When It Rained In My Living Room

One time I remodeled my entire bathroom by myself.

I had no idea what I was doing, but ignorance was bliss.  For a while.

Two days into it, the bathtub and shower were installed and ready to go.  I filled the tub.

"Mom!  Is it supposed to be raining in the living room?!" my daughter called out.

[It was a non-rhetorical rhetorical question.]

Had I checked for leaks before filling the tub?  

No.

Had I any idea of what was getting myself into?

No.

Enter Make Cycle 3 and our Official Game of the Museum of Obscure Joys and Sorrows (O.G.M.O.J.S.).

It started out as a curiosity - the freshly created words of John Koenig were posted on Facebook, prompting Terry Elliott and I to think "That's really cool!" and ask CLmooc-ers to create words.

The words we created are here: Spreadsheet of everyone's ideas.

Terry's Hackpad Intro

No one wanted the words to languish in a spreadsheet. So when Make Cycle 3 came out, I innocently thought, "I will use the words to make a game!"

I played around with some gamification ideas - badges, an e-portfolio. I went against the competitive spirit by making all of the badges available to everyone, even if they didn't "earn" them. It was fun, which was the most important thing to me when I started.

But...
Like my bathroom remodel, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Also like my bathroom remodel, I learned a ton throughout the painstaking process. And...like my bathroom remodel, it took WAY longer than I thought it would. 

Why?

• I had to figure out a few technical things. I tend to be pretty perfectionistic in these things, and would not settle for a mediocre attempt.
• I felt a huge responsibility to the folks who had contributed words.  I wanted to do them justice and honor them.
• Terry gave me some great feedback along the way, leading (amongst other revisions) to the escape hatch feature.  I wanted to add his soundtrack but just ran out of steam before I could figure it out.
• I didn't want to half-ass it.

I like the wormhole-ish nature of some of it.
I love the words people made.
I love the gifs and the badges.
I like the escape hatches.

I didn't like the tediousness of making sure all of the clicks and links do the correct things. And I am sure I missed some (let me know).
I had hoped to make it sillier and more fun, but (again) I am just too tuckered out to work on it any more.
I had hoped to use feedback from more game testers. And maybe I will get that chance.

The bottom line is that I really wanted to see what potential was there for my classroom, and in that regard I am really excited to try the template out next fall. The possibilities are tremendous.

In terms of strict game design, it wouldn't score very well.  It's not really replayable, it's not that interactive, and you can't really control much of the outcome.

But I am happy with it and excited that we got to use the Obscure Joys & Sorrows that CLmooc-ers came up with!

A great collaborative effort.

Special thanks to: 

Christina DiMicelli

Sheri Edwards

Sarah Honeychurch

Terry Elliott

Scott Glass

Susan Watson

Stephanie West-Puckett

Amy Cody Clancy

The game is here: GAME

Randomness of Video Apps

Some of the new video apps, like Magisto and Google photos, create videos and slide shows when you are not aware that it is happening.

I find it interesting to compare their random versions to the ones I spend hours on.  Somtimes it makes me wonder if my intentions are for naught.

Examples:

My Popcorn Maker version of Bluesy Remedy-Ation:

And the random one created by Magisto:

Does our desire for quick, easy & pretty override our desire for meaning?  Maybe, and sometimes that is OK.

No bourgeois bacon

This blog post sucks.

It is made to disappoint.

Interpret it as you will.

Willfully misinterpret it.

Tear it up, print it out and burn it.

Tell me what to do.

I am a medium.

I am medium.

Medium height, medium smart, medium rare, medium class.

Think about this, then blog about it:

Do as you are told.  No comic sans. No bourgeois bacon.  No hipster rouge.  No techie Captain Crunch.

Ready set go.

Don't Sit on My Fire Hydrant

Anna Cow brought up a theme that has been running through my mind since I read our Make Cycle 1 assignment email, which asks, "Could shattering the parameters of our introductions help us to move more quickly beyond 'you' and 'us' to a space where equity and diversity are hallmarks of a shared 'we'?"

What does it mean to welcome someone, and what power dynamics are at play?  Anna distinguishes between the French concept of hospitality, which is "mainly let someone stay without asking money (sleep and live) under one's roof" and the English concept, "receptive and open-minded, welcoming, and it also about parties and meals."

"Hospitality is not in the place it is in the human."

In January, I went to a TedTalk in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. The theme was "Collisions." Much of the content in the amazing talks had to do with Equity of Access.  Ruha Benjamin's TedTalk has stuck with me (as has Jimmy Lin's but for corollary reasons). 

Ruha reminded us that "At the heart of discriminatory design is this idea that we can design technological fixes for social crises."

Ruha asks, "Whose voices are missing at the lab bench?"

Metal studs outside private apts. in London

What is Discriminatory Design? It is design intended to manage people. Usually, it is intended to manage people who fall into categories that the powers-that-be find to be a nuisance, or worse. It could be spikes to prevent the homeless from sitting, sleeping, or lying down. 

