Week 14 - working progress 2

I have finished the laying furnitures and artworks (I built panels in 3Dstudio max + found images + applied mapping) in the building while stacey was working on the lighting yesterday. After combining the lighting and the building/objects together, I found that the buliding was out of scale, and I couldn't scale the whole thing up all at once. Therefore Stacey had to redo the lighting, and I had to redo the rest.

After rescaling the building, I learned how to import sound, and how to cook the map. Tried to add physics to furnitures so that they are movable, however nor the texture on furnitures shows up or furnitures are movable (I tried many different ways - change different collision settings, add interpactor and then conver to Kactor, add interpactor and then add trigger...).

I wished I had more time to play around with these collision stuff but running out of time :( :(

Week 14 - working progress

Today I have been copying and pasting the terrain and sky from the file that I made previously to our final ut3 file. I could not add player-start at the beginning. That was because I created the level with additive geometry style. After subtracting the geometry, I got it to work! Now I am trying to import all the furnitures and some educational equipments to make the model look like a school! I will add triggers in those small pieces if I have time.

Week 13 - working progress

Hi everyone in group 3,

Just want to make things more clear here.

I have already re-imported the whole buidling and re-applied textures. While I am waiting for your work, I will be doing the soundscape tutorials.

We are meeting 12pm on Sunday. Once again, please get some work done before we meet up. I must collect you work from you by the end of the day(sunday 15 june), and finalize everything by monday night (we can't leave everything last minute). After Sunday, I will not be collecting anything from you because it takes time to combine all the work together and upload.

You are welcome to tell me what and how to improve the combined work after I finish combining everything, but the first thing is, you have to work through tht tutorials and know exactly how it works. As I have said for a million times, in order to get to know UT3, you really need to spend some time trying, get a file to test. It won't help to just sit there and watch the video / tutorial. Again, please do not ask me what to do, because it's OUR project, not my own project. And it is pointless to ask that if you never follow what I tell or you do not meet the requirement.

Sorry for being tough. Only a few days to go, and then we go on holiday! Good luck.

Andrea

Week 12 - Working progress

I have been spending many hours in the labs at uni working on UT3, and have been seeing other students working on their assignments as well. I noticed, those teams who are collaborating and working together have a more developed model than my team. I feel, even though I am spending the same amount of time on the fabrication project as other members in different teams, I don’t feel that this will pay off in the end because up until now, it has only been 2 people working in my team compared to 5 people working together in other teams.

Today I have been working on the terrain. It is so good to have Danielle in the lab today. We helped each other a lot when we got stuck on minor things. 10 days to go guys! Keep it up!

Week 11 - Conflict

“The rule of the game: learn everything, read everything, inquire into everything…When two texts, or two assertions, or perhaps two ideas, are in contradiction, be ready to reconcile them rather that cancel one by the other; regard them as two different facets, or two successive stages of the same reality, a reality convincingly human just because it is complex” [1], wrote Marguerite Yourcenar.

General dynamics of conflict spirals to the specific dynamics of conflict in organizations:

Vertical conflict – occurs between hierarchical levels

Horizontal conflict – occurs between people working at the same hierarchical level within an organization

Staff-line conflict – occurs between people performing different types of tasks.

Role conflict – occurs when misunderstandings arise over just what it is that person meant to be doing

Resource scarcity – when organizational resources are scarce, conflict will occur as surely as animals will fight over scarce food

Work flow interdependence – all sections benefit from the efficiencies of other sections, but are vulnerable to and suffer from the inefficiencies of others.

Power and value asymmetry – occurs when a people holding radically different values are required to work together

Goal incompatibility – When specific goals of differing departments sections and divisions of the one organization clash[2]

As I stated in our previous presentation, the existence of conflict can be seen as a context of our collaboration project. Different attitudes toward the goal, difference in knowledge, the unclear identification of individual’s roll, cultural difference, and misunderstanding in communication are the main factors which result conflicts within our group.

There are a number of approaches to manage conflicts. They include:
- Negotiation
- Interpersonal skills
- Cultural and gender differences
- Group dynamics
- Contact and communication
- Super-ordinate goals
- Tit for that
- De-escalation thresholds
- Apology
- Forgiveness
- Praise
- Sacrifice
- New resources
- Decoupling and buffering
- Formal authority
- Planning
- Scale
- Stalemates
- Compromise
- Mediation

Communication analyst Jon Warner has developed a model of negotiation styles base on empathy and energy; each style has strengths as well as weaknesses:

Pushy bullying – loudly commands attention on a key point and draws negotiations to a rapid close, yet may adopt a ‘take it or leave it’ attitude

Confident promoting – quickly focuses on the major issues, wins people over with enthusiasm, and usually adapts flexibility to reach a deal, but can be too aggressive or fail to listen fully

Quietly manipulating – quickly draws attention to real threats to agreement and can subtly focus a debate, but may distort information or exploit other party’s weakness openly

Carefully suggestion – keeps the negotiation calm, good at drawing attention to the deeper issues, yet can fail to commit to convincing the other side

Conflicts normally strike people as being unpleasant and stressful, they can lead to:
- Negative emotions
- Blocked communication
- Increased coordination between people who have to work and live together
- A shift towards autocratic leadership when discussion-based decision making breaks down
- Reduced ability to view other perspectives and breakdown in empathy and vision

However, conflicts can sometimes produce positive payoffs:
- Pressure and frustrations are released
- New perspectives and information can be gathered about the other side
- New perspectives can be gained about our side
- Better decision making and problem solving can take place
- Cohesiveness can increase
- Complacency can be challenged
- Change can take place
- Differences can be appreciated
- Intrapersonal conflicts can be resolved

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Reference:

[1] Cloke Goldsmith, John Wiley & Sons, Inc 2000, Resolving conflicts at work
[2] Baden Eunson, John Wiley & Sons Australia 2007, Conflict Management

Week 11 - working progress

The past few days was quite tough for me because I have got another two big assignments due, but I still have to fix up the problem for the fabrication project so that our whole group can move on. After getting help from Russell, I fixed up the scale of the model, broke the whole model into parts in a logical way, applied texture and a bit of lighting, added a few game players, changed the setting of collision, created the terrain and the skydome. Apart from the texture (which does not come up the way that I want), everything is going pretty well now!

