Hi all,

Hope you’re all feeling a good balance of restfulness from Spring Break and excitement about what the future holds!

There are a few thesis things to keep in mind for this week:

• Some time this week, you *are required* to post something you have made on the blog! Don’t overthink it! Anything at all…. it could be a survey you’re working on, a storyboard, a sketch, some code, or… a dance about your research! Get into the making + sharing loop, it will feel good, I promise! Leave a comment for a friend!

• Don’t forget to respond to your proposal feedback! I recommend doing so as comments on the feedback doc.

• For March 28, you should come to class with 2 things:

  • A rough version of a testable prototype that you will share for the Show-A-Thing show.

  • A basic production schedule ready to workshop with a small group.

  • I also recommend you start to translate your current work in progress into a slide deck format: use this slide deck template as a starting point. This will be useful going forward for when you need to quickly introduce your project to someone new… and is also a useful tool for organizing your own thoughts!

• Tonight @ 8pm ET, we’re going to be joined by ITP grads Ami Mehta, Jeeyoon Hyun, and Phil Caridi to talk about their thesis projects. Feel free to read about their projects (linked) in advance! It will be followed by a Q&A facilitated by Nun, and including our own IMA residents.

What is a testable prototype?

A testable prototype is something you made that you can share with another person, which allows you to test some hypothesis you have about your work in some way. It could be conceptual (for instance showing someone a very clear storyboard + asking a few specific questions), something interactive and functional (for instance a figma click-through of a website), or something in between (like doing a series of “yes or no” question + holding up notecards to prototype a user flow). The main idea is that you have created something to validate a very specific aspect of your work. If you don’t know a testable prototype looks for your project, talk to me or a resident, or just try something out and we’ll workshop it in class! This slideshow is a good resource, as well: Feb 13 2018 Thesis – Rapid Prototyping Workshop

What is a Production Schedule?

You will be presenting something completed, at some level, for formal feedback May 8 or 9. That means you have about 6 weeks to get something to a presentable state + create a presentation. At this point, it’s really helpful to make a production schedule. That might sound scary! But it is mostly just to help you understand your next six weeks’ scope. There are an infinite number of ways to do this (some great tips can be found in the IMA Low Res Thesis 2023 Additional Resources document in the production section). But the main ideas are:

• Start broad: what are the major milestones? As those milestones approach you’ll break them down into to-do list size tasks – but don’t worry about that upfront.

• Use a calendar, or some kind of visual aid with actual dates. This schedule template has our dates with some suggested milestones, you can make a copy of it if you like!

• Work backwards – where do you want to end up? Working backwards from May 2, what do you do each week? This may take some iteration. Save the last week for just refining your presentation!

• Block out hours in your daily or weekly schedule for thesis! Even if you’re not sure exactly how you’ll use it – set aside time!

• Timebox (ie: limit your time for certain tasks). Some things you could spend 10 minutes or 10 years on: not everything is equally as important, give yourself a time limit on certain tasks.

• Be realistic! If it seems like too much work for the amount of time you have, how can you scope down while retaining the spirit and goals of your work?

• Check with someone for time-sensitive details: did you remember to schedule in time to order materials you might need? Book space for your performance? Organize playtests?

• Remember: you can consider the work you do in your classes as part of your thesis!

• You can always revise your schedule! (and most certainly will)…

• Remember, Spring Presentation is a milestone, but you also have Summer…

What about Summer?

As you all probably know, Thesis continues through the Summer session. While there is a culminating endpoint in Spring (review Project Guidelines if you’re confused) the big reveal is during Summer, when you’ll present your project to the public. For the Summer session, the emphasis will be about integrating feedback you got, documentation, refinement, and culminating with a public presentation (this is a presentation with slides + installation of your work or equivalent depending on the project).

I recommend including the six weeks of summer on your production schedule, even if it is vague exactly how you will spend it.

What’s going on with mentorship?

Unless I have said otherwise to you, I have reached out to each of your potential mentors and you should start getting messages connecting you with some info about what the expectations are around mentor meetings. Remember, you’re expected to have 3-4 meetings with the mentor, sometime between now and the end of May. Look out for the message soon!

Next week in class…

We will be reviewing your production schedules and testable prototypes, talking about next steps, doing a group activity (on miro), and some process Q&A. If there’s something else you want to suggest we go over, do let me know and I’ll consider it!

That’s all for now!

