Hey everybody!Ā My big takeaways from class 1 were to stay open minded and follow my passions. I think the picking a topic side of things is daunting and a bit overwhelming, so hopefully I’ll be able to narrow down a topic and get researching.
I met with Nun, Kat, and Suri on Tuesday night and it was really good to have that touchpoint. I found it really helpful mostly to see the process that Kat is going through — she normalized for me the sense of not having a solid direction at the moment. I am still mulling over the things that I want to work on and the ideas that I want to explore, and she shared some of the exercises that Sarah “assigned” her, so I think those are things to which I should devote some serious time. More soon.
I’ve got a lot to look into! My sphere of reference really ignores computational poetry and a lot of modern poetry in general, and now I have a lot of references to look into. I think we narrowed down three arms of what I want my project to be, those being: a book, a website, and a performance. What shape those three things will end up taking is something we’ll have to discover over the course of the coming weeks, but I’m optimistic that this is the direction I want to be looking in. Going to write a few analysis about some of the pieces I’ve been referred to, and work on the Dream Review/Nothing to Something exercises.
I met with Sarah. We talked about some of my past work, art, projects, etc. It was helpful to organize my interests and get a sense of possible project directions. Sarah helped point out that I might be a bit too project oriented and that thesis is more of an umbrella with the project as just a small part of it.
We talked over some of my ideas around empowering women and some of my personal experiences with sexism. Some possible avenues to explore are:
-History of affirmation posterĀ
-How do you measure how empowered women are before and after (emojis?)
-Low fi daily practiceĀ
-Conversations and ways to test out what emojis people might respond withĀ in the context of empowering womenĀ
Recommended assignment:Ā Pick a publication and write about my project even in a very vague way in the voice of the publication
Obligatory Hello World!
We did the nothing to something exercise in class. It was really helpful for organizing my thoughts and figuring out some of what I might be passionate about. I’m not sure that I’ve fully “picked a topic” or anything like that, but I am leaning towards something women empowerment related.
We’ll see how it goes!
I had a conversation with Sarah yesterday at noon. It went a lot faster than expected – wish we had more time to chat. We started off by me sharing a little bit about my background, work experience and the projects I had done in the IMA program. Sarah made connections between the 3 projects I shared with her (film RAIN, interface lab/creative coding Sea the Rain Lights, and connections lab Diary Balloons), and we both figured “weather” has been a consistent theme throughout my projects. I’m not sure if it’s intentional, but I realized I always tend to create something sentimental and personal. Some key elements in my work: weather, nature, mood, emotion, self expression, inner peace.
As for my thesis, I’m still a little unsure of what to do, but I shared with Sarah about the “elderly wellbeing” topic I did for critical experience. She suggested that perhaps I could extend one of my projects or combine them into a bigger project, and make it an interactive device or application for the elderly home & their social/mental wellbeing. Some action items: 1) take some time to ask elders (eg. grandparents) how they feel about the projects I did – not just the usability but what they bring/convey/solve. 2) did a couple of interviews to gather how they envision technology and its role in their daily lives. 3) research on experiences and products for the elderly, interactive forms & media of weather, and connected devices 4) dream review, imagine how a podcast would say about this product.
Hey! š
If you’re reading this I hope all is well!
This morning I had my first group meeting with Beth! It was short but fun and it was great hearing about everyone’s ideas and thoughts pertaining to their thesis explorations! šĀ We discussed a great deal about our bibliographies and our plans for our next meeting! Also I had a great time learning a bit more about Beth and her experiences in this class prior to ours!
Welp that’s all for now!
Until next time! š
Members: Danni, Yunshan, Ada, Jun, Elizabeth, and I
I have this folder for the notes of peer group meetings: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lvnsDLIJP7Iw2l81jpj9HWPT-bVwliVe?usp=sharing
It is super interesting, exciting, and helpful! Having a chance to talk out the idea is already very helpful. It is interesting that Ada’s, Jun’s, and my topic for the thesis are somehow related. Maybe we can try to work together in the future.
Some helpful questions I received: Who are the target audience? Will the art style be attractive? The deep meaning of using animals instead of human features. Can I finish all I planned in time?
Some useful references:
Chinese Parentsļ¼https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cig.chineseparents.gp&hl=en_US&gl=US
Animal Crossing: New Horizons: https://www.animal-crossing.com/new-horizons/
Thoughts from the meeting:
-Need to block out existential crisis in this thesis space, need to somewhat believe in what I’m doinnnnn
-Content warning should be clearly in place for sensitive materials
-Do I like to shock people, do I like to be a troll? What do I want audience to feel? (Perhaps I want them to feel “not sure how to feel”)
-Acknowledge the tendency to undervalued my own credential or knowledge of things; do not set the stage right when presenting work(s)
-Consider becoming a master of a certain topic and then own the project with confident
-Do not want a project to be moralising
Direction of the thesis:
-Some jargons to start with: cultural chauvinism, cultural hegemony, symbolism, colonial history…
-Not sure about a specific thesis topic still, but for sure not planning to make fun or secretly troll the Chinese Government because I’m planning on an exhibition in Shanghai…and my personal action might damage the name of NYU and the program.
Assignments:
Hi Low Res Thesis People!
Itās 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, Iām planning on sending a weekly update. This is the first one! Please read these carefully – consider it *part of class* – itās also on the announcement tab of the blog.
Here we goā¦
Your starter bibliography is due 2/14Ā
Detailed info on the assignments will always be included on the syllabus.Ā
The basic idea: create a document (can be a google doc, arena board, notionā¦ whatever) with the initial references that make up the āworldā 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.Ā
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 youāre feeling stuck or confused – reach out to me or a resident!
Thesis Journal – update after each meeting! Comment on each other!
As youāll see from the proposal guidelines – you donāt have to know exactly where youāre goingā¦ 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 eachĀ 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 donāt 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 weāve met, you can expect that Iāll be starting an email thread with you with some follow ups sometime within the week. If we havenāt yet met, please review the syllabus notes so you can come prepared.Ā
Personalized Assignments
Almost everyone Iāve 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 formatā¦ 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 youād rather keep some private. Just be sure to share them with me (directly, or indirectly) in our next 1-1.Ā
PHEW!
Okay, that was a long one. Thanks for your attention, and donāt hesitate to reach out with questions!
š,Ā
Sarah