Week 10 - Reflection on this course (Part1)

I think it is time for me to start reflecting on what I have learned within this course. Basically I divide it into two main aspects - technical skills and collaborative skills.

I realised that we learn things from experience and mistakes. I was stressed that I was driven to delicate so much time learning every single sofeware that we need to use in this course, but the outcome of that is, I did learn a lot.

Because Liming and I live nearby, we meet up together to do work quite often. The way we do things together is a bit interesting, but it works - I am the person who researches for, works through all the tutorials, and trying out errors in unfamilar softwares (such as how to do screen capturing by using captivate and fraps; how to export files from director to premiere / edit videos in premiere; how to upload videos on Youtube; how to embed the link in WIKI; modelling and texture importing in ut3; terrain; lighting; surrounding ect), while Liming is working the softwares that she has already known (such as Movie Maker, Director, 3Ds MAX). I always make sure that my "updated" knowledge is available to Liming so that we can proceed the task smoothly. For exmaple, everytime when Liming is up to a stage that she need some more knowledge to continue working on the task, she either passes me the task or learns that knowledge from me. By sitting together and finding solutions, I found that to work with others actually provides me an opportunity to learn from others' strengths, and it gives more options in decision-making.

In order to approach a given task, there are lots of ways of doing that. To start off the project, I looked for different tools for our group communications (to save our some time for meeting up face to face), such as msn and basecamp. I was not nominated as a team leader in the beginning, however I am sort of picking up the responsibilities of a team leader since we do need some sort of hierarchy to make the group running in on a track. They include: orgainising group meetings, allocating and checking individual's tasks each week; taking meeting minutes; giving help and providing advices for each team members ect. By allocating tasks for our group members very week, I found that we need to make our planning realistic, but at the same time, as an orgainising person, I need to move the dead line a bit forward to allow some errors happenning. I think it is a good idea to keep a record of our process, so that we can aways track back to what happened and that provides evidents, which can reduce unecessary argument.I think as a group, we should all learn the lesson from not having any planning right from the beginning. It is essential for a group to set a common goal because that indicates how much efford we would like to put into this project. Secondly, time management is very important within a group working environment. We need to do things that we are committed to do for each week, otherwise, tasks will be accumulated, and it only makes the coming days tougher.

The theme for our next presentation is conflict. As I have mentioned in the previous presentation, our group is working in a context of the existance of conflict. It is indeed a challenging topic for me to study due to the fact that each of us confront a lot of conflicts in this group project. I am going to explaning more about what I have learned from conflict management a bit more.

Week 10 - Planning

A strategic planning process is not something that can happen in an ad hoc way, at a regular planning meeting or during a staff meeting. It requires careful planning to set it up so that the process is thorough and comprehensive. When we develop or revise a strategic planning, we are setting the parameters for the work of our organisation, usually for two to three years or longer. So it does make sense to spend some time and energy planning for the strategic planning process.[1]

There are many definitions for strategic planning. In a collaborative project, characteristics of a strategic plan may include:

-define the purpose and mission of the project;

-identify current and long term aims;

-a framework for both day to day detailed planning and long term planning;

-strategic decision-making over time;

-all levels of management[2]

There are some advices for a strategic planning process:

· A strategic planning process is essential when a new project is initiating

· Do not do a strategic planning process more than once every two year, yet strategic review can be seen as a sort of reality check against what is happening internally or externally

· Review progress when the end of a major phase in a project is reached

In terms of who should participate in the strategic planning process, it is important to involve the whole collaborative team in at least part of the planning process because the strategic planning process helps to clarify, consolidate or establish the strategic framework.
Here is a guide for who should get involved in a particular strategic planning phase:

-Planning the process – the management team of the project

-Understanding the context – all members if it is important for them to understand the project’s issues

-Vision, values and mission discussion – all board members as it is likely to provide a set of operating principles

-Review of strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats – Programme or professional member for the whole of this process

-Discussion of strategic options and goals – professional and board members

-Organisational structure – the management team with input from the rest of the member

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Reference:

[1] Janet Shapiro, “Strategic Planning Toolkit”, viewed 25 May 2008, <http://www.civicus.org/new/media/Strategic%20Planning.pdf>

[2] Paul Bullen, “Strategic Planning outline”, Management Alternative Pty Ltd, viewed 25 May 2008, <http://www.mapl.com.au/A10.htm>

Week 9 - working progress

OMG! I did 20+ chapters of ut3 tutorial videos yesterday!

Now I am feeling a bit sick of UT3 after working on it for many hours in a row, but at the same time I learned a lot and I am indeed starting to taste the playful side of UT3. I found that compared to the tutorials on the web, the video tutorials are explaining a lot more, such as the problems or errors that we may come aross and how we should solve them.

These two days, I have worked out lighting in a more advanced level, how to create sky-dome, the collision, adding game players, actors. However, I still need to play around with adding trigger and terrain.

By today, Liming has already finished her model in MAX and importing. As soon as Mydung passes me the materials, I will start applying materials, and try to finish the texture and lighting by tomorrow.

