Intent

From the beginning of this project intent has played a huge role in our work since it affects every part of the project. For instance as a group we have the combined intent to pass the subject and others intend to do much better, consequently we already have the drive and the need to work however we do not know the effort which other members intend to put into the project.

If a person’s intentions are not directly verbally communicated, they can still be perceived through their actions and body language. In our group’s case we can get a rough idea of each other’s effort intentions through message board posts and attendance.

Design is a key area involving intent as clear communication is often required in order to accurately the purpose of specific features. Our group discovered the hard way that an architect does not always communicate well as the program of our Dam Theatre was quite heavily debated amongst us due to a lack of drawings and textual information. Through our debate, we were also able to determine the intent of some members of the group as the inclusion of part of the building came into question.

A person’s intent, especially in the corporate environment is particularly influenced by their chosen discipline. Perhaps the best example of differing intents exists on a movie set whereby a sound engineer’s intent differs to the cameraman which potentially differs to the intent of the director, producer and movie studio! This is where hierarchy also comes into play as the success of the film is dependent on the disciplines coexisting and someone taking charge and using their knowledge and authority to move the project forwards.

In the fabrication of the Dam Theatre, we have determined our intentions to be utilising the amazing graphics produced by the Unreal Engine, especially in the creation of environments. This intention was not immediately revealed but can be interpreted by the majority of the group focussing on the environment and surroundings of the building with three out of five working on the terrain and associated variables. Akin to a movie set, we have had conflict in regards to aspects of the map creation process which have been frequently resolved through the compromising and combining of intentions.

Knowledge

All humans have some form of knowledge, that is, we have the ability to recognise and process information on a particular subject or situation.[1] However, just by going through our day and talking to people, it is possible to see that not everyone has the same level of knowledge in every discipline or even everyday tasks. In order to share and spread humanity’s acquired knowledge from thousands of years, we have created records and resources of what we know and communicated in four primary methods:

• Textual
• Imagery
• Demonstration
• Aural.

Perhaps the earliest methods of knowledge sharing are through demonstration and verbal communication which is also experienced at a childhood level where we learn basic things. In regards to the storage of knowledge, while books and online resources may appear to provide reliable knowledge, we must look at how likely the information provided is true!

As a group we have already encountered limits of our knowledge as well as times of situated knowledge. Since we have various technical backgrounds we are used to different shortcut hotkeys as well as different modelling techniques, consequently our application of some knowledge has produced unexpected results, leaving us searching for greater knowledge. Working together on a single project with various learning curves has meant that we’ve also had to share our knowledge on particular areas. In collaborating, we have imparted knowledge through the demonstration of certain skills such as manipulating a terrain and animating a pdf so that it performs like a power point presentation.

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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge

Week 5 - Record

In group collaboration communication is vital, the records kept of any communication is even more important. Our group’s primary form of record keeping was initially in the form of emails. This was fine in the beginning as the discussion was small enough to keep track of who said what when and it was an immediate form of record with a set chronology. Fortunately Matt discovered Base Camp which improved our records as we now had a method of recording who said what as well as what’s left to do and when it needs to be done by.

A major flaw in our group’s record keeping is the lack of formal minutes during face to face meetings. When an issue is discussed such as job delegation it was recorded individually in our own way, either typing directly into a document or writing in our books. Unless either of these methods are stored with some logical structure then the records are just about useless.

In a wider scope record keeping record of every dialogue related to the project between team members the client is important as it is needed for the progression of the project and potentially for legal defence. While it is important to record what progress has been made, one could argue it is almost more important to record what is yet left to be done, especially in a top-down approach of task distribution which leaves a lot of smaller tasks.

Other methods of record keeping can include general work logs to record which changes were made and when, as well as time sheets since we all like to get paid for the time with spent working. Change logs are perhaps the most important record for both architects and general computer users due to the unreliability of computers and the opportunity of mistakes being made whilst working on a file. Some authoring suites such as Dreamweaver offer built in modules which record who worked on what file when called Check In/Check Out which also provides protection from two people working on the same file at once.

Once a project has been completed in the developer’s eyes, it must be shown to the client that all of the outcomes outlined in the brief have been accomplished. In my own design work I tend to have email dialogues which are a mini brief with a set of outcomes to be achieved. When it comes time to bill the client, I also include a copy of my timesheet as well as a list of what I have been working on in order to reassure the client that they aren’t paying me for wasting time which so far has been successful with no qualms or financial disagreement.

