hummushhhhh-blog

[hummushhhhh-blog]

20/04/2019

Today I figured out that I may not be available to attend the final presentation class so I decided to make our presentation into a youtube video. I got each of my group members to record themselves saying their parts of the presentation and to email them on to me. I then compiled the audio from my group members into one soundtrack using adobe audition. After this imported the soundtrack into imovie along with the presentation slides to finalise the video file. after exporting the file I had the finished .mp4 of the presentation to upload onto youtube. We plan to paste the link into the chat bar on second life so our colleagues can all view our work remotely in an efficient manner instead of presenting live which can cause delays.

[hummushhhhh-blog]

27/03/2019

Currently our group project has been quite successful in regards to time management. Each member of the group fulfilled their research parts of the project and we presented each other with the different kinds of sources we found. From my own research I decided to focus on the concept of ‘Job-hopping’ as I read about it in the project brief and thought it would be interesting to talk about the advantages and disadvantages of job hopping in general. I also found a lot of research on this concept in relation to the communication design industry by looking at the advantages and disadvantages as well. I think I would enjoy job hopping as I think I would learn a lot more than if I stayed with the same employers for an extended period of time. I would find it very beneficial to learn more softwares such as cinema4D which is not taught at all in my course in TUDublin and it is a very important software to be versed in as it is an animation software used to create 3 dimensional animations. I think I will take this research into consideration when I’m employed as a professional designer in the future to progress in my career at an accelerated rate.

[hummushhhhh-blog]

12/04/2019

In preparation for this week’s class, I read the short story; ‘The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas’. It’s a story about a seemingly utopian society that is situated near the sea. The story opens on their summer festival. Below the city of Omelas, there is a child locked inside of a cage and forced to live in it’s own filth. The suffering of the child is meant to teach the city’s people how cruel justice can be and how important and precious happiness is. At a certain age, each citizen learns of the child’s existence and some remain living in the city, whereas some leave, never to return once they see the horror in which their city rests on. I think my avatar would remain in Omelas, if presented with the choice because in life there is both suffering and happiness. I don’t believe in a sustainable Utopia, and Omelas is one example of this. My avatar would not leave because if he were to leave and find somewhere else to settle down, there would be suffering as well as happiness, which is the same as Omelas. I’m just saving my avatar the journey of finding a new home.

[hummushhhhh-blog]

26/03/2019

For this class, we visited Virtual Ability Island on Second Life. Here we learned a lot about online communities and relationships, especially in regards to the function of Second Life in the lives of people with mental and physical disabilities. Up until this class i had always used the comparison of Second Life vs. Real Life and the guest speakers educated me as to why it’s not correct to make this comparison. They made the point that Second Life is a part of their lives, and ours I suppose too, the same way that maybe college or a yoga class is a part of my real life. I found this very interesting because Second life actually fulfils a lot of people’s social needs, especially if the person has a disability which makes them housebound. In a way I was quite disappointed in myself for not taking this into consideration but I’m happy to have heard other opposing opinions to my own initial opinion as it broadens my knowledge and understanding of virtual environments and their function in the lives of others. Prior to the class I learned about ethical digital engagement. I read about the nine elements of digital citizenship which informed me of how to be a part of online communities in an ethical manner. One particular element that i take into consideration is Digital Health and Welfare. I try to limit the amount of time I spend online or in front of a screen as it can really affect my mood in a mostly negative way. I also suffer from migraines quite often so I need to keep my health in check when online for college or for my own leisure. The principle of Safety is also something I take into consideration when online, I am very careful about the kind of information I share online and who I share it with in case of endangering myself. In regards to online communities such as Facebook groups, i don’t tend to share much, I use them mainly for browsing which feels much safer in my opinion.

[hummushhhhh-blog]

18/03/2019

Today I also met with my group on Second Life to discuss the project brief. On my side, I researched into the economical side of the topic of transferring from the educational world into the working world. I looked specifically at dublin and how ridiculously expensive it is to live here. If i were to live here on my own and to live reasonably comfortably without being able to travel or spend money on the odd getaway, I would have to work 5 days a week without much of a break just to afford my rent and to eat reasonably well and to pay all of my bills of course since rent in dublin is on average between 900-1150 a month. I think I would have to work a job where I can make at least 26,000 a year. This was shocking for me to research as I lived in Germany for about 6 months alone and I spent about 1500 euro on my rent for those 6 months which sickens me when thinking of how expensive it is to live in Dublin. For those 6 months, I lived in an apartment with two other people and my bedroom was 3 times the size of my room in my own parent’s home. It was shocking for me to look at statistics like this as It’s very likely that myself and most people I know will have to emigrate due to this extortionate cost of living. For the project we thought we could utilise this combination of anecdotal evidence and statistics to make the project very interesting, from my side of the workload anyway. The other two group members also presented their research too and we decided that we have a lot to do still. I feel we are maybe a little behind in regards to the project, however it is coming up to the easter break so we will have time to catch up on the workload I’m sure.

[hummushhhhh-blog]

15/03/2019

Today we discussed virtual identities in class. We discussed the freedom that building an avatar brings as it is a tool of self expression. In my experience, I never really had any anxieties about expressing myself through my image as a child through to my teenage years so any online platforms used by myself during this time made no impression on me in regards to designing my avatar. However, in my adult life I have had to change my appearance drastically for employment purposes for example by getting rid of many of my piercings, cutting my long hair and not wearing hippy/punk style clothing as often as i used to which i do miss a lot. Second life has given me the opportunity to express myself through my avatar in a way that i cannot do currently with my own physical being. My avatar has long blonde hair and wears an oversized lumberjack shirt as well as a guitar (I’ve always wanted to learn how to play the guitar). From joining Second life I have truly experienced a new lease of self-expression that I never had to dive into until this point in my life and it has been quite interesting. I find myself longing less for the hair and the piercings that were a large part of my identity for years. It has definitely been an interesting experience for me to say the least. I’ve also taken to morphing the appearance of my avatars face a lot because I like having a new face every time I’m on Second life.

