Library again. I made us a facebook group when we first met up and everyone who was in our group joined it but despite posting on it and trying to get people involved we didn't get much response from them.
Reflection from this meeting: "I keep forgetting to write about this. So far we've met up a few times. I seem to have fallen into a slight leadership role, whereby I've been the one to arrange our meetings and booked the rooms/organised meeting places etc. I also facilitated and engaged people at first, asking open ended questions and probing people's projects but now we're all a lot more familiar so this isn't necessary. There have been three of us who have shown up consistently, and the others haven't attended meetings more than once, some not at all. The inconsistency of the others is frustrating, as we have to catch each other up on the different project stages and therefore don't get as much out of feedback. I find it actually better when it's just the three of us for that reason, because we know each other's projects and can see the progression over the weeks. The downside to this is we get pretty limited disciplines as we're only vcd and fashion so don't get the benefit of more diverse ways of thinking and view points. Have followed up on the others as to their attendance and got pretty vague excuses and loose promises to attend future meetings.
Between meet ups Jake needed some help with a poster design to sell the idea of what he'd been making in industrial so I helped him with making that and was able to return the favour and kindness he showed me earlier in the term.
Fifth meeting I booked us a library room again, and again it was just the three of us. We got some great feedback from each other though and it feels like we're only just getting into the flow of helping each other out with our projects. I tried to get us all to meet up a couple of other times by suggesting we catch up at a cafe or get some ice-cream or something but plans fell through and people became to busy/forgot. I presented a draft of my dossier to Ting who is also VCD and he gave me some really great feedback and useful advice. Jing read through it as well to see how easy it was to understand from a non vcd perspective. Jing really liked the visuals, especially when they took up a whole page. After presenting our ideas briefly we felt a little stuck on giving each other feedback, so Ting and I checked the question prompts on stream and we got a really good discussion going, helping each other with ideas and problem solving. For example, Jing needed a name for his project, and as his project was based on a cross over between Chinese and Western cultures I suggested a name that combined the two languages. We discussed how certain words change meaning and how things get lost in translation. It was great getting in a bit deeper and brainstorming ideas from other perspectives.
In hindsight we were to do this again I'd want to meet up more regularly, on a weekly basis or something and somewhere quite casual like a cafe for cake and coffee and to just get the ideas flowing in a comfortable environment. We were getting there in the end but frustration with other members not showing up and waiting around awkwardly meant we didn't really get into it until towards the end of the meetings. Also not giving ourselves an ending time meant one of two things; we'd either feel awkward for being there and really we'd want to be somewhere else doing our work or we'd get really into it and go quite late, biting into time for other work we should be doing. So regular meet ups and specific time restraints are in order I think. Over all I benefitted a lot from this though, made new friends apart from anything else and got great insights into other disciplines.
The first time we met up was just kind of awkward. Introduced ourselves, found out who was in our group. Only a few of us actually showed up. I had to dash off early but I was told not much else happened after I left. I think it was just too early in our design stages to really do much.
The second time wasn't a lot better. Again only a few of us met up. Someone from another group joined us because they couldn't find their own and it was really helpful having him there. We were two VCD (myself and Ting), one Fashion (Jing) and one Industrial (Jake) with the new guy. He gave some really great advice and ideas to Jing on production and time saving tools, explaining how to access and use a laser cutter so he doesn't have to cut out his 600 fabric flowers by hand.
Between meet ups I later approached Jake about his advice on materials and methods for making my cup and pot prototype. He gave me some really great advice then took it a step further and walked me through the process of our chosen method, helping me with the machinery in block 11 and supplying me with tools and safety equipment.
Third time we met up was outside of class time. I booked us a room in the library. The industrial guy who previously joined our group bailed, but Sophie from Industrial finally decided to join us. So we did a re-introduction and talked about our projects a little. Still in early stages I guess so we didn't have a lot to say. Still managed to through some ideas around but generally the vibe wasn't great so we didn't get a lot out of it.
Fourth time I booked us a room in the Library again. I made us a facebook group when we first met up and everyone who was in our group joined it but despite posting on it and trying to get people involved we didn't get much response from them.
Reflection from this meeting: "I keep forgetting to write about this. So far we've met up a few times. I seem to have fallen into a slight leadership role, whereby I've been the one to arrange our meetings and booked the rooms/organised meeting places etc. I also facilitated and engaged people at first, asking open ended questions and probing people's projects but now we're all a lot more familiar so this isn't necessary. There have been three of us who have shown up consistently, and the others haven't attended meetings more than once, some not at all. The inconsistency of the others is frustrating, as we have to catch each other up on the different project stages and therefore don't get as much out of feedback. I find it actually better when it's just the three of us for that reason, because we know each other's projects and can see the progression over the weeks. The downside to this is we get pretty limited disciplines as we're only vcd and fashion so don't get the benefit of more diverse ways of thinking and view points. Have followed up on the others as to their attendance and got pretty vague excuses and loose promises to attend future meetings.
Between meet ups Jake needed some help with a poster design to sell the idea of what he'd been making in industrial so I helped him with making that and was able to return the favour and kindness he showed me earlier in the term.
Fifth meeting I booked us a library room again, and again it was just the three of us. We got some great feedback from each other though and it feels like we're only just getting into the flow of helping each other out with our projects. I tried to get us all to meet up a couple of other times by suggesting we catch up at a cafe or get some ice-cream or something but plans fell through and people became to busy/forgot. I presented a draft of my dossier to Ting who is also VCD and he gave me some really great feedback and useful advice. Jing read through it as well to see how easy it was to understand from a non vcd perspective. Jing really liked the visuals, especially when they took up a whole page. After presenting our ideas briefly we felt a little stuck on giving each other feedback, so Ting and I checked the question prompts on stream and we got a really good discussion going, helping each other with ideas and problem solving. For example, Jing needed a name for his project, and as his project was based on a cross over between Chinese and Western cultures I suggested a name that combined the two languages. We discussed how certain words change meaning and how things get lost in translation. It was great getting in a bit deeper and brainstorming ideas from other perspectives.
In hindsight we were to do this again I'd want to meet up more regularly, on a weekly basis or something and somewhere quite casual like a cafe for cake and coffee and to just get the ideas flowing in a comfortable environment. We were getting there in the end but frustration with other members not showing up and waiting around awkwardly meant we didn't really get into it until towards the end of the meetings. Also not giving ourselves an ending time meant one of two things; we'd either feel awkward for being there and really we'd want to be somewhere else doing our work or we'd get really into it and go quite late, biting into time for other work we should be doing. So regular meet ups and specific time restraints are in order I think. Over all I benefitted a lot from this though, made new friends apart from anything else and got great insights into other disciplines.
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