Liming is leaving on this Friday, so we really need to get things done as much as possible. I think we can get over it!

Week 9 - Remuneration

In general terms, remuneration refers to the way in which employees are rewarded at the workplace. These rewards can take various forms, often a broad distinction being drawn between intrinsic and extrinsic reward. Intrinsic reward is a self-generation outcome such as personal esteem and fulfillment derived from say undertaking ‘interesting’ or ‘useful’ work. Extrinsic reward is reflected in more tangible monetary and non-monetary payments in the guise of wages or fringe benefits provided by others. This range of available rewards is reflected in Bloom and Mikovich’s definition of remuneration as a ‘bundle of returns offered in exchange for a cluster of employee contributions’ [1].

However, a range of social science disciplines work on the basis of very different assumptions about the way individuals, groups, organizations and societies functions;

Psychologists – focus on the effectiveness of reward, in terms of individual and group motivation, e.g. the link between motivation, reward and perceived employee needs and values.

Economists – more narrowly focus on pay, e.g. how employers and workers have used pay in the rational pursuit of their respective objectives.

Sociologists – emphasis on the influence of social norms and values in shaping the selection, operation and impact of reward systems at different societal levels.

In practice, extrinsic rewards review the link between pay and job, performance and person have been affected by competition, the changing nature of the workforce and regulation. It is argued that the impact of these pressures on approaches to pay should not be exaggerated’ practice still lags behind rhetoric. However, there have been changes given to the respective pay contingencies and been reflected in a new concern with pay processes rather thatn narrowly conceived pay outcomes [2].

The range of jobs are differential worth to management and therefore they need to be differentiated by hierarchy with pay determined by where exactly each individual is positioned. After following the completion of a job evaluation exercise, an organization will have to decide how to position its pay rates for the evaluated jobs in relation to external labor market rates.

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Reference:

[1],[2] Stephen Bach, Blackwell Publishing 2005, Managing Human Resources: Personnel Management in Transition

Week 9 - group meeting

Hey ladies in group 3,

I had a brief look at some UT3 tutorials on the web, and was trying to figure out what tutorials in UT3 we have to do in order to finish the fabrication project. However, it is difficult for me to have a clue before we get together and decide what sort of things we want to have in UT3. Can each of us skim through the tutorials to have a sound idea of what can be done in UT3 (which is suitable for our project), and meet up to discuss about it on monday or tuesday night? Please wirte down your availabilities and get back to me ASAP!

Week 8 - Context

Conflict can be seen as a way of learning more about what is working in a collaboration team and discovering how conflict can be resolved. Context has different definition in different cases. For example, in an architectural collaborative group project, context can be seen as a common goal that to be achieved as well as the background or environmental surroundings of the building itself.

The usefulness of the solution depends on the depth of your communication and understanding of the problem. For example by using proper context in communication, we can express and understand each other’s ideas effectively. However, without a context, people start going for different directions, and the collaboration will be messed up.

Once a group member has gained a deeper understanding of the other person, themselves and the conflict there is the relationship, the interaction and connection between those elements to be understood. As an example two group members may experience conflict over the distribution of the work load, but it might escalate a result of how they communicate their need to each other. When we alter how we see our group members we automatically change our definition of ourselves which then changes our understanding of the context of the dispute, the relationship and the nature of conflict generally. If it is possible for us to see our conflicts as opportunities and what fuels our negative attitudes towards conflict or get trapped in it? These answers can be found in the context we created for perceiving and engaging in our conflicts. Once you listen to your conflicts your group members can listen to you and together you can search for collaboration and constructive solutions. Context in term of collaboration, it is a way to bridge the gap between office and real time collaboration; structured content as offered by line of business systems and platform of formal and informal. It is important to gather enough information to understand context of an activities. Suppose we want to send email to a customer, we will need to have senders’ details, recipients, subjects, and contents of the email; we will also need to know the application that can navigate to business entity.

Both concepts and contexts are used in a broad sense, and can be interpreted into different ways. The concept can be seen as a solution to a context. Whether the concept will be influenced by the context depends on how we define the context and concept. A concept will be meaningless without a specified context.

An inferred design concept is unique to each individual although the context does not change. For instant, Opera House. A understands the concept of Opera House comes from orange peel, and B thinks the concept of Opera House comes from sailboats; but orange peels are considered to be the truthful concept because that is what inspires the designer.


An image showing different perspectives toward a design concept, edited by Andrea Zheng

Let us narrow it down to one person's perspective. Here we take the site of the building as the context of a design. If one’s concept of the design is taken and applied to a certain site, the concept may not be changed even the context changes from time to time. However, if one’s concept of the design is not taken yet, and will be applied to a different site, the concept may vary.

We can also interpret the function of the building as the context of a design concept. In this case, if the context changes, one’s concept will be changed as a consequence.

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Reference:

Kenneth Cloke & Joan Goldsmith, Wiley San Francisco 2000, Resolving conflicts at work : a complete guide for everyone on the job

Week 8 - Working progress

Hi everyone,

Liming and I have imported some parts of the building into UT3 and applied textures on it.

Today I am doing the lighting tutorials and will try to put the lighting into the building in UT3.

By tonight we need to finish a template for the powerpoint presentation. Everyone needs to find the images for your own question/topic.

Week 7 - working progress

Today I have been starting to import our building into UT3. However, I come across a few problems.

• Because Liming did the model in 3d max with vray too, when I open the material editors, those material spheres disappeared. I never used vray in my life, so I got help from someone, who told me to install vray1.5, and then those spheres came back.
• The building is quite complicated... I just realised that it is time consuming for us to put uvw mapping on all the building elements one by one. (Gosh, we should had done that right from the beginning!)
• When the whole building has been imported, the scale of the building is too small to zoom in and out.