It could be creating separate entrances to the same building, one for poor residents and one for the wealthy. It could be benches designed [ostensibly] for one person, or benches so uncomfortable that one can only sit for a few minutes before needing to get up. 

Some cities have gotten creative in their discriminatory design, making the designs into "Art Pieces."   As the article states, "One cannot sit on these colorful "artistic" objects, strategically placed to give the impression that one can rest, but having the opposite function."  The author asks, "Are public places for everyone?"

Clearly, no one in #CLMOOC is purposely using discriminatory design.

But I think it is important in any arena which is inherently entitled, such as an online class, to keep in mind those design elements which might be unintentionally preventing people from feeling included, safe, welcome or welcomed.  Like the frog in the pot of water on the stove who doesn't realize that the temperature is rising until it is too late, we can become so immersed in our own experience that we forget what it feels like from different perspectives.  

Are there spikes on any of our benches that we were not aware of?  

"Hospitality is not in the place it is in the human."

Yesterday I sent out a survey to briefly gauge how comfortable people are feeling with #CLMOOC.  Since there are over 2000 people in the Community, and so far 34 have responded to the survey, I can't say that it is a scientific representation, but I have found that anonymous surveys tend to attract a decent cross-section of those who are fairly content and those who have concerns that they haven't been able to express in another arena.  

What is one word you would use to describe #CLMOOC right now? 

White

Exciting!

Bubbling

Peculiar

Limited

Fun

confusing

energy

Energizing

intriguing

Catalyst

catalyst

play

busy

Creating

collaborative

Inspiring

positive

opportunity

energetic!

inspiring

opening

intriguing

Fun

frantic

Create

overwhelming

exploring

rejuvinating

Disorganised

tentative

What is one question you have for or about #CLMOOC?

Are all the prompts connected to connected learning principles?

????

Connected to each other by...what?

What's going on? What am I making?

When are you going to stop dictating and start involving all of us in designing this?

I am pretty sure I officially signed up, but I haven't received a newsletter email yet. Where should I check to make sure that I am actually registered?

I do not see a purpose for the "untro" and feel it is a wasted week. It is too deep, too complex. If you want new invitees to feel comfortable in this space, it had better start in an easy to understand manner. What is the purpose of the week 1 make? How would I bring this into my classroom and use with students, or into a staff meeting to use with staff? I just don't see it and I am a creative person. Honestly, this 1st week is a huge potential turn-off to newbies. I'm hoping next week is more practical.

How do we build community [based on tweet https://twitter.com/NomadWarMachine/status/613491511989174272 ]

How important is it that your experience in the mooc transfer to your classroom? Is the mooc about nuts and bolts or inspiration?

I don't know enough yet to have questions.

Any representation of clmoocers at ISTE2015?

How long does an individual cycle last? Is it only a week?

How do we find more equity? (e.g. How do we make this less for "insiders"?)

How will I apply this experience in my teaching?

None

Where are we going?

Do you really want 2000 people posting their make projects? I posted my intro first night, but now it is overwhelming with un-intros.

How long will the links last?

How can CLMOOC concepts be made more appealing (obviously relevant and beneficial) to a wider audience, and a broader number of disciplines?

Is there enough collaboration going on? or just silos?

How do I become more involved and what are examples of transferring CLMOOC experiences in the classroom?

How will we get every one to feel ownership of clmooc.

Any plans to make this a year-round thing?

Where are we heading?

Where have all these wonderful people been?

How can we get even more people involved?

Did anybody think about how this was going to work? It does not seem as if any of the 'organisers' have any expertise. For example, the first 'webinar' was a shambles of people chatting, not a webinar at all, and the first make is ridiculous. I thought this was a community mooc, it's not. The organisers are just up themselves.

Must it be visual?

[Thank you to everyone who has responded or will respond to the survey!]

I will let you do your own analyses of the responses so far.

In the meantime, I challenge us to create solutions to any barriers that might exist in our design, if any.

Creative Solutions

The following people have responded to design issues very creatively: 

Rain City Housing created benches that became shelters: 

Michael Rakowitz designed paraSITE shelters as practical solutions and a protest against policies that he felt were harmful to homeless people:

Sara Ross  designed outfits that would allow the wearer to circumvent the spikes or discomfort:

Finally, this video shows how a community in Oxford worked to create a sense of place where people would WANT to be, rather than using speed bumps and negative architecture to try to control people. "A painted "street carpet" was used to slow down speeding traffic and create a greater sense of place...Rather than forcing drivers through physical features like speed humps, and making pedestrians feel they can't use the space, it makes them aware of their surroundings and the street as a place for people."

I am playing devil's advocate here. Are there ways that we can create more of a sense of place in #CLMOOC?  

Are there ways we can more creatively make this experience more equitable?  More welcoming to new players? 

Can communication be improved somehow?  Does it need to be improved? Does it need to be more equitable? 

Are there inherent design issues that we can improve? 

No experience can be or will be positive and productive for every player.  But since we are asked to create "a space where equity and diversity are hallmarks of a shared 'we'," I think we need to at least ask the questions.

