Digital Arts Service Corps - communication

Communication!

Megan Donovan — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 19:39:40 +0000

Hey there good looking people of the Americorps world,

It's been awhile as I have been busier than ever. ZUMIX started construction on a firehouse that should be completed in the next 8 months or so. This means ZUMIX will be moving into a bigger and more state-of-the-art facility. Unfortunately, I will not be serving anymore by the time this transition takes place. While it saddens me that I will not be a part of the new ZUMIX, I also feel lucky to be a part of ZUMIX just the way it is now. Expansion can only mean kids getting less individual attention in group programs, more of a disconnect among the administration that does not work in the same "department" and an increasing sense of bureaucracy that is essential to maintain organization but unfortunately also creates more of a disconnect between staff and participants.

In lieu of this future move, I have been asked to take on a large new project involving a survey of ZUMIX participants pertaining to the type of communication they use most frequently. With this, we are hoping to rally kids for events with less stress and better turnout. Especially considering the larger space we are about to have, we don't want kids to not hear about events going on ZUMIX-related or not. There's no reason for them not to know! I have attached the survey and would love some feedback! My first experiment is with myspace which you can also feel free to give me feedback for. http://www.myspace.com/zumixrules

Part of my duties here are maintaining the youtube which I just updated with a performance from a guest artist named Mr. Napkins we had here last week. He is a comedian/hip hop artist and did a rhyme-writing workshop with everyone. SUPER FUN! Check it out!!

Mean what I say

Richard T. Anderson — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 22:24:47 +0000

There is an issue that I have found interesting since I first discovered it in one of my communication classes at Grand Valley State University. It was a realization. And the beginning of one of my disagreements with the world. It has come up twice recently with different people. So it is on my mind again.

The textbook was saying that in any communication that there is an Intended message from the person creating the message (by talking, writing, making a movie, etc) and there is a Perceived message that the listener/viewer receives. And the shattering moment for me, they aren't always the same. I know it seems pretty obvious now, but i was young, right? Psychologically, I think I have a strong desire to be understood, so this revelation was kind of sad to me.

Both the text and my teacher seemed to be saying that the Perceived message of the receiver WAS the message. They said that was the important component. I disagreed. My argument was and is that the Indented message IS the REAL message, if the Perceived message differs from the Intended one then the perception is incorrect.

That doesn't mean I blame the receiver of the message for getting it wrong. Many messages are poorly communicated. Or translated. During the Cold War Nikita Khrushchev was quoted in the west as saying, "We will bury you." What he was saying in the context of his culture and society was, "We will out last you." But in the west the implications of the word 'bury', made it seem like a threatening statement.

No one can blame the already scared masses for the misunderstanding. Yet, the message that Mr. Khrushchev intended is still THE actual message in my book, even if the whole world misunderstood.

That's why I believe it is very important to be clear and concise and honest. To mean what you say. And to know the meanings of the words you are using. I'm not a perfect communicator by any stretch of the imagination. But I strive to be.

Now there are lots of times that in order for someone to really learn something, they have to discover it for themselves. Just telling someone something flat out doesn't always get the message across. This is true of students. To really engage students, to get real learning you have to lead a student to water. And it's up to the student to drink or not.

You don't give a student a piece of literature like, Macbeth and sit around saying how great it is, telling them all the little things Shakespeare has put in there. You have to let them think it out for themselves, or they are just going to glaze over and be bored.

There are other instances when people are not ready to hear certain information, usually for emotional or psychological reasons. And similarly just telling someone something that they likely do NEED to hear doesn't mean they'll hear it. You have to lay out the evidence.

When someone has just broke up with a lover, flat out saying, "S/he is never coming back," isn't a wise choice, because the person is just going to go into denial and not listen. It's better to give examples of similar situations and subtly relay facts like, "s/he has a new girl/boyfriend," and let the person come to the realization of the truth on their own. You have to hope the person will take a hint, because there's no forcing something like this.

These things can and do fail. Students often hate Shakespeare (I did 'til I saw 'Much Ado about Nothing'). Friends continue to live in denial about their ex-lovers (I know I do). Sometimes communication fails. But if we don't try our best to communicate truthfully and honestly with those around us then we've failed before we've started.

Peace
Rich T. Anderson

On-line Collaboration Software

Tim Wescott — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 23:04:50 +0000

At the CTC Conference Call last Friday, I was asked to do a brief presentation on web-conferencing tools. Naturally, a presentation about web-conferencing tools deserves a presentation given on a web-conferencing tools, especially since the call consists of people literally all over the US. Therefore, I set up an account on Vyew, and gave my presentation there. You can still view the presentation (and its mishaps) if you go to Room 313064.

I chose Vyew primarily because it's free and doesn't require any downloads (other than a Flash plug-in for your browser). We also didn't require VOIP or any other fancy features. It worked relatively well, for our purposes. The call was part presentation, part experimentation. Everyone was able to see the presentation, and seemed to have a good time exploring the features, especially the whiteboard. This was somewhat problematic, in that I allowed everyone the ability to modify the presentation, which can be a bit distracting when the slide you're talking about disappears. At one point, I had to reload my powerpoint slide, so if you visit room on Vyew, you will see a very disjointed set of slides. When I was done, the other VISTAs on the call had a good time with the whiteboard feature.

I also attached is my original powerpoint slides, as well as my Excel file which contains a comparison of several web-conferencing tools, including a side-by-side comparison of their features and price.<