Therefore, we need to firstly, adjust the scale of the building, and then apply uvw mapping. Liming and me will go back to uni and keep working on it tomorrow.

After discussion with Liming today, between two of us, I will act as an software investigator, who does all the tutorials in UT3, such as putting textures and lighting. Once I have been familiar with that software, I will be teacher her face by face, and we will we finish the fabrication together.

For the other two girls, please find as many materials and samples as possible, so that we have everything ready to go.

See you all at 9pm on Sunday!

Week 7 - Hierarchy

Many human organizations, such as governments, educational institutions, businesses, churches, armies and political movements are hierarchical organizations, at least officially; commonly seniors, called "bosses", have more power than their subordinates. Thus the relationship defining this hierarchy is "commands" or "has power over". Some analysts question whether power "actually" works in the way the traditional organizational chart indicates, however. This view tends to emphasize the significance of the informal organization.

In collaboration, each party accepts responsibility for its own inputs as well as for the equitable sharing of returns on outputs. Collaborative relationships are voluntary. They facilitate knowledge creation. Corporations, however, are typically based on hierarchical, non-voluntary relationships. Corporations are built to exploit knowledge and to appropriate a financial profit from it. Consequently, collaboration is difficult tocombine with corporate hierarchy. Nevertheless, there is a growing list of examplesillustrating successful co-existence of collaboration and hierarchy.[1]

Hierarchy also provides deference and decisional authority to persons at the highest levels. In fact such persons enjoy a broad range of authorities, many of which directly affect the freedoms of their subordinates. To maintain needed predictability, hierarchy often restrict the freedoms of persons within the organization. Differentiation plays an important roll in organisational complexity within collaboration, which includes number of hierarchical levels, number of formal organisational units, division of task, number of specialisation etc. Group decisions can be made in a number of ways:

- Decision by authority without discussion, ie. leader makes all the decisions without the group. It is efficient but does not build team commmitment.

- Expert member decides for team. That can cause difficulty deciding who.

- Average of mumber's opinions- Decision by authority after discussion, ie. designate leader makes decision after discussion with group. Only as effective as the leaders ability to listen.

- Minority control, ie. two or more members constituting less than 50% of group make decision by acting as a special problem solving sub group or as an executive committee.

- Majority control, ie. discussion occurs until 51% of members agree on course of action.

- Consensus. Most effective method in terms of quality and gaining member commitment to decision. Consensus is achieved when everyone has had their say and will commit to the decision even though not everyone agrees with the decision. [2]



A hierarchy diagram for human resource [3]

The origins of education's hierarchy are rooted somewhere in the human need to assert ascendancy over others. That involves a protocol of behavious that emphasize ordered relationships and routine predictability. well before reowned German sociologist Max Weber asserted the need for graded levels of authority in bureaucratic organizations, hierarchies were evident everywhere, such as the aggressive over the passive, and the strong over the weak.[4] Those occupying the highest levels of the hierarchy invariably sustain their positions and maintain the organization by requiring predictable behaviours.

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Reference

[1] "Entrepreneurial Organizations: The Role of Hierarchy and Collaboration", accessed on 5 May, 2008, <http://www.iou.uzh.ch/bwl/iou/lehrveranstaltungen/SS2004/Topics_and_Literature_Seminar_Collaboration_SS_2004.pdf>
[2] Bruce Carnie's lecture note on Teamwork for SDES 2116

[3] "Human Hierarchy + Creative Collaboration in the Workplace", accessed on 5 May, 2008, <http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2006/07/human_hierarchy.html>

[4] Mike Koehler & Jeanne C. Baxter, Eye On Education,Inc 1997, Leadership Through Collaboration: Alternatives to the Hierarchy

Week 7 - Following weeks schedule

Hi everyone, here is a rough schedule regarding to our fabrication project for the next few weeks. Due to the fact that Liming is leaving on 30 of May, we have to finish the fabrication part before she leaves. It might need to be changed after futher discussion. Now lets set milestones and break the work down into weeks:

Wed 07 May: Import the whole model into UT3 and locate it in the built terrain, develop interior spaces and apply textures

Wed 14 May: WIKI - context, more textures and lighting

Wed 21 May: Complete model, and brainstorm the final presentation

Wed 28 May: Video capture the model and prepare for the Final presentation

Wed 4 June: WIKI - conflict

Wed 18 June: Final Presentation - Fabrication

It will not take you too much time, as long as you spend a few hours a week, we are done! Ladies, we CAN do it! Do not make excuses, otherwise you are gonna fail!

Week 6 - Tasks to be done by Friday 2nd May

Hi everyone. We are meeting at 6.30PM on Friday in lab level 2. Here are the tasks that we all committed to be done before our meeting:

Andrea (ME) : Set up a rough timeframe for the following weeks till Final Presentation
Work out how to apply UVW map in 3D MAX

Liming Qiao: 3D Model developping

Mydung: Work out how to create Landscape in UT3

Stacey Lagadinos: Work out how to apply textures on 3D models in UT3, and find relevant textures as many as possible

See you ALL on friday night. No excuses this time PLEASE!

Week 6 - working progress

Hi everyone,

For the last few days, I went through some Adobe Premiere tutorials, and become more confident with exporting and importing files in both Director and Premiere. Plus, I have worked out how to import 3D Max file into UT3 by following the tutorial on the website that I have given to all of you. I cannot see any reason why it is not working. Please TRY HARD before you say something that doesn't work!