What do you think?

Peace in the questioning,

Susan @eatcherveggies

Women Who Wear Makeup Get Paid More:

The Beauty of an Even Playing Field

    As Ty Kiisel points out here, humans tend to judge and get judged, consciously, or unconsciously, by our appearances. He references this article by Aaron Gouveia, citing research that our appearances affect

many things at work, e.g. tall people get paid more, fat people [his words, not mine] get paid less, women who wear makeup get paid more, etc. Brian Tracy, a "personal success authority" says: 
"Your clothes are responsible for 95 percent of the first impression that you make on someone because, in most instances, your clothes cover 95 percent of your body. Your grooming, your hair style and the other ways you can determine your appearance from the neck up also exert an inordinate influence on the way that you are perceived, on your ethos with someone. "

[I realize these may be U.S.-centric examples, but I don't want to speak of things I don't know anything about. So please add your own cultural examples in the comments if you can.]

What is my point?


Connected Courses such as #rhizo15, #CLMOOC, #connectedcourses, etc. create a playing field more even than most f2f learning situations.  We interact with people primarily for the value of their work, their humor, their interactions, their willingness to share and be vulnerable, their willingness to connect reciprocally.  It has little, very little, to do with anything superficial, such as what they look like or wear.

I would like to think that happens in most real life learning environments, too.  But I am not that naive.

Fortunately for most of us, in connected courses, we can work and interact with each other in our pajamas, our farm duds, with babyfood smeared on our hijab, or muddy dog prints on our jeans, no make-up, hair uncombed.


If you met me in person, you would know that I have nine tattoos, short grey hair, and dress pretty androgynously.

This week Kevin made a cartoon version of me, which I loved.  He got the hair pretty close, but I never wear skirts/dresses, and let's just say sweaters don't look that good on me, and we'll leave it at that (LOL).

I have on many occasions been judged for my tattoos, my lack of feminine attire, etc.  But those things are not a factor in courses like Rhizo and CLMOOC. We find out about each other in dribs and drabs, already having had valuable interactions that are far more important than finding out someone has tattoos.

I don't know if you are heavy or skinny, masculine or feminine, sloppy or neat, disheveled or tall or short.  It points out how unimportant our actual appearances are to our interactions.

Many of us have, at different times, made cartoon versions of each other.    

However, I am always mindful of the potential for cultural ignorance (in myself), so I always ask the person directly, if I am in doubt.  We recently made a happy birthday video for Kevin, our cartoon master.  I made cartoon superhero versions of participants, and didn't want to do anything to Maha Bali's character that would be culturally offensive. This is what I ended up with, after consultation with her:

It is rather freeing, really, to be judged by the quality of one's work and the reciprocity of one's interactions. And not by the weight of any other scale.

As you find out more about what someone in an online course looks like, does it change how you think of them? Does it change how you interact with them?

[Maha and I have chatted about how other things aside from physical appearance affect our perceptions of each other, but she has written about that far more eloquently than I could.]

Now I am going to go put on pants.

Chocolate Lava Cakes: A Guide to Rhizo

What is Rhizo: A Culinary & Oceanographic Metaphor

Rhizomatic Learning is a grass-covered archipelago, each isle  an atoll dotted with a series of chocolate lava cakes and connected by ocean waves.

Each cake emits a unique signal, and is able to sense and synthesize unique signals from other cakes when conditions are right.

Each time a chocolate lava cake receives a signal, it gains an ounce+ of molten chocolate, as well as an enhanced signal of its own via the addition of more coral and more life in, under and around.

See below: Cakes on Atolls

Each atoll, with a base of coral, is weak when it first begins to emerge. But as more chocolate is added, the atoll becomes stronger and deeper.
Under and around it, beauty lives and swims, and tendrils die when tossed aside or neglected.

Southern Atolls, Maldives - Underwater World Part 2 from Eunjae Im on Vimeo.

Some atolls become too deep when overwrought, like this D&G atoll, spotted in the South Pacific:

[Such atolls are noted for losing signals and a subsequent decrease in chocolate content.] #data

Other atolls share so many unique signals that they become greater than the sum of their parts. One example is this Tahitian Rhizo Archipelago:

Note the chocolate overflowing on each side.

A few rhizo atolls are more idiosyncratic, like this atoll dubbed the "Simon"atoll:

Finally, as seen in the example below, when rhizo signals are neither sent nor received, the atoll disappears and is no longer a vessel of delicious chocolate.
 

Each cake is delicious on its own. But an archipelago of interconnected, cross-communicating chocolate lava cakes becomes an idiosyncratically beauteous entity, with incredible life hidden within and below the surface.

With just a few well-aimed signals, you end up with, at the very least, a small bit of tasty rhizo chocolate lava, some clear ocean waves, and a living microcosm. 

#ShareYourChocolate

Remix - add ice cream, illegibility, whipped cream raspberries, octopi, irony, sarcasm, curiosity, doubt, optimism, eels, a rudder.