I felt that last night was a breakthrough not only for the group (because it was) but for myself. I finally opened up (more then I normally do) to the group with thoughts, ideas, and questions.
Throughout this entire process, I’ve been surrounded by so many amazing awesome super smart people that have accomplished so much in their career…that it intimidated me a bit, mainly the tech expertise that was shown because the highest of my tech knowledge is using a laser cutter and knowing how to make a badass prezi. But with this week’s challenge there has been more conversation and thoughtfulness going into the message that we want to share and the breakdown of the black man that I feel like I have stuff to contribute other then technical skills.
We’ve done quick ideations, mockups, around-the-room-sharing, and collaborating. A LOT of collaborating because it goes back to understanding and making sure we are putting the right message out in the world about the black man especially because we are reaching out to a younger audience. We constantly check with each other and have mini discussions to make sure what we’re saying makes sense as well as we try to be unbiased towards ideas that are formed. But it is an emotional topic that does raise strong opinions on what ideas and actions can cause.
One thing that we did last night was write down what everyone expected people to take away from this installation or what the installation should be able to promote. Then we boiled it down to one mission that included all of the main ideas that we came up with.
The short version is to foster critical thinking about everything that is portrayed about the black man and to promote positive action in dealing with this. WE WANT PEOPLE TO COME UP WITH A HOW!! (refer to day 12 post; we’re still figuring out a how as well) Not just learn and internalize but because to take what they have learned and do something that is positive to create change.
I’m especially interested in how children understand and take in all of the media bites, cellphone videos, and unedited video and photographs that they see. Do they automatically get angry? Do they understand what is going one? Does seeing so many of these media bites cause them to lose their innocence? How do the adults explain what’s going on to them? This is where I strongly feel that children need to develop strong and independent critical thinking skills to develop their own opinions.