I think I spent too much time on investigating those unknown softwares, but not much time on the fabrication itself. It is time to produce some work, ladies! I felt a bit disappointed that no one else do any work for this subject AT ALL for last week although we promised to do SOMETHING; also one of our group members did not turn up for our meeting!

Here I urge all of our group members to work on the project constantly, and not to do it in last minute. Last thing, do not make empty promises!

Week 6 - Intent

Design is a creation for purpose. Design intent is a clear and concise statement that expresses the objectives of the design team relative to a project or a portion a project.[1]­­­ No clear direction to design efforts can be made without a clear intent. Design intent can be expressed at various levels of a project, from the project as a whole, to individual spaces, to systems of environmental conditions within spaces. It describes the general quality and key attributes that any acceptable solution to the brief must capture. Expressing a clear design intent allows possible solutions to an owner’s brief to be most likely fully acceptable.

Architectural design services are involved in the early stages of planning. The architectural unit provides early assistance and pre-design services to assist client to assemble the appropriate pieces before diving too for into real estate decisions without the proper tools.[2] In many cases, owner’s brief provides only a minimal statement of requirements. A design intent statement interpret such needs to a description of the design team’s vision of a proposed solution, which includes all the various elements, systems requirements, and limitations of a project, such as ergonomic, reconfiguration, lighting system, maintenance, energy efficiency, as well as the philosophy of a company. Instead of defining specific methods, design intent should describe a clear destination for design efforts, so that other possible means of solution are not excluded.




A sample video of an architectural project which shows design intent[4]


The creative and communicative function of architectural representation is emphasized by conveying design intent through specific technical descriptions. These range from urban massing models to building sectional drawings, and from perspective sketches to spatial details. If design intent is to be translated into the assembled building then the specification must be well written, comprehensive and free of errors. Features in an architectural project can be related to one another in a number of ways. These relationship govern how the design will behave when changed. Design intent is the careful control of these relationships so that they correctly govern the intended behaviour of the design. As the project moves along, architects provide design services during construction to maintain continuous awareness of the design intent throughout all phases of the project.[3] With good design intent, design can be updated effortlessly.



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Reference:

[1] Tom Porter and Steve Bowkett, “Archispeak: An Illustrated Guide to Architectural Design Terms”, Routledge UK, 2004

[2] DESIGN BUILD REALTY, Design Build Realty, 2007, accessed on 28 April, 2008, <http://www.designbuildrealty.com/>

[3] DESIGN BUILD REALTY, Design Build Realty, 2007, accessed on 28 April, 2008, <http://www.designbuildrealty.com/>

[4] "4th Year Architecture Design Movie (INXS-New Sensation) ", Youtube 2008, Accessed on 28 April, 2008, <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mreF93lXxqQ&NR=1>

Week 5 - Knowledge

Knowledge is regarded as power nowadays, which indicates that one’s potential or capability or potential in life will increase with knowledge or education. Generally we gain knowledge from experience and study. Our knowledge reflects on our familiarity, awareness or understanding about a specific subject, and it also indicates the capability situation analysing, decision making, and information manipulating or sharing.

One aspect of epistemology claims - we have to live with the fact that our knowledge is “partial” because it is impossible to have an exhaustive understanding of an information domain in realistic cases. Therefore, we normally solve problems by taking advantage of a partial understanding of the context and data. By sharing knowledge and learning, the process of collaboration extends our “partial” knowledge into a group effort to achieve a common goal. That is also why collaboration is so important.

In order to collaborate effectively as a group, all of us have decided to allocate our own individual tasks according to our disciplines and knowledge - which means each of us, chooses the jobs that we are most comfortable to work with.

Our knowledge which contributes to this project includes research skills, interpersonal communication skills (such as writing, listening, and talking skills), thinking skills (organising and planning skills), and technical skills in terms of softwares (such as Photoshop, 3D Max, Captivate, Director, Video Maker, UT3 Editor etc). Nevertheless, each skill is reciprocal. For instant, I have got a sound perception of multimedia and graphic design from my previous education, so I am in charge of the video editing. However, that task requires a lot of technical skills such as Director, Movie Maker, Photoshop, Captivate, and Video Converter. In order to capture screen videos and make those videos accessible to movie editors, I learned how to use Adobe Captivate and Video Converter by doing research. I cannot combine the video clips that I have created into one because I never touched on Movie Maker before. Fortunately, Liming is quite familiar with Movie Maker, therefore our project process will move on as I take an advantage from Liming’s knowledge by either just simply passing her the uncompleted work or get her to help.

Here we can see, this project cannot be completed unless we broaden our knowledge by learning new skills, and manipulate our extended individual knowledge together through communication.

Week 5 - WIKI

Hi everyone,

Seems that we have been progressing quite well.

Liming has done the video of the building presentation part, and I have done a series of video capturing on 3D Max, yet am waiting to combine the whole thing into one.

Stacey and I was trying to set up an internal WIKI in basecamp, but it failed to work. Therefore, we have decided to set up a WIKI in wetpaint, which is easier to work with. Everyone can log in once you have registered an account. Here is the link of our WIKI: htp://arch1392group3.wetpaint.com

Mydung is working on UT3 tutorials, and trying to import our model into UT3, and put some texture in it.

Great work. Keep it up! By the way, we will meet up at 7pm on monday at the labs (on level 2). Hopefully the handsome guy in our group will turn up too!

PS. I think the simpliest way to sign up is to open the invitation email that we have sent to you, click the link, and then sign up! See you in wetpaint!

Week 4 - Record

Within the design process, keeping track of important records and making them organized and available take away stress and confusion. The Document Locator is a simple record-keeping system to enhance collaboration for architecure firms and to improve business efficiency and reduce risk. It integrates specialized features for architectural firms to improve the management of computer-aided design (CAD) files, drawings, project files, financial documents and communications.