Warmly,

Sarah

Hi all,

Hope you’re off to a wonderful week. A few important announcements: 

Please fill out this very short mentorship questionnaire, ASAP (by tomorrow, pretty please 🙏!). I have initial ideas for matches for each of you, but want to consider your input. The sooner you do this, the sooner I can reach out to potential matches! You may notice that there is an option to waive 1-1 mentorship – feel free to discuss this option with me if you’re inclined to pursue that option. Also to note: I’m adjusting the schedule such that your mentorship can carry through mid-summer, so that should ease up some of the time-crunch of getting all 3 meetings in before May. 

Tonight’s event has been postponed until March 21. Apologies, there was a time conflict! There will still be a resident-led peer-session (at 8pm ET), which I encourage you to go to. You can even use the time together to co-watch and discuss some wonderful past ITP thesis presentations for inspiration.

“What should I be doing now”? At this point, you should have begun with some sort of making practice: that might be exploratory low-fi prototyping, sketches, creating technical pipelines to iterate with. I’d hope at this point, you’ve had 2-3 meetings with me, 2-3 meetings with a peer group, and one meeting with a resident whose thesis presentation resonated with you. You should have watched a few thesis presentations from the archives (some selected on the Project Guidelines, all archives linked on the Thesis Resources page). You should continue research and maybe even continue refining your thesis question. You should be documenting absolutely everything! (preferably on the Thesis Journal!). In fact, I highly recommend that you 

Post something you made (a sketch, a styleframe, a video, an image, a sound, a meme) on the thesis journal this week, and comment on someone else’s! If you keep up your work, little by little, you’ll be in great shape by the end of the semester!

Your next big milestones are a draft production schedule and a rough testable prototype of some sort, both of which we’ll review in class March 28. You can talk about either thing with me in a 1-1. 

Hot tip: for those of you still quite unsure about your project’s “form”: consider that you will also be taking classes in the next seven weeks and during the summer. If your thesis question is juicy enough, it is likely you can use assignments in your next courses to make a project aligned with your thesis work. 

That’s all for now! Let me know if you have any questions, thoughts, ideas, brainstorms, or … songs stuck in your head you want to share!

Warmly, 

Sarah 

Hi all!

I try not to email blast twice a week, but now that I’ve looked through a few of your drafts I wanted to give you a bit more information/guidance for next steps for the “completed proposal.”

Your goal is to try to paint as clear a picture as possible in the reviewers’ mind (the reviewers are: will be 2 residents, Ruta, Craig, and 2 NYU faculty). While of course you have a lot of open questions, the more specific/clear you can get (even if you’re not sure!) the more useful this process will be for you.

I really encourage you to *swap with someone else* for feedback right away – especially for the sake of clarity. You could even share with someone outside of class! Get someone to ask you questions, ask them to describe back what they read. Try to assess if you are making logical connections, or if you are leaving crucial connections out. Sometimes things make sense in YOUR head, but you have to write them explicitly for others to understand! If you are struggling with writing, you can get help from the NYU writing center.

After you submit your proposals on Tuesday, it will take about two weeks for us to process. Of course you will continue to make progress, so if you make any major breakthroughs and want to update your proposal, let me/Ruta know and if the reviewers haven’t gotten to it yet – you can submit a change!

Tangential to the proposal itself, I’m noticing that some of you may be at the stage where you’re exploring some interesting high-level concepts, but you might benefit from more specificity that will let you go deeper / dive into making / land on something stickier. Some things to try, if this is you: 

• Can you think about your project through the lens of a specific metaphor? (Think back to Crit Ex, if you remember that section!)
• Can you try an “A to C” exercise? How to: combine your thesis question with a random noun, and see what happens! You could even use a *random noun generator!* I like this one because you can choose easy medium or hard: pictionary noun generator. The more random and unrelated, the better: you may not go with the idea you come up with, but trying to create that connection will take you somewhere surprising and juicer. 
• Here are a few other similar brainstorming activities I like to use to get down to “the project” (prepared for a different class, but elements are relevant!)
• Do more of the “matrix” activity, but with really specific things on each axis!

One last thing – Brian’s OH link above was missing because he prefers to just be emailed to make an appointment, and this is Nun’s Appointment Link. 

If you have any questions about the review process – or anything at all – don’t hesitate to reach out, happy to share!