Week 4 - Discipline

In the first week of this collaboration task, we discussed in groups the skills we had to offer which would assist in the production of the model and the presentations. It was apparent to me that a lot of people mentioned computing skills instead of other typical group work skills such as leadership and research. Like leadership, it could be said that disciplines are intrinsic to the person based on their thought processes for example some people are especially logical and some are more creative.

A large project in most work environments require a selection of disciplines in varied strengths. For example an architectural project requires at least 3 disciplines: architectural knowledge, engineering, construction and perhaps legal. In larger scale projects such as the development of the Olympic Park in Homebush required the assistance from scientists in various fields such as analytical chemistry and biology in order to protect the surrounding wetland.

For the development of the UT3 level our group has went through each other’s skill sets and worked out who is strongest in each particular area involved in the production of the level. In terms of the development of levels in general the key disciplines are:

• Texturing,
• Lighting,
• Modelling static meshes,
• Character design,
• Level design,
• Sound; both music and effects,
• Terrain generation,
• AI programming, and
• Event programming.

Since we most likely won’t be incorporating any AI characters into the map we can at least avoid path creation. To an extent everyone in the group could no doubt handle working in each section since we determined that to some degree our skills overlap in the primary construction areas of 3D modelling and working with Photoshop. However in order to optimize our time and production quality, we have sorted out the discipline with which we are most comfortable.

Week 3 - Social Networks and use in Collaboration

I think I can safely say that most remotely tech savvy internet users have their own MySpace or Facebook account or some other spawn of the same line of thought. In fact just ‘Googling’ “social networking” returns a large number of results for sites where you can create your own online presence in and add all of your RL or OL friends. What separates these sites are their various motives and agendas, for example in the early days of the popularisation of the internet, one would frequently see annoying flashing ads for “Find your classmates”[1] which would appear to have the intent of reuniting you with your classmates from 1972, however being the wary user; I never clicked the flashing banner. Other online communities are there to help people find true e-love such as RSVP and matchmaker.com, both of which have nothing to do with online collaboration.

The major players in the social network league are MySpace and Facebook with MySpace being the alternative for the angsty teen who wants to dabble in terrible, gaudy and downright bad web design. Meanwhile Facebook appears to be the thinking person’s network with its inability to change the colour scheme, once unique live feed as well as friend relationship map. It is the latter two points which are particularly interesting in relation to collaboration where a ‘live feed’ could help members of a larger development team inform each other on a mass level without having to send an email to groups of people. Letting the file jockey know that you need to get them to move the latest version of your model into the reference folder would simply mean opening a web browser and typing your message leaving a worklog for both the employer and workmates to keep track of what is left to be done.

In a CNet News article on IBM looking at adopting social networking as a means of internal communication, Michael Rodin of IBM said

“The real phenomenon of Web 2.0 is the concept of community."[2]

This supports the notion of a collaborating team being there to support one another as a community where everyone shares their skillset with one another which is vital in today’s corporate environment where specialisation is essential. The social network approach to corporate communication makes more sense to me than emails or phone calls which interrupt your thought process as well as being unable to transfer lines of code, 3D models or images. In terms of messaging one another versus emails, the benefit is in the nested response of comments or wall posts which exist all on one page instead of having individual replies or forwards from everyone you emailed which is less efficient and doesn’t show the logical thought progressions which could occur in comments.

In terms of a company the size of IBM, a social network site could be very handy since there are offices across the globe. A networking site could connect these offices thus bringing even more people and skills into the scope which is what Karen Hober, a CMS Analyst of the Burton Group, was referring to when she said:

"We think that's a pretty powerful concept--you've just gotten 10 experts together, that may not have known each other, to collaborate on a business problem. That's a powerful tool."[3]

Thanks to the internet, we live in the age of the global community and outsourcing, thus having social networks connecting team members, it is no longer mandatory for development teams to work in the same office, although from experience it is still easier to develop ideas.

In terms of group A and our collaboration, at least five of us, Matt, Derek, Sam, Graham and myself seem to be primarily communicating through synchronous messaging using primarily MSN Messenger and occasionally Gmail Chat which is much better than our original dialogue via partially anonymous emails due to some people using their student email account. As of this week our team is now using BaseCamp which is an online collaboration suite which allows for tasks to be handed out as well as task scheduling so that each member of the team knows roughly what over people have done and what’s still left to do!

Other Links

• Collaborative Thinking
• BBC News|MySpace & Google Deal
• Social Networking
  

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[1] Wikipedia - Social Network Service Accessed 1/4/08

[2] IBM Warms to Social Networking Accessed 1/4/08

[3] Ibid