Document Locator possess a great control to project execution as it allows document sharing and markup, business process automation, and access from remote locations. "While new design tools have advanced individual productivity by hiding complexity behind visualization, higher-level modeling and computation, they don’t address the urgent need to improve complex collaboration among the various individuals who are involved in the design and build process," commented Carl Azar, vice president of marketing and product development for ColumbiaSoft.[1]

Financial and legal risks associated with projects are also integral part in an architectural firm. In order to avoid miscommunications, missed deadlines and incomplete project records, innovative collaboration tools are employed to foster colaboration across the project lifecycle and beyond delivery. Therefore, it is crucial to keep a record in in terms of the collaboration process.

Document Locator addresses the need for collaboration by introducing tools that allow for real-time document sharing, including review and approval of documents, designs and communications. By expediting, monitoring and automating review cycles, Document Locator enhances project efficiency for project managers and members. In addition, Document Locator improves accountability by maintaining strict control over information and creating an audit trail of document transactions and communications, keeping everyone focused and informed. The business process automation capabilities built into Document Locator help keep projects on schedule and support overall productivity with document-centric workflows that integrate project information, details, plans and critical steps across all project participants. [2]

Document Locator provides access to core operations through integration with Microsoft, Brava! and AutoCAD. It involves: managing communications records, remote Access,document workflow and security.

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Reference:

[1] [2] "COLUMBIASOFT ANNOUNCES ENTERPRISE DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SOLUTION FOR AEC INDUSTRY - Document Locator Enhances Collaboration for Architecture, Engineering & Construction Firms, Improving Business Efficientcy and Reducing Rick", ColumbiaSoft Corporation,viewd on 13 April, 2008, <+record+architectural+project+collaboration&hl=zh-CN&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=au">http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:-tuFUegogooJ:www.documentlocator.com/Company/News/9_05_07/>+record+architectural+project+collaboration&hl=zh-CN&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=au

Week 4 - Useful websites

Hi everyone,

I found some useful website. Here are the links:

UT3 Tutorials: http://help.hourences.com/tutorialsindex.htm

Adobe Premiere Pro Tutorials: http://livedocs.adobe.com/en_US/PremierePro/3.0/index.html

Materials: http://www.imageafter.com/textures.php

3D Max: http://www.evermotion.org/index.php?unfold=tutorials

Week 3 - group meeting note

Hi everyone. Here is the note on our group meeting.

We have allocated our tasks for each group member, therefore,

Me, Andrea will be doing the Organisation, Video Editing and Soundscape.
Liming will be in charge of 3D Max Modelling and Interactivity.
Stacey will be contributing to WIKI and Lighting.
Mydung will be working at Textures and Context.

We are all agree that we have a regular meeting at 8.30 on every Tuesday night (to tell each other of your progress, give feedbacks and help each other out) and we all need to make everything clear before we leave the class on Wednesday (NO RUSH leaving PLEASE. We need to know exactly what we have to do for the week, eg. to discuss how other presents and what sort of impovement we need for the next week).

In addition to the group meeting. We have also decided to meet up at least one extra time before our presentation week. It will be on Saturday nights yet time to be confirmed.

Other than that it will be good if everyone could post some useful links on our own blogs. It will be very convinient and helpful for each of us.

See you tomorrow in class!

Week 3 - Architectural disciplines

Contemporary buildings are designed by teams of professionals. A & E (Architecture and Engineering) firms provide a multi-disciplinary team of interrelated or allied building-industry consultants in order to make the process of project delivery more efficient and more cost effective by including all the major construction service disciplines in a single organization.[1]

To complete an architectural project, along with providing appropriate design advice, is carried out as a team effort. The team typically consists of the designers, such as architects, landscape architects, planners, interior designers; the client, the client’s attorney, and other expert consultants such as structural engineers, mechanical and electrical engineers, civil and transportation engineers, economic analysts, and environmental scientist and construction cost estimators.

Architects – responsible to prepare drawings and specifications accurately showing what to construct, to get project designs approved legally, and to provide guidance during the construction of projects. [2]

Interior designers / decorators – assume responsibility for interior furniture and furnishings within an existing building, such as to select furniture and upholstery, carpeting, paint colors, wall coverings, window treatments. They are potential to overlap and conflict from the architect’s point of view.

In conjunction to designers, engineers play a crucial roll in the building process.

Structural engineers – analyze structural elements/components after the architect determines the overall geometry of the building.

Mechanical and electrical engineers – analyze and design heating, air-conditioning, ventilating, plumbing, and electrical distribution systems.[3]

Civil engineers – is responsible for the design of site grading, roadways, storm water management systems, water system, bridges and other site utilities or structures.

The architect takes legal and financial responsibility for the work performed by consultants since from the client’s point of view. Architects have more control over actions and decisions of such consultants, since consultants rely on the architect for direction as well as payment for their fees.

Attorneys – provides legal or financing advice and to cope with legal complexities.

Construction contracts occupy the largest category of development expense.

Construction contractor – is paramount, due to the expense, and its great impact on economic, technical, and aesthetic outcome of the project.