Sarah

PSSST – IF WE HAVEN’T MET FOR A 1-1 IN A WHILE… IT’S TIME!!! 👀  Make your 1-1 appointment

Hi all!

Hi Low Res students!

Can you believe our first group meeting was two weeks ago!? It’s been such a nice time getting to know you!

This email is long – to make it easier I am going to leave a to-do list at the end – but please read the whole thing! Remember, these announcements are part of class.

This week’s words of wisdom: find your inspirations, be expansive!

My advice to all of you at this stage is to stay curious, dream big, find your inspirations. 

It’s okay if you still don’t *KNOW* what the project is, if you do know what your interests and motivations are. To say it another way: you can still be in the phase of researching/learning about something you care about – even if you still can’t really imagine a singular “project” that aligns with it. 

For me, the absolute BEST way to get inspired towards something expansive is to get outside of myself. That means: get out of my home and go do things: go to a museum, do some interviews, sketches, or low-fi experiments. Go to the park and daydream. Go somewhere and read, mindmap. Do a field trip or a site visit. Give your thoughts space; give your observations attention; give each idea respect. This takes time and intention!

I also really like to do research on other creators that inspire me. What was their early work like? What were their inspirations, turning points, contexts, collaborators? What were they reading? How did they get to where they are? For art in particular, https://art21.org/ is a great resource. I know not everyone is making “art” per se – but this advice still holds: look up a creator you find interesting (even the creator of a product or business or academic theory). How might your thesis lead you somewhere like that? Podcasts are great for this too – ask me for recommendations, take a walk and listen to something!

How do YOU find inspiration? Share tips with each other if something is working for you! It would be a generous act for you to post about this on the journal, or talk about in your peer group session.

Speaking of the thesis journal… browse each other’s posts! Can you find anyone pursuing similar ideas to you? Make a meeting with them! This works best if you’re using the journal to talk about your ideas. Noting your process and what you did is great – but it’s best if some of your thoughts and ideas come through on the journal for others to see!

(Also note: some of you have asked if it’s okay to post “privately” – it totally is. That means only me and the residents will be able to see it. I understand if you’re not ready to open up to your classmates yet (though… vulnerability often takes you to amazing places, creatively!)

Bibliography is due! Proposal draft is due next week! (before class).

Your starter bibliography is due today. That doesn’t mean you’re FINISHED with it (you will absolutely continue to add throughout the entire process!), but it should be enough references to give us a clear idea of your interests. We’ll be looking at them. Please categorize the post as “Starter Bibliography” so we can find it easily. 

If you haven’t already, it’s time to ⚠️ ✨read the proposal guidelines✨⚠️. Please note: a piece of the proposal requires you to include 10 links, including at least 1 article from an academic journal, 1 prior art reference (ie, similar work), and one theoretical text (could be a book or article – something which points to a social or critical context). Consider reaching out to Margaret Smith (ITP/IMA Librarian) for help navigating the wonderful NYU library access you have!

I would recommend setting aside at least 2 hours to complete your proposal draft, and 4 hours to do the refined version for 2/26. 

Next week in class – how to prepare

Have your proposal draft to share – we’ll be looking at these together.

Be ready to talk about your thesis for 1 whole minute. This is for an activity that involves talking a bit about your thesis research/idea in front of the class. It’s totally fine to do this absolutely spontaneously – but I wanted to give you a fair warning in case you’re the kind of person who would rather prepare something.The prompt is (simply): talk about your thesis work for 1 minute. Keep talking the whole time (there is another part about listening – will explain in person). 

Now that we’ve been together a bit, take one more look at the group agreement – I made a cleaned up draft at the top. Anything you need changed, clarified? Anything that was left out that you think will enhance your ability to learn, contribute, grow, thrive? Leave a comment! We’ll start class  reading this aloud on 2/21. 

1-1s continued, peer groups continued

Please sign up for your next meeting with me! I have turned the 1-1s into 30 minute appointments, as a few of you have voiced that’s more convenient at this point. If you want to meet for 45, you can book a double, or just email me to let me know. Remember: if you don’t see a time listed that works for you, it’s your responsibility to email me about it!

You should also be RSVPing to your peer group meetings on the google calendar. Remember, you need to go to at least 6 of each of these by the end of the semester, which you can track with your personal spreadsheet. 