[hummushhhhh-blog]

5/03/2019

Today I met with my group on Second Life to discuss the project brief. We were unsure what the brief was asking of us, so I suggested we go through it and break it down to more palatable information so we could ease into it without getting panicked about not understanding the brief. We skimmed down to the bottom of the page and discovered that we are doing a project on the transition from education to the working world. We have to analyse what problems may face us during this transition to having a career so we may life a fulfilled and sustainable life. There are links given to us on the project brief, so i suggested that we divide these readings up between us, however, Lydia (Rebekah) suggested that we divide the brief into topics such as the environment as well as economic problems which Yuwen and I thought was a much better approach! I suggested that another topic we could look into was science even though it may overlap with the environment as atopic but we won’t find out until we try it. Since I am quite easy going about research for this module I told the others to research about whichever they would like so I will be looking into the more economical side of things whereas Lydia will look at the environment and Yuwen will look at science as a topic. Personally, I found meeting up on Second Life to discuss all of this to be quite annoying as the chat boxes are quite small and difficult to read at times (also the heat coming from my laptop using the viewer made things more annoying). I would prefer to meet in person or chat using facebook or whatsapp but I think it’s important that we try to use the virtual platform as that is what this module is about at its core. I’m looking forward to researching into this project and I also think looking into mental health as a topic might be beneficial as it is a hot topic at the moment and has been for a while especially in regards to our generation (which i must also suggest to my group).

[hummushhhhh-blog]

27/02/2018

In the latest class we were put into groups for the group project we must do using ‘Second Life’. I was put into a group with Rebekah and Yuwenxing. We all began to speak to each other, introducing ourselves. Yuwen and I did not need to introduce ourselves to one another as we both are in our third year of studying Visual Communication Design. While talking to Rebekah, we learned that she herself has just began her studies of Visual Communication Design, in her second ever semester. Apart from this interaction, we did not discuss our project since Yuwen and I had to prepare a big submission for one of our studio classes which we were quite under pressure to finish. We decided to meet up during the next week, hopefully before the next Virtual Environments class if possible and if not, the day after once we finish up for review week. We have yet to look through the various project titles and to brainstorm ideas for them. I hope we all work well together as a team!

[hummushhhhh-blog]

24/02/2018

Today, we were assigned to make contact with 3 residents of ‘Second Life’. I headed back to ‘ZEUS’ (the gay club I previously visited). I headed towards the dancefloor and began to speak with a guy called Barry. All he would talk about was how horny he was and how much he wanted to have sex with me. He then described to me in great detail what he would like to do me if I consented which I did not. After my rejection he apologised for coming on too strong and asked me out on a date. I said yes and then he kept asking me for my phone number and facebook page which made me realise he wanted to ask me out on a date in real life. Upon this discovery I ran away and he started chasing me. Then I teleported away to get away from him for good. After that encounter, I ended up in a location with a very cold climate (there was snow). I walked around for a while and finally bumped into a woman called Kangeun. I tried to speak with her but I didn’t understand what she was saying, I’m not sure what language she was typing in but it was something like korean, japanese or chinese. I then left that encounter as i got nowhere with her. I then teleported to a city, and started speaking with a man called Gabba and he started telling me about addiction problems related to ‘Second life’. I found this conversation quite enlightening as I discovered that this was one of the first virtual platform games where users became unhealthily addicted to it which I had no idea about at all. After this, I started looking into what he said and the amount of results that came up were astonishing! I discovered sop many threads about people discussing their friends’/partners’ and others’ addiction to the virtual environment.

[hummushhhhh-blog]

15/02/2018

Today marked my first day using ‘Second Life’. After class, we were assigned to explore the world by visiting 3 different locations in the virtual environment. I had no idea where to begin so I googled locations to visit and decided to go to ‘Big Daddy’s 80s Club’. I decided to visit here as I am a fan of 80s music. I really enjoyed the music that was being played. Once I arrived at the location the club was on one side of my avatar and a shopping mall on the other side. I veered towards the club. It was quite big and after a while it was quite packed out with various other user’s avatars, I disliked this because I found it difficult to move around due to my beginner status on second life (I was grappling with the various controls). The interior was bright purple which I liked a lot as well as the disco balls. Afterwards, I visited a harbour in a place called ‘Hampshire’. It was very beautiful with brightly coloured buildings; yellow, blue, rusty orange. The place was surrounded by water and looked like a weird mix of Venice, Italy and Bristol, UK. There were a few sail boats in the water and lots of deck chairs on the harbour. I sat on one of the deck chairs and just looked around at the beautiful surrounding area. Finally, I visited a gay club called ‘ZEUS’, I was curious to see if there were any queer-friendly spots in ‘Second Life’. It was brightly lit with a multicoloured dance floor and a lot of neon lights. After arriving I started to get a lot of inappropriate messages from other people attending the club which were very funny and incredibly vile. It was a little bit uncomfortable but incredibly funny that this was happening online instead of in ‘real life’, I guess there’s some safety in being behind a computer screen rather than being present in ‘real-life’ when these things happen to you.