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Reference:

[1] Roger K. Lewis, “Architect?: A Candid Guide to the profession”, MIT Press 1998, cited at <http://books.google.com.au/books?id=vY0Y1sOEq9IC&pg=PA175&dq=how+does+a+multidisciplinary+firm+work+architecture&sig=YTr7SaTQ4FPOScqTUtQMmi8Lqbg#PPA167,M1>, viewed 6 April, 2008
[2] Roger K. Lewis, “Architect?: A Candid Guide to the profession”, MIT Press 1998, cited at <http://books.google.com.au/books?id=vY0Y1sOEq9IC&pg=PA175&dq=how+does+a+multidisciplinary+firm+work+architecture&sig=YTr7SaTQ4FPOScqTUtQMmi8Lqbg#PPA167,M1>, viewed 6 April, 2008
[3] Roger K. Lewis, “Architect?: A Candid Guide to the profession”, MIT Press 1998, cited at <http://books.google.com.au/books?id=vY0Y1sOEq9IC&pg=PA175&dq=how+does+a+multidisciplinary+firm+work+architecture&sig=YTr7SaTQ4FPOScqTUtQMmi8Lqbg#PPA167,M1>, viewed 6 April, 2008

Week 3 - Organisation info

Hey pretty ladies and the handsome gentleman in Group C! Here is some note on our group project in terms of organisation. In order to lessen the amount of work that we repeat, it will be better for each of us to get in charge with some certain tasks and find a time to meet up once a week (or once every two weeks, depends on our progress and timetable) to tell each other of your own process and to give each other a feedback or sort of helping each other out if it is necessary.

The major tasks that we need to work out include:

1. Planning/Organisation of the project and communications ( which I am doing right now)
2. The 3 Dimensional geometry (the framework at 3D Max probably)
3.The textures, UVW and normal mapping (including research and applying them into 3D Max)
4. The lighting and atmospherics (I am guessing that we'd better to do it in UT3)
5. The soundscape (including searching for soundtrack and importing it into UT3)
6. The interactivity (importing the model into UT3, and make it WORK!)
7. The context (The geographical context/site or the backgroud of that piece of architecture)
8. WIKI (1000 words on each presentation. Everyone please make sure you write a reasonable amount of words on your blog each week, otherwise you will stress the lady who is doing the writing because that means she has to make up 1000 words on her own)
9. Video editing and images for the presentation (probably will also involve with the whole presentation itself, such as power point/director etc)

Since there are 9 tasks we need to deal with. I suggest that every lady in our group pick 3 tasks from the list, and let me know which ones you pick ASPS (The sooner you pick, the bigger chance you get the ones that you would like to do!!)

I prefer to do task 1(cause I have already been doing), 6, and 9. Feel free to tell me either if you like my chosen tasks better or if you think you are more suitable for the job. I am happy to swap to any option.

Anyway, PLEASE NO EXCUSES (to be honest, if you do not have time to work on this project, you shouldn't enrol this course)! Once again, everyone PLEASE TURN UP in class EVERY SINGLE week, have your blogs done every week, and watch the UT3 tutorials (you don't have to learn it into a professional degree if your chosen tasks do not involve, but you HAVE TO somehow know how it works. It will be useful for you and maybe other group memebers will need your help sometime!) Plus, don't forget to reference any thing that you find! Do not panic, if we do spend sometime each week, we will be fine! Let me know if there is any problem. Our group members are out there to help!

Enjoy your week!

Week 2 - Synchronous Messaging

Synchronous messaging can be achieved by using IMs (Instant Messengers) such as AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Skype, ICQ, Meebo, Google Talk, Trillian, Gaim, Jabber and Tencent QQ. An instant messenger allows people to chat in real time with another user on the messaging service, or in the case of the multiple platform program – with another user on a totally different service. File sharing, multiple person chat and voice communications are some features of IM’s.

MSN Messenger is one of the most popular Instant Messengers around the world. It supports instant messaging and allows messages to be enlivened with graphical emotional icons, flash animations, animated display pictures, styled text, and many more with third-party add-ons. Other features of the software include voice conversations, web cams, transferring files, built-in two-player online games.[1]

In 2007, both MSN Messenger and Windows Messenger clients were enhanced and rebranded to Windows Live Messenger, which adds the following features:

Sharing folder – an alternative to direct file sharing, in which files are automatically transferred to the corresponding computer when the files are added to the sharing folder for that particular person.

[2]

Interoperability with Yahoo Messenger – this allows Yahoo and Windows Live Messenger users to chat to each other without having to create an account of the client. And that forms the second largest instant messenger user base worldwide (40% of all users).[3]

Games and applications – can be shared between buddies on the contact list.

PC-to-phone calls/messaging – PC-to-phone calls are now available in selected countries such as the US and some European countries. Since Windows Live Messenger is available on a few phones, people tend to send messages over Windows Live Messenger network instead of sending SMS through the mobile network.

Compared to Windows Live Messenger, Skype is known as a softphone, a more sophisticated software program for PC-to-PC calls as well as PC-to-phone calls, which also includes features such as instant messaging, file transfer, short message service, video conferencing global user directory, call logs and its ability to circumvent firewalls.

[5]
[4]

Skype is available in 28 languages and is used most countries around the world.[6] Skype allows users to make and receive calls to and from landline and mobile phones, as well as voicemail and call forwarding. Currently 3 Skypephone (a mobile phone with skype built-in for free Skype-to-Skype calls and instant messaging) has been developed in partnership with the mobile operator 3. By using 3 Skypephone, people to make free calls and send instant message for free without computer, yet this service is only available in the following countires/ Cities: UK, Australia, Italy, Hongkong, Sweden, Danmark, Austria, and Republic of Ireland.[7]

Tencent QQ, referred to as QQ is the most popular instant messaging computer program in china, and the third most popular IM service around the world. It is extremely popular among Chinese youth people and is generally used by people inside china, or who wants to communicate with people inside this country.