Coming Soon: Project Guidelines and Examples

As most of you know at this point, the thesis *project* is just a part of the thesis. That said, for some of you, getting a sense of scope on a project is helpful. For that reason, I’m preparing thesis project guidelines and examples. The thesis team decided it’s a bit early to share it (want you to keep on your bluesky thinking!) but – if it’s a comfort to you, we can give you a preview, just ask. 

TO-DO list version:

• Stay open minded, keep looking for inspiration!
• Bibliography posted (category: Starter Bibliography)
• Read the Proposal Guidelines
• Start your Proposal Draft (due before class, 2/21)
• Be ready to speak 1 minute about your thesis in class 2/21
• Review Group Agreement
• Update your Tracking Sheet
• Sign up for your next 1-1 (appointment link or email me)
• RSVP to your group meetings (google calendar)

🌈That’s it!🌈

Anything you need? Let me know! Anything you want? Let me know! Anything you’re dreaming of? Let me know! Anything you’re stuck on? Let me know! I’ll always see what I can do!

Warmly, 

Sarah

Hi Low Res Thesis People!

It’s been so wonderful meeting with you so far – I feel lucky to get to interface with such a brilliant group (and look forward to talking to the rest of you soon!)!

To keep us all on the same page, I’m planning on sending a weekly update. This is the first one! Please read these carefully – consider it *part of class* – it’s also on the announcement tab of the blog.

Here we go…

Your starter bibliography is due 2/14 

Detailed info on the assignments will always be included on the syllabus. 

The basic idea: create a document (can be a google doc, arena board, notion… whatever) with the initial references that make up the “world” of your work: books, prior art, articles, films. This starting point is somewhere between a bibliography and a moodboard. For this one, aim for breadth! You will narrow it down with your proposal. 

Yuqian said it well in our 1-1: these are the seeds from which your project will grow.

Proposal Guidelines are ready! Proposal is due 2/26 (draft due 2/21)

Big news! The proposal guidelines are ready for you! We will talk about these in our next whole class meeting (on 2/21), but you should have made a basic attempt to answer these questions before class 2/21. If you’re feeling stuck or confused – reach out to me or a resident!

Thesis Journal – update after each meeting! Comment on each other!

As you’ll see from the proposal guidelines – you don’t have to know exactly where you’re going… but you DO have to know what you did (by the end of this process). In that spirit, please make sure to make a short post on the thesis journal after each  meeting (1-1, group, mentor, class) with a quick reflection: what were your thoughts, where are you at, what are your next steps? This short action will help you with the part of this course which aims to help you strengthen your process. I promise!

Tuesday Night BONUS peer sessions – RSVP

On weeks that we don’t have class, the class zoom room is open to anyone who wants to show up. Each week, at 8pm ET, a different resident will be there. If you plan to go, please RSVP yes on the google cal invite – so if no one plans to come, the host resident can take their time back!

First 1-1 Meeting

If we’ve met, you can expect that I’ll be starting an email thread with you with some follow ups sometime within the week. If we haven’t yet met, please review the syllabus notes so you can come prepared. 

Personalized Assignments

Almost everyone I’ve met with has gotten slightly different assignments, but I have asked MOST of you to write some version of a Dream Review. This is cheesy and embarrassing but honestly REALLY worth it if you want to set yourself up to dream a big! How to do a dream review: pick a publication (one you hope one day to appear in), and pretend to be a writer for that publication. Write a short article or review about your thesis project (or body of work in general). This works best if you REALLY try to copy the tone and format… so you might want to read some reviews of creators who inspire you first!

I would LOVE for you to post all of your personalized assignments on the thesis journal. BUT – I understand if you’d rather keep some private. Just be sure to share them with me (directly, or indirectly) in our next 1-1. 

PHEW!
Okay, that was a long one. Thanks for your attention, and don’t hesitate to reach out with questions!

🐛, 

Sarah

Hi everyone, welcome to the IMA Low Res 2023 Thesis Journal!

This will be your home for all of your updates, and the hub for info for the class. You should leave a short reflection update after each meeting you have, and feel free to leave any other updates in between!

If you like, you can use the “Tags” feature to correlate your post with an idea or topic, to make it easier for your classmates to find.

Any email from your instructor (me, Sarah), will appear under the “Announcements” tag to make it easy to find. Sometimes I will ask you to use a “category” if you are making a special type of post (for instance, your Bibliography).

Feel free to comment on each other’s posts…. or to add music to our shared playlist!

Looking forward to a great semester!

Warmly,
Sarah