15/2- Take a S.E.L.F.I.E (Looking back)

Fig. 1- Image from a character in Blizzard's "World of Warcraft" Characters can take selfies as a new addition to the camera view. 

Retrieved from: https://blizzardwatch.com/2015/03/21/how-to-get-the-s-e-l-f-i-e-camera-and-take-great-photos/ 

Where do I begin... there is so much I learned through this class. Looking back at the class, there is so much I grew, and started to see technology and new media with a new set of eyes. I am so happy for having to take this class because it enhanced some of my ideas, and also expanded the old ones. I have taught some new media in museums, like coding with robots (dash) or creating a stop motion animation with plasticine. But nothing compares to the playfulness of this entire class. I realized that there is an extra layer for me to be able to use digital media into an art classroom, as well as my own practice. In the classroom, I feel like it can be so helpful to think in-between the lines and use both traditional and digital materials to encompass student centered education.

Some of the sections in the class were harder for me, but overall I felt like I was able to have and extended understanding of some important topics in regards of new media. Digital arts is just an extension of what we already know as art, it is a new vision and an element to acquire. Digital painting and drawing would be an amazing addition to test out how is it to paint without actually using paint. Scenography also is a new medium that I wish to expand, it was so fun and for my own artistic practice, and think about how it could be implemented into a sculptural way. Also circuitry and fabtronics changed my mind completely about the importance of circuits in art, and its easy application into education. I was actually afraid of the circuits, but with time and just trying, and failing, and then succeeding, it seemed to clicked in a way. Like I said, i believe that new media is as valuable as traditional art practices. Implementing to the idea of both being treated with the same weight is a big goal of mine, and this class helped open up that path. The reality is that the world is expanding, and it is important to have students ready for anything when they grow up. And a really important part of it is teaching coding, film, photography, circuitry, digital painting,  3D printing, laser cutting, and much more.


Take a S.E.L.F.I.E: Assessment.

My own personal objectives were  to know vocabulary that has to do with new media, to understand it and teach others. The vocabulary section is even part of the S e l f i e assessment, so it seemed relevant to talk about it. I grew my vocabulary! I definitely will! Another objective was to reflect in ways of using new media for my own artistic purpose, similarly to how I create sculptures. I think this happened a lot, I Eliminated carelessness and decided to jump into the making and see whether the outcome will be successful or not. For the most part, it was. The digital collage, scenography, and creative coding were the one's that I most felt like I assessed myself in the process, thinking of ways how to keep building up my ideas in order to move further. I found multiple possibilities when trying out layers of ideas one on top of the other. For example, for creative coding (scratch) I had to do a lot of layering, as well as coding each object separately. The outcomes were good, and I believe I learned a lot from developing coding in a creative way.

Another learning objective was about pushing myself in all the adove programs we would touch upon, I believe I did, I not only used my sense of thinking, but wanted to move it into adding painting. I am not a painter, so using photoshop for it was a challenge, and felt like I had to go back and test out new ideas over and over. The outcome was amazing because I ended up not caring and felt how I let go.

Lastly, the use of Arduino to create projects was in my personal learning objective. I did not use them as much, bit I did use the circuits, and it was so fun and an amazing experience. I had to do so much assessment and trial n error in order to get the light to work. But in a moment everything made sense, and i think I met this goal by again, not caring about the outcome and just kept moving forward.