[8]

QQ started with a focus on text messaging, but soon launched with new services such as Mobile QQ, SMS-based match-making service, messaging, instant messaging for businesses, online games and advertising brokering. QQ is adding more and more entertainment services, and that leads Tencent's virtual money system into great success. QQ coins can be used to buy virtual products such as items to use in games, or accessories for the avatar that they use for instant messaging conversations and it is now threatening the State monopoly on issuing money.[9]

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Reference:

[1] “Wikipedia: MSN Messenger”, 2008 Answers Corporation, accessed on 30 March, 2008, <http://www.answers.com/topic/msn-messenger-1?cat=technology>
[2] Image edited by Andrea Zheng, 2008
[3] “Wikipedia: MSN Messenger”, 2008 Answers Corporation, accessed on 30 March, 2008, <http://www.answers.com/topic/windows-live-messenger?cat=technology>
[4] “Use Skype”, 2008 Skype Limited, accessed on 31 March, 2008, <http://www.skype.com/intl/en/allfeatures/3skypephone/>
[5] Image edited by Andrea Zheng, 2008
[6] “About us”, 2008 Skype Limited, accessed on 31 March, 2008, <http://about.skype.com/>

[7] “Use Skype”, 2008 Skype Limited, accessed on 31 March, 2008, <http://www.skype.com/intl/en/allfeatures/3skypephone/>
[8] Image edited by Andrea Zheng, 2008
[9] “Meet China’s Google trouncer – indiatimes news network, 2008, Times Internet Limited, accessed on 31 March 2008, <http://infotech.indiatimes.com/Meet_Chinas_Google_trouncer/articleshow/1568771.cms>

Week 1 - building found

I have found two unbuilt buildings that I am interested in.

One of them is the Cardiff Opera house (1994 - 1996), designed by one of the most famous unbuilt architects - Zaha Hadid. It was designed as a part of the Cardiff Bay redevelopment project, in order to create a new home for the Welsh National Opera company. The fear is perhaps the most significant of all political realities and leadership combined with vision is required to overcome it. The project collapsed since the Millennium Commission refused to fund the project as it was considered to be financially risky.

[iv]

This design is a fine example of urban design, which would become an expressive landmark against the waterfront. The concept of the project comes from the idea of hierarchy between serviced and servicing spaces, which are interpreted into outdoor and indoor spaces[i].

It was an important building which contributes to its local area because it was for Wale’s international images, with “Cardiff Bay” becoming a euphemism in architectural and cultural circles for narrow-mindedness, provincial conservatism, and ignorance[ii].

The second building is the Elias’ House designed by Richard Rogers in the USA. The client of the land, Michael Elias is a Hollywood screenwriter and director, who wanted something spectacular for his house. Despite it is relatively in a small scale, I personally like the idea of simplicity and the way the building is set with nature.

[v]

[vi]

The Elias house has been one of Rogers’ signature moves in terms of tensile structure[iii], which is very sustainable as he concerns. However, due to the fact that Elias got married and decided to move somewhere else, the building has never been built. Therefore, it will be great if we could visualize that building by using our digital computing skills.

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Reference:

[i] “The Zaha Hadid project details”, The Hyatt Foundation, The pritzker Architecture Prize, assessed on 18th March, 2008, <http://www.pritzkerprize.com/2004/pdf/Cardiff.pdf>

[ii] “Cardiff Bay Opera House”, Wikipedia by the free Encyclopedia, assessed on 18 March, 2008, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiff_Bay_Opera_House>

[iii] “Unbuilt houses: House on the Hill - A PACIFIC PALISADES BACHELOR PAD BY RICHARD ROGERS”, ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST, assessed on 16 March, 2008, <http://www.architecturaldigest.com/homes/spaces/2007/03/unbuilt_article?currentPage=1>

[iv]"The unbuilt category", ARKATEKCHA - architecture with an australian accent, theme contempt by Vault9, WordPress.com, assessed on 17 March, 2008, <http://arkatekcha.net/category/unbuilt/>

[v][vi] “Unbuilt houses: House on the Hill - A PACIFIC PALISADES BACHELOR PAD BY RICHARD ROGERS”, ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST, assessed on 16 March, 2008, <http://www.architecturaldigest.com/homes/spaces/2007/03/unbuilt_slideshow>

New start

I went to the first studio class for the new program that I have just transferred to (architectural computing) this week. This degree is quite different from interior architecture, which I had been sufferring for 3 years. All design studios from interior are about design, design, and design. I like design, but those studios did make me stressful. Uni life was equivalent to no life for me, but it is not the case anymore :)

Digital collaboration studio that I have enrolled is a new course, in which we work on a group project. I hardly knew anyone in this class on my first day. Felt a bit nervous, helpless and lost when we were asked to form a group of four or five people. Finally I was invited in to a group.

Our group is somehow different from other groups, because Stacey, Liming, Mydung and I, none of us knew each other before hand. I felt kind of uncomfortable at the very beginning cause I always working a group with people that I know. However, after chatting to them for a while, I suprisingly found that we all come from different backgrounds, compared to the majority group of people, who started doing architectural computing (full-time) from 2 years ago. Mydung and Stacey are working in the office as full-time workers; Liming went to exchange in UK last year; and I was doing another degree under the same faculty. It is interesting that our backgrounds somehow brought us together, and it may be a good try because we all have different strengths, skills and personalities.

We met up again on the next day (Thur) to have a tutorial. Unfortunately, first conflict appeared. Someone was late... It was annoying to the rest of us because it had been a long day for all of us! I understand that something unexpected does happen, but sometimes it is caused by bad time management. Similar thing happened again today. We were supposed to meet up today, but someone (same person) said that she couldn't turn up today, therefore our meeting was cancelled. I know it is difficult to compromise a time to meet up since all of us have got uni or work going on. However, if you do respect someone or something, you will squeeze you time, won't you? Anyway, hopefully we can work out that problem by this week...