VA Week Two Discussion

On the topic of Propaganda and Protest Graphics

- It seams that the most potent messages in the history of graphic design, are ones coming from stance in troubled or controversial periods. Are there many causes that do not call for a stirring of attitudes based out of socially agitating circumstances? If so is it proper to synthesize such an attitude within design, and how can this be done successfully?

On the topic of Dissent

- For the sake of social incentives, is it of more importance to solve the issues of fairness or of man's propensity towards power?

- Is religion, fallen prey to corruption and greed, inherently wrong or something not to believe?

On the topic of The Black Panther

- Can a message/campaign really be successful without the strong backing of a movement or community, why or why not?

Community?

Community Psychology (as I understood it, because the reading I found to be needlessly complex): Understanding what your needs and goals are, locating a group with a sense of security and boundaries in which you can comfortably invest in, having the push and pull to influence a community to achieve common goals, feeling an active and proactive sense of conformity through common experiences and uniformity through symbols, sharing in the benefits of productivity and common values, and the bond formed when a community shares many high quality and successful experiences.

I have a hard time pinpointing a specific community in which I find myself belonging to. If I had to pick one I would have to say it would be the school community. This may be due to not only the quality of common goal and interactions but to the frequency. I believe that when the quantity outweighs the quality the other factors of community take over for me. If I feel that the boundaries and goals actually align with my own then I will feel comfortable and secure. Since, for various reasons, this is not often the case, I often will rely on finding the right balance of influence in order to realign myself to the community, or viceversa. I find that without shared emotional connection the quality of interaction goes way down, at least personally. I suppose that would align myself more with the first formula mentioned in the reading. What you're bringing to the group in terms of fulfillment of needs is an important one for me. When belonging to a certain group making sure that I'm fulfilling the needs/accomplishments/values is important to me. It fullfils a personal need as well as a need of the community. The less of this I do the more I begin to feel self excommunicated from a group. Of course I've also been called a pushover/tool for this very reason so there are negative consequences.

EDUMACATION!

The history of Technology in Education.
This video represents less of a current shift in education and technology, and more of an evolution of such things over a very long period of time. For most of the video there is an emphasis on the change in technology with less of a change in the education itself. Formats of learning were determined and limited by the technology of each period. The problem is when the technology moves on to include other modes of learning, such as auditory and early video. While these begin to open up new opportunities for some people, the style of teaching remains the same and does not utilize them.

The readings on the different theories of learning styles make a clear call for the need of new teaching inovations. And with the technological advances tapping into the way we exist in our own worlds and intake/retain information in new ways, it's foolish for us to not utilize them in the best way possible so as to unlock everyone's potential.

I'm told by the nifty test we all took, that I'm a type three learner. Upon further meditation on the list of attributes I can agree with this assessment. Though I did do it wrong the first time and thought I was a type 3 for a while.